allendalepharm Chapter 386 A Tiny Spot of Light
Chapter 386 A Tiny Spot of Light
Chapter 386 A Tiny Spot of Light
The four of them rushed westward for less than two hundred meters before the three White Zetsu began to retreat. They weren't running away; they were maintaining their distance. They didn't want to fight; Kabuto's command was likely "Don't fight, just drive them away." So when Izumi and the others actually charged towards the White Zetsu, the White Zetsu actually retreated.
Neji's Byakugan flashed, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled upwards.
"They are retreating."
"Chase after them," Chi Quan said.
The four of them increased their speed again. Kai's green bodysuit shimmered like a flowing firefly in the sunlight, creating distance between him and the figures behind him. He was the fastest of the four, much faster, but he didn't rush out at full speed. He controlled his pace, staying to the right rear of Chi Quan, ready to provide support at any moment. This was an instinct he had honed in countless battles—never stray from the group, never charge alone, unless you are bait.
The three White Zetsu retreated very quickly, maintaining a constant distance of 1,600 meters from Chi Quan and the others. No matter whether Chi Quan and the others accelerated or decelerated, that 600 meters remained unchanged, as if an invisible rope was binding the two sides together. The rope was 600 meters long; if you pulled it, it would tighten; if you loosened it, it would loosen.
The pool suddenly stopped.
Everyone stopped.
"I'm not going to chase after them anymore," Chi Quan said.
"Why?" Tian Tian asked, panting.
"Because they're deliberately leading us. The direction they're retreating isn't random, it's fixed—northeast. They want to lead us northeast. There might be something placed in the northeast direction on the map, maybe it's their real ambush point, maybe it's a trap, maybe it's a minefield. Whatever it is, I don't want to see."
He turned around and glanced south. South was the direction of Konoha, the direction they had come from.
"Let's go back," Chi Quan said.
"Back to Konoha?" Neji frowned slightly.
"No. Let's go back to that dried-up stream. Head north from the streambed; the entrance to the underground river is upstream. We won't go through the valley or the mine; we'll go through the underground river. The underground river is underground, and White Zetsu can't see us. No matter how dense their surface search network is, it can't find underground unless the White Zetsu's genes have been modified with underground detection capabilities. But as far as I know, it doesn't. The White Zetsu's underground perception is very weak; it can only sense the general direction and distance of chakra, not pinpoint the exact location."
The four turned and ran south. The three White Zetsu paused about 600 meters away, seemingly hesitant about whether to follow. They hesitated for about two seconds, then began to retreat north—not to follow, but to retreat. They may have received Kabuto's new instructions.
Stop chasing them, they've gone back, mission complete.
But Chi Quan did not return.
When he was less than a hundred meters from the dried-up stream, he suddenly turned north, but not in a straight line; instead, he made a large arc, circling around to the upper reaches of the stream from the east. This detour was quite large, adding at least two kilometers to his journey, but its purpose was to completely disorient the seven White Zetsu. They thought Chi Quan and the others had returned to Konoha, but in reality, they had circled around to the north of the White Zetsu search network and slipped behind them.
Neji's Byakugan saw the White Zetsu begin to scatter and rearrange their search network, but their network was centered on Konoha, not here. Kabuto's forces were limited; he couldn't possibly deploy White Zetsu across every inch of the Land of Fire. His network had holes, many holes. Izumi was looking for these holes.
Reaching the upper reaches of the dried-up stream, the pool stopped and crouched beside a large rock. Beneath the rock was a dark crevice, from which a cool breeze blew, carrying the scent of moisture, earth, and mildew—like the smell of a long-unopened basement. The enormous oak tree stood beside the rock, its roots exposed, tangled and intertwined with the stone like countless gray snakes coiled together, their heads and tails indistinguishable.
"Here," Chi Quan pointed to the gap.
Kai walked over, squatted down, and peered inside. The crevice was very narrow, less than half a meter at its widest point and perhaps only twenty centimeters at its narrowest. It was pitch black inside; he couldn't see anything, only feel the cool breeze blowing out and onto his face, chilly and carrying a unique, damp, tomb-like smell.
"Can I get in sideways?" Kai asked.
"Yes," Chi Quan said. "I went in once before. After you go in, go down twenty meters and the space will become larger. The entrance to the underground river is behind that big rock. The rock blocks most of the gap, leaving only an opening less than half a meter high. You have to crawl through that opening. After crawling through, you'll reach the underground river. The riverbed is quite wide, so you can walk by bending over without crawling."
Tenten took the ninja tool pouch from behind her waist, hugged it to her chest, and tested its width. The pouch was too thick; she couldn't fit it in even sideways. She opened the pouch and divided its contents into two parts—one part was stuffed into the inside pocket of her coat, and the other was tied around her thigh. Kunai and shuriken were stuck in the straps on her thigh, smoke grenades and flashbangs were stuffed into her pocket, and bandages and styling powder were secured with rubber bands and hung around her neck. Her movements were quick and practiced; she completed the redistribution in less than ten seconds.
Neji took off his coat, leaving him in only a thin black long-sleeved shirt. His Byakugan remained activated, monitoring the movements of the White Zetsu around him.
"The three nearest White Zetsu are to the southeast, about 1,300 meters away, and moving westward. They haven't spotted us."
Chi Quan was the first to squeeze into the crevice. He lay sideways, his face pressed against one side of the rock wall and his back against the other, inching his way in. The rock wall was covered with slippery moss, and his clothes squeaked as they rubbed against it, like wiping glass with a wet cloth. The air in the crevice was cold and damp; inhaling it felt like drinking ice water, the chill spreading from his throat to his chest.
He moved down about ten meters, where the space became slightly larger. He changed his posture, from a sideways stance to a half-squatting position, holding onto the rock wall with his hands and stepping on protruding rocks, descending step by step. The rocks under his feet were slippery, some loose, and would wobble when stepped on, making his heart tighten. He used chakra to adhere to the soles of his feet, making each step firm and not giving the rocks a chance to slip.
Kai's voice came from behind. Kai was stronger than him, and squeezed into the crevice even more tightly than the pool. His shoulders were almost being squeezed down by the rock walls on both sides. With each movement, he had to first "pull" his shoulders out of the rock wall and then squeeze them into an even lower position. His tight-fitting clothes scraped white marks on the rock wall, like chalk lines drawn on a blackboard.
"We've arrived," Chi Quan said.
His feet touched the bank of the underground river. It was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Chi Quan pulled a glow stick from his pocket, folded it, and a green light shone from it, illuminating a small patch of space around them. They stood on the bank of an underground river, which was narrow, less than a meter wide, with wet, soft mud underfoot, like stepping on a giant, water-soaked sponge. The underground river was on their right; the water was black, and under the glow stick's green light, it looked like a dark green ribbon, flowing slowly and silently, its surface smooth as a mirror, without waves or ripples.
Neji was the last to come down. His Byakugan couldn't see clearly—not because it was faulty, but because the chakra underground was too mixed. The river water contained trace amounts of chakra, whether natural or introduced from elsewhere, these chakra particles floated and moved like countless tiny specks of light, interfering with his Byakugan's vision. He could see general outlines, but not details; it was like looking through frosted glass.
Holding a glow stick, Chi Quan walked a short distance upstream along the riverbank. He found the entrance to the underground river, half-blocked by a large rock. The rock was shaped like a giant goose egg, smooth and without edges, its surface worn smooth by the erosion of water for countless years. The gap between the rock and the riverbank was about half a meter high and thirty centimeters wide; an adult would have to crawl on their stomach, wriggling like a snake, to cross it.
"Go in from here," Chi Quan said. "Climb about twenty meters, and the river will widen so you can stand up."
He held the glow stick in his mouth, lay down, his belly pressed against the mud and sand, and slowly crawled into the gap. The mud and sand were cool and wet, quickly soaking through his clothes and clinging to his skin like being gripped by a giant, icy hand. His chin rubbed against the stones at the bottom of the river, which were covered in moss and slippery. It didn't hurt when he rubbed against them, but it itched—an itch that gave him goosebumps all over.
Kai followed behind. His shoulders were too broad, and the gap between them was too tight for him. He tried twice, but his shoulders were firmly stuck in the stone, unable to move in or out. He was trapped in the middle of the gap, like a cork stuffed into a bottle that was too small, unable to be pulled out or pushed in. His breathing became rapid, not from fear, but from exertion. He took a deep breath, pulled his shoulders in a little, and then pushed them out a little, but the stone didn't budge.
"Neji." Kai's voice came from the gap, muffled, as if through a wall.
Neji activated his Byakugan to its maximum and stared at the gap between the large rock and the cliff face for two seconds. He saw a very slight angle between the rock and the cliff face—the bottom of the rock was closer to the cliff face than the top, meaning the rock was tilted. If he didn't crawl upright on the riverbed, but instead turned sideways, letting his shoulders rise and fall as he passed, he could get across.
"Teacher Kai, turn to the side, raise your left shoulder and lower your right shoulder."
Kai did as he was told. He raised his left shoulder almost to ear level and pressed his right shoulder almost against his ribs, twisting his upper body into a contorted angle. Then he shifted forward, his shoulder sliding through the gap like a fish slipping through a hole in a fishing net.
Tenten and Neji also crossed over. The four of them stood in the riverbed of the underground river, bent over, their heads almost touching the rock wall above them. The riverbed was about 1.5 meters high, and the pool was 1.7 or 1.8 meters deep. They couldn't stand upright and could only walk by bending over. The water reached their knees. It wasn't deep, but it was very cold, cold to the bone, like countless ice needles pricking their skin.
Chi Quan raised the glow stick a little higher and looked around. The underground river wasn't straight; it meandered, and after each bend, the view ahead was obscured. The rock walls had patterns eroded by the water, like huge, distorted sheets of paper.
The distorted face looked like it was screaming silently in the green light. Stalactites hung from the rock wall overhead, and water droplets dripped from the tips of the stalactites into the river, making a "drip-drop" sound, one after another, like someone striking a very old bell in the far, deep underground.
The four of them walked bent over in the underground river for nearly forty minutes.
Chi Quan walked at the front, his right hand constantly touching the left side of the river's rock face, not for balance, but to count the patterns on the rock. He had said that from the entrance to near Pheasant Feather Valley, the patterns on the rock face of the underground river had three different directions—horizontal, vertical, and diagonal. Horizontal patterns indicated that the river was straight, vertical patterns indicated that it was curved, and diagonal patterns indicated that the river was forking. After the horizontal patterns appeared twenty-three times in a row, a fork would appear; the left side was a very narrow tributary, and the right side was the main stream. Take the right side. After walking for another fifteen minutes, you would see light shining down from above—that was a natural shaft on the north side of the mine. Climbing up the shaft would lead to the ground on the north side of the mine, less than fifteen li from Pheasant Feather Valley.
Chi Quan's hand touched twenty-three horizontal lines. Then he felt a fork in the road.
"We've arrived." Chi Quan's voice carried far in the underground river, the echo bouncing between the rock walls, as if several Chi Quan were speaking at the same time in different places.
He glanced to his left. The entrance to the tributary on the left was so small that a person would have to hunch their shoulders to squeeze in.
There was no sound, no light, nothing in the tributary; it was like an open, dark, toothless mouth, waiting for something to go in before closing.
He glanced to his right. The river channel on the right was a little wider and shallower than the main stream. The water looked transparent under the green light, and you could see the pebbles on the riverbed, one by one, round and plump, like countless huge chess pieces that had been rounded by the water.
The pool and spring look up.
About ten meters above my head, there was a small spot of light.
It wasn't the light from a glow stick. It was sunlight. Sunlight leaked down from the top of that shaft, traveled a vertical distance of ten meters, scattered and attenuated in the air, until it reached the top of the underground river and was reduced to a tiny patch of light, like a glowing nail head nailed to the ceiling.
Chi Quan pointed to the spot of light above his head.
"Go up from there."
97
Kai was the first to climb up. He was the best at physical combat, and climbing a vertical rock face was almost as easy for him as walking on flat ground.