Oyashiro back tracked to the circular room and pressed another section of wall at the far side, a huge section of wall slid to the side revealing a wider and firmer opening. A few feet in and the could see a long flight of stairs going down ."If you have any sources of illumination, you should use them now. " Oyashiro said
Yugao , Yak.u.mo and Itachi took out torches while Jun simply hovered a small ball of fire above his hand and activated his runic eyes. As they went deeper , they realized that although the flight of stairs had steps of shallow depth, their width and the large number of them a.s.sured that they were travelling a long distance. After a while, they finally entered an enormous cave like structure , with boiling hot springs of red color water and red colored steam was prominent everywhere.
"Be ready . there will be patrols of guards here as the strongest of the clan always stay inside the ruins. That is how they escaped the detection of the world out side and everyone thinks they are dead. Those in the settlements outside are the lowest members of the clan made to face all the dangers outside. "
They all continued forward until the saw an enormous crater , hundreds of feet in depth and a few tens of meters in diameter. Apart from a solitary rock column at the center, it was filled with boiling red water.
"This is the first and extremely obvious combination of trap and challenge. We need to get to the top of the column and pull on a chain attached to the ground there. Unfortunately, the water around it is as hot as boiling metal as well as poisonous, it will instantly corrode all organic matter it touches." Oyashiro explained.
Before they could decide what to do Jun stepped forward "Leave it to me!" Declaring so he took a running start and leaped off the edge of the crater. While in midair , three special runic Kunai appeared in his hands. He three one towards the team and it got stuck on the ground right in front of their feet. Holding the other two, one on each hand, he turned towards the column. He threw one Kunai towards it and as it reached halfway the distance , Jun instantly appeared beside it. Clutching the Kunai with the hand that threw it , he threw the other Kunai and again teleported and reappeared beside it as it reached the top of the column. Storing both of them away in his inventory as soon as he touched the ground with his feet, he bent down and saw the thick black chain with Fuinjutsu seals on it attached to a big crescent moon made from black metal. He grabbed it with both hands and gave a mighty tug.
Bddoommmm!!
Enormous gears turned around the ruins as two huge sections of the wall opened like a door, revealing dozens of men and women with glowing red eyes staring at them. Jun instantly teleported back using the Kunai thrown at his team"s feet and picked it up . Turning towards the red eyed enemies , he flipped the Kunai once before clutching it in reverse and said "Shall we start the party ?"
Both sides abruptly rushed towards each other, only Yugao and Yak.u.mo stayed behind; Yugao to protect Yak.u.mo and Yak.u.mo to cast long distance Genjutsus and confuse the enemies. Itachi attacked with his Kodachi, once in a while sending a fireball or two among the groups of people. Kakashi and Oyashiro were quick and efficient, Kakashi using a Kunai with lightning coating it while Oyashiro taking enemy"s head and limbs off using his chakra enhanced wires. But the scariest was Jun, who without holding back even for a moment was dodging and flashing amongst them like a Ghost. Each time his Kunai flashed, blood spurted like a fountain. He was for the first time using Flying Thunder G.o.d in a ma.s.s fight like the Fourth Hokage did. Seeing the terrifying aftermath of his attacks, Kakashi was reminded of why the Fourth was called the Yellow Flash, and he was sure that the Black Flash will be born in future [Niks : Attributing to Jun"s Black Hair].
It was over in a few minutes. Kakashi stared at the dead bodies a while before asking oyashiro
"I couldn"t help but notice, the weapons that these people were using turned to red water as soon as they died." Kakashi noted "Were they all --"
"Yes, they all used they red water around us " Oyashiro affirmed "In some cases , they used their own blood."
"Ketsuryugan!" Itachi muttered and was overheard by Oyashiro who nodded again
"Yes, Ketsuryugan gives control over high mineral content liquid like blood and this red water that contains high amounts of rust and iron. Also like Sharingan of Uchiha Clan it gives us high control over Genjutsu, but that ability was lost to the history after we were made to live here , imprisoned like animals which made us more dependent on our ability to control this red water rather than using Genjutsu."
"I am sorry" Itachi whispered, his face a few shades paler
"Do not worry young Uchiha" Oyashiro said as he had already seen Itachi activating his eyes during the fight "Your ancestor"s faults are not your own."
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After they caught their breath, they went into the right section instead of the left, as Oyashiro said left one is just a dead end and rest spot for clan members. Continuing down on the right path they reached a huge gateway flanked by two cliff like structures.
"That"s the entrance to the deepest part of the ruins, the mirror and the test to obtain it will be inside. I can accompany no further, you will have to do it by yourselves. I will stay here and try to buy as much time as I can against the rest of the clan . Hurry back as soon as possible."