Although Sakumo did ask Kai to demonstrate a perfect stealth-kill to Minato and Tsume who were inexperienced in the technique so that they may find means to defend against it during their personal training, even the White Fang hadn't expected Kai to perform the most impeccable Silent Killing Technique that Kirigakure is famous for. The concept was known to other villages but only Kiri, with their brutal training regime, produced the most perfect Assassins but...

Sakumo wasn't egotistical enough to deny that Kai could kill him if caught unprepared. From the suppression of noise and scent revealed from his body to stabbing the back of a dark-skinned Kumo shinobi's head and then sealing the body the very moment into a scroll prepared long ago without spilling a single drop of blood on the floor.

It was the most perfect murder Sakumo had seen with simpler techniques and exaggeratedly low consumption of chakra. Of course, fully aware that every guard has a rotation, Sakumo created a clone that transformed into the Kumo nin Kai just killed. It was merely to stall time.

They had entered through an unknown floor of the labyrinth-like facility. While it was covered by an exterior of metal, the interior was made out of hardened earth most likely to be produced out of a jutsu to save cost which meant that either this facility was supposed to be disposable or it most likely needed constant repairs which would have made the cost harder to bear if it was wholly formed to be a metallic structure.

The first thing their team needed to do was locate key individuals or documents that could help them assess the actual threat of this, and the many facilities across the Land of Hot Water. As such, they needed to find the regions where these key sources of information are located.

Hiding when possible and killing when required, again, the act falling on either Kai or Sakumo since this wasn't a training trip and efficiency was regarded supreme currently, Minato and Tsume could only wallow in their own lack of skills at the moment.

One felt he had wasted too much time developing things where there was so much to be mastered, this 'arrogance' only stoked further by his Master.

And the other one felt she had focused herself on too little aspects of combat which opened her to a great deal of weaknesses despite already being a chunin.

But this was no time to console the duo who really were having their actual potential wasted as the remaining duo continued to do what was expected of them from the village— fulfilling their combat potential in missions.

The facility wasn't exactly large. Not many things were going on here but the specification of the facility in such a confusing layer of labyrinth stacked over each floor made Kai curious. Just what was going on here?

Sakumo's expression stiffened for a second when they finally located stairs to the floor below and he calmly informed his team, "My clone was discovered and finally taken down by 13 Kumo nin. That's all I could do without using my signature techniques or transforming into my real body to make use of my true stature for Taijutsu. But, I have news. It seems like we are not the first one to infiltrate this facility... I think it's most likely Iwa. Anyway, they are going to unleash... the freak and the Cerberus."

Others could only speculate what was going on when the walls around them trembled and began to branch and reconnect right in front of them.

Sakumo, Minato, Tsume, and Kuromaru turned to look at him for understanding what was going on fortunately, Kai did know the answer.

"It's a reshaping seal which is going to shift the shapes of walls without increasing or decreasing the size of its mass. Although most of these seals are low-ranked, I'm amazed it's actually being used," Kai mused, "Do you want me to stop it?"

"No," Sakumo smiled, "We can always safely retreat in the mouth of one of my giant ninkens. Right now, I want to see what this Freak and Cerberus are and why the Kumo Shinobi deemed them enough to tackle a Jonin whose clone killed off thirteen of their comrades. They certainly are confident about it so they won't leave. Keep a lookout for surveillance seals if any and deactivate them. I want these men and women blind."

Kai smirked and mocked a salute and they went deeper into the labyrinth. As Sakumo expected, there were surveillance seals that recorded and transmitted sound which Kai quickly deactivated, something that made Minato even more distressed as he had given a lot to try and innovate seals... but again, he failed to look at so many things already present. Compared to Kai, Minato truly felt he had wasted a lot of time but while it may partially be the truth, Minato simply wasn't aware of Kai's own respect toward Minato for his grind.

After the reshaping of labyrinth, Kai made it clear to others that the number of surveillance seals was almost close to twenty on just their floor. It was clear that this shift to the facility was brought specifically to arrange these surveillance seals and if the creators of this facility were so sure that these seals would be used here then it meant—

*Thud*

The earth trembled slightly and the walls shuddered. Team Sakumo instantly grew even more alert.

— that this path was predetermined and the structure of the labyrinth was a ruse meant for outsiders.

Still, this did not stop Sakumo and others from breaking into various rooms. Most of it, again, researchers with a dead body strapped on a table and cut open. These researchers were Minato's and Tsume's kill ONLY after Kai gave them a green sign for it once he found the research tablets. It was gory bits at best with almost all the researchers trying to inject a DNA sample into these specimens. Like what Danzo did with Hashirama Cells but even more primitive and thus, even more deadly. However, all these rooms holding the dead bodies and now, dead 'researchers' who were really nothing more than butchers making the most obvious observations, were a circle holding a triangle within.

"These guys must be expendable," Tsume huffed and threw away another body in front of Kai as if 'presenting' the hunt while Kai continued to store them in his Fuin Coffin. After all... Kai did place Soul Restriction Seals on a few researchers while questioning them so that even if they died, their bodies cannot escape the confines of their flesh and Kai can convert them into spirit bodies to question them later.

In essence... two different techniques formed one Forbidden Technique and Kai was sure that this form of interrogation would fall under the category of Kinjutsu because a little slip-up in the spirit body seal would result in one's own injuries— metaphysical one.

Anyway, Kai did that in hopes of completing the mission. If they, in an unlikely chance, fail to complete the mission and find out the objective of this facility then he could interrogate the souls later and make a personal trip down here should it benefit him now that this place was riddled with his personal Hiraishin Marks.

But... there wasn't really too much confidence in that. As Tsume said, given how Kumo shinobi was 'allowing' Team Sakumo to kill researchers... these individuals must be expendable and won't have damning information.

The sound of something large impacting against the walls, however, continued to echo and it made Kuromaru and Tsume more aggressive by the second. Even Sakumo and others realized that it was most likely the same being whose fur they discovered near their entrance and many other rooms or at least some being related to it.

The sounds grew louder eventually and with one look from Piercing Vision and sensing the almost erratic chakra signature that had long lost its rationality, Kai's gaze was one of wonder and astonishment.

"What is it?" Sakumo questioned as he was already aware of Kai's status as a sensory shinobi.

"A large... dog... I sense multiple heads. So, a dog with hmm... four heads is clawing its way here, breaking every wall as we speak so I think it can sense us... all four of them."

"A dog? Leave it to me," Tsume smirked when Sakumo held Tsume by the back of her collar and retorted, "No need. You say the beast can break through these walls, right? Can you sense the entrance it came through?"

"How would I sense an entrance?" Kai looked at Sakumo weirdly since the act was outside of the norm of regular sensors and he instantly felt a sense of confirmation from Sakumo as the man nodded.

"We set a trap to stall the beast. This must be the Cerberus they were talking about. We have yet to account for one more Freak. After trapping the beast, we make a break for the entrance it came through. You two are up," He still continued to keep Tsume midair while picking her up with the nape of her neck as she had long stopped flailing her limbs around and dejectedly stayed floating. Sakumo just couldn't risk letting the beast loose who respected Kai more than the Team Leader of the team.

Minato and Kai, meanwhile, got down to set up traps sealed and triggered by touch-sensitive fuinjutsu.

---

*Thuc— Crash*

Raising a cloud of dust in its wake and its large silhouette not even given a chance to properly form within the screen of dust, a tremendously large brown-furred beast rushed out while barking loudly with all four of its head bundling over its neck. The moment it rushed in, dozen of poof of smokes launched hundreds of kunais tied to red-bordered explosive tags that, the beast knowingly roared loudly at the sight and whipped a burst of wind that made all the kunais impact against one another.

"Whoa~ almost got me," one of the said Kunai casually turned into Kai and pulled back. This was a clone as others had long left the location. It was his turn to use a clone to gather information as Sakumo did previously and honestly, it was refreshing for Kai to see that Sakumo didn't need a brutal awakening to treat the youth as an equal. Age was only a single factor in strength, after all, and young age did not discredit geniuses with its limitations.

*Rawr*

All four heads growled and instantly pounced on Kai as the youth noted relatively short leathery brown wings on its large furry back.

Yet, wielding a tiny senbon, Kai waved it at the distant beast, and a large arc of chakra flowing with wind affinity fueled with all its cutting power invisible to the naked eyes had one of the heads separated from its body.

It was simply the most basic chakra flow of wind elemental chakra utilized with a great amount of chakra. If his trait wasn't so nitpicky, Kai would have named this technique something cool and gained 1 SP since he needed no additional knowledge to achieve this technique.

Surprising Kai, however, was the fact that the dog only went into a physical shock for a second before two more heads visible grew out of the coiling mass of flesh and muscle that only let out a sliver of purplish blood.

*ROAR*

Enraged, now five-headed dog rushed at Kai with all its might as he dodged the quick attack with an even quicker sidestep and threw the same Senbon directly at the beast's neck before forming a seal.

'Senbon Shadow Clones!'

The explosive Senbon instantly multiplied and darted into the large, muscular neck of the beast before collectively exploding.

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

This time, with a rather large gush of purple blood leaking from its entirely decapitated body, Kai observed the beast fall on its side as its heads rolled aside.

However, under the clone's expectant gaze as he still felt the chaos rolling within the beast, the giant dog's neck muscles contracted and cut off the blood flow before growing out into ten heads but instead of being placed laterally, the heads shifted and grew around the neck and the back.

"So.... let's try all the elemental chakra on you, yes, sweet, sweet pup~!" The clone DID have the task to collect information on the beast, after all, and thus test it in many ways imaginable.

***

Shoutout to Ulesys, j n, No Title, and Judd!!

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