The forest gave way to barren earth and cracked stone as the team approached Lab Alpha. The silence was different this time, no twisted chakra signals, no eerie hums, just the cold weight of a facility long abandoned but still dangerous.
The shift in terrain was unsettling, trees that had once concealed their approach now fell away, leaving them exposed to the vast stretch of jagged rock.
The ground was littered with broken weapons, half-buried kunai, and fragments of rusted metal, silent reminders of those who had come before and never returned.
A cold wind pressed against their cloaks, carrying the faint metallic tang of old blood and scorched chakra.
Kakashi led the advance, shadowed by his ANBU operatives moving with seamless precision. Their masks gleamed faintly under the pale light, each step measured, soundless, and deliberate.
Though silent, their presence gave the group an added edge of security, an invisible wall between the unknown and the team's exposed path forward.
Naruto and Sasuke followed close behind, their strides steadier than before, their senses honed from Beta's trials.
Where once they might have bickered or tried to outpace each other, now their movements carried discipline. Every step, every glance, every flicker of chakra was intentional.
Naruto's blue eyes scanned the terrain carefully, noting cracks in the walls that could hide traps. He felt his heart beating faster, but it wasn't the reckless excitement of before, it was tempered by caution, sharpened into awareness.
Sasuke's Sharingan flickered, decoding faint chakra residue left in the air, signs of recent security jutsu left untriggered. The faint red glow of his eyes painted the cracked stone around them in ghostly hues.
"Naruto, check the east corridor. Sasuke, you're with me in the main hall." Kakashi's low voice came through.
Naruto nodded, the excitement barely contained. This wasn't reckless wandering anymore, it was a mission. His body remembered every lesson from Beta, every close call, every scar.
His instincts, once wild and unpredictable, were now sharpened into tactical awareness. He moved quietly, sensing and avoiding dangers that might have caught him before. The faint ripple of chakra lines in the dust made him slow, guiding his steps between them.
"These will alert us if we move too fast or make noise," he whispered. Sasuke's gaze never wavered, analyzing and adapting rapidly.
He pinpointed a cluster of old, still-active chakra seals in the main hall. The seals pulsed faintly like dying embers, fragile yet deadly.
"Disable them." Kakashi nodded.
The trio worked with seamless coordination. Naruto's raw power and quick reflexes counterbalanced Sasuke's precision, while Kakashi's strategic mind orchestrated every step.
To an outside eye, it might have seemed rehearsed, but in truth, it was instinct born from shared battles and mutual trust.
Inside Lab Alpha, the equipment was staggering, shelves lined with glass containers holding biological samples: strange, half-evolved cells and frozen tissue, some pulsating faintly with residual chakra.
The air inside was sterile yet oppressive, as if the walls themselves still remembered the screams of experiments long past.
Rows of data pads flickered with incomplete research logs: failed experiments in genetic splicing, notes on forbidden jutsu, and encrypted files detailing experimental tailed beast grafting.
The symbols scrolled across dimly glowing screens, harsh and clinical, a mockery of natural life.
Naruto poked a large, armored case labeled "Chimera Research Unit" with curiosity. The metal groaned faintly, sealed by complex locking mechanisms carved with Orochimaru's style of sealing formulas.
"Handle with care. These are unstable." Kakashi's gaze was sharp.
"These samples are attempts to create hybrid subjects, half-human, half-beast. The chimera project failed often but produced dangerous side effects." The Orochimaru clone, who had been studying the data intensely from the rear, moved forward to identify the most critical items.
His pale fingers hovered over each vial and scroll, his expression unreadable, though the spark of fascination betrayed him.
"This one contains a concentrated essence of tailed beast chakra. Highly volatile but invaluable for research." He said as he held up a crystalline vial, dark and swirling.
Sasuke took detailed notes, already thinking of ways to counter similar jutsu if faced in battle. His Sharingan scanned every formula, burning each into his memory.
Naruto's eyes gleamed with renewed resolve.
For him, every discovery was not just a threat, but a challenge, proof that he had to keep growing stronger to face what lay ahead.
…
Lab Gamma presented an entirely different challenge. Unlike the other two, Gamma was a fortress, fortified with reinforced walls and guarded by automated chakra defenses still humming quietly.
The oppressive barrier surrounding it thrummed like a living heartbeat, daring intruders to step closer. The team's entry required delicate teamwork.
Naruto triggered a series of wind jutsu to disrupt the energy fields, his Chakra Flow Manipulation allowing bursts of well-aimed blasts to short-circuit the defenses. Sparks crackled as seals fizzled out, dissolving into thin smoke.
Sasuke's Sharingan locked onto the defense patterns, predicting and countering the traps as they unfolded. His movements were precise, a single hand sign shifting an entire line of chakra before it detonated.
Kakashi observed, satisfied with their progress and his decision not to intervene in many things was a wise one.
Kakashi then moved quickly to the control panel, dismantling the final lockdown mechanisms with precise seals and hand signs. Each motion was exact, honed by years of experience, one mistake, and the entire facility could collapse or worse, activate its self-destruct systems.
Inside, the laboratory was a maze of experimental devices, machines designed to siphon and refine chakra from living hosts, others that recorded neural activity during combat, and an array of cloaked vessels containing unidentifiable, moving shapes beneath thin membranes.
The low hum of machinery filled the halls, creating the illusion that the lab still breathed.
The Orochimaru clone was in his element, immediately examining one device. "This is a chakra siphoning unit, highly dangerous. If activated improperly, it can drain an entire village's chakra reserves." His voice carried both warning and intrigue, a mixture that unsettled Naruto.
"We take these devices but ensure none fall into the wrong hands," Kakashi said.
Their haul was substantial. They collected research logs, encrypted jutsu formulas, biological samples ranging from tailed beast cell cultures to experimental DNA strands, and experimental devices requiring constant chakra regulation.
Each item was cataloged, sealed, and marked with care, the process was painstaking but necessary.
…
The journey back to Konoha was long but steady. The team moved with the weight of success pressing on their shoulders, both the physical burden of their haul and the knowledge of what they had uncovered.
Naruto occasionally glanced over at Sasuke, who carried his share of the recovered material with calm efficiency. The two had grown immeasurably since the start of this campaign; they were no longer simply students but vital parts of a well-oiled machine. Their rivalry had become fuel, pushing them both forward, but no longer slowing them down.
Kakashi kept the mood professional but lighter than expected. "Good work," he said quietly, "but this is only the beginning. Orochimaru's labs are many, and we've only scratched the surface."
"We're ready for the next step." Naruto grinned.
"These labs were only the surface of a much larger network. Others may remain hidden or still active. We must stay vigilant." Orochimaru clone added.
Upon reaching the village gates, their arrival was met with strict security protocols. The haul was transferred under close guard to a specialized intelligence depot deep within Konoha's compound.
The ANBU formed a protective wall, their eyes sharp, masks emotionless, treating each scroll and device as though it could explode at any second.
Kakashi would go with Orochimaru to retrieve them later before submitting a simple report of the mission to the ANBU HQ. He didn't need to but he did this for Naruto and Sasuke so that it could be in their Ninja resume.
Kakashi personally oversaw the transfer, ensuring every sample and device was sealed into specially modified storage scrolls, crafted to suppress and stabilize dangerous chakra, protecting handlers and preventing leaks. His gaze lingered on each seal, double-checking, unwilling to leave any margin for error.
As the last scroll was sealed, Kakashi turned to his team, and they went to the ANBU HQ.