Prologue

“Owl, slow down. The floor’s getting bloodier.” A quiet voice murmured as a group of four made their way down the dark, musty hallway. Blood coated every surface, staining some walls completely red.

“This base has been unused for at least a decade. The blood’s dried by now.” Someone responded back, making the prior speaker frown in concern. Something didn’t feel right about this place, and it wasn’t because of the torture and experimentation that used to happen within the underground building.

“Oh, it’s a dead-end.” Owl murmured, adjusting his ANBU mask as he stared at the solid wall that stood in front of him. His three teammates gathered around him, one concentrating their chakra to their eyes.

“Byakugan!”

Before even five seconds had passed, the woman wearing a cat mask stumbled back, her hand moving to her mask-covered mouth as she gasped.

“Cat? What is it?!” Owl murmured, alarmed as he turned to his teammate.

“That wall….it keeps chakra restrained inside a room. Inside….well, there’s such a high density of chakra that I can’t see anything.” She answered, eyes narrowing as she strained to see a person or anything else that would cause such extreme amounts of chakra. After a few moments she caught sight of two figures huddled together in one corner only….what were they….?

“There are two people inside the room. They seem to be….” The woman paused and blushed. “They’re lips are on each other’s necks….both male. They seem to be feeding on each other’s chakra.”

“If it’s a solid room, they probably don’t have any food. But, theoretically, if you keep your chakra up you can still live years passed the point of starvation.” The last member of the four-man squad stated, his face covered with a hawk mask.

The worrier of the group sighed, massaging his wolf mask as if he was actually touching his forehead. “Alright….here’s what we’ll do. We’ll throw a sleep powder bomb inside the room after I punch a hole through it. If the chakra is too overwhelming like Cat says however….well, try to throw the bomb before you freeze up.”

“Got it.” The three synchronized, each pulling out a small blue ball that looked similar to a smoke bomb. Readying himself, Wolf moved his chakra to his hand and lunged forward, letting out his chakra in the split second that his fist connected with the wall.

Immediately it crumbled, steel and rock flying into the room. Wolf froze as soon as he cracked the wall and he caught sight of Cat and Hawk freezing as well, their sleep powder bombs still clutched in their hands. Owl, however, had frozen with his arm high in the air, the sleep powder exploding within the room.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Wolf was able to sense the two boys fall asleep immediately and their chakra levels lower enough so that he could move. Straightening himself, he cautiously made his way over to the corner and stared at the two unconscious males. They both appeared to be sixteen and only a ratty hospital gown littered with holes and grime covered their bodies. They were stick thin with their ribs obviously seen from their torso while their cheek bones were highly evident on their faces.

“Hawk, Owl – grab them. We’ll head to Konoha immediately.” Wolf ordered and the two males nodded.

Cat stepped up to her squad leader as the two males did as ordered and spoke in a mere whisper. “You sure this is okay? Those boys….there is no telling what they did when Orochimaru used this hideout. The blood in the hall—”

“Everyone can change and everyone deserves the chance to.” Wolf murmured, crossing his arms as he cut his teammate off.

Cat stared at him for a moment before nodding and taking a few steps away, her Byakugan activated as she searched for any more signs of chakra. But, there was still the possibility of more chakra restricting rooms lowering the sensing rate to a person down to that of a mere mouse.

Sighing, Cat shook her head. “I don’t sense anyone else, but there may be more rooms like this one somewhere.”

“We’ll come back again. Let’s get these two to the hospital first.” Owl grumbled, the purple haired boy being carried bridal style in his arms.

“Alright.”