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Surface
Naruto reappeared at the surface in a matter of seconds, surprising two of the kunoichi who were waiting their patiently.
Naruto looked at Satsuki and Mikoto and noticed that they had excited smiled on their face, suggesting that they had found something quite interesting within the reasearch facilities or library. He hadn't expected them to be affected by the elimination mission because it was something that they had done countless times before, in Mikoto's case, and at least a few times before for Satsuki. He would make sure to inquire later as to what they were so ecstatic to have in their possession.
Naruto then shifted his gaze towards the blonde and redhead of the group and smiled softly at what he found.
Narumi looked like she was bathed in remorse and trying to figure out whether they were in the right or the wrong with what they did, but other wise she had come out unscathed. He wouldn't say anything at the moment and let her adopt her own views on the kind of mission they had just done. It was best to let her come to her own conclusion rather than force her into his own line of thinking and reasoning, as any other team leader would have done.
Natsuki, on the other hand, was calmly cleaning off the blood that stained her snow-white blade with a cloth that she kept in her weapons pouch. She didn't seem to be too bothered or even shaken up by the fact that she had just taken several lives. Naruto studied her for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders. Sometimes the first kill put everything in perspective for a person. Or perhaps cleaning her sword was just a way to calm her nerves as she thought everything over. Either way, the two girls were in far better mental condition than he had been anticipating. He was glad that the two of them made it out of there alive.
Having them not sobbing over the lives they had taken and forcing him to comfort them was definitely a preferred outcome.
The sound of Naruto's footsteps approaching earned the attention of the Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings, whose faces contorted in shock and horror as they saw the condition that their brother was in.
True enough, Naruto's figure was drenched in blood, however, most of it had been Jūgo's. That didn't take away from the bruising and gashes that marred his frame from their encounter though. As soon as his broken and shattered bones had been repaired, Naruto had cut off his use of the phoenix flames, seeing as how his use of them was limited as of now.
"Nii-san...! Wha-What happen-!" Natsuki started to panic as she saw all the blood, but was cut off as Naruto raised his hand up with a tired expression on his face.
"I don't want to talk about it...I finished my part, that's all that matters." Naruto was a bit disappointed in himself that his current condition had been the result of only taking a few heavy punches. While that man had been incredible strong and natural energy was one of Naruto's few weaknesses, the course of that battle still left a bad taste in his mouth. In the shinobi world, whoever is the one left standing is the victor, no matter the means, but Naruto didn't feel the same way. He could never claim that the outcome of that match had been his victory.
From the tone of his voice and how he avoided the question, it was clear that it was something that he preferred to have left alone. The four kunoichi understood that as they had all done things that they had wished they didn't have to on this particular mission.
"...Why don't we finish up our business here and then move on to the town then?" Mikoto suggested, honestly tired of being in the same vicinity as Orochimaru's compound. She couldn't seem to get the images that Naruto had implanted into her as well as a lot of what she found in the reports she came across out of her head.
Naruto nodded at the suggestion and went through a dozen or so hand seals which erected a large, light blue colored silencing barrier to limit the exposure of the explosion to the outside world. The hideout was located far enough away from the town that it was possible for it to go unnoticed, but he erected the silencing barrier just to be cautious.
"I want the four of you to head into the forest and get away from here, I don't know how large the blast radius will be or even if it will have any result on the surface." Naruto spoke to the kunoichi.
That clearly was not accepted by a few of them. While Stasuki and Mikoto didn't know the full extent of his abilities or even how he was capable of doing such, they knew he wouldn't die from a simple explosion such as this. Natsuki and Narumi were more weary of the situation.
"B-But what about you?!" Narumi had gotten over her previous feelings of remorse to address such a crazy plan.
"I need to stay behind to start the chain reaction of the explosive tags as well as detonate my clones." Naruto spoke calmly, not at all worried that his life was in danger. Even if it was, an explosion couldn't be able to physical harm him like Jūgo had. "I can assure you, I'm in no danger here."
"B-But" Natsuki tried to interject, but was cut off when she felt Mikoto's hand on her shoulder.
"Naru-kun will be fine, he's the mission leader and we still have a mission to complete. He can't just go get himself killed leaving us with all the work, can he?" Mikoto asked jokingly. Seeing Natsuki's expression relax, Mikoto started pulling her away while Satsuki did the same with Narumi. "Now let's follow his orders and put out faith in him."
The two hesitant girls nodded as the Uchiha females Shunshined them out of the area, leaving Naruto behind to finish the destruction of the base.