"The actual generator should be deeper than the position we can hear, possibly dozens of meters inside the mountain."
The farther they went into the valley, the narrower it became. The mountain walls gradually closed in on either side, squeezing the sky overhead into a winding blue fissure between the treetops and rock faces.
The gravel path abruptly ended at a bend, terminating at the mouth of a cave that had been blasted shut.
The entrance was small, less than two meters across, but the collapse was extensive-the surrounding rock face had been blown apart, and the shattered stone formed a small mountain that sealed the opening completely.
A thin layer of moss had already grown over the rubble. Its yellowish color indicated that the entrance had been blasted shut at least two months ago.
Neji approached the rubble and pressed his left hand against a large rock. His Byakugan saw through its surface to the structure behind the collapse.
"There's an excavated tunnel behind it, with a semicircular cross section. The walls are lined with lead-containing resin, the same material I saw in Otogakure's underground facilities.
About twenty meters into the tunnel is a vertical shaft. It's at least thirty meters deep-the Byakugan can't reach the bottom.
This is one of the entrances to Kabuto's facility, but it isn't the one he's been using recently.
The explosion came from inside-he blew it up himself."
"An abandoned entrance." Guy approached the rubble and rapped his fist against one of the stones on top.
The stone did not budge. The rubble was packed tightly; clearing this entrance would require an engineering crew and blasting equipment.
The four of them could not open it on their own.
"Find a new entrance."
Tenten looked up at the mountain walls on either side.
Like