The floor of the cavern sloped up gradually from the sea-tunnel entrance, damp and sandy, scattered with chunks of broken rock and crunchy cave-creature shells. Water pooled in shallow depressions; more small creatures with too many legs scuttled outside the narrow circle of Ryouma's light-stick.

Ten meters from the rock pool where they'd cleaned up, the ceiling curved down to find the floor, like some enormous lava bubble. Two roughly oblong tubes led out. One curved back to the left, out to sea again; the other vanished into darkness, straight ahead. Inland?

At least the ceiling stayed clear of Ryouma's head, for now.

Satomi took point. Ryouma'd expected Kakashi to argue, maybe even jockey for position, but instead he slouched back and tied his eyepatch on. The air grew warmer, and the strong salt smell of the sea turned musty.

The lava tube narrowed, forcing them to walk single file. Translucent insects with many-jointed limbs crept over the walls, feeding on glowing fungi and each other. Something dripped into Ryouma's hair. He nearly bit through his tongue, but he brushed it away without looking.

After only a few minutes of silent hiking, Satomi stopped. "There's something ahead." She crouched, feeling over the rock floor with her fingertips, and then threw a pebble up the path. It splashed in darkness. She drew a breath. "Trap of some kind."

"So disarm it," Kakashi said, sounding bored.

Satomi glanced back irritably. "No wonder half your missions end up in the hospital."

"Ahhh," Ginta said, slipping past Ryouma. "You're as charming as the rest of your cousins, Uchiha-san. Hatake, your reputation for teamwork precedes you."

Satomi straightened, thin-lipped. Kakashi glanced sidelong at Ginta and then away, with a studied nonchalance.

"Any idea what kind of death we're looking at?" Ginta inquired. "Crushed from above? Garotted as we pass by? Dropped into a bottomless pit?"

"There's a trigger-seal carved into the cave floor, beneath that pool," Satomi said, pointing. "Just disturbing the water didn't set it off, but there's enough residual chakra that the trap likely hasn't decayed."

"Chakra-walk around it?" Ryouma suggested.

There was just enough room in the passage for a kage bunshin to puff into being beside him. He jerked his chin at it. The clone grimaced and took off jogging up the curving side of the basalt wall.

Satomi stepped back from the water and folded her arms to watch. Kakashi tipped his head, focusing his good eye. Ginta took another prudent step backward, just as the faint light of the clone's glow-stick caught a reflection in the water below.