Ginta was turned away from Kakashi and the dogs when the first sharp shock of unleashed chakra burst from the very walls around them in response to Kakashi’s jutsu. In the time-dilated moment that accompanied the adrenaline surge, Ginta saw fire billow down the concrete walls like a waterfall, a slow-motion cascade of death. He shouted a warning, and even that sounded slow to his own ears. Lightning crackled through the flames, making every hair stand on end, filling the room with the fresh tang of ozone. It lanced down from the ceiling near the passage to the exit like deadly prison bars, and as soon as one leader touched ground another shot off, getting closer with every strike.

Heat from the chakra-fueled flames made the concrete pop and crack, rapidly turning the small room into a killing furnace. Almost without thinking, Ginta called up chakra of his own and cast a water jutsu, condensing moisture from the snow-laden air into a skin of water, forming a bubble around himself, Kakashi, and the dogs.

The lightning struck it, finding direction now, and a target in Ginta’s jutsu. There was a blinding flash and roar, the water vaporized in an instant, and a second bolt jagged straight for Ginta, then forked and diverted around the Konoha ninja. Ginta backed up, catching sight in his peripheral vision of Kakashi directing the electric flow down into the ground.

“We have to—” Ginta started, but the ground under him heaved and buckled, and then the walls and ceiling fractured into jagged slabs, crashing down. Baiji yelped, and Kakashi fell, as a chunk of masonry smashed into his skull from his blind side.

The cave-in was progressing from the entrance. Ginta vaulted backwards over his fallen comrade, poured another burst of water over them both, and grabbed one unresisting arm. He hauled hard, dragging Kakashi through flame and into the passageway to the sleeping quarters, as another chakra-made earthquake rattled more ceiling down.

“Get out of there!” Ginta shouted into the dust-choked darkness, and hoped the dogs would obey. A long fissure tore through the hall’s ceiling, as a tremendous gust of heated air blasted into them. Something huge and heavy slammed into Ginta, knocking him into the wall and a broken slab of falling ceiling, smashing his face against shattered concrete and twisted rebar.

He reeled back, heard a whine, and grabbed onto Baiji’s collar as the mastiff forced both men further up the passage. Ginta tightened his grip on Kakashi, hoping against logic that the man was still alive, and fell through the last door, the one to the toilets and showers, just as the corridor walls shuddered and collapsed.

He fell to the tiled floor, sick and dizzy, with his heart racing and his throat choked with dust, and pulled Kakashi down atop himself. There was a whine, deep and anxious, as Baiji moved to stand over them, and a sharp cough from near his ear.

“Kid, are you okay?”

“Pakkun?” Ginta whispered.

The hideous rumbling from outside died away, as the trap jutsu spent themselves. And then an eerie red light glowed from the mirror above the sinks. Lettering. Ginta sat slowly up, staring as the words materialized:

Dear Kumo Ninja,

Thanks for a great time, hope you die slowly.

Love, Team Bad-Ass.

Ginta shivered, pulled Kakashi’s head into his lap, checked for a pulse — thank gods there was a pulse — and felt his whole body shake with something that wasn’t nearly a laugh.