In a forest clearing far from Konoha, the Sound Four appeared exhausted. Sakon leaned against a tree, expressing frustration at their lack of progress. "Resting now means we're wasting precious time," he grumbled. "And we didn't have much time to begin with," he added.
Tayuya acknowledged their dilemma, "It can't be helped. We lose too much strength after we use curse level two to fight."
Jirobo shared his concern, "What troubles me most is the fact that we can't use our bodies."
Kidomaru rationalized their actions, "There wasn't any other way against two jonin. If we tried to conserve our energy, we may have been defeated."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Shikamaru gave instructions to Kiba, the Inuzuka, "Make sure you don't miss the timing when you use the smoke bomb."
"Understood," Kiba responded.
Shikamaru then directed his team, "Okay, let's divide into two squads."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Kidomaru felt one of his strings twitch, alerting him to the presence of an enemy. Shikamaru, Neji, and Menma were hiding in the bushes, and it appeared that they had not yet been detected.
Menma whispered, "Huh, where's Sasuke?" while scanning the area. Neji activated his Byakugan to gather information.
"It seems like Sasuke is within that coffin," Neji said, analyzing the wooden box Tayuya was resting on.
"Is he dead?" Shikamaru asked, feeling slightly nervous.
"There seems to be some sort of barrier surrounding the coffin, and it's difficult to see through," Neji explained.
"However, I doubt they'd kill Sasuke in such a hurry, considering how much they wanted him."
Suddenly, a kunai whizzed past the trio. Menma realized it was tagged with paper bombs, grabbed Neji and Shikamaru by their collars, and jumped out of the bushes as the bombs exploded. The force of the explosion sent them crashing into the ground in front of the Sound Four.
"Eh?" Sakon said,"What's this? Poked the bush and got three bugs instead of rabbits?" He said in a mocking tone.
Jirobo lowered into a stance as shikamaru immediately raised his hands and said, "Wait! We aren't here for a fight, we came to negotiate!"
Kidomaru called his bluff by saying, "Negotiate huh? Then what are these!?" He says as he pulls out Naruto, choji and Kiba out of hiding with his strings.
Kiba acted quickly and threw the smoke bomb obscuring their veiw.
"Haha, what good is a smoke bomb? There's no escape from me." Kidomaru said,"These strings are thinner than wires, but also stronger and harder to detect. I've laid these all over that area." He explained.
"So you purposely made those two wires visible... Triple traps huh..." Shikamaru said
"What a blunder, I didn't even know there was such a technique." He said as a grin graced his face.
"You guys are all-" Kidomaru was interrupted when he realized he couldn't move his body, "Why can't I move!?"
"Nice job shikamaru, shadow paralysis success!" Naruto exclaimed.
Sakon expressed his surprise, "What's going on? You mean you set traps while talking to us?"
Shikamaru explained calmly, "That's right. You should never let your guard down, especially during negotiations."
