A New Path

Ch. 17 The Sound of Battle

Shikamaru kept a steady gaze on the scene in front of him. Two Sound ninja stood in front of what he knew was the Sound base they had been assigned to. The two enemy ninja had their hands near their kunai pouch, ready for any incoming attack. If the first part of his plan was going to work then he would need to actually try, though troublesome it would keep them alive and guarantee a successful mission.

From his spot on the shadows he saw Lee approaching the ninja from their blind side, time for the plan to take effect. "Shadow Possession Jutsu," the Chunin muttered as shadows extended from around him and launched at the two unsuspecting Sound ninja. He held the jutsu in place as Lee charged at the enemy ninja.

The two Sound ninja noticed that they could not move and began to struggle before they opened their mouths to alert the others but before they could utter a single noise, a ferocious kick met their faces, instantly snapping their necks, before falling limply on the ground. The green-clad Genin turned back to Shikamaru and gave him a thumbs up, showing everything was clear for the moment.

"Good job Lee," praised Shikamaru as he got out of his hiding spot followed by the rest of his team, Kiba and Shino. "Part two of the plan will go into effect now. Remember to keep your heads up and walk in the shadows."

Kiba hung his head with a loud sigh. "And here I thought we were going to kick some ass," he complained with Akamaru barking in agreement, "Can't we at least fight a few of them?"

"It would be unwise to get into a meaningless fight," Shino advised in a calm voice, "We're against the odds here, if we are located then our mission will be put in jeopardy."

"He's right and besides, when would I ever listen to a hasty suggestion like that?" Shikamaru said in annoyance, gaining a glare from Kiba, "We've been talking long enough, let's get moving." With that Shikamaru entered the base before being followed by his team. 'This is going to be a pain,' he thought with a sigh before sharpening his eyes. He had to be on his toes now and it wasn't the time to be lazy, it was the time to make sure his team succeeded.

Naruto walked through Orochimaru's base with a sharpened gaze. His team walked behind him with uneasy expressions, save for Neji who had his byakuugan active on Naruto's suggestion. It was a typical base with the same snake pattern on the floor and walls, apparently made in the same maze-like way. Overall it looked like an exact copy of the last base the blond had been in, the only thing that made it different was the ceiling since it hadn't been tempered with for fear of a cave-in, he assumed.

Being made a Chunin and going through what he had made Naruto a lot more cautious than he had been at the beginning of his ninja career. Going into an enemy base without a plan was the last thing he would do, more so if his friend's lives were on the line. He had a clear plan on what to do and planned on leaving the base without too much trouble but knowing his luck something would go wrong, which is why he was highly on the alert. He had not only been assigned to deal with this base, he still had to deal with another base right after this one. This meant that he didn't have much time to waste since he was on schedule.

"This will be far enough," Naruto whispered to his team as he stopped walking. The blond turned to Neji and took a small scroll out of one of the pockets on his Chunin vest, "That contains some explosive tags, they're a little stronger than normal ones since I modified them so you don't have to use too many."

Neji nodded at the Chunin with a firm gaze. The blond proceeded to give similar scrolls to the rest of his team before running a hand through his hair. "Don't worry about them exploding after a set amount of time, they won't go off unless I use a hand sign," he explained, "The clones that went ahead found a crossroads so we'll separate for now. There are three different paths, Neji and I will go in an individual one while Choji and Ino go together. You'll be accompanied by a clone so that I know any of you get into any kind of trouble. Let's get going."