Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 71: Belief

We took our positions as we closed in on the Sound Four and Sasuke.

So close, so close!, I thought excitedly.

Liz was beside me as we peeked into the clearing where they were resting. All I saw was the Sound Four but my chakra senses told me something else. A large casket was in the middle of the clearing with Tayuya sitting on it.

I stiffened and I could hear my blood pumping in my ears, Is he dead?!

Liz patted me softly on the back, "If Orochimaru went to all that trouble to mark him and send the Sound Four to escort him personally, he should still be alive," she reasoned.

I realized that what she said was true and slowly, I regained control over my senses. I looked beside me to see Neji and Shikamaru nodding in agreement. As if their nodding had given us away, Sakon leaped up and threw a kunai at us. We dodged it but I saw what had been tied to the end of the kunai.

"Skin Shield Jutsu!" Liz and I cried.

She wrapped Shikamaru in a tight embrace while I covered Neji. Even though our skin was protected from the heat of the blast, the force of the blast itself sent us flying out of our hiding spot. Three tags created an amazingly large explosion. I tumbled over Neji and as we struck the ground heavily, the impact made me release my grip on him. The four of us skidded to a stop at Sakon's feet. I immediately rolled onto the balls of my feet, ready to pounce but my battered body told me otherwise.

"Oh? What's this?" Sakon chuckled, "I just tried throwing the kunai and found four bugs instead of a snake," he jeered.

I bared my teeth at them but didn't say anything. We had to follow Shikamaru, our leader even though he was of even status with Liz and I.

"Hold on, wait a minute!" Shikamaru requested, getting up to his feet, "We didn't come here to fight. We just came here to negotiate," he insisted.

Kidoumaru forced a laugh, "Then what are these?" he threw his six arms up and when he pulled them down again, three invisible strings were pulled taut, dragging Naruto, Choji and Kiba with them.

Kiba took his cue to throw his smoke bomb. Once it hit the ground, thick, purple smoke billowed of out it, making the air opaque.

"Heh, what is the meaning of this smoke bomb? There's no way you can get away from me," Kidoumaru bragged, "These strings are thinner yet stronger than wires, so you can barely see them," he wiggled his fingers, using the strings attached to them to fan the smoke away, "My strings are laid out all around the area."

"Damn it," Kiba cussed, rubbing the arm that he had landed on.

"Ow..." Naruto whined.

"The two wire traps were set like that on purpose," Shikamaru realized, "So it was a triple trap."

I studied our opponents, they were cunning... much too cunning.

"You got me," Shikamaru acknowledged, "I didn't think you had someone with such technique."

I struggled to stop a smirk from reaching my face as the next phase of our plan unfolded.

"Heh, I'll get you guys-" Kidoumaru stopped his own sentence as he tried to take a step forward but couldn't, "What the? My body..." Kidoumaru panicked.

"Nicely done, Kiba, Shikamaru!" Naruto cheered.

I let the smirk take over my face, "Shadow Copy Jutsu is quite handy, eh?"

The Sound Four were all trapped in Shikamaru's stealthy jutsu.

"But we have this technique. Thanks for letting everything go according to our plan," Liz said, a confident smile playing on her lips.