Path of Good and Evil- Naruto Fanfic Book One

Chapter Twelve: Sasuke Retrieval Squad

    The team traveled in the direction Sasuke most likely had taken. Sasuke was traveling with the Sound Ninja Four, the ones who had created the barrier during the fight with Sarutobi. Their names were Tayuya, Sakon, Jirobo, and Kidomaru. They had put a Jutsu in place to heighten the effects of the curse mark and placed him in a special barrel.

    They were headed for the Sound Village and back to Orochimaru. He was in need of a new body. The Immortality Jutsu he used only lasted for three maybe four years before he needed a new body for his soul. That's where Sasuke came in. He intended on stealing his body for the Sharingan.

    "Shikamaru, wait!" Zemaria stopped moving along.

    "Hm? What is it?" He asked stopping.

    Zemaria twitched her head in a few directions, "I can hear heart beats up ahead."

    "Oh man, you can really hear someone's heart beating far away?" Naruto asked.

    She nodded, "Yes. I can hear four of them," she paused, "No wait, there's a fifth. Four are strong and the other is very faint. It might be Sasuke's."

    Shikamaru, "All right, that means there are at least four enemies we'll encounter."

    She twitched her head slightly, "There's three more. They're fast but faint. The enemies might have engaged in a battle with them. They're Leaf Shinobi."

    Neji gasped, "You can tell all of that from their heart beats?"

    "Yes, I can," she said.

    Kiba asked, "How can you tell the difference between those heart beats and ours?"

    "Just like you and Akamaru can determine smell, I determine heart beats. I already know what each of yours sound like... especially Shikkie's," she smiled.

    Neji cringed, "Ugh the horror..."

    "What horror?" Chouji asked.

    "It's nothing to worry about Chouji. Neji, use your Byakugan to see up ahead if the enemy is close," Shikamaru instructed.

    He nodded, "Right. Byakugan! It looks like there's four of them as Zemaria said. I don't see Sasuke but there's a sort of large container and it's possible he's inside."

    Shikamaru came up with a plan. He explained they didn't have time to check on the Shinobi the enemy had fought with. There was also the possibility that the enemy had booby trapped the area after their encounter. He gave each of them their orders and they all got into position.

    The Sound Ninja were actually pretending to rest since they had their guards up now after fighting the Leaf Shinobi. Zemaria was crouched down behind some bushes. She used a transformation Jutsu to turn herself into a ravenous wolf. Readying herself, she crept out of the bushes and then leapt straight for them.

    She let out a fierce growl. The moment she got close enough to Kidomaru, he rammed a kunai into her chest and threw her halfway across their resting spot. She landed on the ground bleeding, the kunai still stuck in her. The transformation Jutsu was released.

    "Well if it isn't Lord Orochimaru's daughter," Kidomaru said with a dark smile.

    "Hold on Kidomaru, Lord Orochimaru made it absolutely clear that we're not allowed to touch his daughter if we had to deal with Leaf Ninja during this mission," Tayuya reminded him.

    Zemaria removed the kunai and healed the wound. Kiba attacked next using fang over fang. As he attacked, Shikamaru got Zemaria out of harm's way. The Sound Ninja had the area booby trapped as Shikamaru suspected. An explosion of paper bombs went off.