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.
Sakon sighed, "You got me... but I still have this technique," he said smoothly, I had just noticed that his second head was gone.
All of a sudden, three shurikens came out from behind us. Liz was able to leap in and deflect them but it distracted Shikamaru from his task for just a fraction of a second and he lost his concentration.
"What the? From behind?" he cursed.
The Sound Four were released and they wasted no time in taking up the offensive.
"Earth Technique: Mud Dome," Jiroubo rumbled and he struck the ground with his hands.
The ground beneath us shook and a trail of upraised dirt streaked towards us. When it seemed like it was about to hit us, it went around us in both directions and created a circle that began to build upon itself. Within seconds, the light from the sun was blocked out by the thick dome of dirt.
"Damn it," Shikamaru cursed.
"Where are we?" Kiba asked, intimidated.
"We're inside Jiroubo's barrier, the fat one," Liz spat.
I felt the walls, trying to find a weakness but the walls were evenly built.
"Damn it! Let us out!" Naruto demanded as if the enemy would actually listen.
"Shut up, Naruto," Kiba hissed in annoyance.
"From observation alone, it's a wall made out of soil," Neji commented.
"It's one of their jutsus," I said, "There's no doubt a catch to it, be prepared," I warned.
"Heh, I don't know what it is but all we have to do is break through this wall, right?" Kiba shrugged.
"That's the point, we don't know what it is," Liz said.
"Making moves carelessly is dangerous," Shikamaru counseled, "But, if we don't do anything, it would be even more dangerous," he reasoned.
Kiba took this cue as his chance to attack. He clapped his hands together and concentrated his chakra then threw himself down to all fours before leaping up into the air and spinning in circles at a hundred kilometers per hour.
"Tunneling Fang!" he shouted and he became a mini tornado of destruction.
He rammed into the earth wall and dust and debris buffeted the rest of us as he drilled viciously into the wall. As his jutsu ended, he was clinging onto the wall inside a huge, smoking crater. When he fell to the ground again, the wall began to regenerate, heal itself until no evidence of Kiba's attack existed.
Everyone watched it in silence until Kiba stood up and broke it, "Hey..." he was about to issue a complaint as he pointed to the wall and looked to Neji for confirmation.
"I was watching" Neji assured.
Naruto lost himself, "LET US OUT!" he roared.
My ears rang from the volume of the shout and its echoes.
"So it really isn't just an ordinary wall made of soil," Neji murmured.
"And there's the catch," Liz said through gritted teeth.
"Byakugan!" Neji activated his eyes yet again, he seemed to be shocked about what he saw, "This is..."
"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked.
Neji looked at his hands but wouldn't say anything. Liz and I looked at each other and concentrated, focusing hard.
"Crap," Liz swallowed.
"This is bad," Neji agreed.
"Just tell me what's wrong!" Shikamaru demanded urgently.
I looked at him, "Our chakra is being sucked out. I can sense the drain in everyone's chakra supply."
Everyone gasped at the news aside from Neji who found out first.
"I didn't think they would just leave us trapped inside the barrier, but I didn't think that they'd be leeching off of our chakra," Kiba creased his brows.
"Oh, hell no!" Naruto stomped his feet angrily, "Hurry up and let us out!" Naruto yelled.
With no way out, we could only wait and plan. I pressed myself against the wall and found out that Jiroubo was still outside, he was feeding off of our chakras.
"Sneaky son of a gun," Liz panted as she leaned on her sword, fighting to stay upright.
I took out my sword too and planted it in the ground and shifted my weight onto it. Everyone else was already sitting down.
"I feel like I'm weakening," Naruto breathed.
"That's because you are," Liz retorted half-heartedly.
"Things don't look good if this continues, Shikamaru," Neji said calmly.
"Damn it, it can't be helped. I'll make an air hole before all my chakra is gone," Kiba wheezed, "Akamaru," the dog responded to his master's call immediately, "Here's a soldier pill," he held his hand out to Akamaru and he obediently ate it.
Akamaru's fur turned red and his cute barks became fearsome growls. Kiba ate a pill as well.
"Akamaru! Transformation Jutsu," Kiba ordered and he clasped his own hands together, suddenly, there were two Kibas sitting in the middle of the dome but both with beast-like features.
They lifted their hands, facing each other as if they were mirror images. They slapped their hands against the other and twirled into a ferocious spin.
"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba roared and two mini tornadoes ripped across the area of the dome, drilling holes into the walls, the ceiling and the ground.
"Alright! Good, Kiba!" Naruto pumped his fist happily.
I watched with silence as the wind from their jutsu buffeted us for the second time. Their stamina was great, probably due to the pills they had taken but even then, the impact of their attacks made the ground shake. But they could only continue for so long before they were completely tired out. The craters they had created had smoke spiraling out of it as the wall slowly mended itself.
"Damn it, all the damage I've caused is being repaired," he looked down, panting, and noticed the holes in the ground were regenerating as well, "Damn, same with the ground," he cursed.
I watched the walls regenerate and noticed something that I hadn't been able to notice before. The healing of the walls in different areas were paced differently.
"We won't last ten minutes at this rate!" Kiba fretted, "We'll lose all our chakra," he wheezed.
I thought furiously, Every jutsu had a weakness but what could the weakness be for this one?
Nearby, Naruto was trying to gather a Rasengan in his hand but only after flickering for a few seconds in his hands, it dispersed and seeped into the walls to be consumed by Jiroubo.
"Damn it!" Naruto shouted angrily and squatted down.
Liz and I dragged our feet over to Shikamaru and dropped down to our knees, "Anything happening in that miracle summoning brain of yours?" Liz panted.
Shikamaru was busy retying his bandages around his arm and didn't reply but the look in his eyes both told us that he had some sort of a plan forming behind the scenes. He closed his eyes and creased his brow. Liz wiped her hand across his forehead gingerly.
"Do what you need to do," Liz said softly, her gaze telling him all of her tender feelings she had and the trust that she had placed in him.
Shikamaru looked at the regenerating craters again and unleashed his plan, "Hey! Listen to me!" Shikamaru called, "I want to speak to your leader. We won't pursue Sasuke anymore, so let us out," Shikamaru requested.
"Hey," Kiba watched Shikamaru with his eyebrow raised.
"Shikamaru? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.
I stayed silent myself, my jaw muscles tensed.
Outside, Jiroubo chuckled deeply, "Begging for your life? How interesting" I could imagine the hideous smirk on his face, "However, you guys are my meal. There's no way I'd let you out," he seemed to intensify the rate at which he was sucking out chakra.
"Then just one is enough," Shikamaru bargained coldly, "Just let me out."
I clenched and unclenched my sword hilt as I studied his expression, trying to dig through to his real plan. Everyone else looked shocked and angry to hear Shikamaru's bargain except for Choji and Liz. Liz backed away with her sword in her hand, a look of complete trust on her face as Shikamaru continued to speak.
"This fight... is too troublesome," Shikamaru sighed.
"Damn you! Do you have any idea what you're saying?!" Kiba snarled.
Liz's sword point was in Kiba's face immediately.
"Shut up, Kiba. Be quiet," Shikamaru hissed.
Kiba ignored Liz's sword and stood up, his fists clenched and an angry expression on his face, "What did you say?!" he roared.
Amused laughter erupted from Jiroubo, "Fighting amongst yourselves?" he laughed some more, "Looks like you're the leader yet you're the only one to beg for your life."
Liz's eyes were narrowed and her golden eyes flashed dangerously as Jiroubo continued to open his mouth.
"When humans are placed in a dangerous position, their true nature is revealed. Fools like you don't deserve to have the responsibility of watching out for the lives of your squad," Jiroubo said disdainfully, "What a fine piece of trash you are," he spat.
Liz gritted her teeth and despite all of her lost energy, she gouged a deep hole into the ground with her sword. The ground healed itself again, which only angered Liz further.
"You would abandon Sasuke and sell out your comrades... is that how Konoha Chuunin are?" Jiroubo was obviously having fun with this, "People like you should die. I'm not going to let you out," he sneered.
"Shikamaru! I trusted you!" Naruto exclaimed, hurt, "I've lost my faith in you now! Step outside!" Naruto demanded angrily.
"We can't, you idiot. That's why we're arguing," Kiba scoffed.
"What do you mean 'idiot'?!" Naruto yelled in Kiba's face.
"It's just the truth, idiot!" Kiba retorted angrily, gripping the front of Naruto's shirt.
"You said 'idiot' again!" Naruto began to wrestle with Kiba.
Tempers were rising, we needed to get out soon but I didn't quite grasp how the plan that Shikamaru was using would help us.
"Everyone just shut up for a minute!" Choji growled.
Naruto and Kiba released each other and looked at Choji.
"Choji?" Naruto looked surprised that Choji was capable of saying 'shut up'.
When I looked back down at Shikamaru, his hands were touching in a way that it created it haphazard circle. He was thinking. Liz nodded at me, she knew that Shikamaru wouldn't bail on us. Neji noticed first.
"Now he's speechless," Naruto grumbled, he didn't know Shikamaru like Liz or Choji did, "Jeez, what is he thinking?" he crossed his arms in front of his chest, pouting.
Choji immediately took out a bag of chips and began to eat furiously as if it were a race.
"Hey! Why are you eating snacks right now?!" Naruto demanded, his temper high.
"Tch, when Choji gets pissed, he starts eating like crazy. Jeez, he's also useless," Kiba said with antipathy.
"It can't be helped, I have to use Shadow Clone Jutsu now," Naruto said self-importantly.
"Don't," Neji stopped him, he seemed to be one of the few that hadn't lost their cool, "The wall is too heavily shielded by the enemy's chakra. Even if you damage it a little, it will repair itself immediately... meaning, we must have an explosive taijutsu attack in order to break through the wall in one shot. Otherwise, there's no point in attacking," he explained.
"I can only think of Choji for this job. Liz and I may have powerful attacks, but they are more focused on piercing instead blowing a hole right through the enemy or object," I looked to Choji who was still munching on his chips like there was no tomorrow.
"But..." I was sure that Kiba was doubting Choji's sanity as he watched him devour the chips.
"Damn it, what should we do?" Naruto panicked.
"Yes, god damn it!" Liz jumped up and down happily despite the drain on her energy.
"Why is she so happy?" Kiba asked.
I smiled, "Because we're about to be saved."
The others appraised me with curiosity but if Liz could place her trust in Shikamaru, I could too.
"Neji. Sorry, but, with the rest of your chakra, can you carefully observe the chakra of the wall behind you and Choji?" Shikamaru requested calmly.
"Got it," Neji nodded.
"Shikamaru, shut up!" Naruto raged.
Liz and I were about to come to Shikamaru's defence but Choji beat us to it, "Naruto! You still don't get it?! Remember what Shikamaru said when he gathered us!" Choji's face was slightly red with anger.
Naruto's eyes widened as he recalled what the three of us Chuunin had said.
"Choji, from here on, don't speak too loudly," Shikamaru stood up as if he had awoken from a refreshing nap, "Kiba, could you hit the wall behind Neji and Choji again?" he asked calmly.
"O-okay," Kiba obliged and clapped his hands together, "I don't know what you want but I'll go wild again," he smirked.
Spinning away and drilling into the walls again, the ground shook as the impact tremors bounced against each other. He hit as many places as he could including the spot behind Choji and Neji.
"Heh, no matter how much you try, it's useless," Jiroubo said discouragingly.
No one said anything but we all watched Neji as he studied the walls with his Byakugan. He was looking intently at the place where the wall was healing slower than anywhere else.
"Neji," Shikamaru spoke, "Throw your kunai there as a marker. Choji, are you ready?" he looked so organized, he reminded me vaguely of Kakashi.
"Okay, anytime," Choji's confident smile appeared.
"Good, let's get going then," Shikamaru said.
"Huh? Hey, what's going on?" Naruto asked, completely out of it all.
"As Neji had mentioned earlier, there's chakra on every surface of the wall but every jutsu has a weakness and we've finally figured out the weakness here," I smiled.
Liz continued my explanation, "There is a possibility that there is a low concentration of chakra somewhere. That's what Shikamaru guessed," she glanced proudly at Shikamaru out of the corner of her eye.
"How? How can you know that?" Naruto had one of his usual confused faces on.
"Remember what happened earlier?" Neji spoke up, "When Kiba and Akamaru attacked the surface of the wall, there were fast repairing areas and slow repairing areas and Shikamaru noticed them," he threw the kunai to the slowest healing hole, landing it right in the middle.
"So, he thought that the slower repairing spots meant that the chakra concentration there was lower than anywhere else," I said as I watched the hole close up.
"Then Shikamaru spoke to the enemy in order to confirm his location on the outside," Liz explained.
"Oh..." I didn't know that, "So, after that he could take an accurate guess at where the wall was the furthest away from the enemy and that would be the area with the lowest chakra concentration," I finished, realizing why Shikamaru had been talking to the enemy.
"Isn't that right?" Liz nudged Shikamaru, who only smiled mischievously.
Kiba and Naruto looked at Shikamaru and Choji with new found respect.
"I'm counting on you, Choji," Shikamaru nodded to him.
"Yeah!" he beamed and clapped his hands together, "Expansion Jutsu!" with that, his entire abdomen inflated until his head, hands and feet stuck out like little nubs, "Alright, here I go!" he retracted his limbs and head, "Human Boulder!"
His body spun in a blurring circle and only left a path of destruction behind him.
He slammed into the wall and continued to roll against it as the wall put up a fight, "Roll, roll, roll, roll, roll!" he chanted and with one last burst of energy, he burst through the wall despite Jiroubo's efforts to keep the dome intact.
As soon as he was out, we raced after him, not missing a single beat. Without us inside, the dome crumbled in a useless heap of shattered dirt and rock. We stood facing Jiroubo, smirking as we witnessed his surprised expression.
"Ha, Choji, you really are one of the best," Shikamaru praised.
"... You guys were able to escape my barrier..." he said in a daze.
I checked our surroundings quickly, I sensed no other chakras. Jiroubo was alone.
"Looks like the rest of them went on ahead," Shikamaru remarked.
"Yeah," Neji confirmed using his byakugan, "They're not nearby anymore."
"Damn it," I hissed under my breath.
"Just when we thought we caught up," Shikamaru sighed.
Jiroubo raised his hands above his head and I tensed as I thought he was about to perform another jutsu but he just applauded with a grudging smile on his face.
"Well done, everyone," he smirked, "For trash, that is."
"What?" Naruto growled, his competitive nature triggering.
Kiba had a similar nature, "Who are you calling trash?!" he barked, quite literally in the case of Akamaru.
Naruto and Kiba ran at him before we could stop them.
"Now that we're out, he's ours!" Kiba snarled.
"I'll get him!" Naruto declared.
"Wait!" Liz shouted.
They skidded to a stop.
"Fighting him here could be dangerous," Neji alerted.
"We got out of the barrier, we can take him!" Kiba insisted, without waiting for a reply, he acted on his own, "Tunneling Fang!" he drilled through the air towards Jiroubo but he simply batted Kiba back.
"Ugh!" he came soaring back towards us and I caught him before he could hit the ground.
Naruto took his turn, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" a single clone appeared at his side.
I couldn't watch anymore, as Jiroubo threw Naruto's clone aside, I caught his punch before he could hit Naruto. Believe me, that punch was the hardest that I ever had to catch. He smirked as I struggled beneath his immense strength. I elbowed Naruto, pushing him back and doubled my efforts in pushing Jiroubo away. He laughed and I was forced back, sprawling into Liz as she stopped my fall.
"He's really strong," I panted, that was the last time I would start a wrestling match with someone like that.
"You are all my meal!" he said possessively.
"Damn it!" Kiba stood up and faced him as Jiroubo charged.
Before Kiba could so much as take a step, Jiroubo slammed his shoulder into him, delivering a powerful blow. Naruto charged again only to be kneed in the chest.
"You guys aren't even good enough to be appetizers!" he scoffed.
He made a seal with his hand, "Be careful!" Liz yelled to everyone.
"Something troublesome will come out again!" Shikamaru spoke this time.
Jiroubo clapped his hand down on the ground and a wave of loose dirt and debris chased Naruto, pushing him back, "Earth Technique: Mud Dome!" he began to summon forth his chakra sucking barrier again.
Choji took his cue, "Expansion Jutsu!" he inflated himself again, "Human Boulder!" he spun on the spot, ripping up dirt and soil.
We disappeared in the cover of the dust cloud. We hid amidst the greenery in a thicket.
"We don't have much time. We have to split up into two groups," Shikamaru said solemnly.
"But why?" Naruto asked.
Liz and I looked down, Neji explained, "I see... even if it's seven against one, he's not an enemy we can defeat quickly after we've lost so much chakra. The more time wasted here, the more likely Sasuke will cross the border. If that happens, there's nothing we can do," he sighed, "You're saying to split up into two groups, one group to stop him and one group to pursue Sasuke, right?" Neji asked Shikamaru.
Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah... Liz, you'll be second in command then."
Liz's face turned pale, "No way! I'm not leaving you to die!" she shook her head.
"You have to listen to my orders," Shikamaru said sternly.
She frowned but bit back her retort, knowing she had no choice. Suddenly, there was a large tremor and the sound of rocks cracking and the ground shattered beneath Jiroubo. A tree came falling towards us and we sidestepped it.
Jiroubo smiled evilly, "Found you," he announced as if he were a child playing a simple game of hide and seek.
"Liz, take Elvira, Kiba and Choji and pursue Sasuke," Shikamaru ordered.
Liz had to swallow back her protests, "Fine."
"Naruto, Neji and I will do something about him," Shikamaru knelt down and made a seal with his hands.
"What a worthless technique. It's easy to know how to deal with it after I see it once," Jiroubo chided.
"And who fell for that street performance earlier?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrow.
His jutsu reached towards Jiroubo but never reached, instead, it sneaked in from behind Jiroubo. Just as it was about to reach him, he smiled maliciously and hit the ground beneath him. A large, ground-shaking explosion ensued. Neji immediately began to look for him through the dust.
"He disappeared?" Neji frowned.
Kiba sniffed and his eyes widened, "Behind!" he reported.
Everyone snapped their heads around to see Jiroubo lift a piece of land out of the ground, thirty meters in diameter, "Earth Technique: Sphere of Graves!" he grunted under the weight.
"NO FREAKING WAY!" Naruto's eyes were so wide, I was afraid his eyeballs would pop right out of their sockets.
He threw it at us and we were able to leap out of the way before it crashed into the ground and rolled for a short distance before stopping, flattening everything in its path. Once we landed, Jiroubo was nowhere in sight. Another tremor shook the ground.
"Be careful! Another one is coming!" Shikamaru warned but he wasn't anticipating a sneak attack from underground.
Jiroubo's hand shot up from under Shikamaru and he tried to get away but wasn't fast enough. Jiroubo rose out of the ground and stood, holding Shikamaru by the ankles.
He laughed, "You're the squad leader right?"
Liz could hardly contain herself.
"It must be hard on the underlings to have such a stupid leader," he spat, "I'll take care of this stupid squad leader!" he began to swing Shikamaru around and Liz lost her cool.
She charged, getting her rapier out, trying to stab Jiroubo. Jiroubo let go of Shikamaru and prepared to take her on, but she was more focused on saving Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru!" she cried after him and swiped at Jiroubo twice before retreating and chasing after Shikamaru.
He was about to be thrown against a tree but Liz couldn't beat him there.
"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji cried, "Human Boulder!" he roared and rolled at top speed towards the tree.
He got there just in time to catch Shikamaru's fall and Liz managed to catch up with them, supporting Shikamaru as he stumbled to his feet.
"Thanks, Choji, Liz," he panted.
"What's with you? You wasted my generosity," Jiroubo complained to Choji.
Choji deflated himself.
"If the leader is stupid, then the subordinates are trash, huh?" he snickered, "Well, for the trash under this gloomy, theater-loving guy, I'll kill you before you can suffer anymore," Jiroubo offered.
"Damn it! You're asking for it!" Naruto yelled at him, "I'll be the one to-" Choji cut him off.
"Fight you!" he finished, "I will fight him!" he declared.
Everyone appraised him with surprise, "Choji..." Shikamaru said with a questioning tone.
"What are you talking about? He's not someone you can take on alone!" Naruto cried.
"I will fight him!" Choji iterated.
"Choji... you..." Naruto didn't know what to say.
Jiroubo chuckled while Choji reached into his holster to take out a small pouch, he handed it to Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru, give these soldier pills to everyone," he said firmly.
"Choji..." Shikamaru sounded like he wanted to complain, "Don't tell me you're going to..." he trailed off.
"Yes. I have that ready to use," Choji said with a reassuring smile and passed the bag to Shikamaru.
"But that's..." Choji walked away to face Jiroubo before Shikamaru could finish what he was about to say.
As he passed me, I put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at me and blushed but otherwise, kept walking.
This is the perfect chance to try out my new jutsu, I thought and with a single command, I saw and felt the world as Choji.
Another command and I flickered back into my own mind. It was a bug planting and medical jutsu that I had learned from Tsunade, I never had the chance to test it out.
*Flashback Begins*
"The Life Sync Jutsu is one of the most useful jutsu that I've known. I think you might find this useful too," Tsunade said with a smile as she taught me the seals one by one, "After the seals, you just have to have contact with them using one or both of your hands."
I learned them quickly with my good memory.
"This jutsu allows you to enter a person's mind, you can see what they see, feel what they feel and they won't know it. This is method is commonly used for gathering information. You can see through the enemy's eyes and they won't have any idea, but you can't command them," she then looked me in the eye, "This jutsu can also save lives. You can use this on an ally. You can find out where they are if you are separated and... the best part of this jutsu... you can keep death at bay as long as you keep fueling the jutsu with your own energy. This jutsu requires quite a bit of chakra and there will be continuous toll if you are trying to keep someone alive," she looked at me sternly, "I will only allow you and Liz to use it... don't teach it to anyone else without my permission. It is a highly useful jutsu and can be dangerous if it were to fall into the hands of our enemy... or an ally," she said sternly.
"What are the limits of this jutsu?" I asked, it was the main thing I wanted to know.
"Distance is unlimited but the farther away you get from the person, the more energy it takes to use their mind or keep them alive," she thought for a minute, "Another would be... um... well, if you intend to use it on more than one person, it also takes a lot of energy... basically, the more you try to do with the jutsu, the more it's going to sap your energy. But be careful, if you rush it or don't do the procedure properly, it could just as well kill you," she shrugged, "Get it? This is an absolutely forbidden jutsu unless it's an emergency."
"Understood," I replied obediently.
"Okay, now, use it on Tonton," she pointed to the little pig oinking at her feet.
"Tonton?" I repeated.
"It's just for practice," she said and ushered me through the instructions again.
*Flashback Ends*
"Damn trash! I won't let you do what you want!" Jiroubo growled.
"Here he comes!" Naruto warned.
"I'll finish you all right here!" he roared as he charged towards us.
We tensed but Choji put himself between Jiroubo and us, "Go, everyone!" he shouted.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small capsule with three compartments, each holding a large pill of some sort. There were three colours, green, yellow and red. Choji popped the green pill into his mouth and crunched down on it.
"Move it, trash!" Jiroubo vociferated.
"Choji!" I cried as Jiroubo clashed with him.
The impact was felt through the soles of our feet but, miraculously, Choji was holding his own against Jiroubo, in fact, Jiroubo was the one being pushed back. I switched into Choji's mind and felt the massive surge of energy flowing through me.
Just one pill?!, I thought, amazed.
What amazed me even more was that Choji was able to keep the big brute at bay. I could see the surprise and confusion on Jiroubo's face.
"Shikamaru! Take everyone and go!" Choji called, his voice strained.
"Choji," Shikamaru said, touched.
"What was the purpose of this squad? If we lose Sasuke now, we will become what he has said... a stupid squad leader and a bunch of trash!" he said all this while wrestling a two hundred pound guy with the strength of ten abnormally strong men.
Shikamaru gritted his teeth but let Choji have his way, "You better catch up afterward, Choji," he said, frowning.
"Yeah," Choji grunted, "Everyone, go!" he shouted.
"Alright, let's go, everyone," I could tell that it pained Shikamaru to do this but he put on a strong face.
"Yeah," everyone left Choji and Jiroubo to battle.
As we rushed through the foliage, Liz lined up beside me, her eyes questioning, "Did you just use the jutsu I thought you just used?" she asked.
I hesitated before answering, "I feel less guilty this way," I confessed.
She frowned but nodded, understanding.
"This is Choji's parting gift. Eat up," Shikamaru said as he threw the bag of soldier pills to Naruto.
"I'll take one, Choji," Naruto obliged and after eating one, he threw the bag to Kiba.
"Thanks," he replied.
Neji spoke this time, "The pill Choji took seemed like some sort of trump card. Is there any chance of him winning?" he inquired.
"He said that, right?" Kiba said as he fed one to Akamaru.
"For this mission, he brought the top secret pills of the Akimichi clan," Shikamaru explained, "When you take them, you gain an explosive amount of power. They're the green, yellow and red coloured pills. In each pill, there is an extremely large amount of energy," he revealed.
"Really? That's why he was so confident!" Naruto realized.
Shikamaru stayed silent and I frowned, There's always a catch, isn't there?
I told Liz what I was seeing in Choji's mind and her eyes widened, worry being the most prominent feature on her face. We continued to run nonetheless, we had to make the best we could out of Choji's efforts. After a while, Akamaru whimpered.
"Yeah, I just thought that too," Kiba said to Akamaru.
"What is Akamaru saying?" Naruto asked.
Kiba sighed, "You know how Akamaru can sense the enemy's power through smell. He's really worried about whether those pills can really defeat him," Kiba said uncomfortably.
"That's true," Neji admitted, "If you think about it rationally, that big guy's power is unknown. The possibility of Choji defeating him on his own could be zero," he said grimly.
"It's not!" I said before I could stop myself, but since I already said something, what the heck, "It's not zero," I said, softer.
"How do you know?" Shikamaru asked and I looked at Liz.
She shook her head from side to side ever so slightly, "... I... I have faith in him," I said as a cover up... but I actually did have faith in Choji.
Being able to see what he was capable of, raised my spirits. Shikamaru nodded, agreeing strongly.
Liz moved closer to me, "Don't tell him... remember what Tsunade-sama said and... I don't want him getting his hopes up too high..." she swallowed, "Just keep it a secret."
I nodded and patted her on the back.
"That's right, we have to have faith in Choji," Shikamaru stated.
"But even so, that is what a battle is all about," Neji sighed.
I tensed and immediately whispered into Liz's ear what I had just seen.
"Just as Neji said, that's what a battle is. This mission was never a game. Lives are on the line," Shikamaru agreed.
"Hey, Shikamaru..." Naruto looked at Shikamaru uncomfortably.
Shikamaru spoke again, "I had imagined a worst case scenario where everyone is separated and must fight alone and right now, if we're not prepared to fight and win in a one-on-one situation, we won't reach Sasuke," Shikamaru said darkly.
Everyone was silent as we left Choji farther and farther behind but got closer to Sasuke with every step.
"Choji is a good guy but he lacks self-confidence. He thinks he is the weakest in our group," Shikamaru explained.
"But it's true that he's weak. Everyone knows that. That's probably why he stayed behind to try and help us," Kiba said, not wanting to look Shikamaru in the eyes.
"Just as I thought," Shikamaru forced a smile, "Everybody thinks that way, huh? But I know... more than Neji, Elvira, Liz, me or anyone here, he's strong. I believe that," he said with a firmness to his voice.
"Of course," I said, "Even if he didn't have the ability to use chakra and he was a cripple... he would still be as strong as anyone of us here because self-sacrifice is what truly demonstrates strength," I could confirm what I had said, I was watching it happen.
Liz nodded, "Right now... he's stronger than all of us put together."
I whispered in Liz's ear what had just happened and she gasped but she did not take back her words.
"He can do it," she said firmly, only to me.
Though I had faith in Choji, doubt was already lodged firmly in my mind as I continued to watch the goings-on. Shikamaru suddenly stopped and took out a kunai and began to carve an arrow in a tree.
"We made a promise," Shikamaru grunted, "He will defeat the enemy. He will definitely catch up with us," he said with grim determination.
"Yeah!" Naruto agreed.
"That's right. He can do it if he wants to," Kiba said and Akamaru barked in agreement.
Kiba and Naruto took out their kunais too and began to carve their own messages into the tree.
"Listen up, guys. We're going to get Sasuke before Choji catches up with us," Shikamaru left immediately.
Kiba and Naruto were left in our dust.
"Hold up!" Kiba cried as he raced after us.
From then on, we stopped every once in a while to carve an arrow, then quickly move on. It was the only thing that kept the hope of Choji being alive... alive. As we raced through the trees, I began to make seals.
"What're you doing?!" Liz asked, though she knew full well what was happening.
I answered her anyways, "I'm repaying my debt," I made the last seal and concentrated.
The energy was hard to control and funnel. But my heart leaped as I felt the connection and my energy was beginning to save Choji's life. Blood dribbled out of the corner of my mouth but I didn't care.
"Vira! You did something wrong! You rushed it!" Liz fretted, "You could die!"
I looked at her, "I knew from the moment I defied Tsunade-sama's orders that I was probably going to die on this mission or at least lose my mind. I'm ready for whatever else there is to come... as long as Sasuke comes back, I have nothing to lose."
Liz looked hurt, "What about me? You have me to lose! I can't, I just can't! If you die, I die too!" she hissed.
I shook my head, "You'll keep living... you'll help me protect Sasuke... don't let him-" Liz pressed a finger to my lips.
"You won't die," she said firmly, "If something happens, I'll heal you and everything will be okay," she said, ending the topic abruptly.
Shikamaru was looking behind us, a worried expression on his face. Naruto noticed.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru didn't reply at first, "Nothing..." he said finally.
Liz caught up to him and kissed him on the cheek, sorrow in her eyes as she tried to comfort him.