"Neji," Shikamaru spoke up. "I'm sorry, but can you use the rest of the Chakra you have to observe the wall behind you and the wall behind Choji?" Shikamaru spoke up.
"I got it," Neji answered.
"Shikamaru! You be quiet!" Naruto said.
"Naruto!" Choji shouted. "You still don't understand?! Remember what Shikamaru said when he gathered everyone?!"
"Choji, don't raise your voice too much from here," Shikamaru said. "Kiba, dent that wall behind Tsukiko, Neji and Choji again!"
"Y-Yeah..." Kiba replied. "Huh, I don't fully understand what's going on, but I'll go wild one more time! Passing Fang!" He attacked the wall once more and Neji observed it.
"Neji," Tsukiko said. "Mark that spot with the Kunai," She held it out to him and Neji took it from her. "And Choji, are you ready to attack?"
"Okay! Any time!" Choji said. Shikamaru nodded before sharing a smirk with Tsukiko, who tried to keep away from the walls and also stay upright.
"What's happening?" Naruto asked, totally confused.
"Like I said earlier, the wall's surface is planted with Chakra," Neji answered him. "But even this tough wall could have an area that has a thin layer of Chakra. That is what Shikamaru and Tsukiko speculated,"
"How... How did you get all of that?" Naruto asked. Tsukiko sighed and rubbed her forehead at her friend's idiocy.
"Think of what we saw earlier," Tsukiko said. "When Kiba and Akamaru attacked the walls all around us, Shikamaru and I noticed that there were areas of the wall that restored quickly, and some areas that did not as easily,"
"In other words, they guessed that those areas that didn't restore quickly probably have a thinner layer of Chakra," Neji said as he threw the Kunai at the weak spots of the wall. "On top of all that, by cleverly talking to the enemy, they figured out the position of the enemy outside of the wall.
"They guessed that the wall furthest from the enemy probably had the thinnest point of Chakra, so that's what they wanted to confirm. He wouldn't have sold out Tsukiko's identity unless he was sure that we would get out of here," Neji looked at Tsukiko and Shikamaru. "That's what it is, correct?"
"In order to trick the enemy, sometimes you have to trick your own friends!" Tsukiko said gleefully, holding up a finger. She tilted toward Shikamaru. "Right, Shika-Kun?" Shikamaru gave her an annoyed look and pushed her face away from himself. "Usa, you don't have to be so rude,"
"Hold these affectionaries," Shikamaru said to the white-haired girl before turning to look at Choji. "I'm depending on you, Choji," His teammate nodded immediately.
"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji said and his body turned into a large spherical shape. "Human Boulder! Let's go!" Choji attacked the area that was marked by the Kunai and broke through it.
"Choji... You are awesome, after all!" Shikamaru said as he, Tsukiko, Naruto, Kiba, Akamaru and Neji all rushed out after him and watched the dome crumble to the ground.
"Shikamaru's right," Tsukiko said, relieved to be out of that dungeon. "You are awesome, your Taijutsu was amazing," Choji looked at her and blushed deeply and Kiba looked offended.
"Would you like to go have Daifuku with me later?" Choji said immediately. Tsukiko felt her colour leave her body but she didn't have to answer for –
"Hey!" Kiba cut in. "You didn't offer her potato chips when she was dying inside there! I should be the one to go have Daifuku with her!"
"Stop it, you two," Neji interrupted Kiba and Choji. "We've got enough trouble on our hand without you two arguing over Daifuku dates," He nodded at the Sound Ninja standing across from them.
"He's the only one here," Shikamaru said. "Seems like the others went ahead," Tsukiko looked at Neji, who activated his Byakugan.
"Yeah," Neji replied as he looked all over the place around them. "They're not around here anymore," Tsukiko grimaced.
"Just when we thought we had caught up to Sasuke..." Tsukiko muttered in annoyance. "That idiot..."
"Everybody, you did well..." the Sound Ninja said, suddenly clapping his hands at them. "For some losers..."
"What?" Naruto said and Kiba added, "Who are you calling losers?!" Both of them went running stupidly at the Sound Ninja.
"Once we're out, it's our battle to win!" Kiba said.
"I will do it!" Naruto responded.
"Wait, you two!" Neji shouted, stopping the two idiots in their path. "It's dangerous to fight him head on right now!"
"We tore through the barrier!" Kiba said. "We can do this!" He went running at the Sound Ninja. "Passing Fang!" But the Sound Ninja easily punched him away.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu...!" Naruto shouted as he went running next. But even he and his clones were defeated easily by the male.
"You guys are my meal!" the Sound Ninja said. Tsukiko grimaced at the thought. "Shoulder Charge!" He slammed his shoulder into Kiba. "Knee Lift!" He kneed Naruto in the stomach. "Not even good enough for an appetiser!"
"Be careful, everyone!" Shikamaru shouted as the Sound Ninja put his hands into a seal. "Another tricky one is coming!" Tsukiko knew what was coming when she saw the hand seal. It was the same from before.
"When will Otogakure Ninjas learn that the same Jutsu won't work twice on us, Usa?" Tsukiko muttered angrily as she went through her hand seals. "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Ice Rink!" The ground beneath them turned into clear crystal.
"Earth Style Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!" the Sound Ninja shouted, slamming his hands onto the ground. It cracked all the way to them but couldn't get through the crystal that had formed by Tsukiko beneath them.
"Expansion Jutsu," Choji said, his body expanding again. "Human Boulder!" But rather than attack the Sound Ninja, they all rushed off from there and into the thicket of the forest where they laid low.
"There's no time," Shikamaru said immediately. "We're going to have to split into groups here!"
Everyone turned to look at him.
"Why, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.
"I see," Neji said as he used his Byakugan. "Even at six against one, with our Chakras taken away, he's not someone we can easily defeat... If we take out time, Sasuke will pass the borders. If that happens, we won't be able to handle this on our own. So, we split up... One team to stop him and one to go after Sasuke, right?"
"Yeah," Shikamaru said. "And the sub-leader is going to be Tsukiko, since she's the only Chunin around other than myself," Tsukiko felt a little strange but nodded in agreement. "And in case of further distribution, Neji would be the next leader,"
"Watch out!" Tsukiko said when the Sound Ninja sensed their location and broke down the tree toward them, gaining visual excess of them.
Both Tsukiko and Naruto, who were in the way of the tree, jumped away. The blond landed next to Choji and Kiba and Akamaru, while the white-haired girl jumped over to Shikamaru and Neji. All of them had their eyes trained upon the Sound Ninja.
"Neji, take Kiba and Choji, and go after Sasuke!" Shikamaru ordered immediately. Neji nodded at the Chunin male. "This guy... Tsukiko, Naruto and I will handle!" Shikamaru held his hands into the Shadow Jutsu seal.
"Are you going to put the Shadow Paralysis Jutsu on me again?" the Sound Ninja said. "Such a foolish Jutsu! Wasn't it your friend who just taunted us for using the same Jutsus again and again? I don't need to see that kind of street performance more than once!
"And who was it that got tricked by that street performance earlier?" Shikamaru said. But before Shikamaru's shadow could get to the Sound Ninja, the latter had slammed his hand onto the ground to create a dust.
"He disappeared!" Neji said as he looked around the place with his Byakugan, but then Kiba sniffed the air, "He's behind us!" They turned around to see the Sound Ninja tearing the terrain up.
"Earth Style: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling!" the Sound Ninja said, lifting up a gigantic mass of earth from the ground. Tsukiko's eyes widened at the mass.
"He's nuts!" Naruto screamed as the Sound Ninja threw the mass of earth at them.
All seven of them jumped away from there, dodging the rolling earth as it tore down the terrain.
"Be careful, there's another one coming!" Shikamaru warned. But then, the Sound Ninja's hand appeared out of the ground and even though he tried to dodge it, Shikamaru was caught.
"You are the platoon leader, if I'm not mistaken," the Sound Ninja said as he held Shikamaru upside down from his feet. "You sure do suffer when you have a stupid leader. You underlings! A stupid leader like this... I'll get rid of him for you!" He swung Shikamaru around and threw him away.
"Expansion Jutsu! Human Boulder!" Choji shouted. He rushed toward Shikamaru and cushioned his fall, letting Shikamaru use the momentum to get back onto his feet.
"Thanks! Choji..." Shikamaru replied.
"Why?" the Soung Ninja said. "Wasting my good intentions... If the leader is stupid, then I guess the subordinates are losers. Well... I'll kill you losers before you suffer working under a glum shadow lover like him!"
"Shut up! Babbling like that!" Naruto shouted. "I will –"
"He's mine!" Choji shouted, cutting into Naruto's words and surprising all of them. Tsukiko looked at him in surprise. "I will... take care of him!"
What are you saying?!" Naruto argued. "He's not the kind of guy you can handle on your own!" Tsukiko nodded in agreement. They couldn't have him fight the guy alone.
"I will do it!" Choji persisted. He pulled out a bag from his pouch and held it out to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru... Take these Food Pills for everyone..."
"Choji... You're not..." Shikamaru said.
"That's right," Choji replied. "I have that secret weapon of mine,"
"But Choji, that is!" Shikamaru said as he hesitantly took the bag from his teammate, but Choji walked off forward before he could continue.
"Huh... Losers, I won't let you have your way!" the Sound Ninja said. He suddenly rushed at them. "I'll get rid of you all here!"
"Everyone, go!" Choji said as he moved in between the Konoha Ninjas and the Sound Ninja. He pulled out three different coloured pills and ate the first one: green.
"Get out of the way, loser!" the Sound Ninja shouted as he attacked Choji, but to their shock, Choji managed to evade the attack, holding the older male back.
"Shikamaru, take everybody and go!" Choji shouted. Shikamaru hesitated. "What did we gather for? If we lose Sasuke, then we will end up like he said... The stupid leader and his losers!"
"You better catch up with us, Choji," Shikamaru said finally. Choji nodded. "All right! Let's go, everyone!" Tsukiko hesitated but jumped off with Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru and Neji. "Here, the parting gift from Choji, eat them,"
"Shikamaru, that pill that Choji took earlier," Neji said as they all took a Soldier Pill each, replenishing their health to a certain degree. "It seemed like some sort of trump card, but does he have a chance to win?"
"He said that he has a secret weapon," Kiba said as he fed Akamaru one of the Soldier Pills as well before passing the bag to Tsukiko, who took one as well.
"He brought the Akimichi Clan's ultimate secret pills on this mission," Shikamaru informed them. "These are the Triad Coloured Pills of green, yellow and red. If you take it, you can gain explosive powers. The energy that each pill contains is enormous,"
"I see! I see!" Naruto said. "So, that's why he was so confident!" Tsukiko passed the bag of Soldier Pills to Neji. She glanced at Shikamaru's expression and wondered if there was something else to it.
Every explosive power came with a devastating side-effect.
"Yeah," Kiba said to Akamaru's mewls. "That is what I was thinking as well," Tsukiko turned her attention toward them.
"What is Akamaru saying?" Tsukiko questioned as the six of them continued to travel through the trees rapidly, away from Choji.
"You know that can tell the strength of the enemy just by the smell, right?" Kiba said. "He's worried if Choji is going to be able to handle that monster with just the pills,"
"True..." Neji said. "If we were to assess the situation objectively, that giant's ability is unknown... The possibility of Choji being able to defeat him might be close to zero, but that's what battle is,"
"Neji's right," Shikamaru said. "It's how a battle is. From the start, this mission wasn't for recreation. It's life or death. I already anticipated the worst scenario in which we would be fighting separately on our own. And at this point, if we're not prepared for 'one person, one kill', we might not be able to catch up to Sasuke. Choji is a good guy, but he doesn't have the confidence. He thinks that he's the weakest of all of us,"
"He actually is weak," Kiba said. "Anybody can see that. That's why he was the first to stay behind to try to be useful," Tsukiko pursed her lips.
"But," Tsukiko muttered. "The will to protect and fight for your cherished ones can make you stronger than anything," She glanced at Shikamaru. "And Choji has people he wants to fight for," Shikamaru looked at Kiba.
"Just as I thought," Shikamaru said. "So, everybody thinks that... But... I know... More than myself or Neji or any of us here... He is stronger! And... I believe it,"
"Then, it would only be fair for us to leave behind trail, wouldn't it?" Tsukiko said as she held up a Kunai. Shikamaru smirked at her and nodded. She threw it over to him as they came to a stop at the base of the tree.
"He's definitely going to defeat the opponent and come after us," Shikamaru said as he put marking onto the tree for Choji to follow after them.
"That's right! He can do it!" Kiba said and Akamaru let out a bark. Tsukiko, Naruto and Neji all smiled in agreement.
"Okay!" Naruto said. "While I'm here..." He pulled out his own Kunai to put on a marking onto the tree. Kiba followed suit as well and so did Tsukiko. The white-haired girl thought about what to write and then decided upon:
Let's all go for Daifuku once we've got Sasuke back!
"Alright, everyone," Shikamaru said as he stood up. "We get Sasuke back before Choji catches up!" The six of them set off deeper into the forest after the Otogakure Ninjas and their friend, Sasuke. They made regular stops for the arrows.
"It's close," Kiba told them after Akamaru barked to inform him. They had been travelling for quite a while now and Tsukiko was beginning to fear that they had been delayed way too long. They couldn't have gotten out of the Land of Fire, could they?
"That's strange," Neji said as he used his Byakugan to look ahead of them. Tsukiko still didn't risk using hers out of fear. "There hasn't been even one trap set for a while... Shikamaru, what do you think?"
"We're being underestimated," Shikamaru replied. "Those guys think the only one following them is that big guy. They don't need to set a trap on their man,"
"How dare they underestimate us!" Naruto said.
"It seems you're right," Neji said. "We are being completely underestimated. However, this is our chance!" Tsukiko nodded in agreement.
"Usa, we can take them by surprise," Tsukiko said.
☾
"Aw, come on, what took you so long?" the leader of the Sound Four said as Shikamaru joined them, disguised as their fourth member. Tsukiko, Naruto, Kiba, Akamaru and Neji quietly pursed them, waiting for the chance to ambush them.
"Sorry," Shikamaru replied. "It took time to eat the scums' Chakra," Tsukiko bit her lower lip, she really hoped that they would make it this time and get Sasuke back from these idiots. She really wanted them all to get back to Konoha safely.
"Hey, fatso, don't you dare drag!" the only female of the group snapped. "Hurry up and carry that coffin... That's your job, you vulgar swine!"
"I know," Shikamaru replied. Tsukiko almost slapped herself.
Would anyone like that guy ever reply so casually to those insults?
"What, Jirobo..." the many-armed spiderweb-knitting guy said. "You're awfully easygoing today," Tsukiko didn't like where this was going at all.
"What do you mean?" Shikamaru-Jirobo said. At this, all of them came to a stop on the nearest tree branch. The Konoha Ninjas also stopped, waiting and getting ready.
"I'm just saying that I'm not handing you the coffin," the spiderweb guy said. He threw the coffin to their Kunoichi. "Because you're not Jirobo! This time, let me do it! Sakon, Tayuya, you guys go ahead!"
While the other two, Sakon and Tayuya fled with the coffin, Shikamaru-Jirobo took out a Kunai and jumped at the remaining Sound Ninja, who grabbed Shikamaru with two of his six arms, "Jirobo always corrects Tayuya's choice of words,"
"Heh, I see," Shikamaru said as he turned back into himself. He went to attack the Sound Ninja with his leg but the other arm blocked it easily.
"Ninja Art: Spiderweb Net!" the Sound Ninja said and spat out spiderweb to attack Shikamaru to the nearest tree trunk. Tsukiko motioned at Naruto go with the plan, and the blond and his clones jumped. "Ninja Art: Spiral Spiderweb!"
"Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted as the blond and his clones were all stuck into the spiderweb. Tsukiko cursed her under her breath but knew they had to continue on with the plan and hope one of them would get the guy.
"Fang Passing Fang!" Kiba shouted as he and Akamaru came spinning out of the forest and toward the guy in mid-air but the guy swung out of the way with his spiderwebs. "I won't let you get away!"
"Heh, that's my line!" the Sound Ninja said. "Look at your feet!" Kiba had gotten himself caught in the sticky substance on the branch that he and Akamaru had landed on.
"You!" Kiba snapped. "It's too soon for you to think you've captured us with a thing like this!" Tsukiko and Neji shared a look and nodded.
Both of them activated their Byakugan and jumped at the guy with their Gentle Style postures in. They certainly caught the guy off guard but his speed turned out to be better than theirs at that moment and he jumped back, letting the two crash into each other.
"Tsukiko-Chan! Neji!" Naruto shouted. But Tsukiko hadn't even gotten the chance to move away from Neji when the two of them were caught into another spiderweb. Both of them tried to free themselves but to no avail.
"I'm going to cocoon you," the Sound Ninja said. Tsukiko's eyes widened as he started to move his spiderweb around and before she realised it, both she and Neji were surrounded by the sticky web.
Tsukiko tried to push at the web, trying desperately to entangle herself. She didn't like being in such a closed off space like this, but the web kept sticking everywhere on her and she knew from her eyes that Chakra was being sucked out of the two of them.
Not again...
☽