Chapter 80 – The Hunter and The Prey
My first mission is to monitor Orochimaru and ensure everything goes according to plan, his plan that is.Orochimaru wants to check on Sasuke and mark him with his cursed seal to take over his body in the future greedy for the power of the Sharingan that can help him in his goal to learn every jutsu in the world and reach immortality.
It takes me over 3 hours to get close to their position before I can see them with my Byakugan.
Everything seems to be going according to plan, Orochimaru is just playing with his food.
The disguised Orochimaru is releasing his killing intent, pinning down Sasuke and Shino.
As they both tremble in fear Orochimaru throws a kunai at each.
Rather than Sasuke stabbing his own leg to come to his senses Shino has his bugs bite both of them and they take the clarity from the sting to run away.
Naruto… is being digested by a giant snake, so everything is still OK.
Oh, he got out now.The snake popped like a balloon when Naruto filled its insides with way too many shadow clones.Did you snake's stomachs are extremely elastic and they can eat stuff several times their body size...That was probably more clones that every other participant and teacher put together could have made if we excluded Karin… as always I’m baffled by Naruto’s cheat-level chakra capacity.
Orochimaru goes after Sasuke and Shino, reaching them at the same time Naruto returns.
They trade some words and Sasuke hands over their scroll trying to get Orochimaru to leave them alone.
The problem is you are his goal Sasuke, not your scroll…
This reminds me.
‘Anko’
‘They found the bodies Yami, I stayed with Yugao and followed them to let them know it’s the snake we are dealing with’
‘Perfect, all according to plan so far’
Naruto tries to take down Orochimaru by subconsciously using a portion of Kyubi’s chakra but Orochimaru grabs him and seals the leakage, throwing the unconscious Naruto down the tree branches they are fighting in, towards the ground, until Sasuke throws a Kunai, hitting Naruto's clothes and leaving him pinned to a tree.
Sasuke trembles in fear, unable to move even when Shino tries to rationally tell him they have to flee and the cloud of insects he sends is easily dispatched by Orochimaru’s fire jutsu.
Sasuke finally gathers some courage to fight and Orochimaru plays around with him, letting him get some hits in and show his worth.
After letting Sasuke turn the tables one more time, and being satisfied enough with Sasuke’s performance Orochimaru reveals his face and Otogakure headband.
He leaves more words likely instructing him to defeat his Otogakure team to prove himself before stretching his neck like a snake and biting Sasuke, applying his cursed seal.
With his objective done, Orochimaru, or his clone, I'm too far to tell, leaves them alone.
Shino carries both the sleeping Naruto and Sasuke to a safe spot and is left to take care of his team.Sasuke is suffering from a high fever, a consequence of the cursed seal's application, while Naruto is still unconscious.
I realize I will have to intervene in the next events so I make my way closer.I body-flicker in front of a Shino holding onto a kunai defensively.
“It’s ok Shino, I’m not looking for a fight.”
“Yami, what are you doing here?”
“I have some business with the flies looking to bother you guys, that Otogakure team.”
“We haven’t seen them.”
“They will be here… until then I’ll rest a bit, I don’t have any scroll on me by the way.”
Originally Rock Lee and Ino's team were supposed to show up and protect Sakura until Sasuke woke up, but it seems currently he’s at least 10 km away from us and couldn’t show up while the Otogakure ninjas were probably given directions by Orochimaru and are likely heading straight to our location.
Shino understands the precariousness of his situation and gets some rest as his insect scouts around us throughout the night.
This is the worst possible company I could have for the night but at least Sasuke and Naruto are keeping their mouths shut.
Once morning arrives I see the ninjas from the sound village heading straight in our direction thanks to my Byakugan, Shino detects them once they are 100m from our position.
No sight of Lee or Neji, also Ino’s team is also on the other side of the forest and not able to intervene in this fight.
This means it’s up to me and Shino to hold them back and potentially halt a rampaging Sasuke once he wakes up.
Hmm, not a bad opportunity to get some work on plan S-2 and finish S-3 as well.
‘How is everything going Sakura?’
‘Fine I got us 4 scrolls, I’m going to wait ahead in meeting point H’
‘Good job, I’ll tell you if we need anything else.’
‘Hinata?’
‘I found R, making contact soon.’
‘Up to you, stay safe’
‘Anko?’
‘No more signs of the snake.’
‘How are you Ino?’
‘Perfect, might reach tower today.’
Everything is going according to plans so far.
Until now…
A random squirrel approaches our cave and I throw a shuriken to scare it away.
I can’t remove the paper bomb strapped to its back skillfully like Lee did in the plot but so long as it stays away from fire for a couple of weeks the bomb won’t detonate and will lose effect eventually. At least the thread they were going to use to detonate the paper is cut so if anyone finds the squirrel again they can just peel off the paper.
Seeing their initial plan fail the sound Team Dosu approaches us.All three of them are about 2 years older than us.
Dosu Kinuta, the leader, a hunchback with a staw raincoat on his back who relies on a metal tool on his forearm to amplify any sound and injure the enemy with it. His face is wrapped in bandages with only his left eye exposed.
Zaku Abumi, with spiky black hair and a happuri protecting the sides of his face, similar to Yamato. He has holes in his arms where he shoots air and sound from, using his chakra.
And lastly, target K, Kin Tsuchi, black eyes and very long black hair, reaching below her knee. Her combat style relies on throwing needle-like senbon and using the attached bells' sound for genjutsu.
Dosu walks forward as I face him with Shino behind me.
“Wake up Sasuke, we want to battle with him.”
“The Uchiha princess needs its beauty sleep right now. Try again later.”
“Huh, we’ll just have to get past you then.”
“Feel free to try.”
I unsheathe my katana as a fight is about to break out.