Son of the Sannin(Back)

Senju Twins Rescue Part III

Choji started to open his eyes as consciousness slowly returned to him. The feeling of extreme weakness that made him black out was being replaced by a more comfortable sensation as his energy slowly, but surely, returned to his body. There was an audible sigh.

"Thanks Kami, he's waking up," Shikamaru's voice said.

Choji tried to stand up, but a small pair of hands held him in place.

"Don't move!" Tamaki's voice stated.

"Don't worry, I'm almost done here. Thankfully your wounds weren't too severe. But we need to do something about your exhaustion," somebody he recognized as Shino stated.

True to the Aburame's words, he only took a couple more minutes to heal Choji, prompting Tamaki to release him. She then handed him something he recognized as a ration bar.

"Here, eat," Tamaki told him. "Shikamaru said that you need to recover your lost calories, Sorry I don't have anything better."

However, Choji wasn't in the mood to reject anything, and welcomed the bar with open arms.

"It's okay, thanks a lot," Choji replied, as he started to eat the bar.

"It's a good thing you found us, or else Choji would be a goner," Shikamaru mentioned, not hiding his immense relief.

"How did you find us, by the way?" Choji asked.

"I had one of my beetles latched onto each one of you. Said beetles can release a specific pheromone impossible to smell except to others of its kind. That way I'm able to track all of you," Shino explained.

Both Shikamaru and Choji had to resist the urge to look their bodies for the aforementioned bug.

"So, I'm guessing that you got to fight other of those Oto ninja, and given that you're here, you won, right?" Shikamaru asked.

Tamaki nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, albeit barely. And they said the two we fought were the weakest. I can't even think what the others are up against," Tamaki wondered aloud, as she looked into the distance. "Wonder if Kiba is okay..."

"Should we go and try to help the others?" Shikamaru asked.

Shino shook his head. "That would be mostly unwise. We just spent most of our energy fighting, some, like Choji, to the point of collapse. Far from being of any help, we'd be a burden."

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru sighed.

The Aburame then perked up. "Somebody's coming."

Everybody minus Choji shot up, pulled out their weapons, and slipped into a fighting stance.

"It seems that if we don't go to the fights, the fight will come to us," Tamaki complained, as she inwardly prayed for this new enemy not to be too tough.

However, the tension was immediately defused, and replaced by relief, when the would-be enemies turn out to be Kakashi and Gai, being led by Pakkun.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Tamaki squealed in joy as she rushed to meet him.

"Thank goodness. Reinforcements at last," Shikamaru said, as he allowed himself to drop on his butt. "Strong reinforcements, might I add."

Gai asked the most obvious, yet fitting question that the situation demanded. "What happened here?"

"We already know about the Hokage's children's abduction. Naruto told Kurenai through a Shadow Clone, and she told us," Kakashi interjected, so they wouldn't have to start from the beginning.

"The kidnappers are a group of five Oto ninja. Some of them stayed behind in order to delay us. Choji and I fought one, while Shino and Tamaki defeated another, meaning that so far, only three remain," Shikamaru quickly explained.