Senju Kiyoshi

|60| Mission: Bring Uchiha Back!

We started sprinting through the forest. As we coursed through, my eyes widened. I could feel Shizune-Nee's chakra spiking up quite near, along with Genma's. "Kiba!" I called out. He glanced back at me and nodded. "I know, I can smell it."

Shikamaru looked at him. "What's wrong?" 

"There's a smell of blood not too far." Kiba explained, "And there were noticeable spikes of chakra belonging to the sound. But also Shizune and whoever her team was." 

I wonder if Nee-Chan could hold them back for the time being. As much as she is advanced in medicine, even I can defeat her in a spar.

"Here's what happened, the scent of two newcomers converged on the scent of Sasuke and four others. The two stayed behind while Sasuke's group moved on. So what now?"

Well, shit, Genma is a jonin and that was a short battle. . .I must've underestimated their abilities the first time we met.

But considering I was fighting Shinobi no Kami, aka Grandpa, I suppose I can cut myself some slack. Even Orochimaru seemed like a normal jonin against him—and he was not even at three percent of his power.

"There's no question. We gotta go after Sasuke!" Naruto's shout brought me back.

"Who died and made you boss? Last time I checked Shikamaru is in charge of running the show, It's up to him to decide." Kiba shot back. Naruto grunted.

"If you go to the spot where they fought, we might be able to gather some useful information. Of course, we can't just rush in. It might be a trap. So when we get closer we go in full reconnaissance mode and take it slowly." Shikamaru said.

"And while we're doing that, Sasuke will have crossed beyond the borders of the Land of Fire and out of our hands," Neji spoke up. He's got a point.

Shikamaru looked at me, "The mission doesn't lie with the newcomers. It's simply to retrieve Sasuke and bring him back. That was what was assigned to us. We can't afford to make a prep trip down the lane and lose them out of Kiba's sensing radar." I said.

Shikamaru nodded. "We follow Sasuke then. One thing. These guys have already been in one fight so they'll have to know there is going to be more ninja on their trail. There's a good chance we'll hit some booby traps or an ambush up ahead. So, from this point forward we proceed with caution. I want everybody to put all their senses on full alert."

Naruto grinned. "Ha! Got it! And when we do find'em I'm going to clobber them with this brand new jutsu of mine!"

The chakra-sphere thing is powerful. Wait— It was called Rasengan, right? Huh, well it is powerful.

"The enemy's scent is here, all around us!" Kiba warned. "Everybody stop!" Shikamaru ordered.

We all immediately landed on a branch next to each other. Looking up, three dark lines came onto my forehead and I groaned. "Great. Just great."  The boys followed my line of sight. A paper bomb was stuck to a tree. "Is that what I think it is?" Shikamaru questioned. My sulking grew heavier. "Yup, isn't this mission going just great!"

He let out a sigh of annoyance. "A perimeter barrier." Neji voiced.

"A perimeter barrier?" Choji asked. Neji explained.

Kiba groaned, "Now we gotta waste time going around it. Great." Shikamaru looked at me, I sighed nodding. "Follow me."

I closed my eyes and touched my hand to a tree. Navigating became easy, I could feel where there was a concentrated amount of chakra where there was not. Still keeping my eyes closed I walked carefully avoiding the traps. The boys followed exactly in my footsteps.