"How long until we catch up?" Naruto asked. "I don't know. A long time if they keep moving at this pace." Pakkun said. "Ugh, come on." Naruto said annoyed. As we were jumping tree to tree Pakkun randomly yelled "Come on you guys! Hurry it up!" "What is it?" Sakura asked "Did you see Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "No. They're two squads behind us. That's eight ninja. Wait. That's one more. That's ninja following us." Pakkun said.
"What?" Naruto asked. "Come on already. Give me a break here." Shikamaru said. "It looks like they haven't discovered our location, yet. We need to lose them." We jumped down from the trees and Pakkun stopped, looking at the floor. We all walked over behind him and watched. "Agh! What's the deal? Why are we stopping?" Naruto asked loudly. "Zip it and follow me." Pakkun started to walk background very carefully. "We're going back over our footprints. If we pull this off, our footprints will seem to disappear."
Pakkun jumped up and backwards up in the tree. We started to walk backwards on our footprints too. "Is this really gonna do anything? I mean they'd have to be pretty lame ninja if this throws them off the trail." Naruto said. "It'll help buy us some time. That's all we need now. But if our pursuers get impatient, succumb to the thrill of the chase, and lose sight our tracks, I certainly won't complain. Know what I mean?"
We were all done except for Naruto. "Hurry up!" Sakura yelled. Naruto turned his head towards us. "We dont have all day, you know." Shikamaru said. "Ugh. I know. Quit bugging me!" Naruto jumped back towards us and the rest of us all jumped forward.
As we were going Pakkun said "This is not good. Be prepared for an ambush. They're definitely back on out trail." "Great. They're probably all Chunin or higher. We'll be wiped out if they catch us." Shikamaru said. "Listen guys. We don't have much choice. We're gonna have to ambush them." Naruto said. "An ambush? That could work. It would give us an advantage. Even if there are twice as many of them as there are of us, if we catch them off-guard." Sakura said. "No. It's no good. I'm afraid that those ninja chasing us are Orochimaru's henchmen. My guess is that they're all jonin level." Pakkun said. "I really thought that would work. But I guess it won't." Shikamaru said.
"Wait. Hold on. Why not? The level of an opponent doesn't have much to do with an ambush, does it?" Sakura asked. "What are you talking about?" Naruto asked. "You guys just don't get it. Let me explain. Yes. An ambush is a key battle tactic, and can be very beneficial. But for it to work, you have to meet two conditions." Shikamaru said. "Well, what are they? Tell us and we'll meet them" Naruto said.
"Number one, the ninja in the run must be completely quiet, and must find the enemy first. Number two, they have to be able to catch the pursuers off- guard at a location where they can do a lot of damage quickly, and then conceal themselves again just quickly. And its only under those two conditions that an ambush can truly be effective. Now, the first condition wont be so hard, since the ninja hound's nose can find out enemy. And the second one also seems to be in our favor, since we know the geography of our village like we know the backdrop of our hands. However, Orochimaru is a former Leaf ninja, so on the second condition we're out of luck."
"We are? Wait. Tell me why that is again." Naruto said. "Our pursuers have studied the layout of this village, and I have to assume that they've been put through simulated practices for this mission. And on top of that, they're probably master of the Pursue jutsu." Shikamaru said. "So they know the cards we're holding." Sakura said. "Well, I don't really know. I suppose that an ambush could give us an advantage. But so many things are uncertain. Besides, our enemy is a special unit that was specifically put together just for this operation. And what are the four of us? A fool, a kunoichi with no particular talent, a kunoichi that has been drained from energy, a mutt, and me, the shirked who doesn't even wanna be here. Look. Tactics are about clearly grasping a tough situation and forming the best plan. And right now, only one plan makes sense. Just one."
"And that is?" I asked. "A diversion that only looks like it's an ambush. So one of us is gonna stay behind, and slow them down." Shikamaru said. "One if us will be a decoy." Sakura said. "That's right. If one of us can delay them, they shouldn't be able to find the rest of us. We'll be able to escape. Of course, the one who acts as a decoy will probably.. die."
We all widened our eyes. We all stopped on different trees and looked in different directions. "So, who's going to do it?" Shikamaru asked. No one said anything. "We need the dog to follow Sasuke. So that means" Shikamaru added. I need to do it. I'm already tired so I can use up the rest of my energy fighting those guys. I wont have enough energy fighting with Sasuke so.. I should do it.
"Alright, I guess then I'm gonna have to-" Naruto started "I'm the only one who can do it." Shikamaru said cutting him off. I turned my head towards him "Shikamaru!" Sakura yelled. "Why does it have to be you?" Naruto yelled. "It's better then all of us being wiped out, right? Besides, I'm the only one of us who's got a chance of pulling off this decoy act" Shikamaru jumped over us "and of surviving this attack. I mean, after all, Shadow Possession Jutsu was invented as a delay tactic. Anyway, I'll catch up with you later. Go on. Get going." Shikamaru said. Naruto nodded his head "We're counting on you, Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled. Shikamaru lifted his hand as a goodbye.
"Sakura, (Y/n)" Naruto said looking at us. We turned our heads and looked back at him. We both nodded and they jumped off. I looked back at Shikamaru and gritted my teeth. "Shikamaru, I better see you again, alive." I said and jumped off after them. Please, be careful Shikamaru.
"Listen. The enemy's coming up fast." Pakkun said. "What?" Sakura asked. "I wonder if he's even trying back there." Pakkun said. "No. Don't tell me- Shikamaru-" Sakura said. "Shikamaru will be just fine, got it?" Naruto said jumping closer to us. "Don't tell me that he just ran away." Sakura said. "Look. I said he'd be okay, and I meant it." Naruto said. "How do you know?" Sakura asked. "He's lazy, and he's always complaining about everything, but he would never betray us. I know he hardly ever volunteers to do anything himself, but if he says he's gonna do it, then he'll do it, and that's for sure." Naruto said. "Pick up the pace, slackers" Pakkun said.
After going for a while Pakkun said "Huh. Looks like those ninja aren't chasing us anymore." I smiled hearing that "Awesome! Shikamaru succeeded. The delay tactic worked." Naruto yelled. "Shikamaru!" Sakura said happily. Okay, now we can fully focus on Sasuke.. just.. Shikamaru, you better catch up with us.
Word count- 1250
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(Y/N) Uzumaki
Random*This will basically be the anime but another character in it.* (Y/n) and Naruto are fernernal twins, in which Naruto is the older sibling. (Y/n) and Sasuke have been friends since they were young children, but they never showed their friendship unt...
