Chapter 41: Chap.38 Start the chase
Apparently Sasuke's recovery ended up taking longer than it should in reality due to his indirect intervention. Given the opening of multiple stores and the need to explain the secrecy of his new employees to Tsunade so there would be no suspicion of espionage, the Hokage had a lot more paperwork to do and delayed the treatment a bit.
He seriously considered revealing the trick of using clones to speed up the work, because this way he could spend more time teaching Karin.
But she dismissed it remembering Sasuke's escape.
If she could get out of his position, then she might decide to personally intervene and knock the boy out. This would lead Orochimaru's envoys to unleash chaos in order to kidnap his target. He would consider revealing it after the incident and after Naruto's departure from the village.
He was preparing the ingredients to bake another character, when he received the memories of one of his chocolate clones.
"Looks like the four sound ninjas have already reached the village." Tony caught a glimpse of Tayuya and company on the rooftops. "What are the jonin watchmen doing?" They shouldn't be able to pass the barrier so easily —he frowned— Unless Sarutobi won't change the configuration of the barrier after Orochimaru's defection, but he couldn't be that stupid… right?
But for some reason, he didn't doubt for a second that this was probably the case.
"You really weren't a good Hokage Sarutobi," he sighed in exasperation.
He put away the freshly prepared ingredients, prepared his kit, and waited at his house. It didn't take long for a member of the ANBU to arrive indicating that he should go to the Hokage's office in a hurry.
Upon his arrival he saw Shikamaru, Sakura, Naruto, Neji, Kiba and Choji.
"Are we going to have a party?" He pretended not to know what was happening and looked around before frowning. "What's with this tense atmosphere?"
Sakura explained Sasuke's escape again before Sasuke knocked her out.
"Right now it's impossible to send ninjas to chase Sasuke," Tsunade explained as she looked at everyone present—Tony and Shikamaru, both of you are the only chunin of your generation, so I will appoint you leaders and you will go after Sasuke for his capture accompanied by the genin present except for Sakura —he ordered— Shikamaru will be in charge of Naruto and Neji, while Tony he will be the one to lead Choji and Kiba. He gathers the necessary and leave in less than ten minutes.
-Yes! They all answered.
They left the Hokage's office and scattered. Tony left a note at home so Karin wouldn't worry and knew that she was out on a mission. He then went to the entrance and waited for the rest. Everyone arrived and even Lee and Sakura came to see off the two temporary teams.
Tony looked at the clouds as he ignored the scene of Sakura asking Naruto to bring Sasuke back. He was one of the least liked parts of the series.
Fortunately it didn't last too long and they got going soon enough.
"Shikamaru, do we have information from the other side?" Tony asked.
—According to Sakura, there are four ninjas with the emblem of the village of sound. Two of them seem normal, but there is one that seems to have two heads and others with several arms. We don't know anything else.
-I see.
As they continued to jump from branch to branch, Tony wondered:
Should I tell them about the skills they have?
Tony knew that Sasuke would be fine even after he ran away, but revealing what he knew could cause the Sound Four to be defeated more quickly and Naruto would not face Sasuke alone in the Valley of the End. After recovering, it was the thought of bringing Sasuke back that motivated Naruto to leave the village for three years to train with the perverted sage.
Also, reinforcements from the sand village should be on their way. He remembered that Gaara should appear against Kimimaro while Temari would help Shikamaru. As for Kankuro… he doesn't remember. But by elimination, he should appear with Kiba.
"Tony, what are you thinking?" —Shikamaru noticed that Tony was too quiet and his instincts gave him a pang.
"Nothing really," he sighed. "I'm just surprised how far some people are willing to go for power." Her comment of his caused Naruto to grit his teeth, but he couldn't refute what he had said.
Choji, Kiba, and Shikamaru exchanged glances. Knowing Tony closely compared to the rest, they were sure there was more on his mind than he was saying. One shouldn't be fooled by Tony's fine culinary skills, they knew that despite his usual cheerful demeanor, his thought process was a bit frightening.
There was a reason why he was the one calling the shots in Kiba and Hinata's team.
Shikamaru sometimes talked to Tony and noticed that he had knowledge far beyond what he believed in some subjects. He sometimes made the occasional unconscious slip that left Shikamaru thinking for hours.
Choji was the one who knew him best of the three and found out that Tony seemed to have an incredible capacity for analysis and creativity, many things that he said were going to happen really ended as he had said. If it wasn't for their knowledge of his past, he would have suspected that he was a missing member of the Nara clan.
"We found the trail!" —Kiba and Akamaru reacted when they were close to the border of the country of fire.
"Look like they're tired?" Neji looked around and was surprised.
Tony knew that the sound four must have met Genma and Raido. By now they should have sealed Sasuke in a barrel and found a place to rest.
"It's possible they ran into some deserted ninja or something and had a fight," Tony said. "If so, they must be exhausted by now and it would be our chance to get closer."
"Let's do it then," Shikamaru came to a similar conclusion.
After advancing a few minutes more, they found the four of the sound resting in a corner of the forest. They had to hold Naruto down so he wouldn't move forward driven by his emotions.
"Where's Sasuke?" Choji asked without being able to see the ninja.
"He's inside that barrel, it looks like he's in the middle of some kind of transformation." Neji scanned the place with his Byakugan and found his target.
-Then…
-Watch out!
The four sound ninjas suddenly attacked his position, revealing that they were aware of his presence. Shikamaru tried to trick them into trapping them in his shadow, but failed and they were all trapped in Jirobo's dome of rocks.
The rest of the sound ninjas leave while Jirobo stays behind to delight in absorbing everyone's chakra.
"Now… what should I do?" Tony wondered as he gazed at the dome of rocks.
Being aware of the plot, he had switched his position with a chocolate clone before he was caught. He could either wait for Choji to break the dome for the others to escape or...
Weekly Power Status
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