The thief felt chakra signatures coming up from behind with speed.

"Hmm? They're still trying to follow me? Why? I gave them their scrolls back. I've got my information, they still have their scrolls: it's a win, win situation. Well, more like a win, and no loss situation, but they should have just left it at that. I was hoping we could avoid this, but oh well. Let's dance."

The group of four was moving swiftly through the tress in pursuit of their fugitive.

"We no longer have the element of surprise at our disposal-"

"a great help that was last time anyway" mumbled a disgruntled Naruto.

"-so we are just going to have to face him head on. This time, no matter what he does, do not let your guard down; it was a foolish mistake to be distracted by his behavior in our last encounter." Kakashi continued, ignoring Naruto's comment.

"This guy is so weird! One minute he's all serious and ninja'd to the max then the next he's clowning around! What's with this guy?!"

"Sort of reminds me of a certain hyperactive ninja I know." Sakura replied eyeing Naruto.

"His abnormal antics are strangely strategic. For example we were not able to recognize the unique replacement jutsu." Sai thought aloud.

"Yeah, at first I thought it was just a weird doll meant to immaturely taunt us, but it was able to throw us off such a basic jutsu by having physical similarities matching the original. It was even weighted to feel like a real person. The jutsu only fell because the user got out of range to control it." Sakura added.

"We mistook his peculiarity as weakness so we underestimated him, thus we were fooled and he got away. We will not make the same mistake again." Kakashi concluded.

A few moments passed as they continued to tree hop.

"Huh…"

"What's up Naruto?" Sakura inquired.

"He did what he said he would."

"What do you mean?"

"In the note: he said he'd give us back the scrolls and he actually did. Think about it. We just assumed he was lying in the note so we went after him automatically to get them back because it's our mission to deliver the scrolls safely.
But he really did give them back, even after he had escaped! That means he had the intention to do it all along. So it's almost like… like he planned the whole thing: being found, feigning defeat, returning the scrolls, and then escaping. He totally anticipated our surprise attack, we barely fought for like two minutes, and I don't think he was even scratched. All this leads me to my next question…"

"Which is?" Kakashi asked now pondering his student's insightful deduction and truly interested in one of Naruto's rare moments of profound thought.

"Uhh… why are we chasing him again?"


So much for profound thought.

"..."

"I mean don't get me wrong! I'm not objecting or anything, I'm totally down to kick some butt! But we do have the scrolls back and they are safe, just like he said! Our mission is the safe delivery of the scrolls to and from Kumogakure: we can still complete our mission and go back to Konoha. He didn't really hurt any of us physically. (Though my ego's a little bruised from us being tricked in such a lame way) But other than that, no harm no foul, right?"

Kakashi sighed.
"Wrong. If it were that simple as that then yes, maybe we could let him go. But the sad fact is: he has read the scrolls and that is just as bad. He now carries with him stolen information from our village. He could use it against us or provide it to our enemies and they would try to use it against us. A major factor is the fact that the scrolls symbolize the growing trust between the two villages. If the scrolls information were to be leaked, it would break that trust and Kumogakure could see it as an insult."

"I see. What kind of information was in the scrolls?" Naruto asked gravely.

"A suggested outline of a substantial trade agreement between our nations in one and the other had a couple of lower level jutsu we shared with a small selection of their shinobi."

"We let them know some of our village's jutsu sensei?" Sakura asked in genuine surprise.

"Yes, but only lesser ones though and to a specific selection of ninja. They too have shared a couple of theirs. It's actually a very plain but effective trust exercise used between countries becoming close: if either side's jutsu spreads noticeably beyond the ninja assigned, then it can determine if the village is really serious about their relations and should be trusted, but since it's just low level jutsu, to lose it's secrecy would not be too devastating."

"Huh… like telling a secret to a friend just to see if they can keep that secret. It's a test to see if they are worthy of your friendship and faith." Sakura reflected.

"To put it in the simplest terms, I suppose, yeah." Kakashi chuckled.

"Okay you said "what if they share it with our enemies." If it's just a basic jutsu that's not so bad right?" Naruto asked.

"Like I said, the enemy's aim might not be specific information, but could be to break the bonds of friendship growing among the countries: taking away a possible ally and making Konoha weaker in the process. So do you see the importance of making sure we capture the thief now?"

"Yeah, I guess." Naruto said, seeming a little distracted.
"I never thought much about it before, but I guess these are the types of things I will have to consider when I am Hokage- the political relationships between lands and the outcomes of each of our actions."

Naruto took on a new look of determination and pumped himself up for the imminent confrontation with new enthusiasm.

Kakashi saw the resolve on his face.
"Good. Now we're coming up on the target, get ready. We still have the upper hand by outnumbering him but he has proven himself to be skilled and it's more than likely he knows that we have caught up to him."


The shadowy one jumped down from a branch and landed in a kneeling position, then stood slowly and purposely, looking collected.

"Here we are then. I think this will turn out to be an interesting experience." The thief thought with a small smile.

A low growling sound was heard from the side as one of Sai's ink tigers languidly prowled around a tree. Walking out from the opposite side of the same tree was the artist himself.

Sakura emerged from the shadows of a young maple tree in the opposite direction.

In front of a tree to her far left, stood Kakashi who had descended effortlessly from his hiding place on an upper branch.

Lastly came Naruto, stepping out proudly from behind a willow across from his sensei.

The thief was surrounded. They all stood still and silent, staring attentively at the one in the center of their formation. The masked marauder kept steady under their collective gaze and simply took in the scene that was unfolding.

It was Sakura who finally broke the deafening quiet.

"As shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves, we hereby place you under arrest for the theft and interception of information obtained from confidential scrolls. If you do not cooperate and try to resist we will not hesitate to take any action necessary against you. Do you understand?"

The thief who had been staring directly ahead at Kakashi now turned head calmly to the side to regard her. The perpetrator nodded once in her direction as acknowledgement.

The group cautiously began to close in.
The thief took a step back away from Kakashi.
The group tensed, ready for chase or battle, but continued their enclosure.
The thief backed farther away from the team leader in what appeared to be desperate and fearful deliberation of escape.
The accused continued to back up hesitantly, but the action was deemed futile for they all knew Naruto was closing in from behind as well. They were still edging closer to the thief…

A missive boom reverberated in the forest.
The ground where Kakashi had set foot was sent exploding into the air creating a cloud of dirt.


A few moments ago:

When the thief had sensed their presences starting on a path to surround, the bandit had made sure to end their chase there by landing on the ground in a kneeling position in a small clearing.

With the upper body shrouding the ground from view, the thief simultaneously placed and hid a small land mine in front of the landing spot, then stood carefully as not to detonate the bomb.

Then, while backing up slowly, pretending to be afraid, not only was the thief getting away from the blast area but positioning Kakashi's advance onto the trap as well.


Present:

Kakashi flew back several feet.
With the dust flying in the air and clouding their vision the Konoha shinobi were caught off guard.
Naruto, being the closest to their adversary, was kicked squarely in the stomach, sending him careening backwards into a tree.
Sai and Sakura jumped apart and away from the offending dust cloud just as Naruto was sent flying.
The thief then jumped into the air above the cloud, tossed a smoke bomb in Sai's direction, made a series of hand signs, and lunged in Sakura's direction while taking off a glove.

She was just able to block and then they started rapid hand to hand combat.

Surprisingly, Sakura's inhumanly speedy and chakra powered fists were being systematically blocked by the opponent's armguards and they were neither shattering them nor the bones beneath.
It felt as if the armor was absorbing the blows' force and pushing it against her.

But she could not dwell on this phenomenon, for just then a hand went swiping towards her face. She skillfully dodged by moving her head to the right, but felt the tiniest bit of ungloved skin grazed her neck.

She let out a small scream.


Meanwhile during Sakura and the masked foe's quick skirmish:

Sai dizzily worked his way out of the smoke, which had had some kind of drugging effect, by grabbing onto his ink creature and getting pulled away.

Kakashi was regaining his awareness and footing, but he had a sharp pain in his calf where bits of rock and earth had ripped into the flesh of the leg that had stepped on the mine. There was a strange mixture of mud and blood dripping down his limb, but the cuts were not bone deep and he was going to push himself to fight through the pain.
Apparently the shallow mine was not intended to be a lethal trap but more of a form of distraction.

Naruto was just recovering from his crash into the tree and about to find out where the fight had moved to when he heard Sakura's scream.

"SAKURA!" Naruto snapped his head in the direction the noise had come from.

"Mistake."


After touching Sakura's neck, effectively causing her to scream, the black clad individual darted away from her and slightly in Naruto's direction.

The thief had witnessed the blonde's immediate concern and reaction to the kunoichi's state in the very first attack on the group with the poison needles, and had concocted a plan to use that knowledge against him.

As Naruto's head snapped in the direction of Sakura's distress, he was distracted and the masked assailant threw a number of knock out needles into the kyubi boy's now open and exposed neck.

A dismayed and disbelieving:"Nooouhh!" was all Naruto could choke out while falling to his knees: eyes wide, and grasping at the needles. He then fell face down into the dust slipping miserably into unconsciousness.

"One down."