Disclaimer: The usual.

A/N: Well, here's my second update of the week. This one might not be so good because I still have jetlag... and that really sucks. There's not much of Risa in this one... and I have no clue when Itachi is going to come out... so, sorry for making you guys wait. We're getting there. Well, here's chapter ten. Enjoy!!

An hour later, the Sound Four finally caught up with Risa, who was standing in the middle of a clearing, clearly waiting for them. She turned around to see four tired Sound ninjas, one carrying a barrel, walking towards her. "…What happened?" They sat down in a circle and told Risa the story.

"…and then we finally found you. By the way, why weren't you there to help us?"

"…I don't think that they know that I left the village, yet… and what they said proves it, too."

"What do you mean?"

"'What you got in the coffin?' That clearly tells that they don't know Sasuke and I have left. Unless, you guys were too dumb to notice that…"

"What do you mean 'too dumb to-" Sakon shook his head. "Whatever."

"You guys should rest for awhile. Then we'll get moving." Risa said as she stood up.

"…" The Sound Four looked at each other. "I guess she's right… even though I don't exactly like it…"

CH 10

"It drives me crazy, stopping to having to rest when we should be moving on," Sakon stated, voicing his opinion.

"Well, what did you expect? You think you can fight a level two battle without feeling the effects?" Tayuya retorted.

"To feel like your whole body is completely useless, it's frustrating," said Jiroubou.

"Can't be helped if you're going to take on two jounin level ninja. If we'd held anything back, we'd have been dead." Kidoumaru closed his eyes. A minute later, he suddenly opened his eyes and stared at a bush nearby.

'There's someone behind that bush over there,' Risa thought to herself. 'And there's more people close by.' She closed her eyes, pretending not to notice. 'I do believe that the others have figured out by now, too. Of course, or else they wouldn't be Orochimaru's hand-picked bodyguards.' Risa leaned against a tree and opened her eyes in slit to see the positions the others were in: Tayuya was sitting on the barrel; Jiroubou, Sakon, and Kidoumaru were all sitting down. 'I'm pretty sure they haven't noticed that we're aware of their presence.'

"Looks like we caught them napping. Hm? Hold on. Where's Sasuke?" Shikamaru peered from a hole in the bush.

"He's in there, inside that coffin." Neji appeared beside him, using his Byakugan to inspect the group in front of them.

"You don't mean he's dead?!" Shikamaru cried out softly in surprise.

"It's been sealed with a barier jutsu that's hard for me to see through clearly. Considering that they went through all that trouble to get him, I can't believe that they'll be willing to kill him so quickly." Neji explained quietly.

"Let's just hope you're right."

Out of nowhere, Sakon threw a kunai with three bombs attached to it right at the bush where there were now two people hiding behind it. It blew up and sent the spies flying out of the bush, and right in front of the Sound Four and Risa, who looked down at them with no emotion whatsoever on her face. "What's this? I just tried throwing a knife and found two bugs instead of a snake," Sakon said smugly.

"Hold on. Wait." Shikamaru stood up and placed his hands in front of him, trying to explain. "We didn't come here to fight. We just came to negotiate. Risa-san, please, listen to me."

Kidoumaru scoffed. "She won't listen to you. She's already made up her mind. And what are these?!" He threw his hands forward and Naruto, Kiba, and Chouji came flying through the air, attached to some sort of string controlled by Kidoumaru. Kiba threw a smoke bomb and it became a purple ball of smoke, hiding them from their enemies. "And what is the meaning of this smoke bomb? There's no way you can get away from me. These strings are thinner, yet stronger than wire, so you barely see them. My strings are laid all around this area," Kidoumaru said as he wriggled his fingers around with the strings attached to them.

As the smoke cleared, you could see the two groups of ninjas: one clearly disheveled, and the other, tired but ready to fight at any moment's notice. "Damn it." "Ow…"

"The two wire traps were set like that on purpose…" Shikamaru said, as he finally understood the meaning of the wire traps. "So it was a triple trap. You had me. I didn't think you had someone with such technique."

"I'll get you guys." Kidoumaru said with confidence in himself. "What the? My body."

"Nicely done, Kiba, Shikamaru." Naruto shouted. "Kage mane no jutsu, success!!" There was a shadow-like thing on the ground, connecting Shikamaru to the Sound Four and Risa, who was now standing behind the Sound Four and next to the coffin/container.

"But, I have this technique." Shikamaru smirked. "Thanks for letting everything go accordingly to my plan."

"You got me. But I still have this technique." A part of Sakon was missing. Shurikens came flying out of the forest behind Shikamaru.

"What? From behind me?" As he turned around to avoid the attack, the shadow disappeared.

"Doton kekkai." Jiroubou placed his hands flatly on the ground. "Doro doumo!" Soil came up from the ground and piled themselves up to form a strong dome-like barrier around the five genins to keep them from escaping. Sakon's other head went back to its original place on Sakon's body, cracking its head once more before stilling itself. "I got these kids. Let me recover some."

"Once you finish eating, catch up with us. We'll go on ahead." Kidoumaru, Sakon and Tayuya began to walk away.

"…Eating?" Risa questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"We'll explain on the way." Kidoumaru picked up the barrel and put it on his back. "Here we go!"

"Hurry it up, then catch up." Sakon said, looking back at Jiroubou before following the others.

Once they were in the trees, the questioning began. "You said you were going to answer me, Kidoumaru. Now tell me, what did you mean by… eating?"

"It's just our way of saying that he's going to steal their chakra for his very own." The four of them were jumping from tree to tree in a single file line: Tayuya, Sakon, Risa, and Kidoumaru.

"So that's what the barrier was for?"

"Of course. And Jiroubou's going to come back as soon as he's finished, like he promised us." Risa laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing much. It's just that, I don't think that's going to happen." A smile appeared on her face.

"What? What do you mean by that?" Kidoumaru asked in surprise and anger. He didn't like what Risa said, and apparently, neither did Tayuya.

"Of course that fat ass is going to come back!! Just because he's the weakest one from our group doesn't mean that he can't beat those loser genins up!!" Tayuya yelled from the front.

Risa laughed again. "I'm just saying. Don't underestimate Konoha's genins. You don't know what they're capable of. But then again, you don't always have to listen to, or believe, what I'm saying. I'm not in charge of the Sound Four." 'But I have been with those five for quite some time, and I am pretty sure that I know what they can do, and with Shikamaru, I know for certain that they can defeat Jiroubou. Especially considering the people on the team.' Risa smiled.

Meanwhile, after their little argument, Shikamaru found a way to get out of the earth barrier that Jiroubou created. Kiba and Naruto have tried to fight him head on, to no success. After Chouji took down Jiroubou's earth barrier again, the five genins hid in the forest to come up with a plan to defeat Jiroubou and go after Sasuke and Risa again.

"We're running out of time. There's no choice, we've got to split up." Shikamaru said to the group.

"What's the point in that?" Naruto asked.

"Shikamaru's right. With all our chakra taken away, even with the five of us against him, he's not going to be easy to take out. And with every second that passes, Sasuke gets closer to the border. Once he crosses it, it will all be out of our hands. So we should split into two groups: one to stop him and one to follow Sasuke." Neji explained.

"You'll have the second team. Okay, Neji?" Shikamaru asked. Just then, Jiroubou slammed his hand onto the ground and the forest fell apart to reveal the small group.

"Huh. So there you are." Jiroubou grinned.

"Neji, you take Kiba and Chouji and head out after Sasuke." Shikamaru commanded.

Neji nodded. "You've got it."

"Naruto, you and I will handle this guy." Shikamaru put his hand into a seal, ready to fight with all he had.

"What are you going to do, play with my shadow again?" Jiroubou smirked, making fun of Shikamaru's technique. "Don't waste my time, kid. You already showed me your parlor trick, and once was enough."

"That's funny. I seem to remember someone getting taken in by my parlor trick." Shikamaru let the shadow stretch out to where Jiroubou was standing, but it didn't reach him. Jiroubou slammed his hand into the ground again, deactivating Shikamaru's technique.

When the dust cleared, Jiroubou appeared behind them, holding a giant boulder made out of soil above his head with his two hands. "Are you insane?!" Naruto yelled. Jiroubou made no comment and heaved the boulder towards the five genins, letting it roll in their direction, clearing a small part of the forest.

BOOM!

"You hear that?"

"I'm guessing that they got out of Jiroubou's strong and inescapable barrier." Risa said as she refrained herself from smiling.

"SHUT UP, BITCH!" Tayuya's voice came loudly from the front.

Risa chuckled. "I think that you should apply that to yourself first before telling others to do that."

"NARUTO!! I'll handle him." Chouji stood up. "This guy is mine."

"But Chouji…" Shikamaru started.

"What the heck are you talking about?! This isn't the kind of guy you can take on your own!" Naruto yelled.

"He's mine! I said he's mine!"

"Yeah, but Chouji, you're…" Naruto broke off.

Chouji reached into his back pocket and took out a brown bag. "Shikamaru, take these food pills for everyone."

"Chouji, you're not gonna…" Shikamaru smiled.

"Uh-huh. Don't worry. I've got my secret weapon with me." Chouji walked over and handed the bag to Shikamaru.

"Yeah, but Chouji, this is…"

"Oh yeah. This is priceless. You think I'm going to let it go right here?" Jiroubou charged at them.

Chouji stood in front of them, ready to fight. "Shikamaru, hurry." He took out a small box with three pills in them: one red, one yellow, and one green. He opened the top of the green pill with his thumb and popped it into his mouth.

"Get out of my way, you dope!!" Jiroubou charged at Chouji, but Chouji, with the help of the green pill stood his ground and held Jiroubou there.

"Shikamaru! Take everybody and get out of here!"

"Chouji…"

"What did the five of us join together for? If we lose Sasuke, we'll be just what this guy says we are, a stupid idiot for a leader and a band of rejects." Chouji grunted with effort.

"You better catch up with us, Chouji. You hear me?"

"Yeah! Get out of here! Go already!"

"All right! Let's move you guys!"

"Right!" Kiba, Naruto, and Neji said. The three of them and Shikamaru jumped into the air, continuing their mission to bring Sasuke back. It was now a fight of strength between Chouji and Jiroubou. It was a fight to the death.

Angel: So, how was it? What do you guys think?

Sasuke: It was-

Angel: Wait. I shouldn't ask those questions.

Risa: Smart choice.

Itachi: When am I going to come out again?!

Angel: Well, actually...

Itachi: Yes? -leans forward-

Angel: I have no clue.

Itachi: -falls-

Risa: Itachi!! Are you o- -clears throat- I'm a little tired. I think I should go get some rest. Being one of the main characters is extremely tiring, don't you know that?

Naruto: Hey! I'm the main character here! That's why the anime is named after me!

Chouji: He's mine! -chases Jiroubou around-

Angel: Pardon these crazy people.

Neji: You are the one who made us like this.

Angel: As I was saying, thanks for reading, and please, review. -smiles and waves- Ja-ne!