CHAPTER 10: Meet the Fallen King
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Orcas make three (3) types of vocalizations: clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls.
Shino watched as his insects came back to him after nearly three hours of surveillance and scouting through what seemed like the west part of the forest. 'Two enemies, huh?' He thought before he placed a hand on the tree beside him. He briefly sent a burst of chakra through it, confident that his teammates would recognize his chakra. Enemies ahead.
It wasn't a moment later before he recognized Shikamaru's chakra. The Nara flared his chakra twice, Location check. And without hesitation, Shino flared his own chakra once, I'm here. A few moments later, he felt Sakura's own chakra flare a few miles from his own location. Satisfied that his team was still safe, Shino calmly waited for the next instructions.
Plan D was a relatively easy, yet dangerous, strategy that Shikamaru had devised. Their Heaven Scroll would be carried by Sakura, the only person in the team with enough knowledge with sealing. Shino would be the one to look for the second half of the scroll, the Earth Scroll, while engaging other enemies and rendering them incapable and / or burning their scroll. Shikamaru assigned himself the task of finding the Tower while also sabotaging the other Genin Teams. Sakura, with the use of Shunshin, will lay down the traps and genjutsu seals around the Forest. And while doing so, she would also be placing the seals that will give meaning to the D of Plan D.
Plan D was dangerous because Team 10 would have to go their separate ways without any means of communication. However, that was an issue that was easily solved by their resident bookworm. Inspired by a certain mammal, the team devised a system with the usage of body flare (pulse), sending numbered bursts through objects (clicks), and a chakra enhanced whistle (whistle).
Shino smirked in excitement as he felt Sakura's chakra travel through the ground twice. Engage the enemy. Without hesitation, he swiftly jumped onto a nearby branch and traveled to the nearest genin team.
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"You've got to be shitting me," Shikamaru groaned as he felt the ground shake once more, "Who the hell's so excited in here?" He muttered as he calmly stepped away from the unconscious bodies of a Genin team from Otogakure.
Sharp onyx eyes narrowed as it watched the trees shake. Shikamaru frowned before he turned to look at the sky from the cracks of space that the giant trees allowed. As expected, the sky was beginning to soften. If the lazy genius would guess, there were only two hours left before sunset.
He sighed, calming his agitated nerves. He swiftly picked up the fallen Earth Scroll and quickly lit it on fire with a basic fire jutsu that he learned from Sasuke and Sakura back at the Academy. The Nara began to walk in a random direction as he mentally calculated their next step.
With only a little time left before the night falls, Shino must have completed his task already. The problem was Sakura. He acknowledged the fact that giving Sakura a heavy workload was his fault, but the pinkette was their only best bet in succeeding with Plan D. Despite the girl's assurance that she would get the job done before sunset, Shikamaru was still hesitant to believe on whether or not she had managed to keep her promise.
Shikamaru ignored the small earthquake, 'I have to believe in my teammates,' He thought before he smirked, 'What kind of strategist am I if I don't have the heart to believe in my allies? Plus, this is the Rookie of The Year we're talking about!' Shikamaru convinced himself.
Sakura, ever since he was a child, was seen as an otherworldly being by his fellow classmates and friends. The girl, despite her small stature and civilian background, was one of the strongest of their batch. She was later on regarded as one of the child prodigies that rivaled Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, and even the former Fourth Hokage. 'This is Sakura, she keeps her word.' Shikamaru let out a sharp, chakra enhanced whistle. Regroup.
The strategist calmly climbed the giant tree for a higher viewpoint and sat down to wait for his team. Not even fifteen minutes later, he recognized Shino's chakra flare once, I'm here.
"Sakura – san is still not here?" Shino asked as he settled near the lazy boy.
"Nah, she must be on her way." Shikamaru said as he crossed his arms behind his head, "Did you feel the earthquake earlier? Someone's lively." He commented with a lazy drawl.
"About that," Shino turned, "I sent my insects to check it out. They were feeling anxious about something so I gave them the freedom to do what they want."
Shikamaru snorted, "Not like we can do anything if something is happening, but go off."
At that moment, Sakura's chakra flared once. "That's a little mean, Shikamaru." She appeared on a tree branch in front of them, "What would you do if a friend of ours was in trouble?" she teased.
"This is an exam. It's every man for himself." He stood up and patted his pants to rid of the dirt. "Status report," He looked at the insect user, "Shino."
"I've acquired the Earth Scroll," Shino subtly patted to a pocket, "Along the way I've managed to sabotage two Genin teams and two different individuals. I'm assuming the two individuals were from a team that has decided to split up. "
Shikamaru nodded before he turned to face the pinkette, "Sakura?"
Sakura smiled, "The Heaven Scroll is still safe with me. I managed to sabotage three Genin teams, trapped two individuals, and managed to get three people in a genjutsu trap. All the traps and genjutsu seals have been set too."
"And the other seals?" Shino asked.
"Done too."
"Good job," Shikamaru nodded. He was relieved that nothing bad had happened to any of them while they were off doing their individual work. Even with their strength and communication strategy, they would have been easily outnumbered in case anything went wrong. "I found the Tower earlier and sabotaged three Genin teams."
"Should we head there now?" Sakura asked.
"We can rest up in the Tower better than staying here overnight," Shino commented as he looked at the forest. "We'd less likely die there."
Shikamaru gave a once – over their surroundings, "I never thought of that, sorry." He admitted which made the duo nod at him, "It's not far from here. We can get there probably in an hour, or maybe an hour and thirty minutes tops."
"Reasonable travel." Sakura blinked.
"Let's go? I'm not exactly keen on meeting the night predators here," Shikamaru muttered before he began to turn around.
"Wait," Shino pointed to his approaching insects, "Something's wrong."
"What kind of 'wrong'?" Shikamaru asked as they watched Shino silently communicate with his insects.
"Does this have something to do with the earthquakes?" Sakura wondered as she shifted her weight to one leg, "I felt a strange chakra earlier and I found a gigantic dead snake a few paces back."
"Gigantic?"
The pinkette nodded, "Like, summoning animal gigantic…"
"It's Team 7," Shino spoke softly, "Should we help them?" The boys looked over to Sakura, their pseudo – leader ever since they were young.
Emerald eyes blinked at the sudden attention, "I mean… we're in an exam though… but," She bit her lip and looked to the side, averting her gaze, "How bad is it?"
"Apparently someone snuck in the exam."
"Let's head over there and assess the situation first."
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"That form," Sakura spoke out as Team 10 carefully settled on a tree branch high enough for Team 7 not to notice them, "Is similar to Konohagakure's Snake Sannin." Emerald eyes watched the Sannin in a younger body with interest, 'The Fallen King of Konoha,' She thought before she turned her gaze to her fellow batch mates.
"Snake Sannin?" Shikamaru asked, his sharp eyes not straying from the fight below them. It wasn't even a fight, he could see that their fellow genin was outmatched and outranked to be able to fight back.
"I've heard stories about him." Shino calmly directed a few insects of his down to the fight, "My father once called him a 'mad genius'."
This caused the pinkette to snort, "More like a psychopath."
"None of those are comforting," The Nara grumbled. He flinched while he watched Naruto get thrown around like a weightless doll, "I know I said that we shouldn't meddle with the other teams, but we have to do something before they get killed." He cringed as he watched Hinata and Sasuke double – team the enemy, their teamwork barely holding back against the older opponent's attacks.
"What's the plan, Shika?" said boy turned to look at the pinkette with a raised brow, "What? You said you wanted to be one of the best strategists, right? I trust in whatever plan you can think of right now." Sakura gave a small smile.
"This is your zone," Shino added.
Flustered, Shikamaru raised a hand to scratch the base of his neck. "Sheer willpower." He remembered Asuma's first lecture. "Alright, we're outclassed by all means, but we're gonna try our best to get out of this alive." He moved to a crouch, 'This wasn't part of our plan, but I'm not dumb enough to leave those three idiots behind.'
"Shino, your job is to send out insects and find the nearest Jounin or ANBU for help, I'm sure that they have a few hiding around. Get Naruto and Hinata out of here while you're at it."
"No problem."
"Sakura, you distract the enemy."
"Excuse me? I don't see a scenario where I live to survive that."
"I know I'm asking for too much, but you have the best skillset out of the three of us for a quick attack and to be able to retreat quickly." He gestured to her pouch, "You made a chakra seal, right? The one you tried with Asuma – sensei?"
"Those aren't done yet, I can only teleport a few meters at once. If you want, you'd have to plant the seals as you go."
"Like a shunshin except you're following a chakra signal. Wouldn't that be a waste of chakra?" Shino wondered.
"Sadly it is. I haven't exactly got the proper Hiraishin down." Sakura sighed. "This was modified to fit to the minimal chakra I can expend without severely draining myself."
"We're wasting time," Shikamaru cut back, "It's the best thing we have right now, so let's do it. I'll get Sasuke and run. Follow us when you're sure that the psycho won't be able to follow you." He stood up, "Ready?"
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