A Wolf and A Tiger
Chapter 6
Sasuke Retrieval Mission
Zen-Aku, Alyssa, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune could be seen walking at a semi slow pace back to the hidden leaf village, it would take them maybe an hour to get back to the village, so this was a good chance to talk with Tsunade about something, "Tsunade, would it be trouble to ask something of you."
"Depends, if you're wanting me to promote you to chunin after the exams were put on hold, I won't, despite the power you showed, and even if it was to avenge Alyssa, I can't promote that sort of behavior for grounds of being a chunin," Tsunade said with authority befitting hokage.
"That wasn't what I was going to suggest, I was going to suggest that you consider Shikamaru Nara and Sasuke Uchiha for promotion, Shikamaru displayed a tactical mind befitting someone of chunin rank, and Sasuke was able show a great mind of his own when going against Gaara. Gaara is a jinchuriki, and Sasuke showed great skill and ingenuity in fighting him, even injuring him at one point, that is no easy feat with any jinchuriki, but the holder of the one known for its defense shows a great battle prowess and a good mind. Shikamaru is equally deserving of the rank, if not more so, he was able to not only use the terrain to his advantage, he was able to do so using the minimal tools at his disposal to drive his opponent back and in a position of his choosing," Zen-Aku informed and explained.
Tsunade sighed as they walked, "you keep on surprising me, I thought you'd be this pompous and arrogant guy from the moment I saw you, but you keep on proving that you're anything but that, I'll look into the request," they continued walking in silence until they finally got to the village.
Getting the new hokage set up wasn't a big issue, what was an issue was getting her to remember that she had people that needed to be healed up as well, and the scolding that Kakashi got because of the defeat he had at the hands of 'someone like Itachi Uchiha' was worth it. The healing of Sasuke was a lot more interesting with Zen-Aku saying, "you thought that you could take on someone like Itachi Uchiha with just a single A-rank ninjutsu, you need at least a full arsenal before you can even begin to take him on."
"Not to mention you are just a thirteen-year-old genin at this moment, and he was an anbu captain, you need more than a few years of training to catch up to someone like him," Alyssa put in, and now that he was awake, he should hear them and what they're saying.
"Stop it you two, that's not fair, I'm sure that Sasuke was just caught off guard, there'd be no way for him to have been taken down by someone like Itachi otherwise, right," Sakura defended her love, too bad the deadpan looks he received, or believed she received, told something else.
"He got his ass handed to him because he thought that he could take on his brother with only an A-class jutsu, they're right little girl, it does nothing but puts himself in danger while going off with barely a concept of the enemy's strength, it was foolish," Tsunade commented before walking out. Zen-Aku and Alyssa turned to leave as well, they didn't need to go see about Lee, and Lee isn't in the mood to see Zen-Aku either, ever since he killed Neji and took Lee's chance to prove himself better, all he's done is call the duke org an unyouthful person and yell at him every chance given. Instead, they decided to head back to their apartment, too bad on the way they ran into the Konohamaru corps and they told him what Konohamaru has done, that being barricading himself inside the hokage's office and refusing to come out, he even laid traps in case anyone tried to get him out.
"You go help Konohamaru, I'm going to get some sweet buns, then maybe go to the store," Alyssa told him before giving a quick peck on the cheek and walking in the other direction, on the way she saw Kurenai, Anko, and Tsume Inuzuka in a dango shop and eating some of the sweets. This was her chance, she had something she needed to speak with them about, well, she needed to speak with her sensei about the art of kunoichi seduction and was going to ask Anko to help since she's quite womanly as well and would know some advanced seduction techniques. With Tsume here as well though, she could get even more insight on how to seduce Zen-Aku so when the time came, she wouldn't just be lying there and not pleasuring him as well, "Kurenai-sensei, Anko-Sensei, Tsume Inuzuka, how are you doing," she called with a bright smile.
"Aw, Hinata, it's been a while, but I'm glad that you're doing alright, what have you been up to," Kurenai asked with a pleasant smile, it wasn't completely pleasant, she was in a bit of a bad mood because of the girl's father, her father has been coming to her with complaints on his daughter.
"Nothing to troubling, I fought a giant snake at the third round of the chunin exams when we were all invaded, and I just got back from a mission with Zen-Aku and Jiraiya in which we found and brought back lady Tsunade to become the next Hokage," Alyssa said casually with a shrug.
The other three just stared at her blankly for a moment, they were a little stunned that she just mentioned two big events so casually, if only they knew what else she'd done, but the first one to recover was Tsume, "how did you summon such a huge metal tiger, I've never seen such a thing."
"A secret technique that I picked up on one of my missions, I didn't want to tell anyone about it until I fully had it mastered, I did so a few days before the final exams," Alyssa stated while rubbing the back of her head nervously, the others were looking as if to say, 'is that really the lie.'
"That is probably the most used excuse out there for any secret technique out there kid, if you're going to lie like that, at least make it less cliché," Tsume stated with a little smirk towards the girl before taking a drink of her sake, it wasn't too bad for a low-grade stand for dango.
"Despite the obvious lie, we'll let you keep your secrets, in exchange, why don't you tell us why you're really here," Anko suggested with a smirk, she had an idea what the girl, after the little story she heard after the second round, she guessed something might come up.
Alyssa sighed before she set next to Tsume with Anko and Kurenai sitting across from them, "I came here to see if I could get some extra kunoichi training, namely in the art of seduction, and with Tsume here, some specific seduction for the more… hairy of targets." That was a good way for Alyssa to put it, make it sound more like training than for her own personal relationship and they might actually help her instead of not wasting time on a girl that wasn't fully developed yet, despite her mental age.
The others gave her a blank look before Kurenai spoke up, "really Hinata, that's the way you want to ask for help in regards to seducing Naruto, ninja training for seduction techniques, I thought you'd at least be straight with us and just ask instead of beating around the bush."
Figured she couldn't lie to jonins, with another sigh she got to the point, "fine, I really need help seducing him, I know he loves me and I don't actually need to seduce him, but I can't help but want to do something special for him since we keep getting interrupted every time we're alone." She received confused looks on that, it wasn't normal for ninja to not be alone together, some times their missions actually demanded it, she noticed the looks so she explained, she explained everything she could, the interruptions at key moments were embarrassing, but also irritating.
"Seriously girl, you got interrupted when he was fingering you, I would have lost my patience long ago and just jumped him if I had to put up with half of that many interruptions, and it sounds like lord Jiraiya is actively trying to disrupt things with the way you're telling it," Anko commented.
"This might sound a little bit overbearing, but since I'm your sensei, I need to ask if you think this might be the universe's way of saying that you need to slow your relationship with Naruto, you can't possibly be backed up to the point of asking advice from us," Kurenai suggested.
Alyssa looks at her blankly for a moment before speaking, "Kurenai-sensei, I know Zen-Aku told you about where me and him are from, in that world I was nineteen when I was reincarnated into this world, and I never felt the touch of a man, not even a kiss. Add that to the thirteen years I've spent in this world and I have the soul of a thirty-two-year-old woman with the mind equal to a middle-aged Nara thanks to my elephant soul boosting my intelligence, so when I say that I'm backed up, believe me when I say, I'm backed up."
Anko whistled at that, "damn, I wouldn't ever go that long without something, and I bet the little finger bang that he gave you didn't help since you didn't even get to finish, am I right," she asked and Alyssa had the decency to blush before slamming her head on the table.
"Okay, I get why you might need help from those two," Tsume said, gesturing to Anko and Kurenai, "but why would you need my help, it's not like your boyfriend is part Inuzuka, or part dog or anything, so why would you ask me for help, and I mean that, why?"
Alyssa turned her head to look at Tsume while her head was still on the table while the other two gave her a blank look, like the turned head of Alyssa was giving her as well, Kurenai decided to speak though, "because he's basically a humanoid wolf with a horn on his forehead."
"Then I might have some advice about that, but that depends on some factors that I need to ask about, like who is more dominate, who is submissive, you can tell by many factors, the easiest is who instigates intimate contact between you two, doesn't have to be sexual," Tsume explained factually.
"Well, neither of us is dominate over the other, we both instigate intimate contact, he'll hug and kiss me while I return it, or I'll hug and kiss him while he returns it, we actually have a pretty evenly split relationship," Alyssa informed casually, that wasn't to rare of a thing, right?
"Well, that's rare, usually you have one dominate in a relationship with a canine or anything reminiscent of an Inuzuka in any way, with him part wolf, I expected him to be similar, but since you are even in your relationship, I've got no idea on what to do," Tsume admitted with a shrug.
"That means that you can't get a special little trick to please his canine side, meaning all you have left is the tricks that we'll be teaching you," Anko said with a wonderful grin, just filled with sadistic pleasure, "this way both of you can get your rocks off, trust me."
"Anko, don't scare her, and I never gave you permission for that, and as her sensei, I have to give the go ahead for something like that," Kurenai chastised the snake mistress, then she turned to the girl, "and you, have you thought of everything, what about birth control, is it even needed."
Alyssa looked a little downtrodden at that, "I have, we both have, he had his sperm checked out when Zen-Aku and Naruto fused together to make him," she shed a single tear at the part that was about to come out of her mouth, "his org sperm is incompatible with a human's egg."
The three of them took a sharp breath at that, Kurenai spoke up, hoping to sway the girl from the org and move to a more normal boy, like Kiba or Shino or somebody else, "what about you Hinata, are you willing to give up on the chance of having a family, you told me once that was what you wanted most."
"A family doesn't have to have children included, and I'm not in love with Zen-Aku for the possibility of children, I love him for who he is and that is something I will always love," Alyssa stated with passion in her eyes, she was sad about no children, but it wasn't a requirement for love.
"Now that was some statement, I'll help regardless of what Kurenai says, in fact, I'll teach you the secret kunoichi seduction technique developed and perfected by our generation's seduction expert," Anko said with a smirk, and who knows, it could be fun teaching how to please herself and the man.
"I remember her, taught only a select few her secrets and skill, and you're one of them, correct," Tsume asked the snake mistress and said woman nodded with a smirk, "now this I gotta be a part of, and after I get to know you and him, maybe I could give some advice for his canine side."
"Fine, but if you want to do this Hinata, it's going to be in a safe and closed environment, and I'll help anywhere I can, but don't expect much since I'm not as skilled in this area as these two," Kurenai said while the others laughed, this could be fun, but also hot and sweaty.
Days later
Zen-Aku was making his way through the hospital on his way to see Sasuke, he was alone because Alyssa was off training with Kurenai and some other kunoichi, she said she wanted the results and what it's about to be a surprise, so he respected her wishes and decided to visit Sasuke. As he was walking he saw Sakura about to enter the room with a bag of apples, and when she spotted him, she waved, and he just nodded before following her inside, "look, I brought you some apples, you like them, right," she said as she fully entered the room and sat down beside his bed. She took an apple out to show him, "here, don't they look delicious," before putting it back in the bag and setting the bag down and began looking around and found a knife she must have had earlier before peeling the fruit for him to eat easier.
Sasuke was just sitting there with a blank face as if not seeing them, but the way his ears twitched slightly, you could tell he was listening to what was going on, so Zen-Aku decided to speak up, "you've been in here longer than you should have been, what's going on with you?"
Sasuke was silent for a moment while Sakura peeled an apple to give to him, but then Sasuke lifted his head up and sent a very nasty glare the org's way, "you, Naruto, I want you to fight me, fight me right now," he ordered with his head slightly bowing a little bit, not enough for many to notice.
"Why would I do that Sasuke, you have just recovered enough to where you can move from I've heard, lying in bed for days on end because you lost to your brother, who you thought you could take on by yourself, with a single A-rank ninjutsu, why fight you after that," Zen-Aku asked.
"Shut up and fight," Sasuke demanded again as he activated his sharingan to show how serious this was to him, "do you really think you've saved me, I don't care what you think," Sasuke now sprung up from the bed and stood in front of Zen-Aku with a determined gaze.
"Very well, if you wish to fight one another so badly, I won't say anymore on the subject, we'll do this on the roof," Zen-Aku said as he walked away and heard the footsteps of Sasuke and Sakura behind him, it didn't take long to get to the roof where a multitude of white sheets awaited them. When they finally got to the roof, they stood on opposite sides of the roof, tense yet loose muscles ready for the fight to begin, Sasuke with his sharingan still activated, Zen-Aku with his arms crossed and a steady breathing coming from his lunges.
"Stop acting so high and mighty, no matter how good you think you are, you still can't fight against someone like me and win, so stop acting like you're some great shinobi now that you got some halfway descent skills," Sasuke advised as he readied his stance and made ready to charge.
"I suggest you put your headband on first, we might be doing this, but we should be doing this as we should, on equal ground as fellow leaf shinobi," the duke org advised the 'last' loyal Uchiha, though he knew it would be useless, he still had to advise it, his honor demanded it.
"There you go acting all high and mighty again, you can't possibly think we're equals," Sasuke raged as if unbelieving that the one who placed last every year thought that he was at all on equal ground with himself, "you're a complete embarrassment."
"You are just mad that everything that I've done over shadows what you have done, or the mistakes you've made, like thinking you can take on your brother like you are now," Zen-Aku pointed out with crossed arms, and that seemed to do the trick in enraging his target.
Sasuke quit talking and charged at the duke org with a right fist aimed for his face, it was caught with one hand at the last second before used to judo flip the Uchiha over the duke org to land on his back, but Sasuke caught himself and flipped to kick Zen-Aku in the face instead. The duke org just swatted the feet away while side stepping bringing his own leg up to kick the boy in the gut while he was in the air before repeating said action with the other leg as well and making the boy stay in the air even longer before bringing his left elbow up and slamming it into his chin. Sasuke slammed into the ground after that and rolled out of the way of Zen-Aku's right heel about to be dropped onto his head that almost cracked the roof they were on, Sasuke ended up rolling into the sheets that were hung up to dry that day to hide himself for a moment. He probably expected the duke org to chase after him and into the sheets but was too dumb to realize that he wasn't the same kid he had pretended to be, that was when Sasuke threw a sheet at him in an effort to hide his movements and attack his blind spot. Zen-Aku instead extended his claws out and tore through the sheet and was able to see the fist in time to avoid it and duck in an instant before bringing his right knee up and slamming it into the Uchiha's gut, making him cough up some spit. Next was a large backhand to his face that slammed him into the ground and did crack the pavement of the roof, he was now struggling to pull himself back up while the duke org just remained still above him with arms crossed, it infuriated Sasuke to no end, seeing him like this.
"You are not ready to fight me Sasuke, I don't need to use a jutsu or tricks to defeat you, the only thing you are doing is throwing a tantrum over the fact that I am currently stronger than you, and that you are weaker than Itachi, did you think he wouldn't be training as well, you are a naïve child. If you can't see what lies behind what you see, than you don't deserve to have those eyes of yours, bloodline or not, as far as I'm concerned, you are but a waste of an Uchiha with a thief's eye, and that is all you will ever be until you can learn respect and how to see," Zen-Aku stated bluntly.
Now Sasuke was pissed, it was bad enough that he was losing to a clanless loser like Naruto, but now he's being told that he was nothing but a wasted Uchiha throwing a tantrum over being weak, that pushed Sasuke passed a breaking point and made him enact the Chidori in his left hand. In a flash, or so he thought, he spun around and aimed for the heart of Naruto, but it didn't reach, before it cold get close enough to the duke org to hurt him, a hand clasped a hold of his wrist and threw him to embed him deep into a water tank on top of the hospital that they were on. "What do you think you're doing Sasuke, that was a bit much for a sparing match, and not the size of a chidori that you aim for a comrade, if I hadn't shown up when I did, that chidori could have killed him," Kakashi's voice called over to him from where he was beside of Zen-Aku. Sasuke dislodged his arm from the water tank and the water flooded out from the gaping hole he made, "you really need to get over this sense of superiority you have, you really do need to grow up," Kakashi said once more to drive the point home that Sasuke really did need to grow up. Sasuke didn't want to hear any more of anybody else tell him that he needs to grow up or that he was a child and decided to backflip the fence and leave the conversation, the others watched him go and didn't bother trying to stop him, Kakashi sighed, "well, so much for teamwork."
"Thanks for the save, I expected him to break down and cry and show some emotion at what I said, my experience led me to believe that is what he should have done, but I guess you can't completely tell what someone is able or willing to do in an agitated state," Zen-Aku commented.
Sakura broke down and began crying at what Sasuke did, she never expected him to do something like that, it probably didn't help that she was feeling useless standing on the sidelines, Kakashi turned to her to say something, "don't worry Sakura, we'll get him back to his old self soon."
"Don't delude yourself, and you shouldn't tell her some lie like that, she needs to grow up as well, that was his old self, he's always been an asshole, the only difference is that now you see how he really is," Zen-Aku commented as he started to walk away, "I'm gong home, goodbye." He disappeared in a shadowy haze that speed across the rooftops until he got to his apartment where Alyssa was waiting for him while reading one of his many books on seals that he got from his parent's treasury room, "I'm home deer," he announced as he walked through the door.
"Welcome home Zen," Alyssa said before giving his mask a quick peck when he came over and leaned over her, "I was thinking about cooking some beef stew, or some rice and curry, which would you prefer," she mentioned to him as she turned a page and marked it before closing the book.
"I wouldn't mind having some beef stew, I love this Japanese style foods, but there comes a time when a few varieties are welcome in a diet," Zen-Aku stated as he started to undress with the bedroom door open by taking off his armor one piece at a time at an agonizingly slow pace.
For her it was an amazing show, she loved watching him at times, his perfect muscles that reminded her of a mighty beast was just mesmerizing, but she knew why he was doing this now though, they were both backed up heavily, and it didn't help with her training. Anko had forbidden her from participating in any kind of activity that 'pushed the envelope', or 'expressed intimate action' as Kurenai put it, Anko said that this was to help teach her self-control, and to help build up the anticipation for the night that is to come. Alyssa guessed that Anko never spent years with that same type of anticipation that Alyssa has, it didn't really help that Zen-Aku was changing in front of her either, "I know you want to do something besides kissing and snuggling, like the hotel, but I told you we can't," she stated.
"I know, your training prohibits us from being intimate like that again, for now at least, but we don't have to do that to be close to one another," Zen-Aku was fully dressed in his sleep attire without his mask, which was just shorts covering his lower body, "I love you, do you know that?"
"I know that, and don't worry," Alyssa stood up and walked into the bedroom and hugged him from behind, "we'll be together at one point in the near future," he placed his hand on hers and felt her ease at his touch, "but for now I'll make some dinner." She craned her neck and kissed his cheek, he wasn't that much taller than her, so it wasn't too difficult, and she knew he was watching her go so she added a little sway to her hips as he watched, he greatly appreciated the small show as payment for the show he gave her.
They ate the beef stew that was prepared, and Alyssa got ready for bed, her clothing for bed was a standard attire of pure white pajamas, they laid together as they always did, with her snuggled up close to his chest and his arms wrapped around her form, both with smiles on their faces. They were happy that night, just being in each other's company, but that happiness didn't last long, for in the morning, just as the sun was peeking out of the horizon, a knock was heard at their door, a loud knock, now neither of them were morning people, so they glared at the door. "I'll get it, you stay in bed deer," Zen-Aku commanded as he got up and headed for the door, making sure to grab his mask and put it on before opening it, it was Shikamaru Nara, in his new chunin vest, "you're interrupting my sleep Shikamaru, what do you want?"
"Sasuke has fled the village with the sound, apparently Sakura tried to confront him and he knocked her out, now I've been put in charge of gathering up some people to chase after him and bring him back," Shikamaru said with his standard board expression on his face and laxed stance.
"What," Zen-Aku barked out, these human shinobi keep on surprising him, why the hell would he do that, by now Sasuke should have realized that no matter how much he trained, he could never beet his brother, the only way to win would be with a team, these human shinobi are messed up. "Go find the other people you have chosen for the team, I'll wake up Alyssa and get dressed, we'll meet you at the gates when it's time to leave," now he slammed the door out of frustration and walked back to the bedroom and stripped the covers off of her form, "Sasuke defected."
The covers being stripped from her was bad enough, but then the news of Sasuke's defection to add to it, now she shot up and stared at him with a tired look, "I'm really tired of idiots doing things to disrupt us, and we're still in our weak off too, he had to pick now of all times, he's dead."
"I can't tell if you're serious or not with that tired look, but regardless, get up and get dressed, we have a mission to complete," Zen-Aku stated as he put on his armor and she put on her ranger uniform, only differences from back home were their height and their leaf headbands. They left their apartment locked and made sure to having everything packed as best they could to travel light and fast, this will be a mission of speed since the enemy already has a head start on them, a huge head start since they were traveling since last night.
They got to the front entrance and only had to wait a minute more for the rest of the team to arrive, a team that consisted of Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, and a nicely healed up Lee who was glaring at Zen-Aku, who didn't even know that he could glare like that. "Alright, this is a rescue mission so we'll be in the position of pursuit, which means the enemy already has an important advantage over us, that said, I'm arranging us in a formation that can respond to any assault by the enemy, if none of you follow my orders exactly, we're all gonna die." Shikamaru stated with a small glare at the end to make sure everyone gets the message, "we'll go with a single file strike formation, as you all know, the most important position is the spear head, that's going to be Kiba and Akamaru. With all the walks you and Akamaru go on, you're the one most familiar with the land of fire's terrain, and with that sensitive nose of yours, you'll be able to track Sasuke's sent while also sniffing out any booby traps the enemy might have set, and two eyes can protect our line from an assault. Second in line will be yours truly, from that position I'll be able to guide everyone behind me using silent hand signals, and because I'm so close to Kiba, I'll be able to react to any situation," Shikamaru explained while the others were amazed at what he's able to set up and his reasoning. "The next in line will be Lee, his fast movements and powerful taijutsu makes him most suited to be in one of the two middle positions, able to move around and react from an attack on the side, front, or behind him at speeds that most can't follow. After that will be Naruto, that position is perfect for you, just like Lee, you'll be able to execute quick moves in front of you, to the side of you, or behind you, and your shadow clone jutsu will give us a leg up to outnumber them if you reinforce your clones with your…special chakra. Next will be Choji, you might not have any speed but your striking power is the greatest of the platoon members, Kiba, myself, Lee, and Naruto will launch a surprise attack, and then you will swoop in and finish them off, you're the second wave of out assault. Finally, on the end will be you Hinata, your position is most difficult, rear lookout, I want you to use your Byakugan to constantly scan ahead for weakness in our ranks," that was the full lineup on their chase to get back Sasuke, Shikamaru bent down and pulled out a scroll he was drawing in. "This diagram shows what part of the perimeter you are responsible for," he said once he was done and began pointing to the positions, "Kiba watches the front, I'm responsible for a wider forward view, Lee watches the left, Naruto watches everyone, Choji the right, and Hinata the back." Shikamaru began to roll up the scroll, "alright, now I think I should familiarize myself with our arms and weaponry, I need to check out all the ninja tools each of you plan on carrying into battle, that way I'll know what we have, any questions," nobody had anything to say to that. "Sine nobody has anything to add, I saved the most important thing for last, for as long as I've known him, Sasuke and I haven't always been close buddies, in fact, I don't really like him at all, all the same, he's a ninja belonging to the hidden leaf village, he's a comrade, and I'll lay my life down to help him. That's the way of our village," the wind seemed to blow to add effect to what Shikamaru was saying, "I know I usually seem like a pretty lazy guy, but not today, because now I'm responsible for your lives too," the show of responsibility was quite inspiring for them, quite inspiring in deed.
"While, never thought I'd see Shikamaru acting like a chunin, very impressive," Kiba commented, yes, impressive was another word for it, but now they showed off what they got in their gear, everyone had standard ninja equipment, "what the hell Naruto," almost everyone.
"This is my crescent blade and dagger flute, he wanted to see the weapons I'm taking with me, so I'm showing him the weapons I'm taking with me," Zen-Aku stated calmly after revealing his weapons, those two were his only weapons, it was all he ever needed in his millennia of life.
"Alright, let's move out," Shikamaru ordered and ignored Zen-Aku and Kiba, they were almost out of the gate when Sakura called out to wait, "lady hokage told me everything, sorry Sakura, I can't take you on this mission, I know you tried and failed to stop him, so I have to find and force him."
Sakura began breaking down in tears after that, "Naruto, this is a once in a lifetime request, just bring him home, please bring Sasuke back to me, I did everything I could, I tried, but I couldn't stop him, and at this point, you're the only person who can stop him, to save him."
She was sobbing greatly now with her head bowed so she couldn't see the dark look in Zen-Aku's eyes, or in Alyssa's for that matter, they knew the truth to many things, so they had a very different perspective from hers, a much darker and realistic viewpoint than her. "I won't promise you anything Sakura, this mission is for rescue, but if he proves to be a full traitor who has shared valued intel with the enemy, standard procedure is to execute the traitor, and I won't hesitate to do so, curse mark or no," Zen-Aku stated as he began to walk away. The others followed behind him and heard the sobbing and wailing of Sakura as they walked to where they could jump clearly to the top of the trees and start going at a ninja's pace, Zen-Aku had to slow down for the others and was sure to keep in the formation made by Shikamaru. Kiba in front, followed by Shikamaru, then Lee, next is Zen-Aku, and then Choji with Alyssa pulling up the back, this was their formation the entire time they traveled, their enemy seemed to be ahead of them, but not by much as they had expected them to be it was time to pick up the pace.
