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Chapter 20: - Zero Hour!
I waited for whatever attack that was planned to commence, when I noticed that two people had emerged from the smoke and landed on the roofing of the balcony were the Kage were seated, shortly after a large black rectangular barrier was erected around the two people who were in fact the Kage themselves, with the Kazekage holding a kunai to the Hokage's throat.
"That's a barrier Ninjutsu," Guy realised.
"They outwitted the ANBU Black Ops and the ANBU are supposed to be the best," Kakashi-sensei stated. Myself, Guy and Kakashi-sensei were about to go and help when an ANBU appeared in their way.
"Why are you here? Lord Hokage's in danger," Guy questioned. The ANBU formed a hand sign and he was then flanked on both sides by two ninjas each, they had Sound Village forehead protectors and were dressed the same as those that I can encountered during the mission with Anko.
"What a nuisance," Kakashi-sensei growled out, upon realising that the ANBU before us was an enemy ninja.
"An enemy masquerading as an ANBU Black Ops. So he was using Genjutsu," Guy stated. My grip on the katana tightened as I prepared to fight them.
"Yes there's no mistake," Kakashi-sensei agreed. I edged my way over to Sakura who was still awake, hoping to avoid detection.
"Sakura take cover," I whispered to the pinkette. She looked at me and nodded before ducking down behind the seating in front of her, she was worried and so was I, everyone else was asleep bar those with us, the ones in the arena and the ones were the Kage were. Most likely the enemy also had reinforcements in hiding meaning we were severely out numbered.
I gritted my teeth in annoyance and looked back at the arena I saw that Kankurō and Temari had jumped down to Gaara's side, they were trying to convince him to stop however Gaara was insistent, but his wound was far worse than it seemed and he collapsed to the floor. Temari and Kankurō then took Gaara and ran off with him, however Sasuke began to follow them.
Guy was berating himself when he told us to look at the Barrier, I turned my head and saw inside that the person who had kidnapped the Third was Orochimaru who had disguised himself as the Kazekage.
"Orochimaru," Kakashi-sensei spoke. The mention of his name caused Sakura to stand up from her hiding position and look at the barrier. The Sound ninja that had assembled before us then went to attack Sakura, however I jumped up and blocked their attacks before landing down in front of Sakura and turning to her.
"Sakura stay down, we handle them," I ordered. Sakura nodded and ducked back down, I turned back to the sound ninja and prepared to engage them again. I heard the clashing of metal against metal and I knew that more shinobi who had resisted the Genjutsu were engaging the enemy within the arena somewhere.
One ninja went to strike my but I blocked the kunai with the flat my katana at a sloped angle, causing his arm to slide down due to the momentum, knocking him off balance. I then spun out of the way and crashed my leg into his spine sending him face first into the seating behind us, I then dodge out of the way of another attack whilst Kakashi-sensei took him out.
"You'rw strong Ami," Kakashi-sensei stated. I blocked another strike before kicking my opponent in the abdomen forcing him backwards.
"My first sensei trained me vigorously, I learnt many things most Genin wouldn't know until they became Chūnin," I explained. Kakashi-sensei nodded and we returned our attention to the fight, at one point me, Guy and Kakashi-sensei all ended up back to back.
"Nicely done but I worried about Lord Hokage," Guy stated as we regained our breath from the brief pause after non-stop fighting.
"Leave that to the ANBU Black Ops, we have enough to handle here. Besides Lord Hokage isn't just some pushover you know," Kakashi-sensei responded.
"Yeah but-," Guy began to argue, until Kakashi cut him off.
"Just remember Guy, he is the Hokage, he can handle it," Kakashi added in. Suddenly we all heard something coming from the Hokage's direction and I looked up only to see that Orochimaru had stabbed himself in the hand for some strange reason, he then walked away from the Hokage and it seemed they were about to engage in battle, which reminded me of our predicament.
"We need to focus on the innocents and stop any harm from coming to them," I spoke up. Both Jōnin nodded and we returned to battle, I engaged about three or four more ninjas before I was interrupted again.
"Sakura, Ami," I heard Kakashi-sensei called out. I back flipped over to where he was and landed beside him. "Release the Genjutsu and wake Shikamaru and Naruto. Naruto will be delighted you'll be getting a mission after such a long time," Kakashi-sensei told us. I was surprised by this not understanding his motives for sending us on mission during this crisis.
"What kind of mission?" Sakura asked from behind us.
"You'll have to be careful on this one, it's the first A-rank assignment since the Land of the Waves," Kakashi-sensei explained. I was surprised that they had been on and A-rank mission and survived being only Genin they were normally given a D or – although rare – a C-rank mission.
"But sensei what are you doing? With this battle going on why send us of on some mission?" Sakura asked.
"Sasuke's chasing Gaara and the other Sand ninja," Kakashi-sensei revealed. Sakura was surprised by this fact, but given that she hadn't seen Sasuke run after them I wasn't shocked. "Both of you, release the Genjutsu, wake Shikamaru and Naruto and follow Sasuke," Kakashi repeated his previous orders. I watched as he shallowly cut his thumb on the kunai, drawing a tiny amount of blood.
"But shouldn't we wake Ino and Chōji and go in a group?" Sakura questioned.
"No time, I suspect that many Sound and Sand shinobi, may have already infiltrated the village besides it's risky enough that I'm sending five of you to follow Sasuke but it's necessary, anymore and it'll be too hard for you to hide from the enemy," Kakashi-sensei responded.
"Five, does that mean you're coming with us?" I asked. However Kakashi-sensei began to for the hand signs for the Summoning Jutsu.
"No, I must not leave this place," Kakashi-sensei responded. He then used a knocked out person's back to summon forth whatever it was, a puff of smoke went up and when it fade a small brown dog, with a blue jacket and Leaf forehead protector was seen within. "Pakkun here will track Sasuke down by scent," Kakashi explained
"Wait seriously, our fifth member is a puppy?" Sakura asked in surprise. Pakkun walked up to her and told her not to call him a cute puppy, I rolled my eyes at that statement, considering that she didn't even say cute.
"Unless you can summon a creature that can track Sasuke, yes he is," I responded. Sakura shook her head, we were then told to release the Genjutsu, I hopped down from the seat and then we both rushed up to the two unconscious boys, trying to be unnoticed as possible. Arriving at the top, I formed the hands signs and then released the Genjutsu on Naruto, he woke up and then moved his body so that he was crouched on his knees.
"Hey what's going on Ami? Sakura?" Naruto asked. Before I could answer, I immediately shoved the blonde and pinkette down to avoid an incoming kunai.
"We'll fill you in later, just stay down," Sakura told the blonde. We then crawled over to where Shikamaru was however there was no need to release the Genjutsu for he had already done it himself and was feigning sleep, we discovered this when his eyebrows twitched and it was confirmed when Pakkun bit him and he woke up.
Sakura yelled at him for faking being asleep and Shikamaru revealed he didn't want to get involved and couldn't care less about Sasuke. Then a Sound ninja appeared behind Naruto who was caught off guard as he saw the scene before us, before I could move Guy dealt with him by slamming him so hard into a wall that he went through it, thus creating a hole for us to get out.
"Now I'll explain the mission as soon as I do, go through that opening. First track down Sasuke and stop him then find a safe location and await further orders," Kakashi-sensei explained.
"Did something happen to Sasuke?" Naruto asked. But Sakura dragged him out the hole before he got an answer.
"Kakashi-sensei, I'm better of here," I spoke out.
"No Ami, they need you we can handle ourselves just fine without you, they can't," Kakashi-sensei responded. I couldn't fault him so after sending my katana back, I turned around and grabbed Shikamaru's arm before dragging him out of the opening and chasing after my teammates.
*Naruto*
"Now I get so that's what happen. I guess Sasuke got all impatient," Naruto stated. Me and Sakura had just finished filling them in on what had happened since the Genjutsu trapped Naruto in slumber and Shikamaru was pretending. We were running along a woodland path, somewhere in the village or just outside it, I couldn't be sure, seeing as how I was more focused on following Pakkun.
"Oh man why did you have to pull me into all this? I mean it's such a drag," Shikamaru complained.
"It can't be helped ok, it's Kakashi-sensei's order," Sakura shot back at Shikamaru.
"Stop arguing, we don't have time for it, Sasuke's life is in even more danger now than before," I called over my shoulder to the three.
"Why?" Naruto asked, worried for his rival.
"Gaara has unleashed his demonic side," I explained. Shikamaru and Naruto would know what I was talking about and I didn't have time to explain it to Sakura, but it seemed that was enough for her to focus on running.
"This way," Pakkun called out and he jumped off to the right. We all followed as quickly as we could, something was niggling in the back of my mind, something told me to keep my guard up and my instincts never failed.
We ascended into the trees which would allow us to move faster that going by ground, Naruto asked how long before we caught up but Pakkun couldn't tell since all of them were moving at an extremely quick pace.
"Come on you guys hurry it up," Pakkun called back. I perked up hearing the urgency in his and this made me wonder what he had sniffed for him to talk like that.
"What is it?" Sakura asked from the back of our group.
"Did you see Sasuke?" Naruto asked. However I don't think that was it.
"No, there are two squads behind us, that's eight ninja, wait no there's one more that's nine ninja following us," Pakkun explained. In that instant my muscle coiled ready to fight at any given moment
"What?" Naruto called out in surprise.
"Ah man, come on already, give me a break here," Shikamaru whined.
"It looks like they haven't discovered our location, yet. We need to lose them," Pakkun advised. We jumped down from the trees and onto the floor we walked forward for a few bits before Pakkun stopped.
"Ah what's the deal why are we stopping?" Naruto asked, loudly. I clamped a hand over his mouth and shushed him, not wanting him to give away our location without us being ready.
"Zip it and follow me," Pakkun told the blonde. Pakkun then began to walk backward, stepping over his paw prints exactly. "We're going back over our footprints, if we pull this off our foot prints will seem to disappear," Pakkun explained the plan. He finished up before jumping backwards, back into the trees, the four of us then followed suit. Me, Shikamaru and Sakura finished alongside each other as we waited for Naruto to finish up as he was grumbling about something.
Once Naruto finished up, we then began to move on, but I didn't loosen up after all anything could be possible. We rushed on for a few more moments before Pakkun revealed that the trick had failed and that they would probably try to ambush us.
"Ah great, they're probably all Chūnin or higher, we'll be wiped out if they catch us," Shikamaru stated.
"Listen guys we don't have must choice we're going to have to ambush them," Naruto called out. I turned the plan over in my head a few time but I eventually came to the realisation that it probably wouldn't work.
"An ambush? That could work, it would give us an advantage, even if there are almost twice as many of them than there are of us. If we can just catch them off guard-," Sakura stated but Pakkun cut her off.
"No, it's no good. I'm afraid that those ninja chasing us are Orochimaru's henchmen, my guess is that they're all Jōnin level," Pakkun explained.
"I really thought that would work, but I guess it won't," Shikamaru stated, realising the problems that I had foreseen beforehand.
"Hold on why not? The level of an opponent doesn't have much to do with an ambush does it?" Sakura asked, confused by Shikamaru's disbelief in the plan.
"Wait what are you talking about?" Naruto asked, also confused by Shikamaru's statement.
"You guys just don't get it, let me explain. Yes an ambush is a key battle tactic and can be very beneficial but for it to work, you have to meet two conditions," Shikamaru explained.
"Well what are they? Tell us and we'll meet them," Naruto asked.
"Number one, the ninja on the run must be completely quiet and must find the enemy first. Number two, they have to be able to catch the pursuers off guard, in a location where they can do a lot of damage quickly and be able to conceal themselves just as quickly. And it's only under those two conditions that an ambush can truly be effective," Shikamaru explained.
"The first condition isn't so hard seeing as the ninja hound's nose can find our enemy as the second condition is also in our favour since you three know the geography of your village like the back of your hand and I can move extremely fast," I explained.
"However Orochimaru is a former Leaf ninja, so on the second condition we're out of luck," Shikamaru tacked on to my explanation.
"We are, wait tell me why that is again?" Naruto asked, confused by the reasoning behind what Shikamaru said.
"Our pursuers have studied the layout of this village and I have to assume that they've been put through simulated practices for this mission and on top of that they're probably masters of the Pursuit Jutsu," Shikamaru explained.
"So they know all the cards we're holding," Sakura stated
"Well I don't really know, I suppose that an ambush could give us and advantage, but so many things are uncertain. Besides our enemy is a special unit put together simply for this operation and what are the four of us? A fool, a Kunoichi with no particular talent, another Kunoichi who I don't exactly trust, a mutt and me the shirker who doesn't even want to be here," Shikamaru responded.
I figured out which each one was, I wasn't surprised to find I was the Kunoichi that wasn't trusted but I couldn't blame him, he was smart to be wary. Shikamaru explained that whilst the ambush plan wouldn't work, a decoy plan would be perfect but the one who would be the decoy would probably die and so we all stopped to decide who would be the bait.
"So who's going to do it?" Shikamaru asked, after a few minutes of silence. No body answered, I took into account everyone's expression they were grave as if picturing their death. "The dog's the only one that can follow Sasuke so that means…," Shikamaru trailed off. But we all knew what it implied.
"Alright I'll-," Naruto began to speak up before he was silenced
"No Naruto I'll do it," I cut him off. Everyone looked at me surprise coloured they're faces
"No Ami, it has to be me," Shikamaru argued.
"Shikamaru you're almost out of chakra and I've got the best probability of making it out of a fight alive," I argued.
"I know but like I said I don't trust you, if we leave you behind you could just left them follow us. Another thing I heard what Kakashi said and he's right those two need you, also you seem to know more than you're letting on about Gaara," Shikamaru argued. I couldn't fault him I really couldn't.
"Fine, just so you know even though you don't trust me I'm fine with that, it shows that you're a lot smarter than you look," I stated. The rest of us prepared to move off as Shikamaru began to prepare to delay the enemy.
"By the way, you had better come back alive or I'll bring you back myself and kill you again," I told him, before I jumped off following the others. I was worried about Shikamaru and I could only hope that he would survive his encounter.
We were told the enemy was moving quickly and Sakura wondered if Shikamaru was even trying or had just given up, but Naruto reassured her by saying he would never betray us. A short time passed before Pakkun told us that they had stopped moving meaning that the delay tactic had worked after all. Now all we had to do was catch up to Sasuke and stop him before he did anything stupid.