The moment I complain about site guests in my last chapter, three site guests pop up with reviews that don't consist of one-word praises or 'update now, please', and instead, reviews that actually mean something. Fair enough ;)

In case anyone is wondering, Sakura's team will NOT be left out of the spotlight, as we will see from this chapter :)

Guest: I feel the 1v1 battles vs the Sound Four were needed. I just feel that there should have been more members in the squad. Sasuke is an important member of the village and the Hokage goes ahead and sends one Chunin and three Genin.

Aurora-chan: I've already got plans for Sakura ;)

Charrmed: I completely forgot about a medic! To be fair, there also aren't many Genin in Part I who are also good medical-nins :P

Lin: This is the best review I've ever gotten from a site guest. Thank you.

Rain Dove: "You exhibit Naruto's growth in thinking skills quite well, and now he can...well, he can actually think!" made me crack up. Thanks for the super cool review as usual.

zarethuzumi: You describe my thoughts about Hinata and Sakura perfectly!

Thanks to Guest, Aurora-chan, Charrmed, Lin, Rain Dove, TheOrangeStar802, Guest, zarethuzumi and The True Not Important for the reviews!

"Hm."

"Neji, what is it?"

Neji stopped, prompting the rest of the team to stop as well.

"Two shinobi are in the 9 o'clock direction, while another two are up ahead of us. It appears none of them have Sasuke. Either that, or he is being held captive in something that my Byakugan cannot bypass."

"Are they splitting up?" Shino frowned.

"I already know what they're trying to do," Neji frowned. "Two of them have Sasuke, and the other two are trying to throw us off their tracks."

"I got it..." Shino nodded. "The ones who have Sasuke are the ones that are really heading to their destination, most likely with their scent masked, but they didn't expect a Hyuga would be in the team."

"Well, we aren't the only ones chasing after Sasuke," Neji nodded towards Naruto.

"Gotcha." Naruto spoke into his wireless radio. "Sakura-chan."

"Naruto," Sakura replied. "Kiba has smelled something."

"I expected that. Now, where's the direction of the scent?"

"The 9 o'clock direction!" Naruto heard Kiba yell into the radio.

"What do you think, Naruto?" Sakura's voice returned.

Naruto turned towards Neji and Shino.

"Of course, my theory about the ones with Sasuke masking their scent could be wrong," Shino stated. "So, just in case, Sakura's team will go for the enemies at 9 o'clock, while we continue up ahead."

Naruto relayed Shino's plans to Sakura.

"Good idea, Naruto," Sakura said, before cutting the wireless link.

"Yosh! Let's continue!" Lee yelled. Team Naruto sped on.

Team Sakura switched directions.

"The guys we're going for better have my Sasuke-kun! I'm going to beat them up so bad!" Ino boasted.

"Now's not the time, Ino!" Sakura scolded, looking back.

Ino blinked, but nodded dumbly and continued.

Kiba's nose twitched after a few minutes. "One of them... has stopped." His eyes narrowed. "Is he... waiting for us?"

Sakura frowned.

Choji and Ino landed on one of the trees. Sakura and Kiba landed on another. Team Sakura stared at what they assumed was the enemy.

"That rope belt..." Sakura glared at the purple rope-like belt around the teen's waist. She remembered Orochimaru and his similar attire. "I think... No... I'm sure, he's the enemy."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Before Sakura could stop him, Kiba had Akamaru turn into a clone of himself. "Fang Over Fang!"

Jirobo turned, a knowing smirk on his face as the Inuzuka and his ninken's attack commenced. The Oto-nin was easily caught in the speedy move.

"No way, he got him on the first try," Sakura gasped. No... it can't be this easy...

The pinkette found out how right she was, as Kiba's attack ended and Akamaru reverted back to dog form. The two had mud all over them, and there was a pool of mud on the ground.

The Earth Style Shadow Clone! Sakura instantly recognized the technique. Before she could shout to warn Kiba, she felt a kunai pressing itself against her throat.

"Don't move."

Sakura's eyes widened and she turned back slightly.

Jirobo smirked. "They send just one pinky, one mutt, and his dog? Konoha is getting pitiful."

Suddenly, the mohawk-spotting teen turned to see a blue-colored missile speeding towards him. Not sensing anything good in this, Jirobo jumped away, dropping his kunai.

Good job, Ino! Sakura silently thanked her rival, as she descended from the tree.

Choji jumped off the tree he was standing on as well, carrying an unconscious Ino, and set her down.

"Sakura, Ino won't be active for awhile," Choji informed.

"Yes, I know... She used her Mind Transfer Jutsu," Sakura looked towards Jirobo. "In that case, please guard her body and ensure no harm is done to her while she is out."

Choji nodded.

"Ah, so it's four little brats," Jirobo sneered. "You won't be able to get around me, let alone the rest of our team."

"Don't underestimate the Leaf," Sakura retorted. "Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu." Her fists were soon covered by chakra-created rock.

"An Earth Style user," Jirobo grinned. "This is going to be good." He patted his stomach.

"Good, my ass! Take this! Tunneling Fang!" Kiba spun towards Jirobo, who dodged the technique with ease. Kiba went spiraling away.

"Hyaaa!" Sakura jumped into the air, and landed with her fist aimed towards Jirobo's face. He chuckled evilly, and with both hands, caught her punches.

Sakura blinked.

He stopped my Stone Fist Jutsu... with just his hands!

His hands now grabbing tightly onto Sakura's fist, Jirobo swung her around before tossing her towards a tree. Kiba jumped up and caught the team captain in mid-air.

"Nice reflexes, boy," Jirobo commented. "But you're still going to die." He dug his hands into the ground, channeling chakra through them. "Earth Style: Sphere of Graves."

Sakura and Kiba stepped back, staring in horror as Jirobo lifted the surface of the earth he was standing on. With an almighty yell, the slightly-obese ninja used all his strength to throw the earth towards his opponents.

"Get out of the way!" Kiba screamed.

Kiba and Sakura leaped away, followed by Choji with the unconscious Ino. The earth slammed into an army of trees, flattening them all. Choji stared with his jaw hung open at the obvious sheer power of the enemy.

Ino soon awoke, and she jumped to her feet. Turning back to look at the flattened trees, she gasped.

"Earth Style Barrier: Earth Dome Prison!"

"He's not giving us a break," Kiba growled, moving forward. However, he only rammed himself into an earth wall that had not been there. Confused, the dog boy looked around him, to see an earth dome surrounding the team.

"I'm going to have fun eating up all your chakra," came the voice from outside.

"Eating up our chakra?" Sakura frowned.

"That's right! I have the ability to suck out chakra as long as you're in there!" Jirobo laughed evilly. "I haven't ate anything for hours now so you guys are going to be quite a meal!"

"Damn! I'm not sitting around and letting some moron take our chakra!" Kiba yelled, using Tunneling Fang as an attempt to break through the walls of the earth prison. To his dismay, the dented part of the wall was soon automatically repaired.

"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji grew into the size of a mini-giant. "Human Boulder!" The Akimichi heir rolled himself into the wall, only to have the damaged part repair itself as well.

"Don't even try! You will never be able to get out of there until each one of you have zero chakra left!"

Sakura growled, channeling as much chakra as she could to her right fist. With a roar, she slammed her stone fist into the wall. She let out a cry of frustration as the wall continued to repair itself.

Looking at her teammates attacking the wall, Ino wanted to do something herself, but sighed as she quickly remembered none of her jutsu would be useful in the current situation.

The Yamanaka blonde felt herself growing weaker.

"Do you guys feel that?"

"Yes," Sakura replied with an angered look on her face. "Some of our chakra... it's gone."

Choji reverted back to normal size.

"We aren't going to sit here and let him take all our chakra, are we?!" Kiba shrieked at his team.

"No," Choji dug his hand into his pockets, a confident look on his face. Ino stared as her teammate took out a small glass tube with three compartments. In each compartment was what looked like a pill.

"Choji!" Ino yelled. "You aren't going to use that, are you?"

"Use what?" Kiba was clueless.

Popping the green pill of the three into his mouth, Choji began growing once more.

"Super Expansion Jutsu!" He screamed, now easily reaching the top of the earth prison. As he grew, the ceiling of the prison began to break off and dent. Before it could repair itself, Choji continued growing.

"His growing rate is faster than the rate of repair," Sakura realized, looking as the chubby boy now completely broke through the ceiling.

Jirobo stared at Choji, wide-eyed as he now grew into a full-sized giant. As the top of his earth prison broke, so did the rest of the dome.

"We're out!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Choji," Ino sighed.

"Why are you looking so worried?"

Ino turned towards her rival, who had asked the question. "That pill... it converts fats into chakra, and it'll give Choji a massive boost of strength."

"So what are you worried about?"

"The problem is, each pill damages the body, and by the time he takes that red pill of his, his power will be increased a hundredfold, but he will eventually..."

"... die," Sakura finished the sentence, frowning. "So what's the drawback after he takes that green pill of his?"

Ino shook her head. "Pain."

Before the conversation could continue, the giant Choji had hurled himself onto Jirobo. Alarmed, the chakra-eating nin jumped out of the way and Choji slammed into the ground, leaving a giant dent shaped after his body.

"Sakura!" Choji had to yell from above for his captain to hear him. "There are two of them on this track, right?"

"Yeah!" Sakura called back, wondering what her former classmate was up to.

"Then you three go on ahead!" Choji pulled his fist back and then jerked it forward to land a punch towards Jirobo, who dodged it again. His fist instead sank into the ground, creating a massive dent and an ear-deafening boom. "Fight the second guy and find if he has Sasuke! I'll take care of this one!"

"Choji..." Sakura smiled. "Alright, but you'd better come after us!"

With a nod, Choji reached down to grab Jirobo. Grasping the Sound shinobi, he raised his hand.

"Put me down, fatso!" Jirobo shrieked. Sakura couldn't help thinking of the irony of his words.

"Heh, Choji's going to kill him now," Kiba noted. Indeed, Choji's face contorted into an angered expression, and the Akimichi slammed Jirobo down onto the ground.

"Alright, we are going to go on ahead," Sakura nodded to her teammates.

"Sakura," Ino quickly said. "I think I'll stay behind."

"Stay?"

"Yes. I'll back Choji up. We are in the same team and we know how the other party works in a fight."

Sakura frowned, but agreed with a nod. She soon departed with Kiba.

The smoke from Jirobo's impact on the ground soon cleared.

Jirobo spotted clear wounds on his body, but his skin also now had black marks all over.

"What... what is that?" Ino exclaimed, as Choji returned to normal size and collapsed beside her. "Choji!"

"The Cursed Seal..." Jirobo coughed. "I didn't think I would have to resort to this to defeat someone as pathetic as you guys. But now you're finished, trash!" He leaped towards Ino.

Ino stepped back, wide-eyed.

No... I have to...!

Getting out a kunai, Ino tried to defend herself, but Jirobo easily punched her gut to send her spinning. Getting up again, she charged forward.

I have to show Billboard Brow she didn't pick wrong when she asked me to come for this mission!

"You are no match for me, girly!" Jirobo punched the ground, causing pieces of earth to rise up, stopping Ino in her charge. "So don't even try!" Three seconds passed and he was directly in front of her.

He's fast!

Miraculously, Ino managed to dodge his first punch. His second punch was blocked with a kunai, but the sheer pressure of it knocked Ino back.

Not only that... he's incredibly strong as well...

"In the Sound Four, I am the one with the most physical power," Jirobo grinned. "Give it up, because I'm going to hit you until you bleed to death."

Ino couldn't help shuddering at the threat.

"Eat this!"

Choji jumped in, landing an unexpected punch on Jirobo's cheek.

"Persistent vermin," Jirobo growled. "Sit down like the trash you are."

Choji felt his cowardly senses urging him to retreat, but he reminded himself that he was here as part of a team. I can't fail Naruto and Sakura!

Attaching strings of kunai to his body as he used the Expansion Jutsu, Choji rolled up into a boulder.

"Spiky Human Boulder!"

Jirobo glared at the rolling Akimichi. He jumped into the air, and Choji rolled right through a tree, chopping it down.

Choji stopped. The side-effects of the Spinach Pill was certainly troublesome. He now felt pain in every part of his body.

"Now you die!" Jirobo descended towards him, but Ino tackled him away. She landed a two centimeter scar on his arm with her kunai, but was punched away by Jirobo before she could do anything more.

Picking herself up, albeit with difficulty, Ino attacked again, but Jirobo grabbed onto her neck and raised her into the air.

Ino started choking, as Jirobo tightened his grip with a crazed smile.

"It's a pity your chakra will all go to waste," Jirobo chuckled. "But it's going to be worth seeing the look on your fat friend's face when I kill you."

Ino tried to speak, but she couldn't.

"Let... Let go of her!" Choji yelled, panting. He wanted to get up, but the pain was practically paralyzing him.

Swiftly, he popped the second pill into his mouth, the Curry Pill. Choji didn't want to experience the same pain he'd just been under, but he had no choice. A comrade was in danger.

Now with his strength returned to him tenfold, Choji got up and rammed his fist into Jirobo's stomach, causing him to drop Ino and reel back.

The blonde coughed violently, before looking up weakly. "T-Thanks, Choji..."

"Now..." Choji's two hands grew giant-sized. "Partial Expansion Jutsu!"

"You think you can beat me with that, you fatso-"

His reply was a painful punch from one of these fists. Choji punched him into the air, and jumped up with his opponent to send Jirobo back down with a punch to the back of his head.

As the two landed, Choji wrapped his fists together, and connected them to Jirobo's head, forcefully slamming his skull into the ground as they landed.

"How's that?" Choji taunted, his hands shrinking.

"I-Impressive..." Jirobo replied genuinely, lifting his head up.

Choji was amazed.

After that blow... he can still speak?

"But..."

Jirobo forced his body up.

"... It's still not enough to beat me, you piece of shit!"

"Partial Expansion Jutsu!" Choji's right hand grew again, and he defended himself as Jirobo tried to throw a punch.

"I didn't think I would need to resort to this...!" Jirobo drew back. The black marks on his skin glowed orange, and Choji watched in horror as his opponent's skin grew red. "The Cursed Seal... stage two!"

Jirobo's mohawk grew into a practical mane behind his back.

"What... what are you?"

Jirobo smirked.

"What?!"

Shikamaru stared at the Sandaime in disbelief.

"Sasuke was kidnapped?"

"Yes. Shikamaru," Hiruzen started. "You're back unexpectedly early, but that's a good thing. I want you to assist and provide backup to the Sasuke Retrieval Squad."

"It's a drag, but... Yes, Hokage-sama."

I hope you liked Choji and Ino (although she did practically nothing, unfortunately) vs Jirobo! In the next chapter, Shikamaru arrives and the Ino-Shika-Cho formation is utilized. Meanwhile, Sakura and Kiba chance upon the next member of the Sound Four, Kidomaru. Until next time.

Another question to end off today: ShikaTema or ShikaIno? Has to be the former for me. :)