Jun paused to rest, she'd been running for hours. This wasn't even the Land of Fire anymore, the border was crossed long ago and still, she hadn't caught up. A while back she'd found the remnants of a skirmish, so her teammates must've engaged with the target at some point.
Eventually, she heard something ahead.
"No more, I-I'm so full!"
"Stop, please! I don't even like fish!"
That sounded like...her teammates. Jun drew nearer and entered a small river crossing in between the trees and found the target with her two teammates.
"Ayame?! Susu...mu..." She halted to take in the scene. Both had been tied with a giant soba noodle as Seiji tossed another fish in the air, slicing it up in the blink of an eye, and flung the finely cut pieces of sashimi into their unwilling mouths.
"Another customer?" He turned his attention to her. Jun grew apprehensive and stepped back. "Do you have any food allergies?"
"Tch," She didn't answer his question and began combat. Her skills in taijutsu normally had no trouble dispatching nin, but Seiji's speed and strength were a formidable combination. He easily blocked her kick with his hand and while still in his grasp he twisted around, throwing her into a nearby tree.
"Augh?!" There was a crunch when her body collided against the heavy trunk and her body crumpled to the ground. "Nnnhhh," She could barely get up.
"Jun?!" Ayame continued gnawing on his bindings so he could help.
"I've spent years developing these recipes, there's no way you can possibly defeat me," Seiji announced as he returned his cleaver to its sheath. He had a large arsenal of techniques, none of which she was familiar with, so when he began performing hand signs, she forced herself to stand.
"Watch out for his pepper spray!" Susumu called out.
"I'll show you some of my best work," Her eyes widened when she recognized part of the sequence, this was a fireball technique! Seiji sucked a breath and once he completed the seals, he exhaled a large red cloud.
Jun covered her mouth and closed her eyes as she fled the area. Even though she had inhaled it briefly that was enough for her to feel the sting in her eyes and a cough make its way from her throat. "Ugh…" Her eyes hurt more as the red mist permeated the forest floor, forcing her higher into the treetops.
"Heh, time for the main course!" He lunged after her, landing on the high-up branch.
"…" Jun made her move. The wood beneath Seiji's feet began changing as the tree limb wrapped itself around his legs to lock him in place.
"W-What?!" Jun expected him to retaliate and moved quickly to grab the scroll. "No!" Seiji glared. He drew his weapon and slashed to force her back, instead, she jumped over his body and landed behind him for an even better angle to take the scroll.
"I said NO!" Seiji shouted. The tree limb locking his feet in was cut through when the cleaver slammed down, and Seiji ran through the treetops toward the border to the Land of Wind.
"Tsk," Jun trailed behind, keeping her eyes on the figure ahead. When she tried to catch up to him, the figure split into five and they all went in different directions. Shadow clones like that would be difficult to tell apart. But only one of them was still moving towards the border; that must be the real one! This time, she'd be prepared to face him.
"This is no longer your country, leaf nin," Seiji stopped after he crossed into the other country.
"And?" she asked, slowing to a stop as well.
"Unless I'm a rogue or missing nin, then you have no authority here. You have to let me go—"
"That might apply if nin from this land are present, but it's just you and I…and I won't leave witnesses,"
"Tch…You want the scroll back that badly? Then take it!" he challenged her.
She used her wood release to try and trap him as thick roots burst from the ground and latched onto his arms. They held his arms tightly, giving him no opportunity to use hand seals; finally, she approached him and ripped the scroll off his back.
His body disappeared in a puff of smoke, "A shadow clone?!"
But the scroll in her hands hadn't disappeared, was this real?! In her haste to find out, she looked over the scroll before realizing this was not the one stolen from the archives. "Ah?!" She dropped it and leaped backward, but his trap had already activated. A strange version of a water prison was sealed along with another clone.
"Don't fill up on the soup, you'll ruin your appetite!" A bubble of amber liquid engulfed her body. The liquid was thick, and heavy, and restricted her ability to move, let alone perform a jutsu. The clone grinned, anticipating a quick death.
"…" 3 minutes passed. By then her lungs ached as she reached the limit of her breath hold. She tried to move her hands again, but the thick liquid made that impossible. "Ghhh," With hypoxia kicking in, her vision grew faint. She held back the urge to aspirate, but eventually, she opened her mouth.
"Hah!" When the clone saw the bubbles, he assumed she had expired and grinned. "Huh? N-No?!" Something surprised the clone. The liquid fell to the ground with her body dropping limply in the center of the puddle as the clone was dispatched.
"Hey!" Another nin came upon the scene and ran over. Jun hadn't taken a breath yet, so they reached down to check for a pulse.
"…" Her eyes finally opened, and she spat the soup out and sat up with a groan. "Ughh…" Her ears were still ringing as she clutched her head, and she was dizzy from the long breath hold; despite that, she attempted to stand up. When her body threatened to keel over, the nin held her steady.
"You look terrible," That voice, was familiar.
Jun looked up to the speaker, "You?" When she was able to stand without help, Kankuro dropped his hand.
"We got your hokage's alert; I have orders to arrest him if he sets foot in our country." He explained, "And since you're all the way out here I'm guessing those orders are active." Kankuro eyed her and then the strange yellow puddle cautiously. He gave a swallow, unsure if he should ask, but he was curious, especially given the pungent aroma.
"Uhm…what's…uh…that?"
"…Miso soup," she explained as she wrung the miso from her clothes and hair while a scallion or two fell off her body.
"…" he blinked in response, "Uh—"
"He's a ninja chef," she added for clarification.
"A chef did this to you?" he scoffed in disbelief. If he'd arrived any later then that would've been one of the lamest ways to die. "You're joking—"
"I made the mistake of underestimating him, I won't make that mistake twice," she cautioned him instead. "The real one is somewhere in the woods."
"This guy could be long gone by now—"
"Ayame isn't the only one that can sense for chakra," she took off deeper into the trees, forcing him to follow. These trees had shallower roots that often overlapped together in dense networks; if she could inject her chakra into the roots, it might increase her detection range. She pressed her hand on a tree trunk and waited for movement.
"Well?" Kankuro crossed his arms impatiently.
"There's…two southeast of our position, at 27 meters and at 18 meters; one is directly south at 19 meters; and one is west of us at 23 meters." She let her hand drop to her side. "I don't know which is the real one and which are the shadow clones,"
"Then we'll just have to split up." He tugged on the straps of his puppet. "And try not to get killed.
"…I'll take the one west of here." She wasn't going to waste any more time and turned toward the direction of her target.