Ambiguous Tension

Meanwhile with Goku a couple days pass and he has a few misadventures worth mentioning, (added note: since this will be basically the same as the regular story beat for beat, I will only briefly mention these adventures) Goku saves Bulma from a massive Pteranodon, they camp out and Bulma discovers Goku's tail is real and not some prank. Goku helps a turtle which turns out to be a close friend to Master Roshi, the martial artist who trained his grandfather, though neither Goku nor Roshi is aware of each other's shared connection with Gohan.

Roshi gives Goku the Flying Nimbus, a mystical cloud which only lets those pure of heart ride them, and happens to have a Dragon Ball which they also receive. Later on Goku and Bulma meet a shapeshifter named Oolong who is a anthropomorphic Pig who was terrorizing a town in order to turn their daughters into maids for a house he got through shady means. In the end Goku stopped him, he returned the girls after they turned him into the butler of the house and is eventually coerced into joining them on their adventure and is now traveling with them under the threat of a pill which forces him to hurl his guts after hearing someone says "piggy piggy". The story commences now as Goku and friends walk down a dirt road in the middle of a large forest.

Goku is up front with Oolong and Bulma who argue over the fact they lost her Dino Caps along the way. Goku tries his best to ignore their bickering when he catches the glimpse of something in the corner of his eye and stops and looks in its general direction only to see nothing. Bulma and Oolong stop in response, Bulma asks, "Did ya see something kiddo?" Goku scratches his head in confusion saying, "I thought I did but maybe it was just a bird." Oolong chimes in saying, "You're too on edge, there isn't a town for miles so we're pretty much alone here." Goku continues to scratch his head but puts his suspicions to the back of his mind and says, "Alright." Before continuing down the path with his friends following.

However just behind the tree Goku was looking at was Sasuke who was using his Chakra to stick to it, his back was against it and he was glancing at Goku's direction. He thought to himself, "That was too close, I assumed they were just tourists from the west but if one of them is able to catch a glimpse of me just like that then there might be more to them than I thought." Sasuke then peeked behind the tree and spied a look at Goku and thought to himself, "Especially that one, he seemed to be especially observant." Sasuke then dashed deeper into the forest and then headed for his team who were several miles away from Goku's position waiting for Sasuke who had left to get a better look at Goku's group. Their own radar led them to Goku but Sasuke wanted to know for sure if they were the bandits they were warned about or someone the bandits sold the goods to though he doubted the latter option..

Five minutes pass and Sasuke arrives at his team's campsite and gets with Naruto and Sakura to relay the news. Sasuke starts by saying, "They definitely have the artifacts but I'm not sure if they're really the bandits." Sakura asked, "How come?" Sasuke immediately says, "Most of them aren't armed and they don't look to be Shinobi." Naruto then asked, "If they're not bandits or ninja then who are they?" Sakura chimed in sounding a little annoyed, "Obviously they're tourists or travelers, why else would they be out here?" Sasuke interjected saying, "I doubt they're anything as harmless as that." Sakura and Naruto gave him a confused look, Sakura then asked in a confused tone, "What makes you say that?" Sasuke immediately replied, "The guy in the red uniform nearly spotted me when I tried to get a closer look at them."

Naruto scoffs and says, "You're overthinking this, you just got sloppy." Sasuke glares at Naruto only for Sakura to chime in, trying to stop the argument before it has the chance to start, "Naruto you know Sasuke was top of our class, there's no way a normal guy could have spotted him." Naruto hesitates with a response but Sasuke interjects, "Regardless of weather it was blind luck or actual skill we still need to get the balls from them." Sakura looks serious while Naruto has a slightly agitated expression, Sasuke continues, "From what I saw the balls should be in the girls backpack but the guy up front also seems to have a ball shaped pouch. Just in case let's grab that pouch as well." Sasuke then said, "They don't look like bandits but just to be safe we should just grab the balls and run before they have the chance to counterattack."

He looked at Sakura and said with a commanding tone, "Sakura I want you to throw down three smoke bombs at their feet while I go for the girl's backpack." Sasuke then turned to Naruto and with a frown he said, "And since you don't think the guy up front is a big deal you can be the one to steal the pouch from him." Naruto rubbed the bottom of his nose and said, "I can handle him." Sasuke had a bad feeling but put it to the back of his mind. He then finished explaining the plan, "Assuming there are no complications and we get the balls then we're going to retreat into the forest. If we're not being followed then we'll circle back around to this camp." He then adopts a more serious look and says, "If we are being pursued then we'll split up and try to shake them. If we succeed then we'll still circle around to this camp." Sasuke then looked at Naruto and said, "Naruto we'll use your Shadow Clones to confuse them but if they're still chasing us after that, then we'll fight back until we get a chance to retreat."

Naruto spoke in a high voice, "Why is this plan so focused on running away? We should just beat them and take the balls." Sasuke with agitation in his voice says, "Our job doesn't end here Naruto, we still have a few more balls to go before we can finish the mission. We can't afford to tire ourselves out this early." Naruto wasn't satisfied but Sakura chimed in saying, "Remember Naruto, Sasuke and I don't have as much stamina as you and we don't even know how strong these guys are." Naruto relented and said while crossing his arms, "Fine."

Sasuke and Sakura let out a sigh of relief before dispersing to set up their ambush. A few minutes earlier with the Anbu who were shadowing Goku, they were a few trees behind Goku. They had just witnessed Sasuke nearly getting seen by Goku. Wolf-1 said in a gruff voice, "What are Leaf shinobi doing here?" Owl-1 chimes in asking, "They must be on a mission, do we need to intervene?" Suddenly a new voice spoke up from behind the four Anbu, "That won't be necessary." The Anbu turns around to see Kakashi Hatake with three other Anbu Black Ops members standing beside him along with a fourth Shinobi riding a large white dog. Two wore a pair of fox masks while the last member wore an Eagle mask. The last member was a member of the Inazuka Clan, a Shinobi clan that grows up with Ninja Hounds who help them with combat and in this case, tracking scents. Wolf-1 immediately said, "Kakashi, I didn't know you still did work for the Anbu."

Kakashi waved the assumption away and said, "Actually I'm on a mission for Lord third and he wanted me to relay some last minute information to Cat-1 before I headed out." Fox-1 then said, "Lord third wanted to switch the Anbu team watching the kid but Kakashi insisted that Cat-1 is important to this mission." Owl-1 then said, "So we're being sent back to the village." Owl-2 then said, "Fine by me, we've been out here for a few days already." Wolf-1 then said, "We'll head out then and leave you to it." Wolf and the Owl Anbu immediately left for the Leaf while Kakashi pulled Cat-1 back to talk to him alone.

Cat-1 immediately asked, "Is there a reason you have to tell me alone?" Kakashi cuts to the chase and says, "Lord third has reason to believe that there might be Anbu among your rank that is after the kid." Cat immediately replied with, "So that why the rest of the team got switched." Kakashi then said, "The lookouts that were assassinated were probably just the first step in a plan to get Goku away from Mount Paozu." Cat gripped his chin and said out loud, "Probably to get the kid farther away from the leaf village but for what reason?" Kakashi shoots out some speculation, "Lord Third believes that someone from Konoha is responsible but he wouldn't say who."

Cat couldn't give a response to that piece of speculation which is when Kakashi said, "We'll worry about that later, for now just keep an eye on your team until we get the kid back." Disturbed by the prospect of traitors, Cat just nodded in agreement but before Kakashi leaves he says, "One last thing, I already informed your team's replacements but the Leaf Shinobi your team just saw are my students. They're on a mission to collect the Dragon Balls that the kid has, trying not to interfere with them. I doubt they'll wind up killing each other so you don't need to worry too much." Cat thought to himself, "Why did he save that for last?" Cat then re-joined the new Anbu team.

Meanwhile Goku and his friends continue to walk down the dirt road when Goku glimpses some movement to his left but before he could get a proper look he hears something hit the ground next to him hard. It was a loud thud and then Goku's vision is obscured by thick black smoke, Goku shields his eyes while Oolong and Bulma panic. Suddenly Goku hears Bulma yell out, "Hey!" and then he hears her groan about something. Right when Goku yells to Bulma he feels something skim past his waist and before he can get a response he's distracted when he feels the pouch he hangs from his waist drop. Goku looks to his lower left only to see some figure jump in front of him, grab the pouch and leap into the forest to his right. Realizing that his Grandpa's dragon ball has been taken he grabs his Power Poll from his back and twirls it in circles in the air immediately dispersing the smoke cloud.

Now that his vision is clear Goku checks on Bulma while simultaneously slides his Power Poll into the sheath on his back. He sees that she is on her hands and knees while missing her Backpack. Bulma yells at Goku, "Hurry up and go after them Goku, they stole the Dragon Balls!" Goku then adopts a serious expression while saying, "They stole Grandpa's four star ball too!" As he leaps into the forest he yells back, "Flying Nimbus!" Suddenly a yellow cloud flew into the forest after Goku. As Goku pursues the Genin trio the Anbu team follows Goku into the forest.