It was clear to Naruto that Josu was the leader of the ambush on him.
"We kill that bastard then we go home."
Naruto had heard enough, he signaled to his clones to attack. The plan was to separate them again and try to pick them off one by one.
A dozen clones dropped from the canopy above and began a relentless assault, easily driving them away from each other.
When the clones slammed Nari into a tree knocking the air from her lungs, Naruto dropped in front of her and slammed her head into the tree, knocking her out. Two clones picked her up and disappeared back into the trees to tie her up. But not before Naruto claimed another Heaven scroll.
Naruto's next target was Touji, he was level eighteen and not faring well against the clones, Naruto could see the boy's health dropping rapidly. Before Naruto could get to him the boy was run through from behind, Sasuke and Sakura had finally circled back.
Naruto turned toward the last one to see him screaming and clutching his head before passing out.
"You're getting scary good at genjutsu," Naruto complimented Sakura, watching her drop down from her hiding spot in the canopy above.
Sakura smiled. "Thanks. You okay?"
"I'm fine, they were kind of stupid about the ambush. Idiots felt the need to talk before trying to kill me. They ended up giving me the time I needed to create a distraction to scatter them." He explained while searching Josu's body for a scroll, eventually pilfering an Earth scroll. Quickly adding it to his inventory.
"We've got all the scrolls?" asked Sakura, knowing the answer already.
"Yeah, we can go to the tower now."
"We're not going yet. There are more people to fight here," said Sasuke, leaping back into the trees.
"This is stupid," commented Sakura, finally having enough.
"Should we knock him out and drag him to the tower?" asked Naruto.
"Probably not the best idea," she replied, feeling a bit sad about the situation.
"Come on, we'd better follow him before he bites off more than he can chew," suggested Naruto.
Sakura nodded and together then followed after Sasuke.
It was a few hours later, Sasuke finally decided to take a break. They had eliminated just one more team in that time, this team was genjutsu specialists from Amegakure.
Naruto was quick to replenish his chakra and heal as was Sakura. Sasuke even sat to eat something and drink some water.
"Okay, we should get moving," said Sasuke.
"To the tower?" asked Naruto, suspecting that Sasuke had no intention of going to the tower until the last possible moment.
"I told you, there are more opponents to fight out here," he countered easily. "We have five days, there is no rush to get to the tower."
"And if the crazy lady lied, what if we really only have two days?"
"Then too bad, as long as there are opponents here to fight, we stay here."
"This is stupid, you're being selfish," argued Sakura. "This might not matter to you but it matters a lot to Naruto and I."
"And I told you, I don't care."
Naruto would have argued further but a sudden spike in killing intent put him on guard. He was able to push Sakura out of the way just in time to dodge a giant ball of wind, unfortunately he took the brunt of it, sending him careening though the air uncontrollably.
Naruto landed roughly bouncing a few times before coming to a suddenly halt against a rather thick tree root.
"Oh, that hurt," he groaned, slow to pick himself up off the ground. His vision was a bit fuzzy and there was a ringing in his ears. He had to shake his head a few times to clear the cobwebs and ringing. Once he had, he really wished he hadn't.
Snake Summon Lv30
The giant snake maw descended upon him swallowing him whole before he could do anything about it.
Naruto was not happy as he was being squeezed from all sides and his skin was being burned by the slime oozing over him most likely the snake's stomach acid. Naruto tried to find purchase but it was much too slick to do so, as a result he seemed to be sliding deeper and deeper down the snake's gullet. Naruto finally unsealed a kunai and jabbed it into the stomach lining, halting his slide into the beast's stomach. Naruto then pulled another kunai, this time charging it with [Chakra Nagashi] and slicing into it, trying to cut his way out of the snake.
Naruto had to hack at it for a while but eventually he cut a hole large enough for him to crawl out of only to face a pissed off giant snake.
Naruto leaped suddenly to avoid a strike by the snake, trying to eat him once again.
"Eat me once, shame on you. Eat me twice, shame on me."
Naruto used [Doton: Teppodama no Jutsu] several times, aiming for the snakes face and eyes trying to slow it down if nothing else. Sadly, its hide was thick and the mud balls barely did any damage to it at all, however the mud did obscure its vision slowing it down a little bit at least.
Naruto still had to be quick to dodge as the snake's attacks were quick and still mostly accurate. Naruto continued to pepper the snake with varying attacks but not doing enough damage to even slow the summon.
Naruto threw a [Shrapnel Kunai] into the snakes open maw, hoping its insides might be more vulnerable than it exterior hide.
The explosion in the mouth was muffled slightly but it was enough to drop the snake. It bled from the mouth and writhed in pain for a moment before suddenly vanishing in a giant puff of smoke.
Naruto would have been happy to sit down at that point and recover but he had to find his team. Someone attacked them, someone powerful used that wind jutsu to separate them. That the person responsible also summoned a snake to keep Naruto occupied made him a lot more worried, summon contracts were not easy to come by.
Naruto kept an eye on Sakura's health and status bar which so far looked to be full. When it suddenly dropped below half, he got really worried and picked up the pace of travel.
When Naruto finally arrived, he took a moment to survey the enemy and his team. Sasuke was doing his best to hold off the enemy shinobi but it was clear to see that he was being toyed with.
Sakura was unconscious, hanging limply over a nearby tree branch. Naruto could clearly see one side of her face was covered in blood, thankfully it looked like the blood was drying and not increasing.
Naruto looked at the shinobi attacking them. It was Orochimaru, the guy with the ridiculously high level he'd seen early. Naruto knew they had no hope of defeating him but maybe they'd be able to escape with their lives.
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