Shortly after Sasuke was sealed inside the large wooden barrel, the Sound Four encountered a four-person Konoha special mission platoon returning from an assignment.
Its members were Shizune, Genma Shiranui, Raidō Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami.
Genma had served as the proctor during the final round of the Chūnin Exams. He was the laid-back-looking shinobi who constantly carried a senbon between his teeth.
Despite his relaxed appearance, he was no ordinary shinobi.
Genma, Raidō, and Iwashi had once served in the Fourth Hokage's personal Guard Platoon. Minato had even taught them a cooperative form of the Flying Raijin Jutsu.
When the four Konoha shinobi detected suspicious movement nearby, Genma and Raidō moved ahead to investigate.
They soon found themselves facing the Sound Four.
Despite already being exhausted from their previous mission, the two Konoha shinobi attempted to stop them. In response, the Sound Four released the Second State of their Cursed Seals.
Genma and Raidō were quickly overwhelmed and gravely injured.
Raidō was somewhat weaker than Genma, but both men were experienced special jōnin. Genma, in particular, was an exceptionally formidable shinobi.
Yet neither of them was given an opportunity to send a distress signal before being struck down.
The fact that the Sound Four could defeat two special jōnin—even exhausted ones—proved that their combined combat ability had reached the jōnin level.
Of course, that was mainly due to the power of their Cursed Seals and their unusual techniques.
It wasn't long before the retrieval squad noticed signs of the battle.
Kiba, who was leading the formation beside Akamaru, suddenly stopped and lifted his head. His nose twitched as he carefully examined the scents carried by the wind.
"There are four people surrounding Sasuke," he reported. "They encountered two other people ahead of us."
Kiba's expression became serious.
"I can smell blood. There was definitely a battle, but Sasuke and the four people with him are still moving farther away."
"So Sasuke really does have help."
Shikamaru lowered his gaze and considered their options.
"This has become troublesome. If there's blood, those two people may be badly injured. But Sasuke's group is already approaching the border of the Land of Fire."
He made his decision.
"We continue pursuing Sasuke."
No one objected.
Naruto merely gave a faint, cold smile.
He already knew what had happened.
In fact, he had sensed the battle ahead long before Kiba noticed the scent of blood.
However, what did the survival of Genma and Raidō have to do with him?
As far as Naruto was concerned, they were strangers.
…
Since Sasuke's escorts had already encountered an enemy, they would undoubtedly become more cautious. They were also likely to establish additional traps and ambush points along their path.
Although Shikamaru's squad didn't yet know that their opponents were the Sound Four, reaching that conclusion didn't require much effort.
Shikamaru ordered everyone to proceed carefully and locate the enemy before attempting an ambush.
As expected, they soon encountered one trap after another.
Neji activated his Byakugan and eventually located the Sound Four, who had stopped to rest farther ahead.
Under Shikamaru's direction, the squad carefully avoided the traps and approached without making a sound.
Unfortunately, they failed to notice the nearly invisible strands of chakra-infused spider silk Kidōmaru had placed around the area as an alarm.
The moment one of the threads moved, the Sound Four knew they were being followed.
Naruto remained among the others without warning Shikamaru.
If he revealed the locations of every trap and explained the Sound Four's abilities, the retrieval squad might successfully intercept Sasuke.
That wasn't what Naruto wanted.
For now, he intended to remain in the background and wait for the right moment to secure the kills himself.
Each member of the Sound Four would probably reward him with one hundred System Points.
That was already a considerable amount.
Then there was Kimimaro.
Orochimaru was practically delivering valuable targets directly into Naruto's hands.
What a considerate man.
Shikamaru had only just led the squad into position when several explosive tags flew toward them.
Sakon had already prepared for their arrival.
"Move!"
The retrieval squad scattered.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Successive explosions tore through the forest, forcing everyone to abandon their hiding places.
Shikamaru's plan had looked solid, but it fell apart the moment they made contact with the enemy.
They were left with no choice but to confront the Sound Four directly.
Fortunately, Shikamaru quickly adapted.
Taking advantage of the smoke left by the explosions, he quietly extended his shadow across the ground.
"Shadow Imitation Jutsu—success!"
The Sound Four suddenly froze.
Shikamaru had caught all four of them.
For a moment, the advantage shifted entirely in Konoha's favor.
However, the Sound Four possessed techniques none of them had encountered before.
Thanks to their unusual ability, the twin brothers Sakon and Ukon could share the same body. Ukon had separated from Sakon before Shikamaru's technique took hold and secretly moved behind him.
Without warning, Ukon hurled a barrage of kunai toward Shikamaru's back.
The attack came too suddenly.
The other members of the retrieval squad didn't have enough time to intercept it.
Shikamaru was forced to release the Shadow Imitation Jutsu and throw himself aside.
The kunai passed through the space where he had been standing and buried themselves in the ground.
Maintaining the Shadow Imitation Jutsu restricted Shikamaru's own movements. If he had refused to release it, the kunai would have struck him in several vital areas.
Just like that, their advantage disappeared.
The Sound Four had no intention of wasting any more time.
Since they needed to deliver Sasuke to Orochimaru as quickly as possible, they left Jirōbō—the weakest member of their group overall—to delay the pursuers.
Jirōbō grinned and slammed both hands against the ground.
"Earth Style Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!"
The earth rose violently around the retrieval squad.
Massive walls curved over their heads and joined together, sealing everyone inside a dome of solid rock.
Kiba and Akamaru immediately attacked the wall, but even their combined assault failed to break through.
Worse still, every damaged section of the barrier rapidly repaired itself.
It wasn't long before everyone noticed something even more dangerous.
Their chakra was being steadily drained by the earth surrounding them.
The entire squad found itself trapped.
Naruto looked at his companions and released a helpless sigh.
Shikamaru, Chōji, Neji, Lee, Kiba—none of them possessed a suitable elemental ninjutsu capable of breaching the barrier.
Come to think of it, among the Konoha Twelve, only Naruto and Sasuke had demonstrated any real proficiency with elemental-release ninjutsu at their current age.
The more Naruto considered it, the more absurd it seemed.
If even one of those trapped inside knew an appropriate Earth Release technique, destabilizing the prison from within would have been much easier.
In the end, Naruto had no choice but to handle it himself.
He stepped forward and created four shadow clones.
Each clone formed a Rasengan and moved toward a different side of the earthen dome.
"Now!"
All four Rasengan slammed into the walls simultaneously.
Boom!
Four sections of the earth prison exploded outward at once.
Cracks spread across the entire structure before the dome collapsed completely.
Jirōbō stared at the shattered barrier from outside.
Shikamaru and the others were equally stunned.
Even Naruto hadn't expected the result to be so overwhelming.
He had originally intended to search for the weakest section of the prison, just as the retrieval squad had done in the original course of events.
Instead, the Rasengan's destructive power had exceeded his expectations and smashed straight through the barrier.
"Well, getting out that easily is hardly a bad thing."
Naruto shrugged.
Despite losing his barrier, Jirōbō still possessed enormous strength and a considerable amount of chakra.
He immediately launched another attack.
The ground trembled violently as slabs of earth and massive boulders erupted around the retrieval squad.
Rumble!
The forest shook beneath the force of his Earth Style ninjutsu.
Unable to approach Jirōbō through the storm of earth and stone, everyone was forced to evade.
"Go on ahead!"
After dodging a massive boulder, Naruto called out to his panting companions.
"I'll deal with him!"
"Naruto, you—"
Shikamaru was about to object, but Naruto raised a hand and stopped him.
Naruto already understood what Shikamaru wanted to say.
During a pursuit mission, the usual strategy was to leave the weakest member behind to delay the enemy while the rest of the squad continued after the target.
However, among the six members of this squad, Naruto was clearly not the weakest.
"It'll be fine," Naruto said. "I'm faster than all of you. Even if I stay here for a while, I can still catch up."
His gaze moved across the others.
"Besides, no matter which of you stays behind, you'll either die or end up too badly injured to continue."
Shikamaru gritted his teeth.
He quickly examined the condition of everyone around him and considered their chances.
By the time he looked back, Naruto had already stepped forward to confront Jirōbō.
Shikamaru had no choice.
"Everyone, move!"
He turned and continued the pursuit with the others.
Naruto watched them disappear before turning back toward Jirōbō.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"So you're the weakest member of the Sound Four."
Jirōbō's expression darkened.
"Your taijutsu isn't bad, and you certainly possess a great deal of physical strength," Naruto continued. "That makes you a suitable training partner."
He settled into a fighting stance.
"I've spent quite a bit of time training my taijutsu under Guy-sensei recently. Let's see how much I've improved."
"Hmph!"
Jirōbō grinned fiercely.
"You're far too arrogant, blond brat!"
He planted one foot against the ground.
"I'll crush your skull with a single punch!"
Jirōbō surged forward and swung his enormous fist toward Naruto's head.
"Arhat Fist!"
Whoosh!
Naruto shifted his body to the right, narrowly avoiding the incoming fist.
As he slipped past Jirōbō's arm, Naruto drove his own fist into the larger shinobi's side.
Boom!
A heavy impact echoed through the forest.
Jirōbō didn't move even half a step.
Naruto frowned.
His punch had landed cleanly, yet it had failed to break through Jirōbō's defense.
As expected of someone with a body like that.
He can withstand quite a beating.
Noticing Naruto's expression, Jirōbō grinned.
His left hand shot forward, attempting to seize Naruto's right leg.
Naruto reacted instantly.
He dropped low, allowing Jirōbō's hand to pass over him, and planted both palms against the ground.
Using the taijutsu Might Guy had taught him, Naruto swung his right leg upward with all his strength.
His heel struck Jirōbō beneath the chin.
Bang!
For the first time, Jirōbō's feet left the ground.
His massive body was launched into the air.
Naruto immediately followed.
His figure shot upward, quickly rising above Jirōbō in midair.
Naruto twisted his body and brought his right leg down with tremendous force, driving his heel into Jirōbō's abdomen.
"Lion Combo!"
Naruto's kick forced Jirōbō downward.
The two descended at tremendous speed.
Boom!
Jirōbō crashed into the ground, blasting open a large crater and sending dirt in every direction.
However, before Naruto could leap away, Jirōbō's hand shot out from the crater and seized his right ankle.
With a furious roar, he swung Naruto through the air and hurled him away.
Naruto twisted his body while airborne and focused his gaze on his opponent.
Jirōbō slowly rose from the crater.
Black markings had spread across half of his body.
He had activated the first state of his Cursed Seal.