Naruto and Hinata raced through the eastern forest, moving from branch to branch as the last evening light faded between the trees.
Hinata kept her Byakugan active and her attention fixed on the four retreating chakra signatures ahead. They had gained distance while Naruto sent his warning clones back toward the village, but Jirobo's burden prevented them from disappearing beyond her range.
The largest man carried a sealed barrel across his back. Hinata could see a human outline inside, but the overlapping scripts interfered with the prisoner's chakra network and concealed most of the body from view. She still could not identify who had been taken.
Naruto's frustration flared, and he pushed chakra into his legs to accelerate ahead.
Hinata reached out and caught his sleeve. "They are changing direction."
Naruto stopped his forward rush and dropped back beside her.
"If you leave my range, you could follow the wrong trail," Hinata warned. "They split ahead and are circling back toward one another."
Naruto immediately adjusted his pace to hers. "Lead the way."
Hinata guided him through the forest without slowing.
"Lower branches. They trapped the clearing ahead."
Naruto changed levels immediately.
"Now east. One of them is circling through the upper canopy."
The four signatures separated for several seconds, attempting to leave conflicting trails, but Hinata continued following the man carrying the barrel until the others regrouped around him.
Naruto brought his hands together and created two Shadow Clones.
The first clone surged fifty metres ahead, acting as a dedicated trap scout. The second clone dropped behind them, pulling a kunai and rapidly carving directional arrows into the passing tree trunks so that Konoha's responding shinobi could follow their exact path without relying entirely on Hinata's eyes.
"Can you still see them?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Hinata answered. "But they know they are being followed."
Naruto grinned without slowing. "Good. Then they know somebody is coming."
Hinata looked toward the four moving figures. "They may be preparing something."
The scout clone disappeared in a violent burst of smoke fifty metres ahead of them.
Naruto's grin vanished. "They already did."
Up ahead, Kidomaru had stretched incredibly thin, reinforced webbing between several heavy trunks.
When the first scout clone triggered the tripwire, a weighted line snapped downward from the canopy, immediately followed by a massive cluster of kunai and explosive tags. The clone was destroyed before the explosion even finished tearing through the narrow trail.
Because Naruto had used a single scout clone rather than charging blindly forward, neither he nor Hinata was caught in the blast.
They landed on a thick branch just outside the blast radius. Hinata studied the damaged, smoking area with her Byakugan and immediately noticed more chakra-infused web lines extending in a wide net away from the obvious trap. The explosion had only been meant to startle them, forcing pursuers to jump outward directly into the concealed secondary lines.
She pulled Naruto down just before he leaped into the snare.
Naruto didn't hesitate. He pulled an explosive tag from his pouch, wrapped it around a kunai, and threw it directly into the center of the invisible web. The resulting blast shredded the chakra-infused strands and exposed the remaining trap.
They took a slightly longer route around the burning canopy, sacrificing precious distance, but Hinata kept the Sound Four firmly at the edge of her range.
Farther east, Jirobo carried the barrel across the lower branches while the others moved around him. The Curse Mark patterns they had used against Sasuke had receded during the retreat, conserving their chakra for the journey beyond Konoha.
Kidomaru dropped beside Sakon. "The first pursuer hit my trap. No body. Just smoke."
"A Shadow Clone?" Sakon asked.
Kidomaru nodded. "Blond hair. Orange clothes."
Sakon immediately understood. Orochimaru's briefing on Team Seven had included Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchūriki who relied heavily on clones.
Tayuya glanced back through the trees. "Let me stop and kill him before he gathers more of Konoha's trash."
"No," Sakon answered. "Every minute we waste gives Konoha another minute to close the border. Keep moving."
Their primary mission was Sasuke. They only needed to delay the pursuers until they crossed beyond Konoha's immediate response range. Following orders, Kidomaru began rapidly stringing lighter, evasive traps while moving instead of stopping to prepare another large-scale ambush.
Back near the village, one of Naruto's messenger clones burst through the trees and landed in front of the nearest eastern patrol station.
The clone delivered a rapid, crystal-clear report to the patrol captain: four unidentified hostile shinobi were travelling east, carrying one sealed prisoner. The disturbance had originated from Sasuke's isolated training ground. Hinata was maintaining visual contact with the enemy, and the real Naruto had joined the pursuit.
The patrol captain immediately activated the eastern alarm network.
Within minutes, the report reached the Hokage Tower.
Tsunade did not hold a lengthy discussion or wait for further confirmation. She issued immediate, sweeping orders.
Kakashi was sent directly toward the eastern pursuit route while a separate patrol team secured Sasuke's training ground and examined the battlefield. Kurenai was already moving after receiving Hinata's emergency signal. Kenji was located and summoned because of his combat ability and direct involvement in Sasuke's recent training.
Tsunade reinforced the eastern gate and nearby forest exits without announcing a village-wide lockdown. The identity of the prisoner remained unconfirmed, and she could not yet rule out the possibility that the eastern pursuit was covering a second infiltration elsewhere in Konoha.
At the hospital, Shizune began rapidly preparing a mobile field medical team.
Sakura was already at the clinic, deep into her evening Chakra Scalpel practice, when the emergency report echoed through the halls. She heard that the disturbance began at Sasuke's training ground and that Naruto was currently pursuing hostile targets.
Sakura dismissed the Chakra Scalpel and reached immediately for the nearest field kit.
She had barely fastened the strap when Shizune caught her shoulder.
"You are not running into the forest alone," Shizune said. "Stay with the medical unit and follow my orders."
Sakura's grip tightened around the strap. Sasuke's training ground had been attacked, and Naruto was already pursuing the intruders, but charging ahead without an escort would only give the medics another injured person to protect.
She nodded and joined the response team assembling behind Shizune.
Deep in the eastern woods, Naruto and Hinata finally began gaining ground. Jirobo's heavy frame and the awkward weight of the barrel forced the Sound Four to slow down as the terrain grew rougher.
Hinata's vision reached the container from a much better angle.
As Jirobo leaped across a ravine, the heavy barrel shifted sharply on his back, briefly exposing a narrow gap beneath one of the thick restraint bands.
Hinata focused through the narrow gap beneath the restraint band.
For an instant, the shifting barrel gave her a clear view of dark hair, a bruised face and webbing wrapped around the prisoner's shoulders. Black Curse Mark lines crawled from the left side of his neck.
Hinata recognized him immediately.
"It's Sasuke."
Naruto's chakra immediately spiked. His blue eyes sharpened, and he bent his knees to accelerate directly toward Jirobo.
Hinata caught his forearm before he could charge.
"The seals are attached to several of Sasuke's chakra points," she warned. "If you smash through the middle of the barrel, the seals could drive the impact back into him."
Naruto forced himself to stop and looked toward the moving container. "Where do I hit?"
Hinata examined the glowing script. Four tags held the main pattern together—two around the lid and two near the base. The lower rear tag had begun peeling from the constant movement.
"That one," she said. "Break it first. The rest of the seal will weaken."
Naruto created four Shadow Clones.
One climbed into the canopy and began throwing shuriken through Kidomaru's newest web lines. Another broke left and launched kunai at Tayuya, forcing her away from the flute.
A third clone charged directly toward Jirobo, shouting loudly enough to make itself the obvious threat. The fourth remained beside Hinata while she continued examining the barrel.
Beneath the confusion, the real Naruto dropped into the lower brush and circled silently toward the damaged anchor tag while his clones kept the Sound Four's attention above.
"Behind you," Hinata warned sharply, not bothering with long explanations.
Naruto ducked instantly. Sakon's fist flew over his head.
"Lower."
Naruto dropped to his knees as Sakon swept a kick at his chest.
"Three steps left. Now."
Naruto trusted the instruction instantly. He lunged left, substituting with a nearby log exactly as Ukon's hidden second arm violently tore out of Sakon's ribs to grab him.
Avoiding the lethal grapple, Naruto burst out of the brush and reached Jirobo's side.
Jirobo saw him and immediately swung the heavy barrel away, raising his massive fist to crush the Uzumaki.
Hinata stepped flawlessly into range. Her hand snapped forward, her fingers glowing with concentrated blue chakra, and she struck the primary chakra point in Jirobo's carrying arm.
The Gentle Fist strike did not defeat Jirobo, but it violently disrupted the chakra flow to his bicep. His massive arm briefly went completely numb, losing its strength.
The barrel slipped from his shoulder and plummeted.
Naruto's third clone abandoned its attack, diving under Jirobo's guard, and caught the heavy container before it could smash into the rocky ground.
Tayuya cursed and played a sharp sequence through her flute. The sound struck the clone carrying the barrel with a sudden wave of disorientation. Its footing slipped on the branch, and Jirobo turned and drove one fist through its chest.
The clone vanished in smoke, leaving the barrel to fall again.
The real Naruto slid underneath it, catching one side of the heavy wood, while his fourth clone caught the other.
Before they could move it, Kidomaru fired a massive, thick net of webbing from the canopy, completely wrapping Naruto's arms to the barrel and beginning to drag him away.
Hinata's Byakugan found the thinnest junction where several reinforced strands overlapped.
She drew a kunai, coated its edge with chakra and cut directly through that junction. Several strands snapped at once, opening enough space for Naruto to wrench one arm free.
Naruto grabbed the loosened webbing with his freed hand and tore the remaining strands apart before Kidomaru could reinforce them.
Sakon took advantage of Hinata's divided attention and lunged at her blind spot.
Naruto's fourth clone intercepted the attack, taking Sakon's brutal punch directly to the chest. The clone vanished instantly, but the brief delay gave Hinata exactly enough time to retreat safely back to Naruto's side.
Naruto and his remaining clone lowered the barrel onto the forest floor. The clone positioned itself between Hinata and the Sound Four while Naruto began forming a Rasengan.
Hinata crouched beside the damaged rear anchor. Her Byakugan followed the chakra line from the peeling tag into the larger restraint pattern. She pressed two fingers against the center and released a short, precise pulse of chakra.
The tag blackened and peeled away. The remaining script flickered around the barrel as its four anchor points fell out of balance.
"Now," Hinata said.
Naruto drove the Rasengan against the metal band surrounding the lid rather than the wood itself.
The rotating force tore violently through the damaged rim. The metal shrieked, snapping under the pressure, and the heavy wooden lid burst loose.
A wave of foul, heavy chakra rolled out of the container.
Sasuke fell forward onto the dirt. His arms and legs were still partially bound in Kidomaru's reinforced webbing. The dark, jagged lines of the Curse Mark had spread aggressively across the left side of his face, but Kakashi's black containment script and Karin's medical suppression strip were still actively fighting it, preventing a complete, lethal activation.
Naruto caught him by the shoulder before his face could hit the ground.
Sasuke groaned, coughing weakly, and opened one dark eye.
"You took too long," Sasuke muttered.
Naruto stared at Sasuke's bruised face, the blood around his mouth and the way he guarded one side of his ribs whenever he breathed.
"You look terrible," Naruto shot back.
"You always look terrible."
Naruto grinned, a wave of intense relief washing over him because Sasuke was clearly conscious enough to insult him.
Hinata knelt beside them, quickly drawing a kunai to slice through the remaining webbing around Sasuke's legs while keeping her Byakugan firmly fixed on his neck.
"The mark is still reacting," Hinata warned, watching the chakra around Sasuke's neck. "It becomes stronger whenever their chakra rises."
Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm, pulling him up to retreat toward the village.
A heavy thud shook the ground. Jirobo landed directly in front of the western route, the dirt cracking violently beneath his heavy boots.
Kidomaru dropped down, retaking the lower canopy and blocking the sky.
Tayuya positioned herself along the northern side of the clearing, her wooden flute raised to her lips.
Sakon and Ukon stepped smoothly between the three Konoha shinobi and the eastern trail.
With the western path blocked and the canopy sealed by Kidomaru's webs, Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata had no clear route back toward the village.
The four Sound shinobi released the first stages of their Curse Marks together.
The dark patterns spread rapidly across their skin, and the immense, combined pressure of their corrupted chakra caused Sasuke's mark to burn furiously once again. Sasuke grimaced, clutching his shoulder.
Naruto helped Sasuke rise. Sasuke's legs nearly folded beneath him, but he caught Naruto's shoulder, steadied himself and remained standing.
"Can you fight?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke drew a kunai with his free hand. His breathing remained shallow, but his Sharingan opened again.
"Enough to keep them busy until help arrives."
Hinata moved behind the narrow space between Naruto and Sasuke. From there, she could watch all four enemies while remaining close enough to warn either boy.
Naruto created three clones. One moved beside Sasuke to cover his injured side, another remained close to Hinata, and the third took position beside the real Naruto.
Sakon looked at the destroyed transport barrel, and then at Naruto and Hinata.
"You should have waited for your teachers," Sakon said, his voice dropping into a dark sneer.
Naruto formed a fresh Rasengan in his palm, the blue light illuminating the clearing.
"You should have left Sasuke alone."
Tayuya raised her flute.
Jirobo lowered his massive stance.
Hinata's Byakugan caught the subtle muscle shifts in all four directions simultaneously.
"They're attacking together," Hinata warned.
Naruto and Sasuke moved at the exact same time.
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