30I think I was just under a spell.AI Model: gemini-3.0-flashChapter 30: I Think I Was Just Under Genjutsu
Team 8.
"The smoke is gradually dissipating. It seems the battle over there has come to an end... Should we head over?"
Inuzuka Kiba stood atop a tree, observing the situation not far away.
"Hinata?"
Shino asked for the young girl's opinion beside him.
"Yeah, there shouldn't be any danger."
"I see them!" Kiba said again, "Four hundred meters away, two figures are slumped against a tree!"
"Let's go and see if they have the book of heavenwe need."
At Shino's command, the three moved quickly.
Inuzuka Kiba was the fastest, arriving at the scene first.
When he landed and saw one of the figures clearly, he couldn't help but exclaim:
"This guy is... Uchiha Sasuke?"
Hinata followed closely behind.
"Brother?!"
Seeing Neji lying unconscious, a wave of complex emotions surged in her heart.
Kiba frowned. "Why are these two together? Aren't they from different teams?"
"It looks like they encountered the same enemy."
Shino said in a deep voice, releasing his Parasitic Insects to scout the surroundings.
Only after confirming the enemy was gone did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"Whatever, let's just search them quickly. Hinata, that guy is yours!"
As he spoke, Kiba had already reached his hand into Sasuke's robes.
Facing the brother she had admired since childhood, the Genius of the Hyuga Clan that appeared only once in a century, Hinata found it hard to move.
But then, the face of that Blond-haired Youthappeared in her mind.
Along with the courage he gave her.
"I... I can't be cowardly anymore!"
"I must, I must pass this exam together with Naruto-kun!"
With that thought, Hinata reached out to search Neji for a scroll.
The moment her hand touched him, Neji, lying on the ground, suddenly twitched.
"Eek!"
Hinata was startled and instinctively blasted him with an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.
Neji, who had just slightly regained consciousness, fell back into a coma.
"What happened?"
Shino turned and asked.
"No... nothing!"
"Found it!"
Kiba held up the scroll he took from Sasuke. "It's the book of heaven. We're all set!"
"What about them?" Hinata pointed at the two unconscious boys. "If we leave them here, they'll be eaten by the wild beasts in the forest..."
"Who cares?" Kiba said dismissively.
"I found their teammates."
Shino sensed the information sent back by his Parasitic Insects and thought for a moment.
"Let's bring them over. Consider it an act of kindness."
... "Sakura?"
"Sakura Young Miss, are you alright?"
An anxious voice sounded in her ear.
Having been injured by the Otogakure before and then caught in the large-scale Earth Release.
The moment Tayuya's flute genjutsu sounded, Sakura collapsed due to exhaustion.
She struggled to sit up, and in her blurred vision, a flash of green first caught her eye.
"I... what happened to me? Where are the enemies?"
"Don't worry, those Otogakure have been driven away. Although some accidents happened afterward... everything is fine now!"
"Too good to be true..."
Hearing this, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, S—... you, what happened to your face?"
When she looked up, she noticed Rock Lee's face was swollen like a pig's head.
Lee forced a smile that looked worse than crying, covering his cheek with his hand.
"It's nothing, Sakura Young Miss. I just accidentally got caught in a genjutsu. This is a Medal of Youth!"
Just then, Sakura seemed to remember something.
She stood up abruptly, scanning the surroundings.
"Wait, where's Sasuke?!"
"This... believe in Neji, he'll definitely bring him back. He's very strong!"
Lee hesitated for a moment, then squeezed out a word of comfort, giving a thumbs up to the girl.
The next second, he was proven wrong.
"Hi."
With the rustling of leaves, Shino and Kiba jumped out from the woods.
Each of them was carrying a person on their back.
Shino placed the unconscious Neji on the ground and looked at Lee: "This is your teammate, right? Take him back and look after him."
Lee was shocked.
"Ne-Ne-Ne-Ne-Ne... Neji's down?"
Immediately after, Kiba shrugged his shoulder and tossed Sasuke "thud" at Sakura's feet.
"There, back to you."
"Sasuke!!"
Sakura's eyes widened instantly, and she lunged forward, pulling Sasuke into her arms.
"What did you do to Sasuke?!"
She looked up at Kiba, her eyes turning red.
Kiba frowned. "Why are you accusing me out of nowhere? I didn't do anything! When I found him, the scroll on him was already gone..."
By the end of his sentence, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.
Then, another figure landed.
"Tenten!"
The moment Tenten landed, her steps were a bit shaky. Her face was pale yet flushed with an unnatural redness.
Lee hurried forward to support her arm.
"It's great that you're okay!"
Tenten held her forehead, her voice filled with a bit of confusion.
"I... I think I was just under genjutsu. My head is still a bit dizzy..."
Before she could finish, she caught sight of Nejilying on the ground.
The girl froze.
Neji's down?!
No... I must still be in a genjutsu!
"Release! Release-release-release-release!"
Lee quickly stopped her: "Tenten, calm down! It's okay now!"
Looking at this bizarre group of people, Shino was somewhat speechless.
"Let's go, Kiba."
"Yeah, I knew we shouldn't have bothered with these idiots..."
The two turned to leave and met up with Hinata on the tree.
"I wonder what kind of opponent they faced. Were they besieged by several teams at once? That's why they're in such a mess?"
Kiba patted the puppy on his head.
Akamaru sniffed and barked twice, indicating he didn't smell anything special.
At this time, Hinata spoke: "Kiba-kun, Shino-kun... why does it seem like Naruto isn't here?"
"Indeed, that blond-haired guy doesn't seem to be here." Shino pushed his glasses.
This couldn't help but make Hinata worry.
However, she then comforted herself: "Don't worry, Naruto-kun is so strong, nothing will happen to him!"
... After declining Lee's invitation to travel together, Sakura carried Sasuke on her back and walked step by step toward the Central Tower in the Forest of Death.
Although Naruto's whereabouts were unknown and their team's book of heaven had been taken.
But Sakura was still unwilling to give up and let Sasuke's hope of becoming a Chunin end here.
She was waiting for Sasuke to wake up.
Unlike that blond-haired Dead Last, if it were Sasuke, he would definitely find a way to turn the situation around, right?
It was just... the boy on her back now seemed to have even more severe injuries than when that guy who called himself Orochimaru attacked.
It must be the work of those guys from Team 8!
Sakura took a deep breath and gently adjusted Sasuke on her back to make him more stable.
She lowered her body, making her presence as low as possible.
As long as she could avoid other teams and reach the vicinity of the Central Tower.
For Sasuke, for the hope of Team 7, she had to be cautious.
She recalled every point of stealth Kakashi had taught her.
Just as Sakura leaped onto the trunk of another tree, a low voice suddenly sounded behind her.
"Hehe, here are two more stragglers!"