Chapter 26: Chasing Sasuke

I stretched my arms and legs as I stood by the main gate that led out of the Village. I glanced to my right as Choji, Kiba, and Naruto were getting ready to head out. I then glanced to my left as Shikamaru and Neji were gearing up to head out as well. I inwardly sighed. So in the end Tsunade asked me to help out with Sasuke's return. I'm most surprised at the fact that Shikamaru was actually promoted to Chunin. He didn't even get the chance to fight in the main arena. I guess Lord Third was impressed enough with what he showed at the preliminaries. He probably highly values Shikamaru's mind and wanted him to become a Chunin sooner to help the village out with tasks. Looks like he and I are co-leading the team.

"So what's the plan?" Neji asked as he looked to both Shikamaru and Izaya. I pointed to Shikamaru and said, "I'm sure Shikamaru's got a plan. He'll be the brains of this operation, I'll provide support wherever is needed." I replied.

"Tsk. This is a pain, but alright." Shikamaru said as he proceeded explaining the plan to everyone. Em, a similar plan to my past life eh? Well, this is the most effective for the team composition right now whether this time or in my past. A straight line with everyone having their own roles to play I mentally nodded in approval. We then shot towards the forest as we gave chase. It wasn't long before Kiba and Akamaru sniffed out a battle that recently occurred.

"What should we do? Do we stop and ask for more information or do we continue to pursue Sasuke?" Kiba asked. As Shikamaru was contemplating I said, "No need to stop. I can sense their chakra signatures. They are Leaf shinobi. Shizune and Genma are two of them. Two of the four are injured but with Shizune there they should be fine. Most likely they encountered the enemy and fought. In a time sensitive mission we shouldn't waste time to gather little information that isn't guaranteed to help."

"Mn, that makes sense. We continue to pursue Sasuke." Shikamaru agreed. We travelled a bit longer when Kiba sensed a trap up ahead prompting us to stop.

"A paper bomb perimeter barrier huh?" Neji said as he took a look around with his Byakugan.

"Tsk. It's set to go off after a certain amount of time passes after we enter." Shikamaru said.

"That means we'll probably have to go the long way around." Neji commented. I shook my head and said, "Unnecessary. The fact that they placed one of the paper bomb barrier seals in an open place that's easy to see shows that they're in a hurry. A barrier trap of this level is easy for me to dispel." I placed my hands together quickly forming the hand sign of Snake, Rat, Snake, Dog and clapped my hands together saying, "Seal Severing Disruption Jutsu." My hands glowed with red light as I placed it over the barrier trap seal quickly destroying the seal.

"Eh? That was awesome-dattebayo!" Naruto remarked.

"With this technique I've disrupted the connection between the other tags and this one and also completely removed this sealing tag. They won't be able to activate this trap unless they come back to this spot and place another one down to reform the connection. Let's go." I explained quickly.

"Mn." Everyone nodded as we headed straight back to pursuing Sasuke. Even though I decided I should let Sasuke go pursue his own path I should at least be a little helpful and act like I'm really trying to help I mentally talked to myself. It wasn't long after that we caught up to the Sound Four. Choji remained behind to fight Jirobo, Neji remained to fight Kidomaru, and Kiba remained to fight Sakon and Ukon. That only left Tayuya with the sealing Jar which held Sasuke inside. Just as we were about to recover Sasuke in the sealing jar from Tayuya a giant brown and black spotted snake appeared and grabbed it before we could.

"What!" Shikamaru, Naruto, and I shouted out loud in shock.

Don't tell me...It's Orochimaru? I mentally thought. Is it because he didn't suffer from the Reaper Death Seal this time and he doesn't have Kimimaro as a subordinate I mentally thought.

"Tsk. Things don't look so good. Oi, Naruto, Izaya, you both go after that snake thing and get Sasuke. I'll stay here and hold off this person."

"Mn." We both assented and dashed off after the snake.

"Teh, it won't work. Orochimaru has come to retrieve Sasuke himself now so it won't matter what you guys do." Tayuya remarked.

"Che. This is way over my pay grade." Shikamaru complained.

Just as we chased the snake to a clearing in the forest it stopped and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto and I stopped at the edge of the forest as we watched with caution as we heard a creepy voice speak from within the smoke. "Hehehehe, well well, we meet again. Uzumaki Naruto, Izaya-kun."

"Shit. It really is Orochimaru. Now what. I can't just let Naruto fight him, he isn't ready for that, but I'm not sure I can take him on either. At that moment the jar puffed with smoke as Sasuke rose out of it.

"Oh? It looks like the process is complete." Orochimaru commented.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, everyone is worried about you, let's return to the village!" Naruto said as he attempted to convince Sasuke to return. He however, just dashed off into the forest.

"Hahaha! Sasuke won't return with you. He has an avengers heart and seeks power. Only I can give him the power he desires." Orochimaru said. He then looked at me while licking his lips and said, "And you. Hehehe, you foiled my plans once already. I also desire a body like yours. Why not return with me? I can grant you as much power and knowledge as you want."

"Tsk. What a troublesome guy." I said.

He then turned to Naruto and said, "As for you. The Akatsuki wants you, but it'd be troublesome for me as well if they obtained that thing inside you. This is a good chance to just kill you."

Just as Naruto was about to rush over and attack I pulled his arm back and said, "Naruto, you aren't his match. He'll kill you if you jump in rashly. Go after Sasuke, I'll buy you some time."

"Eh? This guy is super dangerous Izaya, we should beat him up together!" Naruto replied. I simply shook my head, "No, we'd never get to Sasuke in time like that. Lord Third fought him and didn't come out on top. Even if you and I go at him together it won't change the outcome. Just go after Sasuke. I'm confident I can buy you time even if I can't beat him, I still have many ways to escape with my life." I replied.

"Tsk." Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. "Fine. You better promise to leave right away if the situation gets bad." Naruto said before dashing off. To his surprise Orochimaru didn't try to stop Naruto. He just continued to glare at me with a look of anticipation.

"Hehehe, so...I wonder how much you've grown since we last fought." Orochimaru teasingly said. I walked out from the forest's edge and stood a fair distance away from Orochimaru. I took out my special kunai and got in a battle stance as I said, "Heh, you'll be surprised. I won't hold back this time."

"Hoh? I very much look forward to how much you've progressed." He retorted. We stared at each other for a few seconds as sparks flew in the air between our eyes, then, in the next second I dashed to the right just as a snake flew up from underneath the place where I was standing. I quickly threw my special kunai at Orochimaru and formed the hand signs of Ox, Hare, Monkey and shouted, "Chidori!" Lighting gathered in my palms as a loud noise resounded from the techniques activation sounding like 1000 chirping birds.

"Oh?" Orochimaru raised his eyes in surprise as he quickly dodged to his right to avoid the kunai. Chidori huh? I didn't expect that Kakashi would also teach him this technique aside from Sasuke he thought. He commanded his snake to attack me but I was faster. Just as it opened its maw to swallow me I dodged to the side and sliced with my Chidori spitting its jaw open all the way down its body. Orochimaru took this chance to hold out his arm and said, "Striking Shadow Snake Jutsu!" A bunch of snakes flew out from his arm seeking to bind me, however I quickly formed the hand sign of Tiger, Horse, Tiger, Snake and held out my arm saying, "Wood Style Great Forest Jutsu!" A bunch of wood tendrils shot out from my arm as they collided with Orochimaru's snake tendrils.

"WHAT?!" Orochimaru shouted in extreme shock. Not only Flying Thunder God Jutsu but also the Wood Style Jutsu? How? He shouted mentally.

"I told you I wasn't holding back this time." I said as my wood tendrils held tightly onto his snake tendrils I used my other hand to throw out a special kunai and with one hand I formed the signs of Ox, Dog, Dragon, Rat, Dog, Boar, Snake, Tiger saying, "Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!" My special kunai flew at Orochimaru with great speed quickly turning from one to twenty. Greatly alarmed Orochimaru opened his mouth and out came another Orochimaru as he quickly slithered away successfully dodging the barrage of kunai. I teleported to one of my special kunai that was thrown giving me a straight line of sight at Orochimaru and formed the signs of Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, and Tiger and shouted, "Fire Style Flame Bullet Jutsu!" A giant raging mix of fire and oil quickly engulfed his retreating form.

Knowing that he probably escaped the attack in some weird way of his I quickly picked up 5 special kunai from the ground and marked them with one of my new theorized technique seals. I then quickly placed them in a circle measuring 3 feet in diameter and formed the Dragon hand sign. Not a moment later Orochimaru appeared beneath me and struck out with his fist, however I quickly moved backwards and grabbed his wrist pulling him completely out of the ground. As I grabbed his wrist I had also used that chance to mark him with the Flying Thunder God Seal without his knowledge. He quickly disarmed my hold with his other hand and threw a fierce kick at my head which I dodged with a backflip. Just as I landed on the ground he opened his mouth to reveal the blade of the Sword of Kusanagi. Right before he was about to rush at me with his mouth open and the blade sticking out he instantly lost sight of me.

"HUH?!" He exclaimed loudly. At the next instant I was already by his side and placed my hand on his shoulder. Orochimaru widened his eyes with great shock. He must of marked me with his sealing formula during our earlier exchange of hand to hand combat he quickly thought.

Before Orochimaru could react I activated my Flying Thunder God Jutsu once more and without teleporting myself, I instantly teleported Orochimaru into the circle ring I created with my 5 special kunai earlier. The moment he was teleported inside of that ring he was immediately bombarded by raging fire from all five sides. "AHHHH!" He shouted as the flames continued to bombard him without stopping. Each second increased in the intensity and power of the flames that scorched him for up to a total of 5 seconds. I smirked happily at my work and said, "Heh. How does that feel Orochimaru. This is my own original technique. I call it the Fire Element Seal Punishing Array Jutsu! I've created special seals pertaining to each nature element and infuse my chakra into it. I placed my unique seal of fire on those 5 special kunai marked with my Flying Thunder God Seal. Once I form the Dragon hand sign it activates the linking of all 5 fire element seals in that circle I made. The moment anything enters the circle, it will set off the trap due to disturbing the linkage of the 5 seals and they automatically bombard everything inside the circle for 5 seconds. Each second increases the intensity and power of the technique. This is my own created A-rank combination of Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu. Due to the special nature of the seals placed being linked to my Flying Thunder God Seal, all of the attacks don't leave the circle as it gets automatically teleported back inside to bombard the one inside. The only way for the force to go is either up or down."

I then scanned the area around me without letting down my guard knowing that this guy was harder to kill than probably even Uchiha Madara himself. I quickly sensed his presence a few tens of meters away from me. I turned and sneered at him. He had some weird sticky fluid dripping off of him. He probably did some weird snake substitution jutsu or something like that to escape my technique. I also have to be careful about my chakra usage. I've gotten better at teleporting others thanks to Lord Third giving me the notes of Lord Second and Lord Fourth, but I still haven't completely mastered it yet. Since he shed his body with the mark, he isn't marked on that new body of his yet so I can't fly to him.

"Hehehehe! Hahahaha! Incredible! Simply incredible! Your power is formidable. I really want your body! Wood Style huh? I wonder how you were able to come by this technique. Has Sarutobi-sensei been doing experiments on his own without telling me? Hehehe. Your technique just now, it was quite powerful. If it was anyone else then perhaps you would have succeeded in killing them." Orochimaru said with great maniacal enthusiasm. I just sighed inwardly. Although I know he'd be useful later, why does he have to be such a creep. And why does he have so many weird life saving jutsu. I mean seriously, how many times can he even use that jutsu?

Just as Orochimaru and I were about to re-engage in our battle we both felt a surge of chakra and a loud rumble. We both paused as we turned to the direction of the source. So, it appears that their battle has ended we both thought at the same time. "Hehehe, well, it looks like we will have to continue this another time. It's unfortunate, but I must secure that boy Sasuke. Until we meet again...Izaya-kun." Orochimaru said as he slowly disappeared in the ground.

Phew. I let out a sigh. That was rough. Honestly, it's just a waste of chakra to even try fighting that guy. He just won't die. I looked to the sky as it clouded over and started to rain. At that moment Haku jumped out from the forest and stopped before me. "Big brother! Are you alright?"

"EH? Haku? What are you doing here?" I asked surprised. I then turned to look towards the forest as Kiba, Neji, Choji, and Shikamaru also ran out of the forest.

"I was sent as backup by Lady Tsunade." Haku replied.

"Oi oi, did you do that?" Shikamaru said as he looked at the scorched areas of the battlefield and the large snake corpse nearby. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Doesn't matter, Orochimaru got away. He's not an easy person to deal with."

"Ah? Not an easy person to deal with? Should you be saying that? The fact that you're alive and can do this much damage against that guy is surprising already. Oh, where's Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"Ah! He went after Sasuke while I held Orochimaru off. I'll go get him." I said quickly.

Eh? Before anyone else could say something I disappeared from my spot. "Wh-What? Where did he go?" Kiba asked in shock.

"Oh, big brother went to get Naruto. You don't need to think about it too much." Haku replied. Everyone else just stared at Haku dumbfoundedly as they all thought the same thing. We can't help but think about it, that guys strength is too abnormal. I soon appeared next to Naruto after activating my Flying Thunder God Jutsu. It's a good thing I marked his sleeve when I pulled him back earlier. Looks like Sasuke left already, I can't sense his presence nearby. I picked the unconscious Naruto up and activated the Flying Thunder God once more appearing next to Haku.

"EEEEHHHH!" Everyone but Haku exclaimed.

"No questions please. Let's just go back to the Village. Naruto needs to rest and get treatment." I said.

"Ahem. Sounds like a plan." Shikamaru said.

"I guess we failed the mission." Neji commented.

"It can't be helped. Orochimaru interfered. That's someone we can't handle, it was only to be expected after that." Shikamaru replied as we dashed off back to the Village.

I guess Tsunade didn't call in help from the Sand Village like in my past life since we had Haku after all. I silently thought to myself as we continued running through the forest. Back at the place where Sasuke and Naruto fought, a strange looking creature with one side half black, and the other half white in the attire of an Akatsuki member stood on the cliff. It was Zetsu as he had watched the battle from above. "Things seem to be getting a bit interesting." He said.