Chap.23 No fight, no defeat

As they made their way between jumping from branch to branch, a notification sounded.

[Ding! The host has fulfilled a hidden achievement.]

[Hidden Achievement: Tears of Hope!]

[Condition: You have become the light of someone who only knew the darkness of this world.]

[Hidden Reward: Puni Jelly Recipe (Atelier Saga) + Ability to Turn Tomatoes into Magma (Ueki's Law)]

"Interesting," Tony thought. I didn't expect to get Marco Maldini's ability, this will come in handy.

Just imagine, an enemy ninja sees a tomato being thrown at him and thinks it's just a distraction from the real attack. By the time the tomato bursts into magma, it will be too late. Sure, you can launch pretty damaging attacks using food like oil and flour, but magma will be a nice offensive addition.

—Kya!

Tony snaps out of his thoughts after hearing the scream and turns his head to see that Hinata has been tied down by some wires. He stops and throws the two knives at her to cut them free.

-What happened? He asked as he looked around her and picked her up. "Kiba!" Karin!

"I don't smell anything!" Kiba replied.

"They're down behind that tree trunk," Karin pointed out, trying to help.

—Tch! They reacted too fast, I couldn't take care of her - a ninja with purple lines on his face and a bandaged object comes out from behind the tree.

"Shit," Tony muttered when he recognized Kankuro.

He was one of the teams that he wanted to avoid the most in the forest, because of his involvement in the main plot and because of the crazy unstable sand.

"I'm more interested in knowing why there are four people and not three," a blonde kunoichi jumped, "The redhead with a mask doesn't seem to be a puppet."

I think it's common sense to think about the possibility of running into other teams, it was unrealistic to believe that my plan would happen to the letter.

So using my power, I made a cookie dough mask for Karin in the shape of a squirrel face. Childish? Perhaps, but I can tell, it was inspired by the local fauna.

"Guys, there should be a guy with dark circles nearby, be careful and don't get caught in the sand," Tony warned as he gestured to them.

"It doesn't matter if you know I'm here, your blood will help quench mother's thirst." Gaara made his appearance and acted as sinister as he expected.

"Gluttony: Hidden Flour Art!"

Tony blew out a large amount of white powder that clouded the air in the area.

"Cheap tricks," Temari scoffed as he used his large fan to remove the surrounding flour.

What he didn't expect was that when the area was clear, no one would be present.

-They escaped? Temari frowned in annoyance at the thought of missing out on a scroll. "You shouldn't have gone too far, come on!"

The arena team tried to move, all to result in eating the dirt at their feet.

-What the hell? —Kankuro looked down and saw that he had gum on his feet, just like the rest— Damn child! When did he do this? She moaned as he tried to free himself.

…Meanwhile, not far from there…

Tony could hear Gaara yelling in anger and throwing a tantrum, which was followed by falling trees and some commotion.

His mission made it clear to her that he couldn't be defeated, but since he didn't fight them and was able to retreat easily, it wasn't considered a failure. In fact, avoiding an unnecessary fight would be more accurate to say is a smart thought.

Kankuro is a nuisance due to the poisonous needles his puppet must have, Temari could be too much trouble for him to deal with right now and then there's Gaara who loves to squeeze things with his magic sand and automated defense.

The gesture he made to the team was one that they had previously agreed upon, the meaning of which was that he was going to use a diversionary technique and they were all to leave without delay. Kiba and Hinata went along with the plan and Tony led Karin out into the middle of the flour.

"Was it really necessary to withdraw?" Kiba asked somewhat annoyed.

He believed they could have beaten them with some effort.

"I've been keeping an eye on the opponents and found out a few things," he replied as they continued on their way, only this time it was Tony who was in the rear. "The boy with makeup on his face is a puppeteer who uses puppets and poisons, being the last thing." the most annoying. I don't want any of us to end up poisoned with something that can leave us weak or defenseless in this place. The blonde girl uses some aggressive wind jutsus with that giant fan on her back for ranged attacks and uses it as a heavy staff in close combat, which would make her an annoying opponent, but the worst is the boy with dark circles.

"What's so special about it?" The only strange thing about him was the pumpkin behind him.

—Let's just say he's a walking chakra battery —I didn't want to explain to them what a jinchuriki was in case the word slipped during the month of preparations for the last round— He has much more than all of us combined and he has problems in the head. He will not hesitate to trap us in his arena and blow us up, he has very violent and murderous impulses. I even heard him threaten his two brothers to shut up or he would kill them on one occasion.

-Really? Hinata was shocked that there was someone so violent as to threaten to kill her own family like it was nothing.

"I'll tell you more details when we get to the tower, in case we have to face them later," Tony told them.

They all nodded and continued on their way. After the scare they got, Hinata activated the Byakugan every half hour to check that they weren't being followed or when they heard something out of place and the team kept their guard up.

A few hours later, they could see the tower.

-What do we do now? Karin asked, who was silent for the entire trip since they escaped.

They were only a few meters from the tower, but they needed to get out of the cover of the trees and through a clear area before entering it.

"Kiba, do you and Akamaru smell someone nearby?" Tony asked.

"There are some odors, but they are faint," he answered after a short time. "They are old traces or they are well hidden."

"Hinata?"

"I'm sorry, my eyes are too tired," she replied in a tired voice.

"I understand," Tony agreed.

Tony reached out to the tree closest to him and put his hand on the bark, digging his fingers in and transforming the wood with his power as he drew out a dark substance. The substance molded and four exact replicas of those present appeared, plus a smaller one of Akamaru. Then the colors changed and they were tremendously realistic.

"You know what to do," Tony told them.

The clones nodded and ran to the door, entering it with no problem.

"Come on," Tony smiled, "Looks like we're not only first, but I think we even broke the record."