Smoke billowed.
Then came the faint sounds of something cutting through air.
Takumi, whose vision was obscured, soon felt something prick his body.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A strong wind dispersed the smoke. Takumi frowned as he looked at the three figures now standing on a tree branch. "Who are you?"
"Who we are isn't important. If you don't want to die, quickly hand over the Bikochu in your possession," Suzumebachi said with a haughty smile. "If you don't want to be poisoned to death by my bee venom."
Buzz buzz buzz...
A large swarm of bees appeared around her.
"Hehehe..."
Jibachi and Kurobachi beside her let out sinister chuckles.
"Takumi-kun!"
Hinata turned to look at Takumi, her face full of anxiety.
"Dammit!"
Kiba gritted his teeth, angry at himself for being so careless and not detecting the enemies' approach.
But he couldn't be blamed.
The Kamizuru Clan were skilled insect-controlling Shinobi, adept at masking their scents.
That's why Kiba hadn't noticed the enemies' approach.
Shino didn't speak but silently released his Kikaichu.
He was ready to counterattack at any moment.
"Bee venom? So those were bee stingers?" Takumi said with a look of realization. "But it seems they didn't work."
"What's going on?"
Suzumebachi also noticed the problem.
If it were a normal person, her bee venom would cause them to faint within seconds.
But what was with this handsome young man?
Why hadn't he reacted even after this long?
"Seems your poison is expired," Takumi said, spreading his hands. "So you want this bug too? Unfortunately, we need it, so we won't hand it over."
"Hmph!"
Suzumebachi snorted coldly. "Since poison doesn't work, then try this!"
The bees around her surged forward with a roar.
"This number!"
Kiba gritted his teeth and immediately launched a counterattack with his partner Akamaru. "Fang Passing Fang!"
Spinning their bodies at high speed, their sharp claws created a decent offensive.
A large number of bees were killed.
But the killed bees turned into orange stuff that stuck to the three.
Takumi easily jumped away, not letting the substance stick to him.
But the other three were in trouble.
"What is this?"
Shino's expression changed. He immediately smelled that it was honey, but the enemy wouldn't use honey just for an attack.
This honey must have another purpose.
And he soon discovered its purpose.
It had extremely high viscosity. For the moment, they could only stand still, unable to move.
"Ah!"
Hinata let out a cry. A poison stinger pierced her neck, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
"If you want her to live, hand the Bikochu to me. I'll give you an hour to consider," Suzumebachi said, hoisting Hinata onto her shoulder, then leaping away with a few jumps.
Takumi watched them leave without pursuing.
Instead, he looked at Kiba and Shino with a helpless expression. "You guys, how could you be so careless."
He helplessly helped them remove the sticky honey.
"What do we do now? Hinata was captured by them," Kiba said dejectedly.
He had counterattacked, but ended up falling into the enemy's trap, resulting in Hinata being captured.
He now felt very guilty.
"The only option now is to use the Bikochu for exchange," Shino also said helplessly.
His Kikaichu were almost deployed, but he fell into the enemy's trap first.
"Wait a moment."
Takumi said, "Let's observe the situation first. If we can rescue Hinata directly, that's good. If not, then we'll use the Bikochu for exchange."
"That's the only way."
Shino nodded.
"Don't worry, this time I definitely won't make a mistake again!" Kiba clenched his fists and said solemnly.
"I believe in you. Now, please find them," Takumi also said seriously.
"Leave it to me!"
Kiba patted his chest, then he and Akamaru got down on the ground, sniffing around.
"This way!"
He quickly identified the direction.
Takumi and Shino immediately followed behind Kiba, advancing quickly.
Soon, they encountered Suzumebachi's trio, along with Hinata, who was hanging unconscious from a tree.
"It seems you chose quickly. What's the discussion result?" Suzumebachi said with an air of assured victory, composed and at ease.
"Our decision is..."
As Takumi spoke, he glanced at Shino from the corner of his eye.
Shino nodded slightly, indicating he was ready.
"We don't plan to hand over the Bikochu to you. And I'm going to rescue my comrade!" Takumi charged straight forward.
"You think I won't do it?" Suzumebachi didn't expect Takumi to charge head-on. Furious, she immediately threw a shuriken at Hinata.
And at that moment, the hidden Kikaichu appeared, chewing through the rope holding Hinata.
"Damn Aburame Clan!"
Seeing her attack miss and Takumi charging straight at her, Suzumebachi immediately retreated, not wanting to engage in close combat with Takumi.
She was from an insect-controlling clan, not skilled in close combat to begin with.
Controlling insects to fight was her forte.
"Just you wait!" She placed the bees in front of herself, then swiftly retreated.
Beside her, Jibachi and Kurobachi also retreated swiftly.
Takumi didn't continue the pursuit.
"Let's take Hinata to a safe place first," He said, turning back.
The three worked together to carry Hinata, who was wrapped up like a rice dumpling, to a cave.
"Now we're safe," Kiba wiped his forehead, showing a relieved smile.
"Hmm?" Shino frowned slightly. He discreetly made eye contact with Takumi.
But he seemed to have forgotten he was wearing sunglasses, so no one could understand his eye signals.
Kiba also soon sensed something wrong through his keen sense of smell.
The Hinata they rescued had the scent of two people.
And it wasn't a faint, transferred scent… both scents were very strong.
This immediately put him on alert.
"Hey, who are you?" Kiba said coldly after waking up 'Hinata'.
"Hmm?" 'Hinata' slowly opened her eyes, looking bewildered. "I'm Hinata? What's wrong?"
"You're not Hinata," Kiba frowned. "Who are you really?"
Shino's sleeves swarmed with Kikaichu, ready to attack at any moment.
"What are you talking about?" At this moment, Takumi suddenly spoke up. "Of course she's Hinata."
"But..." Kiba turned back in surprise. He hadn't expected Takumi to say that.
Shino frowned slightly, and the Kikaichu retreated back into his sleeves.
"You're being too suspicious. If the Hinata before us was impersonated, why would the enemy attack her? If Shino hadn't controlled the insects to bite through the rope in time, that shuriken would have pierced her throat," Takumi said seriously, handing the plastic container with the Bikochu to Shino. "You two take the bug back first. I'll stay here to take care of Hinata and see if she's injured."
"Hey, you..." Kiba was even more confused.
He wanted to say something more.
But Shino beside him grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of the cave. "Since Takumi-kun says so, we should complete the mission quickly. We'll leave this to Takumi-kun."
"That's right, you can rest assured leaving it to me," Takumi said with a smile.
"Huh?" Kiba was dragged away by Shino, looking bewildered.
Outside the cave, Kiba frowned and asked in a low voice, "Didn't you notice she's fake?"
"Of course."
Shino said, "I believe Takumi-kun noticed too. He said that surely to lull that person, to get more information from her."
"We still don't know where Hinata is."
"So, Takumi-kun must want to stall her himself first, then have us search for the real Hinata's whereabouts."
Shino's analysis was logical and thorough.
Kiba nodded in sudden realization, then looked at the cave entrance with an admiring expression. "I didn't expect Takumi to think of so much in an instant. As expected of him."
"We are still far from his level," Shino said. "Since he trusts us so much, we can't betray his trust."
"Alright! We must rescue Hinata!" Kiba clenched a fist, his face full of fighting spirit.