In the deep forest, Kidomaru, Sakon, and Jirobo sat around a campfire. The three looked at each other, not saying a single word.
They felt sad inside. Even Kidomaru, who usually loved to play, looked worried.
"Hey, I'm just saying, are we really going to listen to him?" Jirobo asked, scratching his head, trying to be careful.
Neji had thrown the three of them here, briefly explaining what he wanted. He didn't care if they agreed or not, and left with Tayuya and the wooden barrel with Sasuke inside.
Simply put, Neji wanted them to block the Konoha kids who would be coming. He also told them, with a bit of a threat, that if they dared to leave without permission, he would destroy Orochimaru's base.
Then, while the three of them looked confused and puzzled, he left without explaining anything.
Jirobo's words seemed to be swallowed by the night, and he was met with only silence.
Honestly, Jirobo even wondered if he was dreaming. The Sound Five being threatened by a kid and forced to do what he wanted? But the crackling of the firewood and the real feeling of the cold wind told him it wasn't a dream.
"I can't take this." Sakon, who had a bad temper, couldn't hold back his anger after a while and shouted that he was leaving.
But Jirobo's question, "Can you beat him?" immediately shut him up.
Of course they had seen Neji before, not only during the Konoha crush, but also recently. Orochimaru had been constantly muttering Neji's name, and so had Kabuto.
They seemed to understand that Orochimaru's plan had failed and Kabuto's arm had been cut off because of Neji… In short, Neji was very strong, so strong that even Orochimaru had to take him seriously.
"Neji is strange, you better not treat what he says as a joke."
These were words that Orochimaru had said unintentionally, but they kept ringing in their ears, causing Sakon to swallow back the words he was about to say.
"Ugh…" Sakon held his head and shouted at Kidomaru, "Aren't you usually full of ideas? Why are you quiet now?!"
"Do you think I can have any good ideas in this situation?"
Kidomaru also got up and responded rudely, full of anger. It really felt awful to be used like this.
"Forget it, we were going to block them anyway, try to think of it that way." Jirobo sighed deeply, trying to make himself feel more willing.
"Damn it!" Sakon angrily punched a tree next to him. Just as he was about to say something else, they heard rustling sounds in the forest, and they immediately became tense.
…
At this time, Neji was walking slowly through the deep forest, while Tayuya was carrying a heavy wooden barrel in front of him.
"Damn it, do you have no manners at all?" Tayuya cursed in her heart. She was a beautiful woman, but this guy was making her do all the hard, tiring work.
Ignoring the resentful look on Tayuya's face, Neji was actually very relaxed, but that was just on the surface. In reality, he was using his Mind's Eye to check on everyone's situation.
Suddenly, he stopped and whispered, "They've encountered them already! They came so fast?"
Then, he suddenly grabbed Tayuya's hand, picked up the wooden barrel with Sasuke in it, and disappeared thousands of meters away.
"Host holds hands with Tayuya, reward obtained: Summoning Technique (Three Demons)."
Summoning Technique (Three Demons): Summons three demon giants who are good at physical attacks and can be controlled by flute music. One demon holds a thick wooden club, one uses bone claws, and one has its upper body and head wrapped in bandages. It has no arms and uses a "back attack."
"So fast!" Tayuya was shocked. Then, she looked at Neji with an even more unfriendly expression. If he could run so fast, why did he make her carry the wooden barrel?
But Neji wasn't paying attention to her. Konoha had sent people after them, and it was the usual kids. This time, almost everyone had come because he had left as well.
"What a big fuss." Neji muttered, thinking he should get to Orochimaru as soon as possible.
At his extreme speed, they soon arrived at a plain, but then, a gray-haired boy suddenly stood in front of him.
"Stop!"
The gray-haired boy looked sick and pale, without a trace of color in his face, but who would have thought that this person was the most powerful member of the Sound Five?
"Kaguya Kimimaro." Neji looked at the person in front of him. He was a tragic character, powerful but died too early because his body was weak. It was a pity.
But Neji wouldn't weaken him here. His opponents should be Lee and Gaara.
Kimimaro coughed, and some blood flowed from his mouth, but he didn't care. A bone spike appeared in his hand, pointing at Neji.
"Give me Sasuke."
As for Tayuya, he ignored her. His goal was to complete Orochimaru's order. Compared to that, other people didn't matter.
"This is troublesome. Tayuya, I'll leave this to you." Neji let go of Tayuya, since it would be more convincing if she told Kimimaro.
Tayuya didn't know what Neji's purpose was, or why he wanted to see Orochimaru. However, Kimimaro had always been the most calm person among the five of them. Maybe he could make a good decision.
Thinking of this, Tayuya immediately ran towards Kimimaro.
"Kimimaro is here, which means... Orochimaru is getting impatient." Neji stood there silently, watching Kimimaro and thinking to himself.
Unless he used his ability to become invisible and rushed over there, by the time he arrived at Orochimaru's base, he would have already taken over Genyumaru's body.
"It's shorter than expected." Neji said softly, but he wasn't nervous. Even if Orochimaru became a man, he had enough to make Orochimaru willingly hand over his Ninja techniques.
Because that thing was something Orochimaru couldn't resist.
"You're saying he's Hyuga Neji." Kimimaro pointed at Neji and asked Tayuya.
Without waiting for Tayuya to answer, he muttered to himself, "That's right, he has the Byakugan and he's so young."
Finally, Kimimaro put away the bone spike in his hand and said politely, "I apologize for stopping you by accident. Please, you must bring Sasuke to Orochimaru."
Tayuya, who thought she would have to waste a lot of time talking, was stunned to see Kimimaro change his mind just by hearing Neji's name. He was letting him pass? If it wasn't because Kimimaro was so loyal to Orochimaru, she would have suspected that Kimimaro had betrayed him.
She didn't know that Kimimaro was doing this because of Orochimaru's order.
"If Neji wants to see me, then let him come." That's what Orochimaru had said.
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