Chapter no.22

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(Alongside Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, and Shino)

The younger Genins were attempting to track down all of the clones, and they were successful in closing the gap between themselves and the clones. They are getting closer and closer to the targets they have set.

"ALRIGHT! IS EVERYONE IN THERE! READY!?" Shikamaru Asked, Everyone nodded, "YOU REMEMBER THE PLAN WE DISCUSSED EARLIER DO YOU?!" Shikamaru Asked again, everyone nodded again, "ALRIGHT NOW LET'S DO IT!" Shikamaru Shouted

Everyone kept their distance from one another. They were now following Shikamaru's plan, but it took them in different directions.

Choji and Shino jumped more quickly than everyone else, and as they began to pull away from the clones and gain some distance on them, they both stopped, looked around, and waited until the clones were within striking distance. They were prepared for it. To what end?

Shino summoned his bugs while Choji stretched out his hands. Shino's bugs formed a net, and Choji had to put his expanded hands behind it to secure it.

"Is he certain that this is going to be successful?" Shino questioned icily.

"Are you kidding? Shikamaru's schemes are unfailingly successful." Choji smiled broadly as he responded to the question.

Shikamaru quickly ascended above Choji and Shino and landed on a branch of one of the trees, where he observed the Naruto clones as they approached the ambush they had set up. Kneeling down, he assumed the jutsu stance of his clan and began to focus his attention on the clones while simultaneously preparing his chakra for the plan.

Hinata and Ino were hiding in the shadows behind the clones. Following the instructions given to them by Shikamaru, the two Genin were pursuing the clones.

"INO-CHAN! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON YOUR JUJUTSU?!" Hinata Asked

"YES I DO!" Ino replied while holding her hands together in the sign of her family's Jutsu, which is known as the mind control Jutsu. Using this hand sign, she was able to convince all of the clones that Shikamaru, Shino, and Choji were still with them. causing them to disregard the fact that the genuine ones were ideal for them in every way possible.

Shikamaru beamed with satisfaction as he saw that his plan was bearing fruit and that the clones were getting closer to Shino and Choji.

"ALRIGHT! GET READY!" Shikamaru Shouted, "IN 3! 2! 1!" Shikamaru yelled at Choji and then concentrated the majority of his strength on his feet to maintain his stability while Shino's bugs concentrated on keeping themselves intact for the impact. Choji yelled back at Shikamaru.

As soon as Ino let go of her Jutsu, all of the shadow clones jumped into the net by accident. They struggled to escape, but Shikamaru's shadow possessing Jutsu soon ensnared them all.

"Got you now." Shikamaru smirked "HINATA! NOW!" Shikamaru shouted, his demeanour becoming more solemn in the process.

"RIGHT!" Hinata yelled, triggering the activation of her Byakugan.

"EIGHT TRIGRAMS AND SIXTY FOUR PALMS!" Hinata yelled as she was engulfed in a sphere of chakra, which caused her to perform multiple palm rotations all around her. She was then propelled towards the clones, quickly dispersing them one at a time until they were no longer present. With one last thought, Hinata tightly closed her eyes, and then she yelled "I'm sorry Naruto-Kun. I hope you can forgive me."

POOF!

The very last clone of Shadow. Dispersed. Leaving behind a trace of smoke in the area until it had completely cleared out. Choji brought his hands back to their normal state, Shikamaru retracted his shadow, and Shino brought back all of his bugs.

"It would appear that these are just clones. There is no way that Naruto is in this place." Shino spoke up

"True." Shikamaru nodded In agreement "WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!" Concerned, Ino yelled, "Let's get back with the others; it's likely that they found Naruto!" Shikamaru spoke up

After that was concluded, everybody left the area and went back to the place where they were supposed to meet the rest of the people.

(Along with Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai) The three Jounins had just triumphed over all of the Naruto clones in a short amount of time. These Naruto clones were overweight, just like Kakashi. They fought against all of the Naruto clones primarily using Taijutsu so that they wouldn't accidentally hurt the real Naruto. But they were completely incorrect. The true Naruto was nowhere to be found in this place.

"What a complete and utter waste of my time!" Asuma, while enjoying a cigarette to his own satisfaction

"Agreed." Kurenai Agreed

"It's hard for me to believe that Naruto's flames of youth were able to fool mine. That is something that Lee could never achieve. Where does Kakashi find such young people to train as his disciples?" Gai Asked, eye smiling and smiling "Well. It is imperative that we convey this information to Tsunadae-Sama. She will need to educate herself on the most recent Naruto news and reports." Kurenai spoke up, Gai and Asuma nodded In Agreement

The three Jounin were on their way out.

(Alongside Tsunadae and Shizune) Shizune's jaw dropped in utter horror as she observed that all of the clones had large humps of bumps on their heads before vanishing. It was too late in the evening for Naruto to observe the formidable power possessed by the slug Sannin.

"Don't you think that might have been a little bit excessive?" Worry could be heard in Shizune's voice as she asked.

"Nope. Because he abandoned Konoha, he has brought this upon himself. It's such a shame that these Idiots turned out to be clones rather than the real Idiot we were looking for." Tsunadae uttered those words with rage in her tone. "SHIZUNE! WE HAVE TO RECONNECT WITH THE OTHERS IMMEDIATELY!" Tsunadae Ordered

However, Tsunadae did a bit of thinking and realised that Jiraya was going after a specific clone of Naruto's, so she turned around to Shizune and shouted at her. Shizune turned around and looked at Tsunadae with a confused expression "STOP! IGNORE THE QUESTION OF ORDER! JIRAYA SHALL SERVE AS OUR DESTINATION INSTEAD! HE WILL PROBABLY BE ABLE TO TELL YOU WHERE NARUTO IS!"

The greeting "HAI TSUNADAE-SAMA!" Shizune made a bow.

Both of the medics have left.