"I sent one of my clones ahead to track them, so finding them won't be a problem," Yamato said as we moved through the trees.
"When did you do that?" Sakura asked.
"When the bridge collapsed. I saw them leaving with Sai following, but I couldn't go after them right away. So, I made a clone to follow them. I actually made the clone before I even got to the bridge because I had a feeling something might go wrong," Yamato explained.
"That's good to know!" I said.
After a while of following, Yamato suddenly stopped on a tree branch.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Yeah, why did you stop so suddenly?" Sakura added.
"Just wait a moment; my clone is trying to contact me!" he replied.
"Is that so?" Yamato asked.
"What's going on, Captain?" Sakura pressed.
"Nothing serious, it's all handled. Let's keep moving!" he said.
"You're being honest, right?" I inquired.
"Well... it's not a big deal. They set up a decoy for my clone and us. They must have realized my clone was following them, so they made a fake dead body of Sai as a distraction!" he explained.
"How can you tell the body is fake?" Sakura asked.
"Sakura, he's an Anbu Black Ops ninja. Of course, he can tell it's a fake," I said.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Sakura said as she pulled out a diary.
"What is that?" I asked.
"This is Sai's diary. This morning, he was drawing, and I found this diary he made," Sakura explained.
"What does it say?" Yamato asked.
[A.N: LET'S SKIP THIS PART. I WROTE THIS TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. OKAY.]
"My clone just reported in; it looks like we have a location," Yamato said.
"Let's go!" I replied eagerly.
"Okay!" Sakura chimed in, and the three of us started moving toward the spot Yamato's clone had mentioned. I could also sense their chakra.
After a while, as we crossed a river, Sakura called out, "Naruto! We're going to do this together—we're going to get Sasuke back!"
"Yes!" I agreed.
"We're here!" Yamato announced, as his clone appeared right in front of us.
"So, this is where they are?" I asked.
"The entrance is right inside that rock formation," the clone replied.
"So there's a chance Sasuke is in there!" Sakura said.
"If he's not, we might at least find some clues about where he is," Yamato added. "But first, there's something I need to do." He placed his hand over his clone, which began to dissolve into wood, leaving only a seed in his palm.
"First, you need to swallow this, Naruto," he said, handing me the seed. "You too, Sakura; take one."
"You don't need to worry; it's perfectly safe, I assure you," he continued. "With this, even if we get separated, we'll know where to find you."
"Okay, but what is this? How does it work?" I asked.
"These seeds act as transmitters for tracking a person's location. They only work with my chakra," he explained. "I planted these in his clothing and food."
"Okay, but why?" I asked.
"Lady Tsunade warned me about Sai. She asked me to keep an eye on him. Turns out, she was right to be concerned, which is why I was cautious from the start of this mission," he explained. "Now, enough talk—go ahead and swallow them." We both swallowed the seeds.
"There are at least three of them. Maybe more," I said.
"Orochimaru and Kabuto are definitely there. And I think Sai might be with them too. I'll go first, then Naruto and Sakura," Yamato said.
"So, how are we getting in?" Sakura asked.
"We'll dig our way in using my earth style Jutsu. I'll drill a tunnel here. Once we're deep enough, we'll level off and move towards the main entrance bit by bit, under those rocks," he explained.
"Got it!" Sakura said.
"Sounds good to me. Nice to have a break sometimes," I said.
"It's not a break, but let's get to work!" Yamato said, making hand signs and slapping his hand on the ground to create a hole. "When I give the signal, follow one by one, in the order I mentioned!" He jumped into the hole first.
"Your turn, Sakura!" I said. She nodded and jumped in after him.
"Now it's my turn. But why jump when I can just fly?" Instead of jumping, I slowly lowered myself into the hole.
"You took long enough!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yeah, I was just checking for traps on the way down," I replied.
"Sure, whatever," Sakura said as we continued following Yamato's plan.
After a while, we finally reached the spot beneath those rocks.
"As I feared, the hideout is surrounded by a wall of rock," Yamato said.
"So, you can use your Wood Style Jutsu to make a hole, right?" I asked. "But, I forgot to ask, isn't Wood Style Jutsu supposed to be really rare? Like, only the First Hokage had it?"
"It's not the time for questions," Yamato replied.
"Alright, we have plenty of time, I suppose."
"Listen, we need to be very quiet for this infiltration," Yamato said.
"Here!" he said, as he created a hole in the wall using his Wood Style Jutsu.
"Now, we have to be very careful with our chakra from this point on. We don't want Orochimaru sensing us," he instructed. "Okay, let's go," he added, and we started entering one by one.
"So far, so good!" Sakura said.
"First, we need to find Sai," Yamato said.
"He's this way," he pointed.
"Yeah, I could've told you that too," I remarked.
We moved toward the place where we could sense Sai. "Everything's clear up ahead!" Yamato said, and we followed him.
"We're almost there," he added.
After a while, we finally reached the spot. "He's behind this door," Yamato said, trying to open it, but it was locked from the outside.
Using his Wood Style Jutsu, he created a key and unlocked the door. As we entered the room one by one, we saw Sai standing inside.
"I expect no less from the Hokage's Anbu Black Ops," Sai said, turning around with that annoying smile.
"So, that fake corpse didn't fool you, huh?" Sai added.
"Start talking. What's going on here?" Yamato demanded.
"What do you mean? What's going to happen?" Sai asked, still that fake smile.
"You better start talking now, or let's see how long you can keep that ugly smile on your face," I said, standing behind him.
[A. N: Thanks for reading, drop Powerstones that will help a lot and drop reviews if you like the story and add to your library]