(A/n- 100 chapters for 4 chapters next week, otherwise 3 only, you guys can do it)
The quartet found themselves unable to move.
It was a very familiar feeling to all of them, especially Shikamaru.
It was the most basic jutsu of the Nara clan, yet the most commonly used.
"You guys should have relocated as soon as you got the information. I wasn't supposed to know that you're from the future, you know," her coquettish grin sent a chill down their spines.
If they weren't restrained by the shadow possession jutsu, they might have suffered a jump scare. It was that terrifying.
It felt like the worst-case scenario had come to pass without any warning.
Sora and Shikamaru forced themselves to calm down.
Ino and Choji took longer to process what had happened, but they didn't panic.
Choji almost choked on the chips he was eating, but he managed to keep calm.
Ino, more attuned to her emotions, didn't let herself fall into a panic.
That was their first instinct when they started to panic.
"Good, you clearly aren't from an era of wars, so it explains why you're weak, except for the red-haired kid. But being able to stay calm when you might die—or more precisely, be erased from existence—is commendable," Kasumi's words didn't ease anyone's nerves.
Ino might have been trying to suppress her happiness at the praise, given that she was the next in line to be the Yamanaka clan head. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of a legendary former clan head.
"How did you find us?" Ino asked, trying to distract herself.
"She probably tracked the chakra that homed in on Sora's main body after the clone was dispelled. It shouldn't be possible unless she had her sensory field activated beforehand with an incredibly large range," Shikamaru answered instead.
He was trying to find a solution to their dilemma, his mind racing with hundreds of thoughts per second.
"Bingo!" Kasumi winked at Shikamaru, who quickly averted his gaze. "Our clan base isn't far from here. The path I led you on was intentionally long, with lots of unnecessary detours."
She then looked at Sora. "That clone is really useful. I noticed it takes considerably more chakra, but the trade-off is excellent. Whoever invented it is a genius."
"Yeah, the guy who invented it was a genius," Sora said awkwardly, looking defeated as if his mind was elsewhere.
"Hmm, so what now?" Choji asked. If this beautiful lady was going to do something to them, she might as well do it quickly—he had chips to eat.
"Hmm, so you're the clan heirs of the newest generation?" Kasumi's words startled the trio.
"Why do you think that?" Ino asked.
"Well, that Nara is too smart. He's probably thinking of trying to distract me, maybe by exerting his chakra to break free. But that should be impossible, and he knows it. Still, it would be a good distraction for the Uzumaki kid to try the same and have a much higher chance of breaking free." The others' eyes, except for Sora's, widened.
Shikamaru remained unfazed. He had come up with this on the spot, factoring in that anyone else could think the same, so he was a few steps ahead.
Kasumi grinned. "At least, at the base level, that's his strategy. He has more moves planned, but most depend on factors I don't know about. After all, how could a Nara come up with such a simple strategy, right?" Shikamaru had accounted for this as well.
Kasumi then looked at Choji. "He's more concerned about not being able to eat the chip in his hand than anything else. If that's not Akimichi to the core, I don't know what is." Choji didn't even look embarrassed; he seemed proud, for some reason.
Kasumi sweatdropped and then looked at Ino. She whistled, "Aren't you subtly trying to impress me? I wonder why?" Ino averted her gaze, perhaps a little embarrassed.
Kasumi looked at Sora and said, "Let me guess—you're trying not to give away any information and waiting for your Earth clone to come and free you, right?"
Sora finally showed some emotion, his face turning into a wry smile.
"Well, too bad for you—I took care of all your four Earth clones."
Sora's face morphed into a smirk.
"Wait, are there more earth clones?" Kasumi asked but then sensed a large amount of chakra concentrating on the ground beneath her. She had no choice but to release the jutsu and jump away, barely dodging a Rasengan at her feet.
"Damn, that's a lot of chakra in that jutsu. Are you trying to kill me or something?" Kasumi joked while taking out two kunai.
"Nah, I knew you'd dodge, nee-chan," Sora said shamelessly while weaving hand seals.
In the next instant, a very compressed water ball shot out of Sora's mouth, aiming at Kasumi's torso.
However, something mind-blowing happened next.
Kasumi dropped one of her kunai and caught the water ball. No, it would be more accurate to say that she placed her palm on it, let the water ball rotate 360 degrees around her, and then threw it back at Sora from the same position.
Sora barely dodged.
Actually, it was more correct to say that she intentionally aimed the water ball so that he could dodge it.
Sora deduced this as well.
"What in the name of the Sage of Six Paths was that? How can she catch a jutsu and throw it back at me? How is that even possible? What level of chakra control is required for that?"
If Sora had been a reincarnator with proper meta-knowledge of the canon and official novels, he might have realized that a similar feat could be performed by adult Sakura.
In one of the novels, it was mentioned that she could catch a fireball and hurl it back toward the caster.
She could do that for most projectile jutsus.
But if Sora had been a reincarnator, he would have been shocked that this feat happened nearly 169 years before Sakura did it.
"So, the Sage of Six Paths isn't forgotten in the future you come from," Kasumi said aloud while picking up the kunai she dropped.
"Sora! Don't give away information like that! Think before you speak—she can detect lies. Let's just escape," Shikamaru said, weaving hand seals for the Body Flicker Technique.
Sora, without looking back, said, "Fine, start flickering now. I'll easily catch up with you guys. Don't scatter, though—take the Neko-chan with you." He threw the sleeping Neko-chan, which Ino caught.
Ino and Choji also weaved hand seals for Body Flicker, and the trio flickered away.
"Are you trying to play the hero?"
"Nah, it's the most logical decision. Plus, it's not like you're trying to kill me."
"Aww, you really are cute. How old are you?"
"Six," Sora said while weaving hand seals for the shapeshifting jutsu to lower his weight.
"That really is young, even for my era. You definitely are very skilled for your age. Is that common in your future?"
Sora weaved hand seals for another jutsu. "Not really, I'm just an anomaly, just like you."
Sora threw a shuriken with an explosive tag, which multiplied by the thousands, blocking all the space between them.
He then weaved hand seals and flickered in the trio's direction.
In three seconds, he was able to catch up with them, nearly the same time they heard a loud explosion.
"Whoa, you didn't kill her, right? My existence could be possibly threatened, you know," Ino asked.
"Nah, she won't die from this—at most, she'll be injured. She's good at body flickering despite the crude technique. Plus, who knows how many cards she has up her sleeves? We should instead increase our pace," Sora urged them.
"Yeah, I have a lot of cards up my sleeves. Do you guys know how to play poker?" a voice came from behind Sora.
He instantly jumped forward and twisted his body in mid-air so that his head was facing backward.
He released the jutsu he was holding in advance.
'Heavenly Weeping.' A barrage of water senbons came out of his mouth at a very fast speed; he was upside down in the air.
However, Kasumi's hands blurred in motion, a green chakra covering her kunai. All the water senbons were not deflected but rather completely destroyed.
Sora, still in motion, quickly used a Wind Jutsu to kill his momentum and stabilize himself, weaved hand seals mid-air, then landed, and released waves of water from his mouth.
He also threw some batteries, discharging the water.
"Oh, those things can create electricity. Neat," Kasumi commented. She also stopped and weaved hand seals, an earth dome protecting her from the wave of water.
The trio had also stopped, seeing that escaping would be very hard.
"Guys, be careful which jutsus you use; she copied how we use body flicker and improved her version," Sora said, observing.
"Yeah, she was said to be prodigious in ninjutsu, so keep that in mind," Shikamaru said.
Sora suddenly jumped, and where he had been standing turned into spikes.
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