Pursuit

Uzumaki Hane did not want to stay. As spectacular as a Hokage-level battle was, he wanted to test himself against Gaara now. He had to admit that his training over this period had changed him a great deal. Before, he would definitely have found somewhere safe to hide instead of provoking the One-Tail, Shukaku.

When Hane saw Naruto and the others leave, he chased after them. "Naruto, let me come with you. Their strength is definitely not to be underestimated, especially Gaara."

Naruto was delighted to hear that Hane wanted to come. "Hane, let's go together, then." Sakura naturally had no objections either. Only Shikamaru studied Hane for a moment before saying, "All right, let's go together."

Led by the Ninja Dog Pakkun, the group leaped swiftly from branch to branch, heading toward Sasuke.

Suddenly, Pakkun said, "There are eight people behind us, all Chunin-level or higher. No, there's one more."

Hane said, "We need to finish this quickly. Shikamaru and I will stay behind, while Naruto and Sakura keep chasing them." He then turned to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, as long as you can bind them with your Shadow Imitation Technique, I'm confident I can deal with them."

Shikamaru looked at Hane seriously for a moment, then said, "You guys go. Leave this to us. We'll catch up with you later."

"But..." Naruto began. Sakura said decisively, "Naruto, let's go bring Sasuke back first." Naruto looked at Hane and Shikamaru. "I'm counting on you." The two quickly left.

The two stood on the ground without speaking, silently making their preparations. After all, eight Chunin would make for a tough fight.

Before long, several Sound Ninja appeared in front of them. At some point, Shikamaru's shadow had stretched out and caught them.

The Sound Ninja in the lead said, "What? It's just two brats."

The Sound Ninja soon discovered that they could not move. Looking at the shadows on the ground, they said, "To think we've been stopped. Is this Konoha's Shadow Possession Jutsu?"

Shikamaru said casually, "That name's outdated. It's called the Shadow Imitation Technique." Hane looked at Shikamaru, who was not having as easy a time as he had imagined. Hane knew it was probably because of the previous battle, and these Sound Ninja were no weaklings either.

Hane said to Shikamaru, "Looks like we need to finish this quickly. Hell Hound!" Both his hands rapidly turned to magma and struck at the Sound Ninja. They could feel the power of the Ninjutsu, but they could not move. His magma arms tore gaping holes straight through the chests of two Sound Ninja, killing them on the spot.

The other Sound Ninja were frightened and struggled even harder. Shikamaru's face turned pale, and they nearly broke free.

Uzumaki shouted, "Magma Heavy Fist!" Both his arms rapidly turned to magma and swelled to three times their original size. Hane had created this move while training in Dog Biting Crimson Lotus. In a flash, he appeared above the Sound Ninja in front and slammed a fist down on his head. Crack! The Sound Ninja's skull shattered, and he was sent flying into a tree trunk.

Hane landed on the ground and swung both fists forward, smashing them into the throats of the two Sound Ninja before him. Crack! Their throats were crushed, and they died. Hane quickly came before two more Sound Ninja. The Sound Ninja were utterly frustrated and shouted, "Damn you two brats!" Hane ignored them and struck out with both fists again. The two Sound Ninja fell, leaving only one of the eight.

The last Sound Ninja roared, "Damn it, move, damn you! Aah..." He actually broke free of the shadow.

"Damn it. Inugami Guren!" Hane's right hand rapidly turned into a dog-shaped mass of magma and struck the Sound Ninja before he could react. The Sound Ninja screamed and fell to the ground. Even after the last Sound Ninja was dealt with, Shikamaru did not relax, searching for the last Sound Ninja. Hane knew the last person was Asuma, but until he saw how things turned out, he did not dare trust the plot completely. He too looked around warily.

Whoosh! A figure landed behind Shikamaru. Hane and Shikamaru relaxed when they saw who it was. "Asuma, why is it you?" Shikamaru called.

Asuma looked at Hane and said, "So you're Uzumaki Hane, Uzumaki Shingan's son." Hane felt that his father really was far too mysterious. Though he wanted to learn more, he was going to fight Gaara now and had no time to ask.

Hane said, "I'll catch up with them first. Shikamaru, you leave with Asuma-sensei." Shikamaru had already exhausted his Chakra and could no longer fight. He said, "All right, Uzumaki Hane. I'm counting on you." Hane quickly left.

When Hane caught up with Naruto, Naruto was fighting Kankuro. The two noticed Hane and stopped fighting to look at him.

Hane looked around, puzzled. In the original story, Shino Aburame had defeated Kankuro, so why was Shino not here now? It seemed he really could not put all his trust in the plot.

Naruto asked anxiously, "Where's Shikamaru?"

"Shikamaru's fine," Hane said. "Leave Kankuro to me and hurry after them."

Naruto said, "Hane, I'm counting on you." He quickly left with Sakura and Pakkun.

Kankuro took the puppet off his back. "What I hate most is people like you who do nothing but put on airs. Crow!" The bandages around the puppet came undone, revealing a humanoid puppet with three eyes and four arms.

Crow lunged at Hane, who watched it with his hands in his pockets.

Although Kankuro did not know why Hane was not moving, he did not care. He controlled Crow's four arms and thrust them viciously into Hane's chest.

Kankuro said viciously, "That's why I hate people like you who do nothing but talk big. Killing you makes me feel a lot better."

Ignoring the arms buried in his chest, Hane said, "Is that so? Looks like you have quite an unusual interest." A fiery red liquid emerged from his chest and set Crow's four arms ablaze.

Seeing that Hane seemed perfectly fine, Kankuro realized something was wrong. He was about to pull Crow back when, unexpectedly, it caught fire.

"Fire Style? Damn it, when did you use it?" Kankuro said, controlling Crow to bring it back to his side.

"Hell Hound!" Hane extended his left hand, which rapidly turned to magma, and grabbed at Crow.

Kankuro had not expected Hane's arm to suddenly turn into magma. He had no time to react and could only watch as a gaping hole was torn through Crow's chest.

Kankuro said angrily, "Damn it, a Kekkei Genkai?"

In a flash, Hane appeared before Kankuro and shouted, "Magma Heavy Fist!" His right hand rapidly turned to magma and swelled to three times its original size. He drove his fist into Kankuro's stomach.

When Kankuro saw Hane appear in front of him, he thought, This is bad. Then he felt an immense force strike his stomach. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward uncontrollably, slamming hard into a tree trunk. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.