Chapter 197 Looking for traces

Chapter 197 Looking for traces
Tsunade was sitting in front of the desk in the Hokage's office, with four people standing below her. In addition to Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji, there was also Kakashi. Tsunade stood up and said, "Considering Asuma's injury, Kakashi will temporarily serve as the captain of Team 10. Next, I will assign you a task: find the traces of the two Akatsuki members, pin them down, and wait for reinforcements to arrive. And, finally, eliminate them."

After suffering a loss at the hands of Hidan and Kakuzu last time, Shikamaru reflected for a long time and made a series of plans to deal with Akatsuki. This mission was exactly what they were looking forward to. From Tsunade's point of view, it would definitely be better to send the Konoha ninja who had previously met with Hidan and Kakuzu, and sending Kakashi as the captain was also a well-thought-out decision. The four accepted the mission and immediately left the Hokage's office to prepare.

Sakura, on the other hand, happened to come to Tsunade's office. Since becoming Tsunade's apprentice, Sakura has become a person Tsunade trusts and is close to. Tsunade asked, "How is Sai doing?" Sakura said, "Sai is integrating well into Team 7 and getting along well with Naruto." Tsunade said, "Then I feel relieved. This is how the members of Team 7 will be arranged for the time being.

Sakura said: "Since Kakashi has joined Team 10, Team 7, which works well with Team 10, should be sent to reinforce them, right?" Tsunade said: "You have good insight, as expected of you." Shizune said: "However, Naruto's identity is quite special, and Akatsuki's goal is for him. Is it appropriate to send him? Or it would be more appropriate to arrange for other teams to go."

Tsunade said: "Naruto is very powerful. There is no more suitable candidate for this mission. Naruto is strong enough to deal with Akatsuki. Conversely, we need Naruto to help us deal with Akatsuki." After hearing what Tsunade said, Shizune had nothing to say in response.

Kakashi, Shikamaru and the others held a small meeting before they set out. Shikamaru already knew a lot of information based on the previous battle and what Naruto had told him. He said to Kakashi, "Teacher Kakashi, in addition to Hidan's ability, we also know the ability of another guy, Kakuzu. He has five hearts, and all five hearts are independent and belong to him. So, we have to kill him five times to kill him completely."

As he spoke, Shikamaru handed Kakashi a blood capsule and said, "Teacher Kakashi, please use this when the opportunity arises. If it works, the difficulty of our mission will be greatly reduced." Kakashi took the blood capsule from Shikamaru and gave Shikamaru an approving look, thinking, "Although he is not very strong, he is indeed very talented in formulating strategies. He has formulated such a detailed strategy in such a short time."

Kakashi said, "Okay, then we will get ready to go right away, starting with finding the enemy's traces." Just then, Shizune ran over breathlessly and said, "Finally we caught up, luckily you didn't leave." Kakashi said, "We came just in time, if we were a little later, we would have already left."

Shizune said, "Lady Tsunade has urgent news to bring. We just received news that several ninjas from the River Country received an escort mission and passed through our Fire Country. Before that, they had obtained the consent of our Konoha. However, just now, we received news that these ninjas have disappeared. Moreover, according to the prediction of the River Country, the location where they disappeared is very special."

Kakashi asked, "Very special? Then, what is the specific situation?" Shizune said, "Although this area is relatively remote, there are very few incidents of thieves. Even if robbers really appear, it is difficult for several ninjas to completely disappear. Moreover, this place is not far from the place where we fought with Akatsuki last time. According to the speculation of the Hokage, it is very likely that the Akatsuki gang did it."

Shikamaru on the side also nodded and said, "Hokage's speculation should be correct. This place should be the best place to avoid being hunted down, and it is also in line with the direction of escape. However, at this time, the Akatsuki people should not stay in the Land of Fire for a long time, which increases the difficulty of our subsequent search." Kakashi also nodded in agreement, and said to Shizune, "Thank you for delivering such important information. We have to leave quickly, otherwise the search may be more difficult." With that, Kakashi waited for Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji to leave. Shizune stood at the gate and watched Kakashi and others leave.

As Kakashi walked, he said to Shikamaru, "Shikamaru, where do you think we should start looking? Should we go to the place Shizune just mentioned?" Shikamaru thought for a moment and said, "Teacher Kakashi, let's go there first."

Ino asked puzzledly: "Didn't they say that the enemy might have left? Why do we have to go there?" Shikamaru said: "The reason we go there is because the Akatsuki people are likely heading to Konoha. If we go in this direction, we will most likely run into Hidan and Kakuzu directly. Even if we don't meet them, we can at least find some clues there. As long as there is any scent of the enemy left, we can search by the smell." As he said that, Shikamaru glanced at Kakashi.

Kakashi said, "Shikamaru's analysis is correct. Let's go there now." Kakashi was in front, followed by Shikamaru and the others. They rushed over quickly. Because they only knew the approximate location, and Kakashi and the others had to worry about the sudden appearance of Akatsuki people, the search speed was not ideal. However, Ino's technique came in handy at this time.

Using the Heart Turn Technique, Ino aimed at the eagle flying in the sky. After successfully performing it, Ino's spirit took over the eagle's body. The eagle was flying at an ideal altitude and had an extremely wide field of vision. Through this eagle, Ino's reconnaissance efficiency was greatly improved, and soon Ino made a discovery.

After unleashing the Heart Transformation Technique, Ino returned to her own body and said to Kakashi, "Teacher Kakashi, we found a lot of traces of battle and ninja corpses in a forest. It's at three o'clock here."

Kakashi waved his hand, and Ino and the others followed behind him. Everyone rushed over quickly. As expected, a lot of traces of battle were found here. Kakashi looked around and said, "These ninjas have been dead for about two days, but the direction the enemy left should be over there."

Shikamaru said, "In that case, let's go over there and take a look." He gestured to Ino, who immediately performed the Heart Turning Technique again.

(End of this chapter)