Naruto the Scarecrow

Chapter 23

The humidity of the Forest of Death had caused team Seven to start sweating about a minute after entering it. That had been yesterday but it didn't look like the heat was going to let up.

Ever since the Second Stage had started team Seven had crossed a lot of ground. It was a compromise between what Sasuke and Naruto wanted. Sasuke had wanted to find an enemy team as quickly as possible. He said it made more sense to complete the task as quickly as possible. Naruto thought it would be best to bid their time and take an enemy unawares. There were less variables to worry about in an ambush.

Sakura suggested that they head towards the tower in the middle and get as close as they could on the first day. The next day, team Seven would set a trap and wait for someone to trigger it. It soothed Sasuke's need for action as well as Naruto's caution.

Jumping from tree to tree, they had made good progress. About twenty minutes after they had agreed to the plan they had spied the Genin team from the Hidden Sand. Sasuke had been prepared to attack but Naruto put his foot down. It had taken some time since Naruto was rather cagey with his reasoning but apparently the red head called Gaara gave Naruto an uneasy feeling.

Sasuke hadn't been impressed with that and the only thing that placated him was Sakura saying that they would attack the next team they saw, regardless of what Naruto said. That was made easier since Naruto said the only team that gave him that uneasy feeling was the one from Sand and that he was quite happy with Sakura's suggestion. Though they didn't see anyone else for the rest of the day.

Today was going to be different however. Sasuke was itching for action and Naruto was in full agreement. A rushed breakfast followed and team Seven set a very simple trap. It was designed to be obvious and any foes that saw it should see it and make attempts to avoid it. They set traps higher up in the trees as well as the nearby area. Team Seven made efforts to hide these counter traps and if an enemy team got caught, that would be great however the second layer of traps were more bait. Team Seven would be hiding in the top most branches of the trees and relying on Naruto's Byakugan for intel.

Once a team saw both layers of traps they would hopefully take a moment to assess their situation. As they paused in what they thought was a safe area, Sasuke and Naruto would use their elemental Flickers and take them off guard. Sakura would follow as fast as she could but ideally, she wouldn't be needed.

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Kurotsuchi was getting antsy. The first day had gone by but she hadn't managed to find the Uzumaki. She had thought about abandoning her inexperienced squad mates in favour of her mission but her Will of Stone won out.

Kurotsuchi had been raised to respect the life of her villagers as well as to hate the name of Namikaze. She had dutifully followed her grandfather's teachings but sometimes she found it hard to hate someone she had never met. 'Grandfather wouldn't approve of that though. Now I've got to kill a boy that hadn't even been born when my uncle died. What do I do?'

Kurotsuchi was a girl with many talents. She had been born with three nature types and was supposed to unlock her Lava Release soon. She was easily the strongest fifteen year old in her village but she wasn't the cold hearted killing machine that Onoki had trained her to be.

Gen, one of her squad mate's, pointed out an incredibly obvious trap. Kurotsuchi's senses were tingling and she immediately cast her gaze to the area around them. She managed to spot another layer of traps.