New Soul (Naruto Various! x Reader)

Ch. 78: A Shirker's Call to Action: Layabout No More!

3rd POV

Deep in the forest, three people soar through the trees followed by a fourth one. The three people are Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. The fourth is Sasuke who is right on their tail. Far behind them, the four genin along with the ninja dog are leaping as fast as they can.

"How long till we catch up?" Naruto asked the dog.

Still leaping with his paws, "I don't know. A long time if they keep moving at this pace."

"Ugh, come on." An impatient frown finds its way to his tan face.

Hidden in the Leaf Village, nine sound ninja are perched on top of a large yellow roof. They all gaze at the never ending forest, feeling the breeze blow through their gray uniform. The leader of the Sound signals his men a nod and off they go.

With the songbird and her team, Pakkun's nose immediately picks up another scent. "Come on, you guys. Hurry it up!"

Sakura can't help feeling worried. "What is it?"

"Did you see Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

Pakkun shakes his furry head. "No, there are two squads behind us. That's eight ninja." Then his floppy ears pick up more footsteps. "Wait, no there's one more. That's nine ninja following us."

"What?!" Naruto's blue eyes open wide.

Shikamaru groans, "Awe man, come on already. Give me a break here."

"What? You think no one will follow us? Come on Shika." Y/n turns to her friend filled with sarcasm.

In another part of the dark forest, a shadow looms over a tree branch that has a single footprint and two paw prints. That shadow belongs to the sound ninja and his group. The leader looks at the preteen's general direction as his group continues their chase. Taking out his kunai, he carves a mark on a tree trunk before heading off. Several minutes later, their last team member plants his feet firmly on the same spot his commander was on.

"It looks like they haven't discovered our location, yet." He glances at the marked tree seeing an arrow. "We need to lose them."

Speaking of "them," the five drop down to the forest floor. Pakkun stops walking and he hums as his eyes roam down to the dirt. The four genin also stop walking behind their navigator.

Spreading his arms out, Naruto bursts out, "What's the deal? Why are we stopping?!"

"Zip it, and follow me."

"Wow, snappy doggy." Y/n commented.

Naruto is just as surprised. "Hm?"

Carefully, the small canine follows his paw prints backwards. "We're going back over our footprints. If we pull this off, our footprints will seem to disappear." On the last step, he flips himself backwards on top of a higher branch.

Y/n and her friends copy his actions but the blonde groans.

"Is this really gonna do anything? I mean, they'd have to be pretty lame ninja if this throws them off the trail." He complained.

The puppy counters back, "It'll help us buy us some time. That's all we need now. But if our pursuers get impatient, succumb to the thrill of the chase and lose sight of our tracks, I certainly won't complain. Know what I mean?"

"I sure do." The h/c haired girl answered.

Naruto is still walking backwards when the voice of the bubblegum haired girl reaches his ears.

"Hurry up!"

He turns around questionably, seeing all three of his team members on the same branch as the dog.