Sasuke's on the trail of the Sand Ninja, and Naruto's new crew are on Sasuke's trail. Naruto asks Pakkun how long it'll be before they catch up, but Sasuke's got all that Lee-like speed now, so the pug doesn't know, but he has already caught the sent of the Sound Ninja trailing the kids. Pakkun comes to a halt, and then gets clever, having the kids backtrack over their own footprints so they can ty and shake their pursuers, but it doesn't shake them completely. Naruto wants to ambush them, and Sakura's suprisingly in favor of it. Pakkun says it's not good, since their Orochimaru's boys and some of them might be Jonin. Sakura asks why that would matter, and Shikamaru says they might have the skill to set it up, but they don't have the strength to hit them hard enough - and to make matters worse, Orochimaru probably gave them the low-down on the terrain and they're trained in pursuit. For the good guys, we have a knucklehead, a Kunoichi who's nothing special, an irritable pug and the one guy who just can not be bothered with the hassle. Shikamaru says that the best thing to do is one of them should stay behind to act as bait to distract the pursuers, even though it's likely whoever'll stay behind will die. The kids think Ninja-ing's just no fun anymore. Nobody's really leaping to volunteer, and the dog's already out because he's got to track - Naruto's about to volunteer, when Shikamaru steps forward into the annals of the hardcore, which was his plan all along.
Pakkun smells the Sound Ninja coming up behind them fast, and wonders if Shikamaru's actually as good as his word. Sakura starts to doubt, but Naruto vouches for him, because even his slack-ass isn't a traitor. Sakura'd like to believe, but Shikamaru does give a lot of evidence to the contrary. The Sound Ninja halt, finding fresh tracks that indicate the kids are tired... and then ALL of the Ninja are locked in by Shadow Paralysis! One of them comments on the Jutsu, but Shikamaru tells them to live in the now. It's all about Shadow Possession now, though the Nara genin's still low on Chakra from his fight earlier. Shikamaru pulls enough Shuriken out for them all, so he can draw out the one who's hanging back to protect the other Sound Ninja from ambush, but his Shadow Possession can't reach the last member. The Sound Ninja says as soon as it breaks, he's dead, and Shikamaru reflects on what he would've liked out of life. And that life? Completely and utterly average, and he would've been happy with that. Huh. Oddly enough, that's what makes me think the character's something special. Shikamaru's irritated by this sudden and unwelcome show of initiative.
Bounding through the forest, Pakku senses they're not being followed right now. Naruto cheers, and Sakura's sorry he doubted Shikamaru. As am I. There's nothing between them and Sasuke (ha!), and our hero wants Shikamaru to live to catch up with them. We rejoin Shikamaru vs. the Sound Ninja, and he admits he's about done, and pulls back on the Shadow Possession. The Sound Ninja call out their ninth member, and that's no ninth member, that's Asuma! He tosses the body of their last member aside, and we get some awesome ass-kickery from Squad Ten's sensei. He's even got a trench knife! YEAH! He congratulates his pupil, who sits down hard, all tired out from doing things for a change. The Sand Ninja continue their Gaara retrieval service, and Temari senses they've picked up some extra hunters, and tells Kankuro to pick up the pace. Behind Sasuke, Naruto silently implores him not to jump the gun before they get there. Way back at Leaf Village, Third Hokage's still facing off against the zombie versions of the first two, Orochimaru asking if shouldn't they now begin. Let's!
Next Episode: The Old Man vs. Orochimaru! Sasuke vs. somebody!
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