As bravado as that saying was, Arthur remained unmoved.
Chōji, Sakura, Shino, and Alice looked like quite the unit. Just from the way her team was positioned, he understood that she had undoubtedly filled them in on the Sound Four's tactics and weaknesses.
Even without Alice, just those other three could be enough to bring back Sasuke.
Why did Arthur believe this? Simple: these Genin were far different than what he had read about.
Sakura, as already mentioned, was not like her counterpart during this arc. This girl had learned her skills much earlier and was now able to contribute her worth to a team. Had Arthur not healed her, this encounter would have occurred a lot sooner, only with Hinata in their ranks.
What about Shino Aburame? Arthur may not have interacted much with this boy, but he knew enough about his insect techniques. Shino had a symbiotic relationship with black beetles that feed on his chakra to help him in battle. And they don't just feed off his chakra; they can feed off others too.
After Arthur had left the village, Shino had vowed to protect his comrades at all costs. That was because Arthur had killed his former teammate, Kiba.
Arthur didn't quite care how Shino felt about him, unaware that the letter once stated that Arthur didn't belong in the Leaf Village.
As far as he was concerned, this boy would grow up to be an adult and serve in the village as an academy teacher.
Then there was Chōji. Arthur had already beaten the boy once, knowing that he was still scarred by the death of both Ino and Shikamaru.
To see him now, the look in that fat boy's eyes told Arthur that he was very determined to get Sasuke back.
"Why do you look so angry?" Arthur hissed at Chōji.
"'Cause you took our friend away!"
Sakon laughed derisively. "He came to us on his own accord."
"Besides," Kidōmaru added, "he wouldn't have wanted to be stuck in a village full of brats."
"Kidōmaru of the East Gate, am I correct?" Alice called out. The nonchalant demeanour of the Sound Four shattered in an instant. "Looks like you still use spiders."
Tayuya's turned to her ally. "You know her?"
Kidōmaru shook his head. "I've never seen her before."
Any enemy who ever met the Sound Four wouldn't know about them because they'd kill them on the spot.
A smug smile spread across Alice's face. "I won't say it again: hand Sasuke over now before things get ugly."
"Then don't!" Sakon's response was swift as he ran forward. But before he could reach her, he froze in place. "What the?!"
"Parasitic insect jutsu!"
A cloud of bugs from Shino swarmed around Sakon, already consuming his chakra reserves.
Jirōbō charged forward to help, only to be met by Sakura.
"Cha!" Then, bang! He was set back by the force of a chakra-enhanced punch. "We're taking Sasuke back no matter what!"
Distracted by the spectacle, none of them noticed Chōji sneaking up behind Arthur. Arthur didn't move once as the boy swiped the box from under their nose.
"This is too easy!" he snickered, running away with it.
Kidōmaru finally noticed and unleashed a barrage of webbed projectiles towards him: "Ninja art: spider web flower!"
"Ninja art: crimson ray formation!"
A red barrier from Alice sprang into existence around Chōji as the webs splattered against it.
'Oh…' Arthur mused inwardly. 'That was an S-rank jutsu.'
These Sound Four were out of their league.
It's then Alice's intuition lingered over the absence of movement from Arthur. Just who was this Sound shinobi, and where was Kimimaro?
Once Chōji made it back, he celebrated with their group. "Let's get outta here, guys." Suddenly, the box rattled in his hands before it imploded into dozens of spiders. "Oh, come on!"
Alice was more shocked when she looked at Arthur: his body imploded into a swarm of spiders, revealing to have just been Kidōmaru's spider clone the entire time.
The real Arthur had slipped away long before their arrival!
With the sudden burst of arachnids diverting attention, Tayuya seized the opportunity and freed Sakon from the bugs.
"Kaito was right," he ominously said, rallying his comrades. Alice sensed it before it happened: each of the Sound Four was activating not their level one curse marks, but their level two. "We can't hold back…"
Chōji gasped at their grotesque looks.
Tayuya's skin had darkened to a deep shade of brown, with horns sprouting from her head. "You stinking rats don't know what you just walked into!"
Sakura heard the sound of the ground shake, only to see it was Jirōbō in a similar transformation as Tayuya. "Let's see ya knock me down like that again, little girl!"
Ukon immediately raised his head behind Sakon's as their forms blurred for a moment before reassembling into an intimidating sight: two separate bodies sporting an elongated chin with spiky armour.
"It's been awhile since we've been pushed this far, Sakon."
"I couldn't agree more, Ukon."
Kidōmaru was the last to finish his transformation. But when Shino saw it, he narrowed his eyes at Kidōmaru's now-darkened skin and extra eye on his forehead. "I wonder if your bugs can handle this!"
Alice was hoping that this wouldn't happen. Now that it has, she is in a whole lot more trouble.
"Oh boy…"
✟
At a distance, Arthur stood elsewhere.
While he could have taken the initiative to run as far away as he could, he knew that he wouldn't make it to Orochimaru's hideout on time.
That was because Alice's team still had the upper advantage.
The best he could do was wait until his chakra reserves were restored. And while he waited, he was using his Crimson gaze to watch the confrontation unfold.
The Sound Four charged forward, and the battlefield erupted with action.
Arthur saw Alice shouting commands: "Shino, keep an eye on Sakon and Ukon. Sakura, be ready for Jirōbō. Chōji, hold back to provide support!"
'Hmm…'
Techniques went flying left and right as Alice's group held their ground.
"Tell us where Sasuke is," Sakura demanded after blocking a punch from Jirōbō.
"He's the last of your worries!"
Several yards from those two, Shino was waving his arms frantically to keep Sakon and Ukon in place.
One strong burst from their chakra quickly dispatched a cluster of them. But before they could move again, they found themselves stuck in place again. Bugs reformed right on both their bodies.
"These bugs are getting annoying, brother…"
"I agree!"
Chōji wasn't fairing any better due to Kidōmaru having summoned a giant spider.
"Super expansion jutsu!" His body then flipped into a ball. "Super human boulder!"
Crash!
The spider's guts splattered on the ground. But when he looked, it faded away, and he was now trapped in its web.
The real spider was by Tayuya, who was playing her flute to cast her genjutsu on Chōji.
"Oh, come on!"
Arthur just calmly watched from his safe spot.
Despite how hard the Sound Four were fighting, he knew that there was something odd about this battle: Alice's team did not look like they were losing.