After Tonbee's explanation, Kakashi and the other three understood the full story.
"So it's not that your Tsuchigumo Clan is in danger, but you want us to help find someone?"
Because the Tsuchigumo Clan possessed a very powerful Ninjutsu that once destroyed a small town.
Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was still the Hokage at the time, classified it as a forbidden Ninjutsu and forbade the Tsuchigumo Clan from using it again.
However, Hiruzen Sarutobi also made a promise at the time.
He said that if the Tsuchigumo Clan ever faced danger, they could seek help from Konoha.
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi had already retired and was no longer the Hokage.
His promise was made in the name of Konoha.
Therefore, Konoha could not ignore it and could only send people to investigate and resolve the issue.
And so, Naruto and Sakura, who had been training for a long time, were brought by Kakashi to do a mission and relax.
As for Yamato, who was extra, he was now Naruto's personal bodyguard.
Specifically to guard against the Nine-Tailed Chakra within Naruto and suppress any potential signs of a rampage!
Hearing Kakashi's question, Tonbee nodded awkwardly.
While Hotaru, behind Tonbee, nodded frantically: "It's Utakata-sama who's missing!"
"Konoha-sama, please help me find him."
"Utakata-sama must have run into trouble, otherwise he wouldn't have been missing for so long!"
Naruto, seeing that it was just a search mission, immediately pouted.
"What the heck, so it's just finding someone. I thought after all this training, I could finally show off my skills..."
Naruto, who had successfully mastered the Rasengan and integrated Wind Release nature transformation.
Now he just wanted to find a powerful target to test the power of his Rasenshuriken!
As a result, the mission to resolve danger turned into a search, making Naruto lose interest.
"If I knew it was this boring, I might as well have waited in the Village for the Perverted Sage to return and take me to Mount Myōboku to train in that Sage Ninjutsu."
Thanks to Feng Xu, Naruto was the only Chunin who passed the previous joint Chunin Exams.
Therefore, he didn't follow Jiraiya to participate in the Chunin Exams in Hidden Sand Village this time.
Sakura, on the other hand, was studying the Yin Seal with Tsunade, so she also couldn't participate.
Coming out now didn't mean successful training, but rather a failure, and she came out to relax.
"Utakata-sama? What is that?"
Sakura looked at Hotaru with curiosity.
"Utakata-sama is Utakata-sama. He can blow many bubbles and can also attack with bubbles."
Hotaru gesticulated continuously with her slender hands.
"Utakata-sama has brown bangs, wears a blue haori, and carries a bubble-blowing tool..."
"In short, he's both aloof and handsome!"
After listening to Hotaru's description, Naruto, standing nearby, tilted his head and looked at her with confusion.
Finally, he scratched his head and pointed in a side direction, somewhat unsure.
"Are you talking about that strange man who doesn't wear his clothes properly and exposes his chest?"
"Ah?!" Naruto's precise description made Hotaru quickly turn her head to look.
She immediately saw the Six-Tailed Jinchuriki, Utakata, in the distance, leisurely leaning against a tree trunk, sitting sideways and blowing bubbles!
"It's Utakata-sama!"
As soon as Hotaru shouted, Utakata on the opposite side stood up indifferently and left towards the distance.
"Utakata-sama, wait for me!"
Seeing Utakata leave, Hotaru immediately wanted to chase after him.
But she was pulled by Tonbee in front of her and dragged behind him.
"Miss Hotaru, something's not right. Let the Konoha-sama go take a look."
"Indeed, something's not right." Kakashi stared at Tonbee with his dead-fish eyes and slowly said.
"Someone who has been missing for over a month suddenly appears and leaves after our arrival."
"It's as if they were specifically waiting for us... Heh, just kidding."
Seeing no change in Tonbee's expression, Kakashi withdrew his gaze and chased in Utakata's direction.
"Yamato and I will go take a look. Naruto, you all stay put."
"Huh? Do I have to go too?" Yamato, as Naruto's personal bodyguard, didn't expect to have to go as well.
After scratching the back of his head, he reluctantly hurried to catch up.
"Kakashi-senpai really knows how to order people around..."
However, just as the two of them left, Naruto, off to the side, rubbed his eyes in the opposite direction.
"Sakura, look quickly, that guy called Bubble has appeared again!"
"This time he's over there!"
Before Sakura could reply, Hotaru looked over immediately.
It was indeed Utakata, still wearing a blue haori, and he was waving towards them!
"It's Utakata-sama!"
"He's even waving at me?!"
Although Hotaru was innocent, she wasn't stupid. The continuous appearance of Utakata had made her realize something was wrong.
Sakura, on the other hand, grabbed the eager Naruto.
Before she could even open her mouth to stop him, the excited Naruto instantly broke free from Sakura's grasp, bent down, and chased after him.
"Haha, this kind of mission is fun!"
"Sakura, you stay here and protect the old man and them. Watch me go drag out that guy who's pretending to be a god!"
At the same time, high in the sky.
Deidara, standing on his clay giant bird, was observing the situation below with the miniature binoculars in his right eye.
After seeing Kakashi, Yamato, and Naruto all leave.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
"Master Sasori, the plan worked!"
"Your puppet trick really worked. They all fell for it and were led away from the target, yeah!"
Standing beside Deidara, Sasori, hidden within the hiruko puppet, spoke in a low, hoarse voice.
"This is the power of information. It can save us a lot of effort."
The Six-Tailed Jinchuriki, Utakata, was captured by Sasori and Deidara a month ago.
After the capture, Sasori even used a puppet to investigate the Tsuchigumo Clan here.
He didn't expect this unintentional piece of information to be useful so quickly.
"Since the target appeared immediately and was successfully isolated, let's attack together and finish this quickly."
"My puppet clones won't be able to hold out for long. We must take the target before the Jinchuriki returns."
Under Feng Xu's exaggeration, Naruto was portrayed as a terrifying Nine-Tails Jinchuriki even more powerful than Feng Xu himself.
So Sasori, who didn't want to suffer another beating, just wanted to finish quickly and escape.
"Understood!"
Deidara, who also didn't want to get beaten, urged the clay bird beneath him to dive rapidly downwards.
"What is that...?" Sakura, feeling the wind pressure from above, looked up.
Her eyes met the rapidly enlarging white giant bird.
"Get out of the way!!!"
Without time for other actions, Sakura turned and pounced on Tonbee and Hotaru behind her, pulling them to safety.
Boom!!!
The sound of a heavy object landing echoed, and thick, yellow dust enveloped the surroundings.
"Cough cough... Who are you!?"
"Are you here for the Tsuchigumo Clan's forbidden Ninjutsu, the Ultimate Forbidden Jutsu?"
Sakura, coughing uncontrollably from the dust, covered her nose and asked the two dark figures in the dust.
In response to Sakura's question, no answer came from within.
Instead, a steel scorpion tail broke through the dust and rapidly pierced towards her!
Whoosh!
hiruko, back tail stinger!
Chapter 217: Hundred Puppets, Immortal Puppets!
"Get out of the way!"
Gazing at the rapidly approaching cold gleam, Sakura quickly pushed Tonbee and Hotaru behind her.
But she didn't expect to push into empty air!
Her body also lost its balance, and she failed to dodge the steel tail's stab in time.
A gash instantly appeared on her left waist.
Purple venom mixed with the constantly gushing fresh blood.
"The old man and them are gone!?"
Sakura's pale face showed confusion as she turned her head to look behind her.
She saw that Tonbee and Hotaru, who should have been behind her, had now vanished without a trace.
"Could it be you!!!" Sakura glared at the dust in front of her.
At the same time, Sakura felt a tingling numbness and weakness spreading throughout her body from the wound!
"No, that tail just now was poisonous!"
As she spoke, Sakura's hand immediately glowed with the green Chakra of the Mystical Palm Technique, placing it on her waist.
Whoosh!!!
The strong wind from the clay giant bird's flapping wings dispersed the surrounding dust.
Revealing the tall Deidara and the shorter Sasori.
"He's quite a compassionate kid, isn't he."
Sasori's hoarse, low voice came from within hiruko.
"It's a shame, they were originally just bait to lure the prey. Now that the prey has appeared, the bait naturally has to withdraw."
"Bait!?" Sakura's eyes widened.
However, she quickly realized something and shouted out, her face full of shock.
"This black background with red clouds... You're members of the Akatsuki Organization that captures Tailed Beasts everywhere!!!"
"So your target is actually the Nine-Tailed inside Naruto!!!"
Regarding information about Akatsuki, Jiraiya had been very concerned ever since he became Hokage.
Even though he himself couldn't act, many Konoha Ninja were sent out by him to investigate.
Although not much information was obtained, they still discovered Akatsuki's activities and the disappearance of Jinchuriki.