Naruto was giggling stupidly over there, and Kano saw it all. She knew Naruto was about to act impulsively again.
After all, his memory was terrible. Even if he listened to her, he'd forget it the next moment anyway. It was better to keep an eye on him.
Kano quietly moved closer to Naruto.
As for Sasuke's side, she trusted him more. Sasuke wouldn't be as impulsive as Naruto and would surely follow the plan.
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance, each guessing the other's intention.
The two idiots charged straight in!
"Come back!"
In the emergency, Kano only had time to grab Naruto's hand, using her feet to stick to the tree trunk to pull him back. As for Sasuke, he was too far away for her to stop.
Kano took the Thunder Tube off her back, preparing to notify Kakashi.
But she was spotted by the bandit leader. The Signal Flare had just taken off and hadn't even exploded before the leader shot out slime to wrap it, rendering it useless.
"Oh no!"
With the Signal Flare intercepted, Kano was trying to remember where this Elite Mob came from; she had no memory of him. The other thieves swung their chains to attack Kano.
"It's all Sasuke's fault! We've been spotted."
Naruto grabbed Kano's hand, leading her to dodge the incoming chain attacks. While they were still in mid-air before landing on the next tree, the bandit leader shot several strange balls at them. Kano drew a Kunai with one hand to block, but the moment the Kunai sliced into a blue ball, it felt wrong!
She quickly threw away the Kunai along with the blue ball.
Over the next few shots, Kano pulled Naruto along as they dodged in the air. For the final shot, Naruto and Kano only needed to let go of each other's hands and use the recoil to dodge.
But Naruto seemed to have become addicted to holding hands and had no intention of letting go, gripping tightly.
"Let go, Naruto!"
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Naruto and Kano's hands were encased in the blue ball and couldn't be separated.
"Naruto!"
Kano gave Naruto a hard punch to the head! She had remembered which episode this was now—it was a flashback episode from the Ninja World War period.
Originally, the ones whose hands got stuck together were Naruto and Sasuke. Since she had stopped Naruto, it turned out that she and Naruto were now tied together instead.
Kano originally thought she wouldn't need to use Shadow Ninja to deal with these thieves, but she hadn't expected this to happen.
This was bad; she never expected she and Naruto would be tied—
"Go capture these two neutralized Ninjas! I'll go after the one who stole the treasure!"
After giving the orders, the bandit leader jumped down the slope and began sprinting after Sasuke, throwing slime balls randomly as he gave chase.
Kano's first instinct was to retreat and hide, while Naruto's first instinct was to charge forward and fight the thieves.
As a result, the lighter Kano was suddenly yanked off her feet.
"Naruto!"
Kano had never felt such a strong urge to beat up Naruto!
"Sorry, sorry!"
Naruto immediately turned back to help Kano up, just as the thieves' chains swung toward them.
"Carry me and run!"
Without waiting for Naruto's consent, Kano jumped straight into his arms. Naruto, with his one free hand, reacted instantly, catching her by the thighs.
Kano felt her coordination with Naruto was a mess. Instead of both of them running together, it was more convenient for one to carry the other. Since Kano couldn't carry Naruto, she had to endure being carried by him.
If it were Sasuke, she was confident they could coordinate perfectly; a Three-Legged Race would be no problem at all. Then again, if she had been with Sasuke, they wouldn't have been bound in the first place.
Before Naruto could even blush, Kano urged him to leave quickly. Fortunately, since Naruto was carrying Kano, he didn't have a free hand to fight, which killed his idea of charging forward.
"The treasure isn't with them, let's retreat. If your hands start wandering, I'll bite you to death!"
With a flushed face and her arms around Naruto's neck, Kano directed him to leave the scene quickly.
With Naruto's stamina and speed, no one could catch him even if he was carrying someone, especially since the person was light and the girl he liked.
His adrenaline surged, and he ran even faster than usual.
"Watch where you're going! Watch the road, you idiot!"
Under Kano's direction, they shook off the thieves.
"Alright Naruto, you can put me down now."
"I feel like they're going to catch up soon, let me run a bit longer."
"I said stop, so stop. Do you think I don't know what you're up to?"
Kano gave Naruto another punch, leaving a bump on his head, and only then did Naruto reluctantly put her down. Although she didn't mind contact with boys, being carried still made her a bit shy.
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