Chapter 32 – Banditry

Chapter 32 – Banditry

Anko made us pretend to be unaware of the bandits lying in wait until we were right under their noses.

As we reached the middle of the ambush section Anko had us halt right in the most dangerous spot, yet nothing was happening.

Anko snickers.

“*chee* As I thought, just a bunch of cowards... playing dead at the first sign of a ninja armband. Get rid of them, Sakura stay behind to defend.”

This was when the bandits finally reacted.

The bandits each tried to run separately hoping we would chase one of their former allies and not them.

There were 7 of the bandits and I gave them a little headstart as I cast a shadow clone jutsu and made two clones.

Sakura also did the same, unleashing Slutra onto the field to help us catch the bandits.

“*Chaaaa* I’m going to kill them all”

So now there were 5 of us running after the 7 bandits as they ran away from the road and deeper into nearby woods trying to break our chase.

Each of my closes chases a different running bandit, one bandit tried to stand and fight instead of running but he was quickly left bleeding out of his leg and neck after I threw a few shuriken at him and kept chasing his ‘coworkers’.

By the end, I had killed 4 bandits, the initial one with my shuriken, 2 with my kunai and the last I broke his neck. None of them lasted for more than 3 moves when engaged in melee combat.

Slutra had apparently killed the bandit she was chasing by caving their face in if her bloody hand was any indication.

Lastly, Hinata walked out with her bandit bound in ropes.

Anko was unimpressed.

“*sigh* Well done Yami and Slu... Sakura. But Hinata... gets to learn the hard way.”

“Sensei?”

“Hinata... what are we supposed to do with a captured bandit”Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

“Sensei... one fled, should we chase?”

“No, he’s already snake-food.

It seems Anko used a Summoning Jutsu as we were in the forest chasing the rest of the bandits and noticed one was getting away.

With every loose end tied, we carried on with our mission.

That night Hinata sneaked inside my roll bed for comfort during Sakura's night shift.

Anko didn't comment on it the following morning but her stare made it clear it wouldn't be allowed again.

The next morning, while Hinata and Lawrence were packing camp Anko pulled me and Sakura aside.

“What is this about Anko-sensei?” Sakura asks.

“Something you said yesterday wasn't quite right. When you told me your clone had caught up to the bandit.”

I realized what Anko was getting at.

“Shadow Clones bring back memories once dispelled. How did you know what Slutra was doing?”

“Ohh, she told me. But I only got the full details when her clone ended.”

“That is a valuable ability Sakura, we might do some testing when we're not on a mission to find the limits.”

I am not certain I understand the theory behind it. Seeing as Sakura and Slutra are the same person, maybe they are still sharing the same head but Slutra is either remotely controlling Chakra, or maybe she's a separate soul, remotely possessing another body while still linked to Sakura.

Either way, the result is Sakura being able to remotely communicate with her Slutra clone in real-time.

We meet back with Hinata and Lawrence.

We got to enjoy the beautiful Vistas of the Land of Flowers in full bloom as we arrived at our destination a day earlier than planned.

Lawrence arrived safely and was still on time to witness his child being born. He signed his stamp proving the mission was accomplished we stayed over for the night before saying goodbye and starting our journey back to Konoha.