Jun"s progress was noticed by The Third too, who was watching him secretly. Although he wasn"t as shocked as Hiashi, since he already knew about Jun"s Plant style, he was still a bit surprised at the proficiency he showed with it in just a year. At this pace, by that time he reaches the age for academy registration, he might already be a jonin level character. The Third could feel a headache coming. This was Itachi Uchiha all over, genius beyond his generation. Here they were praising Itachi as a genius rarely seen in hundred years, and here comes Jun literally breaking all records known to them. If not for the Third suppressing all information on him, he knew many would be flocking to either recruit or harm him.In the mean while Ino was bugging Jun, envious of Hinata who got such a gift from Jun. Jun could only helplessly a.s.sure her that he would make one for her too later. Only after extorting a promise from him, did she let go of the issue. Along with Ino, Yoshino and Shikamaru he visited the rest of the major guests. Akimichis were really friendly, since Choza had also considered him under his charge like Inoichi and Shikaku did, even though Jun had never interacted with them as their practice methods didn"t suit him at all. Choji was easy to befriend because of his easy going nature. Give him a packet of crisps and he will be your friend, easy- peasy. Aburames were a bit weird, and scary to be honest. But Jun found Shino to be an intelligent and mature boy under that weird exterior. His way of thinking was really different, as if you were only viewing a situation in two dimension, whereas he saw everything in three dimensions. Jun enjoyed his straight forward yet intelligent manner. Inazukas were a challenge, they lived their lives in moments of pa.s.sion, but once you befriend their ninken, they would also be your best friends. This was proved when Akamaru, puppy of young Kiba, jumped into Jun bosom and licked his face. Akamaru could sense his connection to nature and his good intentions towards Kiba and itself, that"s why it had easily accepted Jun. seeing that Akamaru liked him, Kiba also became his friend. The only challenge was The Uchihas, Stiff Fugaku, who considered Uchiha to be above all, Itachi, who was drunk on getting stronger and protecting village and Sasuke, filled with arrogance about his brother and his clan. The tension was only broken when Mikoto also started molesting Jun for his smooth and soft skin just like Yoshino, and they both hit off nicely , sharing their adventures of molesting the kids. Sasuke and Jun sighed in unison before shaking hands, Fair skinned Sasuke and Light Chocolate colored Jun making a nice contrast.
Soon after the mingling stopped as everyone gathered for dinner, and there after everyone started to leaves in ones and twos for their homes when Jun noticed The k.u.mo delegates sneaking off. He excused himself and followed them a while before they reached their accommodation. On the way he had only been able to listen to a few fragmented words from them, such as Hyuga, sneak, Byakugan, forest, breakout, swift and midnight. He had guessed they would be doing something to the Hyugas and escape by one of the weak links in Konoha security, somewhere in Forests around Konoha. Having heard enough, he went back to Yoshino and said that he will be going for a walk and meditating in forest. Yoshino was already aware of his quirks like how he never slept and preferred to be surrounded by plants or forest and meditate. She didn"t think much about it and gave permission. Shikaku only warned him to be careful before following Yoshino home. Jun sneaked to the nearest entrance to the forest from Hyuga compound and hid himself, His concealment and sensory abilities working at maximum with use of Nature Energy.
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Midnight came soon enough, and three silhouettes could be seen fleeing from Hyuga compound before splitting up. One rushed towards Forest with a sack on his back, while other two went different ways to confuse any trackers. Moonlight shined for a brief instant from behind clouds, showing the silhouette rushing towards the forest to be a k.u.mo Shin.o.bi from the delegates sent. He quickly entered the forest and rushed in the direction of the Village Hidden in the Clouds. He went on for almost an hour, and when he saw that no one was following and that he had almost reached border of Konohagakure, he relaxed, letting go of the tension and indulging himself in fantasies of how he would be rewarded when he presents a child with working Byakugan to Fourth Raikage. He didn"t notice, or could not notice, a single Leaf Shuriken slitting the sack from the bottom. A silhouette moved with incredible speed, moving below the sack, catching the object that fell, and shuttling off towards Konoha, using Branches as footholds. By the k.u.mo shin.o.bi realized, the savior had already gone with the one who he had saved. Within the forest, matching Jun was difficult, moreover, he had the hood of his jacket on his head, so it made him even more unnoticeable along with his nature chakra sense erasing his presence.
The k.u.mo Shin.o.bi chased that silhouette in rage and fear. Rage at the fact that he was duped and his target was s.n.a.t.c.hed away when he was so close to his goal. Fear was because he was afraid to even imagine what the Raikage would do to him if he failed this mission and it got public that they had betrayed the treaty. He chased with all his strength. The more closely they got to Konoha, more cold sweat flowed down his spine. Finally he decided to risk the package getting hurt and attacked the savior with kunai and shuriken. His speed made it difficult, but a few of kunai and shuriken struck his back and one shuriken struck his left leg. However that person didn"t even slow down and continued with same speed, not letting even one of the weapons. .h.i.t the package. Seeing that he decided to use Ninjutsu despite the fact that it could alert Konoha.
"Don"t blame me for this. You forced me, "Lightning Style: Ligh--""
"—I will say the same to you, "Plant Style: Death of Thousand Leaf Cuts". Hope you survive this Kidnapper-San." Before the k.u.mo shin.o.bi could even finish his hand signs, he was heard a voice whisper to him and he was surrounded with a maelstrom of thousands of leaf blades, all laced in paralysis and sleep inducing agents. The k.u.mo shin.o.bi could not even scream out since his throat, lips and tongue were among the very first to be cut with the leaves and paralyze, since the attack had come right when he was about to fire off a Jutsu. In a few moments, he could barely even stay awake and the attack stopped then. As he struggled to stay awake, he saw a figure covered in shuriken and kunai, landing on the floor and holding the package out to the guy who attacked him. They both looked like twins. It was then that the k.u.mo Shin.o.bi understood.
"Clone... the guy that took the package was a clone, meant to lure me near Konoha. While the main one stayed hidden and sneak attacked. Moreover. Only... a kid--"
That was the last thought he managed before sleeping agents absorbed from the cuts streamed in, knocking him out.
"They always get confused when they see someone take a kunai to the back and still keep going. Honestly, don"t they know that First Hokage"s Wood clones could do that. Even though my clones are Plant clones not Wood clones, they are still much more durable and intelligent than your average clones." Jun mused in his mind as he searched the k.u.mo Shin.o.bi for any communication device or any tracking device on him. Although he didnt find that, he did get scroll tightly bound and hidden inside his headband. Jun tried to read it but to no avail. His System started giving some notifications but he told it to show it to him later when all this is solved.
Jun tied the shin.o.bi up with Vine Entanglement, then examined the package i.e. the person who had been kidnapped and knocked out with sleeping drug. "Obviously a Hyuga, kidnapped for their Byakugan. As Yoshino said that"s all they have. But really, they fell as far as capturing this one, utterly shameless."
Jun made the clone hold the person steadily, while he woke her up with a dose of nature energy to clean out the sleeping drugs as much as possible. When she opened her wide and confused eyes looking around the place to figure out where she was, she felt the little guy who was holding her put her down and another boy crouching before her, smiling at her. Soon the fog of confusion lifted from her mind and she recognized the person before her, apparently the one who saved her.
"You ...you--" she struggled to get the words out in her nervousness, pushing her index fingers together.
"It"s nice to meet you again so soon, Hyuga HinatSama." Jun replied as he smiled at the nervous girl in front of him.