Perhaps it was cockiness, but Temari decided it was best to stick with their original objective and salvage the Behemoht's Tongue. The only question now was how they would do it.
"Sakura," Temari said. "We need to get the Behemoth's Tongue away from Marunomi."
"Right," Sakura replied. "But how are we supposed to do that?"
Temari thought for a moment and then replied.
"Alright, I'll engage her for a bit then, when you have an opening, see if you can knock her off balance. Then I'll restrain and we can both try to get the Tongue off her."
"Okay, got it," Sakura replied.
Marunomi looked at the two plotting girls with mild amusement. "Alright girls, ready for round two?" she said tauntingly.
The three ninjas readied themselves for battle and, deciding to take the lead, Temari charged at Marunomi. The Sand ninja took several swipes at her with kunai, but Marunomi, making use of her rubbery body, dodged every single attack. Regardless, Temari kept up her assault, using faster and trickier maneuvers.
"Ooh, that was pretty good," Marunomi said mockingly as she continued to dodge. "You almost hit me that time."
Of course, none of this really mattered as Temari was only concerned with distracting Marunomi and giving Sakura an opening. Finally, Temari maneuvered Marunomi so that she was facing away from Sakura. Seeing her cue, Sakura leapt in the air and prepared to deliver a powerful strike to the ground. Seeing the oncoming attack, Temari gained some distance from Marunomi. Confused, Marunomi turned around and saw Sakura heading straight towards her. However, her discovery came too late as Sakura struck the ground, creating a small crater and causing a miniature earthquake. As Marunomi stumbled on her feet, Temari saw her opportunity to grab her from behind. Temari sneaked up behind and, using her fan, put Marunomi in a secure headlock.
"Gah! What the...?" Marunomi cried.
"Now, Sakura!" yelled Temari.
Getting back on her feet, Sakura rushed over to Marunomi, her eyes focused on the Behemoth's Tongue. She saw that the device was attached to Marunomi's arms with two buckles. She deduced that, if she could simply remove the buckles, she could remove the Behemoth's Tongue and secure it. But she would have to act fast as Marunomi was resisting Temari's grip and she wasn't sure how long she would last. Sakura brandished a kunai and aimed straight for the Tongue.
*What happens next?
