THE GIRL OF THE SOUND

Chapter 10 – Bout

Kin readied herself. She wasn't really feeling anything. Her being was wholly concentrated on the man not too far away from her, making her emotions go into the background for the moment. She tensed in anticipation of an attack. Her hands crept towards her ninja pouches as he stalked towards her.

Forming a cross with his index and middle fingers, Hirofumi exclaimed: "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four copies of himself appeared instantly, two on each side of him.

Kin frowned, gritting her teeth. One Hirofumi was bad enough, now there were five?

Not two seconds after the Kage Bunshin had been performed, the five Hirofumi broke into a dash.

Kin took a step back, reaching into her pouches and taking out twenty needles, ten with each hand. As the enemies approached, she threw them expertly, four for each of the five Hirofumi.

Every single Hirofumi grinned at this. She was going to fight him with needles?

Each of the five Hirofumi easily dodged the needles aimed at them, either by ducking, jumping, or sidestepping. These movements caused just the slightest bit of delay in their run, but they would soon be upon Kin. And so they all found it a little strange when she grinned, and pulled back her arms.

Everyone one of the twenty needles had a very thin string attached to it, held by Kin's fingers. By pulling back her arms, she was getting a second, surprise attack with those same needles.

Three of the five figured it out in half a second; the rest, in a second. The first three Hirofumi were able to get out of the way of the attack, though barely. The other two were almost able to get out of the way, but a single needle scratched them. As those two exploded in a cloud of white, the other three frowned, turning to face Kin again.

Kin released the strings from her fingers. "Good, I've managed to get two of them." She thought she had been clever with the attack, so she was a little disconcerted when the remaining three Hirofumi suddenly went from frowning to laughing.

"That's a new one," one of the Hirofumi said when the three had quieted down, "it seems like you improved a bit after you left the village for the Chuunin Exam. However, don't go thinking this will make a difference." He motioned to the other two at his side, apparently referring to Kin's success in getting rid of two of the clones. "If I wanted, I could just make some more. But that's not necessary."

The one that was speaking narrowed his eyes at her. "I know you well. I know all of your weaknesses. Really, for you, this battle's hopeless. But please, by all means, try to fight back." He gave a quick chuckle. "Otherwise, it will be boring."

Despite knowing that his words probably had truth in them, it made her burn with anger. Her brows curved into a deep frown. "Shut up!"

The three Hirofumi simply smiled and charged.

Kin's eyes dashed from one to another. She forced herself to calm down. Being angry wouldn't help her at all in this situation. She had to think.

She couldn't fight evenly with one Hirofumi, much less three, so she couldn't hope to have many opportunities. She had to be prepared for an opening, and invest in one big attack. The one that had spoken, that had to be the real Hirofumi.

When the three finally reached her, she was no longer angry.

The first of the Hirofumi leaped at her, his leg stretching out in a kick. Instead of trying to dodge the attack, Kin braced herself. The Sound shinobi raised his eyebrow as his kick hit true at her curled up arms, but then his eyes narrowed in realization when he felt a sharp sting in his ankle, blowing up in a cloud of white moments later.

The momentum of the kick pushed Kin back, and almost made her lose her balance. She let the needle in her hand drop to the ground, half-feeling, half-seeing the other two Hirofumi striking at her. She ducked the punch of one, but the other, behind her, hit her in the back with a roundhouse kick. She grimaced as she was sent forward from the force of the kick, straight towards the other Hirofumi, who was getting ready to throw another punch at her.

But that was what she wanted.

Instead of trying to fall on her feet, she let herself fall to the grass on her knees, effectively dodging the punch from the Hirofumi she knew was the real one. She swiftly reached into her pouch and whipped out a kunai, attempting a stab at Hirofumi's stomach.

He saw this and almost grinned, easily deterring the attack by grabbing her hand. Kin jumped up, putting her free hand on the man's forearm while bringing up her leg to strike Hirofumi's side. He wrapped his other arm around her ankle, stopping the blow.

But she wasn't done yet. With her other leg, still on the ground, Kin went to knee him in the stomach, but he shifted his body and it passed him by harmlessly. Using the momentum, she planted her foot on his leg and pushed away with all her might, twisting herself around in a full spin to break free of his grasps. Not one second after she had retrieved a kunai with an explosive note on it and thrown it at Hirofumi.

Kin finally came down many meters away, looking up apprehensively to see if her plan had worked.

Hirofumi, his eyes opening wide as he saw the kunai fly at him, jumped to the side with all his might. The kunai imbedded itself on the ground where he had stood moments before, and in a few short moments, blew up. Kin had to shield her eyes with one of her hands from all the dirt that flew in all directions.

The explosion quickly cleared, though, and when it did, she saw that two Hirofumi still remained.

The Hirofumi that she had attacked began to laugh, looking at her with an amused expression.

But she smiled back.

He stopped laughing when he looked at his forearm and noticed something on it. An explosive note.

Another explosion rang out, and this time Kin was sure it had worked. It had to have worked.

She shielded her eyes again, wishing for the explosion to die out already, anxious to see that her plan had worked. When the explosion did die out, though, she felt her heart sink, and all her hopes along with it.

There was still one Hirofumi standing there, looking at her with an evil grin on his face. If she had gotten the real Hirofumi, the clones should have disappeared. Unless she hadn't gotten the real Hirofumi.

"Just because he spoke doesn't mean he's the real one." Hirofumi said teasingly.

No, it couldn't be. Just when she thought she was saved…!

Hirofumi let out a hearty laugh. "Though, I must admit, even though I was playing around, you managed to take out all my clones." He narrowed his dark eyes at Kin. "You even used some taijutsu there."

It was true. Though she didn't have many strong points, her taijutsu was her worst ability, and she knew that Hirofumi knew that. By utilizing taijutsu techniques, something he probably wasn't expecting, she had surprised him somewhat, making him underestimate her efforts. It had also taken his attention off of her hand on his arm when she had put the explosive note on him.

But that was just his clone. It looked like it had all been in vain.