Exit Strategy by krakonfive
Summary: Kenobi escapes by jumping into a random simulation. However, things go wrong and he cannot leave. What he needs is an exit strategy... but is he ready to follow it?
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Rated T for some language and violence.
Changes in my timetable means I will be posting new chapters on Tuesdays from now on!
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PART 3
IV- TURMOIL
My back ached.
I had stayed up until late with Naruto. When we parted, I unrolled a sleeping bag on his roof instead of searching for a hotel open at that hour. Because of the use of my abilities, I couldn't block out the disagreeable cost of sleeping on the hard surface completely.
Soon, Team 7 walked in the cold morning air to the training ground. New metal coils were wrapped around my arms and legs. The blond next to me was eerily silent, just as I had left him last night. His feet shuffled along and he stared blankly at the ground. Sakura was behind me, red dress replaced with her functional ninja garments. She was worried by Naruto's strange behavior.
I sighed. This wasn't the proper atmosphere for an effective training session. Today, we were to use our ninjutsu techniques. I had true allies now, there was no more need to hide techniques: forming and aiming the acceleration rings was my objective. I look around nonchalantly. Sakura was agitated and was stepping closer to Naruto. The latter would sometimes lift his head as if to say something before diving back to thinking about Sasuke. I needed to act and prevent a teary, time consuming outbreak of emotional turmoil and other things Naruto had bottled up over the years.
"Sakura!" I called. Her eyes shot up with an accusing glare, blaming me for her teammate's mood. I tried my most apologetic look. "Emm … Naruto and I talked about manly stuff last night, don't worry, he's fine. Naruto! You're ready to train, right?"
Naruto didn't react until my words pushed past his uncomfortable thoughts and reached his brain. He looked up slowly and spoke in a slow, apathetic tone.
"Kenobi, that's not what -"
I cut him off.
"Hey, you can tell Sakura all about it later, okay?"
I gave him a smile which he returned half-heartedly. Sakura frowned and gave a disgusted look.
"No he won't! I don't want to know anything about what you two go up to last night!" she shouted.
I gave her a grin to show I had understood her the wrong way. That silenced her, but she stopped worrying about Naruto. The blond's steps were more natural now and even he leered at my reaction. Mission accomplished.
Yamato was already waiting for us. The wooden dome had been restored to its initial state. A few leaves had sprouted from the beams of wood and a couple of birds weaved between them.
"Are you all recovered?" our sensei asked.
We nodded in unison.
"Okay. Today, we'll train ninjutsu. Once again, the objective is for you to work together."
He was looking mostly towards me. Fortunately, I had already settled into an unflinching, emotionless state.
"Naruto, you will start by reducing your original chakra. You must use your techniques today solely with you own chakra; do not allow it to be contaminated. Sakura, Kenobi, help him by defeating his clones as he does so. Once he is ready, I'll reveal the second part of the exercise."
His students waited the second part of his instructions.
"What are you waiting for? Warm up!" he snapped, waving us away with one hand.
We sprang away and I copied the other two's exercises.
Naruto had a much better control over the demon than before. He beamed with happiness inside the circle protected by spiked pillars. Every few minutes, he'd make a few dozen clones, frown in concentration then stand up and cheer his duplicates on.
The clones' movements and attacks had become predictable for me. Every punch, kick and strike gave the impression of watching an old movie for the fifth time. To increase the difficulty, I gave myself a challenge. By only pushing darts, I would clear a perimeter around myself. I started with a meter, then two, three and started struggling at four. At five meters, I had to send off projectiles without stopping at every foot and arm entering the virtual circle. Each push had to be powerful enough to dispel a clone. To me, the release of magnetic energy felt like jolts of electricity were running up my arms from an alternating generator. The pain was propertional to the effort.
To ease the sensation, I thought of something else. Sakura stayed at the edge of the clearing I created. She would hold back a clenched fist; block with her other hand then strike, bursting a clone without fail. Naruto within the circle would wince every time a clone was defeated by her through the memories transmitted back from the clone.
"Hey Sakura."
The kunoichi's heel traced an arc and landed in an orange jumper. She twisted her shoulders to backhand the stunned clone across the face, dispelling him.
"What?" she huffed.
I gave her a grin. "You don't need a dress to look gorgeous, you know."
"Shut up, Kenobi." she said, smiling and blushing slightly despite her words. Her pink hair fanned out as she resumed her stance.
My smile persisted as I prepared another round of darts.
Yamato ordered us to stop after two hours. Naruto jumped in anticipation while Sakura breathed deeply before standing upright. I hid my hands under my cloak to hide their shaking. The former ANBU led us out of the dome. It was ten o'clock.
"The second exercise can only be done as a team. The goal is to destroy those blocks of wood." He pointed to massive cubes planted in the ground at regular intervals. "Naruto's clones will defend them. You three will attack; each one of you will take turns in destroying the objective while the other two support."
I rapidly went through different maneuvers I could execute to destroy the large volume of wood. Naruto could use his Rasengan, Sakura would splinter it with a punch. What would I do? I raised my hand.
"I'll go last." Yamato nodded and designated Naruto to start.
As we set up in a triangular position, the blond in front with Sakura by his side. I was at the rear. The kunoichi was ready to go. Naruto suddenly looked exhausted. His forehead dripped with sweat and the hyperactive twitching and jumping diminished. When he cried 'KageBunshin!', he only produced fifteen clones. He staggered after doing so, eyes flashing red before he regained control of his demon host.
Chakra exhaustion, I decided.
The duplicates formed a layered defense, three layers deep and equally split. Sakura assumed a taijutsu stance and accumulated chakra in her fist. Naruto created a final clone to help him with the Rasengan technique. My turn! I raised two darts from my pouches and set them at waist level. I created one repulsive field behind each dart then a larger attractive field centered on myself. The acceleration ring was in place. The sum of the forces exerted on the metal made it orbit my position. As they gained speed, I added two more darts at shoulder level. Feeling in control, I increased the number of darts to six.
I tried adding another set when suddenly the projectiles started drifting outwards. I pulled them in harder, countering the centrifugal force. The tingling in my fingers turned into the now familiar pulsating pain. Gritting my teeth, I added four more darts and accelerated everything harder.
I looked up. Naruto and Sakura were staring at me. I realized my pain was showing on my face so I neutered my expression into a frown.
They looked worried.
"Go on, I'm ready now!" I cried.
Naruto gave me one last look before leaping ahead.
The Naruto duo on our team landed a few meters from the first defensive line. All had kunai drawn. I removed those in the hands of the defenders, burying them in the soil. Naruto launched forward. Naruto flung another Naruto at a fierce-looking Naruto. Naruto blocked a flying kick with two raised arms … soon there was a brawl between identical orange-clad ninjas, with pink hair flying between them, confused as to who to hit. I flew closer but could not distinguish attacker from defender. A clone dispelled from a kick to the neck. One blond threw a kunai to another, who promptly lunged at his benefactor. The whole thing was a mess.
I tried calling out to the original Naruto. I waved my arms too. Sakura noticed my gesturing and disengaged, retreating to my position but staying clear from the revolving hail of metal that surrounded me. One Naruto fell to the ground, wiping bloodied lips. It was him! I acted quickly before he got up.
My projectiles were caught in a tug of war between the centrifugal force pushing them outwards and the attractive field keeping them going in a circle. Timing myself, I negated the attractive field at eye-level. The dart that orbited at that height intersected a line between me and a standing clone. It shot outwards at the same velocity it had been circling at.
A zipping sound tore through the air. The clone dispelled without ever raising its head. I released three other projectiles, one missing but the others piercing a head and a stomach. The Naruto on the ground tilted his head backwards, raised on his elbows. I waved for him to come back. He did. The other darts ended up in the remaining clones or dug the soil at their feet.
The genin got a double knock on his head as soon as he landed.
"Idiot!" I screamed. "How stupid ARE you?! You created identical clones! Then you fought with them!"
Naruto rubbed his head, confused. Sakura added another lump.
"How were we going to distinguish you from your clones?" she said.
The blond rubbed his bruises with one hand each before realizing what the problem was.
"Ah, I see! Em … sorry?"
"Take that stupid jumper off." I ordered. He frowned and slowly undid his zip before rolling the orange and black fabric into a ball, revealing a humid black top. "Come on, let's do that again."
Naruto created another clone. I glared at it. It removed its jumper too. We returned into position as I formed five new acceleration rings. My hands were numb now and the burning sensation was reaching my forearms.
This attempt was much better. Naruto formed a Rasengan and charged after dispelling his partner. Sakura struck the ground under the second defensive line's feet. The surprised clones were thrown into the air; perfect targets for my projectiles.
The remaining defenders tensed, forming a line near the wooden cube. I accelerated new darts to clear the way for Naruto's attack. As I pushed harder on the metal, I tried aligning them so that they could be released in one volley.
The side effect of grouping the mass was my body started wobbling. Each time I pulled the darts back into a circle, they reacted with equal but opposite force. Thinking quickly, I split the group of darts in two, five to each side.
I called out to Naruto. He started running. Sakura leapt ahead. I aimed … waited … and let go of the darts in front of me. The metal whirred in the air and zipped in a slightly ballistic curve at the wood. Immediately, the remaining darts yanked and threatened to topple me over. I slowed them down to regain balance.
I looked up. My darts had hit wood, and the defenders had dispersed. However, Naruto and Sakura had stopped. A curved wooden wall had appeared to defend our objective. Scanning the area, I noticed Yamato forming seals from where we had left him to watch. I swallowed a curse. He hadn't warned us that he'd intervene. Grunting, I spun up a new round of projectiles, running closer to skirt the new defenses.
Much to my dismay, three thick pillars erupted from the soil and extended, reaching for us.
When Sakura was on the offensive, things went smoother. We now expected randomly sprouting walls and wooden hand chasing us. We three dashed through the defenses, knocking clones out of the way. I was the first to attack the defensive line, but also the one who had to ward off the clones we left untouched behind. The cube was disposed of easily. Sakura leapt and crushed it with her heel as the clones next to it fled in fear.
With the job done, she grinned with pride. I used the occasion to make the girl blush with a few well-placed words. Naruto pretended not to hear.
My teammates' powers were impressive. I decided to give them a demonstration of what I could do. It was certainly NOT because I had lost feeling in my entire arms and wanted to shorten the exercise.
I gathered several darts and merged them into a football-sized sphere. Gesturing to Naruto and Sakura for them to hold back, I pushed the sphere into the air. Generating a powerful magnetic pulse, I launched it at the wooden objective. It arced in the air, deceptively slow. I guided it until it thudded onto the wood, a hundred meters away. I closed my eyes and concentrated.
Quickly, the mass of metal elongated into a conical shape, two fins emerging and winding themselves around it. Then it started rotating, digging into the wood.
My teammates alternated between staring at me and what I was doing. Once the make-shift screw starting sinking into the wooden cube, they went from being impatient to curious. A clone jumped onto the wood and started pulling on the device. Three others joined him, but as the metal disappeared they had less and less surface to grip on. After a full minute, the groaning wood and the grunting clones became silent. All waited for something to happen. Naruto opened his mouth to comment. He was disoriented at my sweating, trembling figure, arms hanging limply by my side. The question 'What are you up to?' paused on his lips. Sakura shushed him.
I opened my eyes and stood straight. I raised an arm and pointed a finger at the cube, then flicked my finger upwards.
"Pow."
A tremendous crack resounded across the clearing. Our objective crumbled into a mound of evenly cut wedges, revealing numerous thin blades arranged into a star-like shape. The metal vibrated, dislodging sliced wood further and flattening the mound.
Sakura gaped. Naruto's head flickered between the neatly chopped wood and my grinning face. I forced myself to resist the temptation of an arrogant one-liner and commented with "I took too long, I won't use it in real combat."
Naruto dispelled his clones and Yamato appeared.
"Good job, all three of you." the man said with a thin smile. "You worked to each other's strengths and discovered each other's weaknesses. But your tactical performance was appalling."
"No it wasn't!" Naruto protested.
"Yes it was. You only planned ahead for a single assault. No contingency plans, nothing for a retreat … Naruto, if you got separated from your support, you couldn't defend yourself without wasting the Rasengan. Sakura … you rushed through and left enemies alive behind your back. You did destroy your objective, but in a real mission, you wouldn't come back alive. Kenobi, you didn't risk attacking the enemy, but you did give them ample time to react and deal with you."
He ended his tirade. Sakura hung her head in shame. Naruto grumbled and kicked at the dust. I realized the experienced ninja was right; we had solely concentrated on the cube of wood without thinking the way we would have to, if it were a real mission. I placed a hand of Sakura's shoulder to reassure her. She looked up at me, Naruto flinched and Yamato spoke. I dropped my hand quickly.
"We're doing the exercise again. This time, we're using my wood clones. Get in position!" he ordered, hands forming seals. Three wooden cubes rose from the soil, rumbling.
"Hai!" we shouted in unison.
I walked alone in the evening sun.
My steps took me towards the smaller avenues that sprouted from downtown Konoha. Most hotels were in that area.
The street was silent other than for my footsteps and the occasional gust of wind shuffling curtains or making doors bang. I was slightly lost; none of my documents contained a detailed map of the village. A hollow laugh resonated. My documents. I realized that for the past few days, I hadn't consulted them once. They didn't contain what mattered. Information such as why Sakura still pined for the traitor. The image of Naruto and Sakura waving goodnight at the end of the day's training session popped in my head. I felt anger tinged with envy. Here I was, alone and lost while they had each other for company. I tried convincing myself that he was just walking her home, but … irrational feelings could not be reasoned.
The scene replayed in my mind. We'd finished training. Yamato had left to tend to other matters after ordering us to stay behind and collect the various weapons and bits of metal that had been thrown around since the morning.
I remembered being pleasantly surprised to meet Sakura as she pulled kunai out of a block of wood one by one. My heart had raced and I had thought through thousands of phrases I could use to ask what I wanted. I spat at my silly infatuation. The bitch was just a simulated construct, I thought. Electrons. Fake.
In my mind's eye, I saw myself stutter and blush as she glanced at me. I had gathered the courage to express myself clearly and ask her out for dinner. She had blushed and looked surprised. I knew right now the whole thing was an act. I kicked the ground. Her smile was a lie. She didn't want to hold my hand. She lied when she said she liked me. What she wanted to do was sneer and curse, I knew it. 'I have someone else in my heart' she'd said.
My fists were balled up in my pockets. I laughed. I laughed at myself. Here I was near tears because I'd been refused a date. How low of me. She was in love with Sasuke, and I was going to kill Sasuke. I could rip him apart and the bitch would still love him, because it was written in Sakura's file that she loved the traitor and things would stay that way since this was a simulation and these were virtual characters and if there was something I had learnt, it was that characters never, EVER changed.
I wiped my tears and reprised my route, chuckling.
It was better I forget about her and use my time to escape this -somebody was behind me.
I turned smoothly while readying two used darts from my pouches. A few seconds later, a third dart started orbiting my shoulders with increasing speed. I scanned the street, then the buildings on each side.
The ninja I spotted was on top of a tiled roof, three houses away. His face was covered by an animal mask and his midsection glowed orange as it caught the declining sunlight.
Was he an enemy ninja? The mask was … ANBU? What did they have to do with me? The questions followed each other. Had they tracked me down from the prison escape? The intruder closed the distance in two bounds, skidding to a halt a few meters from me. I leapt backwards and increased the distance to ten meters, tensing.
The ninja raised an appeasing hand and removed his mask. He wore a Konoha headband.
"I come to deliver a message." he said in an oddly cheerful manner. His lips moved to form a smile, but the rest of his face did not follow. I nodded for him to continue.
He lowered his fingerless glove.
"You are to step down from joining the search party for the Uchiha. Konoha will not allow foreigners from the Earth deal with internal affairs." He closed his eyes in faked amusement. "If you do not comply, I will be forced to eliminate you."
I grabbed hold of the metal lining my cloak with mental fingers.
"Who sent you?"
He smiled and tilted his head, refusing to answer. I returned my own cold smile as I found an outlet for my previous anger.
"Piss off."
The ninja, clearly my age, opened his eyes and returned to his natural, expressionless state. Impressive acting, I thought.
"I will transmit your refusal then."
We waited for the other to move. A gust of wind ruffled the agent's short, black hair. A door banged shut.
Both of us surged into action as the sound echoed. A blank scroll and a brush appeared in his hands. I pushed two darts in his direction.
I missed despite the distance, both darts curving away and smashing a window to my right. This isn't right, I thought. I tried again with two new darts.
The ANBU had already back flipped several meters away, his hand a blur as his brush flashed over a scroll. I released my orbiting dart. It zipped down the street; he leapt in the air to avoid it. Suddenly, a large bird appeared at his feet, paper-white and outlined in black.
Three tigers appeared from the scroll and launched themselves from the ninja's elevated position. I looked past them. My opponent was already tracing new figures. I prepared a defense: a shield composed of the metal lining my cloak. It levitated into the path of the nearest drawing and slammed into it. I was showered in ink, diving away from the claws of the other two. The beasts stared with their eyes, simple black dots. I split my shield.
The ink animals weren't very durable. I wiped my face from the foul-smelling liquid. I lowered my shield to the ground and jumped on it. Despite generating a magnetic field under the shield, it didn't move. I looked down to see thick black snakes loop around my feet. I heard frantic flapping. Six birds trailed explosive tags and were diving towards my position. Meanwhile, my assailant had unrolled a huge scroll on the bird's back.
I sequenced my actions for the few seconds I had left. Shoot the darts; three birds left, four gone. Extend the blade, cut the snakes then backflip away. Expand the shield. The air rippled from the explosion. The metal protecting me crumpled inwards, knocking me to the ground. I tumbled, my head hitting a rock. The sensation didn't come close to the blast of pain I had experienced standing up to the explosive force. I shuddered as my arms twitched, fingers opening and closing.
I shook to relieve the dizziness and touched my hair after I rolling to a stand. I felt nothing. Of course, I realized, I had lost the sense of touch in my fingers. They emerged nonetheless red with blood.
I looked up. The pale teenager formed a seal. Ink fountained out of the scroll at his feet, gathering in the air to form a massive dragon. The creature's long whiskers trailed past its head. That was probably the most powerful creature in his arsenal, I thought, considering the size.
I retaliated with my own ultimate technique. I grasped four darts and started revolving them around myself. I threw two more into the air before levitating a shield formed from my remaining metal reserves.
The black and white dragon attacked first. Its jaws opened to reveal rows of hastily drawn fangs. They widened to shoot fireballs the size of the bird circling behind it. I dodged the first few before having to spread my shield into an umbrella at the incessant assault. The force of the impacts was slowly pushing me backwards. I grunted at the effort, each hit requiring a painful push to counter.
The attack ended with a deafening roar. My shield collapsed back into my cloak.
Three vicious claws slammed into the street so close I felt the air they displaced. The creature was surprisingly agile. I created a metallic surfboard and weaved through the dragon's legs, each as thick as a tree. I turned hard to avoid the flailing tail. The ANBU agent was no more than twenty meters away as I sped past the creature. The dragon could not turn, stuck between two rows of apartment blocks and individual homes.
Without fear or anger, the agent raised his blade. I snarled and released all of my accelerated darts.
I watched as the multiple impacts rattled him. The dragon collapsed in a wave of ink, as did his bird. I braked under him and caught his fall with a sheet of metal. My first intent was to bind his movements but after inspecting his wounds, I stopped. Blood bubbled from a large hole in his chest and flowed freely from his neck. A large chunk was missing from his upper shoulder.
The agent's face turned blue and his head rolled as I lay him down on the ground. I slapped him awake. His eyes fluttered open.
"Who sent you?!" I demanded. I grabbed his wet collar and shook him. "WHO SENT YOU?!"
The teenager stared at me … and stuck his tongue out. Black marking covered it. I stared into his dark eyes as they turned still.I took several deep inspirations to calm myself. I've killed someone in self-defense, I thought, it is okay to do so. I set to searching him to end the train of thought.
I found only two items of interest in his bag. A file holder, marked 'Classified', and a small, worn book. I flipped through the book and threw it to the side. The file holder contained a large photograph of myself and a handwritten page signing a permission to kill.
My anger returned. I clenched my fist despite my pained fingers, crunching up the paper I was holding. Everything was fake. Sakura was fake. The Hokage's decision was a lie. Why had I started relying on them? I stood up, looking down at the body. The pale skin caught the evening sun, turning as red as the pool of blood that surrounded it. This time, I decided, I'd do things alone.
My eyes wandered over to his tongue. I stepped over his arm and crouched next to the head. Pull, slice.