Chapter 4 ¡V Confusion

The moonlight seemed hazy, hitting the air and veering off into many directions. The darkness seemed heavier and closer, pressing into him, enclosing him and blinding him. Sasuke fell onto his knees, his body still and his eyes wide opened. It was all dark, pitch black, he couldn¡¦t even see his own fingers. An unpleasant feeling rose inside him and he sought to push it down. Fear, was as unfamiliar as his showing affection to anyone, but since he became a genin, the feeling had come more than once, confronting him with the fact that he was weak, and he needed desperately to become stronger. To become stronger so he could surpass all the strong ninja out there, to surpass and eventually to kill his brother. He took a deep breath, allowing the motion to calm his nerves. Sasuke got back to his feet. He could not see, but he could use his ears and nose. Strange, one moment Naruto clones were on top of the ninja, and the next it was as if a curtain had dropped, cutting off the performers and the audience. Sasuke heard no sound, no struggle. The Naruto clones were only a few feet in front, he should be able to sense them; and where did the darkness come from? Saske took a step.

The whistling in the air alerted him to the missiles, and he did a back flip. His ears perked. There were more weapons thrown at him from behind his back and above. Keeping his ears on the sound, he dodged accordingly. It reminded him of all the traps he came across while searching for Kakashi. It was very possible that the person aiming the weapons at him was the very one that set the traps. Sasuke bent his knees and jumped. Dodging them in semi-darkness was manageable, but in total darkness was almost unmanageable. Besides, he was tiring from all the small traps he triggered. They were so well laid that he kept getting surprised one after another. The Uchiha boy turned in the air, his body spinning like a performer in a circus before landing onto the ground.

Sasuke grunted and with all the strength he could focus, pulled his body up in an arch to prevent himself from landing on the spot. Something sharp had pierced through the back of the sandal and cut into his sole. At least it was not deep, he thought. He had an idea of what he just stepped on. It must be one of the kunai or shruiken that the enemy had thrown at him. Sasuke leaped away at the sound of more steel cutting through air, heading unmistakably his way. There was no end to this, and he still did not know where his opponent was attacking.

* * *

¡§Arrrrrrrr!!!!!!! What happened??¡¨ Naruto yelled.

¡§Where did the ninja go?¡¨ Naruto yelled.

¡§I can¡¦t see anything!¡¨ Naruto yelled.

¡§Ouch, you just stepped on my foot.¡¨ Naruto yelled.

¡§Hey, hey!¡¨ the real Naruto shouted, taking hold of one of his clones. ¡§Stop it. How many of us are here?¡¨ he asked.

¡§Four, I think.¡¨

¡§Nah, five is more like it.¡¨

The real Naruto grimaced and turned thoughtful. When Naruto turned thoughtful, it was best not to underestimate him. ¡§Right. You¡¦re number one,¡¨ he said to the clone he had his hand on. ¡§Sing out, number two,¡¨ he said.

Each of the Naruto clones called a number and it turned out there were four clones, so that made it five of them. He was sure he some more, they were probably all out there somewhere, lost in the darkness.

¡§Sakura chan!¡¨ he shouted. The person closest to him when the darkness fell was the ninja, but since the ninja was nowhere near, he called Sakura, the next closest person. His voice echoed emptily and it came back to him, ¡§Sakura¡KSakura¡Kku¡K.ra¡Kra¡K¡¨

¡§Where has everyone gone to?¡¨ Naruto muttered, holding his chin with his hand.

* * *

Kiba darted through the trees. He could smell the ninja. It was the ninja that was fighting with Sasuke, he was sure of it. The traces of him lingered strongly in the air, or rather, only to Kiba whose sense of smell was far beyond the ordinary.

¡§Ow!¡¨

¡§Good boy, Akamaru,¡¨ he said, grinning. While they were tracking down the ninja, that scent of garbage and flower hit them again. Having fallen once to the trick made the Konoha genin cautious, and he had instructed Akamaru to focus on the strange mix of scent and to alert him when it came. Though there were now two different scents in the air, the ninja and the garbage and flower, Kiba was able to distinguish between them so long as Akamaru kept steering him away from the scent of garbage and flower. Whipping out four shruiken, Kiba¡¦s eyes gleamed as he threw them. Akamaru ran past him to stop the ninja from the front.

¡§You¡¦re going nowhere,¡¨ Kiba said, falling straight onto the ninja with his long nailed hand outstretched as Akamaru, now in the form of Kiba, performed the same move. Caught by surprise, the ninja was hit from both sides and flung high above into the air. Shino¡¦s words flashed across Kiba¡¦s mind for a second as the ninja, instead of falling down onto the ground with a loud thump, twisted in mid air and landed perfectly upon a strong branch. ¡§Again, Akamaru!¡¨ Kiba roared.

* * *

Shino lifted a hand. Crawling on his forefinger was a small black bug, one of the many males that lived inside him. Genjutsu was not much use against him, he could see through the illusion without much effort, but this was a great genjutsu master, and a little precaution was needed.

Something rustled in the tree next to him and he waved his hand, his bugs coming out of his sleeves like waves of water to the person hiding among the leaves.

¡§Wait, wait. It¡¦s me!¡¦ three voices stammered, batting at the bugs with three pairs of hands.

Shino did not recall his buys. He knew Naruto had sent out a fair number of clones, but a genjutsu user could easily imitate that. ¡§Why don¡¦t you recall your bugs? It¡¦s me, Shino!¡¨ the Naruto clones chorused.

¡§Who is your biggest rival, Naruto?¡¨ Shino asked.

¡§Why do you ask? Get them off me!¡¨ There was more rustling, thumping and yelling amidst the noise of insects crawling.

¡§Who is your biggest rival, Naruto?¡¨ he repeated.

¡§You will get them off if I answered?¡¨ the nervous Narutos said.

¡§I will,¡¨ Shino promised.

¡§Well. Why do you ever need to ask?¡¨ the Narutos turned cocky despite the bugs attacked to their arms and legs, making their skin itchy. ¡§Uchiha Sasuke! One day, I¡¦ll make him see who is stronger.¡¨ Naruto said determinedly. Shino imagined that look on his face, always full of energy and determination.

The bugs retreated.

¡§Naruto. I¡¦m trying to track down the genjutsu ninja. If you¡¦re going to hang around, I suggest you stay still and be quiet.¡¨

The three Narutos peered out of the leaves at him. None of them could see very clearly where Shino was in the dark, but the feeling of the bugs, though there were not any on them now, was still hideously fresh in their minds, and the three Narutos stayed quiet wisely as asked.

¡§How long will this take?¡¨ one Naruto whispered.

¡§Just get ready to move,¡¨ Shino said shorting and listened to the reports of his bugs.

* * *

A powerful genjutsu, even she, the only student praised by Kakashi to have a good sense of this type of jutsu, was not able to pierce through it immediately. She put a hand on the rough tree bark and tuned to her senses. She just had to stop letting the jutsu confuse her. Pretend the darkness was not there. Sakura¡¦s hands worked.

¡§Kai!¡¨

Nothing happened.

Sasuke. He did not look well from the distance. How long had he been fighting? Could he stand a chance against the same fire element jutsu he used? Sakura shook her head. Her mind was filled with worries for Sasuke, no wonder she could not concentrate. What use was she to Sasuke and herself to keep getting distracted at this critical moment? She knew Naruto would have fallen under the genjutsu easily, just like the time in the stadium during the Chuunin exam, and the others¡K Sakura did not place too much trust in their getting out this, though Kiba¡¦s keen nose and Shino¡¦s bugs might be able to.