Disclaimer: I do not own any of this.
-------------------------------------------Shattered Illusion : Copy Of a Ninja : Chapter 08
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Konohamaru struggled from within the ninjas relentless grip, desperate to escape. He had never been in such a situation before, the pain was excruciating. He struggled to hide his weakness, but it was useless, he was unable to withhold the pain. "Ugh."

"That hurt you little piece of shit"

Naruto had had enough, Sakura was beside him mumbling some unintelligible apology, the female outsider appeared as if she did not care what happened to the child. Even so, Naruto decided to give them at least a chance of solving this unexpected encounter peacefully. Naruto calmly asked the man to let go of the boy.

His request was refused. Obviously underestimating Naruto's strength the man continued,

"Let's play a little before the boss comes."

His loss.

Launching himself forward at about half speed, Naruto decided to execute a frontal attack to test the sand Genin's taijutsu ability. Naruto saw no use in applying full power straight away, where was the fun in that?

He had travelled perhaps two steps before he saw the telltale glow of chakra being summoned. The pattern finally settled into an ethereal cord that darted unnaturally quickly toward his right ankle. Naruto supposed it would be rather effective against those unable to see the strings, but to his unique vision they were as clear as day.

As the string approached his right calf Naruto summoned his own chakra, and imitating the weave his enemy had just demonstrated, surrounded the thread with his own. Giving the Sand ninja no time to react, Naruto strengthened his construct to the consistency of tempered steel and began to rotate the now entrapped boy around him impossibly fast.

Detecting two subtle chakra signatures, both attempting to remain hidden within a tree concealed behind the eastern fence line, Naruto threw the enmeshed ninja through the fence and into the hardened wood of the trunk. Wood splinters and metal slivers flew everywhere, and the young leaf Genin felt the two chakra signatures raise momentarily then reappear behind him.

That had to hurt. Now, to rub salt into the wounds.

Affecting a superior tone of voice Naruto commented flippantly.

"Oh…, Sand Genins are weak."

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Sakura could not understand it, Naruto had once again performed in a completely alien manner from what she had expected. And his technique, how had he caught the Sand Genins chakra string?

Even in her confusion Sakura managed to stumble over to the kneeling form of Konohamaru, taking hold of the injured boy she retreated back to safety.

Turning her eyes to the shattered remains of the fence line, Sakura's disbelieving gaze settled on the unconscious form of the Sand ninja. Standing over the limp body of the Genin was another stranger, a boy around her own age. She watched as the stranger kicked his comrade back to consciousness; they were not light kicks either. When the boy finally opened his eyes, the newcomer spoke.

"You are an embarrassment to our village. Losing yourself in a fight, how pathetic…., why do you think we came to Leaf village."

They prone boy tried to protest, but was sharply cut off.

"Shut up, Ill kill you."

Sakura could see that he meant it too; the momentary glimpse that she caught of his eyes froze her in place. She only snapped out of her terror when she heard the boy tell them to leave. There was a possibility that they were intruders, she couldn't let that happen.

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Once the trio explained their business in Konoha Sakura relaxed, satisfied they were not intruders. However she was soon surprised to hear Sasuke ask the newcomers a question.

"Hey, you, what's your name."

The girl tried to answer, but was quickly rebuffed, "No, you with the gourd."

The red haired Genin slowly turned to regard the group, " Gaara of the Dessert, I am also interested in your names."

Sakura noted that he had made certain to include Naruto in the question.

Sasuke was quick to answer, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto however.

Naruto watched the pair trade glances, he too found the newcomer interesting, and especially after the nine tails told him what the interesting aberration within the boy's chakra was. Even so, he had detected a group of three crouched in the branches of the tree. Concentrating as he was on analysing the chakra given off from the three eavesdroppers, he was a bit agitated, adding that to the nature of the meeting he was not in a particularly good mood.

Purposely stirring the boy, Naruto just stated, "Not interested."

The boy seemed to want to say more, he was obviously unaccustomed to being refused. He eventually relented though, and the three sand Genin left.

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From with the confines of his office, the Hokage had carefully monitored the confrontation. After the revelations from Naruto in the morning he had been a trifle worried, thankfully it had proved unfounded. Naruto had always had a problem with restraint, he had been concerned that this still held true despite the boy's story. The confrontation however, had lain those fears to rest.

He had always worried about the boy.

The eventual mixing of the two beings had been inevitable, and with the isolation he had suffered at the hands of the people of leaf village, things did not bode well. His belief in the boy had only been strengthened by this episode. Any other ninja that found themselves in Naruto's position would have left the village long ago.

The dedication and self-reliance that the boy had demonstrated were unbelievable. In the presence of such adversity he had survived, even thrived. With prospects such as Naruto the Hokage felt that the villages future was assured. Even so, it would be difficult for the boy; any role of leadership would be opposed until some years after the current generation were retired.

Ignorance was an unrelenting enemy.

Thankfully, Naruto now had someone that did not have these prejudices. For the first time in his short life he had someone within his own age bracket that was happy to be his friend. It was a blessing really, with the boys current power level and the rate it would grow over the following years, if things had continued as they were it could have been disastrous. Breaking from his thoughts, the Hokage turned back to once again monitor the events within his scrying crystal.

Not interested indeed.

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-------------------------------------------Done. Comments Welcome.