AN: Well… I won't make any excuses for my rather long absence. It was unintentional but I still feel bad… that's why I wrote this entire chapter in one day .
The Glass
Chapter 3
And since you know you cannot see yourself,
so well as by
reflection, I, your glass,
will modestly discover to
yourself,
that of yourself which you yet know not of.
William Shakespeare
"We've been walking forever!!" Naruto whined.
"Tired already, dobe?" Sasuke sneered.
"No, asshole! I'm just bored!" Naruto glared at Sasuke.
Huh? Fuwa? Naruto questioned.
What is it? Fuwa had an audible smile.
Why are you trailing us? I can smell you… Naruto wrinkled his nose and grimaced.
Heh heh… I wondered when you would notice. I'm going to stay stationary now… I want to test if this is a genjutsu.
How would standing still help? Naruto asked, confused.
Fuwa sighed. If you are walking in circles, you'll come across me again. If you do, just pretend I'm a bushin and 'dispel' me.
Right! Naruto grinned and picked up the pace.
"Hey! Naruto! Slow it down!" Sakura yelled at him. "Not everyone has your stamina!"
Naruto pouted. "But Sakura-chan…"
Kabuto cut him off. "She's right. You shouldn't tire yourselves out…"
Naruto crossed his arms and moped. After a couple of minutes of walking, the group came across a familiar face.
Fuwa, who had been sitting under a tree, stood and moved to the center of the road. "Yo!" Fuwa grinned widely.
Naruto frowned. " So we are going circles…" Naruto put his hands into the dispel seal and Fuwa disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sakura looked from Naruto to where Fuwa had bee and back. "Genjutsu? But…"
Sasuku glared at Naruto. "Dobe… How did you find out?"
Naruto grinned smugly. "You mean you didn't, Sasuke-kun?" Hey! Fuwa!
What? Fuwa sounded distracted.
Sasuke glared harder before looking around for the enemy. "The genjutsu is useless once figured out. Come out and fight."
Are these the guys with the heaven scroll? The ones that you were talking about before?
Yeah…hmm.. they seem to be activating a jutsu…
Dozens of mist-nins appeared from the trees. "Bushin no jutsu?" Sakura questioned, glancing at Kabuto.
Kabuto nodded. "Must be… They are probably trying to tire us out. First, the walking in circles and now fighting clones until we find the real bodies."
Are they here? Naruto asked while rushing forward to attack.
Hmm… no. They're in the trees.
Naruto activated his Kage Bushins to fight the clones as he headed off to where Fuwa was.
"Naruto! You can't fight them all!" Sakura yelled.
"What? Should we not fight and be beaten?" A Naruto yelled back at her.
Sasuke activated his sharingan to try and locate the real mist-nins. "What?" Sasuke's eyes widened.
Sakura looked over, worried. "Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke glanced at her. "They are all clones. No mistnins… or Naruto." Sasuke pitched forward and fell to his knees as the curse seal overwhelmed him.
Kabuto studied the seal as Sakura rushed over to Sasuke to help him. "That's the real thing…" He murmured to himself then looked around for Naruto. He didn't have to look long before Naruto came up behind them.
"Hey!" Naruto quietly tried to get their attention. Then he noticed Sasuke. "What happened?"
Sasuke straightened himself and shrugged off Sakura. "Nothing. Where were you?"
Naruto grinned and placed his arms behing his head. "Finding the enemy."
Sakura looked over to where the clones were fighting. "How…?"
Naruto was confused. "How what?"
Sakura glared at his stupidity. "How did you know? Even I thought that the enemy was in there somewhere…"
Naruto fidgeted nervously. "Umm…"
Just change the subject… Anyway, if you four just stand there, the enemy is going to get suspicious. Fuwa interjected.
Naruto forced a grin to his face, though he still looked nervous. "Umm…We should probably attack while we still have the element of surprise, right?"
Sakura hesitated. "But… Wait! You actually found them?!"
"Duh… I would still be looking if I hadn't. And quiet down. They'll move if they find out that we know where they are." Naruto hurried to shut Sakura up.
Sasuke glared then attacked Naruto. "You can't be the dobe. He'd never be this helpful in battle…"
Naruto just barely dodged the punch. "What the hell?! You're just pissed that I'm getting better than you!"
You do realize that is a complete lie. If we hadn't separated, you wouldn't have known anything either… And I bet you would have gotten your ass handed to you.
Shut up, Fuwa. Naruto frowned as he felt Fuwa's pleased grin through their connection.
Sakura jumped then got into a defensive position. "Sasuke-kun's right… How do we know you're not an enemy?"
Fuwa snickered. Wow… She's agreeing with Sasuke… What a change.. You know, this girl is almost as annoying as the wench… almost.
Hey! Don't insult Sakura-chan! And how do I get out of this?
I don't know… figure it out yourself.
Distracted by his conversation with Fuwa, Naruto was unable to block a punch from Sasuke and was sent flying. Naruto slowly picked himself off of the ground. "Damn… You just enjoy beating me up, don't you?"
"Umm…" Kabuto stepped in between Sasuke and Naruto. "This is actually Naruto…"
Sakura drifted towards them. "Really? How can you tell?"
Kabuto looked over at Sakura. His chakra signature is right. No one can duplicate a chakra that… unique." Kabuto turned to Naruto with a knowing grin.
"Unique?" Sasuke curiosity was peeked.
"Okay! I'm me, alright! Can we attack now?" Naruto shifted anxiously.
You know… your team really sucks…
Huh? Naruto jumped onto a branch as Sasuke, Sakura, and Kabuto nodded their agreement. "Alright! Let's go!"
There is no trust and no focus. Instead of worrying about the enemy, they were more concerned about how you were actually helpful. If the enemy wasn't fooled by those clones of your team that we put up, all of you would be dead right now.
Naruto frowned but didn't answer. He led his team to where the enemy was. On the way, Sakura spotted a clone of Sasuke and herself fighting. "Naruto? Are those clones of us?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah…" He trailed off as he felt Fuwa approach.
Fuwa?
What? Fuwa sounded distracted and somewhat annoyed.
What are you doing?
Do I have to report everything? Geez… If you must know, I'm trying to figure out which one has the scroll.
Oh… Naruto stopped and pointed towards the real mist-nins. "Over there."
"Now what?" Sakura asked, looking at each of the boys in turn.
Sasuke and Kabuto looked at Naruto as he grinned. "We beat them up!"
Sasuke shook his head. "Dumbass… She means how are we going to attack."
Naruto gave a blank stare. "Why don't we just attack…" Without waiting for an answer, he created a couple more bushins and charged forward.
"You must be right about him, Kabuto. Only Naruto is that stupid." Sakura sighed before following Sasuke after their teammate.
Even with Naruto's blind charge, they were able to knock out two of the mist-nins without any problem. The third put up a fight but eventually the four on one odds got the best of him. Sasuke searched the bodies for the scroll and found it on the third one. "Heh… the heaven scroll…"
Sakura jumped and clapped. "Now all we have to do is get to the tower before nightfall!"
Naruto grinned but didn't say anything as they moved out.
Hey, Fuwa?
What?
Am I really acting strange?
Hm? What do you mean?
Kabuto was the only one that didn't say I was acting weird. Even you said it…
I was just making a point. Anyway, to them you're acting strange because you're supposedly being observant and thoughtful for once. Since those observations actually came from me, I'd say that you are not acting much different than you normally do.
Naruto gave a quiet sigh. Good… I was worried that something had happened.
Idiot… It should have been obvious to you. It's not like you don't know your own feelings.
Hey! Don't call me an idiot!
Sure thing… moron.
DAMNIT!!
To Be Continued…
AN: Damn this was a hard chapter to write… and I'm not entirely sure I pulled it off… Damn battle scenes… why are they so hard to write!? Anyway.. I'm not going to rewrite the scene with Iruka or the prelims like I said I would. They're going to happen the same exact way it happened in the manga. I can't wait to write the next chapter… I can finally bring back Tarim. She's fun to write I and I don't feel guilty running the explanations or plot points through her… ok… note: The reason Kabuto didn't really show up is because I HATE him and 1) didn't want to write him and 2) I didn't want to SOUND like I hate him
