(A/N) Hmm…have you figured out some of the mysteries yet…
Interesting Fact: For those who don't know, it is actually pretty normal and common in Japan for Japanese children (elementary school years-usually grow out of it afterwards) to play a regular "game", like the American punch buggy/wedgie, where they clasp their hands together, stick out their first fingers and jam them up another's anus (butt) no matter the gender. Its called Kancho in Japan. Its considered more of a childish prank in Japan rather then a criminal offense as in other countries. Fun, ne?
:-)
Disclaimer: 'I do not own Naruto'
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Little Imp
Chapter 3: Mutual Mistrust
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Once making sure the invaders had left, the nin continued, "Now, make yourself comfortable. Is there anything you need dear?" The patient thought a bit then replied cheerily, "Yes, is there a copy of Icha Icha Violence I could read in my spare time?"
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The medic-nin had given her request a funny look and then glared at the door the sensei walked out of. "…Grr…that hentai…"
Even though her request had been politely declined and replaced with other objects to pass the time, she was always a hardheaded girl and very curious as well. Hence, her cheeks grew redder the more she skimmed through the book as she sat up late in the night under the blankets with a flashlight.
After having solving the Rubik's cube for the 24th time in the past half hour, she had sighed.
'…Boring…soooo boring…'
Despite the nin's 'you still have poison in your system, you must continue to rest and recover!' she had listened with half an ear and focused her attention out the window. She had placed a clone in the hospital bed that night and snuck out to stretch her muscles a bit, as well as to make a little trip to the library. 'Poison? What poison?' The escapee had raced out in the night and explored the village a bit, loving the exhilarating feeling of a night run.
Traveling by rooftop, she soon found the closed library and easily got in. It was not stealing, hardly, just borrowing without permission. However, the puzzled girl hadn't been able to find the curious Icha Icha Violence until she looked it up in the catalog and came across it, under the restricted area for adults. Ignoring the 'only 18 and older allowed' sign, she had nicked the book and quickly rushed back before the nins discovered the clone replacement. Finding no one waiting to scold her and the bunshin still in place, with a grin, she had eagerly dismissed the clone and began skimming.
It was then that the shamefully blushing girl snapped the book shut, wide-eyed. Yes, it was…quite descriptive…very enjoyable to read huh? Hiding the book under the pillow, she shook her head and tutted, hentai indeed. Unable to sleep from her run and with…certain images flashing through her mind… the girl sat up and read up on more appropriate literature on many countries she had never even heard of.
She had found out that the village she was resting in was called Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village in Fire Country. She had been greatly relieved that she had gotten to the right village and soon gotten drawn into the history of the shinobi world. The young teen was thoroughly intrigued; she had never been outside of her own village, the village that she had foolishly thought was its own little world with nothing else but wildlife existing outside of it. Then again, her village was especially isolated. The girl abruptly snorted though, when coming across the mention of her own hometown in the heavy history textbook.
……is regarded as a legend however as its location is unknown and any known ninja from this land has never been identified with exceptions by unreliable sources. Information is limited on this village though it is claimed that the shinobi of the village have exceptional control over water even more so then those of the Mist and Rain. Legend states how the entrance to this village appears once a month during the duration of the……
"…Pff…legend…"
When sunlight had crept around, she had turned off the flashlight and continued to absorb the information. She had recently dressed and washed, adamant on leaving the stuffy hospital that day. Her mind swirled with information of the Great Ninja Wars, alliances, foundation dates, and the Kages of villages. A polite cough from outside interrupted her.
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He looked on with a raised forehead and lightly chuckled. Upon hearing the awakening of the mysterious ninja, he had come down to question the girl himself. However, said girl was nowhere in sight as a fortress of musty, bulky books surrounded the entire bed, stacked high in the air. Upon coughing, a book was taken out and a purple eye stared back out from the open gap then curved upwards into a smile.
A stack of books was pushed to the side as the girl sat on the bed and smiled back and bowed her head, recognizing the figure in one of the previously read textbooks. "Ohayo-gozaimasu Hokage-sama!" ((formal—good morning))
The Sandaime blinked in surprise at her acknowledgement then looked more closely at the titles of the books. He smiled in return and nodded his head, "Ah, reading up on world history hmm?"
"Mmhmm." She smiled. '…Its okay…most of Konoha shinobi can be trusted, she said so herself…'
The Hokage examined the girl for a bit, taking in her blank hitae-ate that slanted in a familiar way over her left eye, the shock of silver-white hair was also noticed. She wore a typical ninja netting underneath her short, white kimono like apparel that came down just above her knees. Her footwear was also not of standard shinobi sandals but was more like a zori ((--Japanese thong-sandals, like flip-flops--)) but with crisscrossing black, cloth straps that went up and tied off at midcalf. Her position as a kunoichi was confirmed when, instead of an obi ((--wide sash used to tie off a kimono--)), a sash like brace encircled her left side, seeming to be oval shaped if laid out flat, and tied off at her right hip, the rounded tips fairly close to touching. From a distance, it would seem the brace was an ordinary decoration, but Sarutobi noted the exceptionally well crafted metallic amour designed to be strong yet light weighted underneath the solid brace cloth: a mix of light and dark green with hints of gold colored lines weaving in an intricate pattern, leaves fell faintly in the background throughout the other complex, curling patterns. The same patterns and colors reflected that of her nearly see through cloak whose tips, if she were standing, would fall to her ankles, also intended to be lightweight and not to be much of a burden. The cloak was attached to a single, thick, and handbreadth wide leather strap worn across the left shoulder, resting near the right hip. Hints of the cape began atop the shoulder, coming down slightly, showing on the front to come down to base of neck. Though he could not see any other possessions besides three scrolls hanging horizontally on the end of the shoulder strap at her hip, he was well aware of the many hidden weapons she hid underneath her long sleeves that grew wider nearer the wrists. The Hokage was positive there were more hidden weapons ready to be unsheathed or activated at any given moment. Nevertheless, her garb suggested that of a traveler or a person accustomed to roving outside often.
"Yes, I am the Hokage and I'm sure you've found out you are currently in Konoha. Please introduce yourself and if you do not mind, these are troubled times and we must not take any chances so I'll be asking you a few questions. For instance, a blank hitae-ate like yours isn't exactly common."
'Blank?…' She turned her eye upwards at her hitae-ate then took it off and examined it. "It is blank…" When dressing in the morning, she hadn't noticed the blank state and now stared at the forehead protector bafflingly. "Funny…it wasn't blank like this…it had a symbol on it like everyone else's."
"Symbol?" Sarutobi queried.
"Oh, gomen kudasai ((--formal-sorry)) Hokage-sama. Let me introduce myself, I am Nakata Sora…"
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" … Legends, no matter how mythical, must have some truth to take root. Though, symbol or not, it would still be suspicious so…" The Hokage then lightly pressed his finger upon the metal of the hitae-ate that rested slantingly on her forehead. The Konoha leaf symbol then appeared on the blank surface. "If needed be, you returned from the Rain village, where you transferred temporarily to further your studies, and is now a Leaf genin."
The girl nodded thoughtfully, absorbing the new identity.
"Yet, if I may delve, your village—"
"—Its gone. It's destroyed." She curtly stated this; the sorrow filled her eye once more as the Hokage sighed.
"I see, I am truly sorry for this loss, but you may stay here in Konoha as long as you wish, perhaps you can find some peace here for the time being." He softly spoke.
"Thank you Hokage-sama. But, where and how will I live?"
"Ah, that has already been settled," the Sandaime stated and then announced the next part with a twinkle in his eye, "you will live with and be under the care of a Jounin sensei and operate with his genin team, speaking of which, he should be here very soon to pick you up before the medic-nins tries to detain you for another month." He lightly chuckled at this part and smiled.
She smiled back and repeated her thanks.
"This Jounin shall be informed of your true origins, I trust him, there is no need to be more stressed under a falsity. Now then, I must take my leave, is there anything else you wish to tell me?" he paused at the doorway.
"No, there's nothing else to say." She lied.
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"But can the child be trusted, after all, it is quite a tale."
"She seems to be withholding details, but I believe she speaks the truth."
"I also question her verity. The girl may be a spy. How can you easily trust her Sandaime-sama?"
"I have my hunches on the girl, in time the truth will come to light."
"Hunches…do you truly believe she could be…"
"It is possible."
"And…"
"That too."
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Half an hour came and went. Then an hour, two hours, now it was nearing three hours. Two and half hours since the Hokage had left and said the Jounin would be here to pick her up.
'…Soon huh…no, it was supposed to be very soon…'
She pondered various reasons for this lateness while playing target practice on the wall where she had tacked up a paper with a general, stick figure man wearing the Konoha Jounin uniform drawn on it. At first, she was excited at the prospect of finally leaving the stuffy hospital and being able to move around again. Then she waited. And waited. And waited. And grew more irritated as time passed. True, during this time she admitted to herself that she used to be quite well known for her lateness, but not when picking up a very cranky person who wanted out of the hospital, now. Once two hours had rolled by, she had decided that this person deserved a very justified lesson in punctuality.
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Kakashi strolled along the hallways with his hands in his pockets. He had been surprised when the Hokage had told him he would be the guardian of the girl for the time being. He had started to protest that he could hardly care for a child himself, especially with the recently added S-class missions, much less then a young teenage girl bound to have mood swings and be trouble. The latter part had continued silently in his mind. Yet, the Hokage had remained firm and already took care of all necessary preparations. He opened the door to the ward the girl was kept in.
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If it were not for his particular reflexes, he would have probably been soaked with the hot bucket of water hanging just above the door that tipped over when the door opened a good distance. As he hurriedly dodged to the right, a volley of kunais charged at him from both left and right. He quickly jumped as the weapons clanged with each other and fell to the floor. Even in the midst of milliseconds, trained senses had him jerk his head to the side and miss hitting against the hanging object that was likely a trigger to another trap. Just as he landed safely to the ground, the hanging object then exploded into thick smoke that seemed to cling and latch onto Kakashi's skin. On the floor, the hot, spilled water reacted with the smoke and rapidly thickened into pasty glue that stuck fast to the Jounin's feet. A harmless blanket then floated down to land on the man, which was quickly but puzzlingly caught. And then another floated down. They soon started to descend in a fury and piled up to the man's waist. The blankets seemed to rapidly absorb the surrounding paste and harden into a cocoon. He turned his head in the direction of a light giggle.
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She had not expected him to so quickly notice and dodge the water; his feet had been at least caught. Nor did she think he would notice the smoke bomb, but no matter, it had been a chain reaction time release after the kunais had been activated.
'…Hmm…smarter then I thought…but still not quite…'
So, sitting atop a high stack of books, she quietly laughed at the show. As the falling blankets stopped with the cocoon up to his neck, he glared at the girl daring to laugh.
"Did I miss the joke?"
Shehurriedly stopped and gaped with disbelief at the empty cocoon displaying no signs of a breakout.
"How—"
"Clone substitution. When the water spilled. You blinked."
The girl turned and saw the Jounin lazily stretched out on the bed. "Nakata Sora I presume, you may call me sensei, or Kakashi-sensei."
"Hey, ecchi."
The man looked up a bit ruffled, "Sensei."
"Hey, ecchi-sensei, what's the big idea, huh! I—" Sora cut off when realizing she was scolding an empty bed.
"Maa, don't want to keep the team waiting any longer, c'mon." The Jounin was already out the door; waving with his hand to follow, as the other held open a certain book that caused the girl to flush momentarily then narrow her eyes.
"Ecchi…" she mumbled under breath, and followed after.
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"EEHHH!" The nin's broom fell and lied quite juvenile like to the large mess in front the doorway of the room. The great cocoon looked especially peculiar.
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One could only brood for so long before brooding grew too tiresome, running out of things to brood on, and brooding the objects of the brooding all brooded out. One could only admire, drool, blush, be ignored, be annoyed by another, and violently silence the annoying one before one lost the will to restart the chain of actions once more. One could only glare, curse, yell, plead, get rejected, and get hit before dots started appearing in the vision from glaring too much, the throat got hoarse, and before too many head bumps caused a concussion.
One would think that the three would be used to such rituals and would at least bring a book, puzzle, shougi set, origami paper; eat food, play duck, duck, goose and such to pass the time. No such objects orpasstimes existed, but instead three heads continued to nod off in the rising heat of the sun.
"Hey, good mor—afternoon."
The trio immediately snapped into focus, and the ritual ensued.
"OI!" The two growled, shaking their fists menacingly as the other huffed, displaying disproval.
"Ahaha, gomen, gomen," the Jounin began, rubbing the back of his head, " I had to pick up your new team member see?" With this he gestured his hand to the girl beside him.
'Who the hell are you fooling!' "…..Eh…new team member?" Sakura uncertainly asked, worrying about her sensei's state of mind while Naruto glared all the more.
"This is the worst, lame-ass excuse yet!"
"Hmm?" Perplexed at their responses, Kakashi turned to where his hand was presenting…empty space. The clear space of air seemed to jump out and back at him.
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'…Huh, a constant brooder, a girl with split-personality disorder, a hyper loudmouth, and a tardy ecchi…' The concealed girl in the training ground's treetops chuckled slightly at the delightful, fun mix of people. A swiftly thrown kunai cut off her cheerfulness, as it accurately lodged in the branch above her head.
"You can come out now."
Kakashi hardly flinched as his own knife landed next to his foot by a hair's breadth soon followed by a descending, white blur.
"What's up." The jolly greeting was said with a smile and curved eye, as she crouched atop the man's head. The trio stared for a moment, bewildered that the sensei actually had a genuine excuse this time.
'…She's a cheeky little thing…' Kakashi thought irritatingly. "Oi. Off my head."
Completely ignoring this, she friendly continued, "Hi, I'm Sora, nice to meet you all." She proceeded to shake Naruto's hand atop the man's head. "Haven't been introduced to you yet, hi!"
Seeming to break out of his daze, the boy eagerly puffed his chest out and proudly declared, "Ha! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! The future Hokage!"
"Why is your hitae-ate not blank any longer but now adorns the leaf symbol?" A sharp question tersely cut off Naruto as the self-proclaimed Hokage was shoved to the side. The dark-haired boy suddenly stood closer, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Sora sniffed and pursed her lips in a pouting manner while looking down her nose.
"You brood too much."
"Answer the question." He demanded.
"And you're nosy."
"Don't call Sasuke-kun nosy!"
"Oi! Sasuke-teme! Don't you push me a—"
"Enough." Kakashi had started getting a headache from the noise and the added weight on his head. He had subtly shifted his weight throughout, but the kunoichi's balance was remarkable. "Everyone, this is Nakata Sora who returned from her temporary education transfer from the Rain village. She just received her leaf headband and genin position." At the end of this he pointedly eyed the wary shinobi, seeing if this explanation was satisfactory.
"Hn." Sasuke turned his head and walked back to his original place.
'I'll take that as a yes for now…' The Jounin sighed and looked up. "Can you get off my head now?" He blinked then pushed off the short log atop his head and turned to the girl lounging on a patch of grass in the distance.
"All right then, another tough day of training today." Groans could be heard as the statement was made.
"Kakashi-sensei! Why are you making us train so hard these days!" Naruto complained with an angry scowl.
"…The reason… is the same one to why the Chuunin exams were delayed isn't it sensei?" The pink-haired girl asked thoughtfully. At this, several ears perked up, including that of Sora's. She continued to listen intently while appearing to be lounging about lazily.
"Hmm…knowledgeable as usual, maa, you guys should know about this anyway, bluntly put, an attack on the Leaf is impending. Anyone with a headband will be responsible in their share of missions." He solemnly concluded.
Digesting this new information, wheels turned rapidly in the young girl's mind. Calling forth data she collected from the history books she pondered. '…Bluntly put…you're not being completely blunt are you…its more then an impending attack. ------"…these are troubled times and we must not take any chances so I'll be asking you a few questions..." ------…………hmm…'
"Who and how many?" the Uchiha became instantly alert.
"That's unimportant right now." Kakashi aloofly waved it off despite the insistent frowns from the boy. "All right, Sora your throwing and balancing skills seem fine…" At this the kunoichi simply grinned knowingly. "I'll attest your current level of skill as you do single combat with…" '…Hmm…Naruto and Sasuke would likely go overboard, can't pair those two together…Sakura would be unwilling against Sasuke, Naruto would be unwilling against Sakura…sigh…' This was one of the times where he despaired over the awkward triangle of rivalry and crushes.
"…me." The Jounin finished with on a bright note with his eye curved upwards. "Everyone else, continue the water walking exercise from yesterday. Sakura, start attempting to walk up the waterfall by applying the tree climbing and water walking together, both fixing and balancing your chakra." He gestured to the small, generally peaceful waterfall that fell from 10 feet into the lake. "You two can go on to the waterfall exercise once you feel you mastered the water walking." Sakura looked at the waterfall and slightly frowned while the two boys took the sensei's last statement as an unspoken competition and glowered upon each other. Meanwhile, Sora continued her mask of disinterest while calculating the circumstances.
'…ugh…a Jounin, a strong one at that, might even be a retired ANBU member…he won't be easily fooled…'
"Ano sa, Ano sa." She sat up and turned to the whiskered boy crouched besides her whispering with his hands around his mouth. "Watch out for his Hidden Leaf Secret: Taijutsu Supreme Technique: A Thousand Years of Death!" As if remembering the pain, the boy slightly grimaced and quickly rushed off to the lake as a sweat drop appeared on the girl's head.
'..ehh…supreme technique…doesn't sound good, better take his advice…'
Taking the boy's guidance seriously, she turned to her opponent whose attention was focused on the book in his hand. "Ja, c'mon then." He beckoned her with his free hand. Sora froze for a moment, giving the reading Jounin a 'you-gotta-be-kiddin'-me' look.
"Oi, what's with the book? I thought this was combat."
"I want to find out what happens next."
She huffed at being taken so lightly. '…If he knew my actual position, why…' Abruptly, she paused and recollected herself, placing on a calm demeanor she used to use numerous times. Kakashi actually looked up, a bit surprised and somewhat chilled at the emotionless face that stared back. Realization and wonder struck the man.
'…Haven't seen that in a while…the well developed mask, of a veteran shinobi…'
"GAH! You're going to regret that!" She shouted, in true Naruto style and vigor. '…….Nevermind….' The man thought, sighing at the thoughts of another loud one.
'I need to be more careful.' She was relieved when seeing the Jounin's bored look appear again after her outburst. Sora tactfully thought out how the battle should then proceed. After quietly analyzing the three genin, she developed an average shinobi to aim for. '…Kakashi…sounds familiar…Hatake?' Rifling through her memory Sora found the bits of data she had read up on that early morning, a famous Copy-nin, her guess on his ANBU experience was correct. She frowned. 'This is going to be somewhat difficult.'
The girl quickly jumped high in the trees and hid her presence to strategize her plan thoroughly. 'Hmm, maybe she's more clever then I took her for.' He had half-expected her to launch a head-on assault to match her shouts. However, he remained calm as he pinpointed her hiding spot.
She suppressed the instinct to shift into assassin mode and completely mask her whereabouts. Sora trickled out just enough of her presence so that it wouldn't be too obvious, but would still make the Jounin fairly work to isolate her location. 'Her stealth is pretty okay.'
She then pulled on all the strings simultaneously.
Thumb. Daggers plunged from directly above, raining upon the reading figure. Pointer. Flaming shurikens flew from the surrounding bushes. Middle. Dirt scattered high in the air as the parts of the ground exploded, creating holes deep enough to catch a leg. Ring. Explosive notes on nearby tree trunks activated as smoke bombs whistled down and detonated near the land. Pinky. Hidden tear gas cans in treetops and on the ground blasted open shooting out needles with it; poison gas bombs dropped and erupted.
The explosions completely muted the sounds of the three splashes. Training was forgotten as the deafening scene left the drenched genins in shock. Sasuke first quickly recovered and furrowed his brows. 'I knew she was suspicious, this is not a normal ninja.' Naruto gaped admiringly. 'Wow, awesome…' The three waded deeper into the lake to be safe from the tear and poison gas flooding the area.
'Damn, over did it, still have to tone it down more. At least I made sure it shows nothing more then—'
'—sheer force. Impressive, but not focused. More of a show really, explosions and bombs were scattered and unnecessary, hoping to catch the target by chance. But effective to an extent.' He admitted the last part while pulling out a needle that had caught his hand and blinked away the effects of the tear gas. He had also breathed in a little amount of poison. Kakashi had substituted, allowing the log to be mauled by the kunais, catch fire by the shurikens, and fall into the exploded hole precisely beneath it. He did not expect her attack range, though, to extend farther out from his original position. With the ground so unstable, he had leaped up into the tree branches and was assaulted with explosions, tear gas, needles, and poison fumes. There was an advantage to random, unfocused attacks. They were random, unfocused attacks you could not anticipate and dodge as easily. 'Trapping and indirect attacks, notable.'
Now, the girl moved on and bulleted toward the figure before the tear gas affects wore off. As expected, he simply sidestepped; she fought the urge to counter and instead gave a gasp of surprise and scraped the side of her cheek on the ground for good measure. Standing while nursing her cheek, she glanced up at the man who frustratingly continued to read his book. "You should know better then to speed towards your opponent like that." He calmly stated. Sora dashed towards Kakashi again, and then flickered out of view. She reappeared behind him, high in the air, and swung her foot towards the side of his head. The head cleanly tilted to the side with the kick. Without losing momentum, she spun in time and swept the ground with her leg in which the man jumped over. Using the drive again, Sora performed the same sweep kick at his midsection in which the Jounin neatly caught before the foot hit his side. Taking the jerk of the sudden halt, she turned her body around, free foot aiming for his head. Letting go of the foot, he crouched down before the impact. She spun freely in the air shortly then landed in handstand form and pushed off her hands so that the kunoichi flew feetfirst over with her arched back to the crouched Jounin. While flipping fowardsin midair, Sora drew back and unleashed a fist at the man. Kakashi's figure disappeared as the fist punched air; she unclenched the hand and pushed off the ground just below, flipping over to crouch on the ground. She lightly panted and put on a strained face as she observed her surrounding, the look was even more convincing as she did half-so in truth in finding that restraining herself was more tiring. 'Remember, slow down your speed, keep it down, don't immediately counter, don't move with too much precision, simple stuff, I don't need anymore suspicious eyes…" Thus, she pretended not to immediately notice the Jounin who stood behind her nearing the end of his volume.
'Taijutsu is not bad.'
Then, silently, seals hidden by the width of her sleeves she leaped high in the air and back flipped so that she was above the man. 'Ninpou, Rapid Wind Strikes!' With the last seal, she drew her hands together, then opened them, letting loose swift blows of strong, wind currents like large, invisible fists soon followed by her own descending body and knuckles. Seeming to have been surprised for a moment, Kakashi quickly reacted and smoothly dodged the currents and caught the girl's fist, spinning her around, releasing and throwing her into the distance. While flying in the air, she promptly performed hand seals and continued so as she somersaulted in the air and sprung off a tree trunk with her feet. 'Ninpou, Bunshin no Jutsu!' Four kunoichis came flying towards the man, the outer two with daggers in their hands, the inner seeming to prepare for physical assault. As the four drew closer, the shinobi flipped a page and seemed not to notice. In reality, he gave her points in quick and clever thinking as the four clones sped towards him while keeping track of the real one hiding and waiting in the undergrowth behind him.
'Making hand seals is such a bother….but it would be fishy if I didn't.'
The outer two clones 'V'ed in while the inner ones did the opposite. While the clones swooped in as a distraction, Sora flung out kunais with explosion tags attached to them. Immediately afterwards, she started a row of seals. 'Shadow Mind Echo Illusion.'
The clones disappeared in clouds of smoke as the explosion tags loudly activated and added to the smoke. Kakashi viewed the scene below from his tree branch while frowning underneath his mask. He saw the explosions and the entire scene all right, but he did not hear a single thing. Complete silence.
'…What the...' He grew more confused as this unspoken thought seemed to reverberate and thunder throughout the forest. WHAT THE….WHAT THE…What the…what the…
He knocked on the branch he crouched on, and heard the knock, from behind him. He grew more wary when suddenly hearing giant wing flaps as if enormous birds were flying right next to his ear while observing the flock of crows soaring far away in the distance. The strangeness became more bizarre when a piercing alarm clock disrupted the scene.
BRIIIING! BRIIIIING!
"..Nani?" But he did not hear this whisper as emptiness came from his mouth.
He jumped higher in the branches, alert and cautious, and opened his other senses wider, blocking out his hearing. He abruptly chucked a pebble into a bush below and watched as a squirrel scampered out and chattered angrily, the alarm clock sound booming from its mouth instead of the usual rodent talk. For once, he was unsure if this was an illusion or a ninjutsu as genjutsu tended to manipulate all five senses to present a convincing delusion. Here, it did not seem as if the setting changed at all. His hearing only seemed to be distorted. Or did she purposely create an illusion where everything looked and felt as it was supposed to? Quite annoyingly, his pondering thoughts raucously echoed everywhere.
He made a quick hand seal. "Kai!" ((Release/Undo)) Of course, he heard nothing as he felt himself utter the word. The scenery did not change or shift away, nothing seemed to be any different. Kakashi tried speaking. His voice came out strangled.
'Ninjutsu then, or just good genjutsu?' His thought seemed to be confirmed when it softly echoed out. He paused, sniffed the air then took off.
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'Curious, extremely keen nose, used his other senses to locate me quickly.' Sora lazily stretched out and yawned as she tracked the man's movements coming closer.
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He observed the girl a little longer. She sat in a concealed area in a meditative pose, seeming to be stressed. As he hung upside-down on a tree branch by his feet, he noticed the genjutsu slowly wearing off until finally ending. At that point, the girl cursed angrily and went through hand seals and concentrated on the last one. Kakashi took note of the seals and how his hearing and sense of smell became defected for a few seconds before the illusion flickered out.
'Interesting genjutsu, only affects smell and hearing at first as to not raise suspicion, then starts to manipulate taste, feeling, and finally sight while using the same surroundings. But.'
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'A net? How old fashioned…' Sora widened her eyes in shock as a net engulfed her from above. Her eyes actually did widen when the kunai she slashed with bounced off the chakra-enforced material uselessly as she felt herself being lifted. Kakashi leaped through the trees hoisting the rope carrying the net and its load underneath him.
"Good effort on the genjutsu, though it should be practiced more before used in actual battle. Overall, you're a good kunoichi." He stated cheerfully looking down.
His smiling eye then opened and gave a knowing air as he lowered his tone. "That's what you planned to hear didn't you." It was more of a statement then a question as the girl flinched. "Hmm…purposely making classic genin mistakes…"
He was bluffing, seeing what her reaction would be…right? She decided to play it safe anyway and began placing on a bewildered expression.
"EH? Just my luck, you are paranoid. What are you talking about?"
Kakashi ignored this and continued right on. "… Playing off as a genin, easily at Chuunin level, perhaps Jounin, what are your motives?…You seem trustworthy, hiding things granted, but somewhat honest…however…" He suddenly stopped and slung the rope over a tree branch across from him, pulling the rope to raise the netted girl up to eye level and stated in a calm, matter of fact way as if it were the most normal thing in the world, "If you ever betray that trust and Konoha, I'll kill you." He let go of the rope and the net plummeted.
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End Notes: Shougi is Japanese chess.
