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The forest of death was true to its name.
Naruto Uzumaki can easily attest to this as he surveyed his surroundings.
Kunai scattered everywhere. Blood marring whatever it could touch, be it the grass, flowers, rocks and the quiet trees that hid the violent skirmish that had recently taken place.
The widened shocked eyes of the three dead genin gave no tales of their demise. It was their blood that painted the immediate battleground. The vicious cuts littering their bodies are the artists of the red masterpiece.
The life of a ninja wasn't anything pure, Naruto had to learn that long ago and came to accept it.
Pushing away any sort of guilt, he took to pilfering the corpses for anything of worth along with the kunai that lay scattered about.
Ultimately, his attention fell solely on a scroll he procured from the weapon's pouch of the mist Kunoichi.
It was a heaven scroll. Just what his team needed to pass the second round.
With a sigh of relief, the only thing Naruto had to do now was to link up with his teammates whom he was sure weren't aware of his departing. With no influx of memories from the shadow clone he left behind with his team, he could assume they weren't attacked; or at least yet.
"How?"
Quickly twisting his body whilst leaping away from where he heard the voice, Naruto slid out a Kunai that was stashed away within the sleeve of his jacket.
The voice came from one of the corpses. Naruto walked over griping his Kunai with his right hand as he checked for pulses on the other two bodies; they were dead.
"How," Kanashimi asked as he watched his team's murderer walk closer to him, fearing for his life. "How d-did we lo-lose to someone like y-you?"
"Because you underestimated me. Nothing more."
Not satisfied with the answer he was given, Kanashimi glared, but his glare didn't do much as he didn't even have the energy to do so. His life was hanging by a thread after all. "I- I mean how did we lose to a loudmouth ninja who wears orange?" Cough. "How..."
did you kill my friends so easily?
Naruto glanced upon the dying genin. Should he answer his question? Should he give this mist genin his dying wish? Just as Naruto shot down the idea due to regarding the exams, a realization hit him.
He could answer the question and be at two places at the same time.
Summoning a shadow clone to take his place, Naruto disappeared into the treeline, not before extending his senses to check for any possible eavesdroppers; there were none thankfully. The Uzumaki preferred if enemy ninja from the rival ninja villages also participating in the chunin exams didn't get any sort of intel on him.
Left alone with the clone, Kanashimi locked his eyes with him as the clone sat next to him.
"Deception." The clone answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
'Bullshit.' Kanashimi internally reasoned refusing to believe this idiot-looking fooled him along with his team?
Back during his days in the academy, Kanashimi remembered the lessons of the tactics of a ninja. How to track, how to strategize, how to deceive.
Deceiving to acquire an advantage. In battle, all that mattered was the enemy being killed off. All that mattered was victory and survival.
"Let's start on my choice of clothing. I wear orange. So what? Is there a problem as you felt the need to bring up the fact I wear orange? My choice of clothes doesn't impede me as a ninja.
First of all, you and your team couldn't notice me while my original self was trailing you throughout the forest until it was too late."
'Fuck you.'
"Second of all, reverse psychology is a thing. If you see someone wearing black and carrying armoury on them, people would typically associate the person with being a ninja. A loudmouth brat wearing orange? Not ninja material most would probably think. People would probably think, " What a dumb kid" or my personal favourite, "this moron will stick out like a sore thumb." Again, your dead team is proof enough that the latter isn't true.
So when I met your team yesterday at the Ichiraku ramen stall, I knew you came for the chunin exams. I purposely let myself appear like an ignoramus so your team would get a negative impression of me. I figured there is a chance we could come to battle in the exams, and if you underestimate me for whatever reason, it would make my job a whole lot easier."
"Then why didn't you use any genjutsu?" Kanashimi inquired. "Yesterday at the stall, you claimed yourself that you were the best upcoming genjutsu user within Konoha."
Naruto chuckled, "About that, I lied. Let me ask you, um..."
"Kanashimi." Came the answer to the unspoken question.
"Very well Kanashimi. Did I fight like a genjutsu user?"
"No." Came the curt reply.
"Exactly. I didn't fight like one would expect from a genjutsu specialist as I'm not such. When I had attacked you, your team had assumed that I was a genjutsu user, that I was a support type fighter, thus I couldn't take you guys on without support."
Expectation often differed from reality.
"But as you are aware by now, I'm not a genjutsu user. Far from it. My skill in the art is practically nonexistent. My skill in ninjutsu, and, well, your team experienced firsthand that it's my forte.
I mean, remember how I summoned my shadow clones and assaulted your teammate? How they just stood there preparing the ram seal to dispel the illusion of multiple copies of myself, only to have his neck cut?"
Kanashimi's first clenched, his bloodshot eyes almost bursting. 'This bastard...'
"Remember your Kunoichi teammate? Remember how she thought her teammate dying was a genjutsu? As if the mere thought of her teammates and herself dying never crossed her mind."
"Please, just fucking shut up!"
Throwing up his hands in a defeated manner, "Don't ask me how I defeated your team if you can't stomach the answer."
"Do you mind telling me this, if your team couldn't pick up on me following you and orange clothing should stick out like a sore thumb, what does that says about your team's skill in awareness or observation?"
Kanashimi remained silent, refusing to answer. It was a good thing Naruto was there to help him out.
"I'll answer it for you. Your team's skill in awareness and detection sucks ass."
Kanashimi would've levelled yet another glare for the insult at his skill along with his team's but he knew deep down whatever this guy was saying was the truth, no matter how much he wanted to decline it. It had to have been the truth otherwise his team would've detected him long before he attacked them.
"Anyways, you shouldn't judge a ninja by his clothing mist ninja. In the same way, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Doing so is stupid. You may never know what a ninja is truly capable of until it's too late.
Also, who cares about what a ninja wears when they can easily change their appearance with quick use of the transformation technique. Or use an invisibility jutsu to turn invisible. Whatever clothing a ninja may wear, stealth can still be achieved with ninja techniques that facilitate stealth.
And besides, most of our time isn't spent hiding in forests or similar locations, but within other people. The stealthiest ninja is the one you can't discern from a civilian."
The chakra construct lit its hand with a small blue flame of chakra before resting it upon Kanashimi's chest. He felt chakra being dispersed within his body, going from his head down to his toes.
With a pop, the clone erased its presence as if it was never there, to begin with.
All that was left to keep Kanashimi company was the cold breeze of the forest, brushing against his body, watching the clouds painting the morning sky.
It was soothing, to say the least.
Death was coming and for some reason, Kanashimi wasn't scared anymore. He wasn't sure what the bastard had done, but his body was no longer trembling, no more panting breaths, and the pain he was feeling just a moment ago was washed away as if it weren't there, to begin with.
The only thing left was acceptance. Kanashimi's arms spread out as if calling for death to embrace him.
The afterlife. Did it truly exist?
And where would the boy who killed his team end up?
What will become of him? Perhaps becoming a dangerous foe feared among the ninja?
Who knows.
In his final moments, Kanashimi couldn't help but smile at the beautiful irony.
The one who his team wrote off as an utter joke and as a wannabe ninja would end up being the one to kill them.
Dancing to his tunes without knowing it.
Naruto Uzumaki was one deceptive bastard.
The end.
