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Accidentally

Chapter 17: Correlation

They watched the group mope about hopelessly from the trees.

"Senseeeeii~ We've been running around for hours! Where the hell is Sakura-chan?!"

Kakashi didn't reply, only kept his eyes dull and downcast. The two in the trees frowned at each other.

"Zetsu really did a number on them."

"You sure you want to do this? Will they agree to your terms?"

There was a brief silence.

"Naruto, perhaps we were on a false trail?" Sai suggested, though doubt plagued his mind.

"Bull! We saw and fought one of them! If we're wrong, then where the hell's Shikamaru?!" Naruto shot back heatedly.

Sai looked away from him. They were both losing hope, and Kakashi hadn't even spoken since they'd fought the green-haired man.

"What are they thinking," said one in the trees, "With their platoon leader gone, they're legally obligated to return to the village...! But-"

"But Naruto is Naruto as always?" the other reasoned.

"Yeah," he paused, "So why them? What are you thinking, Sakura?"

She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the black-haired one in the group in front of them. Sakura shook her head. Surely Sai noticed them? What genjutsu had Zetsu put on them?

Could've very well been forbidden, she thought, I wouldn't put it beneath him.

"Sakura?"

The kunoichi snapped back into reality, glancing quickly at Shikamaru, then back to the ground.

"I'm not an idiot; I know I can't take down Kabuto and Orochimaru alone - and even then, there might be more!"

Shikamaru frowned again, "You've got me."

"I'm trusting you and hopefully Sai to get the Akatsuki out of there while Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and myself deal with the other two," she smiled playfully at him, "I know you won't hurt them if I tell you not to."

And hopefully the others - or at least Sai - will comply as well.

"Alright, first thing's first: What the hell did Zetsu do to them and how can we reverse it?"

Sakura jumped down th the middle of the group, signaling for Shikamaru to stay back. She glanced at each of her friends.

What the hell...?!

Sakura flinched, almost in horror. They're not reacting to my presence...!

When she tried flaring her chakra, Naruto sneezed, but besides that, nothing. Shikamaru decended the tree, touching Sakura's shoulder as she pondered what the hell was happening. She touched a finger to her chin in thought.

"The...the Kigu Ryougou no Jutsu!"

"The what?" Shikamaru asked.

"The oblivious travel technique," she said, hiking her shoulders up sheepishly, "When I work for Tsunade-shishou late at night, I have limited access to the genjutsu archives. This includes the forbidden archives."

Shikamaru grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sakura...don't tell me..."

"H-hey! At least I know how to dispel it!" she defended herself.

He sighed, but she went on elaborating anyway.

"It's an extremely high-ranking genjutsu," she began, "Because, unlike most every other genjutsu in existence, it creates new land to cover in the illusion-ee's mind's eye."

When Shikamaru quirked a brow at her, she went on. "It's like they're glued to an invisible treadmill. As we see them go nowhere at all," she said, gesturing to the squad standing around, contemplating their complete lost-ness, "their eyes show them all walking and walking, but not getting any closer to the base."

Shikamaru analyzed the group as Naruto sneezed some more and complained about shitty directional skills on Sai's part. He was catching on, but what exactly made this jutsu so powerful, and forbidden at that? Sakura gladly explained for him.

"The caster constantly produces more - new - scenery as the affected move along, when in fact they've been tied down to the very spot that they sparred with Zetsu. What makes this jutsu un-learnable and closed off to all but very few, is the fact that the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, created this jutsu!"

Sakura seemed proud of herself for knowing such information. "And as we all should know by now, his chakra's major was working with wood and, less specifically, nature."

Shikamaru seemed to have an epiphany. "So, had the Lady Hokage or Yamato-san made genjutsu their major, they could perform this as well?"

Sakura smiled wholly at him. "Yes, but as is the same with Hashirama-sama, it would be limited," she smiled thoughtfully here, "Because Zetsu is...well, Zetsu, he has at least an eight-fold stronger bond with the Mother Earth than that of any Senju."

She glanced to the sky absently. "No offense, sir."

Her foot kicked at the ground as she thought. "There are only, therefore, two ways to undo this justu."

"The caster would have to release it?" suggested Shikamaru as he experimented with the group by flicking Naruto's forehead, with little results.

Sakura nodded. "Or, there would have to be a major setting change caused by an outside force."

"Such as?"

When Shikamaru got no response for some time, he turned away from pulling on Sai's hair, only to find Sakura several yards away at the top of a tree. He jumped, and could barely see the fiery grin Sakura shot him from where she stood.

"Such as a massive crater caused by a badass pink-haired bitch!"

She ran chakra to her fist, flipped into the air, and rocketed down at the earth. Before Shikamaru could say anything to oppose, the ground shook, and an imposing crater, far enough to keep Naruto and himself out of harm's way, but close enough to knock them all to their asses, erupted from nowhere and shards of land were flying every-which-way they chose.

Some otherworldly force made a piece of this land fly straight at Kakashi's head.

Great.

OoOoOo

Howdy.

I know it's short, but I didn't want it to come in too late after the more or less deadline I'd created with SexySelena666. So heres you goes :3

~Raven100