His hands shook and his stomach clenched as he tried to hold back the heavy, panting breaths that clawed their way out of his throat. His fear gave the world an awful clarity, and he could hear every shift his pursuers made, tell exactly how close he was to death. The air rushing past his ears became the sharp blade of a kunai, the bark below his feet crackled with the ignition of exploding tags. The world blurred as his oxygen deprived brain gave up the fight to see, and the swirl of colour that was his vision seemed fitting- a circus in his last moments that reflected the circus his life had become.