Chapter Text
Three's A Crowd - Chapter Seven: Unknown Assassin.
Sasuke Uchiha was good with genjutsu. His Sharingan allowed him to manipulate an area into looking empty when it wasn't (as he'd done previously, to avoid Team Guy back when they were still in the land of rice paddies), or throw up ghost images that made the battlefield look more chaotic than it really was. These abilities expended a sizable amount of his chakra, and in having to remain motionless in order to keep the smokescreen up, it left him vulnerable to attack. As a result, he'd grudgingly agreed to stay out of the more physical aspects of this fight… for now.
And of course, this was his first opportunity to see if it could fool even the Byakugan.
Sakura Haruno's genjutsu however, was of little use here. She was better at altering memories, an ability she'd perfected after a particularly nasty fight over a scroll a few years back. It had been very informative. She moved away from Sasuke slowly and carefully, her eyes on the teams in front of them. This assassin was tough, and had knocked back the Chunins in the Kumo team quickly and easily. Tenten was keeping her distance, the weapons mistress making full use of her seemingly endless supply of summoned kunai.
Closer to their target, Neji's lightning fast moves were extremely impressive, but the assassin seemed to have a fondness for using multiple shadow clones. Naruto Uzumaki was only a foot away from Sakura, and seeing that he had this in common with the assassin both annoyed him and presented an opportunity. He'd been a little concerned over his part of this fight, but it was a moot point now. Rock Lee, Maito Gai, and the Kumo Jounin, Himunari Akatachi, were on the other side of the assassin and the blonde lost track of them for a minute. He was gobsmacked, watching the fluid movements of the Hyuuga, impressed. He'd gotten much better since their fight at the Chunin exams.
Naruto was aching to test himself, and once he'd moved into position, shared a knowing look with Sakura. They couldn't see Sasuke anymore, but that was fine, considering he wasn't doing this next part with them anyway.
Soundlessly, Naruto created several clones and then transformed them into the unknown assassin. This was too easy, at least on that part. He sent the clones in, keeping himself out of the way as he too transformed. Sasuke's ghost images appeared suddenly –they were literally like shadows that had been cast against a solid wall, except they seemed to move with a mind of their own. He knew they held no physical mass, so they Naruto out. Knowing about the blonde's fear, Sasuke had deliberately nicknamed them "chakra ghosts".
They darted in between the combatants as Naruto's transformed clones attacked everyone but the assassin. It was chaos, and the real Naruto waited impatiently as they were whittled down (he couldn't attack the assassin yet, considering that would give their plan away, but he was looking as confused as Team Guy).
Meanwhile, Sakura and Naruto were both throwing kunai toward the assassin, much like the rain ninja had done to them during the Chunin exams, in the forest of death.
Finally however, the dissipation of the transformed shadow clones showed that the assassin was the only one left standing and Sasuke felt gratified – Neji's Byakugan had not seen through the façade. Kitsúne charged into the fight now, but Sakura kept her distance, keeping up the thrown kunai routine as Naruto and Sasuke attacked the already tired ninja trained assassin.
The assassin swung his sword in an arc toward Naruto; up close, the blonde noted the blade was beautifully engraved, like it had once belonged to a noble, or prince. On instinct, he reached out a hand toward it, his grip fastening on the hilt, and pulled. The assassin was thrown off balance by this move, stopping his advance and pivoting too slowly to avoid Naruto's grab for his sword.
'I'll probably have to fight teme for the damn thing next,'he thought glumly.
Sasuke took the distraction as an advantage and came charging toward the assassin, slamming into the ugly brute, allowing Naruto to snatch the sword before the ugly brute could get a better hold of it. The assassin's build was larger than expected, but he inevitably fell to the relentless assault on his person. This battle was over. Sakura jumped forward, checking to make sure their friends and the Kumo ninja weren't in any immediate danger.
"Idiot," she snapped at Naruto, after checking on their quarry. "You weren't supposed tokillhim."
He poked tongue at her. "The reward said 'dead or alive',Sa-ku-ra!"
"Well, you're still an idiot,Na-ru-to!"
Leaning heavily on his new sword from overusing his chakra, Naruto decided not to anger the temperamental Kunoichi while he was in such a delicate position and instead pointed a finger toward Neji. "Kicks ass, doesn't he? He took out all of my clones by himself."
"They've all improved," Sakura said wistfully.
Naruto groaned. "Do you think you should alter their memories Sakura?"
"No, I wouldn't even try. They're elite ninja Naruto," she snapped when he looked ready to debate this, "and if they break the genjutsu, which is more likely to happen than not, it'll only draw more suspicion to us."
"She's right," Sasuke said absentmindedly. "But we should at least make sure no enemy ninja will accidentally happen upon their unconscious forms, otherwise they're dead anyway."
He stared at the sword in Naruto's hand as he spoke and the blonde now held it protectively to his chest. "Out of it teme, I snatched it, so it's mine."
"And what are you going to do with an ōdachi?" Sakura asked. "It's a difficult sword to maintain for a knucklehead."
Naruto stared down at the beautiful creation. Now that he wasn't fighting to snatch it away from the now dead assassin, he took the time to really admire the filigree on the hilt and the blade itself (not to mention the religious inscriptions). His eyes flickered over the edge of the blade, remembering that the only time he'd seen an ōdachi this decorative, it had merely been a ceremonial sword.
In battle, an ōdachi was typically used on horseback, due to its length not being appropriate for in close combat, but ninja were trained with multiple weapons, and they were taught that a longer sword actually had an advantage if against an opponent with a shorter blade. Naruto wasn't very good with swords, only shorter blades like kunai, tanto, kodachi…
He sighed. "Fine, but I get the next weapon."
He glanced at Sakura, who shook her head to show she didn't want it, and then tossed the ōdachi to Sasuke, who caught it easily. The Uchiha was mesmerised by the blade; he'd always liked the idea of carrying around a sword and this blade was definitely interesting enough to warrant his attention. Swords were his favourite weapon.
X X X
The dust was settling when Neji Hyuuga roused. He was the first to open his eyes without any clue as to the time that had passed. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes, but there were also no signs of anything in the immediate vicinity other than himself, his team, and the Kumo ninja. Slowly, they joined him in the realm of the conscious, all looking puzzled at the strange events that had befallen them. Neji's Byakugan had seen through it however, even if he hadn't understoodwhathe was seeing. It had been a genjutsu, but he hadn't seen the assassin cast it.
He looked around: their quarry had completely disappeared.
The Kumo Chunin were hurt, the Jounin bore a few scratches, and when the two teams went their separate ways, it was only the Hyuuga who thought over what had just happened, not feeling remotely like he'd done anything wrong. Lee and Guy were lamenting that the power of youth had failed them, and the assassin had gotten away, and with no sign as to his destination. He wouldn't fall for the same tricks again, so for now, this mission was over. And while Tenten looked quietly downcast at their apparent failure, Neji knew better.
He stared out over the woods around them, following his team mates as they found the path that would lead them out of the land of frost. It wasn't something he'd have expected to happen, but it had happened nonetheless. Neji stopped walking.
"Neji?" Tenten asked immediately. "Are you okay?"
He shook his head slowly. "Tenten, I…"
She smiled knowingly, her hand resting on his upper arm. "I know: I feel the same way too. I could've sworn we did everything right and–"
"We did," he said defensively.
Guy and Lee stared at him, infuriatingly silent.
"What do you mean?" His brunette Kunoichi team mate asked, worried by the strange look on Neji's face.
"The Kumo ninjas missed it because they didn't have the Byakugan, but…" he trailed off thoughtfully. Neji knew they were alone, so he felt confident that they wouldn't be overheard.
"What are you saying, Neji?" Guy asked.
Neji glanced at Tenten's worried expression before answering. "There's only one explanation I can think of, and that's that there was someone else there during that fight. They were the ones who made off with the assassin."
X X X
