Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road Less Travelled By ❯ Bunshin Match! The Triumph of Teamwork ( Chapter 3 )

Bunshin Match! The Triumph of Teamwork

 

Gutting fish was one of the chores in his life that Sasuke hated. While he was perfectly willing to believe in it being a necessary task to learn how to do correctly, he still found it rather distasteful. After all, even a ninja finds ripping the guts from a dead creature somewhat unpleasant. Unfortunately he couldn't ask for Naruto's aid, as he had no clue, and he was frankly relieved at Sakura not looming over him, and so wished that her fire making would take as long as possible without her getting into trouble.

Then again, he thought to himself as he cleaned the last fish, we're already in trouble with this exam. Orochimaru has made things much more difficult.

“Sasuke-kun!”

Sasuke tried not to shiver as he heard Sakura call for him. She's been watching me like a hawk ever since we moved position to here. I know it's because she's worried, but all the same, it's getting annoying.

“We need you to light the fire, Sasuke-kun! Can you come and use goukakyuu?”

“And can you hurry up? I'm freezing!” complained Naruto.

Sasuke smiled a little, then dipped his kunai into the water, washing away the blood and entrails. “Just finishing up here,” he called back. “You'll be fed soon enough, Naruto, so quit nagging.” He checked that the kunai was clean, before replacing in back in his leg holster, and picking up the fish. By talking to them, I show them that I'm still okay. They'll worry less once they see nothing has changed. He walked back to where together Naruto and Sakura had set up a small fire, carefully encircled with stones and a pile of firewood set nearby. Sasuke nodded and put the fish down. “Naruto? You want to skewer these?”

“Sasuke? You wanna light the fire?” answered Naruto in a mockery of Sasuke's tone. “I'm still freezing from that river.”

Sasuke looked at Sakura. “Why do you need me anyway? Flint and steel should be the way to light a fire.”

Sakura shook her head. “I couldn't find any dry wood, Sasuke-kun, so I couldn't get the fire to light. I thought maybe if you used one of your techniques, you'd get it to catch.”

Sasuke thought about it. I suppose it's possible to do it that way, but my fire techniques were never designed to do something so fine as to just light a stack of wood. I could do more damage than they expect. He nodded. “I'll try. You better stand back, I don't know how small I can make it.” He waited until they'd done as he'd asked, Sakura watching him worriedly and Naruto peeking out of the corner of his eyes as he fiddled about with the long sticks they were going to use to cook the fish.

Sasuke slowly brought his hands up in front of his body, spelling out the seals, and drawing the smallest amount of chakra he thought he could use and not fail the technique up into his mouth. “Katon - Goukakyuu no jutsu!” He brought his hand up, guiding the flame jet to the neatly stacked firewood, watching it blacken, then burst into flames for itself. Still too much fire though. Sasuke kept breathing out, trying to expel the chakra from his mouth, then something made him stop.

A shooting pain started in his neck, and seemed to flare outwards briefly, making Sasuke abort the jutsu and clap a hand to his neck, grimacing in pain.

Sakura was at his side in a moment. “Sasuke-kun? What is it? Is that mark doing something again?” She gripped his free arm tightly, watching him intently.

Sasuke was embarrassed to note that Naruto had half risen to his feet and was watching him carefully. Like I'm sort of invalid, or child. Pity of a general sort Sasuke knew well how to cope with. He'd been facing it since he was young. It was this pity from his team that unsettled him, which had replaced their camaraderie. He jerked his arm out of Sakura's grip. “I'm fine. I just had a twinge in my neck, that's all.”

“Must've been some twinge,” muttered Naruto, setting out the fish to cook against the fire. “Sasuke, if you're not feeling a hundred percent, you should tell us.”

Sasuke let his hand drop from his neck. “Like I said, it was just a twinge. It's gone now.” He moved to sit by the fire, watching the flames rather than trying to meet the gaze of either Naruto or Sakura.

Naruto looked at Sakura. Sakura-chan cares, but she'd never complain at Sasuke. If anyone is going to make him face up to it and talk, it's going to have to be me. His nose caught the scent of cooking fish and he shook himself. Mustn't get distracted. Sasuke first, dinner later. “Oi, Sasuke?”

“Hm?” Sasuke poked at the fire with a stick, more out of giving him something to do than the fire needing tending.

Naruto took a deep breath. “If that funny mark hurts, maybe it's trying to tell you something. Has it been hurting much lately?”

Sasuke shook his head. “Not since I started to calm down after the fight. Felt hot once or twice, but it's probably just the venom working its way out of my system.”

“I think Naruto might be right, Sasuke-kun,” said Sakura, leaning away from him slightly, like she was afraid of retribution. “You haven't done much since it calmed down, and we've no clear clue about what might make it grow again.” And you keeping us out like this, trying to solve it for yourself might be brave, but it's also foolish to turn away help. “It reacted to this, maybe,” she continued, indicating the fire, “so maybe it'll react again to something small and unneeded.”

Naruto dragged his eyes away from the fish again. “Yeah. You said it got hot before. When?”

Sasuke shrugged, disliking their scrutiny. “While we were coming here... It started to feel hot just before we came out of the trees. I was just going to ignore it when it started to act up. It's just a distraction.”

Sakura shook her head. “From what it sounds like, it's reacting to you using chakra. The more you use at once, the more it reacts.”

“Hey, that's serious!” said Naruto. “If it hurts every time you use chakra, what's going to happen when we fight for a scroll?”

Sasuke shook his head. “You're just guessing that.” And so did I, but that's not the point. I have to get through this exam.

Naruto thought about this. “Well if you're so sure, how about you make some bunshin and see if it reacts? Or do a full size goukakyuu?”

Sasuke clenched his jaw, realising that Naruto was calling his bluff. If I agree to that, I may find that I'm weaker than even I thought, and certainly they will prevent me competing. My only other option is to agree with them, and to whatever demands they make. “I guess you're right. I'll try not to use chakra anymore until we can get someone to tell me what Orochimaru did.”

Sakura nodded. “No jutsu, no sharingan. And tell us if we're making you move around too much.”

Sasuke looked into the fire dully. Can't take care of myself any more, Sakura? Can't do what must be done? I refuse. But by saying I accept, there'll be peace within the team, and we can start the real work. “I know what uses chakra, Sakura. I'll be careful, I promise.”

“You better be. I don't want to worry like that again.”

Sasuke nodded, not looking at her, and poked at the fire again. “We need to make plans, not talk about what might be wrong with me.” He looked up, taking in the position of the sun. “It's been four days since the second exam started.” He looked back to the fire, examining how cooked the fish were. “The second exam began at around three o'clock. We only have twenty five to twenty six hours left.”

Sakura nodded. “A lot of teams might've already finished. If that's the case…” She trailed off, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded. We're in a bad position. He stood, and started handing out the fish, setting aside the extra to cool. Naruto seemed shocked at the stick of the largest fish being pressed into his hand, but said nothing, for which Sasuke was grateful. I don't want to have to explain my reasoning to him.

Sakura chewed at her fish mournfully. “It may be possible that there are no more scrolls of heaven. Four out of the allotted five days for the second exam have passed. That means that we've used up eighty percent of the time for the exam already. Total participants were seventy eight, or twenty six teams. There are only thirteen scrolls of heaven, and thirteen scrolls of earth, so only thirteen teams can pass. On top of that, do you remember, Sasuke-kun? That Orochimaru guy burned our scroll of heaven. Only twelve teams can pass now. But there's no guarantee that other scrolls weren't also destroyed.”

Sasuke looked down. “After we separated from the other Konoha genin, we used two days to recuperate from our wounds.” To let me recuperate. I've wasted us so much time. “We'll need to move faster now, to make up for lost time. The next enemy we meet might be our last chance.” He looked at Sakura. “It's the last day of the exam, so the teams will be drawing closer to the tower.”

Sakura nodded. “Teams with both scrolls trying to get there in time, and teams like ours, trying to acquire the opposite scroll. Both will be in the area. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing before we fight if the group we face would have the scroll we needed.”

Sasuke shook his head. “Those moving will have both. Those lying in wait, with traps set will most likely be the ones with only one scroll.”

Naruto tilted his head. “So, there'll be a lot of traps? Because I know that I'd use a trap of some kind to make sure we didn't get caught heading to the tower.”

“Even worse,” said Sakura, “Some might be trying to acquire more than two scrolls, to cut down on the competition. We've seen all kinds of dirty tricks so far in the exams.”

Naruto smirked. “So? I'm the king of pranks. Let's see if we can't come up with a trick of our own to get a scroll.”

 

***************************************************************** ******************

 

By Sasuke's reckoning it was gone midnight, and still they were searching for the group that might succumb to Naruto's plan. He hated to admit it, but Naruto had quite a flair for devising plans that others might not think of preparing for. And so far, we're still walking towards the tower, without sign of anyone else being here, except for a few abandoned traps.

Sakura flopped to the ground, breathing hard. “I can't go any further for now. Can't we rest a while?”

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto knelt and started to check that she was okay.

“How long have we walked?” she complained. “The tower isn't getting any closer at all!” She raised her head to look at it.

Naruto followed suit. “But it looks like it's right in front of us. This is weird.”

Sasuke nodded. “I've been keeping track of how far we travel. The tower doesn't change in size as we approach.” He looked around. “We're in a genjutsu. Tricked into walking in circles that take us no closer to our goal.”

“But that means,” said Sakura, drawing herself to her feet, “that we're already in someone's trap. And that they must be watching us for a moment to strike!”

They all moved to stand back to back automatically as they sensed movement. Slowly figures rose out of the ground and trees, dressed in black, and wearing what looked like breathing devices on their mouths. As they stepped out of the shadows it was clear that they were some sort of bunshin technique, as they were each identical to the next, with bandages covering their eyes and the same shock of wild brown hair.

Sasuke smiled as he felt adrenaline surge into his system. “Looks like their trap is sprung.”

Naruto grinned back, the grin that both Sakura and Sasuke knew to mean he was looking forwards to a fight. “It's about time. I was getting lonely with just you two for company.”

Sakura cast a worried glance at Sasuke. “Sasuke-kun? Remember your promise?”

Sasuke nodded back. “Don't worry. They're probably all bunshin.”

One of the bunshin stepped forwards laughing, its voice distorted by the device in its mouth. “Like mice caught in a trap.”

That was enough for Naruto, who surged forwards, striking out at the nearest enemy. His fist connected solidly with the bunshin's stomach, knocking it off its feet. Then the bunshin lost solidity, and became almost liquid, letting Naruto's momentum carry him past, blowing a hole in the bunshin's side, and leaving Naruto sprawled on the ground.

As Sasuke and Sakura watched with horror, the battered bunshin slowly separated, and a second head rose to fill the hole caused by Naruto's punch. An arm soon followed, holding a double pointed kunai. Even as Naruto staggered to his feet, the bunshin brought its weapon round to strike.

“Naruto!” Sasuke drew his shuriken and threw them in one smooth motion, severing the arm that was still holding the kunai. In retaliation the arm of the original bunshin threw its kunai, forcing Sasuke to duck and roll to his feet, furthering his distance from both Naruto and Sakura. Damn, splitting us up will only make us more defenceless. He moved to look at the kunai that had been thrown and frowned. The angle is wrong, but the kunai is real. They must be watching us and striking with the bunshin to make us believe their weapons are real.

“Oi, oi,” protested Naruto. “Kage bunshin should disappear if they're hit cleanly. Since they don't disappear, are they really illusions? What are they?” He drew his kunai and got ready to strike at the now-advancing horde.

“Stop!” called out Sasuke, moving back closer to them. “They are just illusions. It's just a genjutsu used by the enemy.” He met Naruto's gaze. Come on, trust me. “They throw kunai at us to make us think that these bunshin are real.”

Naruto growled. “Then I'll find those idiots hiding in the forest and throwing knives at us, and beat them up!”

“And what about us?” asked Sakura. “They're hiding, and we have to deal with these bunshin now, because the kunai we don't stop will be the real one. They'll only come out once we're so exhausted we can't move!” She squeaked and deflected a kunai aimed right at her head.

The bunshin all attacked together for several seconds, leaving Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke again together, back to back, and breathing hard from their efforts in avoiding the strikes.

Naruto brought his hands into the seal position for kage bunshin. “Screw this. If we get rid of all the illusions at once, the enemy can't attack in the time it takes for them to return to normal, since they'd reveal their position.” Naruto gathered up his chakra. “Kage bunshin no jutsu!” About thirty Narutos filled the forest clearing and started attacking the enemy bunshin. Dark puddles of the enemy soon littered the ground, with other bunshin still half reforming from the brutal attack.

Sakura turned to Sasuke. “Sasuke-kun… What should we do?”

Sasuke kept his eyes on the fight. “Damn that idiot. We'll have to follow his lead, and fight like he wants us to.” He moved his kunai up to the ready position, and looked at her for understanding. Seeing that she'd caught on to his words, he led her in a charge into the fray.

 

***************************************************************** ******************

It wasn't until the sky was lightening that the fight finally wound to its close. Sasuke watched with interest as the enemy bunshin circled around the Narutos, destroying them, until only the original was left, breathing hard, along with a copy of himself, and what he hoped was a copy of Sakura. When Naruto had suggested this as a way to deal with traps involving them fighting to a standstill, both he and Sakura had agreed that by letting the two of them hide and remain unhurt, and even rested from the respite, they'd have a chance to strike when the enemy ninjas would show up to finish the work of their genjutsu. And more time for me to rest, to regain the chakra lost in travelling. Part of Sasuke almost itched to use his sharingan, to confirm that these were all just illusions, and so justify the sacrifice of effort Naruto was making, but he knew that it would just be wasting that sacrifice. And breaking my promise when they're both so worried. I need them to be supportive if I have to break it later, so showing my willingness to stick by it now will make them trust my judgement. As he watched, Naruto scooted closer to the fake Sasuke and Sakura, looking both fearful and tired. Naruto, I owe you one for this.

“We're done crushing their spirits.” Three rain ninjas stepped out from the trees, watching Naruto and the rest as the bunshin dissolved away. “Now we destroy their bodies. Lucky.”

Sasuke felt his eyebrows rise in surprise as he recognised one of the rain ninjas. He attacked us on the first day for our scroll, by pretending to be Naruto. Even as he watched, his copy in the clearing reacted in a similar way, impressing Sasuke with Naruto's insight into how he'd react.

“You,” said the rain ninja. “You're the one who injured my left shoulder right? I finally found you. You wasted out time.” He raised a kunai, and beneath his breathing device, his mouth crinkled into what might have been a smile. “Lucky. I can finally get revenge.”

As Sasuke watched, Naruto's face changed from fear to a confident smirk. That's our cue. Time to end this. I wonder how they'd like their own line thrown back at them. Sasuke readied himself, before calling out to the clearing. “Like a mouse in a trap.” He smiled as he watched the rain ninjas start to look about in confusion.

“It went well, Naruto,” called out Sakura from some bushes further to Sasuke's left. Sasuke was relieved. So she did manage to find a way to swap with Naruto. I'm glad that the trembling girl in the clearing isn't her. Now we have a chance to win. Together they moved to stand behind the rain ninjas and waited for them to sense their presence.

Finally the leader did, and turned to look at them. “What did they do? It can't be! When could they…”

Naruto grinned. “Idiots. You finally showed yourselves, damn it.” He brought his hand into the focus position, and the henge was dropped, revealing it to be two kage bunshin sat with him.

The explosion of the transformation drew the attention of the rain ninjas back to Naruto. “What? Did this kid…? It can't be.”

Naruto just kept grinning. “I used kage bunshin just to set up this trick.” He stood up tiredly, grin still firmly in place. “So I could pretend to be everybody on this team.” The kage bunshin disappeared with their characteristic pop.

Sasuke gave up a grin that almost matched Naruto's own. “Once Naruto did his kage bunshin, the two of us hid. So we managed to fool a genjutsu master.” He saw Naruto collapse to one knee. “Naruto! Nice work, but you've used up too much chakra. We'll take it from here.”

Even as the rain ninjas turned to face the oncoming threat of Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto surged to his feet with a yell, punching the three ninjas to the ground. He stood panting, sweat dripping from his face, and turned to Sasuke. “I'm not going to let you take all the good parts like that.”

Sasuke was surprised. Is he really that Naruto? When did he become stronger? And why didn't I notice this change?

The rain ninjas stood again, and spread out to face them. “Pretty good. But we're not in an unlucky situation yet.” The three of them moved their hands into a seal position Sasuke didn't recognise. “Time is running out. We'll show you our ninjutsu now. Ninpou - Oboro bunshin no jutsu!” In a cloud of smoke, a vast crowd of exact copies of the three rain ninjas was created.

“Kage bunshin?” asked Naruto, not taking his eyes off them.

Sasuke shook his head. “No, they're just normal bunshin, but they must have some sort of tactic worked out. Be careful.”

Naruto nodded. “If they're just bunshin, then there's only one real one. I'll just beat up every one until I hit the real one.”

“Idiot,” retorted Sasuke. “That's a waste of energy.”

“I told you, Sasuke, I'm not going to let you take all the good parts!” Naruto ran towards the bunshin, and started attacking them randomly, his fists just passing through them.

Damn it, he's never going to find the original that way. Sasuke considered his options. With my Sharingan I could guide him to the real one, but I promised them both that I'd try not to use it. Without my Sharingan, we're blind as to their plan! He watched Naruto attack again and again, each time passing through the bunshin. And if I don't, then Naruto is going to get badly hurt. That realisation made up Sasuke's mind. He brought his hand into the focus position and channelled chakra to his eyes, ignoring the burning sensation that started at his neck. “Sharingan!” The bunshin seemed to dissolve into pillars of blue fire extending from black cores. He could see Naruto's own chakra aura, looking somewhat diminished, and closer to his body. Quickly he passed his glance up and down the clearing searching for the real ninjas. Not finding them he tracked his vision back again. It was on his third pass through the group that the world dissolved into white pain, driving him to his knees and clutching at his neck.

“Sasuke-kun!” Sakura was at his side in an instant, checking him over. “You promised you wouldn't use your Sharingan!” She paused as she looked at his neck. The black marks have turned to look like fire and are spreading again! “Sasuke-kun, the bruise is spreading! Please don't try to do any more.”

Sasuke clutched at his neck, trying to fight back the pain he felt. I can't let this thing stop me. He looked up to see Naruto looking back at the commotion in fear. A rain ninja stood striking down towards him.

“Don't let your guard down!” He brought the kunai down.

Sasuke fought to get control of his body again, in particular his mouth. “Naruto! Move!”

Naruto didn't look up, but just responded to Sasuke's command, rolling to the side and out of the path of the kunai. He looked in horror at the weapon that had missed him by millimetres. “Damn it!”

“Stop, Naruto!” called out Sasuke, his voice racked with pain. “No matter how much you try, the real one isn't in those bunshin.”

“Then where's the enemy going to attack from?” asked Naruto. “If they're normal bunshin, the bunshin themselves can't attack us!”

“If we knew that, then there'd be no need for us to work this hard. This is the enemy's plan.”

Naruto collapsed to his knees. Damn it. I can't use my kage bunshin any more, and Sasuke can't move because of that stupid tadpole mark. We're sitting ducks!

The rain ninjas took advantage of his weakness, and the bunshin attacked again, leaping high into the air.

As Sasuke watched, an arm holding a double ended kunai emerged from the ground behind Naruto, swiftly followed by the rest of the three rain ninjas. So that's how they did it. The real ones hid themselves using an earth element jutsu and they were planning to attack from under the bunshin! “Naruto! Behind you!” He managed to draw and throw clumsily a kunai, not with any hope of hitting them, but to divert their attention for a split second.

It worked, and Naruto launched a vicious kick, bowling them all over, and knocking them unconscious. Their bunshin all vanished.

Naruto laughed, panting. “Don't let your guard down, wasn't it?” He flopped to the ground, tired.

Sakura smiled as she walked over, supporting Sasuke. “That was great, Naruto.”

Sasuke nodded and flopped to sit in front of him. “We need to get you eyes in the back of your head, idiot. That was too close.” He smiled at Naruto.

Naruto snorted and folded his arms. “Well excuse me for not having funky eyes and a kekkei genkai. `Sides, I trusted you to be my eyes for me. Just like you trusted me with replacing you with kage bunshin.”

Sakura smiled. “It was a good idea, and with all of us, it became a good plan.”

Sasuke nodded. “With this seal interfering with my chakra there wasn't much I could do to help in the fight.”

Naruto shook his head. “Don't worry, we made it through anyway. The past is in the past, and there's no point to worrying about it.”

Sasuke rubbed at his neck. “Sakura, the pain is less now. Has it stopped?”

Sakura shifted slightly, then nodded. “It's gone back to being just those three marks again. Sasuke-kun, you promised you wouldn't use your Sharingan. Why did you break your promise?”

Sasuke let his hand drop from his neck again. “Because we had to know where those rain ninjas were hiding. If you'd ever find the right one to hit.” He shook his head and stood shakily, ignoring Sakura's disapproving glare. “We can't stay here too long, others may have heard the fight.” He moved to the fallen rain ninjas and started to search them. “It's past dawn, we should get moving to the tower, and finish this exam.” He smiled and held up a scroll of heaven. “After all, our hunt is over.”