Chapter 8

-False Impressions

"So where ya from Kankaku?" Shītto asks while the ANBU teams escorts the former prisoner through the forest.

The man rests his hands behind his head, looking up at the sunlight through the gaps in the trees, "I'm originally from The Hidden Waterfall Village but I ditched that place at a young age, travelled around for a while before I stumbled into The Sound village. Didn't know what I was getting myself into. Before I knew it Orochimaru knew my abilities and had me taken in. From then on he's been having me do all sorts of things for him."

"During your travels, is that where you picked up your abilities?" Shozen inquires.

Kankaku drops his hands from behind his head, "What is this, an interrogation?" He snarls.

Shozen turns his head back, putting his hands up as well, "No no! Just trying to pass the time is all... your abilities just interest me, that's all. Especially since they were able to trick my Byakugan... for the most part."

"Hmph, yeah, the pulse vision is apparently a Kekkei Genkai of mine that I wasn't aware of until I accidentally discovered it. I kept having these visions that wouldn't go away. It took me forever to realize I was just picking up chakra outlines on people."

"What about the genjutsu?" Shozen presses on.

"Picked that up from other inmates while Orochimaru kept me prisoner. I was only just transferred to that cell block a few months ago."

"I see..."

Kankaku chuckles to himself before focusing his attention to the captain of the squad, "So, you with the dragon mask."

Shizake turns his head around, making icy contact with the pony tailed hair man.

"What is it?"

"That genjutsu of Sasuke had you pretty riled up as well as the fact that your chakra signatures are nearly identical. What's your relationship with him?" Kankaku asks maliciously.

"Hn, none of your business that's what."

"Don't think you can fool me, I saw those bloody Sharingan eyes behind your mask back down there." Just mentioning the name Sasuke gets his blood boiling, let's see how far I can push him. "I thought all the Uchiha were wiped out in a single night, minus Sasuke. Never heard about another survivor."

The captain disappears in a flicker, practically teleporting up to Kankaku, a kunai pressed against his jugular vein.

"I said... it's none of your damn business," Shizake warns with deadly intent.

"Whoa! Whoa!" The man yells, backing away slowly, "I don't want any trouble now. You can't blame me for wanting to know more about one of the biggest moments in ninja history."

Shizake slowly slides the kunai back into his pouch, still staring at Kankaku. Toshi and the rest of the team stops in their tracks, giving each other worried looks from behind their masks.

"Yeah, well... it's a part of history I'd like to forget."

Kankaku places a hand on his neck, rubbing the spot where the kunai was placed.

"Fair enough... remind me to never piss you off."

The group picks up the pace, making haste to the Hidden Leaf Village to report the mission findings and get it over with after discovering nearly nothing at the hideout. The mysterious follower turns his head back every once in a while, looking ever so slightly behind him through the corner of his eye. The ANBU team, facing forward remains unaware to his odd behavior as they continue to push forward through the dense forest.

Foolish Leaf ninja, Kankaku thinks for himself. He closes his eyes, focusing in on the blackness. A red pulse radiates outwards, extending from his mind and out around him.

"Forty meters...I'll have to buy some more time. Just a little bit longer until this pays off."

The long black haired man smugly grins to himself, focusing on the approaching woods before the group. Small twitches in the air begin appearing throughout the forest but none are noticeable to the human eye. Out of nowhere a massive gust of wind collides into the trees, ripping the trees out of their roots and slamming them down onto the forest floor. The group are all forced to the ground as well, crashing into the earth and the trees that lie on it. Winds more powerful than gale force continue to pound the area, deafening all the ninja while also terrorizing all their other senses, leaving them completely immobilized. Kankaku stands confidently with his arms crossed, gazing upon the petrified group of Leaf ANBU. Genjutsu success.

Toshi screams to herself at the top of her lungs but not even her piercing screech can fight through the winds, which sound like a hurricane tearing through the land. Shītto has his knees to his stomach, clutching his head while trying to protect himself from harm.

The captain, Shizake, was slammed up against a tree, lifting up his arm to barely block the winds pounding his at his face. Nitatchi managed to take cover behind one of the fallen trees, gazing upon the streaks of wind that rage above and around him.

Shizake lowers his arm, attempting to get a better look at what's going on. His eyes trace down his arms, looking for any injuries from the fall from the high up tree branches. The Uchiha notices something off, something that doesn't add up. Though his vision is blurred, he sees that there are no visible wounds in places where there should be. Even if he managed to cushion the fall, the tumble from hitting the ground would've produced scrapes and cuts of some kind.

At last, something clicks in his head, a slow and steady stream of chakra heading towards his eyes. White-eyes with coal irises are replaced by red ones, a black iris with three tomoes spinning into place around it.

"Release!" The Uchiha yells, causing the world to come to a screeching halt.

Everything seems to break apart, as if time and space itself had suddenly collapsed. Shizake opens his eyes to see everything around him back to normal. Scanning his arms and legs he sees the cuts and bruises on his arms. The genjutsu caused him and his team to crash to the forest floor by tricking their senses into locking up.

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Immediately Shizake makes eye contact with the devilish man standing across from him with his arms crossed, a scandalous grin along his face. The ANBU captain slowly looks around to see his teammates slowly awaking from the genjutsu, fighting off the pain from the fall as well. Within minutes the ANBU squad is back on their feet, rushing over to Kankaku. Shizake aggressively yanks the man by his collar, throwing Kankaku to the ground behind him

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing!" Shizake rages at the man.

Nitatchi glares with his arms crossed, awaiting whatever punishment Shizake has decided for this suspicious character. Blood boiling in anger, Shītto walks over and kicks the man in the rib, shockwaves of pain rattling throughout Kankaku's bones.

"Rgh!" The man yelps out, rolling over while clutching his side.

Shizake holds his arm out, preventing Shītto from doing any further harm.

"Speak. Or else my friend here will break every bone in your body," The Uchiha demands.

"Heh heh – I just wanted to test out your skills to be honest... it's not often that you get to go up against an Uchiha these days," Kankaku says while sitting up.

Shizake glares, sensing something more behind the man's words. Unable to come up with any evidence Shizake pulls some wire out of his pouch while walking over to Kankaku.

"H-hey! What's the big idea?!" Kankaku cries out.

Without warning the ground splits apart, the gaping maw of the earth separating Shizake and Shītto, leaving Toshi and Nitatchi far on the other side. Two ninja appear on Toshi and Nitatchi's side, standing in the shadows of the forest with their palms on the ground. Shizake turns around from looking behind him to see another ninja, palms on the ground behind Kankaku by a few meters.

"Shit..." Shītto grumbles.

"I was thinking the same thing Shītto," Shizake says while sliding a kunai out of his holster.

Kankaku slowly stands up, backing away towards the ninja behind him.

"You see...I left a trail of genjutsu here for my buddies here. The last stunt-"

"Was just to buy you time. I get it. I knew something was off about you. Now me and my team will just crush you." Shizake dismally states.

"Tch. We won't be beaten by you sad excuse for ninja, you easily fell right into my hands now prepare to die."

Immediately the team of ANBU step into battle stances, as if the kill mode switch had been flipped within them. A burst of chakra radiates from Shozen's eyes, his Byakugan going to work on analyzing the enemy before him. Toshi slides three kunai into her palm, ready for the enemy to make a move while Shītto immediately leaps at his target. He draws back his massive fist, swinging it towards the enemy ninja only to have it blocked by a forearm.

Shizake tackles his opponent, tumbling through the dirt while clutching Kankaku's shirt's collar. As they come rolling to a halt, Kankaku pushes Shizake off of his chest, flinging Shizake through the forest. He gracefully lands on his feet, sliding them out into a battle stance as he glares at his opponent. The Uchiha cautiously looks around, making sure there are no more tricks up Kankaku's sleeve. He notices that his whole team has been split up due to the split in the earth. Toshi and Shozen are fighting on one side while Shizake and Shītto fight on the other. Each member of the team has his or her own enemy to deal with though.

Looks like I'm alone on this one, the captain thinks to himself.

Rumbles beneath the earth catches Shizake's attention, leaping up into the sky just as two pillars of rock slam into one another. Great, so not only does he have a Kekkei Genkai giving him a full three hundred and sixty degree view of the battlefield, he's also handy with genjutsu, and to top things off he uses earth style... I have to keep this close range or else he'll decimate me.

Shizake forces chakra to his eyes, crimson red and pitch black pupils with tomoe around it replacing his once normal white eyes. He gauges his opponent's movements just before he decides to strike. The Sharingan will eliminate the genjutsu part of his arsenal since I'll be able to read through it easily. It'll also make it less complicated when dealing with his earth jutsu since I'll be able to read the hand-signs before he's even able to make them.

With blinding speed, Shizake blinks over to Kankaku in a crouching position, bringing his foot straight up to Kankaku's chin. The man steps back at the last moment, grabbing Shizake's ankle while lifting the Uchiha up and over his head. Shizake is slammed onto his back, air escaping him like a popped balloon exploding. The long pony tailed hair man lifts his leg up, bringing it high over his head to ankle drive Shizake in the gut. The ANBU captain rolls to the side, wrapping his feet around Kankaku's legs to force him to the ground while he gets up. The Uchiha swiftly reaches into his pouch, launching out three shuriken at his enemy.

While on the ground the man throws hand-signs together in a panic, bringing up a mud wall to protect him at the last moment. With the use of the Sharingan, Shizake was able to see the hand-signs being formed, allowing him to charge over just as the mud wall came up. The Uchiha steps on the wall, sticking to it by using chakra then bringing his other foot on top of the wall as to launch himself in the air.

Quickly throwing together hand-signs the Uchiha roars, "Fire style: Dragon flame jutsu!"

Two massively red-hot glowing fireballs in the shape of a dragon launch out of Shizake's mouth as if expelled from a cannon. Kankaku widens his eyes just as the raging balls of fire explode into the ground. Fire plumes up around the site, the previous mud wall collapsing into dust from the amount of heat. As Shizake floats down to the ground he still can make out the chakra signature of Kankaku with his Sharingan, The Uchiha comes to land on a rock dome. Must've made the hand-signs while I was in the air, that damn Kekkei Genkai of his definitely traced me out. I need to be faster!

Catching Shizake off guard in his thoughts, a rock fist emerges from the dome, smashing Shizake in the chest and sending him careening into a tree. He crashes through the upper branches, coming to a halt after he had broken enough limbs, of the tree that is.

Gritting his teeth the Uchiha angrily makes more hand-signs before shouting, "Fire style: Flame spear barrage!"

The tree leaves and branches are burnt to a crisp as flames in the shape of spears erupt out in all directions. A half second passes before the spears begin barraging the area where Kankaku is, almost like a carpet-bombing. Huge chunks of the earth are destroyed and set ablaze, organic green life dying because of the destruction of the fire.

Shizake leaps out of the tree, dropping to the ground forcefully causing the ground to indent a little. He angrily huffs while clenching his fist and waitng to see if his attack landed all while smoke and dust rise from the site of the attack.

Crap... I've already expended a good amount of chakra. I'll have to conserve from here on out.

The Uchiha's Sharingan eyes begin scanning the area, looking for any sign of life. He senses his comrades fighting in other areas of the forest; luckily none of them are near enough to get caught up in his battle. Out of nowhere a large rod of rock soars out of the smoke and at Shizake. At the last minute the Uchiha leans backwards and rolls to dodge the attack. Without warning, another one launches out of the smoke so Shizake jumps over it as he stands up from his back roll. Within seconds, dozens of long shaped rocks begin shooting out of the smoke, causing the Uchiha to retreat behind a tree. The rocks pound into the large tree's trunk, taking large chunks of wood with each crushing blow. The Uchiha peaks his head around the tree, nearly getting his head taken off by the earth jutsu.

Grinning to himself, the Uchiha creates the sign for the shadow clone jutsu. Two poofs of smoke produce two perfect replicas of Shizake as they huddle behind the tree that is still being pounded by earth jutsu. Shizake nods at his two clones who in return nod back as they begin scaling up the tree. Shizake uses his Sharingan to lock on to the chakra signature of Kankaku as the Uchiha begins preparing hand-signs. The two clones leap off the top of the tree, their hands held close to their mouths.

All at once Shizake and his clones yell, "Fire style: Dragon flame jutsu!"

The combination of Shizake and his clones produce six dragon shaped fireballs that rocket right into Kankaku's position, stopping his earth jutsu in its tracks. The Uchiha steps out from behind the tree as his clones come to a soft landing. The three Shizakes stare dismally at the fire and smoke ripping its way through the forest.

Those better have hit him.