Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 34

Training Ground 42

"Hmm looks like Orochimaru and Tsunade have figured it all out, without knowing at all despite what they have achieved…but what are they doing?" Hiruzen's thoughts trailed off in a questioning glance to the hiding spot that Squad Seven were currently residing in.

As much as he had tried to ignore them, it was blatantly obvious that they were currently plotting something. But for what, that was the question that was eating away at the younger Sarutobi right now.

WHIZZZ…..

His eyes glanced sharply to the side, only to raise an eyebrow at the lone kunai that had been sent his way. Did they really think so low of him that a lone kunai would…

"Wind Style : Gale Palm." exclaimed the voice of Orochimaru and Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock as the kunai raced at double the speed than before after being accelerated by the wind jutsu.

"Ingenious, using only a wind style ninjutsu of C-rank to catch your opponent off guard. But still it is impressive he can use wind style at all, after all his file did say he was a primary earth style user…" he flicked out a kunai from his own pouch and attempted to swat away the kunai aimed straight for his waist.

The kunai swung straight in path of the oncoming projectile and Hiruzen pushed it forward expecting a clash of metals when he felt absolutely no resistance in his hands by the projectile.

"What the-" his eyes widened in horror when the kunai cut through his weapon as if hot knife through butter and only now did he realize how much he had been outplayed by his prized pupil.

"To think he has mastered his second element to such a degree already, I was right he is a genius only seen once in a century…" his feet moved of their own accord to move away from the weapon's path but he couldn't get away completely.

TING…

The sound of jingling rang in the clearing as the younger Sarutobi slid to his right while the thread connecting the bells to his waist was cut off cleanly by Orochimaru's kunai. He pumped chakra into his feet to intercept the bells before Orochimaru made his next move.

"NOT SO FAST…" he heard a shout from above and skidded down to a halt seeing his fiery kunoichi up in mid air with her fist cocked back to bash his face in.

He merely jumped back to avoid the blow and was glad that he did.

"Hyaaa!" Tsunade came down with a battle cry and pumped her fist straight onto the floor. A web of cracks traced all around her fist before the ground fell apart and some small pieces flew up in the air making Hiruzen's eyes go wide in horror.

"Had that fist made contact with me…" he shuddered thinking of what his female subordinate would do to someone who got onto her bad side.

Tsunade looked up at her stunned sensei and smirked as their eyes met. The bells came in between their gazes which were swiped off in mid air by a happy girl who grinned at her success cheekily.

"Oi Orochi, catch!" she chirped up to her teammate who caught the bell, jumping by her side to see a warmly smiling Hiruzen.

"We have completed your test sensei, the bells our ours so do we pass?" Orochimaru asked and got a nod from Hiruzen. He opened his mouth to give them an explanation as to the true meaning of this test before he pursed them closed and glanced sharply to the side.

...

Meanwhile with Squad Seven…

"Alright then, is my plan clear to you two?" Sakumo whispered and got two nods from his squad mates.

"Hai!" "Yosh!" came the two whispers from his teammates crouching by his side as they waited to initiate their chance for the plan to start.

They watched on as Orochimaru made his move and they were impressed by his sneaky mind and a nice set of skills.

"He's good…" Sakumo whispered and both his teammates nodded, trying to gather as much as they could about them while they were at it.

"Hyaaa!" they watched on as Tsunade shattered the ground itself with her brute strength making Sakumo and Duy's eyes go akin to those of saucers.

"That's my Tsuna alright…" Naruto snickered silently in his sleeve, watching Hiruzen's horrified expression and his smirking friend while his friend's were watching him incredulously.

The blonde was oblivious to their stares and their attention snapped back to the field when they heard the familiar jingle of the bells.

"Scatter!" Sakumo whispered and both his teammates blurred out into the trees to take their positions in a split second, trying to remain as silent as they could for a ambush all the while.

...

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed in when his vision suddenly started getting misty and he looked around to see a heavy sheen of mist settling in the open clearing. The lake was too far away, so there was no way someone was doing it out of a water style ninjutsu…

"Genjutsu…" he surmised and closed his eyes to gather up all his chakra into his coils and let out a small short burst to dispel it. Sure enough, the illusionary mist disappeared in a second and he saw his students flicking out kunais and looking around frantically.

He had to admit the genjutsu was quite subtle, it wasn't a heavily ranked one so it wasn't as easily detectable as the higher ones had you not had the analytical skills and experience he possessed or you knew there was a genjutsu user a midst your surroundings.

"Clever…" he had to admit the thoughtfulness of the genin who had casted it ever so subtly. It was clearly not meant for a ninja as high ranking as him. So it was clearly for the other two by his sides, and clearly it was working as the two hadn't realized being trapped into it quite yet.

Contrary to popular belief, genjutsu was a branch that wasn't at all affected by how highly ranked your technique is.

It is affected by the purely subtle execution and depends on the mind of the user to see how and when does he choose to cast his illusions so his opponents don't realize they are trapped in it.

It is for these reasons that it is considered the most weak and the most lethal of the shinobi arts for assassinations.

If the user isn't skilled enough, the enemy can dispel it subtly without the caster ever realizing it and kill the sneaking shinobi easily since genjutsu users are primarily long distance fighters, preferring to fight from the shadows.

But, and this was a large but, the user was skilled enough, the enemy would be assassinated without him ever even realizing he was killed until the killing blow had been made and the target had passed on to the afterlife.

He flickered away into the trees to see what this was all about, and step in if need be.

"What are they doing?" he asked to the man by his side, who merely puffed on his cigar with narrowed eyes on the two subordinates assigned to his son.

"Just watch." he stated firmly and Hiruzen knew better than to argue with the man, so he crossed his arms and sat down on the branch to see what it was that his father had planned for his own team.

Orochimaru looked around, clearly not at all happy by this obstacle to his vision trying to sight whoever had casted this. Tsunade too knew this was no ordinary mist, it was spring so natural mist setting in Konoha's open clearings at this time of the year was a big NO.

Orochimaru heard a slight rustle from his side and sent a hail of shurikens in the bushes. His ears picked up on the sound of his metal stars clacking with wood and knew he had missed but one thing was clear to him, there certainly was someone targeting them.

He heard another rustle of leaves from a tree and launched a hail of his kunai reserves at the target, once more only managing to hit an empty bark.

Whoever it was, was certainly quite smart. Tsunade too was now peeling her ears sharply to hear but wasn't having any success at it.

"The boy is smart…" Sasuke mumbled from the side in a calculative voice and Hiruzen couldn't help but nod in amazement. To any lesser shinobi, it would look as if Orochimaru had gone bananas. But to him, it was clear as a day that he wasn't hitting at thin air as it was seeming to the spectators of the fight.

"To think he can cast a double layer genjutsu to hinder his sense of sound as well without even alerting him of the first one setting on him.

It is quite too much as is expected from a boy his age…" Hiruzen mumbled, rubbing his chin in contemplation and Sasuke merely let his lips twitch upwards at the faraway voice of his son.

"Well it isn't that it is unexpected for an Uchiha to use genjutsu…" he added his own too cents and Hiruzen nodded hesitantly.

"True enough…" Hiruzen spoke, but the uncertainty in his voice wasn't lost to Sasuke who knew what the man was thinking after raising him by his own two hands for so long.

He was comparing his own prized pupil with his squad members to measure up how he fared against them. Well he was in for a surprise then…

"Orochimaru reached into his pouch to target the rustling noise again but his eyes widened when he caught nothing but thin air.

"I'm out of supplies-Oh Kami, how could I have been so stupid!"the pale skinned boy cursed inwardly realizing their plan only just now. They weren't trying to sneak up on him, they were luring him in to launch his weapons again and again until he was completely out of them.

And he had fallen right into it.

...

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