Naruto : Monsters: Chapter 39

"I wouldn't take another step forward if I were you," I spread my feet a bit wider, lowering my centre of gravity and took one of the more defensive stances of the Gentle Fist, "This clearing is filled with-"

Kakashi didn't even wait for me to finish explaining.

...

Dropping into a low crouch, Kakashi leapt up, soaring through the air to get to me, avoiding the ground completely. One moment he was on the other side of the clearing, the next he was almost on top of me, shooting through the air like a hawk.

Good thing we had already planned for this.

The air whistled with kunai that burst from the woods. Not one or a dozen but hundreds. They came from every direction, filling the air like a torrent of rain as they shot towards us like arrows from a bow.

By the time the kunai reached us, I was already moving. No, it was more accurate to say that I had already begun moving before the kunai were even fired. Without bothering to see how Kakashi fared against the rain of razor-sharp steel heading towards us, I prepared my own defence.

Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven – Kaiten

Chakra poured out from every single one of the 361 tenketsu points around my body as I spun in place, creating a rotating shield of chakra around me.

The pinging of rain hitting a tin roof began sounding around me as the kunai failed to find purchase on the Kaiten and were deflected away. Still, I didn't stop spinning. The technique drained my Chakra sharply as I maintained it for nearly five full seconds, stopping only once I was sure the bombardment of kunai ended.

When I ended my rotation, I found myself surrounded by a field littered by Kunai. There were literally hundreds of them. Some were scattered flat against the ground, hidden among the grass, while others were buried tip first into the soft soil. 

Thankfully, the explosive tags we used were triggered by proximity to chakra, not pressure, or else this whole place would have been blown sky-high.

I spotted Kakashi on the far end of the clearing, a few meters away from the edge of the woods. A log studded with Kunai sat on the ground only a few paces away from me, no doubt the result from a last-second Kawarimi. 

I tensed once I spotted him, only relaxing once I realised that he wasn't going to charge me again. It looked like he had managed to calm down a bit because he was actually examining his surroundings instead of simply attacking me.

"Do you finally feel like listening?" I called out, catching his attention, before making a show of shaking my head and sighing. "You know what? I don't really feel like explaining things to you anymore, so I'm going to tag out and leave it up to Shikamaru."

There was a short pause as I waited for Naruto to deliver the message to Shikamaru, before I began to convey his words. "Sigh - So damn troublesome. Fine, fine, I get it, I'll explain, just stop with your complaining woman. Sigh, why the hell did I get mixed up in such a troublesome team? Anyways.

"Listen carefully Kakashi, right now Hikaru is surrounded by a field of Grade 1 explosive tags. Three hundred and forty-two of them to be exact – three hundred and forty-three if you count the one you've already triggered. The force of their explosions shouldn't be enough to kill you but they still pack enough of a punch to blow your foot off if you're not careful.

"In addition, you're currently surrounded by Shadow Clones. Naruto has filled the woods with hundreds of them, most of which are currently circling you. They're ready to jump in and support Hikaru at a moment's notice should you try to attack him. I believe you have already witnessed how effective their long-range support can be."

The first few seconds of me speaking had Kakashi staring at me as if I had gone completely insane but as I continued to speak his expression slowly began to morph into shock, then comprehension.

"You're reading his lips." Kakashi breathed out in amazement.

"Bingo." I confirmed, interrupting Shikamaru's explanation, "You wouldn't believe the amount of things you can pull off with the Byakugan. It always amazes me how people keep underestimating its usefulness. 

It's almost as if they believed that if something didn't have a direct combat application then it'd be worthless in a fight. Well allow me clear that misconception up and tell you what I can really do with these eyes of mine.

"I can see everything Kakashi, and I mean everything. I can see all that's happening in these woods, and I have been for the entire time. Since the very start of our fight I had been keeping track of Shikamaru and Naruto, never letting them leave my sight. 

And for that entire time, we've been communicating with each other. With my eyes and lipreading I can listen to any commands Shikamaru gives, while Naruto can update him about our situation with her clones.

"Right now Shikamaru is hidden far away from you in a safe place, planning and strategizing on how to take you down. While the original Naruto is by his side, updating him on the status of our fight and marking the points on the map where she had finished setting up her traps. You see Kakashi since the very moment you set foot onto the training ground, Shikamaru had given me a single command: Stall.

"And while I was doing just that, Naruto has turned this entire forest into her death trap – just like she did with this field here. Even now as we speak, there are dozens of her clones roaming through the woods, setting up even more traps just for you. And the best part is, I won't have any trouble avoiding them because I know exactly where they all are.

"I told you, didn't I? I can see everything. This clearing might look like nothing more than an empty stretch of grassland to you but with my eyes, I can see every tag in this field as clearly as the stars in the night sky. Not just the ones here but every tag in the entire forest along with her other traps. So you see Kakashi from now on you're going to have to watch every step you take or risk losing a foot while I can roam freely without fear."

Shikamaru really was a genius. It hadn't been a full day since we've been put together as a team but he'd already managed to adapt to our unique abilities and developed several plans and formations that played on our strengths.

The current formation we're using was called Kakoi - named after some kind of defensive play from Shogi.

It can be summed up as this: Shikamaru remains hidden until he's needed while still delivering commands to the rest of us; me through my eyes and Naruto through her clones.

It was a simple but frighteningly effective tactic in Shikamaru's hands. With it he could focus completely on creating battle plans while allowing him to deliver commands in real-time without risking himself on the battlefield. 

And with Naruto's clones continuously giving him status updates he'll know everything that's going on. In a way it really was like playing a game of Shogi from his point of view; with Shikamaru as the player while Naruto and I were the pieces.

When I noticed Shikamaru started speaking again I stopped talking and began repeating his words. "Are you two done with your chit-chatting? Good because I want to get this whole mess over with already and get back to sleep. Kakashi, you're forbidden from leaving the clearing. Should you decide to ignore this condition then be warned that I've commanded Hikaru to set your book on fire."

Kakashi went very stilled, eye-widening slightly at the reminder of his precious book, before he adopted a look of feigned indifference. He shrugged, "I could always replace it, it's not as if it's a rare book. You kids probably don't know about it, being underaged and all, but the Icha Icha series is a best seller. There are thousands of copies in Konoha alone. "

Once more I had to wait for the few seconds it took for one of Naruto's clones to pop and deliver the message to Shikamaru, before continuing. "Quit bluffing. We already confirmed that the copy Hikaru's holding isn't available for sale yet. 

It's an early release of the newest addition to the series that's set to release next month. I don't know how many of them exist in Konoha but odds are if this one gets destroyed, you won't be able to get your hands on another copy until next month at the earliest."

Kakashi and Jiraiya never appeared to be particularly close in the series despite their shared connection via Minato but it looked they were close enough for Jiraya to send the grey-haired ninja a special edition of his work.

It was all thanks to that we could make all of this work in the first place.

When Shikamaru had first proposed this plan, Naruto brought up a very good point. Why couldn't we simply trade Kakashi the book for the bell? The answer it turned out was credibility. 

Shikamaru explained that in a hostage situation – with the book being the hostage in this case - the hostage-takers had to establish credibility before any of their demands could be taken seriously.

If we threatened to destroy the book if Kakashi didn't hand over the bell then what should we do if he refused? If we followed through with our threat and destroyed the book we'd end up losing our only leverage and have an enraged Jonin on our hands. 

And if we don't burn the book then Kakashi will never take our threats seriously, he'd think they were all bluffs and continue to ignore any of our demands.

The solution, Shikamaru explained, was to create reasonable demands. Something simple and easy for Kakashi to fulfil. Demands meant to distract him while we prepared for our real attack.

And Shikamaru had just given me the signal to spring it.

...

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