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-------------------------------------------Shattered Illusion : Copy Of a Ninja : Chapter 14
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Wasting no time, the three Konoha genin rushed into the forest in a bid to gain the initial advantage over the other participating teams. Even so, it was not long before Naruto began to sense the faint traces of the pursuing grass nins.

Unwilling to take any chances, especially with such an unknown element present, Naruto quickly created an advanced clone to take his place and teleported into the canopy of the forest. Even with this precaution, it was not until faint cries had begun to echo in from the distance that the trio below him stopped.

Sakura, looking worried, turned to her two teammates ready to speak,"..."

Only to be interrupted by a sudden explosion on the other side of the forest clearing.

"You guys just play around over there, I'll take care of them myself."

Conscious of the immense skill that the middle shinobis aura belied, Naruto decided to even the odds a little. The two remaining nin were completely unaware of his deception.

Concentrating deeply, he transformed both of his hands into claws sharper than most swords, then gathered more chakra in preparation to form two gates, one in front of each hand.

Focusing upon the distracted grass gennin below, he silently formed the gates, opened the exits mid-back behind each of the two strangers, and plunged his hands through the gates and into there bodies, impossibly fast, grasping hold of the still beating hearts within and tore them out and back through the gates.

Ignoring the rapidly dying corpses below, Naruto focused once again upon the confrontation taking place on the other side of the clearing.

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"You want my earth scroll right, since you guys have the heaven scroll."

The man stood calmly in front of Narutos two team mates, earth scroll held out in front of him, temptingly.

Seizing the opportunity Naruto opened another chakra bridge and grabbed the scroll from the opposing shinobi, quickly depositing the item within his belt pouch, he closed the bridge and immediately moved.

He felt the gathering of immense chakra below.

Feeling the scroll suddenly pulled from within his grasp, Orochimaru paused. He had overlooked something.

Concentrating harder he extended his senses outward, no longer relying on hearing or eyesight, and immediately located the deception.

The blond haired gennin before him, it was merely an advanced clone.

Expanding the field of his senses further Orochimaru found another chakra source concealed within the canopy of the forest, he also felt the chakra bleeding freely from his recently killed subordinates. This didn't worry him as there were a lot more where those two had come from.

Even so, the thought that a gennin had so cleverly deceived him was maddening, pricking his thumb with one of his fangs, the snake sennin gathered chakra and slammed his hand into the ground. Manda would be annoyed to be summoned against a gennin, so he summoned the fourth strongest snake instead.

Perhaps three quarters the size of Manda, it was no less deadly, ordering it to kill the ninja in the forest above, he turned back to his primary objective, Uchiha Sasuke.

"Now lets begin, this battle with our lives on the line."

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This was bad, the move Orochimaru just made was impossible for the other two to dodge, as he was attacking the spirit directly. The only way to escape the effects was to have a stronger spirit than the attacker. Knowing he had been discovered as evidenced by the huge snake currently tracking him, Naruto came to a decision.

Gathering and swirling chakra within his right hand, forming a perfect sphere of chaotic chakra. Naruto crouched, calmly watching the shockingly fast ascent of the serpent. Waiting until the last possible moment, Naruto rocketed forward from his position, right hand outstretched.

Smashing through the giant piercing fangs and crushing jaws, Naruto kept going and exploded out the back of the now headless giant snake carcass.

Seeing his teammates still frozen within the grip of their opponents overpowering spirit, Naruto took advantage of the opening this technique provided him, just as Sasuke brought a kunai down to stab himself. This was a smart move as it allowed him to focus upon the pain and break the technique. Capitalizing on this he grabbed the still stunned Sakura and fled the clearing.

From his perch above Naruto watched the man transform and give chase. Finally cornering the pair against one of the massive trees.

"You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment, prey should always be trying their best to run away... In the presence of a predator that is."

Grabbing his katana from its position strapped behind his back, Naruto teleported to the position where Sakura and Sasuke crouched. Sending his clone to attack, Naruto quickly gathered power to himself, for what was fast becoming his signature attack.

Focusing the gathered chakra into the sword just so, Naruto lashed out with all his might.

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Crouched, heart racing, behind one of the many trees that dotted the clearing, Sasuke panted, attempting to regain his breath.

- We must run before we are found again. But how, how can we run away -

So absorbed was he in these thoughts that he failed to react when Sakura attempted to warn him of the danger.

- Damn it. I was panicking so much that I didn't notice the snake -

Reacting quickly, Sasuke leapt back and threw ten kunai in quick succession, impaling the snake. Breathing a sigh of relief he turned to once more locate their enemy, only to hear the most sickening sound of obscenely stretching and rending flesh behind him.

"You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment, prey should always be trying their best to run away... In the presence of a predator that is."

Even now he could feel that damnable fear, the need to flee, he hated it, no loathed to feel that way about anything, but there it was. So he was understandably surprised when Naruto rushed past him to attack. Even more so, when another Naruto suddenly appeared before him, katana outstretched, gathering and condensing a huge amount of chakra within the blade.

Only to turn around and strike out.

And unleash...

Destruction, annihilation, bark and sap reigned down in sheets, the air before them literely raining dirt, stone and wood for a good few minutes. When the air finally began to clear the vista it revealed was startling. There, extending forward through the forest perhaps a hundred meters deep and six meters wide were three huge furrows of ground earth, as if a huge claw had reached down from the sky to swipe the place from existence.

Where before there stood ancient trees impossibly old and steadfast, was only turned ground, covered in debris.

Unbelievable.

Yet even as his startled gaze was taking in the unexpected sight, an irritated and slightly surprised voice rang clearly through the forest.

"Summoning technique."

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-------------------------------------------Rough Draft Done. Comments Welcome.