The Frailty of Genius (A Naruto Fan Fiction)

Chapter Seventeen ~ In the Palm of My Hand

"You have a scroll! What if we attack you and take it? Then we'll be set!"

I don't even bother to stop myself from rolling my eyes at Sasuke's idiocy.

I smirked. Kabuto was certain that we wouldn't attack because I'd allowed Sasuke to declare his intention to steal the scroll. He was completely unaware that I would soon strike.

"Don't be an idiot! This guy helped us!" Naruto yelled angrily at Sasuke.

"I kinda agree with Naruto on this one." Sakura said sheepishly, refusing to meet Sasuke's eyes.

"We need to watch out for our own backs in here. And we're running out of time." Sasuke explained to Naruto and Sakura.

Kabuto smiled innocently. " If you really wanted to play ninja you would have attacked me without the forewarning. But I understand your desperation. Which is why I'll show you the path to take. Near the end of the exam many lie in wait to prey on teams with both scrolls. You can get your last scroll there. But it'll be tricky." He tilts up his glasses. "But no worries, I'll help you."

All three of my teammates were relaxed now and I acted nonchalant with them.

No need to alert Kabuto of my attack. Why waste precious time hunting for an extra scroll when there was perfectly good prey right here?

Now confident that none of us were going to attack him, he turned around.

And the moment he did turn his back I sent a senbon at him, prepared to attack. There was a 78% chance it hits him, a 20% chance he dodges and a 2% chance he would block it.

He whirled around, hand blazing with chakra. Batting the senbon out of the air with ease, be sends a smirk towards me, glasses flashing.

"Play nice now, Cashile."

I narrow my eyes. I'd never told him my name. Of course, I wouldn't put it past him to have figured it out on his own... The little weasel was a good spy.

And in a rare category too. He fell into my lowest prediction rate, signaling that I should be slightly wary and extremely cautious of the man.

It would be hard to predict his movements at times. The uncertainty was inevitable even wih my flawless prediction rating.

But I did know one thing for certain.

This guy was just too interesting to get rid of.

***

It takes me several minutes to recognize the surprisingly well placed genjutsu. I narrow my eyes, then surreptitiously release it. I smirk. Just as I thought: we were walking in circles. But I wouldn't release the genjutsu on my teammates. I now had the upper hand in this fight.

Glancing at my teammates, I can barely hide my surprise when I see the awareness in Kabuto's eyes. He knew. He definitely knew that we were trapped in a genjutsu. Yet for some reason he neither warned us nor escaped himself.

Interesting.

I pause, actin as though I was fumbling with my sling as I make the handsigns. I reappear in the trees, a clone in my place. There was less than a second in between my disappearance and the clones appearance: it would seem as though I'd blinked in and out of existence.

Sakura collapses. "Ugh, I'm exhausted. How long have we been walking?"

"This is a bit strange." Kabuto acts out.

"Hn.."

"This is weird! We walked past that centipede hours ago! What's going on?!" Naruto freaks.