Chapter 81

Genjutsu is a subtle art. Despite whatever image I envision as I cast the genjutsu, I can't know for sure what the target is experiencing. It is like guiding someone by the hand through a dark room. All I knew as Gaara was encased in a sphere of sand was that I was still leading him through the illusion.

The crowd was roaring. They were expecting a fight, not Gaara clamming up and taking a nap. I simply stood across the battleground and fed Gaara's mind what I could remember of his mother.

The sickly judge shinobi was hesitating to call the match. This was supposed to be a demonstration of strength between the shinobi nations. One fighter was dusting his coat while the other was surrounded in sand. The delay suited me just fine. I was preparing another genjutsu, a much larger one, while currently casting one upon Gaara. The more time I had, the more effective it would be, and the more time my real self would have to escape Konoha.

"Are you ready, Mizuki?" I asked the older ninja.

"Are you sure about this? I'm supposed to stab you and then report to the Hokage that you're stealing the Scroll of Sealing?" he asked.

"Yeah. You have that giant shuriken, right? Just use that."

"And then the Hokage is going to commend me and I'm going to get reassigned? I can really leave that blasted academy?"

"The Hokage explained everything to you already, right? So hurry it up already. I have places to be," I said impatiently. Perhaps I should have tried to explain the plan to Mizuki in advance.

"He just said that this was a special mission and that I was supposed to obey your orders but you're going to get in huge trouble if you steal the Scroll of Sealing," Mizuki warned, starting to gradually understand.

"Listen. I am doing you a favor and giving you another chance at life. You shouldn't waste it. Maybe get with a girlfriend or consider why you started teaching in the first place. I don't really care." Being around this man was no less exasperating as when I was a student under him.

"But why would you…"

"Aw, fuck it. Give me that shuriken," I ordered, taking his oversized shuriken from his back. I stabbed it into my shoulder and then passed it back to a surprised Mizuki. I already began healing the wound when I reminded, "Wait five minutes and then head to the Chunin Exam stadium. Go tell the Hokage a convincing story about how I'm a traitor to the village and you did your best to slow me down."

I left the speechless Mizuki and headed toward the scroll. I knew he would be the perfect actor. A little bit of sprinkled blood would collaborate his story. I just hoped I could get out of the village before any Uchiha or ANBU found me.

"What is this? That's not how…I don't believe…mother…" Gaara suddenly wailed from his sand sphere as my genjutsu finally ended. That was my cue to cast the second genjutsu.

Many of the civilians and less experienced ninja were already falling asleep, lulled by the drifting of black feathers obscuring their vision. Several of the Konoha ninja were still awake though, either having expelled the chakra or been resistant to it in the first place. It didn't really matter as I didn't have enough chakra left to maintain this clone body, which ended in a poof.

"Haru! Where are you going?" Naruto shouted as he trailed behind me, only a few tree branches behind.

"It's an adventure, Naruto! I'm sorry I can't take you with me. Make sure to protect everyone, okay? And take care of this!" I replied as I tossed my metal headband to the only person who knew my favorite way of escaping the village.

He stopped to catch it and I was too far away to hear what he was saying. And with that, I took my leave of Konoha.