Sightless [A Naruto Fanfic]

Chapter Ten: The Cheerful Mask

A/N: The above picture is Tomoko from this chapter. Hope you like her! I went with the clothing I could draw because I couldn't recall what she was supposed to wear. 

Flames licked the underbrush surrounding their group. Several of them had to drop to the ground to avoid the attack- only two managing to stay on their feet long enough to lock eyes with each other. Taking the silent cue- even if Tenten and Jun hadn't actually fought together on more than a handful of occasions- Tenten squeezed her eyes shut just as Jun finished the last, almost fumbled handsign.

"Lightning Illusion: Light Pillar!"

A swear escaped Tomoko's lips and a second before the area lit up, she and Saichi shut their eyes. Startled shouts escaped several of the masked attackers, as well as the civilians who hadn't guessed what was going to happen. Before the light cleared, Saichi began shoving them back towards the thicker part of the trees, trusting the Leaf shinobi to take care of the problem. Or at least, figuring they'd make for a good distraction while he made sure Ai was out of harm's way.

Not waiting for the opposing shinobi to recover, an instant after she'd closed her eyes Tomoko flashed her hands through a set of signs, relieved as her hands lit up with the tingling spark of electricity. She might not be able to completely perform the jutsu yet- something that when used would enable her to run electricity through the ground and send opponents within a certain range to their knees- but she could at least do this much. With that thought in mind, she dipped one tingling, sparking hand into her pouch and drew out two kunai with notches on their ends. The second she had one of them shifted over to her other hand and had gripped their hilts tightly, the electricity crackling over her skin began sliding over the kunai as well.

She'd bought them when she'd realized that her jutsu wouldn't be completed as quickly as she liked.

Tenten, on the other hand, had whipped out a scroll, summoning twin, kana weapons. Dropping the scroll, she snapped open her eyes and studied the area with a narrowed gaze as the light faded. Neither of the girls had a made a move, however, before Jun finished his next set of hand signs.

"Silent Illusion: Leaf Storm!"

A new technique. One that instead of simply sending a swirl of leaves around the target, literally bombarded them with razor sharp leaves until that was all that they saw. It was all in their mind, of course.

As the last of the light died away, their opponents came into view. There were five that the three shinobi could see, and out of those number, three were batting at the air, one was standing stalk still although they were quite pale, and one had shifted a tanto blade from some sheath on their person and focused their attention on the obvious cause of their problems. A powerful genjutsu user of Jun's level was almost as troublesome as if there'd actually been a jounin in the group. After all, an illusion that could trap multiple people at once was more effective than a jounin wielding a single blade.

The man who hadn't been caught noted all of this in a second. Lunging forward just as Tomoko's hands flashed out in reaction. Her intervention almost missed, one of the kunai skimming his arm. That was all it took for the electricity to jolt his system. Not pausing, she spun her other hand about as she twisted to completely face him, the kunai in her second hand burying itself in his back.

A noise of pain escaped his lips as several hundred volts of electricity surged through his system. Within seconds he'd dropped to his feet.

Tenten lowered her weapons, amazement on her face. The others were held securely in Jun's illusions for the moment, giving her time to question what she'd just seen.