trapped ➳ naruto | ✔️

Ichi: illusion or reality?

Ichi: illusion or reality?

Sakura

     "Kakashi-sensei?" My body was frozen as if my feet were stuck to the ground. My body was so rigid and tense that I didn't even realize that I was already holding my breath. I squeezed my sweaty palms tightly as I stared at him straight in the eyes. For some reason both of his eyes are normal, meaning that he does not possess the sharigan eye. What the hell is happening? To be frank, I don't even remember how did I get into this situation at all nor do I remember anything before any of this happened. Before I knew it, I was standing before Kakashi-sensei in Konoha's original state before Pein even came. The sun was up and everybody was doing their daily routines around us just like any other day. I took a step back, looking around my surroundings in confusion. Why is everyone so calm and happy? Why is Konoha back to normal? Where is Naruto and Sasuke-kun? Where is Madara and Obito? And why is Kakashi-sensei and I here in Konoha? 

     "Sakura-san, are you okay?" His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I look at him confused. Did he just call me 'Sakura-san'? I'd never thought I'd see the day he'll say my name with an honorific. And isn't he confused like me too? Why does he look so calm and collected? An unsettling feeling began welling up inside of me as my heart started to pound at an increasingly rapid pace. There is something definitely wrong. 

    "W-where are the others?" I manage to ask. My voice was weak and it almost came out a whisper. I am so confused. I'm really hoping he has already figured out what is happening and he knows all the answer to the questions running inside my mind.

     "Others?" He replies as if he doesn't know who or what I was talking about. Then he continued while tilting his head to side in confusion. "Do you mean Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun?" There he goes again. He said their names with an honorific. What is wrong with him? Why is he acting so strange? What happened to his eye? And how could he not know what I was talking about? Those people were the only ones who we were with before we somehow ended up here. Isn't he even wondering about their whereabouts? Does he even notice our odd surroundings? 

     "You're so pale, are you sick?" He asks, his voice laced with concern as he places the back of his hand on my forehead. I scowl in confusion. Why should he be worrying about my health at a time like this? Does he even know how grave our situation is? We should be figuring out why we ended up here and not waste our time standing around. Why does he seem like he’s so oblivious to everything? And why is he so different all of a sudden? It's like as if...

     And that's when it hit me. 

    There's only one explanation for his odd behavior: the guy before me is not Kakashi-sensei. I took a step backward away from him. My chest was now moving up and down due to my rapid breathing and fast heartbeats. If this is not Kakashi-sensei, then who is he? What has he done to the real Kakashi-sensei and the others? Why are we here? Are we in some kind of genjutsu? "Who are you?" My voice was stronger this time. I have to get the bottom of this and get out of this genjutsu as soon as possible. 

     "I'm Hatake Kakashi, who else?" He says with a frown. I pursed my lips and clenched my fists, preparing myself to attack when needed. "Sakura-san, are you really okay? You have been acting strange since this morning and—"

     "Stop lying!" I found myself yelling at him. Because of that everyone who heard me, stopped doing what they are doing and looked at us. "You're not Kakashi-sensei!" Why am I suddenly losing my cool? Why am I suddenly acting this way? “And this is definitely not Konoha!” Just what am I doing? I’m causing a scene. Why should I even care anyway? This is a genjutsu after all. “Show yourself! Who are you?” I demand angrily. I’m completely distraught, knowing that there is a war going on and I could probably get killed any moment now if I don’t escape this. I just couldn’t help but stay calm knowing that fact. Especially since I thought I could be of use to Naruto, Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei, I get trapped in this stupid genjutsu. I’m a complete idiot.

     "What are you talking about?" He asks, confused as he took a step forward while I took another step back. "I am Kakashi. I can't believe you actually forgot your academy teacher." Academy teacher? Since when did he become my academy teacher? What the hell is he talking about? Okay, calm down, Sakura. He is just trying to confuse you; whoever made this genjutsu is probably watching from a far, enjoying every bit of this. I took a deep breath and just stood still, trying to process everything in my mind. What will I do now? This man before me might be more dangerous than I thought. He even may be the one who trapped me in this genjutsu. I have to do something quick before he confuses me even more with his lies. "You are probably just confused, I should walk you ho—"

     "No!" I yell, cutting him off as I take another step away from him. I didn't want to hit him, because he either might dodge my attack and hit me instead or block it. I have no idea how powerful this guy is, so I have to take caution. The only solution I've thought of is to dispel the genjutsu. I put two fingers above the other and close my eyes. I tried to concentrate on disrupting the flow of my chakra in order to get me out of this, but when I opened my eyes. I find myself still stuck in this genjutsu. I stare at my hands in confusion. Why isn’t it working? It was then I realized that I don't even have any chakra running through my veins. The reason why it didn’t work in the first place is because I don’t even have chakra to disrupt. I look up at the guy impersonating Kakashi-sensei to see the word 'confusion' written all over his face. I knew that there is only one thing left to do, and that's to run.

     I swiftly turned around and bolted off. I ran faster and faster with each ragged breath. The warm air coursed through my lungs and dried my already parched throat. Why am I getting so tired easily? I could run for hours and still not feel tired, but why just even for a short period of time, my body felt exhausted and sluggish? Is it because I don’t have any charka which is the source of my energy? My heart was beating so fast, I was scared it would burst out of my chest. I reluctantly glanced behind me and noticed that I've already lost him. I let out a sigh of relief and stopped running. I let my hands rest upon my knees as I took two deep breaths; in through my nose out through my mouth. After wiping away the beads of sweat on my forehead I took in my surroundings.

     Everything was exactly the same as before but then something caught my eye. I turned to look at it. My eyes widened and I stopped breathing for a moment at the sight of it. Instead of the faces of the five hokages, I only found the face of Madara Uchiha instead. My mind was spinning so much that I've gotten a headache. The slow drop of sweat that was rolling down my forehead was contradictory because I was actually feeling cold. He did it. He is the one who created this genjutsu, and the reason why I couldn’t get out of it because it isn’t just an ordinary one—it’s from the mangekyou sharingan, just like Itachi’s. My sight then suddenly began to blur and my knees became weak. My legs felt like jelly, like as if I could collapse any moment now.

     What’s happening to me? I take a deep breath trying to hold my ground, but I couldn’t even keep my eyes open anymore. I suddenly fall to my knees and I rested my hand on the ground while holding my head, trying to stop my head from spinning. I fought to remain conscious, but my will power alone isn’t strong enough.

     "Help me." That was the last thing I said before falling into the darkness.