Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Mountain's Graveyard

The sight before them was deserving of its name. "Mountain's Graveyard" had always been an off base topic for many reasons. It was a neutral land ruled by no nations with respect for its nature. The bones which protruded from the mountainous terrain and forestry had been there for a millennium, and no one knew of their origin, or who left them rotting.

"Do we split up?"

Minato held up his hand to silence the man behind him. "Something's off." He quietly murmured to himself before addressing the one next to him, "Kakashi, can you sense anything?"

The silver-haired teenager ran his gaze over the entirety of the landscape and took a sniff. With his sense of smell argued to be better than that of an Inuzuka, he was able to catch the faint trace of smoke. He pointed eastward and signed to the other team members - two Uchiha's and one Hyuuga - that they should prepare to submerge into the vast trees. However, without any warning, Kakashi was suddenly ambushed from his side. He was quick to cut through the attacker's throat. His eyes widened when there was no sign of blood or any trace of a body.

"Sensei!" He called and spun around to see if his other team members encountered an enemy as well, but he found himself alone. It was odd that no noise could be heard. He panned out his chakra and knew there was no Genjutsu entrapping him.

"Are you alright, Kakashi?"

The silver-haired teen breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his mentor. "Where are the others?" He asked. It was almost immediately after that he took in a sharp breath as he saw the image of his mentor being stabbed in the neck by a kunai. However, he could only stare flabbergasted at the same face coming through from the foliage not a second later.

"That was an enemy. Seems like it could henge into us rather well." Minato stated. Kakashi shivered. The imposter had seemed real. Too real. He hadn't even sensed a difference in the chakra. Kakashi eyed the blonde man closely. Minato chuckled at the suspicious gaze of his student. "No matter how alike the henge may be, the imposter can be identified by the darker essence of their chakra."

"Darker?" Kakashi questioned.

Minato gazed down at his student and something flashed within his azure eyes. "We'll talk about that after. We need to gather the others." It wasn't long before they found the other members fighting clones of themselves. The Uchiha's had their Sharingan activated, and with the Hyuuga using his Byakugan, the enemies from below the ground were accounted for. It was never so easy though, they all found.

"Agh! I'm not a clone Yuri!" Uchiha Ryuu exclaimed when he was slashed on the arm by his fellow clan member.

"Sorry!"

"Don't engage any clones that look like your teammate!" Minato ordered from across the battle, uncaring if the enemy heard. "Focus on the ones that look like you!"

"How smart." Minato whipped around at the voice behind him and flung his kunai in a wide arch. He was met with the sight of his student. "How can they focus on their own clones when there's just one?"

After quickly dealing with the threatening enemy, he faced back to find that the enemy had all changed into Kakashi. He couldn't mindlessly attack if he couldn't set apart his student, but he could still feel it, the odd feeling he was getting that he never felt from the real Kakashi. Still, he needed to be more than a hundred percent sure. With an idea quickly forming in his mind, he called out to his student, "Kakashi! Chidori!" He ordered.

The familiar cry of lightning of his student's signature technique made Minato smirk in victory. Before the enemy could reach him from behind, he disappeared in a flash of yellow. It took a mere ten seconds to deal with the imposters crowding the area.