Most of whom stopped what they were doing and stared if they were at all familiar with the little Hyuga.
"Hinata?!"
Hinata stopped and looked up at the woman who had spoken, then slowly looked down.
Hinata blinked a few times but otherwise stared at herself.
Hinata smiled at Hinata, waved one hand briefly. Then ran as if the hounds of hell were baying at her feet.
"After her! She might be a spy!"
"There's something wrong with her, she smells like... glass cleaner," said Kiba as they gave chase to the rooftops.
Kurenai Yuhi made a couple of moves quicker than a genin could manage, getting ahead of the extra Hinata and causing her to jump backwards only to miss the end of the roof.
The Hinata that fell looked absolutely panicked up until she hit the ground, then faded out as she lay there - apparently knocked out.
"What was that, some kind of bunshin?" asked Kiba as Akamaru sniffed at the impact point.
"I'd say yes, but..." Kurenai went over the disappearance in her memory. "There was no puff of chakra smoke. No feeling of disruption. She faded away, not simply disappeared. If it was a variant of that technique, it wasn't one I'm familiar with."
"But why would someone copy me?" asked Hinata, not seeing that point at all.
"It might have been..." Kurenai Yuhi's voice trailed off as she straightened up, looked around, and spotted herself. Who spotted her, looked panicked, and then ran away with an expression of terror briefly glimpsed on her face, hands raised over her head.
"Uhm," said Kiba. "I got that smell of glass cleaner again."
"If that was indeed a spy trying to infiltrate the village," mused Shino. "Why do my insects report there is nothing there? And why does the copy act atypical of the one being copied?"
"Maybe someone trying to do a prank?" suggested Kiba.
"Whatever the case, we'll find out when we catch them." Kurenai leapt to the nearest rooftop and the chase was on again.
"So, this is the hijutsu..." said Sakura, looking around the hallway.
"Yeah," said Naruto. "Apparently, only I can unlock them - but when I need to - I can invoke the effect on someone else. There's also something about seals, but I don't understand it all yet."
"Sasuke should see this," concluded Sakura.
"No, this is my jutsu," said Naruto. "I'm the only one who can unlock this stuff. I can use one on you though Sakura. Once I understand how to do it, I could use one of the Effect cards to power you up."
"Or you could power Sasuke up, right?" asked Sakura, facing Naruto.
Naruto's expression changed a few times, but he finally nodded. "It's only as long as I maintain it, but... yeah."
"So, what's this about 'unlock conditions'?" asked Sakura, pointing at the empty pedestal.
Naruto blinked, checked, and then came to the obvious conclusion. "Uh oh."
"Whoa, we were gone for almost a day, but it's just past twenty-one hundred?" asked Sakura as she checked.
"Yeah, time's faster over there," said Naruto. "Dunno why. Might be the presence of one of the ones I haven't got yet."
"Dobe," said Sasuke, rotating a shoulder. "We helped you get that new one. You better be ready tomorrow."
"Heh, I was gonna say something along those lines," said Naruto with a grin. "Better hold up your own end."
The three parted ways, thinking that they'd be able to surprise their sensei during whatever he had planned the next day now that Naruto had added:
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(Posted Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:04)
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