(Author's note: I've read the past 2 chapters and I realized... Brad's a stupid name.
So, his name is now Chiori.
I've already edited the past chapter to go with this change)
. . .
(Return to the present)
"Damn it…" Lumian muttered under his breath, sweat beading on his brow. "Do I seriously have to fight my way out of this one?"
The alley felt like it was shrinking by the second as the group of angry shinobi crept forward, faces twisted with fury, eyes burning for payback.
Especially Todo.
Lumian's gaze flicked to the Genin and... holy. The dude was panting, drooling, and glaring like a hyena.
Behind the horde, Chiori, the picture-perfect embodiment of Uchiha indifference, stood coolly with his arms crossed, watching the chaos unfold with the energy of someone waiting for a traffic light to change. His "lackeys" were already moving forward with confident steps.
Lumian raised both hands and grinned sheepishly. "Alright, alright, I give up!"
Todo stopped, gave a dark chuckle, and reached for the kunai strapped at his side.
"Oh, you can leave, alright…" He spun the kunai around his finger with psychotic flair. "After I'm done with you."
The other shinobi spread out slightly, forming a rough half-circle.
Lumian's eyes darted between them, then he smirked.
"Don't you know who I am?" he asked loudly, stepping forward with ridiculous bravado. "My name is Asuma Sarutobi: son of the Hokage!"
A silence fell.
Then one of the Chunin frowned. "Wait a second, I thought Asuma Sarutobi had black hair. Not that weird yellow thing you got going on."
Lumian's grin didn't fade. "Oh yeah? And where'd you hear that? You trust your sources? Think about it. How do you even know you're right?"
The Chunin blinked, the gears in his brain visibly slowing. "Uh… well… I think I'm right… Y-Yeah, I'm definitely right… I think…"
Todo was not here for the mind games.
He let out a furious growl, flipped his kunai in hand again, and stomped forward. "I don't care if you're the son of the Hokage, the Daimyō, or my uncle. You're gonna pay for knocking me out and stealing my identity!"
Lumian exhaled.
"Welp. Worth a shot."
He slowly raised a finger, eyes flicking to the side.
"By the way… on your left."
Todo froze. "Wha-?"
THWACK.
Todo faceplanted into the dirt as a boot crashed into the back of his head, sending his kunai flying out of his grip with a clang. He hit the ground with a satisfying oomph, twitching slightly.
The alley exploded with surprise.
"WHOA!"
"Where'd he come from?!"
"Todo?!"
The crowd of shinobi instinctively backed off as a figure stood tall where Todo once did, one foot still casually planted on the fallen Genin's back.
He had jet-black, spiky hair that practically screamed "emo energy." A blue shirt with a high collar, white pants, and a cool glare that could give frostbite.
He crossed his arms and let out a huff.
"…Hmph."
The stunned silence was broken by a shaky voice. "Wh-Who are you?"
The newcomer's lip curled into a smug grin.
"The name's Sasuke Uchiha."
A beat passed.
Lumian blinked, then let out a snort and grinned. "And I'm Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!"
The group stared in stunned silence.
One of the Genin slowly turned toward the tall Uchiha. "Chiori, you know that guy?"
Chiori stared at his group of Shinobi like they were idiots. "It's obviously a transformation jutsu, you fools. If we beat them up, they'll show their real faces."
Lumian grinned and turned toward his clone.
"You ready for this, my one and only friend?"
The clone sighed and made a hand seal, chakra flickering faintly in his palm. "You're really loving this, aren't you?"
"Hehe..." Lumian chuckled and dashed forward, sandals scraping sharply against the dirt as he closed the distance with impressive speed. "Cover me, Sasuke!"
"He's coming!"
The Genin yelped and instinctively backpedaled, bumping into the Chunin beside him. His clone reacted quickly, shifting his stance and dropping low as Lumian lunged.
"Genjutsu: Inverted World!"
"What the—!"
The moment the jutsu hit, the two Chunin stumbled as if gravity itself twisted. Their depth perception reversed, left became right, and their footing faltered. One tripped on uneven cobblestone, the other nearly collided into his own ally.
"Nice, Sasuke!" Lumian sidestepped the Genin's wild punch and swept his leg out low.
The Genin's balance crumbled, and he crashed onto the ground with a painful thud that rattled his teeth. He groaned and tried to rise, only to take a direct kick to the face that knocked the daylights out of him.
"Two down... Three to go."
Chiori watched with blatant indifference as the two Chunin shook their heads, recovering their senses. Dust clung to their flak jackets and the whites of their eyes flicked back into focus.
"You need help?" Chiori asked dryly, his Sharingan slowly rotating with idle dissapointment.
The Chunin gritted their teeth and moved into flanking positions, muscle memory kicking in as their hands blurred into practiced seals.
"No thanks, Chiori."
Lumian: "!!!!"
Lumian yelled out. "Sasuke!!!"
"Are you still into this role???"
Lumian backed up quickly, retreating just enough so that the two of them were side by side, their shoulders brushing.
"Fire Style: Fire Bullet!"
"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!"
Twin blazes of scorching heat surged toward them. The roar of flames filled the alley, smoke rising with an acrid sting. Lumian's pupils shrank as the heat seared toward him ,even before impact, the sheer intensity singed the edges of his jacket.
"I don't have any Genjutsu that can stop that…"
His danger sense , the instinctive warning of a Seer, blared like a siren inside his skull. This wasn't just for show. If he stood there, he'd be burned alive.
Thinking fast, he pivoted, planted a foot on the ground, and vaulted.
Straight onto his clone's back.
"Sorry, Sasuke!"
The clone's eyes widened. "Fu—"
Before he could finish the curse, Lumian used the momentum to launch himself upwards, flipping to gain more altitude.
A heartbeat later—
BOOM.
A thunderous detonation shook the alleyway. Smoke erupted in a thick, choking wave, and the heat blast sent bits of brick and mortar raining down.
The impact charred the far wall black, spiderweb cracks crawling out like veins. Flames licked at the air where Lumian had stood seconds ago.
He soared through the rising smoke, spinning midair. His jacket, scorched and half-tattered, flapped violently behind him.
"Too close... that would've crisped me like grilled fish..."
He landed with a practiced roll, hitting the tiles hard and coughing as smoke and ember tails nipped at his boots. Bits of ash floated in the air like black snow.
Behind him, a low groan echoed out of the smoke cloud.
His clone staggered out of the inferno, singed beyond recognition. One sleeve had burned clean off. His hair was smoking.
"You... absolute bastard..."
And then—
Poof.
The clone vanished into a puff of white smoke, spent from the effort of taking the brunt of the flames.
Lumian winced as he steadied himself. The adrenaline was still surging.
"Yikes... rest in pieces, Sasuke."
. . .
Chiori glanced at the now remaining Lumian with mild surprise.
"So... it was a clone...."
The Chunin, realizing that their jutsu had missed, hurriedly formed another series of hand seals. Their expressions were filled with a mixture of frustration and anger.
"Whoah, whoah!" Lumian waved both hands defensively. "I only stole your wallets! Why are you launching deadly projectiles like I murdered your clan?"
One of the Chunin, his voice tight with irritation, retorted, "Don't worry, it won't kill you, but it won't tickle either."
Lumian twitched an eyebrow as he surveyed the narrow alley around him, looking for a way out.
"Damn it... If it was an open field, it might be easier to dodge these attacks, but this alley's too narrow..."
Narrow.
A sudden realization hit him like a spark.
"Wait a minute..."
The Chunin's fingers were already weaving through the seals for another attack, but Lumian had no time to hesitate.
Without a moment's pause, he pushed off from the ground and sprinted straight at them.
"!!!!"
"Are you crazy?!"
The Chunin's eyes widened as they watched the boy charge toward them, seemingly suicidal. Panic flashed across their faces. In that brief moment of hesitation, Lumian jumped with a burst of force, using the narrow wall to his side to propel himself higher into the air. His body twisted in mid-air, heading directly toward them.
As he descended, Lumian slammed his palms together with practiced speed.
"Clone Jutsu!"
POOF!
Dozens of clones materialized out of thin air, their bodies in perfect synchronization. They dropped perfectly still toward the startled Chunin with precise force, their landings almost mechanical in their execution. The clones piled on top of the Chunin, overwhelming them with the sheer weight of their numbers.
"!!!"
The Chunin's shouts were drowned out as the clones piled up, knocking them to the ground in a tangle of limbs and bodies.
Chiori, who had been standing slightly back, instinctively stepped away, his eyes darting to avoid being caught up in the chaos. He frowned at the display of cleverness but said nothing, just observing the situation with mild interest.
PAP.
Lumian landed lightly on his feet, a smirk on his face as he surveyed the tangled mess of bodies beneath him.
"Four down, one to go."
POOF. POOF. POOF.
Only Lumian and Chiori remained in the alley, now facing off against each other as they stared into each other's eyes.
. . .
Chiori's Sharingan began to spin, faintly glowing in the shadowed alley as he stepped forward.
"Nice chakra capacity... Are you a Genin within a squad?"
Lumian smiled. "A squad? Nah. But I can join your squad if your mom invites me over."
Chiori gritted his teeth and charged forward without a word.
"!!!!!" Lumian widened his eyes as he barely ducked underneath a kick thrown with deadly force, the wind from it whipping past his ear.
"Holy, this guy is fast..."
He dodged to the side as Chiori threw a punch, then vaulted backward with a twisting handspring as Chiori closed the distance again with relentless speed.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Lumian backflipped, sideflipped, and gracefully ducked beneath the onslaught of attacks, his movements almost too quick to follow, assisted by the flexibility of the Marauder and the danger sense of the Seer. The Sharingan tracked him, but his unpredictable rhythm kept him from being cornered, at least for now.
Chiori yelled out in frustration. "You slippery rat!"
He backed off, reassessing, as he realized the boy outmatched him in pure agility.
Chiori made a hand seal.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
"Again with the deadly projectiles!"
Lumian immediately dove to the side, shoulder hitting the rough ground as the Fireball blazed over his head and exploded against the far wall, sending out a wave of heat that singed the tips of his hair.
Chiori wasted no time and re-engaged, not giving Lumian room to breathe. It turned into a full-on game of cat and mouse, Chiori pressing forward, Lumian evading with flips and dashes that kicked up dust and ash.
However, slowly but surely, Lumian was getting pushed back, step by step, until his back was against the alley's cracked stone wall.
"Chance!"
He threw a punch forward, aiming to finish it, thinking that Lumian had nowhere else to go.
But Lumian, taking advantage of the opponent's superior size and longer reach, rolled low and fast, slipping under his legs as the wall behind him shattered from the missed strike.
Lumian spun to his feet and grinned, provoking the Chunin.
"C'mon, that all you got?"
"Shut up!"
Lumian ducked and weaved again as Chiori launched another barrage of blows. "Is that all you can do? I thought the Uchiha would be stronger—"
He was cut off mid-taunt as a sudden kick broke through his defensive rhythm and slammed into his ribs.
"!!!!"
Lumian was instantly launched backward like a ragdoll, his body twisting midair. He crashed to the ground and rolled twice, coughing up a mouthful of spit and air.
"Damn it... I forgot... You don't fight a prolonged battle of pure hands against an Uchiha..."
He looked up as Chiori approached, the blood-red Sharingan spinning with focused fury.
Lumian let out a raspy chuckle and sat up, holding his side.
"I don't suppose you'll take it easy on me?"
Chiori dropped the cold act and let out a low, cocky laugh.
"No..."
He grabbed Lumian by the scruff of his torn shirt and yanked him upward.
"Grkkk..."
Lumian winced as his shirt pulled taut against his shoulders, his feet barely scraping the ground. Chiori raised a fist, aiming for the knockout blow.
Lumian, grinning through the pain, locked eyes with him.
"You and your clan of red-eyed bastards... You really let your guard down when you think you've already won..."
Chiori's brow furrowed.
"Wha—"
CRACK.
A sickening thud echoed through the alley as a wooden plank splintered violently against the back of Chiori's skull.
Wooden shards flew out like shrapnel. Chiori's body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground in a heap, out cold.
Lumian coughed as he was dropped alongside him.
Cough. Cough.
He let out a weary sigh and looked up.
Sasuke, a.k.a. his clone, stood over him, holding the splintered remains of the plank.
He chuckled as he picked himself up and dusted his torn clothes.
"When did you have the chance to make another clone?"
Sasuke gave him an annoyed look and dropped the plank with a hollow clunk.
"When your other clone was watching from the rooftop, he made me before jumping in to help you."
Lumian grinned, then walked over to Chiori's unconscious body. He planted his foot on the back of the Uchiha's flak vest and struck a cheesy victory pose.
"As always, even my geniusness frightens me sometimes...."
His clone looked at him with deadpan annoyance.
"Aren't you going to say thank you?"
"But you're me!"
"...."
"Okay, okay... Thank you."
The clone sighed and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.
POOF.
Lumian stared at the empty space where his clone had stood for a moment before glancing around the alley.
Five bodies lay sprawled across the ground, some scorched, others unconscious from brute force. Smoke drifted lazily from the scorched walls, making the air thick and acrid.
Cough. Cough.
He waved the smoke away with a tired hand and exhaled deeply.
"Five down, zero to go."
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(Author's note:
First, group fight and my man clutches up.
Thank you for reading!
Make sure to comment and leave a review on the book!
POWER STONES!!!!!!)