Naruto : A Fool's Errand.

Almost instinctively Tachibana ignored the wound on his neck before jabbing a kunai with an explosion tag into the snow between him and the person behind him and rushing away from there with the help of Body Flicker Jutsu.

Then using damage transfer Tachibana moved the egregious wound on his neck to his forearm.

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The explosion tag exploded and Tachiba used the few seconds it bought him to look around to see if anyone noticed him almost dying and using damage transfer.

'It looks like I was lucky…everyone was absorbed in their own fights to pay any attention to me.'

Sasuke and Sakura's enemy appeared to be completely unharmed as if the fireball and explosive tag couldn't touch them at all.

Naruto's enemy looked like a brawler and was ready to punch him while Yamato's enemy was about to attack him with a few thousand ice needles.

Tachibana's attention was back on the shinobi he'd just blown up but found him just fine as if the explosion hadn't affected him at all.

"*Phew* You're quick!" The man complimented as he stepped out of the smoke that had filled the air after the short explosion. "I thought I had you done when I stabbed your neck but turns out you blocked it with your arm."

Tachibana only frowned at the explanation the man had cooked up.

'Is he pretending he doesn't know? Or did he really not notice it?'

'Either way, there won't be any problems as long as I kill him…'

Each enemy shinobi's armour although a similar deep blue was different in structure.

The one in front of Tachibana had armour that gave him lean legs that looked to be externally reinforced with hydraulics. On his stomach was a circular object with the yin and yang design etched onto it.

'Does it provide him extra speed? Or the ability to swim through snow quickly?'

'Is that how he moved so fast and attacked me?'

"Now that you've missed being able to kill me with the element of surprise, I'd like to tell you you're as good as dead." The man spoke dusting off the little snow that had gotten into his armour because of the explosion.

"Weak." Tachibana taunted.

"Oh?"

"You can't defeat me on your own and so you've decided to depend on the armour to defeat a genin? How pathetic." Tachibana said with a pitying look.

The man's brows frowned but he smiled and explained, "Is that so? Fine then. Just for you, I shall not use the abilities of my special armour. I'll show you the gap between us."

Tachibana smiled and used the body flicker jutsu to appear in front of the man. A kunai flickered into his fingers as he stabbed it at the man's eyes, but the man just as easily blocked it with his gloved palm as he made eye contact with Tachibana.

"In a contest of speed, you're nothing against me. You're as slow as a snail in my eyes. If this is all you have as a shinobi then you're disappointing."

"Well thank you for thinking I'm slow. But I'm not a shinobi. I'm a magician." Tachibana said with a smile before he kicked up with a kunai attached to the end of his feet using chakra.

The man had to immediately dodge backwards to avoid his jaw being stabbed by the kunai but Tachibana didn't let him.

Dropping the kunai in his hand, Tachibana grabbed the man's arms and pulled him closer, his arms wrapping around the man's own like a snake because of his flexible bones, allowing Tachibana to hold the man in place.

The man's eyes widened when Tachibana did this and with a slight *click* of his tongue a sudden pink translucent circular barrier was drawn between the man and Tachibana.

Tachiaban's hands which had already gone through the barrier were given an electric shock as he was being forced away from the man lest he risk frying his nerves.

But even as Tachibana held onto the man for a few seconds in hopes of stabbing the kunai on his leg into his head, but it was blocked by the pink barrier in between them forcing him to make distance so that his entire body wouldn't be shocked.

"Ouch! Old man, you're a liar! Using your armour when you said you wouldn't? Do you have any pride? Bullying a child? A genin no less?"

The man had a prominent frown on his face as if he didn't like breaking his promise too.

But he didn't notice the kunai Tachibana had dropped earlier had an explosion seal attached to it. His thoughts were too violent for him to observe the battle field.

'If I kill this brat no one will know.'

Yet he quickly 'recovered' from the embarrassing moment and made a simple hand seal.

"Ice Release: Ice prison!"

Solid Ice crystals sprouted from the ground in Tachibana's direction as he used the body flicker jutsu to dodge around them continuously.

Tachibana noticed the man was using the ice crystals not just to trap him but to surround him from all sides so that he couldn't retreat.

"What happened? Why are you so hell-bent on killing me? Afraid I'll spread the word around that you're just a fake? One that has to use his full power to kill a genin? What a laughable man you are." Tachibana taunted the man further.

Just everything behind Tachibana was covered by the ice prison technique, the man suddenly vanished from his position. Tachibana who was keeping track of the man using spirit vision found him swimming at a rapid pace under snow.

He was so fast in fact, that before Tachibana could move even a little the man had already come out of the snow and was about to stab Tachibana with a new kunai.

*PUCHI*

The kunai stabbed through Tachibana's neck once again and blood started to flow freely as Tachibana's eyes showed shock and horror.

The man finally relaxed but that was when his instincts blared at him to dodge, even though it was a surprise strike, Tachibana was only able to pierce a kunai into the man's right shoulder disabling it from use.

The 'Tachibana' the man had stabbed *poofed* for a second before a paper figurine with a hole in its head replaced it.

The man quickly retreated back into the ice and reemerged at the spot he was in previously as he looked at his disabled right hand with the kunai pierced into it.

"Oh? Got hurt? Did a cat scratch you? Poor old man. I'm sure it'll heal quickly. Come to me, I can heal you quicker. With what I can do you won't ever need healing again." Tachibana said with a smile.

The man frowned as he looked at Tachibana and then smiled with a simple hand seal his trap was complete as he looked at Tachibana and spoke calmly, "Enjoy being frozen to death."

The was a soft *clink* before the snow under Tachibana turned into ice and sprouted out of the ground, freezing him and trapping him inside a huge ice crystal.

The man looked at Tachibana and smiled as he spoke, "That's the problem with you genin, you get overconfident too easily. This was my plan all along. I wanted to turn the snow underneath your feet into ice so that no matter where you are in this entire area you'd only be in my trap."

"You were dancing in the palm of my hand since the beginning. There was no chance of victory."

*SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

Suddenly the man looked underneath him and saw an explosive tag lit up.

"Oh? Is that your last attempt to escape? Let me show you what my armour can-." The man said but before he could say anything, Tachibana appeared right in front of him and-

"Suprise MF!"

-jabbed a kunai into his neck before the explosion tag exploded to engulf Tachibana and the man in a ball of fire.

'How did he come here so fast!!?? Was that a paper clone too?'

The man's eyes captured the ice crystal in which Tachibana had been trapped and saw nothing in it.

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A/N : Dead now?