Naruto: Cautious Ninja

The exact moment the red head acted, Noriko lunged at her, drawing her sword. The blade of her weapon flashed under the light of the moon and alerted the young musician to the danger of an incoming attack. However, the moment she got to within ten paces of her, Tayuya had already started playing, filling the air with a beautiful melody that, from the attacking kunoichi's point of view, suddenly flooded the air with what appeared to be heat waves.

What looked like heat in fact turned out to be sound waves wafting off of the girl's flute and disturbing the atmosphere, which rammed into the dashing kunoichi swordswoman and stopped her dead in her tracks. Feeling like she was hit by an invisible wall, Noriko gave a pained yelp and staggered away, a split second before her body seized up and stiffened like a board.

Eyes widening in horror, the trembling woman, whose ears were now being clogged with the sound of gentle flute music, looked around her to see her world distort into a mishmash of white, red and black paint. When she looked down to see what was happening to her body, she saw that her feet were beginning to melt into the ground and that snakes were starting to jut out of every part of her body to coil around her. The boa constrictors fulfilled their intended purpose as natural binders before sinking their fangs into the kunoichi, paralyzing her and keeping her frozen.

"W-What the hell is this?" Noriko choked out.

"Mateki: Mugen Hebi Onsa." (Demonic Flute: Phantom Snake Sound Chains)

Looking up in alarm, Noriko saw the redhead materialize out of thin air in front of her, no longer playing her flute but wielding a kunai. The young girl, top half solid with her bottom half still forming out of smoke, furrowed her brow at her bound target before lunging at her with the knife.

Alarmed, the silver haired kunoichi acted fast. Biting down on the corner of her lip and drawing blood, Noriko sent a bolt of pain shooting through her brain, jump-starting her nervous system and snapping her out of her trance.

Awakening from the genjutsu immediately had Noriko's senses set on overdrive, allowing the woman to quickly evade the attack from Tayuya and counter with her sword. The red head barreled right passed the woman's previous position, barely avoiding the sword when it came down on her and rolling to avoid her follow-up. Stopping in an all-fours position, Tayuya then glared over her shoulder at her opponent to see the woman glaring back at her, not only with a busted nose but with blood trickling down from her lip.

"Damn it! I thought I had her," Tayuya thought with a frown. "She's obviously skilled enough to know how to break out of genjutsu, which means she has Chunin level experience, but judging from how rigid her movements are she hasn't been in practice for a while. I'll definitely be able to win in a close-quarters fight if I force it, but it looks as though she wants to keep this engagement at a distance."

It was annoying, but Tayuya was proficient enough at middle-range to feel confident about a swift victory.

Getting up, the redhead turned to face the glaring kunoichi to see the woman drive her sword into the roof, where she then left it to stand.

Aware of her disadvantage at close-range thanks to being in a cell for the last two years and having her body worked over in interrogation, Noriko reached back into her two pouches and grabbed a cluster of shuriken in each. Her smirk reappeared in full force. "You know some interesting tricks for a flute player, speck. But I won't be falling for anymore of them like I did to that punk you call a friend. Honestly, I have no idea what you see in him."

Tayuya gritted her teeth. "Naruto-kun is a good person! He saved my life and gave me a home! He's my friend!"

"Whatever," the kunoichi spat before widening her stance. "It's high time for me to leave. I'll take you out before you get another chance to trap me. No more games."

"No doubt she's going for her shuriken. So it's a stand-off?" Tayuya thought as her grip around her flute tightened uneasily. She considered it carefully, all the while making sure her opponent was standing well within her sights as she rose back up to full height. "Obviously she won't risk another charge while I've got my flute. She'll try to hit me quickly with throwing weapons before I can cast another genjutsu, and then finish me off with another dash. I can dodge her throwing weapons… but I won't get another chance to trap her while we're at this distance. She'll have me ducking and dodging to prevent me from producing illusions."

She cursed at her inability to play her flute while in motion. It was a weakness she made a note to cover up later.

Ridding herself of any further thoughts on the matter, Tayuya silently measured the amount of space between them as she slowly began to ease around, the kunoichi in front keeping the flute player locked inside of her crosshairs.

"I can't put distance between us to try for another song, she'll just use that opportunity to get away and I don't think the effectiveness of my sound waves will be able to travel fast enough to catch her," Tayuya concluded before stopping. Realizing the futility of her flute playing in this chess game, she carefully slid it back into her holster and widened her stance. Her fingers twitched as she eyed her opponent carefully. "I'll just have to get close to her. The moment she throws her shuriken, I'll swing around and move in."

"She's thinking of getting in close to me," Noriko thought with a deepening frown. After watching her opponent ease around and put away her flute after a full minute of facing off, the kunoichi began breaking down the scenario that was bound to play out in the next few seconds. She knew that their next exchange would be their last. "She's really perceptive for a brat. Just from looking at the way I acted she knows I'll be able to keep her from using her flute with throwing weapons, so she's going to try for a close-quarter engagement instead. I'm not going to deny that she can't pull her weight, my body is feeling pretty heavy from lack of training." A smile then brimmed on her face after some moments of thought, while her hands holding the shuriken behind her twitched before suddenly forming a hand seal out of sight of her weary foe. "If you want to try and get to me, be my guest. I have a little surprise for you."

It wasn't long until the silence of the stand-off was effectively broken, with Tayuya making the first move. The red head ducked in low and charged right in, intent on cutting short the kunoichi's plan and closing the distance between them quickly.

"Saw it!" Noriko shouted, throwing both arms forward and unleashing a barrage of shuriken upon her target. She then clapped her hands in finality of the jutsu she had performed. "Gen'ei Tajū Shuriken!" (Multiple Phantom Shuriken) The second she did, the barrage of eight metal stars she chucked at her target multiplied tenfold, forming a wall of spiraling metal flying at the girl in an uncoordinated formation.

Tayuya looked up in alarm, seeing the wall of blades bearing down on her.

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