Shadow Binding was a powerful jutsu and the Nara clan's bloodline affinity for it made them one of the more respected clans of Konohagakure, limited largely by their scanty numbers. However, the jutsu did have the occasional weakness and during his stint in ANBU, Hatake Kakashi had made a point of being able to counter the most common jutsu of the major clans.
Weakness number one was that Shadow Binding only restricted physical movement - and while chakra was usualkly channelled through seals, doing so without movement was not impossible, merely very very difficult. Kakashi could only reproduce a very few jutsu without resorting to seals, but one of them would be ideal for utilising the other weakness of Shadow Binding - the requirement for the user's shadow to touch the target.
Channelling a pulse of chakra from his feet, Kakashi literally blasted up a few inches from the ground and bounded away from the grasping shadows as a fuuma shuriken whirled through the space he'd been occupying.
Obviously either Kirigishi or Bakusuta had taken his warning too heart and was trying to take the bells from his cold dead body. Equally obviously, Nara was helping them. Teamwork, in other words. It was tempting to simply declare the test was over, since the three of them had all demonstrated the traits that Kakashi was looking for. What was even more tempting, however, was to let the game play out. To see exactly what else they could pull on him.
Kakashi looked around and both eyes widened appreciatively as the Sharingan revealed parts of the intricate web of traps around him. And that was only those that had been concealed solely with genjutsu. There were three obvious routes, but they were far too obvious for Kakashi to risk - given the skill used to lay out these traps, the routes had to be even more cunningly trapped. Anyone who broke the genjutsu and bolted impulsively for supposed safety would regret it only briefly, Kakashi suspected - he could see slight signs of other, very well concealed traps that would close the routes and turn them into literal deathtraps.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Kakashi knelt and scooped up the small scroll that rested invitingly on the floor of the forest. The three genin wouldn't have gone to such lengths to trap him if they planned to use such an obvious trigger.
The message was short.
'Bells, balls, what's the difference?'
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Weakness number one was that Shadow Binding only restricted physical movement - and while chakra was usualkly channelled through seals, doing so without movement was not impossible, merely very very difficult. Kakashi could only reproduce a very few jutsu without resorting to seals, but one of them would be ideal for utilising the other weakness of Shadow Binding - the requirement for the user's shadow to touch the target.
Channelling a pulse of chakra from his feet, Kakashi literally blasted up a few inches from the ground and bounded away from the grasping shadows as a fuuma shuriken whirled through the space he'd been occupying.
Obviously either Kirigishi or Bakusuta had taken his warning too heart and was trying to take the bells from his cold dead body. Equally obviously, Nara was helping them. Teamwork, in other words. It was tempting to simply declare the test was over, since the three of them had all demonstrated the traits that Kakashi was looking for. What was even more tempting, however, was to let the game play out. To see exactly what else they could pull on him.
Kakashi looked around and both eyes widened appreciatively as the Sharingan revealed parts of the intricate web of traps around him. And that was only those that had been concealed solely with genjutsu. There were three obvious routes, but they were far too obvious for Kakashi to risk - given the skill used to lay out these traps, the routes had to be even more cunningly trapped. Anyone who broke the genjutsu and bolted impulsively for supposed safety would regret it only briefly, Kakashi suspected - he could see slight signs of other, very well concealed traps that would close the routes and turn them into literal deathtraps.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Kakashi knelt and scooped up the small scroll that rested invitingly on the floor of the forest. The three genin wouldn't have gone to such lengths to trap him if they planned to use such an obvious trigger.
The message was short.
'Bells, balls, what's the difference?'
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.