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Ino, being Ino, had asked why.

"Because they were all out there slitting throats before the rest of their peers had even joined the Academy," my dad had drawled in response.

And that was that.

So we really didn't have much to go on. A few shuriken and kunai, the Shadow Possession Jutsu and its derivatives, and…solid clones? Huh, maybe Naruto could be of some use after all – Nope. Now he was dangling upside-down from a tree.

Meanwhile, here was a guy who could send us sailing with a single finger.

…Speaking of which, wasn't that something reserved for the likes of Lady Tsunade?

My mind was racing a mile a minute. I had to think fast. Naruto was already out, meaning that Kakashi would be coming for Ino and me next. I had next to no time to plan. Kakashi was walking over to Naruto now, and was bending down to pick up the bells, which were still on the ground where he had left them as snare bait…

I had already analyzed the strength of my teammates versus our opponent. Our chances didn't look good. No relying on super powerful techniques here. Our difference in intelligence was also questionable. Had it been anyone else, I might have rated myself as having a fair chance. But this was a Jonin whose craftiness was more feared than his skill. I thanked my dad for always complaining about him. I might have underestimated him otherwise. Maybe.

Moving on to terrain. This training ground was simple enough. Grass, three wooden posts, the Memorial Stone, the lunch boxes, the alarm clock. Not much going on over there, unless someone ran out of shuriken and decided that throwing rice and fish was the next best bet.

What about the surrounding forest? That, I think, would be off-limits to actual combat. Well. Not officially. But I knew that Kakashi knew that hiding in the shadows when you had a Nara on the other side was tactical suicide. Which was good; that meant he'd have to stay in the clearing where we could see him – although that meant he'd have an easier time keeping track of the shadows, too. Maybe we could use that to our advantage? We could hide in the shadows; he could not. Or rather, he couldn't stay in the shadows. If he zipped in and out of the trees on the other side of the clearing, he'd be too far away for me or my shadow to catch up to him in time.

The main problem, aside from the whole "he's a massive troll who lives off the pain and suffering of others" thing was that Kakashi Hatake was fast. As expected; all Jonin were. But seeing him move against Naruto – or rather, not seeing him move – put him in a completely different league of his own. Even with his legs chained together he could probably still dance circles around the three of us. Kagemane was faster than Ino's mind control, but it wasn't that fast. Besides, he knew I was a Nara. He would be expecting the Kagemane.

…But that really was the only choice we had, wasn't it? Physical traps wouldn't work against him. I was high-Chunin-level in that respect, thanks to my mom, but even a Jonin wouldn't help me against this guy. There were very few problems that couldn't be solved with a simple Kawarimi. As Kakashi had just demonstrated. Besides, having a bunch of Narutos swarm him wouldn't work – I could latch on to the wrong person by accident, with so many shadows close together.

No. Wrong. There was always more than one way. I just hadn't found it yet.

We didn't have to rely on Kagemane. We should use it, since it was a good technique that I had experience with. But that didn't mean that it had to be our trump card. No shinobi should ever be completely reliant on one technique or tool. Just what else did we have under our belts? We had to have something. I refused to believe that this problem could not be solved.

Ino's mind control jutsu? I tossed that one out right away. That one wasn't useful for combat situations. And for god's sake, no hand-to-hand combat. Since Kakashi could, apparently, poke Naruto further than we could throw our weapons. I wasn't going to be dumb enough to try that a second time, not after Naruto had already gone through so much pain to show the rest of us that that was a Very Bad Idea. Wasn't there anything we could use?

…Of course! Academy techniques. That was it! They taught those things to us for a reason, right? Clone. Henge. And…

Kawarimi. Of course. It was a simple one, but it was the fastest technique out there behind Shunshin and long-range teleportation. If someone managed to substitute with one of the bells…of course, it would require a great deal of precision, and we'd have to make sure that one of us would be in the right place to pick it up. In order to do that, though, we'd have to maneuver Kakashi into the right position, and keep him still just long enough for the switch to take place. And then we'd have to distract him from our true intentions.

Then we wouldn't be relying on the Kagemane after all. Kakashi would be expecting me to use my Kagemane to trap him somehow. I'd exploit his expectation, then.

Ino would be the best person to make the switch. Out of the three of us, she probably had the best chakra control. The Mind Possession Jutsu required more control than Shadow Possession, since it actually delved directly into the mind, whereas Shadow Possession was mostly superficial and left free will intact. The human brain was a very delicate thing, and turning a target's brain into a pile of completely unreadable mush because you used too much chakra was rather poor way to start an interrogation.

Now the question of how to hold the target still for long enough. Ino had decent aim against moving targets, but it was ridiculous to expect her to hit something she couldn't even see. On that note, if we used too many of Naruto's clones, they'd obscure her vision just as much as they impeded Kakashi's movements. About ten would be good. They'd have to give Kakashi a rather wide berth, though. I could feign using Naruto's clones as conduits to extend my own shadow, and then chase him to Ino's direct line of sight. And maybe get another Naruto clone to be ready to receive the bells when she switched.

Yes, this could work.

…Kakashi's fingers closed around the bells, and he straightened. Now, he was lecturing a still-trapped Naruto about "looking underneath the underneath". I'd only have a few seconds to communicate my plan. Hopefully it would be enough.

Scanning the clearing, I managed to find Ino, and my shadow snaked out to grab hers. I wrote in the dust, "He'll probably come after you next, since you gave away your position before. When he does come after you, hold him off for a bit and then pretend to be defeated, got it? I just need…" I paused to do a mental calculation. "60 seconds to tell Naruto his part of the plan, okay? I trust you can hold him off for that long. I'll send a Naruto clone over to 'help' you later. We have to work together for this. It's the only way we have a chance at beating him."

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