"Wow," said Naruto, ignoring the way a girl was on her knees and watching as the tiny little pieces of discarded paper swirled down. "How many's that?"
"Four this month!" said Sasuke, forgetting that he wasn't talking to Naruto in the elation of the moment.
"How many did your Uncle Genma make?" asked Naruto.
"Forty-two," said Sasuke. "Forty-two 'Engagement Cards' made. I got twelve the first year, nine last year, and this year I've gotten fourteen more!"
Naruto nodded. "That's impressive."
Sasuke nodded without a comment.
"That's one of the sneakiest training methods for the ninja arts I've ever heard of," admitted Naruto.
Sasuke nodded again as he brushed the final bits of cardstock off his hands. He'd had to endure suffering, work on his stealth and infiltration skills, learn lockpicking and other such skills. It hadn't been until halfway through his second year when he'd realized that he'd had to improve his ninja skills a dozenfold to get at the cards.
In this latest case all he'd had to do was hide and wait for the girl to show her friends, then steal it when Naruto did something to distract the target.
Naruto had improved as well. Sasuke was his rival after all. He'd gotten another five cards himself, to be used as bribes or blackmail material at some future time when he'd need it. That left two cards unaccounted for.
Sasuke frowned as he noticed someone watching Naruto again.
"I don't wanna."
"You're the demon-fox, stop acting like a baby."
"Don't wanna, you can't make me."
"Want to bet?"
The demon-fox growled and shrank back a little.
"I didn't think so."
The ninetails glowered at the creature before it. When the two had met, the demon-fox had attacked and tried to snap up the little morsel before it. It hadn't gone exactly according to plan.
Afterwards, it had taken awhile for the demon-fox to get over the feeling of having been a squeaky-toy being played with by a pack of wolves. It had been most unpleasant.
The demon-fox had been expecting to be caged in a sewer. This was more like a zoo exhibit. With a television set, large cushioned bed, and unexpected amenities.
The demon-fox looked for something to distract the little black kitty-cat and found it. "That girl is watching again, and she's almost seeing deep enough to see US. She must suspect something."
"Hmmm," said Toltiir. "Might be part of the residual energies I'm leaking through our boy here. Though apparently she DID notice that Naruto's asleep when I manifest 'Genma' - I've got an idea."
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(Posted Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:22)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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