"Leave it to me," said Temari with a smirk. Someone needed to have their butt whupped, she was ready.
"Not me?" asked Gaara, who'd accompanied his sister.
"I can't do this?" asked Kankuro.
"The summons was for Temari alone, and neither of you are suited for this task," said the Kazekage.
"Huh," mused Temari aloud, "so it must be something that requires speed."
"Fast would be good," said the Kazekage. "It might take longer than that though. Baki."
Baki stepped forward, holding a photograph taken at some distance of a young man in a marketplace.
"So I have to kill him?" asked Temari.
"No. That would be exactly the opposite of what needs to be done," said the Kazekage. "Baki? If you'll give them the basics of the target?"
"Naruto Uzumaki, who we have identified as the carrier of the Ninetailed Demon Fox," said Baki. "Gennin, recently graduated from their Ninja Academy. Has not been assigned to a three man squad yet due to extenuating circumstances."
"That's all? I have to, wait - you said opposite of kill?" asked Temari. "What does that mean?"
"In addition to containing the Ninetails," continued the Kazekage, noting Gaara's interest at that point, "it turns out his bloodline contains a powerful kekkei genkai. A teleport technique that can allow him to carry a small number of people across any distance within the span of five minutes."
"Okay..." said Temari, switching tracks. "So you need someone who is more of a strategist. I see." So instead of physical abilities - they needed her mental abilities. "So I should observe Uzumaki, determine what limitations are on his ability, and how to defend against it. Hmmmm."
Catching her whisper, Gaara and Kankuro both acknowledged it with frowns for different reasons.
"I have already sent a runner to Konoha, you will be engaged to Naruto Uzumaki and will attempt to acquire his bloodline talent for our village," said the Kazekage. "I have absolute faith in your ability to accomplish this mission."
"Don't worry, I can do it!" declared Temari with confidence. Then she frowned. "Wait. What?"
Hinata dropped her hand occasionally to her knife as she made her way to the family compound for the first time in a very eventful day (their reckoning) or over two months (her own experience) depending on how one looked at it.
Dulin was its name, the elven word for Nightingale. Which might have been an odd name for a dagger, but Hinata was also familiar with its history.
Naruto had picked it up from one of the dark elven women who'd been throwing sprays of colored light around in an effort to kill him. He'd handed it off to her as part of what he understood the local customs to be - picked up from comments of the rescued prisoners. She had treasured it then, as a gift from Naruto.
She treasured it now even more, and not simply because it was a gift from Naruto.
Surface elves had made it and she'd gotten more of the history from a weapons fancier who studied such things and had been fascinated with it the moment he'd seen it. He'd told her what he knew of it, which hadn't been all that much. It was over a thousand years old, and had been wielded by mages among the elves for most of that time. The speculation was that the drow elf who'd had the blade prior to Naruto's claiming of it had taken it from the corpse of an elven merchant-mage who'd probably inherited it.
The blade itself was the length of elbow to wrist on her, a thin double-edged blade of silver-white metal with a grip of some greenish leather. Basilisk hide, or so she was told.
The blade's abilities were simple enough. The surface of the blade glowed with a cold blue radiance. It never rusted nor needed sharpening. It also sang, hence the name. She could hear it when it was sheathed, though only in her mind when the blade was close at hand. She normally wore it on a forearm sheath or at her belt. When the songbird was quiet, nothing was going on. When the songbird sounded alarm, there was hostile intent within arrowshot directed at her or those nearby. She was still learning and interpreting the other songs.
It was the song of alarm that was so incredibly useful to her. Hinata could not use the Byakugan for an extended period without exhausting herself. When the alarm was cried, she knew to activate her Byakugan then and find the cause.
This had saved her life, and Naruto's life, in that other world.
The blade, with the crosspiece of outswept wings, seemed to settle further into her hand when she let it.
She could see it. Currents of something like chakra flowed through the blade and under the leather grip into the pommel stone. The blade was alive in a way. Not necessarily intelligent, but as alive as a thing of crafted metal and used a thousand years could be.
When Hinata reached the Hyuga family compound, she saw the double-takes of the guards. She'd changed in the months they'd been gone. Perhaps it was the clothes? Or was it that she'd gotten just a little taller?
It couldn't have been Ruby's presence, as they were not staring at the drow elf. She herself hadn't changed THAT much, had she?
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(Posted Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:35)
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