He was tempted, sorely tempted, when he saw the overweight taijutsu expert lounging back in a chair and apparently absorbed in studying a... soap bubble?
"What is THAT?" asked Sasuke, bored indifference not quite managing to cover his interest.
"THIS," said Uncle Genma, turning the shimmering sphere around, and revealing that it left a glowing red trail in the air when it moved, "is potentially the most dangerous thing which has been seen on this world - ever. It's a pity you can't use the Sharingan yet. It would prove an interesting study."
"Something that small is that dangerous?" asked a skeptical Sasuke.
Flipping it up in the air briefly, leaving a yellow trail in the air behind it, Uncle Genma nodded and otherwise looked completely serious. "Pulled from outside what modern ninja science considers reality. This supposedly is pure actualized potential."
"Potential what?" asked Sasuke, gathering a number of kunai into his hands while he otherwise went for a bored indifferent look.
"Potential reality," said Uncle Genma. "Right now it's locked. It requires strong emotion to activate it. Calm yourself, and check it out."
Sasuke threw a double handful of kunai and then reflexively caught the sphere, his surprise at seeing it make a violet trail in the air causing him to grasp it when he would have thought to simply let it hit the wall.
Genma began juggling the kunai that had been tossed at him, finally dumping them on a table.
Sasuke frowned. It was true that he had not yet manifested the Sharingan. Even if you disregarded the way the soap bubble felt solid and left different colors behind in the air when you moved it, there was more to it than that. You could feel it, in the way that all the short hairs began standing up. You could feel its power in the way heat and cold both seemed to flow in the air surrounding it. 'Where did you get this?"
"In true ninja fashion," said Uncle Genma.
"Translation," provided Sasuke. "You stole it."
"Well," said Genma, shrugging.
"Where did you steal it from?" asked Sasuke, hefting the bauble. Which seemed to shift in weight from nearly nothing to extremely heavy.
"I acquired it," said Uncle Genma, with as much dignity as he could manage, "from a hidden shrine of cultists in the Village Hidden In The Clouds."
"Which cult?" asked Sasuke.
"The Cult Of Seals," said Uncle Genma after peeking out a window as if to make sure that nobody was there.
"Aren't they the idiots that the Cloud Village supposedly wiped out last year?" asked Sasuke, proving that he DID pay attention to the news.
"They just went further underground," said Genma as he checked underneath a rug.
"Nihilists," grunted Sasuke, dismissive of that group. "You'd have to be drugged out of your mind to join a group like that."
"What an amazing coincidence that as far as I know, that IS how they get and keep members," noted Genma as he checked behind a painting.
"So," said Sasuke, "what do you know about this thing? It isn't going to go off, is it?"
"Not normally, it would require someone with a lot of chakra having a turbulent emotional reaction while holding it," said Genma. "As to the legend behind it. In another realm, another world, there were nine gods. Each espoused a different philosophy and worldview. These near-omnipotent beings met in order to decide who would be the one to respond to a superspecial new jutsu just developed - one which allowed the user to warp reality in a specific manner but would kill the user when it was activated."
"Like this thing supposedly," said Sasuke, hefting the soap bubble.
"Right," said Uncle Genma, settling back onto his chair. "The god of Absolute Law thought it should do it, as this was a case of Will being imposed on Reality and was therefore something to be heavily regulated. The god of Life and the god of Death both protested, as such wishes could easily cut into their own territory. This was followed by many of the other gods also protesting, mostly because they saw their own authorities or powers being usurped for this."
"Understandable," admitted Sasuke.
"So there were limitations imposed on it, but it remained a very powerful jutsu," said Uncle Genma. "Then came a final speaker to weigh in on it. The god of mischief said that HE should be the one to grant wishes. Everyone else had a good laugh at first, but then realized something."
"That a being of mischief would keep any change in reality from getting too powerful or out of hand," said Sasuke.
"Exactly," said Uncle Genma, tossing Sasuke a little prize.
Sasuke slipped the soap bubble up a sleeve so he could study it later. The little gift-wrapped package was FAR more sinister and likely to explode.
"Oh, land's sakes, did you see that last night, Gladys?"
"Yeah, Sasuke Uchiha with his shirt off. Woohoo!"
"Gladys, he's fourteen. You're eighty-seven."
"Girl can dream, can't she?"
"No, Abigail meant didn't you see that Yamanaka girl sprinting along the streets wearing that Uzumaki boy's shirt."
"Actually, I meant that Haruno girl sprinting along the streets wearing that Uzumaki boy's shirt."
All five of the old women hanging up laundry considered that.
"You know what those two old fools are always saying?" asked Abigail.
"Which old fools?" asked Gladys.
"Statler and Waldorf," said the third old woman.
"Oh yeah, 'this used to be a QUIET ninja village'," said Gladys, ending the comment with a snort.
"This is MUCH better," cackled a fourth.
"No argument there," said Abigail.
Also that morning:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:08)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.