Jiraiya was a bit more experienced than Naruto, and part of his attention was just to keep Naruto from wandering off and doing something foolish.
Finally he decided on some bored looking rail-thin old guy, whose shop had a window open for business while the building behind him was apparently sealed off from the general public. The reason he chose THAT particular building was that it was among the more normal-looking of the businesses here.
"Yes?" asked the old man as soon as the two stepped up. He first thought grandfather and grandson, but modified that as he worked at it. Teacher and student? Martial arts or magic types? Maybe a bit of both. Kid looked to be have some nonhuman in his ancestry, which was supposed to be impossible. The old man hid a grin at that, as the impossible just made things interesting at his age.
"Excuse me," said Jiraiya. "We're-"
The old man held up a hand. "Let me guess. Sensei and student. Wanderers. Arrived here unexpectedly, have no idea where you are or how to get back?"
"Well, I see you're quite observant," said Jiraiya.
"Not quite senile yet," admitted the old man. "Are you mages, martial artists, or psychics?"
"We're shinobi!" answered Naruto, not seeing what some dried-up old man sitting behind a counter could tell him.
"Shinobi?" The old man seemed to think. "You mean like ninja? Wearing ORANGE?"
"What's wrong with..." asked Naruto. "Eh, who cares what some old geezer thinks aboout it anyway?"
"Ninja are supposed to be hidden, not loudmouthed young punk wearing such tasteless clothes," said the old man. "Though yours isn't that much better, young man."
"It's been awhile since anyone called me 'young,'" said Jiraiya, nodding in appreciation at the older man.
"Everything is relative," said the old man. "Well, I don't think either of YOU are going to be interested in used vehicle parts. Business is slow though..."
"How come his mouth movements don't match up with his words?" asked Naruto, noticing this now.
"Translator," said the old man. "I speak three languages well enough to get by. That means there's over two hundred that I don't speak. I don't discriminate though. If you need parts for anything from a motorcycle to a commercial freighter - I either have got it, can make it, or can get it by the end of the day."
"Freighter... you mean ships like THAT?" asked Naruto, pointing at one of the odd things that had been flitting around in the air overhead since they'd arrived.
"Low tech background, eh?" asked the old man, thinking maybe they were from one of those magic-based societies. It had been quite awhile, but he'd been on one or two and they seemed to go for a fairly primitive look for their lower classes with the crystal spires and such reserved for the more magically adept. "No, that's a hovercycle."
"You know more about it than either of us," said Jiraiya.
"Hmph, it's been a slow day," said the old man. "How about you tell me your story and I'll clarify a bit here and there?"
"The Ninetails disappeared?" asked Pain.
"Yes, as best as we can tell, it is no longer in this world," said Zetsu. "The other carriers seem to have felt the disappearance and are reacting in various ways."
"Find out what happened to it," said Pain. "This may throw all our plans into disarray."
"What were you carrying all that stuff for?" asked Naruto.
"Various reasons," said Jiraiya. "As I suspected, our money was no good here so I had to bargain for something we COULD spend."
"So now what?" asked Naruto.
"The parts shop owner suggested we find work going away from Phase World," said Jiraiya thoughtfully. "That if we were having trouble due to the problems afflicting magic here, then going somewhere without this background energy he spoke of might simplify matters."
"Aw, come on, I wanna get to training," complained Naruto.
"Neither Akatsuki nor Hinata are likely to find you here," pointed out Jiraiya. "Besides, I can further your training wherever we go. I'd prefer being back home myself, but this just might work out."
"How so?" asked Naruto.
"HA!" said Jiraiya, doing a couple of quick hand-signs and then blasting white hot flames up into the air. Not incidently hitting someone who had been descending with a pair of swords.
"YAGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" yelled the thug, running off with his outer clothes trashed and some body armor showing signs of being scorched.
"THAT," said Jiraiya, "was a simple jutsu that is used for lighting a campfire. If you tried using it here like that, most likely you'd burn up your entire campsite."
"Oh?" asked Naruto. "Ah."
"Right, more chakra control exercises," said Jiraiya. "When we DO leave, you'll be able to use your chakra that much more efficiently."
"Oh," said Naruto, bringing a fist down into the open palm of the other hand.
"So we'll just pick up some essentials of this world and go check out those ships," said Jiraiya.
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(Posted Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:07)
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