"NARUTO!" yelled Jiraiya, having a bare moment of "what now?!" before going after his charge.
Naruto stopped at one of these large metal bins they used to collect trash, and lifted a bag off of... a body?!
Naruto shook the limp thing. "Miss?! Are you okay?"
"I knew this was a rough neighborhood," said Jiraiya, "but still... wait a minute. She's a puppet."
"Eh?" asked Naruto. "What... like that guy in the Chunin Exams?"
"Yes, I'm pretty sure," said Jiraiya. "Hang on. We'll take it with us."
"EH?!" asked Naruto.
"Someone's just throwing it away but it seems really well made," said Jiraiya, unfurling a scroll. "I'm going to have to make more storage scrolls. There's just so many things to take back."
"I don't get it." Naruto said, looking at the face of the puppet/doll/girl and startling when he thought he saw a slight movement in the eyes. He was just imagining that though, right?
"We can use this as an excuse to visit the Hidden Sand Village, you can give the doll to the puppet master there - who ought to appreciate something this well made," said Jiraiya.
"I dunno," said Naruto. "Maybe I can do something with it."
"I don't think your talents extend in that direction," said Jiraiya, pausing his speech in order to invoke the scroll. He frowned as the process seemed to not work. "That's odd. It's almost as if... Let's try this one."
This time the process worked and the scroll formed a complicated glyph at the center of the circle.
"That's very odd," said Jiraiya, looking at the symbol. "How did you spot that anyway?"
"It... was almost like I heard a girl calling for help, but real faint," said Naruto, scratching his head.
"Well, let's get going, I've sent one of my copies of one of my books to a local publisher," said Jiraiya, tabling the mystery for now. "Let's just check in at this hotel and see if I get any interest."
"Aw, that'll never happen," said Naruto.
Naruto looked around nervously. You could fit two of the Hokage's office in here. With room to spare.
Over the past day he'd had enough opportunity to see how very different everything was.
"Ah, Mister Jiraiya," said the woman behind the desk, stepping forward to shake the author's hand. "I've had the chance to glance through your book. Icha Icha Paradise."
"Oh, that thing," muttered Naruto.
"With your permission, we'll have to do translation and finishing work," said the businesswoman. "If you approve, I think we can do business."
"Excellent," said Jiraiya, who kept a poker face firmly in place. "You think there is a market for such in this land?"
"Oh, most definitely," said the businesswoman. "I took the liberty of writing up a contract."
Naruto fidgeted around, anxious to begin training. Anxious to get back home. Anxious to get this over with.
"It seems fine," said Jiraiya, "though I'm curious as to the language barrier seemingly vanishing overnight."
"Oh?" asked the businesswoman, glancing at Naruto. "I thought you knew. Is this your grandson?"
"I'm his godfather and sensei, but that's as far as that goes," said Jiraiya.
"He's apparently quite powerful at magic though on an instinctive level," said the businesswoman, going back behind her desk. "I DID have you two investigated when it looked as if we might acquire your professional services. He has apparently taken apart a commercial translation field in order to perform the same function magically. There's a translation field extending outwards from him for almost the entire room."
"Eh?" asked Naruto, pointing at himself.
"Very useful, but I understand you are two mystics out on a training journey," said the businesswoman. "I understand also you want to keep your exact abilities secret, but as I just demonstrated - I am not so easily deceived."
"Well, in your position, you would have to be particularly discerning, wouldn't you?" said Jiraiya, not one to turn down a chance to sweet-talk some fairly attractive woman. Even if she was a little older than he usually went for.
"There's more in this series?" asked the publisher. Who was old enough to read the body language and know she was being flirted with. Also old and experienced enough to appreciate the gesture.
"One more, and I'm researching for the third and final volume," admitted Jiraiya.
"Excellent, if you have a copy of the second book, we'd be interested in acquiring that as well," said the publisher. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm about to run over the time I've been able to allot for you."
"Understood," said Jiraiya, signing the paper. It all SEEMED in order. Well, it wasn't like they were planning on staying that long. If there was something he wasn't seeing in there - he could always borrow a page from Tsunade's playbook.
"Though..." the publisher looked Jiraiya over again thoughtfully. "Perhaps. If you're free tonight we might discuss things a bit further."
"He signed?" asked the secretary as she came in.
"Yes," said the publisher, leaning back in her chair. "He'll need a comlink, he's definitely from one of the worlds where they don't have our level of technology. Take it out of his advance. He's left us the hotel he's staying at, we'll deliver it and the edits for his approval at the same time."
"It was quite surprising," said the secretary. "An old fashioned romance novel like that. Exotic setting. Magic and sex and philosophy."
"This will sell hundreds of millions of copies," said the publisher, her uncaring mask slipping for a moment to show the joy of imminent profit. "I foresee a long and profitable association here."
two days later:
Naruto blinked. "Uhm... exactly how much have you gotten for the series?"
"Oh, just a bit, here and there," said Jiraiya, sipping on an icy slush drink. "Enough to get us passage to this tiny little world that should be perfect for our purposes."
"Another world?!" asked Naruto. "Aw, c'mon. What's this other world got that we couldn't find back home? What do they call it anyway?"
"Catseye," said Jiraiya. "It's in what they call a 'magic sargasso' - magic and psychic abilities are considerably less powerful there. Your control is coming along, but now we have a chance to get you training on two important things. Being able to store up more chakra, and to use it effectively without wasting any."
"Why can't we do that here or back home?" asked Naruto. "I just got used to stuff here!"
"You haven't left the hotel room except to go to the bathroom and that gym," said Jiraiya. "C'mon. This'll be fun."
"What kind of place has a name like 'Catseye'?" asked Naruto, not trusting this.
Jiraiya left off that it was a place known for hot springs and beaches, but it was cheap because the gravity was higher than was strictly comfortable. He also didn't mention that women of various species gravitated there for the special spas despite the higher gravity. No, best to let those details remain unsaid for now. "I heard about some special places to train, and as your sensei - I really should look into them."
"Yeah right," said Naruto, looking skeptical about it all. "I don't see what... what's that?"
"Oh, it's a matching set of those hoverbikes," said Jiraiya. "This ship also has someone who can repair that puppet you found."
"Oh okay," said Naruto, who knew the bike was a bribe but he'd been itching to try one once he found out what exactly they were and were capable of.
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(Posted Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:30)
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