"Like?" asked Kotetsu.
"I think he figured out that he'd have to inhale to speak," said Izumo.
"He's turning purple," noted Kotetsu.
Naruto finally made a motion and started staggering away from the corpse, snapping his arms down and sluicing off some bodily fluids.
"Don't come anywhere near us with that stuff on you," said Kotetsu, backing away. "That stuff smells bad enough at a distance."
"So, you were saying what it smells like up close? What did it remind you of?" asked Izumo as Naruto tried to scrub his arms off with sand.
"I've had to work in backed up sewers, and the smell from THAT worm thing was worse," said Naruto eventually.
"They forced you to work in sewers?" asked Izumo. "I've only known you for two days and I already know your sense of smell is closer to an Inuzuka's than a regular nose."
"With my sensei, I haven't been able to refuse anything," grumped Naruto.
"Oh, good point," said Izumo. "So we have to get to the next stop-"
"OR," said a new voice. "You could decide to hand over that sandworm gizzard and live."
Izumo turned to the Sand genin trio that had shown up. "Do you HAVE to act like villains from some kid's melodrama?"
One of the other Sand nin moved forward. "I think we should just kill 'em and let the sandworms finish off the bodies."
"Idiots," said Kotetsu, drawing his kunai-swords.
"That demon brat, how dare he test for chunin?!"
Shikamaru blinked as he heard the comment, and glanced towards the two older women discussing it. It seemed troublesome.
"He had to have done something horrible, cast a jutsu or something, to graduate early," said the other.
Shikamaru's eyes tracked over to the side as he considered the odd statements. He'd heard similar things though, most of his life. It was just putting the terms 'chunin test' and 'graduate early' together, dealing with present tense - that narrowed the scope of whom they were addressing.
"Should have killed him right away, no cause for that demon to be allowed to live."
Shikamaru considered the data, filing it away for later. His attention also picked up the little motion of another classmate that he knew. Perhaps he knew more?
He could investigate it later after all. If it weren't too tiresome.
Jiraiya got up, got dressed, and made tea.
About the time the tea was finished steeping, Anko was finally stirring.
"You - that was - whoa," managed Anko.
Jiraiya nodded, handing her a cup of the tea with just the faintest of smiles. "I may not be the most perverted among the densetsu no sannin, but I do know a few things within my specialty."
"Uh, yeah," said Anko.
Jiraiya patted her on the shoulder. "After you've had a chance to recover, there are a few more techniques I can show you."
Anko sipped at her tea quietly for a few moments, just nodding before she got a bit of fire back. "Oh yeah? I bet you can't do that again!"
"No?" asked Jiraiya, collecting her cup and taking his own to the side of the stove.
"No way, it was a fluke, a freak accident," insisted Anko.
"Ah," said Jiraiya. "Well, let's check into that theory. Shall we?"
The three Sand genin were tough and experienced. The three of them were a match for Kotetsu and Izumo.
Naruto had gotten sufficiently sick from grubbing around inside a sandworm that he wasn't at his best.
Still, there were some ninjutsu he could pull off. Not Shadow Clone, because that would just make copies of him that were likewise ill.
No, he'd just do this.
SPLUNCH!
Have a Shadow Clone hold his nose with one hand while throwing bits of sludgy sandworm innards at the Sand threesome.
The three Sand genin retreated under the assault.
"Watch slinging that stuff, you almost got me," said Kotetsu, backing off.
"I'm gonna need to burn these clothes I think," said Naruto with a frown. "And bathe. Trying to rub it off with sand hasn't worked too well."
Izumo went through a quick set of hand seals. "Suiton: Kirei No Jutsu!"
As soon as the spray of water was past, Naruto said the obvious thing. "I gotta learn that one."
"Well, it took everything in my canteen," said Izumo. He sniffed. "Worth it though. Can't sneak if you smell bad enough to curdle milk at ten meters."
Shino Aburame frowned ever so slightly. Not that anyone could tell, except for members of his own clan of course. He'd spotted Shikamaru Nara, and from the boy's reaction had overheard the same comments.
The active dislike for the class clown had been going on for some time from the adults. Even when that same clown had toned down his pranks and jokes, while retaining the frequently annoying upbeat emotional displays, the displays from the adult community were strongly indicative of a disapproval that at least bordered on outright detestation.
Yet Shino could find no reason sufficient for such a degree of hostility.
The boy had tried to make friends and play with his peer group. Of that group several were actively contemptuous, others knew that the adults despised the boy and therefore sought to distance themselves, while a handful of others merely tolerated his presence without doing anything to actively encourage his association.
The term 'demon brat' was intriguing. Naruto Uzumaki was an orphan, but that was hardly uncommon. There had been the Kyubi Attack ten years ago, occasional predation by rogue ninja, missions with fatalities from either hostile force or accident. Living a long life was not a goal most ninja could logically expect. Those ninja who did live to a elderly age were quite formidable and had also been favored by probability curves.
While it was true that Naruto Uzumaki had shown advanced knowledge of ninjutsu and considerable stamina, the probability of him being able to use a genjutsu to force his teachers to allow him to graduate early was quite low. In fact, from what he had heard - the boy had been dismayed upon that result himself.
There was also the events of Naruto's training under the jonin Mitarashi. Mitarashi herself, from overheard comments, was considered to be traitorous or monstrous because she was associated with the rogue sannin Orochimaru.
Shino cocked his head ever so slightly as that thought brought up possibilities. Was it possible that Uzumaki had himself been blamed for his association with someone else? He'd begun considering the possibility that it was something that one of his parents had done, though he didn't know of any criminals of that period that would justify those reactions except for Orochimaru. That Uzumaki was Orochimaru's child was unlikely though considering Orochimaru's well known preferences in that department.
What was it that Shikamaru Nara often said? Oh yes, this was troublesome. Indeed.
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(Posted Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:40)
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