Izumo Kamizuki was a bit of a work-aholic. Serious. Code specialist who worked on suduko puzzles in his spare time.
Kotetsu Hagane was somewhat lazy. Prone to rely on his dai-kunai and only pull out his Conch Shell Mace for special occasions. Though he was a fair hand with genjutsu, he'd prefer to kick back and snack when he could get away with it.
The exception was when Kotetsu was faced with something pertaining to the past, particularly the ancient past. He was something of a history-otaku in that he could get intense on subjects dealing with ancient myth and lore.
Toltiir sat back and watched the entertainment with the sort of patience that a lifespan of billions of years developed.
"So what CAN you tell us about this thing?" asked Naruto as the Village Hidden In The Sand was left behind them.
"What do you know about history before the founding of the village?" responded Kotetsu.
"Not much, they didn't go into history all that much in the Academy," admitted Naruto.
"Okay," said Kotetsu. "Konohagakure was the first of the ninja villages to be founded. Before that are a lot of various tales and legends, some completely contradictory."
"Right," said Naruto, following that so far.
"Most accountings," put in Izumo, "have two major clans which fought for dominance prior to the villages. Senju clan and the Uchiha clan."
"Granny Tsunade's clan and Sasuke's clan," said Naruto, having heard all this before but not sure how much he was to reveal he knew.
"'Granny'?" asked Izumo.
"Well, sort of," said Naruto with a grimace. "Actually a godmother or something like that. I hear it's a high-level secret though. Sorry."
Izumo actually relaxed slightly. There's one mystery solved. If Naruto is related to the Senju clan, even through a godparent, then that explains why he can pull jutsu out of his butt like that. Probably exposed to a lot of that sort of thing early in life. Smuggled scrolls to him. Yeah, that makes sense.
"Back in that time, ninja battles were everywhere, and there weren't any rules regarding them," said Kotetsu. "Records of those times were mostly lost due to the constant fighting. That's why a site like this, predating those wars, is so important."
"So, really old stuff?" asked Naruto.
"About six hundred years or so," said Kotetsu. "The Sage of Six Paths was the founder of modern ninjutsu and genjutsu. Prior to that was a time of destruction with even less information available. It is said by some that there was a great beast of that time, the precursor of the Tailed Beasts, which the Sage defeated. It was only with that beast unable to rage again that mankind was able to rebuild."
"Which hints that there was a civilization before the Ten Tailed Beast arrived or was formed or whatever," said Izumo. "You occasionally see bits and pieces of that ancient technology, mainly imported from outside the Five Nations as people try to duplicate that old stuff."
"Like outboard motors," said Naruto. He'd heard about this sort of thing too. Not much. Maybe he should ask that time-travelling cat-being about this. Too bad he didn't have a way to do it.
"Right," said Kotetsu. "Good example. Also the radios we use."
"So, what's this temple and how does that fit in with all this?" asked Naruto.
"The temple dates back to the time of the Sage," said Kotetsu. "The scrap of information I found on it indicated the Sage was fond of using elaborate rituals and this was a place he did something at. What he did - that isn't clear."
"Mind you, that ignores all the stories where one or more of the villages was founded at the beginning of the universe by the gods or something," put in Izumo.
"That's still kind of... We're being followed," said Naruto, leaping over a scorpion and coming to a stop behind a dune.
"Putting up a cover," said Kotetsu, landing next to Naruto and going through handseals quickly.
Izumo stopped behind the two and readied himself.
After a few moments, Naruto peeked over the top of the dune.
"Did you forget someone, gaki?" asked Jiraiya, apparently ignoring the genjutsu Kotetsu had just thrown up.
Anko merely scowled.
"Actually, we figured you were kind of busy," said Naruto.
"We ARE responsible for you genin," said Anko, sounding very very disapproving.
"So what's this about going out and doing some intensive training in the desert?" asked Jiraiya.
"That was what we told Temari and the others," said Izumo.
Kotetsu sighed at the wasted effort and began to fill the two new arrivals on their self-assigned mission.
(Posted Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:10)
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