Izumo was quick to act as the animated statue of some warrior approached. "Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!"
After watching the genin puke up a few gallons of syrup, Naruto wondered if he could learn that. It looked suitably gross and disgusting for a number of purposes.
The mechanical got to the edge of the field, looked down at it, then a mechanical mouth ratcheted open.
Flames began spewing out.
"Okay, this isn't good," said Kotetsu.
Anko slapped the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A large serpent appeared in a puff of smoke. "Whatssss thisss?! Anko, why do you ssummon me for thisss?"
"Because it's not alive and a poison snake won't do anything, you're a constrictor," said Anko.
"Who sssaid I wass fireproof?!" yelped the snake, trying to avoid being roasted.
"Well, I don't -"
Whippppppppppppppppppp-thunk. BOOM!
"Explosive tags, gotta love 'em," said Naruto.
"Did you think before you used an explosive tag in the middle of an ancient and potentially unstable building?" asked Jiraiya.
"Oh," said Naruto just before the floor collapsed.
Naruto picked himself off out of the darkness. Nothing but darkness. Funky-smelling darkness. He'd landed on stone?
No lantern, THAT was back at the first junction they'd come to, and was now probably cheerfully lighting empty corridors. So, that meant using a jutsu.
"Katon: Rousoku!"
Frowning at the problems with the jutsu, and missing his lantern anew, Naruto looked around in the flickering light provided by the jutsu.
One, it caused a little ball of fire to hover over his finger. Two, it was difficult to maintain. Any little startlement or distraction and it could go out. Three, it wasn't nearly as bright as his lantern.
On the other hand, it was LESS chakra-intensive than the version that Jiraiya-sensei had used. Considering where he was, he might need all the chakra he could get.
The room was old, very old. Fitted stone everywhere. On the other hand, there was something he could see now that was VERY welcome.
Using his little ball of flame to light the candles on a stand, Naruto could then survey his surroundings more fully.
"Well, good thing I thought ahead," said Naruto after studying the walls and ceiling. The bulk of his pack was a single large scroll, blank.
Storing these scrolls and charts and stuff would probably take half the available surface and most of the ink he had. But he'd better get started right away. He had this feeling that Jiraiya and Anko would count that little fall against him when it came time for chunin recommendations.
"Yesssss," said the snake. "Paybacksss are important."
"Don't look at me when you say that, or I'll mention snakeskin handbags and how much I could get for them," said Anko.
"Sssss, you wound me, dear Anko," hissed the snake.
"Not yet, I haven't," said Anko.
"So, if you don't get along with this guy," said Izumo, "why summon him?"
"Who says I don't get along with him?" asked Anko, looking puzzled.
"Actually, I think I'm one of her favoritessss," hissed the snake, shaking his head and upper third of his body in an attempt to mimic a human gesture.
"Well, I wouldn't summon YOU if I didn't need help," said Anko.
"I'd jusst prefer if it wasss for my vasst knowledge and not as a meat-ssshield," grumped the snake.
"Vast knowledge?" asked Izumo.
"I'm a bit of a ssscholar," admitted the serpent.
"Really?" asked Izumo.
"Ugh, yes," said Anko, making a dismissive gesture. "Given half a chance he'll bore you to sleep with all sorts of trivia about trees and branches."
"Botany?" asked Izumo.
"Genealogy and geneticssss," corrected the snake, warming somewhat to the human with the floppy hair. At least he pretended to be interested. That was more than Anko ever did.
A shape moved in the darkness. Followed by several thunking noises as it was hit with lots of kunai.
"So why is he one of your favorites if you're not interested in genetics?" asked Izumo.
"Lot of questions out of you," noted Anko.
"Not like we have any pressing business," said Izumo.
"A snake summons scholar whose area of expertise is genealogy?" asked Jiraiya, giving the spider leg a half-turn. "Admittedly, combat summons are a lot more common in our line of work."
"I'm alsso well acquainted with a number of languagesss, mathematicsss, and sssome of the more exotic human nationsss," said the snake. "I'm Kahliff, by the way. I'm alssso fairly ssspeedy and employed asss a messsenger frequently."
"Hello, Kahliff," said Izumo and Jiraiya.
"Where do you suppose Naruto is?" asked Jiraiya a moment later.
"One of the labsss, I sssuppose," said Kahliff.
"'labs'?" asked Izumo, tensing.
"Yesss," said Kahliff. "The writing your friend wasss reading wasss one of the Old World languages. Eigo, I think it was called. The writing itsssself wasss a directory."
"'Eigo'?" asked Izumo.
"Well, it wasss either a language or a sssmall breaded thing from their breakfassstsss that involved a combat ritual upon releassse from the baking device," said Kahliff. "Sssome of the their cussstomss were quite ssstrange."
"Don't believe everything he says," cautioned Anko. "He's a bullstuff artist."
"Well, if Kotetsu ended up in a lab, that would explain why he isn't around either," noted Izumo.
"I don't suppose you could tell from that 'directory' what they researched here?" asked Jiraiya.
"Two of the labsss were marked for sssummoningsss and for ssspellsss," hissed the snake, somewhat happy to be able to use his expertise as something besides a meat-shield for Anko or to go rushing off to deliver a message scroll.
"Sss - ugh. 'Spells'," asked Izumo, making a face as he'd started hissing things out.
"Old term for what you call jutsssu nowadaysss," said Kahliff.
"Why don't you look around this room and see if you can spot any more writing?" asked Jiraiya.
"There'ssss ssstill one more of those ssspidersss," said Kahliff, looking as apologetic as twelve feet of constrictor snake could manage. "I'm not good with poisssonsss."
Ka-thunk ka-thunk ka-thunk ka-thunk ka-thunk.
"That doesss nicely," said Kahliff with a nod of approval. "Nice placement. I'll be right back."
(Posted Wed, 12 May 2010 17:17)
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