"Some people learn slower than others," noted Naruto.
"Eh to, N-Naruto-kun," said Hinata, still stuttering despite the encouragement she'd gotten so far from him making it a little easier to actually talk to him. "I've been meaning to ask-"
"Ask what?" asked Naruto in reply.
"Your Artifact is named 'Bok Av Omenene'?" asked Hinata. On Naruto's nod, she continued. "Why 'book of omens'?"
"Oh, that," said Naruto, holding out his hand and having the Artifact materialize floating over it. "The book has 2000 pages, see?"
Hinata ducked her head shyly, aware that both Sasuke and Naruto were looking at her and not exactly comfortable with being the center of attention. Not that she didn't also find it somewhat empowering as they seemed to encourage her subtly.
"Well, pages erase and fill with new information," continued Naruto. "Except for sections that are permanent. There's this page right here for example. Once per day I can try to use the Divination function to get an idea of some future event."
"Predicting the future?" asked Sasuke skeptically.
"Yeah, the future's always changing though, so it's usually vague and only focussed on major things," said Naruto. "I haven't used it yet today. Try it. Ask a question."
Sasuke frowned and considered. Why not try a question he knew the answer to? "How can I get stronger to defeat That Man?"
[Divination. Display Mode]
[Today is a good day for shopping.]
[Focus on one thing at a time.]
[Bring friends and allies, for as you strengthen yourself, so too does your foe.]
[Not all is as it seems, and you foe is but one face.]
[Behind him is another shadow, and another shadow beyond that.]
[Tread carefully, lest you become the very thing that you hunt.]
[The most obvious path is not always the correct one.]
"That was - odd," said Sasuke as he read the display. "Shopping?"
"Hmmm, I think I know just the place," said Naruto. "If it's another lame mission today, let me leave some kage bunshin behind to do the job."
"'shopping'?" repeated Sasuke.
"Right, and there's something I want to get from Sakura for a prank on Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto with a foxy grin. It was two, two, two pranks in one!
POOF!
"Okay guys, you know what to do," instructed Naruto to the small squad of clones.
"RIGHT!" said the clones, running off.
"What are you doing?" asked Sasuke.
"I've seen Sakura with those Yaoi Romance novels before," said Naruto. "I'm going to sneak into Kakashi-sensei's house and replace all of his little orange books." (and vice versa of course.)
"That's evil," said Sasuke, inclining his head. "I approve."
Naruto gave a gracious little bow in return that earned a giggle from Hinata.
"Vengeance is important," said Sasuke, instructing his two team-mates.
Hours later:
"So anyway, today's mission is collecting trash along the river, part of the Keep Konohagakure Clean campaign," said Kakashi, who at this point had no idea what horrors would be awaiting him when he went home to get fresh reading material.
"On it," said Naruto, forming a hundred kage bunshin, who cheered and ran off.
"uhm," said Kakashi as this was not an expected response of genin to a day of back-breaking labor along a river.
"Come on, guys, while I clean the river we can check out those printing machines and see what's required to get them running," said Naruto, leading his two team-mates off.
"Uhm, oh well," said Kakashi, shrugging. Long as the work got done, who was he to care?
The meeting place was empty briefly.
(PIFF PAFF POFF)
"Okay, he's gone," said Naruto to his two team-mates as his shadow clones went all over the place. "Bok Av Omenene. Display. Nearest transdimensional waypoint that will lead me to a good place for shopping. One I've already been to would be best."
[Map Page]
[Displaying]
[Path requires three traversals, short range.]
"What's a waypoint?" asked Hinata, looking over the map.
"It's in the Uchiha sector," noted Sasuke.
"It's a point where I can open a sort of door to a different place," said Naruto. "Travelling the Ways though can be dangerous, so be ready for predators."
One minute they'd been in the Uchiha sector of Konohakagure.
Then Naruto had pulled out his book, said a few words that had echoed oddly, and made a gesture.
That the air had split open and Naruto had stepped through the resulting rip had kind of impressed Sasuke. Of course, he was immediately thinking of ways to do that himself. Naruto requiring that book of his to do it though meant that other people might not be able to do it. Sasuke had already noticed that all the pages looked blank unless Naruto gave the 'Display' command.
Then he went through himself. For a moment he had one foot resting on pavement in Konoha, with his other foot on the other side of the rent stepping onto a sand dune under an amethyst sky.
He moved to the side as Hinata came through.
Yellow sand. Purple sky. Two suns visible, looking awfully small and not nearly so bright as he'd expect from their positions. Weird spiky looking plants.
"This way," said Naruto, closing the mid-air rent behind Hinata and then moving off to the side.
Another stop occurred a couple of minutes later, and Naruto did the same ritual and stepped through another rift at the end of it.
Again the odd sensation as his trailing foot was on a sand dune and his forward foot came down on a rocky beach.
This world, he quickly realized, was OLD. Everything from the scent on the wind to just the feel of the place whispered of times that were long past.
The rocks underfoot turned out to be pieces of masonry from a wall that was only obvious as such because the ragged pieces were in a more-or-less straight line.
A sun, red and bloated, cast a dull-seeming radiance on the land. Even the waves lapping up on the shore seemed to sound old and tired somehow.
After Hinata had come through, Naruto sealed that doorway and began moving off in another direction.
An odd howl in the distance indicated that this particular world was not completely dead.
"Predator?" asked Sasuke.
"Most likely," said Naruto, hurrying up just a bit more.
"Byakugan," whispered Hinata, making the quick seals and invoking the technique.
"What do you see?" asked Sasuke when the other girl had finished and scurried to catch up with Naruto.
"It's a single predator, but it doesn't have any eyes," said Hinata. "It's coming!"
"Then it's a good thing we're here," said Naruto, coming to a halt and performing the same ritual as earlier.
Sasuke looked around, letting Hinata go ahead of him this time. A hint of movement revealed a purple and red crab-beetle creature roughly half his size, scuttling towards his position at high speed.
As soon as he was through the portal, Naruto sealed that one too.
Sasuke looked around, finding himself in a narrow alley between two buildings. The smell of something spicy mixed with the smell of roasting beef tickled his nostrils. An odd musical instrument played some equally odd melody, repeating the same musical sequence over and over again and speeding up with each repeat until it ended in a flourish.
"Here we go," said Naruto.
"Where is 'here'?" asked Sasuke, curious. Shopping wasn't exactly high on his idea of fun things to do. Still, it beat out painting fences or pulling weeds.
Naruto led them out of the alleyway onto a street. "We're-"
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(Posted Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:05)
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