"Hurry it up, Naruto!" said Sakura, her voice slightly distorted by the communicators they wore.
"Yeah, yeah, just a minute," said Naruto as he picked his way through the forest. "I am so sick of this."
"Not in position yet?" asked Kakashi over HIS communicator.
"Why do we need to be in position anyway?" asked Naruto. "We're searching for golf balls for crying out loud!"
"That," said Kakashi, "is a secret."
"It's probably a team-building exercise for coordinating against mobile targets, right Sasuke?" asked Sakura.
"Hnn."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Hey I think I-" said Naruto just before the ground collapsed under him. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Kakashi frowned as he tapped his communicator. "Naruto, can you stop playing around. This is serious."
A minute went by. Then two.
"Found another golfball," said Sasuke, dropping it into the bag with the other ones. How the heck was he supposed to get strong doing this sort of thing?!
"Honestly," said Sakura. "Naruto is SO immature. Unlike Sasuke!"
"Naruto?" asked Kakashi, then sighing after another minute went by without any answer. "I'll go look for him."
"If he managed to get himself killed on a golfball-hunting mission, I'll never speak to him again," promised Sakura, who then brightened at the possibility of being alone for long periods with Sasuke. She felt guilty about it as she made a quick prayer that Naruto had found a better life in the next world.
That flash of guilt didn't keep Sakura from hoping sincerely that Naruto was out of her life and a brief fantasy in which she and Sasuke got closer together with the tragedy of an MIA Naruto a shared experience.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" managed Naruto as he turned in mid-air to see the distant dot of the hole he'd fallen down disappear in the distance.
Finally he remembered his ninja tools, tied a length of cord to a grapple and threw it off into the darkness. It made a clang as it hit rock somewhere out there.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," cried out little twelve year old Naruto as he realized how far he'd fallen. It was hard to tell how fast he was going because all he could see was dark - but he'd been falling for a very long time now.
He was going to splat. He'd hit the ground and be smooshed into jelly. Now he'd never be Hokage. Never kiss Sakura. Never get anyone to like him. Dying in a dark hole where he'd never be found.
"AHHHH! THIS SUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSS!" screamed the falling genin.
THWOP!
Naruto blinked as he landed on something that seemed kind of hard but which gave way immediately, slowing him down.
"Well well well. What do we have here?"
Naruto gulped at that overly loud and overly deep voice. If a mountain could speak, he would expect it to have such a voice. It was a very very scary voice.
"Naruto Uzumaki. Genin of the Leaf Village. Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."
"Y-y-y-y-y-you know me?" asked Naruto, hoping this wasn't someone he'd pranked.
Flames shot out, briefly illuminating the cavern.
Naruto couldn't possibly be any more quiet or still than he was at that moment, having seen way too much. If his muscles hadn't completely frozen, he might have wet himself right there.
His 'landing pad' was the forepaw of a dragon. A dragon who was at least as big as his village. Just the forepaw/claw/hand was bigger than his apartment building. Said dragon had just jetted flames out of his mouth. Had those flames hit HIM, Naruto knew with absolute certainty that he'd be ash blowing on the wind.
"Now what to do with you," mused the dragon in the darkness now that the flames had died out.
Naruto imagined his death in several grisly manners, each one more nasty than the last. Considering the first one involved being eaten and his ninja headband popping out later after the dragon got a toothpick - that was pretty bad.
"Don't be a fool, child. I don't eat sentient beings. It's bad karma."
"That's... good, right?" asked Naruto as he tried to get his shaking under control.
"Even as pathetic and tiny as you are, the least ninja of your class, whose team mate even now prays for your death, killing you was not my plan - else I would not have stopped your fall as I did."
"Uhm, right," said Naruto, realizing that he was shaking twice as hard now that he'd relaxed just a little bit. "Sasuke's praying for my death?"
"No. Sakura Haruno."
"Eh?" asked Naruto.
"Child. I'm able to read minds. Now that you've awoken me, I have no reason to lie to you. Rather, I owe you a favor."
"Eh?" asked Naruto, suddenly getting a glimpse inside Sakura's head and FEELING the contempt she had for him.
"Speak, child. Three wishes shall I give you. If it is in my vast power to grant, I shall do so."
"Can you get me out of here?" asked Naruto.
"Is that your only wish then?"
"Wish? Like you can give me anything?" asked Naruto.
"Don't waste my time, child. Freedom beckons me."
"Okay," said Naruto, screwing up his courage.
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(Posted Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:35)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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