"Okay, that's kind of odd," said Kiba eventually.
Shino nodded once in response.
"Okay," said Naruto. "So I get the right thing for you, I need to know what you can do. Oh, Kiba, you might want to leave your puppy at home though. This is gonna be really dangerous."
"Naruto," said Kurenai as Kiba and Akamaru bristled at the comment. "I realize several years have passed for you within what has been a few weeks for us - but the Inuzuka clan uses specially trained and bred ninja-dogs as partners for their special techniques."
"Oh," said Naruto. "That makes sense, I suppose. Hang on."
Again Naruto reached into the pouch, this time withdrawing another leather pouch containing four vials of potions. "Each of these potions is a one-shot 'jutsu' - you drink it and the effect goes off within a few seconds."
Kiba lost his snarl as he considered the four glass vials in the padded leather case. "What do they do?"
Naruto pointed to each of the symbols on the labels as he explained. "Cure Serious Wounds - causes wounds to heal as if you had a medic working on you. Fire Resistance - makes the drinker and any equipment on you much harder to burn, protects you from the heat some too. Won't help against smoke inhalation though, so keep that in mind. Haste - basically makes your speed double for as long as the potion lasts, but it'll tire you out too. This last one is an Enlarge potion. Temporarily makes you bigger and stronger. The potions with a duration, which is everything but the healing potion, last about five minutes."
Kiba nodded. The inclusion of the healing potion brought home that this WAS serious, and so he put aside his natural irritation at the boy acting like some Alpha Male around him.
"The Aburame clan also uses animal partners," prompted Kurenai.
"Our bodies are used by colonies of parasitic insects which allow us our special jutsu," said Shino. "A mutually beneficial arrangement."
Naruto frowned, head cocked as if listening to something for a moment. "Okay, maybe this..." Again he reached into the pouch, again he pulled something out.
The wand was about the length of his hand, made of bone with a spiral of dull copper wrapped around it. Shino took it, but gingerly as if afraid it was going to do something unnatural.
"Wand of Lightning Bolts," explained Naruto. "Point it at something, say 'firainnahole' and it'll throw a low-powered lightning bolt at the target. It will only work a set number of times, a little over thirty, though."
"I see," said Shino, slipping the now-revealed-as-a weapon into his sleeve.
Naruto went back to his pouch, this time pulling out a metal flask with a screw-top to hand to Kurenai.
"What does this do?" asked Kurenai as she examined it.
"Decanter Of Endless Water," said Naruto. "Unstopper it and use a short rhyme to activate it and choose the function. It provides fresh water. A stream of water - about one gallon every six seconds. A fountain - a stream about as tall as Sakura - about five gallons every six seconds. Last function is 'geyser' and that's shooting water out at about 30 gallons per six seconds under high pressure. You have to use another short rhyme to get it to stop."
"I see," said Kurenai, thinking of a half-dozen uses for such a thing as she carefully packed it away.
"So what are you getting for your fiancee?" asked Sasuke, raising an eyebrow.
"'fiancee'?" asked Kiba.
"Hinata," said Sasuke.
"That's for real?" asked Kiba, now scowling.
"She can get out of it any time she wants," Naruto reminded Sasuke.
"No," muttered Hinata, despite being unconscious.
"Was that a 'no' - she doesn't want the engagement? Or was that a 'no' she doesn't want to get rid of the engagement?" asked Kiba, turning his scowl into puzzlement.
"Actually, I was thinking of this," said Naruto, reaching into a pocket and pulling something out.
"A ring?" asked Kurenai, examining it.
Naruto blinked. Hadn't that just been in his hand?
"Oh hoh," said Kurenai, examining the ring in question.
"Ah hah," said Kiba, now smirking.
"Hnnn," said Sasuke, also smirking.
"I see," said Shino, pushing his glasses back further on his nose and being the exception in NOT examining the ring further - Kurenai having gone so far as to pull a magnifying glass out from somewhere.
"Magic?" asked Sasuke eventually.
"Yeah," admitted Naruto. "It looks kind of cheap, but it's actually fairly useful. It's called a 'Ring Of Regeneration' - and the wearer heals really fast."
"So it doesn't actually mean anything that you're giving her a ring?" asked Sasuke, managing somehow to add the term 'smirkingly' to his tone in asking that simple question.
"Well, I mean she is my fiancee," said Naruto with a shrug. "Even if she IS awfully young."
"So, can I get a magic sake jug?" asked some woman as she landed next to Kurenai.
"A what?" asked Naruto.
"This is Anko Mitarashi," said Kurenai. "She's the extra jonin for this mission. She's a specialist."
"Oh?" asked Naruto. "What's your specialty?"
"You're too young to ask that," said Anko. "Eh? I thought he was supposed to be twelve. He looks..."
"You didn't read the ANBU report?" asked Kurenai.
Naruto sighed. "As soon as Sakura and Hinata wake up, I'll go over mission objectives now that we're all here."
Lolth had entered this universe, ready to punish whoever had messed with the destruction of her daughter. She had gone back to her realm, having determined WHAT was messing around in this timeline. Only to find nearly a thousand of her tormented souls and even a few living drow who weren't sufficiently worshipful had somehow disappeared. She returned her attention in full to those prisoners, rather than have more slip her grasp.
As for those souls and escapees, what of them?
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(Posted Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:01)
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