"What's it do?" asked Sasuke, hoping it was something he could throw at That Man.
"It'll bring you back from the brink of death," said Naruto. "It'll heal you and restore your chakra. If you're poisoned or cursed, it'll fix that too. It's the most powerful healing potion known on Mid-Childa and even they don't see it that often."
"I'm surprised you didn't get one for your girlfriend," mused Sasuke, ignoring the sudden hiss and fluffing fur from the cat. Who looked surprised herself just after that.
"There's a potential problem with it," said Naruto. "I asked about it, and one of the mages suggested that someone with a bloodline might lose that bloodline. See it's just a potion, it can't tell if it's an enhancement or what - it might decide to cure her eyes."
Now Sasuke frowned at the look of the crystal. "Too little of it to experiment with."
"You have a contract with dragons," said Kakashi, interrupting as Sasuke brooded. "So why not summon one for Sakura to ride."
"'dragon'?" muttered Tazuna skeptically.
"Hey, good idea," said Naruto, producing his hammer and slamming it onto the ground. "Summoning!"
Again runes rotated in a circular fashion.
This time though, the dragon was smaller - barely past nine feet in length.
"Sparky!" greeted Naruto, hugging the dragon.
"Naruto!" greeted the dragon, craning his neck so that his head pressed against Naruto's back. "I heard you got your mage license upgraded. Congratulations."
Sasuke smirked at the way Tazuna stared with his mouth hanging open.
"This isn't going to take long, is it?" asked Sparky. "My mom's been riding my tail about my homework."
"No, I don't think so," said Naruto. "Oh. This is my ninja team. That's Kakashi-sensei. Sakura. And that one's Sasuke."
"Where's Hinata? I wanted to meet her," said Sparky.
"Not here," said Naruto. "She's on another team."
"Oh, bummer," said Sparky.
"He's... a dragon," pointed out Sakura.
"His name is 'Sparky'?" asked Sasuke.
"Well, my name among other dragons is a lot longer, and it tends to get mangled, so 'Sparky' will do," said the dragon, his voice somehow indicating a much younger and smaller kid.
"Why 'Sparky'?" asked Kakashi.
Sparky half-turned and spat a lightning bolt out which exploded in front of the ready-to-flee boatman.
"Ah, that explains it," said Kakashi, his visible eye crinkled in a smile hidden by his mask. "So Naruto, you'll fly. Sparky, Sakura needs someone to fly her across. Tazuna, myself, the black puffball over there, and Sasuke will go by boat."
A few glances revealed that, yes, Kurochan's fur HAD mostly gone out in a puffball.
"Is that your familiar?" asked Sparky, as the cat shook herself and tried to pretend that hadn't just happened.
"Yeah, that's Kurochan!" admitted Naruto. "Ain't she cool?"
Kurochan found herself preening and forcibly stopped herself to look over the dragon.
Sakura had initially panicked as she settled into place, sitting across the dragon's shoulders. Then she'd panicked a bit more during the launch process, with Naruto having to lend a hand to get the dragon airborne at first.
That changed after awhile though, when the flight evened out and the panic gave way to wonder. "How high up are we?"
Naruto, just above her and only a couple of meters away, answered. "Five hundred meters. That's a pretty thick fog there."
Sakura glanced down at the white cloud stretching below them to all sides. "Can you really track where they are?"
"Yeah, I'm using one of those search-spheres to track 'em," answered Naruto. "That way if they get attacked, we can respond real fast."
"It's actually difficult to keep this slow," rumbled Sparky. "Should we land ahead of them?"
"We might get spotted and then they'll know where the others will land," said Sakura. "Those WERE Mist Ninja after all. I bet they can see through this fog with no problems at all."
"So if we fly above the mist and don't go straight to the landing spot, we can confuse the issue if someone IS watching us," said Naruto.
"Oh good," said Sparky, lurching ahead. "Race you!"
"Damn fog," muttered Zabuza. "Damn contract. Damn job. Damn Uzumaki clan."
"They're out there somewhere," said Haku.
"This is one of the reasons I hated living in the Village Hidden In The Mists," said Zabuza.
"Yes, it is certainly difficult to keep one's clothes dry and keep various metal bits from rusting," agreed Haku.
A shadow flitted overhead.
"Haku?" asked Zabuza.
"Zabuza-sama?" asked Haku.
"Did you see... no. Couldn't have been," said Zabuza. Though if anyone could manage it, it would be an Uzumaki. No. Couldn't be. If an Uzumaki could do THAT, then... it would be time to settle down and have a nice occupation that didn't require facing an Uzumaki. Maybe a butcher shop, slaughtering cows and pigs and goats. Maybe one of those sandwich shops where they sliced the meat up - a 'deli' or something like that. No, it couldn't possibly be what he'd thought he'd seen because if this WAS something a chunin level Uzumaki was doing - he most definitely did not want to see what would happen if that Uzumaki hit jonin.
"I think they'll most likely head for that dock over there, Zabuza-sama," said Haku, pointing and politely not mentioning how pale the swordsman was at that moment. Probably just all the damp anyway.
Sasuke brooded.
Kakashi was apparently reading his book, though Hanabi could tell from minute muscular movements and the occasional flick of his visible eye - that Kakashi WAS paying attention to his surroundings.
Hanabi was the only one visibly keeping watch, which didn't fool Tazuna from the way the client glanced at the cat.
Hanabi herself was fascinated, her own eyesight acute enough without an active Byakugan that she caught occasional sight of the bridge and moving shapes that were likely patrol boats.
The boatman was nervous and looking around and had apparently completely dismissed the cat who lay lazily in the back of the boat. Hanabi had watched a few real cats when they passed them. The housecats in particular had a smug superior attitude that managed to be alert but cooly dismissive of the activities of lesser mortals. Hanabi felt that not only could she do that, but that particular attitude was well suited for a Hyuga heir. It also concealed the fact that the lazy smugness could be put aside for deadly energy when the opportunity was right. Also perfect for a Hyuga heir.
Ah, they were coming up on the landing spot, and the dark shape flitting overhead indicated that Naruto and Sakura would be meeting them there.
Hanabi briefly considered transforming into a girl and jumping across when leaving the boat. Just because the boatman would likely have an amusing reaction. No, better to keep her cover as just a housecat pet of a ninja. This close to the bridgebuilder's home would make this point ideal for an ambush after all.
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(Posted Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:33)
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