The old seal master finally looked up from his examination. "Beyond my abilities. Most likely beyond Jiraiya's. This is divine work."
"I don't care how good you think it is," grumbled Anko.
"No," said the old man, frowning at the special jonin. "I don't mean 'good work' I mean Divine. Literally. As in written by a kami."
"What?" asked Anko.
"Kihaku, if you would explain?" asked the Hokage.
The old man hmphed. "Look, her cursed seal was complicated. If you found a way to unlock it and spread it out, it would have filled a room with the fuuinjutsu. A large room."
"So this is as complicated?" asked Kurenai.
"In basic, no, I can get a look at the basic set of instructions because there's an allowance for looking over the terms and conditions," said Kihaku, chewing his lower lip for a few seconds as he considered it. "It's the rest of it. You could plaster stuff on every wall in this tower and it'd still not all fit."
"That much?" asked the Hokage.
"You can read the 'terms and conditions'?" asked Kurenai.
"Yes," said Kihaku. "It's all right there."
The Hokage waited.
"So," said Anko as she turned, grabbed the collar of Kihaku's kimono and yanked him close. "WHAZZITSAY?!"
"Eh?" asked Kihaku. "I couldn't make that out."
"What are the terms and conditions?" asked Kurenai.
"Oh, that," said Kihaku. He then looked down at the two hands grasping his clothes and up at the special jonin.
Anko said some very very bad words but let the aged fuuinjutsu specialist go.
"Look here," he said, pointing to the special jonin's neck and making a couple of hand seals.
Kurenai blinked as the new mark expanded from its position on the back of Anko's neck. "Okay. What does it say?"
"This is written in Celestial, which is not a language I'm proficient in," said Kihaku. "It's very upper end of the art. I know bits and pieces though, enough to puzzle it out. If you talked to that kid though - he might be able to read it."
"So you can't read it-" said Anko, ready to commit violence after that build-up.
"See, this part, this is basically where she agreed to these terms," said Kihaku. "This agrees that she'll be his maid, retainer, and ninja so long as her duties to Konohagakure don't come into conflict."
"Oh? Is that all?" asked Kurenai.
"Then there's this, which is what she gets out of it," said Kihaku as he pointed at another section.
Dead silence for a few moments before a cricket started chirping. Tora, hiding in the office, whipped out a claw and crushed it before anyone could investigate and find him.
"We... get something out of it?" asked Anko.
"Hmmm, oh yes, mind you - it's in Celestial so I'm not sure about some of it," said Kihaku. "Looks like you can call upon the power of ramen or something like that."
"The 'power of ramen'?" asked Anko.
"For healing, special jutsu abilities, and enhancing your signature attack," said Kihaku. "I think that's what that said, but what's a 'signature attack'?"
Kurenai shrugged out of her shirt. "Can you check mine? Does it say the same thing?"
THUD!
Anko blinked as she looked down at the fainted old man. "What's with him?"
"He's over ninety years old," said the Hokage. "Kurenai? Would you mind putting your shirt back on?"
"Oh. Right."
"So what's a 'signature attack'?" asked Anko.
"Is there a single attack you have which is yours alone?" asked the Hokage. "Or perhaps one that use very frequently?"
"Oh, like an original technique?" asked Anko.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:17)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.