At which point he found himself staring at... himself. Standing in the exact same position he’d been in a moment ago, as he had pretended to use the summoning technique! The polymorph had gone off without a hitch as well, leaving him as a tiny adamantine dragon, not much larger than Kiba’s dog Akamaru, if you discounted his wings and tail.
It hadn’t been perfect. The whole thing had left him a bit dazed and disoriented, and he was sure it would take some practice to make the transition smooth and seamless. But it had worked!
“Woohoo! It worked! I am the greatest!” His clone proclaimed, leaping into the air in excitement. The real Naruto echoed the sentiment with an excited hiss.
“NAAARUUUTTOOOOOOO!” And then both dragon and clone went bug eyed and still with fear as the sound of angry feminine doom washed over them.
A moment later Sakura burst into the stand of trees, her body practically radiating anger. She had a soft cast on her right hand, and a murderous expression on her face.
“There you are!” She shouted at him, or rather, at his clone. “I knew I heard your voice!” She growled as she advanced on the clone, her left hand clenched into a fist.
“S.. Sakura!” The clone stuttered nervously and began to back away, raising its hands defensively. “H.. Hi! Is your hand okay?” The last thing it wanted was for Sakura to hit it and dispel it. That might blow his cover!
“No it’s not alright! It’s broken, thanks to you!” She raised her uninjured hand menacingly. “I should pound you for that!”
“Ah, but, Sakura! It’s not my fault you punched me! Besides, isn’t doing that what broke your hand in first place? I don’t want you to break both...” The clone replied, cringing away from the angry kunoichi.
For a moment it looked like Sakura would strike him anyway, but after a moment the flames of righteous anger that surrounded her vanished and her shoulders slumped in defeat.
“Well, you could have warned me before I hit you!” She growled, but her voice didn’t hold the same heat it had mere moments ago.
“I tried to Sakura-chan!” Naruto bobbed his tiny draconic head up and down vigorously in agreement as his clone desperately tried to placate the pink haired girl.
“Well, you should have warned me sooner!” Her shoulders slumped further and a black cloud of gloom and depression seemed to surround her. “I’ll never convince Sasuke-kun to go out with me with a broken hand...”
She could see it now...
There was her darling Sasuke sitting happily in an expensive restaurant. And beside him sat that horrible, boyfriend-stealing monster, Ino-pig! She was leaning in close to her Sasuke, lifting a portion of noodles up to his mouth, chopsticks held in her intact right hand...
“Open wide Sasuke-kun! I know how much you love having your girlfriend feed you...” Imaginary Ino said cutely.
“Hn.” Said Imaginary Sasuke said as he swallowed the food. Even in her mind, Sasuke was a man of few words. And incredible good looks of course.
“Oops! It seems there’s a noodle on your face. Let me get that for you...” and with that, Imaginary Ino leaned forward, her lips growing closer and to Sasuke-kun’s....
“HIIYYAAAAAAAAAA!” Inner Sakura shattered the image into a million pieces with a righteous punch. “NO WAY!”
In an instant the clouds of gloom vanished, only to be replaced by flames of anger as her eyes bore into Naruto once more. Her hand snapped up, pointing a finger at him.
“This is all YOUR fault Naruto! I won’t let it happen, you hear! Sasuke-kun’s lips belong to ME!”
Both clone Naruto and dragon Naruto sweat dropped. He loved Sakura, really he did. But he had to wonder, were ALL girls this crazy? Sometimes it seemed he was as likely to understand Sakura-chan as he was to... to... to give up ramen!
With some of her righteous fury spent, Sakura managed to calm down. The aura of rage faded as her attitude towards Naruto dropped from ‘murderous’ to a more normal ‘barely tolerant.’
“What are you doing way out here anyway? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“I’ve been trying out my totally awesome new Summoning technique!” The clone said, nodding proudly. With a technique like this, surely Sakura would see how awesome he was! Even if it was all fake.
“A summoning technique?” Sakura gave Naruto a disbelieving look. “Those are really rare and valuable Naruto. You have to sign a contract in blood and they’re jealously guarded by their owners. There’s no way an idiot like you has one.”
“Hey! Hey! I do to! I can summon dragons! See!” Without thinking, the Naruto clone pointed at the real Naruto, who was nodding his head in agreement.
Up until then Sakura had been fully focused on the clone Naruto. Turning to follow Naruto’s finger, she finally caught sight of the miniature adamantine dragon. There was a pause as their eyes met and Sakura took in the details of the scaly little creature. And then...
“CUUUUUUUUUTTTTEEEE!” Sakura squealed. Sure she was a ninja, trained in the arts of war, assassination, and death. But she was also very much a girl. “Is he dangerous? Can I hold him?”
“Well, um, yeah... He can be dangerous I guess. But he’d never hurt YOU Sakura-Chan.” The clone answered nervously, still a bit off balance from Sakura’s rapid mood swings. The real Naruto just bobbed his head up and down in agreement with the clone. “So, yeah. I guess you can hold him. Just don’t...” Whatever the clone was going to say slipped out of its mind as Sakura acted.
She wasted no time reaching down to pick up the tiny dragon with her good hand, and instantly pressed the creature to her bosom, hugging it close. She had had a long, trying day, along with many a mood swing. Something small and cute and cuddly was exactly what she needed at the moment, and this little creature certainly fit the bill.
Both Naruto and his clone went bug eyed and froze. He was touching Sakura’s chest. Sure, there wasn’t much of a chest there. She was only 12 after all. But still! He was snuggled up against her bosom with both of her arms wrapped around him! Him! Normally Sakura would pound him if he touched her HAND!
“He’s so cute! What is he?” Sakura asked, cooing down at the scaly little creature.
“He’s... a dragon...” The clone choked out in response, eyes darting between his creator and Sakura.
“Well, he’s such a cute little chibi-dragon, isn’t he? Aren’t you?” She said, addressing Naruto as he hugged him tight. “Does he have a name?”
“Nar... No. I mean no. He doesn’t have a name yet.” The clone laughed nervously after he caught himself. He’d almost given the game away there! But in his defense, his mind was still spinning from the sight of the love of his life (sure, there was another girl out there who supposedly liked him, but he couldn’t just drop Sakura like a live explosive tag now could he?) hugging his original self to her chest. And it wasn’t as if the real Naruto was doing any better.
Pressed again Sakura’s bosom, the miniaturized dragon hung limply, its eyes a pair of spiral swirls.
“I can’t believe YOU of all people got a summoning contract!” Sakura seethed. Still, it was hard to be angry when she was holding something so cute. “Where did you get one?”
“Well, it’s sort of a family thing. Old man Hokage said I shouldn’t say too much about it...” The clone laughed nervously once again but has no need to worry. Sakura was quite focused on the dragon in her arms and just took his words at face value.
“So, how long will he be around for? You know why summoning techniques are so charka intensive, right? The amount of time the summoned creature can stay in this dimension depends on user’s chakra level as well as how much energy the summons uses and any injuries it receives.” Sakura explained, naturally slipping into lecture mode
“Ah, of course! I knew all that! Ha ha!” Unfortunately for Naruto, his clones were no better liars than the original. “And he should stick around for... ah... a while? Because I used loads of chakra to summon him...?” He finished rather nervously, eyes darting from Sakura to the real Naruto in her arms.
“Awesome! You don’t mind if I take him with me for a bit, do you Naruto?” Sakura asked, smiling cutely at the befuddled clone as she used her good hand to scratch under the mini-dragon’s chin. It made a low growling noise in response, which almost sounded like a cat purring.
“Um.... No?” The clone replied uncertainly.
“Great! Thanks Naruto!” Sakura turned away from the clone before allowing an evil smirk to cross her face. In her minds eye, a new scene was playing out...
Sasuke-Kun and Sakura sat across from each other in a secluded corner of a restaurant, all alone except for the dragon sitting on her lap.
“Oh, Sasuke-kun, I’m so happy you’ve come to your senses!” Imaginary Sakura gushed. “Who knew that seeing something so cute and cuddly yet dangerous would finally bring out your softer, caring side?”
“Yes. And the truth is, I’ve always loved girls who are good with animals...” Imaginary Sasuke-kun smiled at her, suddenly leaning forward across the table, his lips puckering.
Sakura learned forward as well, a blush crossing her cheeks. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a fuming Ino-Pig staring angrily at her through the restaurant’s window. Paying her FORMER competitor no mind, she closed her eyes, leaning towards Sasuke-kun....
“HELL YEAH!” Inner Sakura thrust her fist into the air in victory, bringing her fantasy to an end.
“Heh heh heh...” Sakura giggled and blushed to herself, hugging the little dragon tighter and grinning. She knew she should probably grill Naruto about his kekkei genkai and summoning contract, but if the Hokage told him not to talk about them she probably shouldn’t push him on the subject.
Besides, given what a loudmouth Naruto as, he’d probably be yelling out his secrets at the top of his lungs by the end of the day. She’d get her answers soon enough. In the meantime, she had a cute little critter to cuddle and a moody dreamboat to impress!
Still, Naruto WAS being nice enough to let her wander off with his summons. He was being a lot quieter than usual as well. Why, he hadn’t even asked her out on a date during the entire conversation! Maybe he was FINALLY getting a clue! It wouldn’t hurt to be a LITTLE nicer to him under the circumstances. Glancing over her shoulder, she gave the clone a small smile.
“Maybe you CAN do one or two things right after all Naruto!” She told him. Then she turned back around and hurried out of the training ground. She had an Uchiha to catch!
Left behind in the stand of trees, the kage bushin just stood there with a dumbfounded look on its face for several minutes, before finally dispelling itself. It’s final thoughts before vanishing were something along the lines of "Is it wrong to be jealous of yourself?"
By the time Naruto managed to regain his senses, Sakura had carried him back to Konoha proper and was wandering the streets of the village, looking for Sasuke. The sight of a kunoichi carrying what looked like a baby dragon was earning them a few odd looks and whispers, but not much more than that. This was a ninja village and thus the abnormal was normal. Still, it was an odd feeling to be traveling along the familiar streets of the village without being on the receiving end of cold, hateful stares.
Naruto shook his scaly head, trying to clear his mind and take stock of his situation. He quickly decided that as... comfortable as his current position was, he really shouldn’t be taking advantage of Sakura’s kindness this way. It wasn’t as if he was a pervert or something! (Oiroke No Jutsu didn’t really count! It was more of an anti-pervert technique!)
Unfortunately his efforts to wiggle free just drew Sakura’s full attention back to him.
“Awww, something wrong chibi-dragon?” She asked cutely, scratching under his chin with her uninjured left hand as her right arm hugged him closer. Naruto couldn’t help but growl lowly at the pleasant sensation. It felt NICE to be showered with affection for once in his life.
But regardless, Naruto may not have been well versed on social interactions, but he was quite certain what he was doing now was NOT considered acceptable behavior! Unfortunately, Sakura had quite a good grip on him, and seemed disinclined to release him. He couldn’t even pull off a Kawarimi like this, since his forelegs were pinned against Sakura’s chest!
Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure if he COULD use ninja techniques like this. Could he make the proper hand seals with his claws? That was definitely something to test out. Plus he was still a bit fuzzy on exactly what he could do as a dragon. Faint hints of magical abilities floated around in his mind, but he hadn't quite consciously integrated them yet. On top of that he wasn’t even sure if summons were supposed to be able to use ninja jutsus or not. He really needed to do some research if he was going to keep this up.
In the meantime, there really wasn’t much he COULD do except let Sakura carry him around the village. He was more or less trapped after all.
So that meant there was nothing wrong with him enjoying it, right?
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(Posted Sun, 05 Dec 2010 18:24)
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