"Late," noted the special jonin.
"Kakashi-sensei just gave me the scroll," explained Naruto as he straightened.
"Okay, well, our squad is currently down one member as Kirino deals with some personal problems," said the special jonin. "I'm Toraji Ishida. Kenjutsu specialist."
"Tamaki Kawazoe, kenjutsu specialist," said the very short and young looking girl.
"Miyako Miyazaki," said the taller girl. "Everyone just calls me 'Miya-Miya' though. Right, Tama-chan?"
"Yes," said the short girl in what was apparently her usual soft voice.
"Okay," said Naruto. "Naruto Uzumaki."
"Possessor of a bloodline that makes you tough to hurt, exceptionally strong, and able to heal really fast," said Toraji when nothing else followed. "I read your file. Here. We'll do weapon training when we're in camp. Mine is a weapon-specialist squad."
Naruto blinked as he held up the bundle that had been sitting in a wheelbarrow. "This is?"
"Well, we use katana," said Toraji. "Though Miya-Miya also uses a twin-kodachi style and Tama-chan is pretty good with archery. There's a practice sword in there for learning katana styles but from what I've heard of your strength, it's the other weapon that would probably be more your personal style."
"He's... lifting it," said Miya-Miya, "with one hand?!"
"Uhm, yeah?" asked Naruto.
"It's called a kanabo," said Toraji. "It's a really old one, maker unknown. It's also pretty darn heavy."
Naruto shrugged as he unwrapped the bundle, finding the padded cloth had a simple-looking katana and a shinnai together in one part. The other...
A large iron ring on one end. The shaft itself was longer than he was tall. Tapered towards the ring, then becoming a solid tube-shape not too far up the length. Diamond-shaped studs decorated the upper third of the weapon.
"Nobody's quite sure what the metal is," said Toraji. "It's reactive to chakra, so chakra-metal alloy is the best guess. Maybe one of the very first ones made, but it's so darn heavy that very few are able to lift it much less use it."
THOOOOM! went the ground as Naruto gave it a tentative thump with the weapon.
"I'll show you some basic kata and techniques with it," said Toraji. "Just from what I saw of your record, a sword just doesn't quite suit you."
"You know," said Naruto, grinning as he held the weapon aloft. "I think I might just like this."
"Well, pack it all up," said Toraji. "We're leaving right away now."
"What?!" asked Naruto. "I just found out about it. I haven't packed!"
"We'll swing by your apartment then, but we've got to get going," compromised Toraji. "We're patrolling the border with the Land Of Rivers. Oh, and we are NOT to engage any patrols from Tanigakure if it can be avoided."
"...if we got something this bad," said Sasuke. "The only good thing is that Naruto must have gotten something worse."
"How could it be worse?!" asked Sakura, who had gotten a whiff of the process and turned green. Which made a very interesting contrast with her hair.
Kakashi considered telling them that Naruto was patrolling the border with Kawa No Kumi.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:50)
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.