"Huh, he kept going for nearly three hours this time," said Sasuke.
"Yes, he is definitely showing improvement in his stamina and overall toughness, and his 'avoid pointy objects' skills have come a long way," admitted Kakashi, holstering a kunai he'd been flipping up and down preparatory to using.
"The more I see of his performance, the more I wonder why he didn't end up at Ninja Burger," said Naruto.
"Because that's a 'D-Rank mission' - we have genin to do that," said Kakashi.
"Oh, right." Naruto shook his head.
"Monster," said Hinata.
"No, this is pretty much normal shinobi training," protested Kakashi.
"No, I mean there's a monster. It keeps flitting into range of my vision but goes back out again. It's almost as if it can tell where I can see."
"Here in the village?" asked Kakashi.
Sakura Haruno put the mop in the bucket and stretched out the kinks in her back and legs.
The ship was a big one, but that was necessary as the entire troupe was being ferried from Hi No Kuni to another area entirely.
"Okay, Sakura," said the portly Malicorne de Grandple as he walked up to her. "Good job. Next lesson. What do you know about our current destination?"
"The Twelve Islands are outside the Elemental Countries' borders," said Sakura, wiping sweat off her forehead as she thought about it. "They didn't cover much back in the Academy, but I think it's a Hegemony - each island has a different ruler and they appoint representitives to a council that has authority over the whole thing."
"Good," said Malicorne, seating himself on one of the barrels on deck. "One of the things about the non-shinobi nations compared to the Elemental Countries is that they have a higher incidence of monster attacks. Another thing is that they don't trust shinobi, so keep that part of your background secret will you?"
"Why do they not trust shinobi?" asked Sakura.
"The whole 'assassin in the shadows' thing that some ninja enjoy," said Malicorne with a shrug. "Not that the Leaf has that reputation. You've still got some, but on the whole - if someone wants an assassination mission they generally go to one of the more bloodthirsty villages. There's also rogue-nin and the occasional covert operation from one of the established villages that pretty much ensures that if anyone learns you're a ninja-trainee that you'll be run out of town. At best."
"The votes are really tallying up," said the Director.
"I figure most of them are fake, but an indication of internet interest," said the IT Guy. Whose name, oddly enough, was Itachi Guy. Who was amused that two major characters in the series were apparently named after him.
"So, any details on our mysterious boss?" asked the Director.
"None," said IT Guy. "The writer is a mystery, the CEO is a mystery, and the mysterious backers remain mysterious."
"I'm not one to rock the boat when the pay's good, but that's a lot of mystery," said the Director.
"True," admitted IT Guy. "I can't help but wonder about the Staff Witch Doctor though."
"I've seen stranger," said the Director. "And I've heard about it happening in Hollywood."
"No, not that," said IT Guy. "Well that too. Aren't witch doctors supposed to be guys? And older?"
"So we've got a young girl witch doctor," said the Director. "She's cute."
"Well, that does do a lot for why she might have been hired," admitted IT Guy. "Takes her job seriously too, but can you talk to her about the grass skirt? I keep finding bits of it clogging up cooling fans."
"I'll talk to her," agreed the Director.
"In the meantime, look at this entry," said the IT Guy. "What do you think?"
"Okay, Kyon, come with me," said Naruto. "Kakashi and Sasuke will try to intercept the monster, you can go do this and be out of the fight."
"I just want to go home and sleep," said Kyon, looking rather disheveled.
"You'll want to talk to this gal," said Naruto. "Ran into her the other day. Fuuinjutsu expert, also works with ciphers and stuff like that."
"Fuuijutsu, like explosive tags?" asked Kyon.
"No, this is the advanced stuff," said Naruto. "There's all sorts of way you can use fuuinjutsu - some of which allows the bending of space/time. Heck, even the paper wards and ofuda I use are considered fuuinjutsu. It's apparently got all sorts of branches and specialties."
"Really?" asked Kyon, trying to keep up.
"So did I understand something you said earlier correctly?" asked Naruto as he led the way. "Your name isn't actually 'Kyon' but that's a nickname you don't like."
"No, though I've gone by other names before too," said Kyon. "Heck, if I'd thought of it at the time - I'd have gone by the nickname 'John Smith' when I arrived. I've used it before when I met Haruhi for the first time, months after we met, during that Tanabata Festival."
"You met for the first time, months after you met?" asked Naruto.
"Time travel," explained Kyon. "It gets really confusing."
Three members of the SOS Brigade looked very slowly over at the remaining member of their group.
Haruhi stared at the screen. "He... he... 'John Smith'?"
Itsuki looked at the power cord for the computer and considered what would happen if he accidently unplugged it now before anything else could happen.
Yuki seemed to know what he was planning as she was looking out the window. "Too late."
"So you've travelled in time?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, a couple of times, been to an alternate universe too - not counting my little exile here, and involved in a psychic event," said Kyon. "Whatever you can say about life around Haruhi - it's not boring."
"So the goddess who exiled you to our world, where you nearly died just arriving from what I heard, is named Haruhi?" asked Naruto.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Mikuru as she hid under a table with her hands covering her head.
"Fascinating," said Yuki, watching the cloud-cloud lightning bursts and what appeared to be dueling tornadoes.
Haruhi continued to stare at the computer screen.
A radio clicked on somewhere on campus and began playing a song at very loud volume.
"That's great,
It srarts with an earthquake,
birds and snakes,
an aeroplane,
and Lenny Bruce is not afraid."
Itsuki calmly went over to a chair, pulled it out, and sat down. Not much he could do anyway.
"So this girl any good at this seal stuff?" asked Kyon as Naruto ducked towards a building.
"Yeah, that's what I hear," said Naruto as he stopped and turned with his hand on the hilt of his wooden sword. "Hinata?"
"The intruder is just within the range of my vision briefly, it is avoiding Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-san while still tracking us." Hinata's mental voice sounded alarmed.
"Get in," said Naruto, drawing Hinata and taking a ready-stance near the door. "Hinata? Details would be nice. Is it after me, you, or Kyon?"
Kyon wasn't wasting time. His ninja skills were NOT up to a combat situation. He went through the door as quickly as he could. He also collided with a girl who was just inside the door, the two of them tumbling together in a pile of books.
"Are you okay?" began Kyon, having managed to try and break the other's fall. Which was when his eyes adapted to the diminished light. "Nagato?!"
Haruhi's jaw dropped.
The clouds cleared, lightning fading away, with the tornadoes leaving off their duel to dissipate harmlessly.
"I think," said Yuki with a pause, glancing at the computer screen and instantly coming to several conclusions, "that perhaps this qualifies as a positive plot twist."
"When you posted your character design and stats," Itsuki began, glancing at Yuki, "did they indicate at all that they were going to take it?"
"Yes, on Friday," admitted Yuki Nagato.
Haruhi twitched.
(In a swamp in Louisiana, a dog Awakened to full intelligence and began explaining to his owner in proper grammar that he really did need to go out. The owner, having consumed half a bottle of Jack Daniels, let the dog out and just swore that he'd punch his drinking buddy for putting something funny in there.)
. "Friday was the deadline for votes, you see," said Itsuki to Haruhi. At least for that week. This week's votes would be on a different subject matter.
Haruhi twitched again.
(Somewhere in New York, an albino alligator fought his way out of the sewers snarling and ready to go on a rampage. Fifteen minutes later, there was a street vendor selling "Genuine Alligator Steaks" because there are some neighborhoods you just do NOT want to go into after dark.)
Itsuki glanced towards the computer monitor, seeing that the scene had switched to a roof-hopping blur heading towards Kyon's location. It looked as if the attacker was:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:05)
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.