"Hnn," indicated Sasuke, taking a handful and passing the bag on to Sakura.
Sakura twitched. "Where did you get this?"
"Lounge has a small kitchen area, there's a popcorn maker in there," said Naruto, settling down to continue watching the picture in its frame. "Teamwork huh?"
"Yeah," said Sakura, viewing the odd portrait in that light mainly because they'd been thinking similar things with the whole set of tests their prospective sensei was hitting them with. "They couldn't take those big beasts on one-on-one so they teamed up. Didn't that guy with the pointy ears remind you of Sasuke when he took down that one?"
"Uhm, no," said Naruto. "Don't see the resemblence myself."
Sasuke frowned slightly. This was a good hiding place, but what was going on with their sensei? He HAD to have known that Naruto had such a thing, being a jonin and assigned to teach/lead them meant he'd have to know how to prepare things.
Kakashi leaned against the wall and tried to figure this out, having gotten nothing but amusement from the Hokage.
When had the test of his students become a test of him? Well, it certainly fit Naruto's modus operandi of "number one unpredictable ninja" of the village, didn't it?
So. Fuuinjutsu. Which is apparently what that surveillance technique was as well as that doorway the Hyuga spotted was. Space/time distortion could put them anywhere or anyWHEN theoretically.
Kakashi smiled behind his mask. Teamwork. It looked like this team actually had some potential. Well, he could always just give them the Bell Test saying it was a make-or-break and had more points than the two tests they'd apparently assigned themselves without knowing about it.
Now, how to find them and deliver that message?
Naruto took a deep breath and held up a card. He lightly tossed it, and as before - the card came to a halt as if it had stuck to an invisible wall before expanding into a door-sized card.
"Okay, just one of us should go first," reasoned Sakura. "We can then scout out the situation and see if we've won yet."
"Okay," said Naruto.
"Not you, Naruto," said Sakura. "You're the only one able to open the door back and forth. If Kakashi-sensei captures you, we can't go anywhere."
"I'll go," said Sasuke. "My stealth skills are better than either of yours."
"That's true, but in this case we need to find out what the time limit is on this second test," said Sakura.
"How about this?" said Naruto, writing a note and handing it to his dragon. "None of us go, and I just open the door every so often to let Hibana return."
"Except your lizard doesn't know what our sensei looks like," pointed out Sasuke. "Use Windy instead."
Kakashi was still staring at the nearly naked (unless you counted opaque swirls of wind) female figure as he took the note she was handing him.
It was a little difficult to tear his eyes away from the summons, but he did and unfolded the piece of paper.
Then he had to think about this, before deciding on his course of action.
"Yes," said Kakashi, writing on the opposite side of the paper from the question. "That's two of three, but the final test is the one that counts the most. Don't eat anything before showing up tomorrow..."
an hour later:
"So," said Sasuke. "Do we believe him?"
"Pass the gravy will ya?" asked Naruto.
"Oh, right," said Sakura, staring at the note as she tried to decipher all the possible meanings in this. "It seems fairly straightforward."
"Except that we know already, 'straightforward' is not this sensei's manner," said Sasuke. "Mind if I slice some more of this ham?"
"Nah, go ahead," said Naruto. "Can't have my rival starving now, can I?"
Sasuke considered that, then smirked before he could catch the expression and wipe it off his face. He had known that Naruto had a strong work ethic and drive to improve, for all that he had been a talentless and unskilled Academy near-dropout. Now that Naruto was revealed as someone who was a fuuinjutsu/summoning talent - having such a rival was acceptable. For the moment at least.
"Where does this stuff come from?" asked Sakura.
"Don't know," said Naruto. "Just wish they had a ramen pot that refilled itself."
"You would," said Sasuke.
"So by 'don't eat anything' because the test is too intense, he would mean..." Sakura's voice trailed off.
"So we should eat really well tonight and maybe a light meal well before the test," said Sasuke in between bites of his meal.
The dragon, crunching on a ham bone nearly as big as itself, made a trilling noise that sounded like agreement.
The nearly naked elfin-looking woman carrying a letter had been sufficient indication that the information he had available was completely insufficient for the task at hand.
According to the Academy notes: Naruto was a complete idiot without any talents save the ability to annoy people, Sakura was a total bookworm who hated Naruto and fangirled around Sasuke, and Sasuke was a brooding loner who excelled at everything except making friends. There was also the note about a love triangle with Naruto interested in Sakura, Sakura interested in Sasuke, and Sasuke having no interest in anyone. According to those notes, the three should have been bickering and dismissive of each other.
What he'd observed and learned was that Naruto had access to fuuinjutsu, and was able to put out a sensor field of some kind. There was also this 'Doorway' jutsu to consider, plus the girl with wings for arms whom he'd just observed.
Whoever had developed the files at the Academy could not be trusted and Kakashi was considering tracking them down and booting them in the head.
Since he still hadn't seen anything from Sakura or Sasuke, he wasn't sure what to expect there.
Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. At the very least, it might be interesting.
Naruto was not the two-dimensional clown she had thought he was. For one thing, a two-dimensional clown would not have a secret castle only accessible through a special jutsu unique to him.
Naruto had hidden depths and meanings, which apparently was typical of the whole ninja thing and something she hadn't really considered before now.
"Hey, Sakura," said Naruto's voice from the stairwell. "Wanna see something neat?"
Sakura felt that if she had seen this first, her jaw would probably have dropped down and covered her sandals. After the hall of portraits, the kitchen that apparently restocked itself after a few hours, the statues that seemed to turn slightly and regard you even if you could check and see they hadn't moved, one stairway that seemed to curl in on itself in a way that made her head hurt - she was a little more used to having her mind blown.
THIS though - this was decidedly less creepy and more intriguing.
If you looked at it one way, with the books neatly fitted into their shelves - it was a library.
If you looked at the way the shelves formed an intricate maze, it was just that - a maze to trap the unwary for the remainder of their lives.
Sakura looked it over, then nodded to herself. Magic door, magic castle, magic pictures, why not a library that seemed to stretch the boundaries of common sense?
"Where's Sasuke?" asked Sakura, noting the absence of her crush in all this.
"He spotted another moving portrait he thought was interesting," said Naruto.
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Sasuke immediately felt kinship with the oddly dressed person, and wondered if he could come back and watch the rest of this. It just might give him some ideas for later.
Sakura considered the feeling that something was about to happen then discarded it. "Okay. In order to meet this challenge or test that our sensei is giving us, we'll need something he won't expect."
"Okay," said Naruto, listening as he watched Sakura from the side. She was always the smart one, even if he thought her taste in guys sucked.
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(Posted Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:04)
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