The Uchiha clan owed Naruto Uzumaki at this point, even if he was the only surviving member other than That Man. Even if there had been revelations about that night where he had ceased to have an older brother, and a long-standing genjutsu effect had been broken in his mind by exposure to things that could not possibly have been foreseen by that caster.
With a blink of his eyes and a focus of chakra, he activated his Sharingan.
He had once looked, curious, at Naruto as the other boy had activated one of his Dead Arts. He would not do so again because the utter Wrongness had set his stomach heaving and his head aching. It had also struck him as incomplete, as if there were gaps and pieces that required something he couldn't quite see.
With that, he stopped throwing shuriken and reached for the weapon he'd recovered from a hidden space in his mother's study. He would need more advanced instruction in its use, but he could practice the basics for now.
He was only peripherally aware of Sakura entering the clearing, of the puppy-dog-eyes she turned briefly on him, and then her sitting down. Even so, he was aware of the distraction and that she was troubled by something.
Then he turned his full attention to weapon practice.
Sakura had never seen Sasuke using a kusarigama before. Not that he didn't look impressive as he went through a set of motions that seemed to indicate he was fighting a group of imaginary foes.
Providing they WERE imaginary and weren't ghosts or something. Sakura shivered briefly at that thought, then decided it was better not to consider such things.
There was Naruto, asleep again. The creepy kid who seemed to have a constant chill in the air around him and who would occasionally be caught talking to someone who wasn't there.
Except, as of yesterday, she suspected that perhaps that there WAS someone/something he had been speaking to.
Now she found herself jumping at shadows, which was hardly a good thing for her chosen occupation.
"Okay, someone wake Naruto up. We have a D-Rank Mission!" declared Kakashi a moment after appearing in a swirl of leaves and wind.
"Oh?" asked Sasuke, stopping his practice.
"Apparently there's been some odd noises from a part of town bordering the Uchiha District," said Kakashi.
"The old rice warehouse?" asked Sasuke, walking to where Naruto slept and lightly tapping him with one foot. "Hey. Wake up."
"Yes," said Kakashi, having the feeling this was going to go in an unexpected direction.
"Wha-?" asked Naruto.
"Old rice warehouse next to the Uchiha district. Strange noises."
"You mean that old abandoned lab of Orochimaru's we let the ANBU know about last year?" asked Naruto.
"Ah," said Kakashi. He considered what exactly Orochimaru's experiments had normally involved and decided that it made a certain degree of sense that restless spirits would be involved.
"Uhm, someone want to get Sakura?"
"She did pretty good. It wasn't until she saw the Loathly Horror materialize that she screamed and ran directly into that door."
"Actually, I'm a little surprised she didn't go THROUGH it."
"So that thing was called a 'Loathly Horror'?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei. There was enough pain and suffering here that there were predators on the other side when I opened a Gate. Nice work with that lightning jutsu by the way. How did you know that lightning was one of its vulnerabilities?"
"Hm? Oh. Yes. Well, I'll tell you later. Sakura? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Twelve?"
"..."
"..."
"Okay. Hospital then?"
"Yes, that might be a good idea."
"What exactly IS a Loathly Horror?" asked the Hokage.
"A floating ball of greenish slime with a number of hooks and blades at the end of a number of tentacles," said Kakashi Hatake.
"An Otherworld predator, created by unreasoning hatred in this world," said Naruto. "The emotions fester in the Otherworld and then spawn those things."
"I would have thought the afterlife more peaceful," said the Hokage.
"It is, these are things that drift around in the spirit realm. Not all of which are unfriendly, mind you," said Naruto. "There's shikigami and other things too."
"But there are also dangerous things there, correct?" asked the Hokage.
"Oh sure," said Naruto. "Most of them avoid me though, 'cause of what I am and what's inside me."
"I see," said the Hokage, nodding. "I'll expect a more thorough report from all three of you then, in writing. What about the third genin on your team, Sakura Haruno?"
"Well, she saw all those tentacles on the Loathly Horror and pretty much freaked out and ran," said Kakashi. "Unfortunately, she hadn't realized the door had closed behind us and, well. They say 'blind panic' and apparently that was the case this time."
"I see," said the Hokage. "Hopefully she'll be able to handle it better the next time something like this comes up."
"I'm sure she will," Kakashi seconded. "It was a bit of a surprise for me as well."
Sasuke hmphed. "Yes, but you reacted to surprise by throwing kunai and then blasting it open with a lightning-charged jab."
"I didn't want those tentacles coming after me either," admitted Kakashi.
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(Posted Sun, 20 May 2012 20:51)
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