[Episode 256202] [Episode 256202]The forest of Konohagakure flickered outside of that circle and was gone.
Kakashi looked around and felt just a tiny bit intimidated.
Take a mountain, a large mountain, and hollow it out with explosives. Otherwise it could have been a roughly hewn arena excepting for little details like scale, the boulders strewn about, and the nature of the spectators.
"Welcome to the Realm of Dragons, y'all," said Mushu. "Now remember, Naruto - you is here as the Contractor while your sensei is here as your advisor and Sasuke is just sort of an unwanted guest."
"DAMN," said Sasuke, his eyes wide as he looked around - having instinctually gone to a defensive stance but knowing that if the crowd became hostile that he had NO chance.
Because here there be dragons.
Some were small, ranging in size from Mushu (shoulder pet sized) to so incredibly freaking huge his mind started boggling at the sight. If that one hadn't moved he'd have assumed it was a decoration that just dominated one side of the arena. Except that it HAD moved, and it looked briefly at him before dismissing him as of no consequence. In many other situations, Sasuke Uchiha would have regarded that as an insult. In this situation, he was quite content to be beneath the notice of that being.
"Hold on, y'all, ahem," said Mushu, making haste towards a raised platform from which he could address the crowd. "This here is the Contractor. Naruto Uzumaki. We're just here cause his sweetie pie did something stupid."
"Hey, Sakura's real smart," protested Naruto.
"You ain't thinking with your brain, which is odd cause you ain't even done been through puberty yet," said Mushu. "Now hush up. She done failed her Wisdom roll trying to steal clan secrets from you."
One of the larger dragons uncoiled slightly, raising its head up. "The pink-haired female apeling was taken from where she had ended up. The... prisoner was reluctant to engage in direct combat."
"What exactly happened to her?" asked Naruto.
"Punishing her is actually kind of beside the point, at least at the moment," rumbled a dragon roughly three adult humans in length.
"What happened to her?" repeated Naruto, seeing Sakura lying there as if dead.
"Other than having her memories and personality taken apart and examined?" asked the medic-dragon. "Other than having her body unravelled while she was still conscious? Other than being splayed out and aware of everything as she was dissected?"
"How is she still alive?" asked Kakashi.
"It kept her alive, the better to study her," said the medic-dragon. "Whether she recovers or not. That is largely up to her. I have done what I can."
"Such as?" asked Kakashi, tracing with his eyes the faint white lines on her flesh.
"Putting her back together physically was easy," said the medic. "Her mind is a little less certain."
Sasuke Uchiha had spent most of his life dedicated to acquiring power so that he could gain vengeance. He'd fantasized about it, dreamed and lived for it.
And everything he'd accomplished was now revealed to be a monkey scratching in the dirt.
Here was power. Creatures that could rip mountains asunder with their bare claws. Who flew through the air, some so high you couldn't tell how big the dragon was until it came down. He'd seen dragons spitting streams of acid, cones of flame, beams of frost, lightning bolts - even shards of crystal.
They used jutsu! Some had mastery of elements and could form structures from the ground with a slap of their tail!
"Why does that idiot get access to power like this?!" demanded Sasuke of the heavens.
"Because of the strength of his heart," said a voice.
"Eh?" asked Sasuke, turning around and searching for the voice. Especially as he'd looked around and had been quite sure that he'd been alone.
"Well, that and he's the child of prophesy," said a dragon, slowly emerging from the shadow as if it had been submerged in a pool. "He is fated to save your world, or die and doom it."
"That idiot?" scoffed Sasuke, ready to treat it as a joke. "You are joking, right?"
"No," said the dragon, glancing back. "And, no, he doesn't get access to the full power of the dragon race. If that were the case, there would be no room for humans on your world. No. What he represents is a way for your world to have dragons, but working with your nation - not supplanting it. There are barely a hundred dragons he might be able to summon given enough time to master such arts. I wouldn't really expect him to do more than a dozen and even then not to reach the pinnacles of power. Even with his chakra capacity, there are limits."
Sasuke regarded the ebony dragon as it stretched out from the shadows to sit upon the railing. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Silly human child. You asked." The dragon made a tsking noise. "Besides there are bets being laid here. Will you humans be clever enough to take the chance you are offered? Will you turn from it in fear? Will one of you end the prophesy child's life, rather than have someone else save it? So many things that can go wrong."
"Ah," said Sasuke,settling back. Bets were involved. That, at least, was a motive he could understand.
Besides, I figured you out, thought Sasuke as the ebony dragon snaked off through the air. All this nonsense about 'heart' and 'prophesy' to the side - Naruto's got the contract because he's not clever enough to use that power.
She stirred slowly, reluctantly. When she opened her eyes, everything was fuzzy as if she couldn't quite focus on anything.
That gradually passed, with the noises being made slowly resolving themselves into words.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 02 Sep 2012 22:25)
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.