Akitsu considered Jiraiya carefully, then glanced in the direction of the burger shop they'd just come from. Finally she nodded.
"What the hell is this?" asked Naruto, staring.
"It's a train," stated Katsuragi.
"Where are the kunai launchers?" asked Naruto.
"There are no launchers, of kunai or anything else, it's a train," stated Katsuragi.
"Interesting," said Jiraiya. "I don't sense any chakra flow or seal work being done here. So this is entirely run without such things. Intriguing even."
"Why is that so special?" asked Katsuragi.
"Because most of our abilities are built around chakra - so we tend to concentrate on defending against chakra. Things like this have neither an intent or chakra for us to detect ahead of time," said Jiraiya. Not that simple mechanical traps were unknown, but those devices at several doorways struck him as rather complex triggers or something. Best to avoid them.
"So what do we do now?" asked Naruto as they finally stopped after hours of walking and riding those train-things.
"This is a training journey for you still, what do you think we do?" asked Jiraiya.
"Train?" asked Naruto.
"That's right," agreed Jiraiya. "Now, I want you to spar against Katsuragi."
"Eh? Why?" asked Katsuragi.
"So I can see where your skills are, and so I can correct his flaws," said Jiraiya. "There. That looks like a good campsite."
"Tracking indicates a Sekirei used the JR Yamanote line, reappeared in another train without passing any intervening check points or sensors, and finally left the train system in Nagano."
"Nagano? What the hell is in Nagano?"
"No idea. If it wasn't for Katsuragi using her MBI card to pay for two ramen bowls at a rest stop we'd have lost them."
"Any information on the Ashikabi?"
"None. Got a pic of the group from a security camera. Bringing it up on main monitor."
"Stupid looking kid. Who's the old geezer and... is that the Scrapped Number - Akitsu?"
"Confirmed."
"See if we can't get some surveillance in the area. I show that we haven't been able to contact Katsuragi or her Ashikabi, so it might just be they don't even know they're out of bounds."
"Hey, I just found out the 'why' - looks like Karasuba was sent to talk to them."
"They sent Karasuba on a diplomatic mission? Oy vey."
"Stop," said Jiraiya, shaking his head. "Okay you two. Naruto, you've fought girls before. She can take a hit. You wouldn't hold back against an enemy kunoichi would you?"
"But she's not an enemy," protested Naruto.
"If you treated that pink-haired girl you tried to talk to, the one that hits you frequently, like she was weak and fragile," said Jiraiya. "What do you think she'd do?"
Naruto winced. Lots. "Get mad. Hit me. Hard. Often."
"And you, Katsuragi," said Jiraiya, turning to the Sekirei. "You're treating him as if he's made of glass. Don't. He's a genin of Konohagakure. Disrespect him and you disrespect his entire village."
"But..." Katsuragi looked down and to the side.
"Don't worry!" Naruto consoled her. "I can take it!"
"Now try to take this seriously," said Jiraiya, stepping back to the boundary. "Begin!"
The two still looked as if they were reluctant to hit each other, but were at least going a bit more enthusiastically.
"So she uses a style that is heavy on kicks and agility, but has some decent strength as well," mused Jiraiya out loud as Naruto slid backwards along the ground from a particularly good hit. He bounced back up, now more enthusiastic about the fight.
Akitsu moved slightly, looking towards Jiraiya and then back to the fight.
Jiraiya was frowning at something, but Akitsu couldn't see what.
"She's trained, but has holes in her defense that you could put one of those trains through," noted Jiraiya after scrutinizing the bout for several minutes. "Rudimentry taijutsu training that relies on her strength and speed. I've got my work cut out for me."
"Ah," said Akitsu.
"When I kissed you, there was a small amount of chakra being siphoned off," said Jiraiya. "NARUTO! ELBOW IN!"
"Eh?" asked Akitsu.
"So, if I understand correctly," continued Jiraiya, "you were trying to 'wing' yourself despite what that one woman was saying. Am I right?"
"Uhm," said Akitsu.
"So you don't know," said Jiraiya after having turned his attention fully to her for a few moments. Finally he nodded. "More experimentation I suppose."
Akitsu colored, having an idea what such would entail.
Jiraiya considered the two sparring. "Okay, here. You can read this while I work with the two on their stances."
Akitsu took the little orange book from her Master and considered it briefly.
"I'm an author. I wrote that," said Jiraiya with an easy grin, the intensity of a few minutes ago having vanished. "One of my better sellers!"
Akitsu blinked a couple of times as her Master stopped the two and began lecturing them on their fighting styles. Her gaze went back to the book and she opened it, hoping for some insight into their strange ways.
The odd lettering they used here had started making sense about the time they'd started off on the second train.
"Change your stance like this."
Jiraiya had rubbed his chin, nodded, and otherwise not commented. He'd only had ONE experience with being in another world, if you didn't count the mountain kingdom that the toads maintained. He hadn't been there as long as this had been so far, so it MIGHT have been the same situation. Except for the lack of war-painted pygmies, poisoned spears, overgrown jungle, giant walking statues, and insanely large and overly aggressive horned beasts. Not that he was complaining mind you.
"Keep your center of balance like so."
That had been one adventure that he had spent most of a weekend trying to blot the memories out with a liberal application of strong alcohol.
This was much more pleasant so far.
"Look at how I've put my feet. Don't lock your knees."
So the spoken language had come within perhaps fifteen minutes. The written language had been longer, taking well over two hours for the basics. Looking at one of the prepacked meals he'd pocketed from one of their vending machines, he noted that there were still parts of it that were completely incomprehensible.
"When you're blocking, don't try to stop the blow when you can redirect the force away from you."
So, in both cases, the basics were allowed for by the terms of the jutsu. More specialized terms (such as 'sekirei' and 'ashikabi') were not in either case.
"Punch like this, or like this, never like THAT."
That was one reason he'd handed off a copy of one of his early books, which he kept in order to be able to autograph and hand out to fans. Was the translation effect limited to people or would objects work as well?
"Because it's too easy to grab like this, twist, and then you've got a broken wrist or worse."
He'd asked, after THAT particular adventure, about it to another seal-expert. They'd hashed out the idea (over the course of the evening and a bottle of really good plum wine) that the transport seals basically translated one's physical existence to the other reality. The basics of language in the area one arrived in was actually part of that. He'd noticed the spear-hurling warpaint-wearing quite hostile pygmies had started making sense, but hadn't seen any written language in that instance.
"Keep in mind, Naruto, we're ninja. If you can put your opponent down quickly and quietly - that is the preferred method for doing it."
Naruto had apparently not noticed.
"Striking from ambush is perfectly acceptable. Announcing your presence is making yourself a target."
"But..." Katsuragi held up her hand, interrupting him. "That isn't how Sekirei battles are supposed to go."
"Okay," said Jiraiya, nodding. "Tournament rules are different from mission rules. What exactly are the rules for fights between you Sekirei."
"We give our name and number before we fight," said Katsuragi. "We fight, and then we stand guard over the loser until MBI comes and collects them. We do not target the Ashikabi."
"Those two Naruto fought violated that last rule," noted Jiraiya. "So these are rules that the majority will follow, but individuals might not. Okay. When it's a Sekirei battle and the other side is following the rules - go along with that. If they violate any of your rules, then discard those rules yourself. No point in limiting yourself when the other side won't. What about the conditions of battle? Is it to the death or what?"
They were professionally trained soldiers hired by MBI. They didn't really understand a lot of what was going on.
"So what do you think, mutants like the 'X-Men' maybe?"
"Why do you keep speculating about this sort of thing? We're getting hired for this job, decent benefits, decent wage. Mainly just stand around and look threatening."
"Because ain't none of it makes any sense, Wedge. And that Minaka guy doesn't seem like his elevator reaches the top floors all that often."
"I think he just watched too much 'Power Rangers' or something when he was a kid. Biggs, you just HAVE to stop looking for trouble."
"Just because I find trouble doesn't mean it wasn't there to begin with."
"Look, we just took several trains to get here. We just need to give... oh hell."
Wedge blinked and looked at Biggs, then followed his gaze to where:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:10)
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.