Across the street was a strip of three little shops and an ANBU/Police mini-station of the type where basically one of those would come to fill out paperwork, get lunch or tea, or rest weary feet before going out again. The shops themselves were a recently-vacated candy shop (wares were still visible in the window so it was VERY recent), a leather goods store, and the largest was of the mini-market type that sold a little bit of a wide variety of items but didn't really try to provide much variety at all of any particular set of items.
Naruto didn't pay much attention to his neighbors for the moment though. Now he was eyeing his place. HIS place. A place for HIM. Not just a cramped little apartment - no. HIS clan.
For a little orphan boy who'd not had much of his own for his entire life, the idea that this place was HIS was a heady one.
"Roof's got a couple of holes in it, you got one main room which you's can live in," said Mushu. "Just about everything else is gonna have to be fixed first."
"Yeah, yeah, but at least the landlord got the one room fixed up," said Naruto.
"I knew from the deal that it was gonna be a fixer, but I admit this is a bit more work than I was thinking it'd be," admitted Mushu. "I thought that the rent and stuff was pitched low so they'd be gettin' on your good side. Not so much, I is thinking now."
"So where do I start?" asked Naruto.
"We'll go with the first room, I be thinking," said Mushu. "Make sure the electricity and the plumbing are hooked up right. Then we can get one of those storehouses fixed up before we get any wind through here. Might just knock down half yo property if we had a good windstorm."
"Okay," said Naruto. "You got the key?"
"Do I got the key? You thinking I'm unreliable?" Mushu huffed at that. "Of course I got the key. I got it right... no it ain't there. Nope. Not there either. Waitaminute. I forgot I ain't got no pockets. Where would I... oh here it is! Ah hah! You doubted the great and powerful Mushu didn't ya?"
Naruto tore his gaze away from the property. "You say something?"
Mushu picked himself off the ground. "So that's what a face-fault feels like. Have to remember not to do that too often."
A little black-haired girl with white eyes slowly eased out from behind concealment.
There was Naruto, moving boxes into a building that looked as if it would fall over in a harsh wind.
Except that her Byakugan revealed that most of the damage was superficial. The frame itself was relatively strong, the wiring and plumbing intact and recently repaired.
But why would someone make a place look worse than it actually was?
Still, there was something she had to ask about. What exactly was that thing flitting about?
At which point the kid glanced over in her direction and saw her. Panic set in.
Worse, he put the box down and was now walking towards her.
A dozen excuses and plans ran through her head, all moving around in a panic and not settling into one place long enough for one to really stand out.
"Hey there!" said Naruto, grinning at her as he recalled a revelation handed him not terribly long ago. "Hinata, right?"
"I was just- that is- I wasn't," tried Hinata, her hands fluttering about as she tried to figure out what she should do. Would running away be best? Maybe a convenient excuse like she was just visiting this shop? Maybe she should try spontaneous mastering of the be-swallowed-up-by-the-earth jutsu?
"You know, I used to think of you as a real weirdo and clumsy and not much fun," said Naruto.
Clouds seemed to spontaneously form overhead, a cold darkness that would swallow her up forever.
"But you know, I think I kinda like you anyway!"
The clouds parted, a ray of sunlight spearing down on her.
"So you wanna see my new place?" asked Naruto. "I got a clan forming! Ain't that neat?!"
"Ha-ha-hai..." Hinata blinked, realizing that one of her hands was feeling really warm and somewhat restrained. She looked at it and realized that Naruto had caught it between his own hands.
Not ready for this at all, she turned and fled before she could faint.
Right into the leather goods store.
CRASH!
"Okay, she's still weird," said Naruto.
Ko of the Hyuga clan decided that the moment really required a facepalm.
The fox brat associating with Hinata-sama was completely inappropriate. However it had been explained that as the contractor for the dragons - they were opposed to demons in the legends and so that didn't work at all.
So he was attempting to observe what was going on for the Hyuga household regarding this new reborn Uzumaki clan.
When Hinata-sama had wandered in, met the boy, and then apparently panicked and ran into the store.
Where she knocked over and got trapped in a display of things not really meant for children of her age.
THEN she passed out, apparently having seen such things before. Not unexpected, the Byakugan tended to make observation of things not really appropriate for the ultra-young to become commonplace.
At which the proprietor lifted the little girl out of the display, handed her off to the foxboy who was just now looking within, and got back to making something with buckles and straps that Ko himself didn't want to contemplate the use of.
At which point the kid took her over to the porch of his home and tried to wake her up.
"This here can be the hatchery," said Mushu. "We just need to knock these two sheds down and then rebuild 'em so it'll be enclosed. Need to use stone though. Wooden buildings and baby dragons just do not go together."
"Got it," said Naruto. He'd seen Mushu spit out fire before, so this part he pretty much understood.
"As it is," said Mushu thoughtfully. "This area's pretty open. How about we summon your taijutsu instructor?"
"Oh! Training!" said Naruto. "Not only 'yeah' but 'hell yeah' - is this gonna be some awesome master of big sword fighting?!"
"Uhm, no, I did say 'taijutsu' not 'kenjutsu' - there a bit of a difference there," said Mushu, shaking his head at Naruto. "You know the hand signs, and this is the name here."
POFF!
"You rang?" asked the youth.
"Yeah, seifu Baruso," said Mushu, looking fairly reverant. "This one presents a lowly aspirant on the path to becoming a badass of martial arts beat-down-your opponents style. Please pass some of your wisdom in the whole beat down thing to his unworthy self."
"He doesn't look like much," offered Naruto.
"Ah," said the cheerful-looking fellow. "Let us see what you have then, yes?"
next morning:
"So..." said Kakashi.
"He just showed up, staggered over there, collapsed and went to sleep," said Sakura, shrugging.
"What's today's lame mission," griped Sasuke.
"Why do you think it's lame?" asked Kakashi.
Sasuke started counting off with his fingers. "Let's see, this month we started with dog-walking, followed by: painting fences, trash pickup, McNinja Burger counter help, polishing rails along footpaths, walking dogs, topping onions, pulling weeds, delivering fliers for a new cafe, babysitting, dusting crates in a warehouse, painting more fences, moving crates from one pile to another pile, delivering art supplies, breaking rocks, sorting rocks, street sweeping, more babysitting, repairing sewage lines..."
"You forgot repairing the pipes of the women's hot springs," said Sakura.
"Gee, thank you, Sakura," said Sasuke, sarcasm practically dripping off his voice and shooting her a death-glare, "I have been trying to forget that."
"No problem," chirped Sakura, glad to be of help to her Sasuke.
"It's like there's a certain amount of idiocy in the world," muttered Sasuke. "Now that Naruto isn't pulling his share..."
"Be that as it may," said Kakashi.
"Hrph? Urgl?" went Naruto before sitting up. "Oh. Already?"
"He was three hours late!" pointed out Sakura.
"Oh good, I got something to try out!" enthused Naruto.
"And the lameness of the day continues," muttered Sasuke.
"Check this out," said Naruto, biting his thumb and then slapping that hand down. "Summoning Jutsu! Four to go!"
Ka-bamf!
As the smoke cleared, so too did Sasuke's rising levels of irritation. "What are those?"
"Wyvernhawks!" said Naruto proudly. "Short range fliers!"
"They have saddles?" asked Sakura.
"Right!" said Naruto, who then got a familiar mischievous grin on. "Last one to the Hokage Tower buys the ramen! Yeehaaaa!"
Seeing Naruto bound over, jump into the saddle of the orange wyvernhawk, and then take off at a steep angle, Sasuke blinked before returning his attention to the remaining three creatures.
Long serpentine forms, scaled, and with decidedly nonhuman faces but somehow conveying that they were bored. They also were slowly shifting around large fanlike wings while floating a couple of feet off the ground.
"Hmph," said Sasuke, leaping onto and landing on a black-purple wyvernhawk and directing it after Naruto.
"Kakashi-sensei? What?" asked Sakura, a little discomfited in how the nice normal routine had just apparently been chucked out the window.
"Hmmm," said Kakashi, already lowering himself into the saddle of the greenish one.
"Kakashi-sensei?!" asked Sakura.
"Well, I certainly wouldn't take the pink one," noted Kakashi to her, then tapped the beast on the sides and directed it. "Try to catch up."
Sakura blinked and looked over at the pink one, which was eyeing her back.
"Ack! Blah! Pteh!" managed Naruto.
Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, nodded, and finally just leapt off and landed next to him. "What happened?"
"Don't have your mouth open when you're flying," advised Naruto. "Bugs. Ick."
Sasuke nodded. Good advice and those things could come in handy. One of the beasts flicked an unusually long tongue out, gathering in most of a cloud of insects, then retracting that tongue.
"Well, that was interesting," said Kakashi as he landed alongside them.
"Where's Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto.
"wwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" said a pink blur as she went past the tower.
"waaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttt!" yelled a pink blur as she sailed past the tower again.
"Maybe I should dispel the summons?" asked Naruto, bringing his hands up.
Sasuke's eyes widened, and he half-turned to tell Naruto why this would be a bad idea.
"aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAA," yelled Sakura as she prepared to go past the Hokage Tower again but this time had gathered her feet under her so she could leap across.
Ba-Damf!
Feet thrust out with nothing under them to push off against.
"Uh oh," said Naruto as Sakura sped past their position, flailing her arms and legs as if trying to swim or spontaneously master unassisted flight.
CRASH!
"Ah, well, at least she's in the right office," said Kakashi.
"So you have flight transport? That could be very handy," said the Hokage.
"Yeah!" said Naruto, thinking it was awesome.
"They're easy to fly then?" asked the Hokage.
"Yeah, Mushu says that as long as the rider doesn't bear the Contractor any ill will - anybody could fly one!" said Naruto.
"And if they do bear you ill will?" asked the Hokage, glancing at the girl being physically held away from Naruto by their mutual team-mate.
"Oh, well, then their ride is gonna get bumpy!" said Naruto cheerfully. "They're gonna misbehave and not follow directions and stuff!"
"Why you..." Sakura slumped, staring at Naruto. "What?"
"I don't know what happened with yours Sakura," said Naruto with complete sincerity. "Maybe that one was just hungry or something."
"You said earlier that they were 'short-range'?" asked Kakashi.
"Yeah, that's what Mushu said," agreed Naruto.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:40)
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.