Jiraiya landed lightly, sliding slightly. "Hmmm. Feels slightly heavier here. Colder too."
"Where are we?" asked Naruto, getting up and looking around. "This doesn't look like Konmei."
"Konmei is slightly colder than the Land Of Fire," said Jiraiya. "This is a lot colder, and those mountains are similar to those found in the Land of Valleys. Offhand though, I'd say this is not even our world."
"What? That's crazy," said Naruto, not wanting to face that possibility. "That's - where'd you go?"
Jiraiya had been there one moment, gone the next.
"Aw, c'mon, Pervy Sage!" yelled Naruto. "What the hell! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS FOR THIS!"
Bushes rustled.
"Hah! Thought you could hide from me?" said Naruto, chucking a kunai at the bush.
Ting!
The sound of metal hitting metal echoed briefly, then someone wearing full body armor stepped out of the brush. Holding his kunai in one hand.
"Uhm," said Naruto.
"ARREST HIM!" yelled the woman in armor, pointing at Naruto as if there was any doubt who she was upset with.
"Uhm, bye-bye now!" declared Naruto as he prepared to run away from the ticked-off woman.
"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!" yelled the woman as forms started erupting from the bushes and from behind trees.
"Ugh," said Naruto, waking up. "Wha?"
"The Imperials captured you," said one of the other guys on the cart. "It was a merry chase that you led them on. Nearly got through my ropes in the time you bought. How you avoided their arrows is a mystery I wish I had time to decipher."
"Uhm, right," said Naruto. Hands bound, in a cart being drawn by horses, lots of guys and a few girls around all wearing very similar armor and with swords and bows.
No sign of his supposed sensei. One of the other guys in the cart was not only bound like him, but gagged as well.
"Where are you from, anyway?" asked the guy who'd spoken earlier. "You do not have the look of a Nord or a Breton. You are not from Morrowind I think either."
"Land of Fire, Konohagakure," said Naruto, figuring how difficult it would be to slip his bonds and escape.
"Haven't heard of it, is it on another continent than Tamriel?" asked the man.
"Yeah, I guess so," said Naruto, coming to the conclusion that escaping wouldn't actually be that difficult if he had a distraction for a few seconds. Then he could substitute out with a Kage Bunshin.
"Quiet you lot," said one of the guards. "We're almost at the keep."
"Last chance to talk then, innit?" asked the talkative prisoner.
"You want to die here and have your body left for the wolves?" asked the guard.
Naruto glimpsed a movement as someone moved at the top of a stand of rocks. So Pervy-sensei IS still around. Probably trying to pick the most dramatic moment to set up a distraction, damn it. Huh. Well, I guess I don't have a problem with being all dramatic myself. Now all I need to do is notch this leather they bound me with.
Something is very very wrong.
Jiraiya flitted from place to place. For some reason, these local soldiers never looked up. He was exploiting that observation by remaining high and moving from the tops of one set of rocks to the next to the trees and so on.
That wasn't what was bothering him.
This world felt heavier. Everything weighed just a bit more. Still, he was able to adapt quickly enough. It would just require him to rest frequently and recover chakra later.
This also was not what was bothering him.
There was something hunting one of the soldiers or prisoners. He didn't know what. It could be a high-level ninja or something along those lines. Whatever it was - it was very mobile and fast and powerful. Maybe not up to the levels of Hanzo, but he couldn't be sure without seeing it/him/her/them. It was getting closer too. Whatever the hunter was, it had ranged around briefly and Jiraiya thought its movements had resembled a search pattern.
Now he COULD have slaughtered those soldiers, rescued Naruto, and been off again before the last head hit the ground. That wouldn't answer any questions though and would most likely make him a criminal in the eyes of the local law.
So he was watching and waiting and trying to figure out the situation a bit better, and would... ah. Naruto saw his signal. Now if he could just clue Naruto on the plan.
Naruto saw Jiraiya clearly within a tree, keeping his head down but looking out of the corner of his eye. He grinned briefly but wiped the expression off his face a moment later.
"Something amusing?" asked the talkative prisoner.
"Oh, just thought I saw something over there," said Naruto, jerking his head in a direction away from the tree.
"Eh?" asked the prisoner, stretching up and looking in that direction.
A tree fell over and something enormous thrashed its way through the brush.
"You four check it out!" ordered the woman in charge. "You two, keep your bows drawn. If any of the prisoners so much as moves, shoot them."
One of the other prisoners twisted around to look.
TWANG!
"AHG! Ye Basker! Ye shot me in the knee!"
"What is it with you and knee-shots?" asked another guard.
Naruto just sat there, crouched over in the wagon, and smirked where the guards couldn't see.
"-he isn't on the list. What do we do?" asked the Nord guard.
"Execute him anyway!" snapped the woman-in-charge.
"Sorry friend," said the guard, sounding genuinely sorry. "If we can find where you came from, we'll send word."
"That's okay," said the orange-wearing prisoner. "It's not a big problem."
"NO! YOU WON'T EXECUTE ME!" yelled one prisoner, making a break for freedom.
"Archers!" ordered the woman. In a moment the escapee had four arrows sticking out of his back and dead. "Anyone else want to die like a rat? No, then execute the next one!"
"It's at least quick," noted the Nord guard. He paused. "What was that noise?"
"Come on," ordered the woman. "We haven't got all day!"
One other prisoner was quickly executed, before they apparently decided it was Naruto's turn.
Naruto was wrestled into position, the blade came up, came down.
Naruto puffed away into smoke.
"What?" asked a guard before suddenly one of the towers got ripped open and a dragon spoke with a torrent of flame.
"Aw man, I wanted to see what they'd do when they realized they'd executed a shadow clone," noted Naruto from his position on the far side of a roof.
"Concentrate on us getting out of here first," advised Jiraiya. "What IS that thing?"
"A big horned lizard with wings," noted Naruto. "That breathes fire and rips apart walls like they were rice paper. Let's just call it 'something to avoid' ne?"
"Sounds like a short-term plan," admitted Jiraiya. "Not a long term goal though. On the other hand, if we help drive the beast off - it might ingratiate ourselves with the locals."
"The locals who just tried to take my head off?" asked Naruto.
"AIEEEEEEEEEE!" yelled a guard who'd just been grabbed by a mouth full of fangs and then whipped through the air to land in another section of the fort altogether.
"You could always use a henge to change your appearance," noted Jiraiya. "Point taken though. I suppose it WOULD be easier to just try playing tourist away from here. Is that what you want to do?"
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(Posted Thu, 12 Dec 2013 15:58)
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