Naruto certainly did. All too frequently and loudly in Jiraiya's opinion.
Finally though, the small boat they'd hired was tied up at a small weathered dock jutting a bit out into the water.
"Here y'all tis," said their guide, a local perhaps three years older than Naruto himself. His only odd feature was that his right leg terminated just above the knee. "This be it. Came here meself when eyes eleven. Couldna budge a one."
"Yes, I heard it was a local tradition to try and free a weapon," said Jiraiya. "Anyone have any luck that you know of?"
"Nae a one," said the local. "Sometime ow gets a word or blessim fro the spirits Ah hear."
"What happened to the leg anyway?" asked Naruto, curiosity having been building for some time.
"Kiri pirate types," said the youth. "Got arrow in knee. Got infected."
"I take it that's the place," said Jiraiya, thumb jerking towards a hilltop which was dominated by ruins.
"Yah," said the youth. "Three days ya got. Be back'n the ferth."
"Understood," said Jiraiya.
"Well, I'm glad someone does because I can't understand half of what he's saying," complained Naruto.
"Come on, Naruto, we've been traveling awhile, I'll want to set up camp near the place," said Jiraiya, starting up the trail as the local guide rowed away from the dock.
"Spooky fog," complained Naruto.
"That doesn't come anywhere near that hill, yes, I noticed," said Jiraiya. "That might just mean this place is for real."
"Interesting," said Jiraiya after a few minutes of effort. "This place is grounded as far as Earth Release techniques are concerned. Even the simple stuff doesn't want to work."
"Really?" asked Naruto.
"Interesting," said Jiraiya. "I wonder how they did it? Is the place strongly aligned with Lightning Release? Is it a reinforcement of the stability portion of Earth Affinity? Are other elements likewise negated?"
"Who is 'they'?" asked Naruto.
"Uzushiogakure," said Jiraiya as he worked out ways to test various properties. "Meaning they may have done something with fuuinjutsu and the ley lines here. Why don't you look around while I try to figure out what they did?"
"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Naruto, putting his hands in his pockets and slumping before going stalking off into the ruins.
Old crumbly rocks, and the ceiling of the place was gone a long time ago. There was a massive anvil, with several smaller anvils in a row nearby. There was also some raised trench made of stone that paralleled the anvils.
"This just sucks," grumbled Naruto. "Come all this way and get brushed off while the Pervy-sage does that stuff. Where's the fun in that? Oh. That looks interesting."
Weapons, like a short but dangerous forest, sticking up out of the floor. Some had small cups or something nearby.
Naruto picked one of the cups up and sniffed at it. A faint whiff of alcohol indicated what the contents had been at some point in the past.
The weapon closest to the cup was a spear. A massive and ornate-looking thing that looked carved of the same stone as the floor of the ruins.
There were weapons that Naruto didn't recognize, and others he recognized but didn't know how to use.
He tugged at one, which didn't respond to him at all. "Figures, not like you can believe any of this crap."
After that he tugged at several more, with no more response than the first one.
On the ninth one, he got a response. Stone flaked away from the weapon as it abruptly came free in his hands.
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(Posted Fri, 21 Jun 2013 00:26)
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