"Who cares?" asked Sakura. "It's got to be better than some of the other D-Ranks we've done. Remember the blocked sewage pipe? Remember Tora? Remember babysitting That Kid?"
Naruto AND Sasuke shuddered at the memory.
"What's 'noh' anyway?" asked Naruto after recovering from the horrific flashback.
"A classical style of dance, where all the actors on stage are wearing masks," answered Kakashi. "Not that popular anymore. It used to be big in Uzushiogakure, Land of Iron, and Land of Water."
"Huh," said Naruto. If it wasn't popular anymore, who was the client? Was it something related to his missing parents? Had they tended the shrine before the Kyubi attack and their deaths? Was this a link to at least some sort of relative?
"So, how bad could it be?" asked Sakura, trying to be optimistic and cheerful.
"It's a wreck," noted Naruto as they stood outside the shrine. "It's pretty bad."
"Roof is partially collapsed," began Kakashi, looking the place over. "Holes in the roof. Walls have partially rotted or collapsed. Okay, first priority?"
"Roof?" asked Naruto, thinking that if the roof was fixed first at least the looming rain would be held off.
"Good guess, but something before that," said Kakashi, settling down on a post and reaching into a pocket for some reading material.
"We'll have to assess the damage first," said Sakura, realizing what Kakashi was getting at. "Look it over, inside and out. If we try repairing the roof before we check the supports for it - it could collapse from the increased weight."
"Very good, Sakura," said Kakashi. "Also - we're just starting the repairs. If we have a good list of what's needed, it'll make it easier for the teams that come after us."
"Ah, right," responded Sakura, checking to see if Sasuke had noticed her - except he was already at the entry to the shrine and checking the floor.
Outside normal space time:
There were thousands of Noh-style masks that could have been in the shrine, there being hundreds of traditional masks ranging from Akobu-jyo to Zohonna without his involvement.
Adding to those were others he'd seen in his various travels. Mainly at various matsuri/festivals but of a similar style and so why not?
There were masks in there that would automatically kill the person who tried to wear them. There was a single mask in there which would allow the wearer to summon the shinigami.
So putting in a few masks of other types was fairly easy.
Just a matter of shifting a few things around.
However, some foreshadowing or warning would make things a bit more interesting.
Sakura had been about to pick up the mask when she noticed something marked on the inside. "What's this?"
"Hn," said Sasuke, uninterested.
"It looks like a seal," said Sakura, immediately thinking about blast-tags and sealing scrolls. She quickly went out to Kakashi and asked him about it.
This was sufficiently interesting to get him to stop reading his current book and turn his attention entirely to the mask.
"A ko-omote mask, meant for the role of a maiden, I think," said Kakashi after studying the front. He spent over a minute examining the seal on the back. "This isn't an explosive tag. The character is 'seijun' (innocence/purity) so it could just be an indication of the role the wearer is supposed to play."
"Oh," said Sakura, disappointed that she hadn't found something interesting.
"-but you're right. This IS a fuuinjutsu," said Kakashi. "Not sealing or explosive. Unfortunately I can't tell what it does. Since this is an Uzumaki shrine, and the Uzumaki could do impossible things with fuuinjutsu - it would require a fuuinjutsu expert to tell more. I'll have to add that to the mission report."
Naruto took a step past another little partition that had masks on it, and immediately the flooring gave in.
Naruto, naturally, flailed around to try and keep his balance. One hand smacked a mask off a display as he fell.
He DID manage to flip around enough that he wasn't going to get a face full of dust and splinters.
He did, however, get a mask falling down onto his face.
At which point he was elsewhere, and not alone.
Where an offer was made as to a second source of power he might be able to tap.
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(Posted Thu, 01 Jan 2015 17:39)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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