Sasuke had gotten used to a fairly predictable life over the past few years. He'd attended the Academy (ignoring sycophants, fools and fangirls to the best of his ability), trained (by himself) and planned for the day when he would gut his brother like a trout for his crimes. A simple plan for a simple, if difficult, goal.
He'd known graduation would bring changes, and anticipated them; with a Jounin Sensei, he would finally have someone who could give him some real training, no longer held back by the mass-produced pap of the Academy. Granted, he'd have to put up with teammates (and hadn't he been dealt a rotten hand with that) but hopefully their new Sensei would slap the stupid out of them in short order. Bragging, pranking and squealing were things for children, and they were no longer children.
In theory, at least. he though sardonically, regarding Naruto and his attempts at describing the local ramen flavours to Hinata, who seemed oddly willing to indulge the idiot.
But now, thanks to Sakura's little temper tantrum, they found themselves stranded on a completely different world; one where, if their information was accurate, actual gods walked the earth, offering power in exchange for... what? Allegiance? Worship? Their immortal souls?
He scowled. They didn't have enough information to make an objective decision at this point. Their need wasn't urgent, but they need to have a plan before nightfall at the latest. Their coin wouldn't... actually...
"Naruto?" Might as well cut back on the insults, he'd shown some skill and they couldn't afford divisions at this point.
"Yeah?"
"How'd you manage to pay for your ramen?" Somehow, he really doubted currency from their world would be accepted here. Even if they did speak the same language...
"Oh, that was easy," he explained, seemingly happy to be asked. "I helped 'em unload some deliveries and such, they paid me in food."
Of course they did. "Did you see how other people were paying?"
"Yeah; it was mostly copper coins, some silver as well."
That tore it; they definitely couldn't use their own money here. And while camping outside the city was possible, they didn't know enough about the area (or the bandits Naruto mentioned) for that to be a safe option. No, they needed a reliable source of income first.
"So; in the absence of any immediate threats to our lives," Sasuke declared, deciding to take charge of the situation, "our most pressing needs are for funds, and for information. We need to know more about this world; how it works, who the major players are, how to survive here while we pursue our long-term goal of getting back to Konoha. For that, we also need money, which means a way of earning a living."
"So... we join one of these familia and hunt the dungeon then?" Sakura asked hesitantly, the dawning realisation of their situation sapping her of most of her fangirlish foolishness.
"A strong possibility," he allowed, "but I'd like to know more about what's involved with becoming part of a God's," he managed to get the word out without any sort of sarcasm, "family."
"Like what?" Sakura again.
"For what thing, whatever it is they apparently write on the back of their followers, this 'blessing'." Hinata stiffened at that, unnoticed by the others.
Naruto shrugged, apparently not having gotten much information on the subject. "Dunno much about that; Hestia just said that it 'allowed for growth beyond human norms' and something about 'levels' and 'heroic achievements in the eyes of the gods'. Wasn't all that clear."
"Some sort of Fuinjutsu then?" Sakura mused, her typical aggrevation at Naruto's existence suppressed by her scholarly side. "I'm not sure how that would work...something like a summoning contract maybe? A connection to another being, a conduit for power..."
"Or a chain."
Everyone else jumped; Hinata had been so quiet in their deliberations, they'd almost forgotten she was there. Observing the Hyuuga heiress, she seemed to be holding herself much more rigidly than normal, with no trace of her normal hesitancy or stuttering.
Sasuke slowly nodded; he might shun social contact without his peers, but he was neither ignorant nor stupid, and he knew the history of Konoha's clans. "The Caged Bird seal." Not a question.
She nodded back, grim thoughts evident on her face. "We...we don't know enough about these gods, or what it means to be 'bound' to one." She paused, as if considering something. "The dungeon may be our best bet, but how well could we handle it without a god's backing?"
The last loyal Uchiha took a moment to consider that while Naruto asked the pale-eyed girl what she was talking about. As newly graduated genin (though he didn't know how Naruto had managed it), they had a basic set of skills and weapons, at least sufficient to deal with ordinary bandits and low-level ronin. These monsters, however...
It was quite possible they'd have to go dungeon-delving just to support themselves, he acknowledged to himself, but whether they could do so and survive without a 'falna' empowering them was uncertain. Nor did they know if people outside of a familia were even allowed into the dungeon in the first place; they could probably sneak in once or twice, but doing so consistently was unlikely to work. Maybe there was some other way that could gather the necessary funds?
Shaking himself, he came to a decision. "We need more information." he announced, cutting short Hinata's hesitant explanation of her clan's less pleasant practices. "Entering the dungeon may be the most lucrative approach, but it probably isn't the only one. We need to know about other trades and job openings available to us, at least in the short term," he explained, his mind going over the likely possibilities. "We can't risk commiting to any familia without knowing more about what that entails, and we need to know about this dungeon and if we can hunt it without one backing his." he summarised. "Agreed?"
The others nodded, though Naruto almost looked like he wanted to protest out of habit. "We'll divide ourselves as follows; Sakura, head for that dungeon and see if you can talk to someone who knows how this whole business is organised." The pinkette smiled eagerly, ready to prove herself useful. "Hinata, talk to some of these adventurers about how a familia operates; specifically, if it's possible to leave one, and how." The heiress nodded, drawing confidence from having a clear objective before her. "Naruto, ask around about any openings for work; couriers, hunting, odd jobs, whatever." The orangette pouted a bit at having what seemed like the least interesting task, but complied.
Nodding in satisfaction, Sasuke continued. "And I'll be finding out who's in charge of this city; whether it's the gods or some other authority. Hopefully we won't have to register ourselves or anything like that." he said drily. No-one liked paperwork. "Any questions?" Three head-shakes answered him. "Then we meet back in three hours. Good luck."
(Posted Mon, 09 Nov 2015 23:13)
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.