"Not a clue."
da dat da da da, dat da dat da dat da da
"Why is it playing music?" asked Naruto, not knowing that this was the 'I Dream Of Jeannie' theme.
"Maybe it's going to explode?" offered the Kyubi. "Do I look like I'm an expert in any of this?"
Click went the speakerphone button, lighting up.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" went Naruto as he tried to cover himself up from the explosion.
"Hello?" said a voice. "Testing 1 2 3. Do you hear me?
"Uhm. Yes?" asked Naruto.
"Ah. Good. You're there. Listen, Naruto Uzumaki. You're really in a BAD situation there."
"No shit."
"Oh good. Kurama's there too."
"Who's 'Kurama'?" asked Naruto.
"You really are a particularly idiotic fleshbag."
"HEY!" protested Naruto.
"He's got a point, kiddo. There's only two people there, and one of them is NOT named Naruto Uzumaki."
"Oh," said Naruto. "Uhm. So you know us, but who are you?"
"Me. I'm an interested bystander. You and your team went outside your universe and entered a weak point in this universe. Unfortunately, this particular weak point was expanded upon by something rather nasty."
"You know what it is?" asked Naruto. Even Kurama made an interested noise.
"You know those old faerie stories, not the sanitized modern variations, but the really old ones? That's what you've got here. A Queen of Air And Darkness, what they call a fae. By human standards it is old and powerful and hateful. It isn't bounded by four-dimensional reality. It is the Wood. The Wood is It. It took over the existing forest and corrupts anything that it can get. Like your team's kunoichi."
"Sakura?" asked Naruto. "What happened to her?!"
"She was taken into one of the blackwoods where she has been tortured for weeks. Subectively. When the tree is done feeding on her fear and pain and has emptied her mind, it will either digest her body, or turn her into a raging bloodthirsty monster with a tiny amount of her left in there to know what she's become and what she's doing, or it will let the body out but it will be more a Sakura-suit which the Wood itself would wear until it is useless."
"Weeks?!" asked Naruto.
"For her it has already been two weeks of torture, some physical but mostly mental. Subjective. Outside the tree it has only been about thirty seconds."
"I gotta get out of here then!" said Naruto.
"And do what? As you are now, you couldn't save yourself - much less Sakura. Do you think your 'Oiroke No Jutsu' will work against a creature which is only slightly human? Your kage bunshin will give you a momentary advantage, until the Wood figures out the limitations of it and adapts. Then what?"
"I have to do SOMETHING!" yelled Naruto.
"Well, that's where I come in."
"Why?" asked the Kyubi.
"Amusement mainly. If his story ends here, it won't be amusing. The multiverse has enough tragedies."
"So what are you saying?" asked Naruto.
"I'm giving you a wish. A single wish. Show me how clever you are. Come up with a wish that'll allow you to save Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. Come up with a wish that gives you a chance until you return home."
"A wish?" asked Naruto.
"Wish that we were far away from this 'Wood' and whatever that thing is that possesses it." Kurama shifted himself behind the cage, trying to get a better look at that box.
"He could do that. Except that if he did that, what would happen to Sakura? Oh, and I should mention that if you are still alive in two weeks - the jutsu that sent you here will end and you'll snap back to where you were. It's too late for Sakura at this point though - unless you find a way to purify the corruption from her there simply won't be enough of her left for the spell to return."
"Uhm..." began Naruto.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 11 Jul 2015 16:34)
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.