"The what?"
The Karate boy dropped his smirk.
"The Karate Club!" he said again, angrily.
Naruto shrugged and looked questioningly over at Miu.
"Wassat?" he asked.
"What? You don't know what Karate is? It's a martial art developed in Japan… ah… I think it was Okinawa-" she said haltingly.
The Karate boy laughed obnoxiously.
"You don't even know what Karate is? You are a country bumpkin! I can't believe someone said you could fight!" he said, slapping his knees in mirth.
"Fight?" said Naruto, eyes lighting up, "You mean like taijutsu?"
"Taijutsu? Do you think you're a ninja or something? Ha! Don't be silly, you're too old for games, prissy boy."
Naruto's eyes suddenly went cold. He stood up.
"You think I'm playing games?" he said dangerously, "You think our lives, their lives, are nothing but a game? You think death is a game?!"
Naruto, calm down! cautioned Juubi quickly.
I know, I know, I'm calm, I'm calm, replied Naruto, although his incensed tone did nothing to support his words.
The Karate boy laughed again.
"Who do you think you are, retard? You think just 'cause you decked a policeman, that makes you hot shit, or something? You ain't worth crap in this school, kid. Those who have power, make the rules."
Naruto sighed.
"Why are you here?" he asked tiredly, "I'm not in the mood to deal with insects."
"You wanna die, loser?!" yelled the other boy, getting angry, "I'm part of the Karate club! I'll break your face in if you fucking dare look at me twice! I only came here to offer you the chance to join up and be part of the elite! A chance to escape with your life intact. But obviously you need to be taught a lesson!"
Naruto smirked fearlessly.
"Teach me, senpai," he taunted.
Wham!
A couple of the girls screamed as the karateka's fist crashed into Naruto's cheek and sent him flying into his desk, which was knocked into the wall.
"Holy shit!" yelled a classmate, "Someone call a teacher!"
But the Karate user quickly slammed the door shut.
"Not so fast," he snarled, "Don't need to call a teacher, little babies. I'm just teaching this upstart a lesson. Nothing wrong with what I'm doing. So stop squealing!"
He thumped his fist into the wall next to one of the girls who was whimpering loudly and she tearfully clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the noise.
"That's better," he said, revelling in his newfound power, "Now, Naruto Uzumaki, is that it for you? Little pansy boy? Taken out with one hit? Ha… weakling. You wouldn't be worth shit in the club anyway. Just another punching bag for the upperclassmen, probably."
While the karateka was busy gloating over his victory, Miu had stealthily knelt down next to Naruto's unmoving body and hovered worriedly near his face.
"Are you alright, Naruto?" she asked.
"Yeah, you took a big one to the face," said Niijima, who had crawled out of who-knows-where after disappearing as soon as trouble had shown, "I suggest running away. This guy is serious trouble."
"Naw," said Naruto suddenly, startling the two, who had thought he was unconscious or at least rattled by the hit, "I was just admiring the clouds. I see why Shikamaru liked doing that. It's relaxing."
He gracefully stood up and cracked his neck.
"You done, senpai? Wasn't a very good lesson, to be honest. I didn't learn anything other than the fact that you can't throw a punch to save your life. Is this how your 'Karate Club' does things? Because I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline your… generous offer. After all, I'll probably get weaker if I go there, judging by your pitiful performance."
The Karate user gaped.
"H-how?" he stuttered, "I slugged you with all my strength! You should be out cold or fucking dead!"
Naruto laughed and walked up until he was right in front of the other boy, staring straight into his eyes.
"You're not even worth my time," he hissed malevolently, "So disappear before I get angry."
And to the horrified schoolboy's shock and fear, Naruto's slate-cold ocean-coloured eyes subtly changed colour, swiftly bleeding out its blue hue and instead become a featureless white. The pupils disappeared entirely, and veins throbbed around the creepy looking mirrored orbs. The expressionless easels of nothingness seemed to stare through him, seeing his every fear and worry, seeing the very depths of his soul and penetrating through it.
"Y-you fr-freak!" he stammered, throwing a wild swing.
"Jyuuken: Hakke Seirei Kasumi (Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Spirit Haze)," said Naruto absently, seemingly stepping straight past the unfortunate boy and taking no notice of the absurdly telegraphed punch that completely missed him.
The Karate user turned in shock that his punch had been evaded so easily, and opened his mouth to say something, but then his expression turned horrified and he stumbled clumsily to the bin, where he then proceeded to puke out his lunch.
You didn't use chakra? asked the Juubi curiously.
Nah, replied Naruto, didn't seem fair. If I used chakra, he'd die.
That's a noble sentiment, but I woulda killed him, if it were me.
For some reason, Naruto found that wildly funny and laughed out loud, which happened to unfortunately coincide with the Karate boy, having nothing left to throw up, losing consciousness, foaming at the mouth. This, incidentally, didn't do any favours for the blond's reputation, which was already quite the horror story.
"What did you do to that guy?" asked Niijima as Naruto rejoined them at the table.
"Nothing much," he said nonchalantly.
"You hit him four times around his stomach and once at the back of the head," said Miu, "I saw it."
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Did you?" he said with a smile, "You've got good eyes."
"Well, I didn't see anything," said Niijima.
"It was really fast," explained Miu, "Normal people wouldn't have been able to see such high-speed movement."
Naruto remembered that his pens and books had all fallen to the floor when he had crashed into his desk before and bent to pick them up.
"Naruto?" said Miu.
"Hmm?" he replied, looking up towards the sound of her voice.
However, as he was still bent down underneath the table, looking up meant that he had an unrestricted view of the forbidden garden that lay up a girl's skirt. Naruto only managed to glimpse a flash of white cloth before he reflexively jerked upwards in shock, whacking the back of his head harshly against the bottom of the wooden desk.
"Ouch!" he said, crawling out from underneath and sitting down on the chair again.
"Are you okay?" asked Miu worriedly.
"I'm fine," Naruto said, hoping she wouldn't notice how red his face was, "You were saying?"
"Um? Oh yeah. How did you get that Karate user to throw up and pass out?"
"Oh I just tapped him a bit, gave his internal organs a shock, y'know. And for someone who claimed to be a fighter, his body was surprisingly weak. Must've just spent his time punching shit instead of actually taking hits and actively dodging."
"So you do do martial arts!" said Miu excitedly.
Naruto looked confused.
"'Martial arts'?" he repeated, not understanding the term, "No, I don't do anything like that."
Miu looked crestfallen.
"Oh," she said.
And then, hopefully, "Would you like to?"
Naruto looked a little lost.
"What are 'martial arts'?" he asked, "You keep referring back to them, but I don't even know what you mean."
She means taijutsu, moron, rumbled Juubi.
Naruto tilted his head.
"Ah, that makes sense now," he said aloud, "Never mind Miu, I think I figured it out. By 'martial arts', you mean hand-to-hand combat, right?"
"Yeah!" nodded Miu enthusiastically, "So do you want to learn how to fight? I know a dojo where you could learn really well!"
Naruto looked at her, and remembered how she'd been so happy that she had made friends with him and even Niijima. She was lonely, he realised with a start, and only wanted someone to share the same passions as her, a peer that she could identify with.
But…
"Sorry," he said regretfully, "But I'm already learning from someone else… and I've got a lot to learn. I don't think I could squeeze in any more if I tried…"
Miu shook her head.
"Oh no, don't be sorry," she said quickly, "It was just a possibility, you know, to keep your options open. You said you didn't do martial arts, so I thought you weren't learning at the moment. Of course, you should stick with your current master."
Naruto smiled sadly at her. Maybe if he were an ordinary person, if his situation wasn't that of a displaced ninja, he would have gladly taken her up on the offer. She was obviously very well-trained, and a place that such a sensible and rational person like Miu held in high regard was obviously not something to be dismissed very easily.
"Oh, go on then," he said, "Give me the details, and I'll see if I can drop by if I'm bored or when I've got free time."
Miu brightened up.
"Okay then!" she said, scribbling something down on a piece of paper, alongside what seemed to be a very crude map, "It's called Ryouzanpaku! There's a big sign- you can't miss it!"
"Say," interrupted Niijima, who had until now been tapping away on his PDA, "Isn't that where you live? Ryouzanpaku Dojo?"
Miu gave a sheepish nod.
"Yeah."
But Niijima didn't really seem to mean anything with the question, and was only confirming the random tidbits of information he had stored in his brain.
"Hmm… okay. Anyway, guys. That guy that you knocked out before, the Karate Club member, was a guy called Tenchi Noguchi. I had hoped to use him as a pawn, but it seems like that plan's gone down the drain, thanks to Naruto here. Muscle-for-brains…"
Naruto gave a confident smirk.
"Please," he said mockingly, "No need for thanks."
Niijima chuckled and went on.
"Well, turns out that he was quite an influential figure in the Karate Club. He's a repeating first year that got held back because of low grades."
"Yeah?" said Naruto, "So what?"
"Well, I've got a hunch that the higher-ups in the Karate Club might be interested in giving you a lesson themselves, alright? They can't let you smear their reputation too much, y'know? So be careful."
Naruto snorted in derision.
"Please," he said dismissively.
"And if you keep grabbing attention," continued Niijima, "You might even come under the radar of Ragnarok."
He didn't say anything more after that, but for some reason, that name sent an ominous shiver down Naruto's spine.
Naruto yawned after another harsh day of sums and mental straining. He had just woken up after sleeping through most of the last class of the day and there was no one left in the classroom, which was stained a beautifully vibrant orange by the fast approaching sunset.
"Boring," he declared, and stretched out his tired wrist by taking one of the distinctive curved hand stances that Jyuuken used.
He slowly rotated his arm, testing the flexibility that he had painstakingly cultivated since learning the Gentle Fist. Many of the graceful, sinuous movements that the taijutsu style relied on were still out of his reach, but he was definitely improving, day after day.
He let his hand scythe around in a half moon shape, fingers splayed and glowing with faint strings of chakra. Almost by reflex, Naruto felt the Byakugan activate for a split second, giving him a flash of perception, his peripheral widening for a single instant.
However, as disorientating as the feeling was, Naruto had now trained with the kekkei genkai for a considerable amount of time, and was fairly comfortable with its special abilities. Keeping it on for longer than five minutes gave him a headache, but he was still getting accustomed to it.
Flap.
Naruto looked down and saw a wad of papers that had fallen to the floor after being dislodged by his arm movements. He bent down to pick it up.
"Oh," he said aloud, to no-one in particular, "Miu forgot her assignment papers. Isn't that due tomorrow?"
He glanced out the window at the position of the sun. He didn't have a watch or a phone like most of his classmates, but he didn't really need one.
"I've still got time," he mused as he rifled through the messy stack of papers strewn carelessly in his desk, looking for the sheet of paper that Miu had written the address of her home on.
Finally, through some miraculous act of god, he found the single sheet of paper that Miu had written the directions to Ryouzanpaku on, somehow still intact after a week of being in the trashcan that Naruto called his desk.
It's not far, thought Naruto in surprise, Easily in walking distance!
Going to pay her a visit? asked Juubi in amusement.
Naruto had already picked up his bag and shoved most of his books and papers into it. He shrugged it over his shoulder, picked up Miu's handouts, and vaulted out the window. There was a convenient branch outside, and Naruto easily hopped from it to the roof of the next building.
I don't like that tone you've taken, he remarked to Juubi as he hopped over the water tank and soared through the air towards the edge of the sewage canal, You sound like one of those condescending bastards on the council. Or a teacher. They're both equally annoying.
Juubi chuckled.
Naruto landed on a power pole and carefully held Miu's papers in his mouth, one hand holding his bag behind his back and the other searching in his pocket, trying to find Miu's directions, which he was sure he had put inside just minutes before.
Pulling out a stick of half eaten gum, he looked at it with distaste before discarding it contemptuously onto the street below. Then, still balanced precariously on the power pole, he switched his hands to check the other pocket. This time, he pulled out a crumpled ball of paper, which he carefully unfolded and stared at in confusion.
Do I take a left? he asked Juubi, apparently not finding answers on the map.
You're looking at the map wrong, it replied, It's upside down.
Ah. That explains a lot.
Well, onward (noble steed)!
Fuck you, I'm not a horse.
Is that a challenge?
Naruto remembered that although rare, the Elemental Nations did indeed have horses, and Juubi had already proven to being able to do all sorts of freaky shit as long as it existed in the Shinobi World at one point. He wouldn't put it past the bastard to actually turn him into a horse, just to prove a point.
Nope, he said with a nervous shiver, No challenge. Please don't turn me into a horse. That wouldn't be funny at all.
Juubi, as if knowing Naruto's train of thought, laughed uproariously.
Naruto looked up and gulped audibly. The sturdy-looking wood of the huge gate loomed ominously overhead, cracked and faded with age, but still standing strong, unyielding, almost like a mountain for all its immovability. The sign overhead read 'RYOUZANPAKU' in large blocky characters, thick and black.
Naruto scratched his nose nervously and shifted onto his back foot.
What now? he asked Juubi, stalling a little.
Just go in, it advised in turn, you're just visiting a friend, after all.
Um! Wait… isn't it customary in this culture to bring a gift of some sort when visiting? I think I heard something like that.
Wah! Why didn't you tell me? What should you give them? A kunai set? A sword? Which sword?
Naruto yelped as a sword dropped from the sky, almost impaling him as it clattered onto the ground.
Tenrai Hitoame (Divine Rainfall)?! Mokkinbaazu no Hikou (A Flight of Mockingbirds)?! No… maybe something a little flashier? How about this expensive set of formal clothes? Or this famous painting?
Naruto narrowly dodged the large framed portrait and a full closetful of expensive silks as they fell from the sky while trying to decide to laugh or curse. He almost tripped over a nodachi that was just lying on the ground and promptly ran nose-first into a fully formed bronze statue of the goddess Amaterasu.
Um… he interjected while Juubi continued to materialise national treasures at a phenomenal rate and then carelessly dump them on the floor, I think food is what other people usually get.
There was a pause, before Juubi huffed in frustration.
Well… that's stupid. The one thing I can't create well. Ugh… just take this. It should be fine, right?
There was a whoosh and then all the priceless artifacts and works of art just disappeared, and in their place was a long, thin object wrapped in a beautiful red silk cloth embroidered with intricate gold designs.
Naruto held the object curiously but delicately.
What is it? he asked tentatively, holding it nervously.
It seemed to be something mind-bogglingly expensive, and he didn't want to leave too many of his grubby fingerprints on it.
A ceremonial sword- it is traditionally given to the Fire Daimyo during his coronation by the reigning Hokage at the time as a gift and a sign of goodwill. This particular one was given to the fourth Fire Daimyo.
Ah.
Naruto made a face as he carefully wrapped the cloth around it even tighter. He didn't even want to think about how much it would have cost.
Right, let's go.
He took a deep breath and strode confidently up to the wooden gate. He paused for only the briefest of moments before he exhaled and then rapped smartly on the front.
Silence.
A lengthy amount of time passed, and after there was still no response, Naruto knocked again, slightly hesitantly.
"Hello?" he called through the gate.
Still nothing.
It's not locked, noted Juubi, why don't you just go in?
It's polite to knock… but I guess it's also polite to answer the door when people come calling!
Naruto pushed at the gate, intending to go through and apologize afterwards if he breached etiquette, but to his surprise, the gate barely budged. It creaked a little, if it came to that.
It's heavy! he realised with surprise.
"Ah," he smiled, "How quaint."
He concentrated and then grunted, pushing against the gate with renewed force. The veins in his arms bulged and small cracks started to appear in the pavement around his feet. Naruto gritted his teeth, sweat starting to bead on his forehead as he forced the gate open, centimetre by brutal centimetre.
He managed to create a gap that he could perhaps slip through at a stretch, but the gates seemed to refuse to move beyond that. No matter how he pushed or threw his weight at it, they were too heavy to shift beyond that.
Naruto's face, red from exertion, twisted into a determined expression. He narrowed his eyes and pressed his palms even more firmly into the wood of the gate.
"Don't… FUCK WITH ME!" he yelled.
Chakra washed down his muscles and wrapped his body in the reassuring warmth and security of the flowing energy, permeating every cell with power. With a final yell, he threw the giant gate wide open, the heavy wood dragging over paved ground and slamming into their supports with a loud BANG!
Naruto usually sealed off almost his entire chakra flow during the day to avoid adversely affecting the people around him. Civilians in this world seemed to only have the bare minimum of chakra to survive, and their stores were pitifully small. Naruto had seen, with the aid of the Byakugan, that while the tenketsu were still there, the chakra circulatory system itself was degraded to an extreme degree in almost everyone. It was almost frightening how small everybody felt to his battle-trained senses.
But now, he set it free, and allowed to flow unimpeded through his body like he did back in his own world. It felt relieving and familiar, relaxingly soothing and stimulatingly intense at the same time.
"Ah, that's good," purred Naruto in comfort, and he fancied even his voice seemed to be richer and more natural when he had chakra running through him.
He stopped and looked around, admiring the simple, but pleasant surroundings.
It's quite a large place, he thought to himself, nodding as he noticed the abundant greenery of the surroundings.
He walked up the simple gravel drive towards the main building, looking for someone he could talk to, preferably Miu.
But before he had walked even halfway to the dwelling, Naruto suddenly sensed an enormous presence flying towards him at a phenomenal speed. It roared towards him, full of killing intent and ferocious power.
Naruto's Byakugan forcibly awakened and granted him the vision needed to see the large brown missile making a beeline for his back. It was coming at him faster, faster, faster.
There was no time to think, no time to plan. Naruto fell back on instinct, and what effectively amounted to years of training. Even if it was in his dreams, he had trained with Neji for years on end. He had sweat, bled and struggled through gruelling practice sessions, endured through the heat, fought through the cold. There was no longer any question about it. Naruto wasn't someone copying the Jyuuken. He was a true practitioner.
"Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Revolving Heaven)!"
Neji had developed his Kaiten to something he was proud to call 'the perfect defence'. It was something he had crafted to almost a work of art. The pure blasting strength of Rock Lee couldn't penetrate it; the enormous versatility of Tenten's arsenal couldn't find a weakness. It was truly a thing of beauty, and a thing of death.
Naruto's wasn't nearly quite as developed as Neji's, but it was enough.
Chakra was still pulsing through his body, and his Byakugan allowed him to perfectly see the trajectory and speed of the incoming person. The practised motions were smooth and loaded with power. Naruto rotated, his outstretched palms starting to glow blue with energy.
But just as his spinning motion was about to collide with the enemy, Naruto suddenly felt his chakra cut out. He almost cried out in disbelief, but instinct and practice made him continue the motion. His wrist struck the underside of the rushing person in the chest, and this was followed by the second wrist, the force of which was enough to disrupt the enemy's momentum and toss them away.
He then fell into a ready stance, hands ready to follow up. Now that the immediate danger was dealt away, he realised that his chakra hadn't disappeared, but had merely been restricted to internal use. It had strengthened the muscles and bones in his arms, but the distinctive dome of chakra that Kaiten usually came with couldn't be summoned.
If I can't use chakra, he thought, will Jyuuken really be of much use against this guy?
He didn't know how strong his opponent was, but judging by the speed and force of his approach, he was leagues above Naruto in sheer physical power. He crouched a little lower in his stance, and his Byakugan sharpened and intensified. He hadn't really had the focus to see his opponent before, especially at the speed he had been moving at, but now he took the opportunity to study the other man's appearance.
It was a very tall, tanned man whose body was rippling with corded muscles, bulging with visible strength. He had short silver hair that was encircled by a braided red headband, and bright brown eyes that stared up at Naruto with intense curiousity.
"Apa? You aren't a fox."
The strangely childish voice and thick foreign accent threw Naruto for a loop, and he actually looked around (with his Byakugan, not physically turning his head, obviously) for another speaker. Surely it wasn't this giant bronze giant!
But it seemed like it was. Naruto turned his attention back to the man.
"No, I'm afraid I'm not a fox," he said politely, self-consciously touching the faint whisker marks that somehow had still remained on his cheeks even though he no longer contained the Kyuubi (in a sense).
The giant man tilted his head in confusion.
"You smell like one," he said, as if this presented a legitimate argument.
Naruto stared at him for a second before slowly and deliberately raising his arm and sniffing his armpit once. It didn't smell like roses, admittedly, but it definitely didn't smell like a fox, either.
"Um…" he said hesitantly, but someone else spoke up before he had the chance.
"Now, now, Apachai, it's not nice to accuse guests of being animals," said a deep voice suddenly, coming from right behind Naruto's back.
Naruto's blood ran cold. He could see, with his Byakugan, that there was a second giant standing right behind him, this one with a great flowing golden beard and an elderly, wizened face. His Byakugan gave him vision in a full circle around him, and he surely would have noticed if this huge… thing approached him, would he not? Especially something with such… presence.
It was like a waterfall had appeared behind him; such was the power the old man radiated.
Did he teleport? Did he use Shunshin (Body Flicker)? Or was that just pure speed?
Several seconds too late, Naruto's muscles started to tense, and his breathing quickened. His head began to throb so hard that he felt as if his brain was going to break right out if his skull.
Who is this… monster? he thought, a single drop of blood actually dripping from where he had bitten his lip from the intensity of his tumultuous thoughts.
Naruto could feel his chakra blasting through his circulatory system like a river that had burst its banks in a monsoon. Fear, excitement, anticipation, panic, hatred… His pupils dilated and then elongated, a light red hue bleeding into the white sclera.
The wispy beginnings of a white spear of chakra actually started forming in his left hand, before Naruto realised with a start what he was doing. He took a deep breath, stilled his breathing, and then let his pent-up chakra ebb away. He didn't seal it off like he did during school hours, but instead allowed it to flow naturally through his body.
He turned around.
"Hello!" he said with a smile, "Didn't see you there!"
"A greeting to you as well, young man!" replied the old man cheerfully, with a tug on his beard, "What brings you to our humble dojo today? Looking for a tutor?"
Naruto laughed ruefully, and scratched the back of his head.
"Oh no, not today. I'm a classmate of Miu's, and she… ah… forgot her class papers, is all."
The old man laughed heartily.
"Is that so? Well, thank you very much! Come, have a cup of tea, please! Apachai, take him to the living room, I'll go get Miu."
"Apa!" grinned the first man, obviously called Apachai.
Naruto looked warily at him. He had somehow gotten right next to Naruto, also by that same unfathomable way that the old man had.
I don't think I can take these guys, if they can all get the drop on me this easily, he thought, I can't keep up with their speed… if it is speed.
"Follow Apachai, okay?" the bronze giant grinned, before turning around and leaving at a phenomenal speed.
Naruto watched the man bound off over the roof of a small shed without waiting for confirmation in a sort of stunned silence, before turning to the old man to see if this was normal. There was no-one there.
He sighed. Thanks to the Byakugan that was still active, he had no trouble seeing where Apachai had flown off to, but he was beginning to wonder what kind of madhouse Miu lived in.
He started walking at a sedate pace in the general direction that Apachai had leapt in.
"How troublesome," he muttered, borrowing Shikamaru's catchphrase.
The next time Apachai jumped next to Naruto, he didn't even flinch.
"Hey," he greeted coolly.
"Sorry, was Apachai too fast for you?" asked the giant worriedly.
"A little," Naruto conceded.
"Sorry," Apachai said with the most adorable face.
Naruto felt like he had just kicked a puppy.
"Don't worry about it," he said, putting a hand on Apachai's elbow.
Seeing the giant's face turn into a beaming mass of smiles was like seeing the sun after years in darkness.
"Here we are!" remarked Apachai presently as they reached a wooden door. He wrenched it open and quickly hopped through as it swung open violently. Naruto ducked back immediately, narrowly avoiding being decapitated by the door as it came back around with the force of a train and slammed back closed. Naruto raised an eyebrow and then opened the door with considerably more care.
He walked inside, noticing that it was a functional but pleasant room, with small, tasteful decorations placed sparsely thoughout. He walked in and sat down hesitantly at the small table, still looking around. He had turned off his Byakugan a long time ago, as he was still not used to its dizzying vision and also to conserve chakra.
A clatter at the table caught his attention.
He turned around and came eye to eye with a very luscious pair of breasts that stared him right in the face.
Naruto audibly gulped and slowly let his gaze rise up that heavenly valley and to the owner of the breasts' face. It was a very beautiful young woman with flawless features and a pair of very peculiarly shaped eyebrows.
"Here," she said.
And then, after a pause, "Tea."
Naruto picked up the coffee mug with a little trepidation, noticing that the suspicious black liquid seemed to have something swimming in it.
"Thank you," he said politely, but a little hesitantly.
He gave the questionable liquid another strange look, before raising it to his lips. His hand shook a little, but he still let the drink slip into his mouth. He almost grimaced at the taste, but before he could, he was suddenly thrown into the air like a ragdoll, before he could even react. He spun a full revolution while airborne before he was placed over someone's knee face down and pressure was applied to his neck.
A sudden rising feeling spread through his stomach, before he threw up into a conveniently placed bucket that was in front of his face. His lunch came spewing forth, accompanied by a putrid looking black sludge.
"Oh god," came a voice, "To think he actually ingested some of it! What a brave young man!"
The bucket was then kicked in such a way that it actually skidded across the ground and out the door before Naruto was roughly manhandled again, spinning in the air again, before placed gently onto the ground. He groaned a little, feeling his eyes spin in their sockets while his head tried to regain their bearings.
He looked up, still feeling like he had just gone through two cycles of a washing machine, but somehow still managing to see straight. A kindly looking man with a neatly trimmed moustache stared back with warm pupil-less eyes and yet another pair of peculiar eyebrows.
"Oh, Kensei's here with some actual tea," said the man with a sincere smile.
"Chinese though," he added as an afterthought.
Naruto accepted the tea (in an actual teacup) with a nod of thanks from the small man who looked a little like a gnome.
Thank god there are normal people in this place, he thought with a shiver of relief. But then something deep inside (primal instinct, maybe?) told him to rethink that last thought.
