The Hokage frowned as Naruto began the string of handseals leading into the summoning, but leaned back into his seat. While it was unorthodox to employ summons against members of the same village, they were meant to display their talents, making the village more attractive in the eyes of prospective clience, and in the end, summons were simply classified as one more ninja tool.
It was several long seconds after this that he realized old age had caught up with him, as he'd temporarily forgotten a specific bit of key information: that while Jiraiya had taught Naruto the handseals for the jutsu, he had taken sick the next day, and Naruto had never actually signed the Toad contract, or learned how to summon something in specific, as Jiraiya had insisted on being there to supervise that process, and his illness had kept him from doing so long enough that he'd determined there wasn't time to master it before the exam final anyway, and so Naruto's time had been spent studying more basic things.
What this meant, as he started to stand, before realizing it was already too late and remaining composedly in place, was that rather than effectively... 'throwing a rope' through time and space, to grab hold of a very specific sort of thing, Naruto was effectively casting out a net instead, to reel in the very first thing to become tangled in its lines, a process that was both random in its result and dangerous, as not many beings appreciated being summoned without their prior knowledge of and consent to the possibility.
She appeared then, what seemed to be a normal girl, with Naruto's final blood-stained handseal, and Sarutobi was struck with an unusual, irrational sense of... impressiveness, he supposed was almost the word he was looking for, but not quite. A sense similar to that only achieved by the most ancient and venerable of monks, but amplified manyfold over anything he'd ever noted before, to the point that... well, he wasn't quite sure how to put the description to words. A sense of enveloping, all-consuming, searing light, so similar to and yet so very different from the demonic miasma that was more familiar to ninja who had encountered such things...
Naruto, of course, did not even hesitate before making a bullheaded announcement.
"Alriiight! Hey, hey, I summoned you, so you have to help me beat that bastard, okay?"
Finally, and only in the wake of this proclamation, did the girls eyes open... and Sarutobi noted with some sense of unusual dread that while the rest of her was pale, washed out, contributing almost to a pale, nearly white and icy blue effect, those eyes were a searing, piercing red... She turned them dispassionately towards Neji, clearly sizing him up, and after a moment quite obviously dismissed him as completely and utterly inconsequential, a move which seemed to send the lad into silent and motionless fury.
"For this... you have summoned me." She spoke, words holding traces of question, but primarily statement. "His death comes at a cost."
"I... don't want you to kill him..." Naruto interjected, seeming momentarily taken aback at the casual and dispassionate offer. "Just help me beat him, okay?"
"... The cost, then, will be greater still." She replied. "It is not a simple matter, to calculate the exact amount of force required to keep it still, without crushing it utterly."
Neji snapped.
"Uzumaki... for these insults, I will humiliate you and your... assistant." He quietly sneered.
The girl answered with a casual, almost disinterested movement of her arm, and a pillar of light bright enough that looking directly at it was painful slammed down into the spot where Neji had, a moment ago, been standing. It faded, revealing a wide hole bored into the ground, the depths of which could not immediately be determined... Neji seemed somewhat unnerved, now, from his new position.
"You see. Had that struck home, it would have destroyed the little bug in an instant." She stated dispassionately. "Fortunate that it is nimble. But yes... a price will come due, for my assistance. This is acceptable?"
Sarutobi's dread grew to an inexplicable fever pitch following the question, but before he could act on it, to warn Naruto away from the deal, he had already enthusiastically shouted his acceptance.
What happened next... it could only be stated as an outright masssacre, as Neji Hyuga was efficiently and mercilessly blasted to within an inch of his life, the entire ordeal being almost cruel, like a child plucking... well, plucking the wings off a bug. Not out of any sense of personal malice, but rather because it was there, and the child in question was bored.
"... And so, my part of the bargain is complete. It is now time for you to fulfil yours..."
"Sure. Whatcha want?"
"... Your heart." She finally demanded, in a tone of quiet authority, as she began to step forward. "Joined to mine... we will become of one mind, and one body, your heart engulfed within my own, becoming a sum greater than its parts..."
Sarutobi stood, sense of dread peaking at a crescendo, despite the... almost-innocent, almost-sultry, phrasing of the words, helped along by the girl's dispassionate face and near emotionless tone, and that the painful light she wielded seemed to be gathering in motes at her fingertips, and ordered his ANBU into action. He hadn't the slightest idea what that girl was about to attempt... but he was about to interfere the hell right out of it.
It was still too late, however, though an ANBU was swift enough to make it there just as the girl drew up alongside Naruto, who seemed frozen motionless, like a deer that had just noticed a hungry predator and was still hoping against hope that it wouldn't be seen...
Six wings of light erupted out from the girl's back, as the ANBU landed, and one passed gracefully through his form. He froze, then, and the others hesitated for a moment, as his body language shifted, to a sudden... almost uncontainable bliss.
Then he died.
It was horrible, grotesque, as he bulged outwards, flesh and skin exploding away from bone, all melting into a uniform orangey goop, the sense of blissful, overwhelming joy not leaving for even the briefest moment until he had splattered completely against the ground, leaving behind his clothes, equipment, and a puddle.
The hesitation it brought was just enough for the girl to drive her hand into Naruto's chest... and then slowly draw it back out, no wound left behind, but something... something shining and radiant clenched in her fist, as his features went slack and his bright eyes went dull.
"... I feel... Cold..." he said, slowly, with none of the passion he would generally put into anything at all, seeming suddenly only able to muster a sense of the vaguest confusion. "... empty... I...should be... angry?"
"... What have you done?" Sarutobi whispered, voice like cold steel.
"His heart... his 'spirit', his 'soul'. It is now my property. Payment for services rendered."
She looked down at her prize, and for the first time, an emotion was on her face. Clear. Almost palpable. Hunger.
"Do you think I'll just stand by and let you..."
"Do you think... there's really anything you can do to stop me... from anything that crosses my mind?"
She smiled, then, callously.
"But... a wager, then. You have one minute. If you can take it from me, it is yours. I am not entirely without mercy. If you fail... then your heart, as well, will join to mine..."
In lieu of a verbal answer, Sarutobi summoned Enma, who almost immediately became the adamantine staff, seeming to intuitively understand the situation, and battle was met.
xxx
A.N. Just a snippet I felt like doing. Sorry, no real updates yet... just a 'potential' thing, for the far flung future. I might do a follow-up to this... or maybe not. Well, we'll see.
Anyway, hooked on a new flash game again, as you'll see in my profile. So, a little less time for writing, a little more creativity and personal amusement when I do. Hm.