Chapter 2
-Naruto Universe-
He was going to kill him. It was such an obvious action, he was surprised he hadn't thought of it before. Sasuke was just going to kill Naruto, right there in the woods. His frayed nerves were hanging on by a string as Naruto started the next verse to his annoyingly loud chant. Sasuke remembered it from the academy, something the 8 year olds would sing when they were hiking.
The blond ninja hadn't stopped being loud and obnoxious since leaving the village gates, and even multiple beatings from Sakura didn't keep his mouth shut...for long. Sasuke was so shocked when the singing suddenly stopped, he almost jumped.
"Hey! Whats with the spooky looking cave?!?" Naruto yelled, pointing ahead of them. Sakura opened up the map they had been given and did a quick scan of their surroundings.
"This must be the cave we go through. It's marked here on the map."
"What?? No way am i going in the creepy thing!!"
"We don't have a choice! It's a mission, not a field trip!" Sakura punched Naruto in the back of the head, sending him tumbling into the mouth of the cave. Sasuke hitched up his backpack and walked past the prone Naruto into the cave, but Sakura stopped at the entrance. "Do you guys feel that..?"
"Eh??"Naruto sniffed, then raised his hand "It wasn't me!"
"Not smell!!! idiot!" She sent him flying in the other direction.
"Maybe you're imagining things.." Sasuke offered, standing slightly inside. "I can't sense anything from in here."
"You worry too much Sakura-Chan!!!" Naruto yelled happily as he rushed past her back into the cave, his face slightly swollen from her last punch.
"I guess your right...." She glanced at the cave one more time, then followed her teammates. She felt a strange chill as she walked through the opening, but after that it was gone. "Maybe i am just imagining things.." She thought.
--------------------------
-??? Universe-
Nearly half an hour later, Naruto, followed by Sasuke and Sakura emerged from the other side of the cave. Naruto ran out and took a large breath of fresh air.
"AHH! It's great to be outside again!" He ran around in the grass for a few moments while Sakura and Sasuke caught up. Naruto was about to say something else when he noticed the serious expression on his teammates faces. "Hey! Hey! Whats going on??" He followed their gazes into the trees. "I don't see anything...just trees!!"
"Exactly..." Sasuke scowled deeper. "But Ive never seen these kind of trees before, and that cave didn't take us far enough to go out of Konoha." Naruto tilted his head while staring into the trees. "Something isn't right.." Sasuke kept scanning the trees, expecting some kind of ambush. He remembered Sakura having a weird feeling about the cave, and maybe she had been right...
"I cant tell the difference! Their just trees!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the woods. Sakura sighed and consulted the map.
"This looks like the general terrain from the map. If we just keep going at an average pace, well be to the X on the map in less than half an hour."
"Lets go then!" Naruto sped off into the forest, disappearing from view.
"Idiot! We can get separated!" Sakura sped off after him, screaming at him every step of the way. Sasuke disappeared from view, melting into the trees. If they were being followed, those two would definitely lure the pursuers into a false sense of security...although having them on his team, maybe it wasn't really that false.
He jumped through the trees, keeping a close tail on his team, while scanning the surroundings. He took a quick jump to the top of the tree line to scan ahead, and almost fell back down. Not his proudest moment. He steadied himself and took another look. Not very far in front of them, about the distance they were from the X on the map, stood a large tower in a small clearing. What had startled him was that he couldn't see the top.
It seemed to stretch on forever, up into the clouds. Sasuke's eyes widened as he remembered what Sakura had read off of the map earlier; "Theres just an X and then directions that say 'go up.." Sasuke stared up into the sky, the height of it left him in awe, as the voices of his fellow Gennins echoed through the trees.
"What the hell is that!???!??? It's HUGE!!!!"
-??? Universe-
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama all stood with their mouths slightly gaping as their necks tilted up. Yusuke double checked the map with the directions for the fourth time; directions through some creepy cave to a spot in the woods in the middle of nowhere, then just the words: go up. He looked back up at the impossibly tall tower, which disappeared into the clouds, and a large sweat drop appeared on the back of his head.
"That hag has got to be jerking our chains here..i mean, this is seriously a joke right?" He laughed, looking over at Kurama, who wore an unsettlingly serious look.
"Do you feel that Hiei?" Kuwabara and Yusuke gave the demons a blank look as Hiei nodded with a grunt.
"I feel it. Some kind of mystical energy coming from this thing, like its countless years old..." He looked up toward the sky. "And the energy signatures coming from the top of this thing...though faint because of the distance...are unimaginably powerful."
"You know its time to worry when even Hiei is creeped out." Kuwabara took another look at the tower, focusing his sixth sense. "Whoa! i see what you guys mean!"
"It sucks to be left out of the loop." Yusuke grumbled. "I don't sense squat from the stupid stick in the ground, but i do sense something coming from the top, but just barley..." He folded up the map and stuck it in his belt.(A/N: Yusuke is wearing his dark tournament gear, the shirt and baggy pants, not the cramped school uniform, Kuwabara has similar) "Well, we wont get crap done sitting around here flapping our gums will we?" He took a step back, and jumped onto the tower, getting hand and foot holds in the intricate carvings along the face of the pole.
"Don't be stupid Uremeshi! We can't possibly climb to the top of this thing!"
"Speak for yourself simpleton." Hiei suddenly disappeared, reappearing about twice as high on the tower as Yusuke. "I'll meet you all at the top!" He did the same thing three more times and was out of sight.
"Thats Hiei for you." Kurama started his trek upward much like Yusuke, searching out hand and foot holds in the markings, leaving a dumbfounded Kuwabara standing under them, staring up at the clouds with a defeated look.
"Theres no way...." He continued complaining as he did his best to follow his three teammates, although much more slowly, since he was still carrying his overly large bag over his shoulder. "I'll teach you punks to leave me behind! No one ditches Kazuma Kuwabara!" He shook a fist skyward, and fell back down to the ground.
"This is gonna be a long day..."
-Naruto Universe-
He was going to kill him. It was such an obvious action, he was surprised he hadn't thought of it before. Sasuke was just going to kill Naruto, right there in the woods. His frayed nerves were hanging on by a string as Naruto started the next verse to his annoyingly loud chant. Sasuke remembered it from the academy, something the 8 year olds would sing when they were hiking.
The blond ninja hadn't stopped being loud and obnoxious since leaving the village gates, and even multiple beatings from Sakura didn't keep his mouth shut...for long. Sasuke was so shocked when the singing suddenly stopped, he almost jumped.
"Hey! Whats with the spooky looking cave?!?" Naruto yelled, pointing ahead of them. Sakura opened up the map they had been given and did a quick scan of their surroundings.
"This must be the cave we go through. It's marked here on the map."
"What?? No way am i going in the creepy thing!!"
"We don't have a choice! It's a mission, not a field trip!" Sakura punched Naruto in the back of the head, sending him tumbling into the mouth of the cave. Sasuke hitched up his backpack and walked past the prone Naruto into the cave, but Sakura stopped at the entrance. "Do you guys feel that..?"
"Eh??"Naruto sniffed, then raised his hand "It wasn't me!"
"Not smell!!! idiot!" She sent him flying in the other direction.
"Maybe you're imagining things.." Sasuke offered, standing slightly inside. "I can't sense anything from in here."
"You worry too much Sakura-Chan!!!" Naruto yelled happily as he rushed past her back into the cave, his face slightly swollen from her last punch.
"I guess your right...." She glanced at the cave one more time, then followed her teammates. She felt a strange chill as she walked through the opening, but after that it was gone. "Maybe i am just imagining things.." She thought.
--------------------------
-??? Universe-
Nearly half an hour later, Naruto, followed by Sasuke and Sakura emerged from the other side of the cave. Naruto ran out and took a large breath of fresh air.
"AHH! It's great to be outside again!" He ran around in the grass for a few moments while Sakura and Sasuke caught up. Naruto was about to say something else when he noticed the serious expression on his teammates faces. "Hey! Hey! Whats going on??" He followed their gazes into the trees. "I don't see anything...just trees!!"
"Exactly..." Sasuke scowled deeper. "But Ive never seen these kind of trees before, and that cave didn't take us far enough to go out of Konoha." Naruto tilted his head while staring into the trees. "Something isn't right.." Sasuke kept scanning the trees, expecting some kind of ambush. He remembered Sakura having a weird feeling about the cave, and maybe she had been right...
"I cant tell the difference! Their just trees!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the woods. Sakura sighed and consulted the map.
"This looks like the general terrain from the map. If we just keep going at an average pace, well be to the X on the map in less than half an hour."
"Lets go then!" Naruto sped off into the forest, disappearing from view.
"Idiot! We can get separated!" Sakura sped off after him, screaming at him every step of the way. Sasuke disappeared from view, melting into the trees. If they were being followed, those two would definitely lure the pursuers into a false sense of security...although having them on his team, maybe it wasn't really that false.
He jumped through the trees, keeping a close tail on his team, while scanning the surroundings. He took a quick jump to the top of the tree line to scan ahead, and almost fell back down. Not his proudest moment. He steadied himself and took another look. Not very far in front of them, about the distance they were from the X on the map, stood a large tower in a small clearing. What had startled him was that he couldn't see the top.
It seemed to stretch on forever, up into the clouds. Sasuke's eyes widened as he remembered what Sakura had read off of the map earlier; "Theres just an X and then directions that say 'go up.." Sasuke stared up into the sky, the height of it left him in awe, as the voices of his fellow Gennins echoed through the trees.
"What the hell is that!???!??? It's HUGE!!!!"
-??? Universe-
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama all stood with their mouths slightly gaping as their necks tilted up. Yusuke double checked the map with the directions for the fourth time; directions through some creepy cave to a spot in the woods in the middle of nowhere, then just the words: go up. He looked back up at the impossibly tall tower, which disappeared into the clouds, and a large sweat drop appeared on the back of his head.
"That hag has got to be jerking our chains here..i mean, this is seriously a joke right?" He laughed, looking over at Kurama, who wore an unsettlingly serious look.
"Do you feel that Hiei?" Kuwabara and Yusuke gave the demons a blank look as Hiei nodded with a grunt.
"I feel it. Some kind of mystical energy coming from this thing, like its countless years old..." He looked up toward the sky. "And the energy signatures coming from the top of this thing...though faint because of the distance...are unimaginably powerful."
"You know its time to worry when even Hiei is creeped out." Kuwabara took another look at the tower, focusing his sixth sense. "Whoa! i see what you guys mean!"
"It sucks to be left out of the loop." Yusuke grumbled. "I don't sense squat from the stupid stick in the ground, but i do sense something coming from the top, but just barley..." He folded up the map and stuck it in his belt.(A/N: Yusuke is wearing his dark tournament gear, the shirt and baggy pants, not the cramped school uniform, Kuwabara has similar) "Well, we wont get crap done sitting around here flapping our gums will we?" He took a step back, and jumped onto the tower, getting hand and foot holds in the intricate carvings along the face of the pole.
"Don't be stupid Uremeshi! We can't possibly climb to the top of this thing!"
"Speak for yourself simpleton." Hiei suddenly disappeared, reappearing about twice as high on the tower as Yusuke. "I'll meet you all at the top!" He did the same thing three more times and was out of sight.
"Thats Hiei for you." Kurama started his trek upward much like Yusuke, searching out hand and foot holds in the markings, leaving a dumbfounded Kuwabara standing under them, staring up at the clouds with a defeated look.
"Theres no way...." He continued complaining as he did his best to follow his three teammates, although much more slowly, since he was still carrying his overly large bag over his shoulder. "I'll teach you punks to leave me behind! No one ditches Kazuma Kuwabara!" He shook a fist skyward, and fell back down to the ground.
"This is gonna be a long day..."