Boys of Hidden Villages
By: Asagi Tsuki
Chapter Four –- The Summer Festival of Doom
"Good responses from reader," the witch grinned, "That's a relief," she added as she took a round crystal ball and replace her misshapen crystal ball with the round one. "Thirty reviews are enough to cover the expenses to buy this new crystal ball, so hopefully I'll get a better view at Sasuke," she explained why the ball was there in the first place.
"And I know it's going to break soon," Byaku commented, "Remember you always break things? I suppose that by the end of this day, this new crystal ball will be broken into pieces, wanna bet?" he asked as he grinned, baring his sharp teeth.
"I bet that it will," the witch sighed. "Oh, and sorry for not titling the last chapter, I simply forgot to. Anyway, while the ball is still in perfect shape, let's take a look into it, okay?" she asked, and they were soon seen glaring into the crystal ball as an image started to appear in it.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
A boy with short messy black hair stood in front of his bedroom door. He swore that he heard noises coming from outside of his bedroom just now and he was contemplating whether he should 1)open the door and see what it is only to be raided by a bunch of maniacs, 2)open the door and run away while being chased by a bunch of maniac, or 3)go outside through the window and hope that they hadn't blocked the window-escape-way yet.
He knew that it was near the end of summer and the summer festival was being held at the shrine for a week starting yesterday, but he wasn't the least bit interested to go. Not when a bunch of maniacs will go after you asking you to go with them and then fight among each other to see who'll get to go with you.
He sighed and walked over to the window to check whether the escape route was safe or not. He was embarrassed to say the least. He, Uchiha Sasuke, the number one rookie on his academic year was trapped inside his room, surrounded by maniac shinobis who'd run over him the very second he open the door to his bedroom.
Sasuke looked downwards and noticed that there were four nins there, his perverted teacher, his brother, the maniac who had put on a curse seal on him, and the perverted sennin that was supposed to train Naruto somewhere.
He walked back to his bed, sat on it, and contemplated new things. He was contemplating whether it would be more dangerous to face four high-class nins, or face seven nins that were his class.
How he had wished that his parents had made a secret passageway from his room to the other room. But Itachi would surely know about the secret passageway and he'd get three things to contemplate about, is it safer to 1) go through the door and run away from seven nins, 2) go through the window and run away from three high-class nins, or 3) go through the secret passageway and run away from a missing-nin without an escape route.
He glared at the wall and wished that it could just break down right then and there, providing him an escape route. He knew it wasn't wise to go out when they were still there, but it wasn't wise to stay in his room as well, considering the fact that he hadn't had breakfast yet.
He stood in front of the door to his room, thinking that it was closest to the kitchen, and took a deep breath. He turned the doorknob slowly, before he banged it open and ran out of his room in an inhuman speed. It was 100KB/sec. Wait, where did that come from? I mean it was 100km/hour or more.
He quickly got into the kitchen and shut the door close with a loud bang, before he proceeded to close the window as well, letting only a small vent open. He knew that those full-grown high-class nins wouldn't be able to come in through that.
He sighed in relief. Mission one completed. Now he needed to make a plan as how to go back to his room without being forced to go to the summer festival. Maybe he should just break the wall down and make a path from his bedroom to the bathroom and to the kitchen without having to go outside.
It was kind of impossible though, knowing that the bathroom was across the row where the bathroom and kitchen were situated.
He took out some cooking utensils and some food in the fridge. Another problem came to his mind. He has nearly run out of food stock, and he was damn sure it wouldn't last for a week. That meant he had to go to buy food. That's perfectly okay with him, since he always do that, but he simply wasn't fond of the idea of shopping while being chased by eleven nins.
And what's worse, the girls had started chasing him as well! Several days before, several days after the training incident, he was walking pass Sakura when she suddenly screamed and dragged him with her to Naruto's apartment. When he had freed himself from her, she met Tenten who dragged him to the Hyuuga mansion with the help from Hanabi, while Hinata protested, saying that he should go to Kiba's apartment instead, or Shino's.
And after a long time suffering, trying to free himself from the three girls, he met Temari who was walking with Kankurou, and who suddenly called for Gaara and helped Gaara chase him. Next came Ino that forced him to go play shogi with Shikamaru. He was lucky enough that no one forced him to be with Kabuto or Itachi, but his relief had ended right then and there.
Even Tsunade asked him to go out with either Kakashi or Jiraiya! That had made him run away from the Hokage's office although he was specially summoned there to be given a mission by herself.
He sighed and took out whatever was left in the fridge. Come to think of it, going to the summer festival won't be that bad. He hadn't gone there for a long time. He could just pick one of them and go with him, no harm done. But somehow he was reluctant. He didn't know who to choose.
He stared at the pot of boiling water, before he threw in random vegetables and meat and watch them boil. Maybe he could go with them all, then he would look like a member of a group of elementary students who were brought to an amusement park by their teacher on a school's activity.
He sighed. Maybe it was for the best, maybe it was not. The only thing he could think of was, it was better than having to run around like crazy all the time. Sometimes, giving in is the best solution.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Ah, from here, starts the calm days of one Uchiha Sasuke," the witch mumbled as she leaned back on the couch that already had some of its springs sticking out of the cover. She took a cup of coffee from the table and took a sip of it, then put it back on the table, right beside the crystal ball.
"Right, calm days," Byaku repeated, adding an emphasis on the word calm. "You remind me of White Line," he added, remembering the particular Prince of Tennis ending theme where they'd say 'From here, starts our glory days'.
"Should I be flattered or what?" she asked, grinning goofily at the silver wolf.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Sasuke! We're going to the summer festival together!" it was all he could hear when he stepped out of the kitchen. It sounded like they were a choir and they were singing a chorus right at the same time. How perfect. He couldn't spot the conductor anywhere, though.
"Actually," Sasuke started, inhaling deeply, preparing for the worst. "We're going there together," he finished, looking at the faces of everyone who had gathered in front of the kitchen.
"WHAT?" they asked, or screeched, or shrieked, whichever you think might fit best, disbelievingly at the remark. "But- but we weren't supposed to go on a date like this!" the young nin –Naruto- protested.
"Either that, or I'm not going at all," Sasuke warned, a menacing tone in his voice and the nins kept silent. "Let's go then," he sighed again.
"Err, Sasuke," Naruto started.
"What is it?" he asked, turning around to face Naruto.
"You're not even wearing a yukata now,"
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
A few minutes later, Sasuke was seen grumbling while he tried to walk comfortably between eleven people who kept on trying to walk beside him. He couldn't see where he was walking now, for he was surrounded by people.
"Can't you walk properly? I can't see!" Sasuke protested, and it sent the others into a halt. He was about to sigh in relief, when suddenly Naruto decided to speak up.
"You all disturbed him! Now go!" he commanded the others to go.
"What are you talking about? You are the one disturbing him! You're standing in front of him!" Shikamaru protested.
"You are in front of him as well," Neji pointed out.
Naruto pushed Neji away and stood beside Sasuke, "Now you go away!" he pointed Shikamaru who pushed him away and stood beside Sasuke.
"Come, my little brother," Itachi smirked and pulled Sasuke to his side, holding his wrist protectively.
"Hey you cheater!" Kakashi shouted and held Sasuke's other wrist protectively as well.
Meanwhile, the other nins who happened to pass them looked at them like they were trying to get their hand on a precious scroll, and not a fellow nin.
"Can't you all walk properly?" he shouted once again, yanking his hands free from the two sharingan-users. "I'm leading the way, and don't even try to walk beside me," he menaced and stormed off angrily. This wasn't what he called fun, and he would surely kill that witch that gave him the strange potion. He didn't get to kill Itachi at all!
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Looks like he wants to kill you," Byaku stated flatly as he looked at Sasuke's face.
"Eh-heheheheheh, I think we should keep away from him for the time being," the witch laughed uneasily while she scratched the back of her head, "Anyway, they're already in the festival!" she said and they were glaring at the crystal ball yet again.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Ne, ne, Sasuke, which one do you want?" Naruto asked as he pulled Sasuke to a stand. They would be given three kunais and they had to hit a paper with it. The thing that was written on the paper would be the gift.
Sasuke looked at the group of papers, and decided that a new fire jutsu scroll would help him the most unlike some plushie dolls he didn't even know what for. He pointed the paper with the writing 'fire jutsu scroll'.
"Yosh! I'll get it for you!" Naruto exclaimed and paid the owner of the stand who gave him three kunais.
"I'm going to get it for him!" Shikamaru butted in, paying the owner of the stand as well, and took his share of kunais.
"I'll get it, my aim is better than you two," Neji said as he paid and took his share of kunais.
"You expect to beat me, who had become an ANBU captain at the age of thirteen?" Itachi asked as he smirked and took his share of kunais.
"Oh, so you expect to beat me, a jounin?" Kakashi asked as he took his share of kunais.
Gaara merely stared at the papers, and took his share of kunais. He didn't usually use kunais so he couldn't aim really well, but it was a skill that every nin had to have, so he still could aim.
"I'm a spy, and spies are most handy with kunais and shurikens," Kabuto smirked as he picked his share of kunais.
"Well, whoever you are, you're not going to beat a sennin!" Jiraiya exclaimed as he took his share of kunais.
"Hey, I'm better than any nins, so you'll never beat me!" Orochimaru exclaimed as he picked his share of kunais as well.
"Akamaru-chan said I'm the best at aiming!" Kiba shouted and Akamaru barked before he picked his share of kunais.
"I always hit the bugs who disturbed my bugs without fail, so practically I'm the best at aiming," Shino stated flatly as he took his share of kunais.
Sasuke merely stared at the eleven nins who shot the kunais at the same time, and at the kunais that all happen to hit all papers that were there.
"I'm so not going to bring them back home," Sasuke said as he stared at the pile of prizes the owner had to give up since all the papers were hit.
"Okay, so let's see whose kunai hit the paper with the scroll," Naruto suggested and the others shot him strange look. Weren't all kunais the same?
"Hey, look! It's mine! I scratched it here before I threw it!" Naruto exclaimed as he pointed a scratch mark on the kunai.
"But mine fell down and get the scratch!" Shikamaru protested.
"You big liars," Neji merely stated.
"It's mine, the scar's already there when I take mine," Kiba said.
"Didn't you see the sand there? It's mine," Gaara stated.
"Stop!" Sasuke shouted and the others stopped. "If you say one more word, I'm leaving," he warned and went to take the scroll with him. "I'm not going to take the rest," he added, staring at the pile of miscellaneous things. There were dolls, miniature of sword, earrings, hairpins and such.
"Why not?" Naruto asked, blinking his eyes.
"That's it! I'm leaving!" he stormed off of the shrine grounds.
The others turned around to glare at Naruto, before they chased him all around the village while Naruto had to run for his dear life.
"HELP!" he shouted. Being chased by ten nins weren't the brightest idea and definitely not the most brilliant idea of training, and he was fully aware of that fact.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Oh, poor Naruto-kun," the witch sighed. She took her mug of coffee, but her hand hit the ball and the ball rolled off the table and…
"OH NO!" she screamed in agony as she stared at the pieces of the crystal ball. She put the mug back on the table and was now angsting over the death of her beloved new crystal ball.
"Remember what I said? Not even one day," Byaku sighed as he walked to take the broom and swept the pieces then dump them into the trashbin.
"So we'll be using the old crystal ball again," the witch sighed, "It doesn't get broken as easily," she added as she took out the misshapen crystal ball.
"And we'll have to wait for another thirty reviews to be able to buy a new crystal ball," Byaku stated matter-of-factly.
"Don't add depressing facts to my already-depressed mind, thank you," the witch bawled on the table, grieving over the crystal ball. And the image in it was so good.
"Anyway, we hope you enjoyed this chapter," Byaku said.
"Ah, sorry that it takes so long, I get the L syndrome," the witch laughed, before she grieved over the crystal ball again.
"She meant Lazy syndrome," Byaku explained, "Anyway, if you enjoy this chapter, please leave a review," he bowed his head, "Though I'm sure she'll break the new one just as fast,"
End of Chapter Four