Chapter 20: Education
Naruto pushed through a league of bushes and stumbled on to the gray rock of Ronoa's abode. The old man already sat on the landing before his door, a bubbling tea kettle atop a crackling fire.
"You're late." He casually sipped from a steaming cup as Naruto clumsily tripped up the rock.
"You didn't tell me I had to be here at a certain time!"
"It's 12:00. It's almost time for lunch, brat." Ronoa stood up.
"Don't call me that!"
Ronoa picked up his kettle and poured some of the contents into a fresh mug.
"Here, drink this." He handed it to Naruto.
Naruto gingerly put the cup to his lips and bravely took a large gulp. The concoction marinated on his taste buds before Naruto clamped a hand over his mouth and heaved.
If someone took ground brussel sprouts, sautéed them in mustard, rancid milk and lemon puree, threw the mixture into the dirt, beat it with a weasel, and pickled it in sewage, the combination would've tasted like candy in comparison to the rank bile that clogged Naruto's throat.
"Bleh!" Naruto sputtered. "What the hell is this stuff!?"
"Your punishment for being late. Everyday you don't show up on time, you'll have to drink it."
"Like hell I'll drink anymore of this shit-"
Ronoa dodged forward and snatched Naruto's nose between his index and middle fingers. As Naruto opened his mouth in protest, he poured the entire contents of the kettle down his throat. Naruto tried to cough it up, but risked drowning. In the end, he fell over nearly foaming at the mouth, the grotesque fluid bubbling in his stomach.
"Are you trying to kill me?!" Naruto gagged as he scraped himself off the granite.
"Only if I'm lucky." Ronoa sneered. "I see you brought that sword I gave you."
Naruto tried desperately to wipe the vile taste from his mouth.
"Good." Ronoa said as he picked up a large katana. "Let's get started."
"I don't care about Bushido." Naruto cried. "I'm a ninja, dammit, not a samurai."
Ronoa glared at him.
"You're an idiot. There isn't a strong ninja out there who doesn't have skills outside ninjutsu. Ninjutsu is ninjutsu, but ninjutsu combine with something else is strength."
"I don't give a damn about your stupid ramblings. I'm tired of stupid old guys telling me what to do."
"You little brat! You know, the legendary three wouldn't be so legendary if they didn't incorporate Summoning no Jutsu into their ninjutsu."
"Yeah, well then I don't need Bushido! I know how to summon too!"
Ronoa eyed him suspiciously.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah! Sit back and watch, stupid old man!"
Naruto bit his thumb and made the seals, slamming his hands to the ground.
"Summoning no Justu!"
The intricate seal pattern embroidered the ground. An enormous puff of smoke filled the area.
Alright, it's him! Naruto chuckled.
GAMA… The smoke cleared.
… kichi …
Naruto's face hung sourly as the small red frog struck a pose.
"Nice summoning skills…" Ronoa muttered sarcastically.
"Shut up!"
"Naruto!? Is that you!?" The little toad exclaimed. "My god! We all thought you were dead! And you…" He turned to Ronoa. "You're Ronoa, aren't you!? Oh man, wait 'til Jiraiya hears this!"
Naruto twitched.
Oh shit!
Ronoa made a few hand seals and opened his palm in Gamakichi's face. With a squeak, the little frog was sent tumbling a few feet before lying still on his back.
"Ah! Gamakichi!" Naruto cried, scooping the limp, red amphibian up into his arms. "What did you do to him!?"
"Don't worry, I didn't kill him."
Gamakichi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"It's a memory modifying jutsu. He won't remember either of us."
"Oh."
"You're not the brightest star in the sky, are you?"
"What the hell is that suppose to mean?!"
"Nope, guess not. Now c'mon, we've got work to do."
-
Sakura looked cautiously around her before tiptoeing gingerly across the barren rooftop. The drying clothes from other tenants billowed from strung ropes like a regatta in the humidity. Sakura hugged the large scroll as she crossed the hot concrete with bare feet. She dashed over to the building's water tank and plopped down in its shadow. Gently she peeled at the scrolls page and rolled it open.
"'Advanced Bloodline Binding Seal. by Satori Kikyou. Sorano Fuuko School of Seals and Seal Jutsu. Sorano, Lightning Country.'" Sakura read. "'Part I: Introduction and Cautionary Foresights.'"
Sakura sighed and prepared for a long haul. She silently thanked Tsunade for those months the old woman had forced her to do nothing but read medic scrolls. Days had gone by and her skin had gone pale with lack of sun, and she had cursed Tsunade for it, but now she knew the tricks to reading long, boring scrolls.
"'The Advanced Bloodline Binding Seal is a seal jutsu to block all bloodline abilities and techniques within the radius of the seal…. Blah blah blah… has no volume limit… can be done by one person with sufficient time… blah blah…" She scrolled down. "This seal requires approx. 4 pints of blood and, therefore, is not intended to produce in one sitting if being produce alone.'" Sakura coughed and reread it to make sure she got it right.
4 pints!? The human body only has 8! Yeah, try it in one sitting and you're likely to bleed to death.
"'The seal has been broken up into 12 sections. Each section can be sealed into a sutra for later use.'" Sakura thought back on Akari's seal and nodded in understanding. "'It is very important that you perform the seal correctly. Failure to do so and failure to unseal incorrectly will turn the Advanced Bloodline Binding seal into a power explosive.
"'Part I: Usagi-gatsu.'"
The scroll began to describe the first section of the seal. Each, Sakura etched into her mind, memorizing the strokes of each bloody swatch.
I'll have to find a better place to practice. Sakura muttered to herself as she looked around the dirty, ancient rooftop. I'll give myself a disease through the cut on my finger. I'll attract attention too.
Sakura brushed a pink lock of hair out of her face and continued into her scroll.
Around six o'clock, Sakura heard a familiar cursing from the street below. Quickly, she rolled up the scroll, scampered across the rooftop, hopped down the stairs and dashed into their apartment. She was stashing the large scroll by her pack when the door flew open again.
"Ugh…" Naruto groaned as he fell inside, the sword clattering down beside him. He was even more battered and bruised than the day before and Sakura noticed several long, straight scars on his arms.
"Naruto!" Sakura ran to his side. "Are you okay?"
He held up a string, attached to which were three dangling fish.
"I brought these back like you asked." He muttered.
"Idiot, I'm not worried about the fish!" But she took them anyway.
"Come inside and I'll fix those wounds for you." Sakura placed the fish in a pan on the stove. She wheeled around when she didn't hear the door close and found Naruto still glued to the floor.
"I can't move…" He whined.
Sakura sighed and walked over to him. She knelt her back down to him and motioned with her hands that he should climb up. Painfully, he clambered on to her back and hugged her neck as she picked up his sword and shut the door.
"Getting a piggy back ride from a girl…" Sakura said as she placed his sword next to his stuff. "…where's your masculine pride, Naruto?"
Naruto placed his head against her back.
"Sakura-chan smells good…" He muttered sleepily.
Sakura stopped and blushed a deep red.
"St-stupid." She whispered. If he knew that she was trying to find out what his seal was for, would he still think so?
Gingerly, she plopped him down on his sleeping bag. Naruto groaned with the excess movement. Sakura reached into her bag and produced her medical kit.
"Okay, show me your arms." She said as she sat down next to him. Naruto held them out like he was handing her an umbrella. The scars checker-boarded his skin, flecks of blood mixed in with his skin tone; these had once been open wounds.
"Ronoa-sama did this to you?" She asked as she smeared anti-bacterial over the scars.
Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, he taught me a lot of stuff though, but he keeps beating me up."
"He is a master of Bushido, Naruto."
"I don't care. I still don't like him beating me up."
Sakura laughed out of spite.
"Fair enough."
-
Sasuke's shift ended at 8:00. Daylights saving time still held rays of light in the sky, but not enough to see clearly. Sasuke pulled off his bartender's shirt to fight the early summer heat as he meandered down the backwater streets. His calves ached, standing for seven hours had to be a crime against humanity, and his stomach grumbled. Sasuke looked at the paycheck in his hand. It wasn't much, but it would pay the bills and feed them, maybe even get Naruto his beloved ramen.
The street lights flickered on. The world blinked in and out of color as Sasuke splashed through them.
"Hey you! Stop right there!"
Sasuke looked up. Five rough-looking guys, all around 15 or 16, stood barring the road. Several of them had weapons.
Great…Sasuke muttered. Thugs.
"Excuse me." Sasuke grumbled as he tried to push through the barricade.
"Hold it, buddy." The center-most ruffian put a hand on Sasuke's chest and pushed him back a step. "You see, if youse wants ta get through, youse gotsta pay this here toll."
Sasuke grumbled in annoyance.
"And if youse don't…" A large one on the left smacked his weapon of choice, a large plank of wood, into his palm and they all smirked.
"I don't have care about this toll of yours." Sasuke put his hands in his pockets.
"I'm going." He pushed forward into their barrier.
"Oh, a tough guy, eh?" the center-man glared as he raised his baseball bat.
"Wait, Ku!" A short one called out. "This guy… maybe we should leave him alone… He looks kind of like Kouji with that ponytail."
"This shit ain't Kouji! No one talks back to Ku of the Raibara East!"
The center-man brought the baseball bat down at Sasuke's head. Sasuke grabbed it just above his temple, pivoted his back to the attacker and hunched, pulling the bat, and its owner's arm, over his shoulder.
With the swift movement of Rock Lee's Taijutsu, Sasuke's foot met his assailant's jaw. There was a sickening pop as the boy's arm snapped from its socket. He cried out in pain, staggered a couple steps, and fell over unconscious.
Sasuke straightened and flipped the bat in his hand as the others started at him. The large one brought his club down; Sasuke blocked with the bat. He narrowly dodged a punch from another attacker as he rolled into the circle of the large one's arms and struck the bat up into the large one's chin. The giant collapsed and Sasuke leapt away from his body.
The weaponless guy, who threw the punch, pounced and Sasuke caught him off guard by casually tossing the baseball bat to him. The weaponless assailant caught the bat with both hands and found Sasuke's fist in his nose.
Something metallic sparkled somewhere behind Sasuke. As the weaponless attacker fell, he dropped the bat. Sasuke snatched it from the air and flung it with all his strength at the mysterious metal object. Sasuke turned to see the bat ricochet off a four attacker's head, the shiny metal thing, a dagger, falling away from his unconscious, plummeting form. Sasuke caught the knife as it fell and wheeled around, holding it to the neck of the short thug, the last one, who had a metal pipe raised above his head to strike.
Sasuke glared at the little man, his black eyes burrowing into the short thug's beady ones. The small creature trembled under the intensity of Sasuke's killer instinct and dropped his pipe.
A loud scream erupted to their left as the weaponless attacker picked himself off the ground and charged. Swiftly, Sasuke hurled the knife at him. The dagger spun like a boomerang, nicked the attacker's collarbone and struck the wooden fence behind him. The blade hummed ominously as the attacker froze, small droplets of blood beading down his chest.
Sasuke straightened his shirt, tossed his hair, and walked off in silence.
-
"I'm home."
Sasuke closed the door behind him as he stepped into the apartment. Both his comrades were fast asleep, Sakura propped up against the wall, Naruto with his head in her lap.
And he accuses me of getting snuggly with her.
Sasuke noticed something attached to Naruto's forehead. He bent down for a closer look.
"'Sasuke – There's a fish for you on the stove. Sakura.'"
Sasuke looked at her, sleeping peacefully with her arm around the large scroll she'd brought home. Sasuke peered questionably at it.
Advanced Bloodline Binding Seal!?
Author's Note: Yay for the gloriousness that is Chapter 20! Wow, looking back, I honestly didn't think I'd be here by Chapter 20... honestly, I thought I'd be done with this thing by now... :/ This is also a landmark that, officially, Naruto Unlimited now takes up 100 pages (w/o Author's notes) on my word processor! Huzzah! Oh yeah, is it just me or does Sasuke get a lot more love than everyone else... :hates:: WHY!? This was suppose to be a Naruto arc! The next arc is suppose to be a Sasuke arc... oops... I've said too much again. Once again I apologize for my suckiness at writing battle scenes. It makes a lot of sense in my head, but never seems to wind up that way on paper. btw, I didn't throw the battle in there for kicks... it relates to the next large arc... :X I've said to much again... I better shut up before I tell you the entire story.
Next Chapter: Sakura's mission complete? The beginning on an end (but not THE end...).