The Dragon Dilemma
I don't own Naruto and Zoids
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"Talking"
'Thoughts'
/-- Scene change
)-()-( Different point of view
?-? Flash back
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Chapter 7
He sighs as he looks over at Shadow. "Not good enough?" He asks. Shadow growls his answer. He nods and they leave the flying Zoid alone. It was the third night of surveying the Zoids that were closest to the town; the flier was the last Zoid to be this close to the town. The first one they took a look at was a Gun Sniper, the second night was Sinker, and just now, the flier, which was called a Raynos.
It's not that he's disappointed that he hasn't found a suitable Zoid for him to pilot, for there were five other Zoids to check out, the problem is just how to check them out without being gone for so long. He frowns as he considers his opinions on how to be gone for so long without anyone noticing him being gone.
Shadow disappears as they draw near to the inn after walking for a while. He yawns as he opens the door. He soon walks pass Sakura's room and then Kakashi's room. He cracks the door open a bit and notices that Kakashi isn't back. He sighs and thanks the powers that be that Kakashi hasn't noticed his disappearance during these few nights. 'But then, Kakashi's been busy with his own search too. I wonder if that might be the reason why Sasuke has night guard, to keep him from searching on his own. Sounds reasonable, especially considering Sasuke's ambition is to kill someone. I shudder at what Sasuke would use a Zoid for.' He thinks as he closes the door and walks into the room he shares with Sasuke. He soon takes off most of his cloths and puts on his PJs. He turns off the lights and soon lies on the only bed in the room. He moves under the covers and soon he's falling asleep, he's tired and he does need his sleep for guard duty for tomorrow.
)-(Sasuke)-(
He snorts at the lame attempt to break into the shop by three thieves. He pulls back from the edge of the roof and then climbs down the building's side. He doubts that Sakura will be much help and considering that they're nothing more then citizens, he'll beat up them in less then two minutes. He lands with the grace of a cat as well as with the quietness of one too.
He waits until all three backs are turned, then charges them, knocking out the one trying to pick the lock. The other two look startled and then both try to flee, but he's quicker then they are and soon he's tying them up with wire. Sakura arrived to check up on him just as he finishes with the wire. "You're the best, Sasuke!" Sakura praises once she got over her shock of seeing the three grown men he knocked out and tied up. He says, "It wasn't hard, they weren't ninjas." "I'll go find Kakashi and tell him about this." Sakura says and soon the pink haired girl races away, leaving him to guard the three. He sighs and knows that Sakura will most likely only find Naruto at the inn.
He frowns as he thinks about the other reason why they're here. 'I don't see why there are two of us guarding the shop at night or even during the day.' He thinks as he waits for Sakura to come back once she finally figures out that she couldn't locate Kakashi.
/----
Kakashi had decided that since their client will be gone for a few days, that they be taking turns guarding the sword that was entrusted to them, leaving the other two to trains and explore. He glances over at the yawning blond and turns before Naruto notices that he was looking at the other. With their client heading off to go pick up some gems for the sword from a jewel smith in another town, this will give him time to explore around for Zoids on his own, without Kakashi looking over his shoulder.
Currently, Sakura was guarding the sword for today, leaving Naruto and him time to themselves; Kakashi was resting in his room once he informed them about what's happening. Soon they finish eating and he watches as Naruto walks out the door. He frowns slightly and then decides to at least get a spar in before leaving on his own search for a Zoid.
He blinks in the sun light and looks around for signs of Naruto, but doesn't find any. He was kind of startled about this, considering he considers himself to be a fine tracker. Soon he begins to swipe through the area, after about thirty minutes, he finds Naruto's cloths and moves forward to find the blond in a small stream, totally naked. Naruto's head snaps towards him and he scowls at the blond. "I was expecting to spar with you, idiot." He says coldly. The other just snorts and looks at him in the eye as he says, "I don't feel like it, so either accept that or go wake Kakashi." With that, Naruto turns his back on him.
He glares at Naruto's back and leans on a tree. "We're sparring, whether you like it or not." He snaps at the other boy. "I said I wasn't interested." Naruto says simply. "Like I'm giving you a choice in the matter." He growls at the blond. Naruto sends him a look of loathing as he says, "I'm not going to be bullied, Sasuke." "Quite a few people would want to spar with me, you know." He states to Naruto. Naruto snorts and says, "Then 'bless' them with your 'divine' presence, O great and powerful Ice King." He growls at the mocking tone and quickly does the seals for Great FireBall jutsu. He then takes a great breath and holds his fingers at his mouth, he then releases the jutsu.
He blinks as he feels something cold press itself at his throat. He looks out the corner of his eye and finds Naruto standing there. "Water clone jutsu. I heard you about eight minutes before you appeared. You're quite noise, stomping around like that." Naruto says simply. He glares and Naruto moves his head slightly, before taking the kunai away from his throat. "If you know it, then why haven't you used it before?" He shouts at Naruto as the other boy begins to get dressed. "Unlike you, I don't go parading around, showing off my advance jutsus, and trust me, I do know quite a few of them, thanks to Shikamaru helping me to break down the instructions to help me understand how to do them. I might not want to pursuit the life of a ninja, but that doesn't stop me from learning to defend myself." Naruto replies as he ties his headband and gives him a pointed look.
He snorts and kicks a pebble as he considers that. "You're just jealous that I get all the attention." He finally remarks. Naruto studies him with an unreadable expression, then says, "Once I might have, but funny thing is, I pity you for all of that attention. All an enemy spy needs to do is talk to one of your fan girls to learn the list of jutsus you know. Surprise will always be a ninja's greatest tool and, sadly, you kind of lost that during the academy days." He blinks in surprise as he begins to get an idea of what Naruto's talking about. He feels queasy about that, for he can see picture his fan club doing just that. He just stares off into space as what this could mean for his future. He didn't like what he pictured, not one bit.
)-(Naruto)-(
He sighs, wondering if he broke Sasuke. 'But then, it's not every day someone points out that everything they've accomplished has been recorded and can be used against them if someone thinks to ask certain people. It doesn't help that everyone knows what to expect, considering which clan he belongs to.' He thinks privately to himself. He finishes putting on his sandals and considers what to do about Sasuke. Sighing, he decides to stick around just to keep watch on the dark haired boy.
After about ten minutes, Sasuke snaps out of it and walks off towards the inn. He just watches as Sasuke vanishes into the forest. "Odd reaction, you'd think he thought about it in that way." Shadow growls out softly. He just nods and replies, "I don't think too many ninjas think about it that way. I can maybe understand jonin not caring, maybe even chunin, but you'd think genin would try their hardest to wait to show off their jutsus until the chunin examine."
"We're far enough away for me to fly us to one of the sites." Shadow roars out. He blinks in surprise and then grins. "I'm going to ride on your back? Or within of you?" He asks. Shadow looks him up and down before growling, "Inside, it'll be easier that way." He sighs and nods; he then turns his back to Shadow. Soon he feels things wrap around him and he blacks out.
)-(Shadow)-(
It felt odd to have someone within him, especially when he's not escaping from a damaged Zoid. Not that he's complaining about Naruto's weight, just that it was just kind of freaky to be traveling with his partner within him. But they were approaching their destination quickly and only after about two hours of flight.
As he passes fields of green under him, he can help but compare this world to his home. This place is lust with a great deal of forests, fields, and such. Not like the wastelands that tend to cover planet Zi. It was kind of hard not to notice, especially after a good six years, how much life this world holds.
Then his scanner beeps, alerting him that they were within five hundred meters of the Zoid that's located within this area. He begins his descent as he begins change speeds for his jets. He soon begins to evade the larger branches and trunks as he descends pass the treetops. He soon touches down and then releases Naruto from his hatch. The blond preteen lies on the ground. He's not too worried, for Naruto's fine, he's just resting.
Within two minutes, Naruto is stirring and within the next three, Naruto's fully wake and is stretching out his legs and arms. "Is that normal, that blacking out I mean?" Naruto asks him. "Yes." He growls out. Naruto just smiles and begins to look around.
"So which direction do we head in to find this Zoid?" His partner asks. He turns north east and Naruto follows his gaze. "You might as well lead the way. You know where we're headed." Naruto suggests as he motions for him to take the lead. He nods and soon he's in the lead with Naruto trailing behind.
)-(Sasuke)-(
He growls as he continues to practice throwing kunai. He can't believe he had been so stupid, sure he's proud of what he knows but what's the point of having everyone know what jutsus he knows and mastered? It also stung that the dead last of their class could see the disadvantage of being proud enough to show off all of his techniques. So basically, all he knows about Naruto is that he has average Taijutsu and unknown amount of jutsus.
He blinks as his hand grasps nothing from his pouch and looks down to find none left to throw. He snarls as he begins to walk around to gather up his kunai. He decides that he'll need to ask Kakashi for other elemental jutsus later. Everyone knows that his clan specializes in fire jutsus, so he might as well surprise people by learning and mastering other elemental jutsus. 'Or at least until I activate my bloodline.' He smiles at the very thought as he searches the undergrowth for his kunai.
To be continued …