Teumessian
Sometimes when we reach vast spaces between villages, Naruto uses his Demon Fox Transformation. A grand specimen of kitsune that could rival Inari himself. Hop on, Sakura-chan.
My knuckles white against orange fur; trees, lakes, hills, mountains, clouds, all zoom past in a blur as I have to adjust myself behind Naruto's head for wind resistance. Then déjà vu, the memory of other things zooming past us. Random villagers, establishments, trees, kunai as we run run run from the teammates we thought we'd deceived. Hayaku! Hayaku! Then for a fraction of a second, that ninja's eternity, Naruto's eyes and mine meet, and we share this encouragement: we will succeed, the two of us together.
And we do, then and now as past and present blur like the objects we zoom past.
Adrenaline takes over and I tighten my body against his fur, making myself more aerodynamic. No one can catch us at the speed we're going…uncatchable…
I remember a story Naruto once told me during one of our storytelling contests, something from one of the Sandaime's old books. There once was a giant man-eating fox that lived in Teumessos, an ancient city in Thebes. Many hunters had tried to rid their country of this beast, but it always evaded their hounds and traps, for it was destined to always be uncatchable. So one day, the king gave his nephew Amphitryon the task of destroying this beast. Amphitryon eventually sent Laelaps, a hound that was destined to always catch its prey, to pursue the uncatchable fox. Eventually, the god Zeus became so frustrated with the paradox of inescapable pursuing uncatchable that he turned both beasts to stone.
Naruto and I are like that. Uncatchable, just like that fox. But unlike that fox, there is no Laelaps to pursue us, physical or proverbial.
