Naruto? He's pretty unlucky.
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I don't own Naruto or Touhou. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and ZUN respectively. I am borrowing their characters and their setting without their permission to tell a story.
This chapter is slow. It introduces characters and attempts to explain the spell card rules...most of which can be safely ignored or forgotten. I did seed some tidbits in this chapter that I'll need in future chapters however.
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Chapter 2: Before the Red Dawn
-o-o-o-
"Wake up."
Naruto felt something nudging his side. It felt like someone's toe.
"You should be fine now. Get up."
Naruto felt the nudge again.
"What?" he heard himself reply.
That voice. It sounded dead. It was his, right?
"What happened?" he tentatively asked.
Instead of an answer like he expected, he felt something placed on top of his chest. "Here. Drink."
In his weakened state, his arm barely responded to his thoughts. But he was able to get a firm grasp of whatever it was. Turns out it was a cup of warm tea.
With a significant grunt of effort, he managed to push himself into a sitting position without spilling a drop of the tea.
The girl sitting across from him had an amused expression on her face...probably from seeing his troubles trying to sit up. She was the shrine miko who lived and worked in the Hakurei shrine, she was well known for the large red bow with frills on the tips that held her long brown hair in a ponytail. It was so large that it gave her the appearance of ears or wings on her head. You could tell that she wasn't big on tradition as she wore a modified red and white shrine maiden uniform with detachable sleeves and a red vest. Despite her amusement, her red eyes also had a focused quality to them. It looked like she was watching him closely for some reason.
This girl was Reimu. She wouldn't let him call her anything else. He tried at first. It ended...badly.
With a sip, he tried the tea. Then, finding that he was suddenly feeling very thirsty, he quaffed the rest in a single gulp.
He set the cup down on the tea table nearby before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"More?" she asked as she gestured to the teapot on the side.
He slowly nodded before the crisp sound of tea pouring from the porcelain pot quietly filled the room.
He quaffed this one just as quickly as the first. However, instead of asking for a refill again, he stared down at the still-warm empty cup.
"What time is it?"
"About five in the afternoon," the shrine maiden answered as she pushed forward a small plate used for tea time pastries.
"Have a bite. I just purchased them so they're nice and soft."
Naruto stared at the large sugar-dusted spherical balls sitting on the plate. "What are these?"
"Daifuku," she promptly replied without missing a beat. It wasn't the first time he had asked about an item that everyone should know about.
"Daifuku..." he tested the word on his tongue as he reached forward and snagged a piece. He nibbled on one end before making a face. It tasted plain.
Reimu had to laugh at that. "You need to take a bigger bite. The filling inside is what makes them tasty."
Curious, Naruto popped the rest into his mouth. Only to start choking later when he tried to swallow.
At that, Reimu quickly slid beside the boy before pounding him on the back. "Come on. I'm not healing you again."
Her help wasn't any help at all. In fact, she was probably making it worse since everytime she struck, it felt like the object was sliding further down his windpipe. Still, after several hacks, he was still shaking involuntarily but whatever was blocking his windpipe finally went down his throat in a cough-gulp way. Naruto took several deep and grateful breaths of air before he started coughing again as his throat seemed to burn with pain.
Once the danger had passed, Reimu returned to her spot on the other side of the tea table. She calmly picked up and filled the boy's tea cup before sliding it back over to him. "Mm. Here's some advice. These are chewy, so try not to choke if you try to eat the rest at once."
Naruto quickly slammed a hand to his mouth as his response was to enter another coughing frenzy, halted only by gulping down the rest of his tea. After that, he settled with giving the priestess an evil glare.
Silence descended on the room again as Reimu calmly returned to taking slow sips of her own tea while staring outside at the frightfully warm afternoon. Naruto's glare? It had remarkably similar qualities to a yapping chihuahua. Loud but ultimately unthreatening.
This situation remained for several minutes before Reimu finished the tea in her cup.
That was when the shrine priestess finally broke the silence. "So. What happened?" she asked while placing the empty tea cup down in front of her.
"Huh?" The boy's unintimidating expression changed to one of confusion.
Reimu picked up her teapot and tilted it, only to pause and flip the lid to peer inside. "I come back from a trip to the human village only to find you nearly dead inside of the shrine." As she said this, her gaze sharpened when it landed upon his tattered blood-stained jumpsuit that barely covered his modesty.
She set the teapot down again, leaving her cup empty. "By the way, I barely managed to heal you in time."
"..."
"..."
"Thank you."
The priestess smiled. "Of course,"
"Now then," She casually said as she leaned forward, a steely glint appearing in her eye, "Was a Youkai responsible for your wounds?"
"Huh? No." Naruto said as he shook his head.
The shrine priestess frowned. "I see."
Silence descended on the two.
"I'm sorry. I wish I could help."
"Heh, it's fine," Naruto said as he gave her a huge grin and a thumbs up. "It's in good hands now -ttebayo"
His grin was infectious as a weak smile appeared on the girl's face as she sat back. "...Good."
Reimu gestured to the plate again. Hesitant, Naruto slowly picked up another of the treats. He bit into it slowly this time as Reimu watched him closely.
"It looks like you've learned." the shrine priestess finally noticed when the boy finished the morsel without choking this time.
Naruto frowned. "It's not hard."
"I suppose not," Reimu sighed as she stood up. "Alright then. You're welcome to stay, but I'm afraid that I still have some chores to finish today."
She picked up the tea pot. "But first, I need to heat some water for the tea."
Naruto watched as Reimu entered the kitchen. She came out a few minutes later. Steam rose from the tea pot's spout indicating that she had added some hot water. Placing the tea pot onto the tea table, she made her way to the sliding door that led to the backyard. With a swift yank, Reimu had the sliding door open with a loud clack.
"Oi! Genjii! Wake up! It's time to work," she shouted in the direction of the large koi pond sitting in the middle of the yard.
Nothing happened.
And then, from the pond, what seemed to be a small island in the middle suddenly erupted upwards as it basically shot into the air. When the white foam of the water spout cleared, a turtle shell could be seen flying in midair using the front two flippers to "swim".
When Genji's wizened old head popped out from within the shell, the turtle proceeded to the next step. Banking in midair, he curved around for an approach vector.
And then he glided to a stop in front of Reimu.
"You called, Mistress?" the old turtle with a beard asked, looking upwards at the shrine maiden.
"So slow!" the shrine maiden reproached the large turtle that was less than half her height but wide enough for an adult to sit upon his shell comfortably.
Naruto quickly scrambled to his feet and made his way over. He could count on one hand how many times Reimu had shown him this giant turtle. However, the one point that stuck out to him was that the old fogey could fly. And right now, the blond-haired boy in orange couldn't. Not yet.
"Reimu! Can I borrow him when you're done?"
The shrine maiden sighed and held her forehead before she turned to her guest. "I'm getting rather tired of that question. I've already told you that you can keep him."
"But he won't let me keep him."
Reimu sighed again. "Beat him into the ground then. He's weak and useless, it should be easy."
"Mistress!" The turtle started crying at his contractor's wicked tongue.
"But he can fly! Have you seen that damn bastard fight? It's cheap! He stays high in the air and pelts the ground with exploding bubbles."
"I managed to capture him when I couldn't fly," the shrine priestess muttered before she sighed. "Whatever." She turned to the turtle, "Genji! I order you to stay on the ground for this next fight."
"Mistress!" The turtle started crying harder.
"There, turtle can't fly. Problem solved. Now stop asking for the turtle and take him off my hands already."
"Hear that! You belong to me now -ttebayo!"
Oof!
That was the sound of Naruto folding like a house of cards when the turtle closed the distance in the blink of an eye and rammed head-first right into the boy's gut.
"Insolent youngling. The day I belong to you is the day that I see the Mistress' great great grandmother."
Genji was apparently holding back since Naruto sprung back up almost immediately with a retort, "Isn't she dead?!"
Smack!
That was the sound of Naruto being clubbed on the head by a large flipper.
"Show some respect for your ancestors."
"My ancestor?! We're related?!"
Smack!
"Gaah!"
"Of course not you ninny."
From on the ground, Naruto rolled up his sleeves before he jumped to his feet again. "Okay -ttebayo, I don't have to take this!"
Smack! Smack!
"What's wrong youngling? This should be easy, right?"
"I'm not done with you yet..."
Smack!
"Ayayaya," a girl called out as she descended against the orange-red backdrop of a setting sun. She landed at the rear entrance to the shrine, her black wings folding neatly behind her back. "I smell a scoop. Let's see, how about, 'Human Boy Challenges Ancient Turtle Youkai'"
The newcomer was a tengu named Aya Shameimaru. She's an insatiable gossip who runs the Bunbunmaru Newspaper. In her pursuit for good stories, she generally makes a nuisance of herself. While it is true that she hasn't outright lied in any of her stories, she has been known to greatly stretch the truth and interject her own personal opinions in order to make them more exciting.
Smack!
"I-Is that all you got?"
Smack!
"Screw you!"
Smack!
"Raaargh!
Smack!
What the hell! I didn't even get to move this time!"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
The tengu slowly lowered her pen as the boy continued to have his ass handed to him in such a sad manner.
"Shouldn't you put a stop to this?" she finally asked, turning to the shrine priestess seated at the tea table, nonchalantly drinking her tea.
"Not my problem," was the calm reply the shrine miko casually replied as she reached over and plucked a daifuku from the pyramid of treats.
"..."
Smack!
She nibbled one end of the daifuku before waving the remainder back and forth in the air. "Besides, if he dies, he has that ability to come back at full health the next day," she paused to finish off the treat before staring into her teacup. "Or so I thought. When he appeared today, he was almost dead."
Aya nodded "That explains his clothes." she paused, before she raised her notepad. "But the boy himself looks fine, did you heal him?"
Reimu slowly nodded.
She was right to be cautious.
"Ehehehehe," Aya cackled oddly as she placed her feather quill to paper. However, before she had a chance to write anything, the quill had disappeared from her hand. Face still set in the mad docter expression, the black winged girl casually glanced over to where it laid on the ground. Lying beside it was a charm, the perpetrator that knocked the quill from her grip. Her gaze flicked back up towards Reimu. Judging from the new charm that Reimu was currently holding between her index and pointer finger, it was probably the local shrine maiden who had thrown it.
"Whatever you're thinking, get rid of it," Reimu ordered with narrowed eyes.
"But all stories where the boy is badly wounded has the girl stripping down naked because they need full body contact to maximize the heal's effectiveness."
"That didn't happen"
"W-What?!"
From the crow Tengu's shocked expression, it was like she couldn't comprehend the possibility that Reimu's emergency heal did not require skinship.
"I can try it out on you. But I have to warn you," Reimu said in a singsong tone of voice as she reached forward with one hand, a red glow surrounding it. "there's a possibility that it wouldn't heal the Youkai but purify them instead."
"L-Let's not be hasty here. I'm perfectly fine. See?"
"So it seems," Reimu sighed as she pulled back, the glow disappearing from her hand. "Aya. About why you are here."
"Ayayaya, is it about the new dueling rules?"
"Yes. Wait here for a moment while I pick up the draft," Reimu murmured as she stood up.
"I'd...rather not," the Tengu had an awkward tone in her voice as she tilted her head slightly toward the shameful display going on in the background.
"Suit yourself. Come inside then," the shrine miko said, unperturbed.
As Aya removed her sandals and stepped inside, Reimu entered a back room. She came out a moment later with a scroll tied by a gold thread.
"Read it over and let me know what you think."
"Ayayaya, to ask little old me to take part in something groundbreaking as this. I'm so honored."
"Just tell me what you think."
"Ah, let's see then." It didn't take long for Aya to unbind the scroll and unroll it. "To all youkai,"
"Nice start." the tengu commented to which Reimu just raised an eyebrow in warning. The youkai quickly continued reading. "There is concern that dueling between youkai may cause the small land of Gensokyo to collapse. However, if youkai are unable to fight, their power will gradually vanish. Therefore, I will propose a contract based on these four concepts:
That youkai can easily cause disasters.
That humans can easily resolve disasters.
That deciding victors solely based on strength is unacceptable.
That there is nothing superior to elegance and thought."
"This is it?" the tengu asked. "Where are the rules of the contract?"
"I was going to finish it today, but I was distracted," Reimu flicked a thumb toward the beatdown going on the background. Can you come by tomorrow to pick up the finished notice?"
The emphasis was hard to miss. "Why can't I stay and watch?"
"Aya. The only reason I'm even letting you publish the rules is that you promised that it would be the only article in the next edition of your newspaper. It will be the only article, correct?"
"But it needs some news to spice it up a bit. A newspaper focusing only on new dueling rules would be boring otherwise."
"This is important. I don't want any other stories distracting the Youkai from the rules of the new dueling system."
"But-"
"I said no."
"Don't be like that. You were in the most recent edition of Bunbunmaru. A well-written piece of work, I must say. Worthy of awards and accolades. Have you seen it? One of the articles had nothing but praise for your work on this new dueling system."
"Yes actually."
"You did?!" Aya's surprise soon turned into a happy dance, "Ayayaya, This is good news! Bunbunmaru Newspaper's subscriber base has grown by one!"
The happiness was not infectious. In fact, Reimu had a sour expression on her face. "Hey. Aya. I need to ask you something. You wrote that article, right?"
"Of course!"
"Do you remember what was in between 'It's incomprehensible. Who in their right minds would choose this ' and ' to create the rules for a competition of skill and beauty'?"
"How could I forget? I spent the better part of a minute coming up with something appropriate to call you."
"You called me a 'lazy tea drinking ogre'"
"I'm just writing how I see it," the tengu proudly proclaimed.
Reimu just stood there gritting her teeth, her fist shaking.
"So, now that you're a new fan of the newspaper, it's okay for me to spice up this next edition, right?"
"No."
"But..."
"I said no. We have a time and place for 'how you see things' and this isn't it." the shrine priestess shot back. "Besides..."
"Eh?" Aya looked on in curiosity at what the shrine priestess was going to do next.
"...Once was more than enough," Reimu coldly stated, the demon exterminating talisman once again in her hand.
Aya quickly started backing away, her hands making a placating gesture. "Alright alright, you've made your point. I'll stop by tomorrow in the morning for a SHORT article to put in a really SHORT newspaper."
"Just go already!" Reimu shot back as she raised the talisman threateningly.
Aya was soon outside after putting her sandals back on. With a flap of her wings, the tengu was already in the air. With another flap, she was zooming off into the sky. She moved so quickly that a small star could probably be seen where she finally disappeared from view. The Tengu's boast about being the fastest in Gensokyo wasn't for nothing.
Minutes passed...
And then, Reimu transformed the one talisman in her hand into an entire fan of them using a deft swipe of her thumb. This small trick was possible because she had been holding not just one talisman but a whole stack of them when she had threatened Aya earlier!
Closing her eyes and offering a quick prayer, she released every single one of the talismans with one swift flick of the wrist. Upon leaving her hand, the holy charms followed their launched trajectory for a brief second before they glowed a bright blue and twisted in midair to home in toward a nearby tree. There was a frantic squawk of surprise and Aya quickly shot off into the air, trailing leaves in her wake. The talismans zooming closely after her, some supernatural force urging them on.
A faint cry of "belligerent stingy lazy tea-drinking ogre!" could be heard from the rapidly retreating Youkai.
With a snarl, Reimu pulled out a second group of talismans before hurling them at the fading dot in the distance. These shot off just as quickly as the first set.
Satisfied, Reimu turned toward what was left of the fight in her backyard. It looks like the fight was almost over with Genji in the superior position.
"What's wrong youngling? I thought this was supposed to be easy." the giant turtle taunted as he pressed down, grinding the boy's lips into the grass.
"Mmmph!" Of course Naruto was pissed, but in his position he wasn't able to do anything.
"Alright Genjii. Leave the brat alone. It's time to make you a little less useless."
"Mistress!" The massive all-terrain reptile called out happily. "How may I assist you?"
Since she was inside of the shrine already, Reimu turned and made her way to the tea table. Genji flew through the back entrance soon afterwards, taking care to descend slightly to avoid the sliding door's lintel.
Once he landed on an open spot on the floor, Reimu started.
"It was up to you to fulfill the youkai's request to create a safer kind of dueling
"Only because you didn't want to do it yourself..." the turtle muttered.
"I demand a rematch -ttebayo!" Naruto shouted as he entered.
"...I want to hear what you've come up with. Let's start from the beginning," Reimu continued without missing a beat as a yin yang orb seemed to materialize in her hand.
Naruto promptly grunted and folded over as the orb smacked into his gut hard enough to eject him from the shrine. He landed in the grass outside.
"Very well," the turtle acquiesced with a nod, ignoring the sideshow. At this point it looked like, if he could, the turtle would be stroking his beard like a wise old man in deep contemplation. "Mistress, you are in charge of maintaining the barriers protecting Gensokyo from the outside. As you know, there is almost no magic in the outside world. It is the Great Hakurei Boundary that prevents this same event from happening here as well by preventing the magic from escaping to the outside world. There were some close calls lately, but thankfully no one has lost control of a large spell and destroyed the barrier. That's why we are creating this new dueling system in the first place. To keep large spells in che-"
"Get on with it Genji, I know this already."
"The Hakurei barrier needs magic to power and maintain itself. The magic in this realm is sufficient for that purpose. However, it only needs so much magic. The rest, it releases back into the air. In essence, all magic that's in the air comes from and goes to the Hakurei Barrier."
Reimu drummed her fingers on the table impatiently.
"Patience Mistress. I need to lay the groundwork for what comes next."
"I'll show you patience," Reimu muttered as she continued drumming her fingers.
"The magic given off by the barrier is for everyone to use, and most of the inhabitants of Gensokyo freely use this magic. Because there were no significant restrictions before, most of the Youkai that rely on this ambient magic to exist or to fight do not realize that they must follow the whims of the barrier. That will change once you make alterations to the barrier's behavior. However, they will come to understand once we convey to them that this is being done to protect the magic in the realm."
"I can adjust the barrier to do that. But I don't see how that would stop Youkai from fighting?"
"You are indeed correct. It does not. Youkai will still be able to fight, however what we are doing is asking the barrier to deny magic to any spells with intent to attack another. Without magic to power them, spells cannot be used. This includes the massive spells that we are concerned about."
"Okay."
"I have not mentioned this before, but you must keep in mind that you cannot control all magic spells. Magic that has not yet touched the barrier will remain out of your control. In particular, those spells that Youkai power using their own magic."
"Their own magic?"
"For very tiny spells, most Youkai should be able to generate enough magic to power the spell. This is not a problem. However, there are some Youkai that can generate significantly more magic. They will be able to cast significantly more powerful spells without assistance from the barrier. Should they lose control of that spell, the barrier may be in danger again. I am afraid that, should they create problems, you will have to deal with it personally. Thankfully, the Great Boundary should have more power than any single youkai in Gensokyou, so you have a powerful force to draw upon if necessary."
Reimu nodded.
"Shall I go over the rules next?" Genji offered.
"Please."
"We have already agreed on the following: If you are defeated in a naming duel, acknowledge the loss even if you can still fight. If victorious against a human, the Youkai may not kill the human. Repeating an attack is not allowed. The attack must have a name and a pattern."
"Are you really sure that we can't just say, 'powerful attacks are not allowed'? That would solve all of our problems at once."
"We are aiming for a fair set of rules. Because the most powerful attack by lesser Youkai would barely match the weakest attack of a greater Youkai, it would be a significant handicap to the lesser Youkai if they were not allowed to utilize their strongest attacks. This rule would be considered subjective and the lesser Youkai would not be happy with it."
"Che. Fine," Reimu grumbled, drumming her fingers on the tea table. "What else?"
"These rules should be written upon the spell cards."
"You've mentioned spell cards several times already. What are they?"
The turtle sighed. "Mistress, I have stated repeatedly that adjusting the Hakurei barrier is only one part of the solution. We will use spell cards to complete the rest."
"Huh?"
The turtle had to sigh again. "Spell cards are the named cards that we should use for each attack. You need to make them with the paper used for contracts with Youkai. Doing so will force the Youkai to follow the rules listed on the contract."
A frustrated look developed on Reimu's face. "But why do we need them?"
"As we've already covered, once you have adjusted the Hakurei barrier, the scale of fighting will lessen because the barrier will not give magic to those spells with an intent to attack another. We can prevent the destruction of the Hakurei barrier by powerful uncontrolled spells when most spells cannot be cast in the first place. However, you must remember that that was not the only goal. We wish for the Youkai to fight in order to prevent their power from disappearing."
"That is where the contracts come in," Genji continued when Reimu finally nodded. "First, in addition to adjusting the barrier to discourage magic use, you must also alter it so that those possessing contracts with your blessing will be allowed to use the magic specified on the contract."
"As I have said before, you will write the rules for the duels upon the contracts themselves. Should the Youkai create a spell card using one of these contracts, they signify that they have agreed to the terms. Most of them will be forced to follow the rules of the contract even if they disagree with any of the rules."
"What about humans?"
"Youkai contracts are an agreement between humans and Youkai only. In theory, humans that sign a Youkai contract will not be bound by the rules listed on the contract. This means that, aside from those that the contract itself can enforce, humans may choose which rules they wish to disregard. However, keep in mind that their magic is still bound by the Hakurei barrier. As a result, like Youkai, the barrier will not permit humans to use its power unless they hold a contract with your blessing."
"And that means...?"
"If you wish to prevent a human from using magic, do not give them a contract."
"So once the barrier is changed, you'll need to hold one of her contracts if you want to use the barrier's magic to fight?" a third voice wondered.
"Correct. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day I suppose."
"..." From his silence, it was obvious that the boy didn't get it.
"...idiot." the turtle coughed.
"Hey!"
"This is going to be such a pain." the shrine miko grumbled, returning to the topic at hand. "Fine, I'll do it. But I'm not going to write up these contracts just so a Youkai can waste it to create a spell card for a single punch or kick. They can do that without a card."
"Then I propose an additional rule. Meaningless attacks are not allowed."
"Meaningless attacks? Couldn't we just say basic attacks?"
"'Meaningless' sounds more elegant don't you think, Mistress?"
"I have a feeling I'm going to be explaining that one a lot," the Miko sighed. "Alright, if you believe that the other Youkai would appreciate it more then we'll keep it." She stood up and made her way to the shrine's study.
"Thank you Mistress!"
"Alright then, let's give this a try," Reimu said as she came back out with a stack of contract papers. She pulled one off of the stack before listing out the necessary rules.
If you are defeated in a naming duel, acknowledge the loss even if you can still fight.
If victorious against a human, the Youkai may not kill the human.
Repeating an attack is not allowed.
The attack must have a name and a pattern.
Meaningless attacks are not allowed.
That done, she held a hand out and concentrated. Before long, the contract shrunk until it took the form of a card. The design on the front had what looked like a circle lined with cards.
Reimu, beaming at her progress so far quickly picked up the card and made her way out the front entrance before floating into the air. Seconds later, a sphere of charms exploded outwards. Those charms that hit an obstruction vanished with a pop. For those blades of grass that were hit, they swayed slightly but there was no explosion or evaporation of grass.
Success!
Or was it? Reimu touched down lightly soon afterwards and stepped inside. Both of her guests, well, one freeloader and one visitor, were impressed.
She came in fanning herself with a blank card in a flaunting display of pride and accomplishment. Looking at Naruto, Reimu proceeded to point at him with the card. "Okay then, everyone must be able to play by these rules. Everyone. So, brat...no offense to you, but you're definitely on the weaker side."
"Hey!"
"Obviously," the turtle scoffed.
"You want another go at it, you fossil?"
"These old bones are done demonstrating the stark difference between our levels," the turtle airily said, waving off the threat.
"Scared?"
"Of you? no."
"I need to see what your power level will be like with these rules so it's your turn to make one now. Plus you can come back if you die, so you'll also be useful for testing if the spell cards are lethal." Reimu continued as the byplay occured in the background.
"Listen!" Reimu shouted as she slammed a palm on the table causing the dish of sweet-filling treats to jump and land with a clatter. The two arguing in the background immediately stilled their mouths.
"You. Sit," she ordered, gesturing to the spot next to her hand.
Naruto hurried to obey without question.
Reimu removed her hand, revealing a prepared document underneath. "Okay, just imagine what your spell is going to look like, then imagine pushing it into this contract."
Naruto stared at the card, thinking of what he had just seen.
And then he stared, and continued to stare.
And when he couldn't stare anymore, he turned to Reimu.
"Well?" she impatiently demanded.
"Did I manage to make one?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course you didn't."
"I didn't? Maybe it's defective."
Reimu took a look, before she pulled another contract sheet off the stack and wrote the appropriate rules upon it.
"I doubt it. But I'll humor you just this time. Now try again. Be serious this time." She said as she slid it in front of the boy.
"..."
This time, Naruto stared at the new contract under his hand. He stared until his face gained a rather pinched look remarkably similar to one someone would have when they're having trouble on the toilet.
"Alright, stop." Reimu commanded.
When he glanced at her, Naruto saw that she was unamused.
"It seems like you really can't stop messing around."
"I'm not!"
Reimu ignored him as she pulled a third contract from the stack and she filled it out before throwing it before Genji.
"Alright Genji. You do it."
"Hah! That turtle?!"
"Gladly, mistress."
After the yellow glow died down, the turtle had a card of his own. The design on the front looked like a bubbles grouped together in what looked like multiple curved laser beams.
Genji had a smug grin on his face. On his first try too. Naruto's jaw dropped while Reimu turned a harsh glare toward the boy.
Before Reimu could chew him out, a shadow swooped down from the sky.
"Oi! Reimu! There was some crazy charms flying from here a moment ago. Anyway, I need a place to stay for the next week -ze!"
The newcomer was a blond-haired human magician who wears a floppy pointed navy-blue witch's hat with a large pink ribbon. She was currently riding a broom side-saddle as it slowly descended the last few centimeters before hovering about a meter off of the ground.
"Oh hey! The kid's here."
"Marisa!" Naruto called out to the newcomer.
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" Marisa shot back just as energetically as she made a gun gesture with her right hand and,
"Bang!" playfully pretended to shoot at the boy while giving him a megawatt grin.
With a swift hop, she dismounted from her hovering broom and landed lightly on the ground, her broom in hand.
"So, about the living arrangements. I was thinking that since your room wa-"
"De-nied."
"What? Aww, c'mon. Don't be like that -ze! We're pals, right?"
"Yeah! Let her stay!"
Reimu turned toward the boy at the table her eyes narrowed and a frown on her face. "Get back to work," she ordered.
"See! This is why I like you kid!" Marisa said at the same time.
"Teach me magic Marisa!" Naruto called out, completely ignoring Reimu.
"Sure! But first, how is your progress on magic circles?"
"I've been trying everyday, but aside from that puff of smoke from..." he paused as he started counting using his fingers. "...a while back...nothing."
"Really?! A-chaaa, I thought that you were onto something big when something actually happened with that summoning circle," Marisa griped as she rubbed the back of her neck in an embarrassed fashion. "Well, keep it up -ze. You'll get it before the next time that we see each other."
"At least tell me how to get it to work!"
"I told you everything that you needed to know. Magic is different for everyone, you have to figure out the rest on your own."
"I knew it! You're just being lazy! You use that excuse when you don't feel like it!"
Marisa burst out in guffaws. "Ahahaha, nuts. Six months. Just a little more and it would have been seven. What finally gave me away?"
That surprised Naruto. "Wait. You were?"
"I was...what?" Now it was Marisa's turn to be confused.
"I told him what to say if you gave him another magic is different for everyone speech again," Reimu cut in.
Marisa gave Reimu a half-lidded stare and mouthed 'I'll remember this' before she turned to the now-glowering boy. She gave a nonchalant shrug. "No helping it I guess -ze. Looks like you can't use magic circles either. We'll try some other type of magic once I can pull my spellbooks from home."
"You're just saying that to avoid responsibility again!"
Marisa held up a hand, telling the belligerent boy to stop. "Listen kid. I have a good reason this time."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"I don't have to tell you. -ze"
"You will have to tell me though." Reimu commented from her spot.
"I don't have to tell you either!" Marisa defensively shot back.
"Did you forget what you were shouting when you stopped by in the first place?" Reimu asked, pointing out that Marisa was looking for a place to stay earlier.
"Ngh." Marisa recoiled as if struck.
"Hey yeah! What happened to your house?!"
A vein started throbbing on Marisa's forehead. "Shut it kid. Or whatever I'm going to do to those fairies, I'll do to you too -ze." It remained to be seen whether her irritation stemmed from being reminded of the incident or from the loudmothed brat in front of her.
"Yeah?!"
"Look. I like you kid. That's why I'll give you till the count of three to shut it, or else..."
"Whatcha gonna do about it?" Naruto taunted as he proceeded to blow a raspberry at the human magician in witch theme. Another vein pulsed on the blond magic user's forehead.
"3!" she shouted as she stood up.
"Hey?! What happened to 1 and 2?!" Naruto shouted as he also shot to his feet and prepared to run.
"Did you know that the shooting stars that we see falling from the sky are massive flaming rocks? Guess what I have?!" Marisa yelled at the same time.
BANG
That was the sound of someone slamming both palms on the tea table to get your attention. This was soon followed by a throwing motion.
Before Naruto and Marisa could jump from the sudden clap of noise, they were already on the ground clutching their heads. A large lump on both of their noggins developed where Reimu had beaned them with a yin yang orb.
"You," Reimu pointed at Naruto. "Get back to work. Now. I'm not going to say it again."
"How about...No." the boy shot back as he jumped back to his feet once again, his face set in a look of challenge still riled up from his argument with Marisa.
Reimu promptly held something up. It was a cup of instant ramen. Oddly enough, cup ramen was one of those really hard to find things here in Gensokyo. Most of them were brought in by Naruto actually.
She then held something else up in her other hand. It was one of her o-fuda, a talisman that she made using a slip of paper and inscribed with kami's power.
An expression of fear replaced the challenging expression that Naruto had earlier. "Wait, what are you planning to do?"
"Would you like to find out?" Reimu pleasantly asked, a beautiful smile on her face. To Naruto, it was the face of a demon and the voice of satan himself.
Quickly picking up the paper in front of him, he began concentrating again. He had no choice, he had seen what one of those things could do to a rock.
Marisa just watched quietly while Reimu and Naruto sniped at each other. Now that he was distracted, Marisa quickly sat down at the other end of the tea table before sidling up to the shrine priestess.
"Is it still on the loose?" Marisa quietly whispered as she reached out and snagged a Daifuku. She used it to gesture toward the boy, pointing out the ripped and bloodstained jumpsuit that the blond boy sported.
"It wasn't a Youkai."
"Really? Ah, shame -ze. I could use the excitement," the blond magician looked disappointed as she took a bite. Then she perked up again. "What're you guys up to?"
"Trying to get the brat to make a spell card," she turned to the one in question. "If he would stop fooling around..."
"I'm not!" the boy protested from the side.
"...he would have finished this before you arrived," Reimu lectured without missing a beat. "Kami-sama, he's making this harder than it should be."
Marisa smacked a fist into her palm as the answer came to her. "It's your spell card idea, right? It's finally done?"
"I came up with it..." a turtle tried to say. It's lonely voice was ignored.
"I just need to test it. Unfortunately, I don't have an opponent," Reimu groused, giving Naruto a pointed look.
The boy responded by sticking his tongue out and giving her a raspberry too. The shrine maiden ignored him.
"Let me see! Let me see!" Marisa happily begged, eager to see new magic.
"I guess," Reimu said in a voice that seemed to lack enthusiasm, but the smile on her face said otherwise. She held up the first spell card that she had created. The first spell card ever in the history of Gensokyo.
But nothing happened.
Confused, she looked at the card with a critical eye before realizing that it was blank. "Oh, one of the rules is that you can only use it once per battle. I guess I can't use it again until tomorrow or if I reenter a battle."
She pulled a sheet of contract paper from the top of the stack and wrote a few rules down.
After what seemed like a bit of staring, the onlookers watched as the paper glowed before it shrunk until it resembled a card.
Unlike the other two who had seen this already, Marisa was surprised and impressed. "Aha! Very pretty -ze! My turn!"
"...Okay." Reimu pulled the incomplete contract from in front of Naruto and placed it in front of Marissa. "Here, I've already done most of the work for you."
A scowl soon appeared on the blond witch's face when nothing happened.
"See Reimu!" Naruto shouted. "It's not just me!"
A vein throbbed on Marisa's forehead. Despite being hidden by the oversized witch's hat, it was clearly visible. "Eh? You're asking for a beating kid, aren'tcha?"
"Concentrate!" Reimu ordered.
Genji pushed himself onto the tea table. "You should understand how the cards work. The contract is a template. By supplying it with magic, it will create the desired pattern within the card."
"Shut up Genji," Marisa and Reimu both shouted at the turtle.
"No respect," the turtle muttered.
Reimu decided to offer some advice. "Look! Ignore the turtle. All you have to do is focus on the card and give it an elegant name then whatever you're thinking will appear."
"Oi Reimu! Don't you think your explanations are a bit off?" Marisa complained.
"It's how you're supposed to do it!" Reimu shot back. "...So just do it!"
"You're asking for the impossible!" Marisa sniped back.
It was time for Naruto to draw on his experience so far. "Hey! When I was making one..."
"You still haven't made one yet!" three voices shot back.
"Guh!" Naruto had no choice but to concede that point.
By now, everyone was shouting. The confrontations almost became physical before Naruto made an odd suggestion.
"How about hypnotism?"
"Are you stupid or something kid?" Marisa asked. Two others voiced their agreement immediately.
"Hey!"
"Errgh, whatever. I'm telling you this now kid, but if this fails I'm gonna kick your ass for making me look silly. So who here can do hypnotism?"
When none present made a move, Marisa turned to Naruto. "It's your suggestion, take responsibility."
"What? How?"
"Lucky for you, I read a book on this -ze. Listen carefully."
Marisa held up a finger. "First you're going to wave something in front of me and you'll continue to say, 'you're getting sleepy.' "
She held up a second finger. "Then, when I finally do zone out, you're going to say 'When I clap my hands, you will be able to create a spell card.' "
"After that, you'll clap your hands. And that should be it. Got it?"
Naruto had a confused expression on his face. "Uh...I guess so. What do I wave in front of you?"
Marisa had to think about that for a moment. "Do you have a pocketwatch?"
"You mean this? It doesn't work though." The pocketwatch was a gift from the Third. When it broke, Naruto begged the old man if he could take it. Even though the Third could have taken it to the jewelers to have it repaired so he could continue using it, he gave in and handed it to the Fourth's legacy. Naruto frequently carried it with him whenever he went outside even though it didn't work. It's not like he needed it to keep the time, he was just hoping that it would grant him superpowers like a certain silver-haired maid. So far nothing of the sort had happened yet.
"That'll do." She took it and held it by the chain before letting it swing back and forth. "Wave it like this. Got it?"
Naruto nodded.
"Good. Let's go."
Naruto took the pocketwatch back. "Uhh...well, okay. You're getting sleepy. You're getting sleepy."
After half an hour of swinging the pocketwatch back and forth, Reimu stood up and shoved Naruto aside as she ripped the watch from his grasp.
She was about to take over when she stopped and waved a hand in front of Marisa.
There was no response.
Only then did the three in the shrine finally realize that Marisa had a glazed expression on her face.
"How long has she been like this?" Reimu whispered with a low growl.
Naruto could only shrug helplessly. But from his actions, it could be concluded that she had been like that for quite a while now.
"Ow ow ow."
Reimu had grabbed his skull and was starting to squeeze. "...and you didn't notice at all?!"
"Why didn't you?!" Naruto shot back.
The shrine miko's grip tightened.
"Gaaah! Yes! Yes! It's my fault! It's my fault! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
The pressure slackened slightly.
"I'm glad that you understand. Now, can we get moving? I'd like this done by today."
"O-Okay." Naruto turned to Marisa and began the next step. "When I clap my hands, you will be able to create a spell card."
He paused before adding, "and you will teach Naruto a new spell this month."
"Plus you will make a donation to the Hakurei shrine."
"And you will call Genji, 'My Lord'"
Naruto stared at the other two with a deadpan expression, only to have the same stare returned with equal vigor, daring him to say a word. Unable to challenge them, he clapped his hands.
And then Marisa blinked several times before she wiped the drool leaking from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. "What happened?"
"Did it work?" Naruto asked.
Marisa ignored him as her eyes fell on Reimu. "Hey Reimu, before I forget. Rinnosuke was giving out coupons. Here, you can take my copy." All three bystanders stared at the scene before comprehension dawned on all of them in the same instant. Two of them flashed a smug grin toward the ticked off shrine maiden.
Instead of making her displeasure known, Reimu reluctantly turned her attention toward Marisa. Punishment could wait, this was more important. The two, not realizing that they were in trouble, also turned their attention to the last person in the room.
As for Marisa, her gaze had returned to the contract sitting in front of her. "Alright, let's give this a try," the blond magician said in a challenging tone as she rolled up her sleeves.
Soon after placing her hand on the contract, it started to glow before it smoothly morphed into a card.
"Whaddya know, the hypnotism worked -ze," Marissa happily said to the card as she picked it up. Emblazoned on the front of the card was a star with a tail of small stars. Two of the audience members were stunned in disbelief. The last one was jumping in joy.
Holding her other hand out in the shape of a gun, Marisa gathered some magic.
[Magic Sign: Shooting Star]
From her finger came a single star-shaped energy shot. It struck Naruto right in the forehead, eliciting a squawk of pain. The blond crumpled where he was standing earlier.
"Mm...Not bad," Marissa finally said.
"We need to add a rule so that a weak attack like this cannot be used." Reimu deadpanned as she checked the boy for signs of life. "He's alive though. So they're not fatal. Good."
"In that case Mistress, I propose an additional rule. The pattern must be equivalent to your power."
"Equivalent to your power?"
"How silly would it be for a simple fairy to fill the entire area with bullets? Above all else, they would not be able to provide enough magic to power the entire attack. But in a duel, a youkai must impress the other party. What better way to impress someone, and to end a duel quickly, than to show off how much power you are capable of?"
"Quickly is good. Okay. I'll add that." She said before she slapped Naruto several times. When his eyes finally opened, she plopped him in front of his contract. "Now see! Even Marissa managed to make one. It's your turn now. Be serious about it this time. In fact, wait. Let's just hypnotize you."
Of course he wasn't going to refuse. It worked with Marisa, right?
When he came to, the sky was becoming dark outside. That wasn't all that changed. Marisa now sported a scowl and a shiner on her left eye while Genji looked like he had been beaten several times. Reimu was looking away, shaking occasionally.
"What happened?" Naruto had to ask. "And why am I all wet?"
"Wet?" Reimu managed to squeak out. "Really?"
"Damn you Reimu, ending on Lake Monster..." Marisa muttered under her breath. "We could have done a Tsuchinoko next..."
"..." Genji didn't say a thing. Was he unconscious?
Naruto narrowed his eyes. Suspicious...
Reimu hurriedly covered her mouth. "You've been hypnotized. Make that card now." She finally managed to say from behind her hand before she quickly turned around and gave a muffled grunt. Was she...laughing?
Naruto didn't care. Upon hearing that the hypnotism was done, his attitude did a complete flip. "Really?! Okay then, prepare to be amazed. " he called out excitedly.
Only for nothing to happen.
"Hah! Still can't do it kid?" Marisa asked as she tauntingly waved a blank card in front of him.
Naruto scowled. "Why?!" he demanded.
Reimu stopped shaking and turned around, a scowl on her face. She threw her hands up into the air. "I don't have time for this." She pointed at the turtle, "You. Get ready." She pointed at Naruto, "You. Continue trying to make a card. If you still don't get it, Mari-"
She stopped and turned. Three pairs of eyes fell on the blond magician who was silently slinking toward the front entrance, her broom in hand.
"Marisa."
"No way -ze!"
"You'd better if you want that room."
"Hah! I don't need it anymore. Alice should be back at her cottage by now."
Reimu had an oddly thoughtful look on her face. "Didn't Alice disappear the day before yesterday? She'll be gone for a week."
"How did you know?" Marisa demanded. The numbers did match up. She had been looking for Alice for two days now, trying to find out more about the mushrooms she had found in the forest. It galled her, finding out that Reimu might already know what happened. Especially since she doubted Alice would go out of her way to let Reimu know.
"Secret," the shrine miko replied without hesitation. "Would you like to know? It's really amazing if I do say so myself."
Marisa grit her teeth and slowly forced out a nod, to which Reimu immediately pointed back to the tea table.
"Oi, at least give us some more contracts to work with -ze," Marisa bit out when she sat down.
Reimu stopped midway to the door. "Can't you make your own? The papers are right there."
It was the turtle that interjected with a shake of his head. "The contracts need your blessing, Mistress. Fakes will not work."
The shrine priestess clicked her tongue and returned to the table. "Troublesome." She took a few sheets of youkai contract paper from the stack and wrote down the rules on each one. After adding another rule, "The pattern must be equivalent to your power," she handed the small stack to the blond witch before she left through the entrance at the front of the shrine.
"Alright Genjii, now that you have your own card. Let's try this out." Reimu called from outside.
"Mistress!" the turtle called out as he waddled outside as well.
"What a drag -ze" Marisa moaned as Bubbles and Charms started to fill the air.
"Can I see?" Naruto asked as he pointed at the card that Marisa was still holding in her hand.
"Eh...why not?" Marisa handed the blank card to Naruto, only for their eyes widen in surprise when he took hold of it. The star had reappeared. The card could be used again.
"Gimme that," Marisa quickly swiped the card back. The image faded from view.
"Here," Marisa quickly stuck it between the boy's fingers again. The image reappeared. "Try it out."
"..." Naruto concentrated, but nothing happened.
"No luck?"
"What am I supposed to do?" the boy demanded in frustration.
"Feel around for a connection. Then push your magic through it and then the card will turn that magic into a spell."
"Connection...connection...doesn't feel like there is one..."
"Can't feel a connection? Really?"
"Yeah..."
Marisa frustratedly scratched a spot under her hat. "Rrgh. This doesn't make sense -ze."
Naruto stared at her, curious. "What?"
"If you hadn't completed that quest that I gave you years ago, I would think that you can't find a connection because you have no magic ability." Marisa groaned as she took back the card. Right before she was going to pocket it, she paused. Then, with a casual flick, the card was sliding to a stop in front of the boy.
Confused, Naruto looked at it and then Marisa, only to see her give him a confident grin and a thumbs up. "Keep it -ze. Instead of the spell circles, let's see if you can get this to work. And the best thing is that I don't have to teach you anything for another month. Guahahha"
Naruto scowled. "Hey!"
"Sorry kid. But I've fulfilled my promise," Marisa said with a shrug. "Take it...or leave it. I'm giving you something to learn and if you refuse you can't force me to teach you anything else.
She paused. "Why am I getting the urge to teach the brat something anyway?"
"?" Naruto stared at her, trying to figure out what she was mumbling.
Marisa's hand landed with a loud clap onto Naruto's shoulder. "Hey, brat. Aside from making it possible to create spell cards, what else did you order me to do?"
A thoughtful look appeared on Naruto's face. "Umm, that you would teach me something new?"
Marisa blinked. "That's it? That I would teach you more magic? You didn't ask me to clean your house or give you a back rub or anything?"
"No," Naruto repeated before his eyes narrowed "Why?"
"No reason," the blond-haired magician quickly said before she started rubbing the back of her head in an awkward manner, "Atchaa...now I feel kind of bad."
"Mari-"
"Eh, whatever. So, are you going to keep the card or not?"
"Mari-"
"Are you keeping the card?"
"What did you-"
"I'll take that as a no then," Marisa said as she reached forward.
SLAP
That was Naruto's hand landing heavily on the [Shooting Star] card. Neither of them noticed that the moment his hand touched the card, the card's pattern became visible again.
"I take it that you want it then?"
Naruto just glared challengingly at her.
"Suit yourself," Marisa said as she turned her attention to the fight outside. "And now I don't have to teach you for a while. Gyahahaha!"
"Hey!" Naruto started to protest before something seemed to blow up in his face, knocking him to the floor.
"You accepted, now shut up." Marisa carelessly said, blowing some imaginary smoke off of her finger..
Naruto jumped to his feet. "Like He-"
Thwack!
Naruto slowly picked himself up after face-planting the floor when something slapped his head from behind. "What the?!"
Thwack! Smack! Pok!
This time, after being clubbed from the side, rough bristles had swiped across has face. "SPPPLT! Hey! What the hell! Get away!"
Marisa casually picked her ear and stared outside with interest, ignoring the fight between Naruto and her broom going on in the background. She thought she had just heard a cry of pain from within the wavy beams of bubbles that were filling the air.
When the bubbles cleared, Reimu was on the ground clutching an arm.
"Guh, I guess you can interrupt my attacks now."
The turtle's eyes soon narrowed as a sinister grin seemed to appear. Genjii was starting to realize the implications of this new system. "Ho ho ho! With this, I can finally free myself from your oppressive rule!"
"What's that? You want to step it up a notch?! You? With the single spell card?!"
Reimu started to glow, and then the glow disappeared, manifesting in a massive sealing circle just to the left of Genji. Then it exploded.
It was a move that was simple yet devastating, if not fatal, against Youkai.
It violated the rules so Reimu did it without a card.
"Mistress! That's cheating!" the turtle protested, slightly singed from the attack but unharmed. Was Reimu in a forgiving mood?
"Heh? What's that? Did a smart-mouthed turtle accuse me, the humble Reimu, of cheating?"
She flicked her long hair behind her shoulder.
"Perhaps this turtle has forgotten that...the humble Reimu is his master? Surely this turtle may wish to say a word of thanks to the humble Reimu for granting him mercy and a place to stay?"
Reimu started to glow again as she pulled out a yin-yang orb from her robes and held it above her head.
Marisa's mouth suddenly dropped.
And then a massive clap filled the air, shaking everything that it touched.
"Tch," Reimu clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.
"Hey! What the heck! That was my idea!" the blond magician shouted in outrage as steam billowed from the surface of the now-choppy pond. The product of a miss.
"Mistress I apologize! I apologize!" Genji screamed as he cowered on the ground, not caring if Reimu was going to do it again or not.
If he weren't busy wrestling with the broom, Naruto would have gaped at what had just happened a moment ago. Reimu had thrown a flaming Yin-Yang orb as large as she was and basically blew up the pond.
Marisa had seen it, however, and now she wanted credit for the idea. With her hand on another contract, she soon shrank it down to another spell card. Swiping it from the table with one hand, she used her other hand to pull out an octogonal block with eight trigrams placed in a circle on the front. This was her Hakkero, a powerful source of magical energy.
"Hey Reimu!"
[Love Sign: Master Spark!]
The Hakkero let out a cough, but nothing else. A failed spell.
Face morphing to a scowl, but not missing a beat, Marisa had the new card stored under her witch's hat while she brandished the Hakkero again.
[Master Spark!]
For a brief moment, a multi-colored laser, shot from Marisa's favorite object, pierced the encroaching darkness of the early twilight.
A turtle soon let out a shout as he was promptly enveloped by the massive beam of magic.
When the lightshow ended, the crispy-charred turtle let out a whimper of "why" before he collapsed in a dead faint.
"..."
"For some strange reason, I had the urge to call the geezer something respectful. It pissed me off," the blond magician explained as a hand embarrrassedly rubbed the back of her neck. Her expression turned challenging as she turned to Reimu. "Now then..." Without looking, she reached out toward the shrine. There was a conk and a cry of pain as her broom shot out from within the building before the handle slapped into her waiting palm. With one smooth motion, the witch was mounted on her broom and heading up into the sky where the stars were starting to appear.
"Ho?" the shrine miko half-lidded gaze and unpleasant smirk suggested amusement as she also started to float up into the sky.
Stars and charms filled the air, but there was no time to watch the new fight as Naruto soon felt the oncoming pangs of sleepiness. Even with the scratches on his face or that new lump and the throbbing pain on the back of his head, he was unable to resist as his eyelids felt like they were growing heavier by the second. With moments left, he was turning back to the tea table, struggling to nab and stash the card from Marisa and a handful of the contracts into an undamaged portion of his jumpsuit. He made sure to grab the contract that he considered faulty earlier.
Time's up.
He felt himself keel forward as his body relaxed. There was another thunk as his head smacked the tea table and then...darkness.
-o-o-o-
Naruto slowly opened his eyes and gazed up at a whitewashed ceiling that he didn't recognize. Where was he?
"He's awake." He heard someone say from the side. Turning to look, he saw a nurse leave the room before sliding the door closed behind her. Looks like he was in the hospital.
Confused and bored, Naruto just stared at the door. His patience was rewarded when the door slid open a few minutes later and the aged form of the Third Hokage slowly stepped inside.
"Give me a few minutes to speak with Naruto-kun," Hiruzen ordered someone behind him without turning around before he slid the door shut behind him.
"Naruto-kun. How are you feeling?" the Third asked as he approached the bed.
"Really good," the boy chirped, his eyes bright with happiness at having the old man visit. "When can I leave?"
The old man gave a chuckle and slowly shook his head. "Not until tomorrow morning. I'm afraid that the doctor has asked that you stay the night at least. You were in a bad state when you arrived."
"But I feel fine!" the boy started to protest.
With a slow up and down of his hand, the Third gestured to the exciteable boy to calm a bit.
"Please keep it down Naruto-kun," the Third finally said when he had the boy's attention again. "Visiting hours are over and it is time for the other patients to rest."
The boy slowly slumped back on his bed before he turned to the wizened old man. "Is Hanabi-chan okay?"
The Third smiled. "You'll be pleased to know that the Hyuuga heiress is fine. We apprehended Mizuki-sensei before he had a chance to try anything."
"He wouldn't have. He promised," the boy confidently said.
"I suppose he did," the Third mused before his gaze sharpened a little. "Naruto-kun."
Naruto couldn't help but quail under the stare.
"Did you feel strange anytime during the fight?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did you feel...angry?"
"Well yeah. I mean...he destroyed my rooftop garden. And I couldn't hit him. And he was promising to hurt Hanabi-chan after I died. I was really angry."
"Did it make you mad enough to want to kill him?"
"What? No!"
"Are you sure, Naruto-kun?" the Third probed again, the tone of his voice stressing the importance of this information.
Blinking, Naruto took an uncharacteristically serious expression as he paused to think about it some more. He finally nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I might've been really mad, but Mizuki-sensei was just having a bad day. No reason for me to want to kill someone over that."
"A good outlook indeed," the Third said with an amused chuckle before there was a soft knock on the door. He stood up. "Naruto-kun, it looks like it's time for me to leave. Now then, do I have your word that I will find you here in this bed in the morning?"
Naruto gave the esteemed leader of the village an extremely large grin and a thumbs up. His face almost looked like a fox's.
"Naruto," the Third warned.
"You got it old man," the boy cheekily replied with a salute.
"Good." the Third said before he stopped at the door and turned back. "If I find that you snuck out in the middle of the night, I will be very disappointed. Now, get some rest. You've had a long day."
With that, the Third turned off the light before stepping out of the room. The door slid closed with a clunk.
Despite the Hokage's advice, Naruto was too awake to fall asleep again, so he quietly laid there in the darkness listening to the deathly stillness hospital during the nighttime hours.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but his eyes opened when he heard the soft padding of slippers in the silence. They stopped in front of his door.
With the sound of wood against metal, the door slid open.
"Naruto?" someone whispered into the quiet room. Instead of waiting for a reply, the person stepped inside, and gently slid the door shut.
Curious, the aforementioned boy sat up to see who it was. Under the moonlight, it took him a moment to make out that the purplish-blue hair belonged to the girl of his dreams, Sakura.
"Naruto!" As if by magic, she was by his side in an instant, both of her hands tightly grasping one of his own.
"S-Sorry! Sorry Naruto Sorry! I'm so sorry! I tried to come. I really did!" she blubbered.
Naruto frantically gestured at the girl to keep it down.
She seemed to deflate a little. "..B-But thank goodness you're alive. What a relief. I'm so glad."
"..." To say that Naruto was confused was an understatement. Sakura had never shown worry for him before. Either of them.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?"
He shook his head no.
"What's wrong? Why haven't you said anything yet? *gasp* Don't tell me you're about to die. No! Not yet! Don't leave me!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," the boy quickly said as he energetically pumped his right arm, "See?"
"But you didn't say anything about dying yet. You're dying, aren't you?" she accused.
"No no! I'm not." he hissed back, his voice barely remaining below acceptable levels.
"Really?"
"Really!"
The girl's lips formed a silent "O" and she finally relaxed.
Now that Sakura had fallen quiet, an awkward silence descended on the two. It was too quiet.
"I-/Sa-" Sakura and Naruto both started to say at the same time.
"..."
"You first," Naruto conceded.
Sakura shook her head no. "No, that's okay. I'm sure that you have something more important to say."
Unable to say no to her smile and trusting look, Naruto decided that it would be okay to go first. With that, he asked a question that had been bothering him. "Sakura-chan? What are you doing here? Aren't visiting hours over?"
"..." the smile disappeared immediately.
"..."
"...Sakura...chan?" the pink-haired girl asked in a hollow voice.
Confusion appeared on Naruto's face at the strange turn of events. "...Eh?"
"...Did you just call me Sakura-chan?"
"...I...did?" Naruto hesitantly answered. Something was wrong with Sakura.
"I'll give you one chance," the girl said with a tight voice. "Who am I?"
"...Aren't you...Sakura...chan?"
Sakura punched him.
The action knocked Naruto back into his bed. He laid there, one hand holding his throbbing cheek. What happened?! What was going on?
"Ow!" the girl whimpered as she clutched her hand.
"Sakura-chan! Are you okay?!"
"A-Again! You called me Sakura-chan again! You stupid dog! I'm not that frivolous pink-haired fool."
"Take that back Sakura-chan! You're being mean to- Eh?! Wait! Then that means..."
If the pink haired girl was angry before, she was now in his face. "I come to see you and this is the thanks that I get?! You should be on your knees worshipping the ground that I stand on you pathetic excuse for worm-feed!" She stamped the ground several times to emphasize her point.
"Shh shhh-" Naruto was frantically waving his arms up and down in front of him in an attempt to tell her to keep it down.
"And for your information, I'm not visiting. Do you see this gown?" she pulled on the hem of the thin gown that she was wearing.
Only then did Naruto realize that Sakura was dressed in a hospital gown.
The girl had a proud half-smirk on her face. "Hmmph. It seems that the stupid dog does have a single brain cell after all."
"What happened? Are you okay Hime-chan?"
"Ask Her!" the pink haired girl shot back before she stomped out, closing the room's door with a slam.
There was a second of silence before, "H-hey! Unhand me right this inst-"
Fearing the worst, Naruto leapt out of the hospital bed, wincing as the IV drips were ripped right out of his arms. He ignored the pain, the urgency of the situation prodding him to reach the door in less than a second. The door took even less time than that to open. By the time he could poke his head outside however, he caught sight of a nurse turning the corner. She seemed to be carrying something.
He never realized someone was behind him until he tried to chase after the nurse. It happened in the blink of an eye. Right when a cold shiver shot up his spine telling him to turn around and defend himself, there was a sharp chop to the back of his neck. Blackness claimed him immediately.
-o-o-o-
It was nighttime still. There were crickets chirping in the surrounding forest.
He was standing among the hedges in the garden behind the gate to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Flandre was staring down at him from the balcony on the second floor.
He saw her jump off...
"na-"
With one smooth motion, he had pivoted so that he was now facing the other way.
"ru-
And then his legs flashed like lightning as he shot off into the night, right for the gate.
toooOoOoOO!"
POW!
-o-o-o-
When the stars finally cleared his vision, he was in bed again. Staring up at the white-washed ceiling darkened by the night, he realized that he was back in the hospital bed. It felt like the IV needle was back in his arm again.
He tried to get up, only to realize that he couldn't. He had been tied down and someone seemed to be in the room with him.
"I apologize. Orders from the Hokage, you are not to leave the room," the person in the room finally spoke up. Naruto couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl speaking.
"Nnngh?!" Naruto tried to struggle, but the knots were well made, he couldn't move. "But what about Hime-chan?!" he called out.
"Are you referring to the girl that was here earlier?"
"Yes."
"She is in no danger."
"Where is she then?"
"She has been returned to her room."
"...Is she okay?"
"Yes." The ninja said before standing up. "Get some rest, you will be freed from your bindings in the morning."
"Wait. Where are you going?"
"I was never here." The ninja mysteriously said before adding, "Kidding. My shift is over. I just had some messages to pass on before leaving."
By now, the ninja was standing by the window.
"Oh. Please keep it quiet. This is a hospital." the ninja said before disappearing in a flurry of leaves. Naruto thought he heard a "or else" afterwards, but it was so quiet that he dismissed it as his imagination.
He started to struggle. Since he was wide awake, he should do something in the meantime.
Only...the ropes were really well done.
Too well done.
Nggh, he couldn't get out. It made him wish that he spent more time practicing rope escape techniques. Tied by rope twice in two days now and unable to break free...
When he finally gave up and until he fell asleep again, Naruto spent the rest of his time attempting to spontaneously develop psychic powers so that he could add another mark on his apartment's wall without having to leave this room.
-o-o-o-
Chapter 2 End
Next time! Chapter 3: Double Booking
-o-o-o-
Reimu Hakurei
Tends the Hakurei shrine and manages the Hakurei barrier. She isn't that much older, but she's sort of a big sister to Naruto. She would fall under the evil mentor big sister type.
- Series: Touhou
- Species: Human
Traits:
- Straightforward - Straight to the point. May step on toes to get there.
- Optimistic - Wants a peaceful future without conflict.
- Curious - Wants to know more about things that are different.
- Fair - does not favor Youkai or Humans. Whether they're human, youkai, or gods, Reimu gives them no particular respect or disrespect.
- Dislikes work - Despite being feared by Youkai, she could be so much stronger. Instead, she spends most of her training time napping, lazily watching the background, and sipping tea.
- Genius - A lot of her talent is natural.
- Temper - Reimu is pretty quick to anger.
- Good intuition - Can discern accurate conclusions about what others are thinking from little evidence.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Marisa Kirisame
A human magician that lives in the Forest of Magic. She's neighbor's to Reimu, Alice, Rinnosuke, and a certain group of fairies. Her home serves as a magic shop and a borrowed items repository. She isn't that much older, but she also acts like a big sister to Naruto. Hmm, I suppose she would fall under the hands-off carefree big sister type.
- Series: Touhou
- Species: Human
Traits:
- Straightforward - Straight to the point. May step on toes to get there.
- Quick to act - Gets an idea, then acts on it without thinking about whether she's right or wrong until later.
- Habitual Liar - Lies frequently. However, she isn't trying too hard to hide the fact that she's lying. So it's easy to tell if she's she's a frequent, but horrible liar.
- Violent - upset her, and she'll retaliate with ten times the force.
- Tomboyish - if she uses physical violence, she's going to punch you. Not slap you. If it's a war of words, forget it. She'll somehow turn it into a fight.
- Condescending - Can come across as looking down on others.
- Has difficulty expressing sympathy / Selfish. Cares more for herself than others, so she can be a bit thick to the plight of others.
- Hard Worker - Marisa considers Reimu a rival. Like Kakashi and Gai. Where it comes naturally to Reimu, Marisa has no innate abilities so she has to do the legwork to understand and make spells work.
- Annoyance - Can be found in places where she should not be. Can be doing things that can be frustrating for others...like "borrowing" their stuff.
- Laid back - Marisa isn't the type to worry about things.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Genji
A really old flying turtle.
- Series: Touhou
- Species: Turtle Youkai
-o-o-o-
Okay then. As I said in the previous chapter, this is a reboot of the original version of Naruto the Combat Butler. I liked that version of the story, but the readers were right, it wasn't the best place to start the story. Anyway, while I still don't make Naruto a butler in the first two chapters, I've taken the liberty of leapfrogging the original storyline by about a week so that we start off with a bit of action. Unfortunately that still leaves one critical point from the reviews...Naruto will continue munching on dirt very often. I don't hate him. I'd really like to help, but if we consider the canon timeline...Naruto really doesn't have any ninja skills or knowledge to help him curb-stomp his opponents. He does have his pranking skills however...
Feel free to suggest revisions to what's done so far. I benefit from an extremely low story upload overhead. I can type up the story using yWriter and convert the rtf output to a ffnet compatible html using a click of my own special program. It takes like three additional clicks, but 99 percent of the Bold/Italic/Underline/Center/HR formatting is kept and I can easily edit each story section offline. No need to deal with the hassle of the online editor, even if it seems to work okay.
So the technical side is easy for me, all that's left is the storytelling side. I'm getting better, but I know that it isn't enough yet.
-o-o-o-o-o-
This was a setup chapter explaining some rules for Danmaku. In a way, I left it open ended so it's possible to completely forget the rules and have no problems understanding the story. In addition, I did mention it, but I did not stress that dueling should place an emphasis on beauty over power. There is a two-fold reason. For one, I'm going to have a difficult enough time explaining the attacks in ways that the reader can visualize. For another, the beauty rule is in place because all Touhou characters are female...even the bug youkai. Beauty is popular with the girls. Naruto is a guy in this story, last time that I checked. The real reason why I didn't emphasize it was because I had a tough time writing a story around the original rules. Now that that part's done, I plan to revise it to emphasize beauty. I still won't be able to describe the bullet patterns, but the reason behind dueling by danmaku will actually MAKE SENSE!
The dueling rules are a modification from dizzy dot pestermom dot com /?p=danmaku (who takes it from en dot touhouwiki dot net / wiki / Perfect_Memento:_Draft_of_Spell_Card_Rules).
(What else?)
(1) As a sidenote, turtles don't have hair. Hair is a mammal thing. Therefore, this turtle with a beard, he's weird.
(2) I wanted to use "Baka inu!" instead of "Stupid Dog!" so much.
(3) Contrary to popular belief, the red dawn mentioned in the chapter title is unrelated to Akatsuki. I'm referring to something else.
(4) I was debating whether or not I should end it at a cliffhanger. But then I realized that it's a small event. Sakura isn't in any danger. No need to ham it up.
(5) I'm thinking of adding a small recap to the beginning of each chapter.
-o-o-o-o-o-
(Further Reads)
Mm, for those Muv Luv fans, I actually have a great example to study when it comes to story design of this nature. Let's see, I know what's going to happen, I have a hero, and I have a wide and varied cast. I also have a hero who can potentially kick ass. The story that I plan to study is "Muv Luv: One Last Time into the Loop" by PaulXion. Let's see if I can come up with any interesting design ideas by studying that story.
-o-o-o-o-o-
(Acknowledgements)
Minders for a very useful PM pointing out some unclear points. I've made some changes to the first two chapters to clarify some things that I've been throwing around but did not fully expand upon. This includes the kill count in chapter 1, the hypnotism in chapter 2, and the destinations that Naruto shows up in in Chapter 1. I'm choosing to hold off on a comment about Naruto's magical ability. I think not explaining why can somehow enhance the story.
This next tidbit, I really shouldn't be mentioning. However, Minders points out that, unlike a paperback novel where you can keep reading until the end, in a fanfiction updated monthly the chapter-by-chapter approach will not allow me to hammer the reader with crucial information. So I include this as a reference. The story centers around a few hard rules regarding Naruto's visits to Gensokyo. I've shown them already in the first two chapters, and I'll repeat them as often as I can without sounding repetitive because Naruto's jumping between worlds is extremely important to this story. Several key events will require items from the other world.
Rule 1: Naruto appears when he's sleeping or unconscious
Rule 2: If Naruto dies, he cannot show up in Gensokyo again until the next day.
Rule 3: Naruto can only take items that he has on him at the time. Including his clothes. Not everything transfers over. Not everything transfers back. Most of what he moves depends on what he desires to bring over. In theory, as long as he knows about it he can move it. It doesn't have to be a physical item (see Rule 5)
Rule 4: Naruto's physical condition transfers to Gensokyo. Whatever state that he's in does not transfer back (If perfectly fine in Ninja Realm, he can be Heavily injured / Dead in Gensokyo, and still be perfectly fine upon returning to Ninja Realm).
Rule 5: (Not mentioned) Kyuubi is considered an item. Without knowing about Kyuubi, the demon fox cannot be brought over. Naruto retains fast, but not accelerated healing, from being an Uzumaki. Naruto cannot achieve berserker state without Kyuubi.
-o-o-o-
Last Update For This Chapter: 12/4/2013