Cha. 7

Enrik splashed another handful of cold water into his face, then let out the nth sigh this morning. Just this morning, he had a huge debt crash down on his shoulders. Unsurprisingly, Yue got out of the debt by looking as innocent as she could. Which is, by the way, very convincing. The only silver lining in this situation is that he would be traveling around the shinobi world with the silver haired pervert from the night before. Enrik finished brushing his teeth and stepped out of his room. On his way out, he left some money for the innkeeper and thanked the innkeeper for letting him use a room. "I wonder if they're all there at the gate. Sure would be fun to see that kid again. I think he was called Naruto?"

Yue, Tayuya, Naruto, and Jiraiya were waiting at the gates. Yue and Tayuya had been separated early on in the morning due to their…destructive behavior. The four of them yawned lightly, then they all focused their eyes on a distant figure. They blinked once, and the figure stood only five feet away from them. "Let's go!"

I took in another breath of the fresh air, so unlike that of my old world. The air there was full of smog and various other substances. "Hurry up Enrik-san!" Naruto called out from the treetops. I sprinted along the forest floor, still too wary to jump onto one of the trees. Yue had also jumped onto one of the trees.

"Jiraiya-san! How far are we from our destination?" I called out.

"We're nearly there gaki! The unnamed Genjutsu Tree Village," Jiraiya jumped onto the ground as the forest ended. Revealing a dirt path. "And…We're there!" Immediately, Enrik noticed the malfunctioning in his guidance equipment.

"Yue, is your equipment messed up right now?"

"Yeah! The electromagnetic field here is really strong!"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked at hearing their conversation.

"For some reason my compass is missing its needle…" Enrik turned to face Naruto. "How the f*ck did you do it?"

"Why ya lookin' at me?"

"Because you're the only one bothered enough, or rather, curious enough to do that."

"Hurry up gakis! We're going into the village."

"Just a moment!" I activated the suit's menu with a touch to the wrist. "There! Inner magnetic field generated, opposite charge of the village's magnetic field. That should return my equipment to normal." Enrik took off after the others.

Many moments later, Naruto was still stuck going in circles. For some weird reason, Enrik and Yue was completely unaffected by the magnetic field. This raised some interest in Jiraiya."Naruto! We're gonna go ahead first! Remember to stay on the path and stop walking into the forest!" Enrik sighed at the end of his sentence.

Enrik took both Tayuya and Yue's hands in his and started walking down the path. Jiraiya and Tayuya also turned to walk down the dirt path."Pervy-sage! You too?"

"Show some respect to your elders you damn gaki!" Jiraiya followed the trio down the road for a couple of minutes before winking at Tayuya, specifically Tayuya, then doubling back.

"The f*ckin' geezer…" Tayuya's face took on a light shade of pink.

"What's wrong, Tayuya?" Enrik asked.

"N…nothing at all."

"Enrik! I'm HUNGRY! I'm going ahead!" Yue quickly sprinted ahead of the path.

"Well, there goes the tornado!"

"Huh?"

"I'll explain later." Enrik smiled at Tayuya. "So…Have you been feeling alright? Your face looks flushed."

"It's…It's nothing." Tayuya looked to the left.

"Eh…" Enrik shrugged, then chuckled a little. He wasn't a dolt, and he was excellent at reading body language. "You hungry?"

"A little."

"And…You brought money?"

"Yes."

"Sorry about this, but I promise I'll pay you back when…"

Tayuya clasped her hand over his mouth and interrupted him. "You don't need to pay me back. I already owe you… everything."

"Right…Let's go get something to eat, then have Jiraiya-san work on your seal some more."

"Works for me…You idiot!"

"Hehe…"

"Not AGAIN!" For the umpteenth time, Naruto returned to the same tree he started at. It seemed that the forest was just an endless cycles. Naruto sat down on the ground and did something he rarely did, think. He started wondering about how he kept on getting lost, then arrived on one conclusion. Genjutsu, the only reasonable explanation. Naruto stood up once again decided to walk forward, closing his eyes. Jiraiya, who was watching from a nearby tree, felt a grin crack on his face. The little boy was starting to get smarter.

"Now, if only he'd walk in the right direction and stop smashing his face into trees," Jiraiya muttered under his breath.

At last, it seemed that I had made my way to a dirt path. The dirt path which would, hopefully, lead me to the village Pervy-sage and the others were at. Good thing the weather wasn't really cold. For some reason, I had a bad feeling crawling up my spine. Ignoring that feeling, I thought of other things. How was I supposed to beat Sasuke if I can't even get to the village Pervy-sage was at? Also, the girl called Tayuya, isn't she bad? My head felt like it was starting to overheat. I wonder what Pervy-sage was doing.

Yue, Tayuya, and Enrik were sitting in one of the few restaurants the village had to offer. Each had a bowl of ramen placed before them. Both Tayuya and Enrik were thinking of the same thing; Teuchi-san made better ramen. Yue, however, continued to devour her bowl of ramen. Her demeanor completely different from only a few moments ago. She was completely serious right now. She was also extremely mature.

"So…Is sh*t normal?" Tayuya asked.

Enrik swallowed the food in his mouth before answering. "Yes."

"Was she always like this?"

"No," Enrik let out a long sigh. "She used to be the sweetest girl I've ever met, until the experiments started. As you know, our body can't use chakra, so we used technology."

"Like the f*ckin' Snake Bastard?"

"I don't know what he did, but ours was pretty bad. In fact, I still have nightmares about that."

"I can understand you pretty well."

"I bet," Enrik looked at Yue and smiled. His eyes glistening over slightly. "It was the little girl whom I promised to marry. And I can accept all her personalities, except for one. The sadistic b*tch that appears now and then."

"Hey! Can you two stop squabbling about me? I'd like to eat in peace!" Yue shouted out loud.

The moon hung high in the sky and a certain blonde was wondering about one thing: How had he ended up at the same tree again?