"Hurry, perverted hermit!" Naruto shouted back as he ran down the street.
"Don't worry," Jaraiyai responded as he strolled leisurely down the
street, "it will still be there tomorrow." He chuckled to himself. This
had been the first thing he could get the young ninja interested in
since Sasuke ran away nearly a year and a half ago. Even then, he was
only able to get him excited by suggesting he might learn a new
technique or two.
The now fifteen-year-old Naruto was still as stubborn as usual. Though
his personal mission to rescue Sasuke helped him get stronger, keeping
his mind on that single task had reduced his already low attention span
to zero. Leaving many of his new techniques messy and unrefined. His
instructor had thought that the circus visiting their small village for
the first time in over fifty-years would be a nice distraction.
This particular circus boasted feats by great illusionist and animal
tamers. One of the reasons circuses came through so rarely was the fact
that ninja villages such as theirs would quickly and easily identify the
techniques that the performers would use. The only reason Jiraiya had
even managed to see one was while on his travels in the other nations.
The Fith Hokage had decided to invite the traveling show to bring up the
spirits of the people in the village and in a way reward them for all
that they had been through.
Naruto was jumping up and down uncontrollably as they came up to the
entrance of the tent. The energy seemed to pour off of him and cause the
air around him to vibrate slightly. Jiraiya made a note of growth in his
chakra for possible techniques in the future.
The crowd was humming with hushed whispers as the ring master stepped
out. The fist act was a pair of acrobats that didn't really seem to
impress the teen. By the time an hour had passed, Naruto was struggling
just to stay awake.
"I could think of a lot better places to take a nap, Perverted hermit."
He grumbled. "I should be training so that I can find Sasuke." He
stopped his complaint when the lights grew dark once again, and the spot
light landed on the ringmaster.
"And now for a once in a lifetime act." He gestured to accentuate his
words. "Our very own Sumi will now put on a show for you that will not
only boggle the mind, but defy all that you believe to be real."
"Probably just another cheap illusion jutsu or something." The skeptical
youth mumbled. "I'm lea..." He stood frozen, hovering just above his
seat as a loud roar shook the entire tent.
Everything grew silent as a young woman stepped into the spotlight. Her
outfit was just as flashy and shiny as all of the other performers. She
was backing into the spotlight. Though the pants she wore were large,
baggy, and colorful her shirt was cut extremely low, leaving her back
exposed to the crowd. However, no one's attention was on her back, but
instead on the large tiger walking towards her, growling, snarling, and
swatting its enormous paw at her.
"So, she's like Kiba, huh?" Naruto asked.
"Just watch." Jiraiya whispered.
As the crowd watched closely, the large beast stalked her around the
floor, lunging at her randomly. She always seemed to dodge out of the
way just in time. After about five minutes of stalking, the young woman
did a flip and landed, straddling the tiger's head. It bucked and fought
like a ragging bull. Its aggravation was apparent as it roared and swung
it's massive skull from side to side.
The young woman seemed un-phased by th movement as she brought one hand
into the air and smiled at the crowd. Her calm demeanor and smiling face
is what finally caught Naruto's attention.
"Wow!" He exclaimed. "She must be a very well trained ninja to be calm
in a situation like that." Jiraiya just nodded, never letting his glance
leave the stage. He didn't want to break it to the boy that the tiger
was probably nothing more than a tamed animal putting on an act.
The eyes of the crowd were glued onto the performer that now seemed to
be steering the ragging beast onto a small platform. Somehow, she not
only got it onto the projected spot, but got it to be still. It looked
as if it were fighting against some sort of invisible rope, or box that
was now holding it in place.
"She is so awesome! That was so quick, I didn't even see her perform the
seals!" Naruto was enthralled with the act.
"Thing is, neither did I." Jiraiya whispered to himself.
They continued to watch as she jumped off of the struggling tiger with
an exaggerated somersault and landed perfectly on her feet. The crowd
stood and began clapping as she bowed. A sudden hush swept through the
spectators as the tiger suddenly broke free of its binds. The young
woman continued to bow, oblivious to the danger behind her. Naruto
jumped up, and was about to launch himself into the ring when his
mentor's hand held him back.
As the mighty beast made contact with the woman she looked as if she
didn't even feel it, before everyone there, the beast seemed to jump
into her body and disappear.
This wrenched a gasp from the crowd followed by a torrential sea of
applause. The young woman's grin grew even wider as she bowed and
stepped off of the stage.
"She must have perfect chakra control to be able to make an illusion
that solid." Naruto stated. "Do you think its a variation on the shadow
clone technique?"
"I don't know." Jiraiya said carefully. "But I would like to go talk to
her, come on, the show is close to being over anyway."
"You aren't going to be perverted and try playing with her, are you?"
Naruto glared at the older man.
"Of course not." He replied. "She's too young for me. Still, you might
have a chance." He smiled as Naruto shoved him. "I'm sorry," he laughed.
"You're still holding out for Sakura."
That comment brought the depressed look back on the youth's face.
"No, it's been made quite clear that I have no chance with her. Even if
Sasuke wasn't in the picture, I think Lee would be next in line."
"Oh." It just hit the man how much Naruto had grown emotionally since
the start of his personal struggle. Still, he didn't want him to dwell
on sadness. "Well, then we need to go talk to this girl. Maybe she can
teach you her technique."
The two left the tent as more acrobats stepped into the ring. They took
a path that lead them to the back of the tent. When they came around
they were greeted by the sounds of an argument.
"Why won't you pay me?" a feminine voice shouted. "I was able to
entertain the hardest audience that you've ever had, and you still won't
give me what I deserve!"
"What you deserve is to be left behind!" A voice that was obviously the
ring master's boomed. "I feed you, clothe you, put a roof over your
head, and put up with your utter nonsense" The sound of someone being
smacked echoed through the air.
Naruto looked into the tent to see the same young girl that had just
performed on her knees holding her stinging cheek as the ring master
pulled back for another blow. Anger spread over the youth's face as he
sprang into action. He jumped in front of the girl and blocked the ring
master's hand.
"Kid," The man snarled. "You better get out of my way, unless you want
to take a beating as well." Before he could even blink, Naruto had both
of the man's arms twisted behind his back.
"You need to be careful how you treat people." Jiraiya stated as he
strolled into the tent. "Especially when you're in the presence of
ninjas." He nodded and Naruto released the
ring master.
"Fine," the man spat. "She's your problem now." He shoved his way past
the two strangers and the wide-eyed girl.
"Hi, I'm Naruto!" He leaned down and offered his hand to the girl. She
smacked it away.
"What have you done?" She screamed as she jumped up and ran out of the tent.
"Um, what just happened?" Naruto asked.
"I think you need to go after your new girlfriend before she gets into
trouble." Jiraiya stated. The boy huffed at the comment and took off
after the girl.
She was definitely fast. She had headed straight for the village gate
and was already in the surrounding forest. Still, she had spent the
entire time on foot, making her easy to track, and even easier to
catch-up with since he took to the trees.
She was running down a path when he dropped from the trees in front of
her. She skidded to a stop and jumped back, glaring at him.
"Hey, hold on." He put is hands out in a non-threatening manner.
"How did you catch up to me so fast." She demanded.
"You really suck at hiding your tracks. You should have learned how to
do that in basic ninja academy." He laughed, but suddenly jumped back as
some thorny vines jumped at him. He flipped back out of the way.
When he landed, the vines were gone, and the girl was running at him
with a dagger in each hand. He easily stopped her and pinned her to the
ground.
"Geez, did you learn anything in school?" He held both of her wrists and
sat on her back.
"I don't know what school you're talking about." She spat, "But, I'm not
done yet."
Suddenly Naruto's hands were bound in thorny vines that appeared to be
growing out of her hands.
"What kind of illusion is this?" He asked.
"It's no illusion," she stated, then flipped him onto the ground in
front of her. She was ready to strike a blow, when she felt a blade
pressed to her throat.
"It would probably be a good idea for you to calm down, and have all of
us talk civilly." Jiraiya stated from behind her.
"So, what's your name?" Jiraiya questioned as Naruto dug into his ramen.
"Sumi," She replied quietly. "Sumi Tsuwomono."
"Is that your real name?" He asked carefully.
"No, the ring master called me that, but I was too young wen he picked
me up to remember my real name." She said.
"How old were you?"
"Maybe two or three. All I know is that my mother didn't want me anymore
and the circus took me in, but only because I can do something no one
else can." She stirred the food in front of her with her chopsticks.
"What is this stuff?"
"It's ramen!" Naruto answered happily as he dug into another bowl.
"What? How can you not have had ramen before?"
"This doesn't look anything like the ramen we have where I'm from." She
picked at it a bit. "Where I'm from it comes dry in packs, then you just
add hot water. Naruto looked offended.
"What?" He squawked. "Where are you from that you don't have ninja
school, and ramen is treated so roughly?"
"A place on the other side of the ocean." She tested a round white
object with a red swirl in the middle.
"Then how do you speak our language so well?" Jiraiya asked.
"We all had to learn it before we came over, plus I ran away when we
first landed and had to be able to communicate to make my way around."
She hungrily dug into the bowl in front of her. "This stuff is great!"
She wolfed down the rest and slammed down the bowl.
"More please!" She yelled in unison with Naruto.
"You should try the barbecue pork and miso!" He smiled at her.
"Okay!" She smiled back.
"Oh Kami, we've picked up another one." mumbled Jiraiya.
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