𝐃𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐲||𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐃||

Chapter 6:Sand In All The Wrong Places

Truly, the Land of Wind was a sight to behold.

It wasn't just the sand but the beauty of the horizon, watching the sunrise over the horizon. There was majesty here, even in this arid land that supposedly contained nothing but dust and death. One didn't have to look to appreciate this, it was all around them. Impossible to miss. Plain yes, but wonderful to look at.

Temari had taken him out here a time or two, just before all hell broke loose. Funny how beautiful everything looked when the land wasn't pulervized into volcanic glass.

Naruto couldn't help but marvel at the land as it flowed past them; an endless blur of sand dunes interposed by the occasional oasis or shrubbery. It was certainly beautiful, in its own rustic way. The last time they'd been in the Land of Wind he hadn't had time to take in the scenery. Back then he'd been focused on finding Gaara; saving the then Kazekage from certain death. How ironic, then, that this time their mission was not one of rescue but to maintain ties with the very village he called home. At least it would be, a few years down the road.

And yet...

"This feels wrong."

"That's because it is!" Manda rumbled angrily, the deep baritone of his voice reverberating through his scaly hide to tickle the Uchiha's toes where they lay. "To think that I, the mighty Manda, would reduced to ferrying you lot across the desert!" His voice was almost a petulant whine as he slithered onward. "Just because you were attacked once whelp, that doesn't give you the right to summon me!" these last words being directed to the summoner in question, Orochimaru.

"Come now, Manda," the pale shinobi soothed as he stroked the violet scales of their mount, "I've already promised you your fill of any enemies we encounter."

"Of which we have seen none since! Those scouts who ambushed us...weren't even worthy of being mid-noon snacks!" The snake's forked tongue flitted furiously at the mention of said attackers, ground to gory smears on the sands behind them. Jiraiya and Naruto shared an amused look; as they recalled, Orochimaru had summoned the boss snake simply to scare the piss out of the Iwagakure shinobi. And it would've worked too-had not Manda decided to flatten them merely for being in his prescence.

You couldn't scare someone when they were dead.

"Maybe you shouldn't have called him." Tsunade shouted to make herself heard over the rushing wind of their passage. "You know how temperental he can be!"

Naruto seconded that motion. "Yeah, I'm not too comfortable riding on the head of a vicious reptile that wants to eat me."

"It can't be helped." Orochimaru put in matter of factly. "This is the only way to conserve our chakra. Jiraiya's toad summons and Tsunade's slugs would just dry out. Besides, no one would dare attack us with someone like him around." A wicked gleam entered his eye as he said this, confirming that at some point, enemy shinobi had in fact, dared to do such a thing. This time, Manda had made short work of them. It was one thing to fight against the lord of all serpents Naruto mused, having been one of the few to live to tell the tale. It was another thing entirely to have him on your side, however. And another still, to be riding on his head across a sea of sand. But to listen to him complain...

"Yeah yeah scaleface, we heard you the first time."

"I've half a mind to jusssssst leave you here for that remark!" the king snake hissed, words slipping with his anger, tail thrashing in agitation.

"Oh, you wouldn't dare." Jraiya replied with a grin.

"And why isssss that?"

"Orochimaru?"

"Oh my, it seems he doesn't intend to cooperate." the soon-to-be sanin sighed theatrically. "Naruto-san, if you would?"

"Would what?!" Manda immediately bristled, fearing the worst.