Naruto grunted to himself as he hit the training post with all the strength his seven year old body had in it. So not very hard at all. It didn't help that again everything in the movement felt off. Wrong. But every time he went to his teacher about it they said he was just looking for attention since he was doing everything properly. He was doing everything as they told him to do it. So why was he so far behind everyone in his class when it came to the basics?
It couldn't be because he was a year their junior right? Did begging Gramps to be let in the academy a year early actually hurt him? No he wouldn't believe that. He had already been in the academy for a year. He should be better than how he was. Even that kid Rock Lee was doing better, and he was just as bad if not worse at the jutsu portion of the lessons. He angrily punched the post again with a sloppy punch and felt something give. He hissed in pain as he put his hand to his chest. It was already starting to heal, but damn did it hurt.
Seeing how he couldn't punch at the moment he took this moment to catch his breath, and his body slumped slightly. Why was this so hard? He was going to be the Hokage. The strongest ninja in the village. If everyone else can do something so simple then so should he. He could do this. He would do this… what was that sound?
As Naruto's breathing settled down and got quieter, his ears registered a new sound. The sound of something hitting into wood. Repeatedly. It had to be someone else using one of the nearby training areas. That wasn't exactly unexpected, but it was surprising. Not many use this area. It was why he did. But maybe he could watch them and learn that way. Or maybe they would leave behind some tools he could scrounge up. Either way it would prove a good distraction from what he was doing. Alright time to go check it out.
Moving with stealth honed from his budding prankster habits, he made his way towards the source of the noise. Slowly making his way through the underbrush and using the various bushes for cover. For some reason people didn't like it when you watched or walked in on them training. Or maybe it was just him. He couldn't really tell. Not that it would matter. Even at his age, not many could compete with his stealth skills when the felt like implementing them.
It only took a few minutes for him to make his way to the source of the noise, and he silently swore to himself when the source came into view. Before him was Tenten, a girl from his class, practicing her specialty. Her arms moved in graceful arc as shurikens, kunais, and other small implements of flying death flew from her hands and into targets. She was the best of all the students at the art of throwing. Even at the age of eight she hit the bullseye nine out of ten times. It was both awe-inspiring and frustrating. The fact that she was also the top kunoichi just drove it all home.
Even though Naruto wanted to watch and try and learn he couldn't stop himself. "How are you doing that!?" He called out without thinking. He didn't realize his mistake of disturbing a kunoichi that was currently concentrating on throwing deadly implements, until he was dodging a deadly hail of metal. "Hey! That was not called for!" He shouted returning the glare he was currently receiving.
"Why are you here?" The bun-haired girl asked with a growl and a voice dripping with venom. Several shuriken were already in hand and in position to throw.
"I was training nearby and heard noises. I came to see who was over here and what they were doing." he explained, keeping an eye on the pointy stars of painful death. That seemed to satisfy her enough that she lowered her arms though didn't put away her weapons. "How come you are so good? No matter how hard I try I can't even do a third as good as you."
She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes. "Thats because your technique is terrible. You pretty much ignore the instructions given to you by the instructor, and do everything wrong."
"What? But the teacher pulled me to the side early into the school year and taught me that technique. Said that it was a little harder than the normal one, but would put me above everyone if I mastered it." He explained feeling a sense of wrongness. "He encouraged me to not follow the instructions he gave in class and told me not to tell others or brag about it."
"You expect me to believe that the teacher taught you the wrong throwing technique on purpose? As well as to hide the fact he told you the technique?" She asked. She sounded very annoyed.
"If it.. is wrong… But it couldn't be. Why would the teacher lie to me about that? In fact he gave me private instruction for all my techniques. Taijutsu, ninjutsu… throwing…" All thing he was far behind everyone else on. That was not painting a good picture. Especially if Tenten was right and everything he had been taught had been wrong.
"What, you going to blame the teacher for your crappy test scores too?"
"No, I just honestly don't like studying. All those subjects are boring, and have almost no use in a ninja's life. Especially in the way they test them." He gave a shudder. He really hated written exams.
The kunoichi in training rolled her eyes again. "Whatever. Blame whoever you want. Your technique is still terrible."
"Then show me the right one." he suggested.
"Why would I do that? You're just the trouble maker. The deadlast. The runt that thought he could run with the big dogs."
Naruto gritted his teeth at her insults but pushed onward,"To prove your point. If you are actually right then knowing the right technique would make me better wouldn't it?"
She scoffed again. "Fine. Get over here." she demanded putting one handful of shuriken away. She looked fairly annoyed. However when he took a position next to her she huffed then slowly moved her arm. It seemed to curl and uncurl on itself as she moved it from the starting position of her opposite shoulder to straight at the target. She repeated two more time before doing it at full speed and filling up the target in front of her with shuriken.
He took a few of his own shuriken. They weren't nearly as good condition as her. They were courtesy of scrounging and the few times he had been able to shop. They were on the dull and rusty side, though still somewhat serviceable. He could feel Tenten's eyes judging him as he moved his arm in a rough imitation of hers. It felt odd moving his arm like this. Not bad. Just odd. In fact this felt a lot more comfortable. He shot his arm out, letting it move almost naturally through the form Tenten showed him.
The result wasn't as good as her's, but it was much better than his previous attempts at school. He started at the target in wonder. "Hmph looks like you CAN do something right." The bun-haired girl commented. For some reason she sounded even more annoyed.
He turned towards her and clasp his hands in under his chin. 'Please teach me more." He begged.
"What?" she asked, frowning deeply.
"Teach me more. You just helped me do more in a few minutes than that stupid teacher did in a whole year. PLEASE!?" He pouted at her and gave her his best puppy eyes. She frowned more. "I'll do anything. Just teach me one thing. Anything."
She stared at him. Judging him. Her face thoughtful but still not pleased. "Anything?"
"Yes, anything."
"And why should I do this?"
"Because you are the most awesome person in our class. Especially more so than that jerk Neji."
"You are just saying that, because he kicks your ass, and everyone likes him more despite his attitude."
"No, I'm saying it BECAUSE of his attitude. Besides you could kick my ass too, and I still think you are awesome."
"Hmph, fine. help me clean up, then I will teach you. But I know exactly how much of everything I brought, and in what condition they should be, so don't try to make off with any of my stuff." she accused glaring at him a little.
He pouted at her but said nothing as he nodded and began collecting the various throwing weapons. Making sure to only put away his own, and made sure to do it in full view of her. Which wasn't hard since she watched him with the eyes of a hawk. She was so untrusting. Naruto had never stolen anything from anyone. Everything he got from the training grounds were things people left behind. It wasn't his fault others were negligent with what was theirs. Finders keepers and all that.
It wasn't hard to gather everything. Nor did it take long for her to pointedly count everything. Despite having watched him the entire time. Seriously his stealth was amazing, but you can only do so much while being observed. Not that he was planning on doing anything to begin with.
He noticed that even now, after attempting to prove his seriousness and trustworthiness, she wasn't at all happy with this. She was never this unfriendly to others in class. Granted she wasn't that social either, but at least she acted friendly to those that talked to her. Yet, like everyone else she seemed predispositioned to not liking him. He couldn't understand it. He never did anything to her. Not really.
The fact that the teacher, who seemed to be giving him special attention, was actually giving him bad advice stung a little. Sure it was hard to swallow, but if simply switching over to do things how the teacher told him NOT to do something made him that much better with throwing… what else had the teacher messed him up on? He felt wrong when he did just about everything the teacher helped him with. Maybe he should seek advice and help with his taijutsu too. That Rock Lee kid seemed nice and he WAS the second best in taijutsu. That arrogant jerk Neji was of course first in that area.
"Alright, looks like this is everything." his soon to be teacher huffed, dragging him out of his future plans. "Lets go then. Might as well get this over with." With that she turned away and started walking. Naruto scrambled to catch up.
"Where are we going?"
"My father's store. If I'm going to teach you anything I might as well teach you something from there."
"What kind store is it?"
"Ninja supplies and weapons."
"COOL!" Best teacher EVER!
Tenten sighed to herself as her father's store came into view. She really didn't like this. Not all. Not only had the dead last of the class some how snuck up on her, in bright neon orange, but he now wanted her to teach him something. Seriously the idiot didn't pay attention in class, and wouldn't even try to put in any effort in anything they did there. The fact that he had the nerve to blame the teacher really irked her. He always claimed he would be Hokage, yet couldn't even take responsibility for his failures.
However, she would use this. It was likely he was hoping she would teach him something flashy and easy. The fact she was bringing him to a weapon shop would likely cement this. However she was going to run him into the ground. It was obvious that the moment things got too hard or difficult that he would quit. It was very much like him. After all that's EXACTLY what was happening in class right? However for as long as he stayed under her tutelage she could also milk him for all he was worth. Even if it was probably for very little.
As soon as they entered the blondes eyes lit up. She sighed again. "I will teach you how to use ONE weapon in here. Just one. Go pick one out."
"ALRIGHT!" the blonde immediately went to the nearest rack and started enthusiastically looking around.
She already had it planned. She was going to force him to learn the first weapon he so much as TOUCHED. Then she would charge him for the weapon, and if he couldn't afford it she would make him work for it at the store… with dad's permission of course. She wouldn't overcharge him or sabotage his training, but she would run him into the ground.
Plus she just knew someone as flashy as him would want the most expensive looking sword in the store. His type always did. In fact there he was looking over the swords now.
He was so predictable it was pathetic.
She watched as he looked over the weapons with that large grin on his face. No wait. the grin was gone? Why did he look so thoughtful? She did NOT want a fire starting in here. She watched closer as he reached a hand toward a nodachi. She started forward in order to pounce. However before she could say anything, the hand stopped not even half way and the boy shook his head before leaving the rack.
Wait… what? Did he just… No way he was an idiot wasn't he? Flashy and loud? did he just put THOUGHT behind something?
She watched him closer as he continued to browse the store. He passed by several weapons that she thought for sure he would want without a second glance. Several others he seemed to talk himself out of what seemed to be a made choice. It was like he was judging each weapon. But that couldn't be. He shouldn't know anything about anything in here. He was suppose to go towards the shiniest flashiest thing and immediately pick it up like the idiot he was.
Maybe she was giving him too little credit. He did show some talent when he tried with throwing. But that was just as bad in her mind. It meant that he COULD do what they were doing in class and was purposely NOT doing it. Unless… he wasn't lying and the teacher was responsible. No that was rubbish. No way that could be be true. She would just have to keep a closer eye on him in class.
Though that would come later. Right now she still had to wait for him to choose something. She was starting to get impatient. However it would seem he finally made a choice. He was staring at one of the few weapons she didn't think he would look at. Before the blonde was a rack of wooden and pure iron clubs that had short sturdy spikes cover the upper third while the lower third had cloth wrappings. They varied in size from forearm length to being as tall as to her shoulders. The deadlast was staring at kanabo.
They weren't the most expensive things in the store. Weren't the cheapest either. They also weren't hard to use. They WERE just clubs after all. You could easily just swing them around. However to master and actually use it effectively was tough work. She smiled as her prey picked up one of the larger iron clubs and started weighing it in his hands.
"Glad you finally chose. " She said with all her impatience evident while making sure she wasn't smiling.
He looked over to her with confusion. "No I haven't I was just-"
"You should look with just your eyes next time. Now the kanabo,"she gestured to the weapon in his hands "seems simple but it is anything but. It requires both agility and balance to use as well as strength." She then cracked a smile that showed her teeth. "Also I hope you are prepared to PAY for that weapon."
"WHAT!?"
"What? you thought I would just give you the weapon I was going to train you in?"
"No. I thought we would be using practice weapons.. or I would borrow a spare for training purposes." Well… that was well thought out. And logical. But it didn't help her any.
"You said you would do anything right? Besides once you learn you are going to need something to keep practicing with or use in the future. After all doing anything else would make the lessons go to waste."
The blonde nodded in what could only be understanding. However he seemed distracted as his lips moved silently and one of his hands twitched towards a pocket in his ugly orange jacket. That pocket probably held his wallet. However what caught her attention most was the panic in his eyes. Okay so the weapon wasn't cheap, but it also wasn't going to break the bank either. He didn't need to worry so much.
However rather he needed to or not, his worry started to disturb her a little so she decided to quickly drop the second sandal. "If you can't afford it, you can always work it off. Work here to pay off the weapons price, alongside my training, and class." Yeah that ought to make him drop everything. Especially if paying the price-
"Alright I'll do that." What?
She looked him over again. All the panic and worry was gone from him, and that smile was back full force. What was with him? He barely put any effort into anything they did in class, and yet when given the choice between paying for something or working overtime for it, he chooses to work more? That made no sense with what she knew about him. It seemed like something that hot-blooded Lee kid would do. Not the deadlast class clown. She was missing something. She had to be. There was no way she could be this wrong. Right?
"Alright. I'll talk to my dad about it. If he approves then we will get you set up" She said after a moment. The blonde nodded and turned and started to put the weapon in his hands back. "What are you doing?"
"Putting it back?" He said sounding unsure as he looked at her over his shoulder. "I haven't paid for it yet, so it's not mine."
Well that was sensible. And for the most part right… "Alright, you are correct in that however, it is the one you chose and if my dad says no you WILL be paying in cash. So I will be taking that to put in the back on hold for you." She declared while taking the spiked club from him and away from the rack.
He just nodded at her and gulped a bit. "Now since that is taken cared of, you can head home. I will let you know when everything is ready for you to start training under me. Do not approach me, I will approach you. Got it?"
"Yeah teacher, I got it." She actually liked the sound of that a little. Especially how he said it with some respect and understanding in his voice. She was going to have to keep an eye on him. With that he left her store at a fast walk. There was really something off about all this, and she was going to find out what.
She would have to do it tomorrow though. Today she just wanted to relax before she asked her father permission to hire Naruto temporarily. She just hoped he wouldn't be upset.
