Disclaimer: Yeah, I own Naruto! Nah, I'm just messin' with ya. I don't own Naruto.
A/N: IMPORTANT - I've updated two chapters, this one and Chapter 2 so go back and read that one first it has an important Author's Note you should read.
The next morning was largely uneventful. After dragging Naruto out of his futon Tenzou ordered their breakfast, making sure to include lots of healthy alternatives for the boy despite his protests. He eventually shut up after Tenzou warned him that they were going to be doing a lot of travelling over the next three days and he'd need all the energy he could get. Still, the boy made it perfectly clear that he preferred Ichiraku ramen for breakfast. Or indeed any other meal. After being properly fed and watered they gathered their gear and checked out of the ryokan. Their destination was Juanta, a trade town a good five hours away. Despite the fact that the journey was to be made on foot Naruto didn't complain. He often spent entire days just wandering around the village so a few hours shouldn't be too much trouble. Unfortunately a young child can only walk along a country road with no distractions for so long before boredom eventually sets in. Luckily for Tenzou yesterday served as a warning of just how annoying a bored Naruto could be and he managed to keep the boy happy with a simple wooden ninja-to that he pulled seemingly from thin air. When Naruto asked where he got it the Jounin simply smiled and said it was a secret.
After that the trip passed quietly with Tenzou seemingly lost in thought and Naruto happily playing with his sword. They stopped to rest after three hours before continuing on towards the small town.
Juanta followed the norm when it came to Fire Country towns. Small buildings made of wood and stone with clay tile roofs that absorbed the heat from the sun. The roads were simple dirt paths worn smooth by generations of travel, occasionally added to with litter or horse dung. The main roads were chocked with the carts of traders and merchants heading towards Konoha or one of the larger cities and the herds livestock headed towards the market for sale. The butchers were already sizing up the latest wares, fat fingers running along the sharp edges of their cleavers in anticipation. Along the avenues stalls and stands were erected selling everything from foods to silks and trinkets. The constant bustle kicked up dust from the streets and the sound of hundreds of voices floated over the town in one loud hum. Juanta was by nature a trading town and it had enjoyed a notable success in its one hundred years of existence.
Naruto trotted along behind Tenzou, trying desperately not to get lost or swept away by the fanfare. He was constantly being buffeted by the crowds or herded aside to make way for the carts. His small head was swivelling this way and that trying to take everything in at once. Tenzou muscled his way through the throng, allowing Naruto to quickly dart through the gaps he made behind him. Naruto gripped the wooden ninja-to tightly. The constant jostling was getting annoying. Pretty soon someone was going to be hit with that ninja-to.
They followed the flow of the crowds towards the large halls where the livestock were penned. A large patchwork of kennels spread out under a large overhanging roof held up on thick pillars, leaving the pens open to the world like an enormous pavilion. The areas around the pens were packed with the herders and the dynasts who's job it was to check the purity of a beast's breeding and tally its value accordingly. Slaughtermen patrolled the halls in their long button-up greatcoats, their ceremonial cleaver swords gleaming as their eyes watched the crowds for any sign of trouble. The floor was caked with dried white excrement which was shovelled up and tossed into drums. There was a good trade in dealing dried animal crap to serve as phosphorus. Staccato shouts echoed around the cavernous hall as deals were made. Traders, some from as far as the Lands of Water and Earth, others as near as Konoha, examined the wares with expert eyes, checking in with the dynasts to find the best bred beasts. Game agents, contracted by fighting pits, combed the place for the most ruthless and bloodthirsty carnivores they could find. They would be carted off to the gladiator arenas to face off against the fighters.
A few hundred yards out of the village stood the rendering silos where long processions of bovines, sheep and the rare group of mammoths marched in grim compliance towards their death, ready to be rendered down into meat and shipped of to the prefectures up and down Fire Country to feed the masses. Packs of meat cuts were loaded onto convoys of carts to be hauled along the dusts roads to towns. For more picky and wealthy clients hand picked animals of better lineage and breeding were herded into gigantic haulers pulled by three tethered mammoths each and secured in individual pens using special stasis jutsu to keep them alive and fresh to feed the upper classes where quality steak could fetch quite the pretty penny.
"Geez! This place stinks!" Naruto exclaimed, a hand covering his nose and mouth as they headed through the crowds. He gingerly stepped over a large pile of dung.
"I know but hopefully we'll be in and out before too long." Tenzou said, not wholly bothered by the stench. He'd smelled worse things in his time. You got into some crazy shit when you were in ANBU. No pun intended.
"What are we even looking for here? What can we find here that'll help me become a great ninja?" The blonde queried, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his shorts.
"Nothing. Well, not directly anyway. We need transport that we can use to get to the place where I'll be training you so we're going to need a cart and some horses. We could have probably waited until the place quietened down a bit but by then any horse worth looking at will have been scooped up."
"I thought ninja didn't use horses. I thought they just ran places." Naruto said, surprised. He'd seen ninja back in Konoha jumping from building to building like no one's business and could only wonder why they'd resort to horses to get them places.
Tenzou nodded. "The world's a big place, Naruto. Even ninja can't travel across it on foot alone. We use horses, or sometimes summoned animals, to travel to the place we need to be then, if we need to, travel the rest of the way on foot."
"Don't ninja run faster than horses?"
"Yes. But not horses as you're used to."
"What do you mean?"
"Ninja use a very special breed of horses. They're commonly called nin-horses. They're special in that they don't just use the power of their muscles alone to gallop but they've been trained to unconsciously channel chakra through their legs. The end result is horses that are faster than normal horses and can run farther before they need a rest. A Jounin, and maybe a high level Chuunin, can run as fast as one of these horses for a short time but they would tire out very quickly."
"So we're here for one of these horses?" Naruto asked.
Tenzou nodded and led him between the pens. Naruto amused himself by gazing at all the different beasts they passed as Tenzou searched for the area allocated to the horses. He recognised a few of the animals. The common boring things like cows, sheep and pigs hardly received more than a second glance but it was the larger creatures that really caught the young boy's attention. He gawked at the towering mammoths who tossed their long ivory tusks and shook their shaggy manes, he gazed at the funny looking large enokh birds on their disproportionately long legs and he practically slavered over the single caged carnodon, chained down to keep it from breaking free and mauling its handlers. The giant reptilian's tough hide was covered in scars, six inch long teeth gleaming in the poor light. A pair of slit red eyes stared at the passers-by hungrily.
It would fetch a hefty price with the game agents.
Naruto was so caught up in his observations that he didn't see the entourage making its way towards him nor did he hear Tenzou's warning. Something knocked hard into his side and sent him sprawling on the dirty ground, his ninja-to tumbling out of his grip. A little dazed, he shook his head and looked up to see a heavyset man wearing an expensive suit of red velvet under a large cloak of what looked like some sort of wolf pelt. A bronze crown sat about his brow from which jutted a pair of polished antlers but the man's black hair was so thick that it covered the metal, making the rack appear to sprout from his own head. He seemed one part businessman, one part shaman. Following behind him was a gathering of retainers, his dynasts, ledger bearers and Slaughtermen with their cleaver swords all gathered about him as he easily cut through the crowds. He was obviously a man of importance as looks of utmost respect were sent his way and more than a few people bowed as he passed by. No one seemed to notice or care that he'd just knocked a small child to the ground and didn't seem to care.
Naruto's face screwed up in anger. "Oi! Watch where you're walking, you fat prick!"
"You okay?" Tenzou asked as he helped the boy to his feet. He handed the blonde his discarded ninja-to.
"Yeah." The boy muttered as he dusted himself off. Glancing at the group that was just disappearing around the corner he asked, "Who was that guy?"
"Noticed there was something different about him, eh? That was Kaizen Kizko, the Slaughterbaron. He basically runs this town. If someone wants to do business they need to clear it with him first. He owns the pens and rents them out for a modest fee to the merchants and herdsmen. A small percent of all deals made here go to him as thanks for using the premises."
"What about those dudes with the huge swords?"
"The Slaughtermen? They're basically Kaizen's private army. They act as security. Make sure things go smoothly during the trading. Don't let the looks fool you though. Those swords were made to kill people, not animals."
"He's a asshole." Naruto said with finality.
"Maybe but a very important one. You should remember that. You never know when you might need the Slaughterbaron's services." Tenzou lectured him as they entered the section where the horses were kept. Row upon row, pen upon pen, the place was filled with horses. They neighed and whinnied, tossing their heads and flicking their tails as prospective buyers peered closely at them. A few were let into the pens under the ever watchful eyes of the breeders to see up close the quality of the magnificent beasts. Naruto was sure that there was a menagerie of different breeds but he didn't know any. He just saw big and little, brown, white and black, tall, sleek, fat and a host of other descriptives. Naruto whistled as he overhead a particularly wealthy looking guy close a deal with one of the breeders. These things sold for more money than his apartment!
Although, given the state of his apartment complex in general that probably wasn't a hard figure to match.
Naruto watched Tenzou check each chalkboard sign on the pens until they found the ones they were looking for. The writing on the board said Nin-breed.
"Ah! Good sir, I see you've noticed my fine animals! You've a keen eye. They are some of the finest animals I've ever bred." The breeder strolled over to them. By the shine of his riding boots, his immaculate clothes and the sleeked back hair it was obvious that the man was quite well off.
"Yes I have. Fabulous creatures. A testament to your skill. Family business by any chance?" Tenzou asked companionably.
The breeder beamed. "Why yes! Unotaka Joushiro, second son of the Unotaka family. We've been breading some of the best horses in Fire Country for the last three hundred years."
"The Unotaka family you say? Yes, I've heard of your work. Good things too. Fine things. I believe there are even a few of your family's horses at our stables back in Konoha."
"We've had pleasurable dealings with your fine village in the past. Very amicable dealings. We hope to continue such a partnership for a long while." Unotaka said. "But I'm sure you didn't come here to talk about my family's previous ventures, ninja-san. How may I be of assistance today?"
"Well, Unotaka-san, I'm in need of two horses. Nin-breed. Preferably one of them being suited for young children learning how to ride."
"Yes I see why you might." Unotaka muttered, briefly glancing at Naruto. "I believe I have two that will suit your needs."
He led them over to two pens, side by side. In one was a large black horse, a white diamond of hair at the centre of its head. The other held a slightly smaller one, this one with a coat of chestnut brown with some white at the end of its muzzle. They pawed at the hay covered ground in their pens.
"There they are." Unotaka said proudly. "Some of my best horses. Bred them personally. I grantee they'll fulfil your needs."
Tenzou nodded approvingly as he inspected the horses. He tested their legs for weakness, felt the firmness of their muscles beneath their gleaming coats, checked their teeth to determine their age and sensed the high levels of chakra running through their systems. "Prime animals Unotaka-san I commend your skill. How much are you asking for them?"
"210,000¥."
Tenzou looked at the man. "For both of them you mean?"
"No, each." Unotaka corrected.
Tenzou stood from where he'd been checking the hooves of the chestnut horse. "Unotaka-san, that's double the price you would pay for either of these horses."
The breeder crossed his arms across his chest. "These are Unotaka bred horses. That means animals of the utmost purest breeding and training. You'd be hard pressed to find better horses anywhere. 210,000¥, no lower."
"I'd be happy to give you 210,000¥. For both."
"No, for one. If you want both it would cost 420,000¥ in which case I'd be more than happy to do business with you."
"I'm sure you would." Tenzou remarked dryly. "But the fact remains you are grossly overcharging for these animals. I'll give you 270,000¥. That includes the saddles, bridles and harnesses."
"270,000¥!" The man's face went red. Collecting himself he continued, "These are some of the best horses to come out of my family's stables. Quality horses! World class even!"
"And if you asked any breeder here they would each say the same of their own animals." Tenzou replied calmly, his arms open in supplication. "It's the best offer you'll get for them, I suggest you take it."
The man took a calming breath, his eyes glaring into Tenzou. "You, sir, insult me. We're done here. It's obvious that you don't know quality when you see it."
The horse breeder made to move away when Tenzou caught him by the arm, stopping him. Naruto noticed two of Unotaka's farmhands stand from where they had been lounging against the gate of one of the nearby pens, their hands drifting towards the heavy truncheons hanging from their belts.
Tenzou noticed as well.
"Unotaka-san, I highly suggest you reconsider my offer." Tenzou said it politely enough but their was a near unnoticeable tone of something in his voice that said it wasn't merely a request.
To his credit Unotaka didn't seem intimidated in the least. "You do, do you?" He sniffed, looking down his slightly arched nose at the Jounin. "And why is that?"
"Well," Tenzou shrugged casually. "If I where to go back to Konoha and tell my friends that the Unotaka family were overcharging for their horses then they would tell their friends and their friends would tell their friends and so forth. Ninja are outrageous gossips, you wouldn't believe. Eventually though word would get around and they might find themselves inclined to avoid dealing with your family if they feel they might be cheated. This close to Konoha that would most certainly prove fatal to your business here."
"Are you threatening me?" The man blustered.
Tenzou shook his head as he released the man's arm. "Of course not. I'm merely saying that bad publicity can prove very bad for a business. Now about those horses…"
For several long minutes the man stewed over it. "Fine!" He spat. "270,000¥ for both of them."
"Including the saddles, bridles and harnesses?"
Unotaka grit his teeth. "Yes, including them."
"Excellent!" Tenzou beamed. "Now that that's all cleared up we have some business to attend to in the village. I assume that we can leave the horses here until that business in concluded?"
Unotaka grudgingly agreed and they took their leave.
"Nice work." Naruto remarked as they left the trade hall. It was refreshing to breath clear air after so long being surrounded by the strong musk of animal shit. "Are you gonna each me how to do that?"
"Do what?" Tenzou asked.
"What you did to that guy."
"Manipulation? Yeah, I think we can squeeze that into your training."
"Sweet!" Naruto grinned widely.
Tenzou glanced at the boy out of the side of his eye. "Should I be worried?"
"No. Well… not yet at least."
"I'll remember that."
They meandered back down into the village proper. It was a little after three in the afternoon and trade was still in full swing and would continue for quite a while yet. Tenzou led Naruto through the streets, going from stall to store as he went about getting them some last minute supplies. He didn't carry the supplies he bought with him. Instead he somehow managed to seal them into small scrolls he carried in his vest (Another skill Naruto wanted to learn). Naruto for the most part just played around with his ninja-to or wandered around the stores for lack of anything else to do. More than once Tenzou had to rein him in when he got too inquisitive for his own good.
Good thing too. That glass sculpture looked expensive.
By the time they were done it was already late evening. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, a small jut of bright orange, casting long shadows on the ground. The wind was just turning cold as stalls were disassembled and unsold goods were packed away for another day. People either headed home after a hard day's graft or retired to the tavern for a quick drink or to hash out the deals on some type of business venture. Good trade waited for no man after all.
The duo returned to Unotaka at the trade halls. The place was mostly empty now save for the breeders, herders and Kaizen's Slaughtermen and of course the animals. There were fewer now though, either gone to another trading town or sold off. It was eerily quiet after the rancorous noise of the busy work day. Pen attendants in dirty overalls scooped the dung from the pens into carts to be taken away. The smell was horrendous.
They found the breeder outside the pens where their horses where kept. The surrounding pens were empty so Naruto assumed the man either sold them all or was moving on.
"About time you arrived." The man grumped, all traces of his earlier pleasant façade gone. Naruto got the feeling Tenzou's threat really pissed the guy off.
"Evening, Unotaka-san." Tenzou nodded kindly. That seemed to piss him off more. "I trust that our horses are ready?"
"Of course." Unotaka said. "I trust you have my payment?"
"Of course." Tenzou handed him the sheet of paper he was holding. "A voucher straight from the desk of the Hokage. I've already filled it in. All you need to do is sign then present it to the Hokage and he'll pay you."
Unotaka plucked the voucher from Tenzou's hand and clipped over to a nearby toll table where he spread out the voucher and peered at it through a gilded magnifying glass he plucked from the velvet waistcoat of his finely cut suit. He examined it closely for several long moments, looking for any sign of forgery. Ninja were a sneaky bunch by nature.
"If you'll please?" Unotaka asked crisply.
Tenzou placed a finger to the paper and channelled some chakra into it. Light flared across the paper illuminating the chakra conductive watermark bearing the Hokage's personal seal. It was not a forgery.
"Very well." The haughty man said primly. Naruto got the feeling he really wanted the voucher to be false just so he could refuse to do business with Tenzou. "Our business is complete. Take your horses and go, I have other matters to deal with."
"A pleasure doing business with you, Unotaka-san." Tenzou smiled. If anything it seemed to irritate the man even more.
Tenzou led the horses from their pens by their reins and led them and Naruto out of the trade halls, stopping just off the main road out of town.
"Uh, Tenzou-sensei?" Naruto said hesitantly. That surprised the Jounin. Naruto had never been hesitant about saying anything so far. "It maybe a bad time to bring this up but I don't know how to ride a horse."
"I wasn't expecting you to. The riding training comes later. For now let's focus on getting to the place where you'll be doing the training."
"We're leaving now?" Naruto asked in surprise. "I thought we'd be staying it town then leaving in the morning. It's night time now."
"I know but remember Hokage-sama didn't want to advertise the fact that you were leaving. Why did you think I've been steering you away from ninja all day. The place was teeming with Konoha ninja. I want to get out of here before anyone sees you."
Naruto's jaw fell. "Really? I never noticed."
Tenzou smirked. "And that's why I'm a ninja. Now as for how we're going to travel…"
He clasped his hands together whilst whispering something that Naruto didn't catch. He wouldn't have cared much either once he saw thick ropes of wood shoot out from the ground. Funny thing was they looked like long flexible planks instead of naturally growing wood. They flowed together, interlocking and crossing over one another and in seconds a small cart stood before them, looking as though it had just been rolled out fresh from a carpenter's workshop.
Naruto was in awe. "Cool! Was that a jutsu? Can you do more stuff like that? Will you be teaching me?"
Tenzou chuckled at the boy's reaction. "Slow down Naruto, one at a time. Yes, that was a jutsu. Yes, I can do more things like that. Yes, I will be teaching you jutsu."
"Awesome!" The child practically squealed.
Tenzou just smiled as he set about securing the cart to the harnesses of the horses. By the time he was done Naruto had already crawled into the back of the cart where his head was starting to loll. It had been a long day. Tenzou checked the scrolls he was carrying and unsealed one of the sleeping bags for the boy to crawl into which he did with a small grunt of thanks.
He was out like a light.
Tenzou chuckled quietly as he climbed up onto the driver's seat. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure the sleeping boy was secured and not in any danger of sliding off the back of the cart Tenzou cracked the horses' reins and gently steered them along the dirt path that led away from Juanta.
Naruto didn't wake until noon the next day. When he did wake the first thing he saw the the expansive and lush greenery of the Land of Fire countryside. They had already left Konoha Prefecture, the one hundred and fifty kilometre radius around the village that fell under the jurisdiction of the Hokage and, to a lesser degree, the Konoha council, and had entered Tanjin Prefecture which rested south of the village. Expansive crop fields and rolling hills as far as the eye could see surrounded them. Copses of trees and full blown forests were smudges of dark green swaying in the gentle breeze and every so often they would see massive fields of wildflowers like a sea of colour surging out across the landscape and breaking against the colossal and immovable mountains that stood tall on the horizon, their snow covered peaks disappearing into the clouds.
They stopped sporadically for lunch or for bathroom breaks. They talked a little, mostly about what Naruto was going to learn during his training, but for the most part Naruto just hung over the edge of the cart, watching the world slowly pass by.
It continued that way for the three days it took them to reach the hidden training plateau and by the beginning to the second day boredom had become a serious issue. Serious because when Naruto was bored he would annoy Tenzou non-stop until he found something else to occupy his time with. Learning a lesson from the toy ninja-to (Which Naruto was still carrying) Tenzou started making small toys for the boy to play with which took Naruto's mind off the long travel and allowed the poor Jounin a few hours of peace.
It was noon on the third day when they reached their destination. The road had splintered off into a slightly overgrown dirt path that wound through a small spattering of trees until it just stopped at the base of one of the mountains, this one as unremarkable as the rest.
Tenzou hopped off the cart as Naruto peered up at the mountain.
"Is this it?" The boy asked dubiously. "Doesn't look like the place you'd expect to find a secret training place."
"Of course." Tenzou said as he stepped up to a large flat section of the mountain base. He seemed to be searching for something. "If people thought there might be a secret training ground here then it wouldn't be all that secret would it? Now where is it… Ah! Here we are."
Naruto watched as the Jounin ran through a long stream of hand seals then place his finger to the mountainside, just above head height. He watch amazed as the man spelled out a long series of kanji with his finger and in the wake of his hand movements a glowing kanji burned on the stone. Tenzou wrote in a continuous line from above his head to the ground, never one removing his finger from the stone until he was done. He stood back and admired his work, nodding to himself when he noticed no discrepancies. He placed his hands to the mountainside, on either side of the kanji line, and pushed with a grunt.
Naruto watched spellbound as the mountain's stone opened up, two large doors of thick stone sliding open with the deep groan of stone grinding against stone. Tenzou stepped back, dusting off his hands while Naruto peered into the opening from the back of the cart, trying unsuccessfully to pierce the gloom. He was about to ask Tenzou how the hell they were meant to see in there when flames suddenly burst into life from brackets set into the wall. Naruto saw that the entrance immediately curved away into a long spiralling path that twisted up inside the mountain.
"Cool." Naruto breathed.
"Isn't it?" Tenzou asked rhetorically as he climbed back onto the cart. He guided the horses into the tunnel, manoeuvring a little to get them onto the spiralling path, then let them pull the cart up the gentle slope. Hearing a grinding noise, Naruto looked over his shoulder to see the entrance seal itself shut, not even a trace of light piercing through the gap.
"So what is this place anyway?" Naruto asked, his voice echoing wonderfully. He was going to play around with the echoes more but Tenzou had already started talking.
"Like I said it's a hidden training ground used exclusively by the ANBU. The Hokage has already given it to us for at least three months so you can get the basics down before we start travelling. I won't lie, Naruto, this is going to be some gruelling training. If you were in the academy you would be learning at an easier pace but since you're learning on the move you'll need to dedicate yourself a lot more to your training. I'm not just talking about learning how to fight but also the other skills you need. Remember your becoming the world's first recon-nin so that means you need to learn about the different countries you'll be visiting instead of focusing solely on Fire Country. I'll have to tell you though, the way things are looking your training will be more studying than fighting."
Naruto was slightly put out by that. He was a ninja not a geek! Why would studying about some stupid fact be more important than learning to kill a guy with a lunch tray?
For a small child Naruto had a pretty graphic imagination.
He probably would have said something along the lines of a loud complaint but the hint of sunlight from around the bend up ahead stalled any arguments from him. The cart rounded the last bend and left the gloom of the tunnel, emerging into the light. It took Naruto a second to adjust to the sudden change. What he saw amazed him.
A large house had been constructed of light grey stone, almost the same shade of the mountain. Standing three stories tall with a wall enclosing it the place looked big enough for twenty people to live there comfortably.
Tenzou chuckled at the boy's reaction. "If you thought that was amazing take a look around you."
Naruto did and his breath was immediately stolen from him.
They were on a plateau nestled in the slope of the mountains many hundreds of meters in the air. The Land of Fire stretched out below them in thousands of miles in all directions. Fields and flowerbeds and forests were all just blobs of colour up here. In the far distance, a tiny stain on the horizon, Naruto could glimpse what he thought to be Konoha. The heavy forests to the north blocked any sight of Juanta that Naruto might have glimpsed.
He was in awe. In all of his short life he had never seen anything like this. The only thing that even came close to stealing his breath like this view was doing now was the view he had glimpsed for the very first time from atop the Hokage Monument back in the village. If he'd been amazed then there were no words to describe what he was feeling now.
Wilderness one. Konoha zero.
"Impressed?" Tenzou asked with a knowing grin.
Naruto just nodded dumbly, still trying to comprehend the sheer scale of what he was seeing.
Tenzou chuckled and hopped down from the cart, starting to unbuckle it from the horses' harnesses. They wouldn't need it anymore. Naruto just stared off the plateau as he worked. When he was done he ordered the boy off the cart and with a few hand seals destroyed it, the wood that comprised it slithering back into the ground as if it had never existed in the first place.
Naruto walked with Tenzou who was leading the horses through the small gate in the wall. They emerged into an empty courtyard, the ground paved in large slabs the same colour of the building. A small stable stood at the far end, complete with hey, where Tenzou promptly tied the horses before removing their heavy saddles.
"Well," He said as he dropped the last saddle off to the side of the stable. The horses began to happily much on some hey. "What's say we head inside, unpack and get some food?"
"Sure!" Naruto said with some excitement and together they vanished into the tall building in search of food and rest.
A/N: Done! Please review!