Enjoy the read.

Chapter Four

It stunned Naruto how fast every gathered outside the house. What surprise him more was the two story building they stayed in happened to be in the middle of the forest. The dark elf, as Silver called the violet humanoid, and the demon covered themselves from head to toe. The sooner activated a seal on the house. Much like Silver wagon the house shrink down onto itself until a family of birds could call it home.

Once they tossed the house into the wagon the group split up. Teruim and the dark elf disappeared into the trees. The remaining group walked toward the road and at a walk when down it. Silver started to sing a song about crazy dogs and their master. Ivy walked alongside Naruto while Fu caught a ride on the wagon.

"Nice clothes," said the demon.

Naruto sighed. A dark blue jacket streaked with red rest on top of a black shirt. Black jeans covered the top of his pants. He tried to find some of those red swirls his former outfit had, but found none.

"Thanks." Pocketing his hands, the blond looked away from the demon. Her long sleeve white shirt blended with the head cloth wrapped around her head. Blue pants legs tucked into boots while blue gloves protected her hands. Even with her odd feature covered Naruto felt a little unease around the demon.

"So do you have any hobbies?"

"Hmm."

"Hobbies." Snapping her fingers, the demon voice become monotone. "An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure."

"I know what a hobby is." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Though I would say that I like to train and garden."

"Train?"

"To be a shinobi."

"That's work," stated Fu.

"Not if I enjoy it," said Naruto.

"Do you."

The blond opened his mouth and paused for a moment. "I understand to be a strong shinobi that I need to train hard."

"Yes, yes." Ivy patted Naruto on the back. It felt as if a rock pounded him. "Can't say I care much for the former. I generally spend a lot of times doing puzzles. Crosswords, logic grids, disentanglement, and lock."

"What?"

Ivy opened her mouth to answer, but Fu cut in. "Careful. Ask question like those and Ivy is going to drown you with her dictionary knowledge."

"What a dictionary?" Naruto frowned at the disbelieving looks. "I never liked books all that much. They made little sense and are better use as fuel for fire."

Hugging her book to her chest, the verdette hissed. "Touch my book with that intention and you're losing an arm."

"Not that I want it anyway." Tilling his head, the blond stared at the cover. "What are you reading?"

"Something about an angel force to work with others," said Silver. "If I remember correctly, he was an assassin in a world similar to ours."

"You talk as if angel do exist." Naruto offered the demon a grin. "Then again, you and that dark elf guy are standing right in front of me."

"Hope I am." The demon picked at her clothing. "It would suck to be your imagination. No offense to you, but I like the idea of being an independent being."

"I doubt an imagination can give me a bruise."

"Silver." The group came to a stop in front of Teruim. "One the villages you wish to visit is up ahead. We went ahead and annoyance your arrival.

Clapping his hands, the merchant and his daughter leapt off the wagon. "Grand." He darted into the wagon. "Give me a moment to get ready." Ducking out of view, the blond could hear the ruffling of clothing. "There."

A figure spring up. His dark red kimono hanged from his frame. Tiny foxes chasing its tail dotted the robe. Though the merchant hide the top half of his face behind a fox's mask, the blond could see the mirth through the eyes holes.

"Greeting, young man." Bowing, the merchant filled his voice with warmth. "Care to help me with my quest today."

"Do I have a chose?" Naruto caught a mask. Cloth attached to the owl's face. "Wait, why the hell am I the owl?"

"Because nobody would expect a dunce behind a wise face," said Fu.

"Ha. Ha."

Silver handed the verdette a plain white mask. "Naruto, all I want you to do is stand by and watch. If you try to escape I will have you zap."

"In front of a group of people?"

"I can always say that you suffer seizures."

Grunting, the blond crossed his arms. "I'm curious. As long as you behave yourself I'll keep my mouth shut."

With a laugh the merchant slid through the window. "All I ask is a chance." Closing the wagon, the merchant hopped on. "Now, onward to learning!"

The village they approached was of decent sizes. Wooden buildings surrounded the main road. Villagers clambered about their daily life. Yet a dark elf and a wolf drew many eyes. The sooner nailed a poster to the wall. Upon a green background the bold words 'Humble Beginnings: Chakra and a New Era' popped out. People clumber around as the merchant pulled up in front of them.

Standing, the merchant weaved signs. "Welcome folks." Silver leapt off of the ground and slammed his hand into the earth. People yelped as the earth under them threw them up. Each slab space apart to from benches. "It good to see so many people here." Forcing a wall of earth up, the merchant leaned on it. "You may call me the Philosopher. Today, I like to ask you a question? How would you like it if life can be made a little easier?" Opening his arms, the merchant eye's tinkle. "And all you have to do is awake something that all human have in their system."

"Sir," said one of the person on the bench, "what do you mean that all humans have?"

Pressing a finger to his chin, the merchant hummed. "Good question. I know the answer, but about you folks. Care to point it out?"

"Hair?" asked one person.

"Some of us how more than other," stated Naruto. That earned a few chuckle.

"Nope," said the merchant.

"A spirit?" asked a small child.

"Somewhat close, but nope."

"Hope?" asked another person.

Clapping his hands, the merchant shook his head. "That's a good one, but look at the banner to my right."

"Chakra?" asked a person. "Isn't that something only those shinobi use?"

Laughter flowed form the merchant. "My good sir, I assure you that we have never learn from the shinobi of the villages." He swing his hand out to the dark elf. Bowing, the dark elf took out a scroll and threw it to the ground. Upon impact it erupted into smoke and a plain water fountain took it place.

Fu then stepped forward and placed her hands in it. As she pulled it out water followed. Once her hands broke free the pillars stood. She started shaping them into new form. Silver walked around the child. His hand weaving about her as if to keep her in place.

"My friends, chakra is an energy which all people produced."

"A long with water, farts, and other crap." Chuckles brought a smile to Fu' face.

"Quite right." Kneeling, the merchant's gestured to the people taking form. Granted, they looked rather childish. Yet one could tell the one holding a shovel was a farmer, another swinging large bags of money about a banker, a person wielding a sword a shinobi, and a duck swim around them. "All of these before you produce chakra." Silver gestured to the earth. "The ground produced chakra." Swinging his hands into the air, the merchant looked up in awe. "Even the sun that bath us with light have whiff of chakra."

"Really?" Naruto tried his best to ignored, but he strolled up to the fountain. He poked the farmer and it body caved in. Grunting, Fu waved the boy away. A hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled Silver's side him to his side.

"It's true," said Silver. "Plants, buildings, insects, fire, water, hell! Almost everything that I'm aware of can do it."

Dashing to the fountain, the merchant dragged the blond to it. As he did so Fu's figures sinks and large pillar appeared. From it she created several shinobi. All of them in a middle of a fight.

Silver let go of Naruto and cupped his hands around the fight. "As all of you good people should know, shinobi of all kind train in the use chakra to create feats of wonder." Clapping his hands together, the merchant destroyed the fight. "But they squander it and horde it to themselves. They taught you that chakra is a weapon that can only be used to kill and slaughter." Stepping away from the fountain, the merchant grinned as Fu's stepped forward.

"Ma'am," said a person, "why would we want to use chakra."

A chuckle escaped Fu. "Whiskers, stepped forward."

"Not my name." Yet the blond did as told.

"This boy here is thirteen. He was a graduate student. The most basic of training he had is a couple of jutsu and gym."

"He's a stick of boy," commented an audience member. Naruto huffed.

"True." The dark elf took out another scrolled and summoned a giant metal ball. A handle place on top of it. "As you can see, we got a metal ball that weigh about one hundred and seventy pounds. About the weight of a man. May a child of Naruto own age step up?"

Mutters run through the crowd as a youth stepped forward. Many of them questioned what hoax maybe. Smiling, Fu patted the child on the back.

"All I want you do is grabbed the ball and lift it."

"You're joking," said the volunteer. Fu smiled. Shrugging, the child stepped forward and grabbed hold of the weight's handle. His teeth clenched as he heave and pulled. Yet he could get the ball maybe an inch off the ground before it slammed back into the earth. "This is impossible."

"Naruto," said the Fu, "I want you to pick up the weight."

"Um, okay." Stepping forward, the blond nodded to the volunteer. After he spat in his hands, the blond grabbed the ball and lift. Naruto seemed shock as he lifted the steel ball into air. His arms quivered, but he got it over his head.

"No way!" A man jumped to his feet. "This got to be a trick."

"Believe it!" exclaimed Naruto. "Want to give it a try."

Setting the weight down, the blond stepped out of the twenty something man. He grabbed hold and pulled. When it refused to move he glared at it.

"There have to be a jutsu being use." The young man run his hands across.

Silver lifted his hands up into the skies. "My hands are apart. How about you guys?" The merchant assistance followed his motion. "See! We're innocent of foul play. It's the boy's chakra system at work."

Spinning around, Silver jabbed a hand at the audience. "Any of you can do it as well." The merchant turned around and walked up the building. "There so much one can do with chakra that can benefit the community. Imagine one man able to separate poison from water and build construct a building in one day.." Silver jabbed an elderly person. "Or you! Want to felt a bit more useful? Activate your chakra system."

"But I'm old," stated the elder.

"Don't be discourage by the boy age. Yes, the younger you are the easier it is to use chakra. Then again,"- the merchant shrugged- "it's like any skill. Practice at a younger just mean you had more time to use it."

"I'm a farmer," said a man. "How can it help me?"

"Did you every needed to move large quantity of earth? You can probably create irrigation systems that take days and shrink it down to a couple hours."

"What about a merchant?" asked a woman.

"Defense from bandits." Pushing off the wall, the merchant landed in front of the fountain. "You can stand and fight or flee at speeds which the bandits can't keep up with."

Spreading his arms, Silver grinned. "If you people wished to learn follow me outside of the village." Silver jumped onto the wagon and led it out into the forest.

The blond was surprise to see a large group followed them into the trees. About twenty people in all. Naruto and the rest of the crew standby. He trying his best to remember what it like to first use chakra and came up blank. First time would be when he first joined the academy. One of his teacher asked him to channel chakra by forcing it through a metal tube with a light bulb on it. It worked only if he can get chakra to flow through his body. It took him a month longer then everyone else to do so, but the blond did felt excitement at the rush of energy and the dull glow of the light.

"Everyone sit down." Plopping onto his butt, the merchant folded his arms. Once all the villagers did as asked the merchant grinned. "Let me start by saying that I'm only here to give you a sample of what you might feel. I will not teach you jutsu or anything like that. Only the chance to feel chakra."

"But you said-" started a villager.

"No worries. I will teach jutsu who may want to learn it, but I'll explain that later." Clapping his hands, the merchant took a deep breath. "Now. Let focus on just trying to feel your chakra first. For some it will be difficult. Other will find it easy. Do not feel frustrated if the flow isn't there.

"First, I want you to try to feel your center. It's a portion of your body that mixed the spiritual chakra and body chakra together. When it happen you'll know. To find you're center…"

Silver shrugged. "For some, it best for them to sit down and focus on it. Others may need to move around and work it out. You'll just have to find the best you can. It something only you can do."

Folding his arms, the merchant glanced to his right. "As for you Naruto, we'll be stick here for a while. It's about time you are broken in."

I don't like those choose of words, thought the blond.

"Fu."

The verdette looked up from her back. "Why me?"

"Because the Ivy can't teach him, Teruim would rather eat him, and our last choose is busy keeping watch."

Snapping her book shut, the verdette sighed. "Alright. Come on, Whiskers. We're going ot learn a simple jutsu." She tucked her book into her shirt.

The blond darted after the verdette. "Are we going to learn an amazing jutsu?"

Fu walked until they were out of sight of the villagers. "You saw Silver climbed the tree earlier?" Tearing her mask off, she tucked it under an arm. Naruto nodded. "If you're going to stay with us you need to learn some moves, fast."

"Is Silver going to lead us to trouble?"

Snorting, Fu shook his head. "He is trouble." A smile formed as she sit down. "Though he always try to have fun about it. No, he won't drag you into anything until he feel you're ready. Father not the type to force people hands unless he thinks it necessary. Now, if you want to walk up that tree you need to focus chakra to your feet. Too much and you'll become crushing machine. Too little and the ground will punch you."

"Please." Placing his hands together, the blond channeled chakra to his feet. "I'll have this done in no time." Naruto picked a random tree and run up it. Two steps later the back of his head slammed into the ground.

Biting back a chuckle, the verdette poked him on the tender spot. "Incredible, that the first time I see someone hit the earth so fast."

"Shut up." Rubbing the sore spot, the blond leapt to his feet. "Maybe if I get a running start." The blond darted several meters from the tree. He sprinted up it and got an inch higher off the ground. Though this time he managed to get his arms under him. "Damn it."

"Don't worry." Fu drew her book out. "Now that you're stuck with us you have plenty of time to figure it out."

Sighing, the blond ran at the tree and tried to climb. "Are you guys actually father and daughter?"

"Biologically, nope."

"Bio what?"

"It's mean that I'm not we're not blood." Flipping through the pages of her book, she stopped from time to time to check the number. She forgot to bookmark the page. "Though I still consider him my father. Did more than my fake one ever did?"

"Harsh."

"It true." The bug girl found her page. Spotting a spider to her right, she lower her hand and let it climb up her. "So, what with the dream of becoming Hokage?"

"It as I said." Slipping for the sixth time, the blond fell to his feet. "That is my dream. Once I'm able to return to the village I will impressive everyone.

"Nice to know."

"I'm serious."

"Hm."

Pausing on his third step, the blond flipped off the tree. He landed in front of the verdette and glared, but she had her face buried in the book. The blond grumbled and started running at the tree.

"Increase your charka input."

Skidding to a stop, the blond glanced to Fu.

"You're using far to less. For someone willing to punch a demon and then run through enemy territory, you're being too cautious."

"I panicked." Walking back to the beginning, the blond gathered energy to feet and pumped more charka. "Wished I can say that I done something cool, but that what happened."

"Nothing to be ashamed of. Now leave me along and let me read my book. Talking will only distract you from business."

Rolling his eyes, the blond darted up the tree. "Please, I'll have this done-" The bark under him cracked and he shot off the tree. With a yelp he slide across the ground and rammed his head into a tree. Limp, he stared off into space with a dumb smile. "Damn it."

With a sigh Fu strolled over. "You put too much into it this time."

"I know!"

Hours passed. At some point during the training Silver wandered on over. With his hands cupped together. Naruto got an extra step in when he fell off the tree. Upon landing, he glanced to the merchant.

"Hey Silver, how training going?"

"Well enough." The father kneeled beside his daughter. "They are trying hard and some maybe do it in a day or two. I saw you made progress."

"You need something?" Fu kept her eyes on the book.

"While I was training I got a bit bored and start walking around. I was searching the ground when I spotted something." Silver opened his hands.

Fu gasped and dropped her book. "Is that a Beller!"

"A what?" Naruto walked over. Walking in Silver's hand, a little bug walked around. It remained Naruto a bit of a ladybug, but with the butt of a firefly. When it tried to fly away it wings ringed.

"Let me have it!" Fu took the bug. "I didn't think you can find them this far south."

"There are swamps in the Fire Nation," said Silver. "It could be a subspecies."

"Where do you find it?"

Curiosity got the best of Naruto and he followed. They came upon a field of flowers of different colors. Taking care with her steps, Fu placed the beller onto her shoulder and she started to search. Silver stood in place. A smile on his face.

Standing next to Silver, Naruto hummed. "Why is the beller so important?"

"In term of fighting, nothing. Bellers are harmless." Silver cupped a hand over his ear. "But if you listen you can hear the chimes of their wings." With a nod Naruto did as told. He smiled upon her bells floating in the air.

"Fu never had a family," stated the merchant. "Before I came along. Her father was never around and her mother had already gone to the heavens." Pocketing his hands, the merchant grinned. "Fu remember only one think about her mother. That each night they would go to a special place and listen to the beller play their tones." Blinking, Naruto looked to Silver. His smile turned sad.

"Father!" Rushing over, Fu held out her hands. A variety of insects in hands. "Look I got."

"Let see now." Silver bent over. "I see Mr. Grasshopper. Oh!" Silver tilted his hat. "Hello Miss Wasp. Please take care not to sting me. It look like my old foe the devina worm is here to?" Silver trembled. "You brought that one to make me shivered, didn't you."

Sticking out her tongue, Fu grinned. "Maybe."

Silver patted the verdette on the head. "Keep looking for these bellers. We can't bring them home."

"I know." Fu glanced to the bug on her shoulder and sighed.

"But we can go to your favor restaurant!"

"I'm holding you to your promise!"

With a nod Silver started off. He placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Remember to have fun, kid. They're going to be a time when you going to have a bad time. This is something you can look back on and support yourself with. Now if you excuse me, I need to make sure my students isn't lacking."

Chuckling, Naruto jabbed a finger at the merchant. "Say the guy who should be teaching them." Silver tipped his hat to the blond. Naruto found himself another tree and kept on working.

The sun two-thirds of the way to returning to is earthy bed. Laying on the ground, the blond breathed heavily. He glared at the tree trunk. Halfway up the trunk crushed bark marked his last attempt. Sitting in the flowers, Fu surrounded herself with bellers. Their flapping wings provided a nice tone. His determination to perform the jutsu startled her.

He got to be tired, thought Fu. The idiot had been at it for hours without a single break. She worked some of the flowers into a crown. Standing, Fu walked over to Naruto and placed them on his head. "Rest in peace, exhausted one."

"I'm still alive." Putting on a wide grin, he pointed to the top of the tree. "See! Just a little more-"

"I'm surprise you're body hadn't broke yet." Fu poked a leg and the blond yipped. "See! You're body got to be sore."

"It's fine." Pulling away, the blond darted toward the tree. A claw hand grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off his feet. "Hey!"

"That's enough for one day." Ivy lowered the struggling blond to the ground. "Silver is ready to get going."

"Already?" Pouting, the blond crossed his arms. "But I was just getting the technique down."

"Wall climbing?"

"I thought it was tree climbing?"

Shrugging, the demon plot Naruto onto the ground. "Same different." She looked to Fu. Did he try to escape?"

"He was too focused on climbing up the tree," said Fu. "Any longer and he would had killed himself."

"No I wouldn't!" exclaimed the blond.

"Chakra exhaustion might had done you in. Then the fact of just becoming mental exhausted and slipping up."

"I could have done it all night."

Ivy reached out and clustered the two together. "Settle down. It time to return to the rest of the group." Puffing his cheeks, the blond grumbled. The ladies herded Naruto back to the merchant's group. Bellers flew around Fu a little be longer before she sent them away. She watched them for a bit before placing her mask on. A large numbers of them clustered around him. "I got the kids. Ready to go when you are."

"In a moment!" Silver waved a hand. "I'm busy with taking answer."

"Mr. Philosopher," said a boy. "I felt something."

"Same here." Banging a hand into his fist, the man growled. "I could feel something within me, but it felt out of reach."

Silver waved his hands as if to pat his students. "Settled down. I would have been surprisingly happy that someone managed to do so." Spreading his arms, the merchant managed to get some space between him and his students. "Now, I must move on. Time is short and I can't teach you jutsu here."

"You mean there is a place we can learn?" asked a woman.

Nodding, the merchant took off his map and pulled out a map. "Of course." He held it over his chest. His finger traced down the elemental nations to the Land of Water. "I know this is asking much out of you, but I have a more permanent home here. A small island and not well known." Mutters run through the crowd.

"I understand that most of you are unable to do the journey. Money, life, and affairs must be keeping you busy. Though I suggest for the best of the village you sent a few young people in that direction."

"Yes." A village nodded. "That would be best."

"I'm uncertain that this is worth it," stated another villager, "but I have also seen what the shinobi done once. Mr. Philosopher, would you give us an hour to speak with our village. If might be able to get their help in the matter."

Bowing, the merchant grinned. "Of course, I would never force a person to do anything." The villagers bowed back before returning to their village. Silver turned to his group with a smile with it morphing into a frown. Staring after the villagers, Naruto seemed displease. Resting his chin on the blond's shoulder, the merchant whispered. "What the matter, my boy?"

Naruto yanked away. "I was just thinking, that all?"

"About?"

"Why are we teaching these guys to use chakra?" Scratching the back of his head, the blond scanned the skies. "These guys aren't going to put themselves in dangerous positions. Shinobi need to at their strongest to defend themselves."

Grinning, the merchant chuckled. Did this boy not hear my speech earlier? With a cough the merchant licked his lips. "Naruto, while I will not downplay the danger of shinobi… Hold on a sec, have you even left your village before this."

"No." Glancing over his shoulder, the blond grinned. "Why?"

Fu got on her toes to whisper in the merchant's ear. "Father, he tried climbing tree none stop for hours."

"That some impressive chakra he got there."

"And when told him to stop he just wanted keep it at."

"So the youth lack experience." Humming, the merchant shrugged. "Alright Naruto, let agree at the moment to disagree." The blond tilted his head. "But I would like to remain you that you're still young. With little life knowledge it would be unwise to make a clear decision."

"Still think this a waste of time." Cupping his chin, the blond stared at the merchant. "You don't look old, though that would explain a lot." Naruto failed to notice the people around him scoot away. "You talk so much and allowed Fu to do work for you. No offense to her, she one strong girl, but you did say something about being tired." Looking to the skies, the blond missed the merchant tightening smile. "I bet you're sixty and using some sort of henge hid the wrinkles. Odd, but-"

The blond slammed into the ground. Clenching his cane, the merchant stabbed the end into the blond growing bump. His eyes gleams. He kneeled down and patted the blond on the head.

"Let get something straight right now." Silver grind the end of the can into Naruto's head. "I'm not old. You people may not live long, but rather young where I'm from. So please watch your mouth. It rude to accuse people of things that they're not."

"Yes sir," groaned the blond.

"Good." A chipper expression slipped onto Silver's face. "Now, let returned to the wagon and talk some. I need to know how much you learn from the academy." Putting his cane back in place, Silver walked off.

Fu peeled the blond off the ground. "Are you still alive?"

Naruto nodded. "Did someone switch place with Silver when I wasn't looking?"

"No." Shaking her head, the verdette grinned. "You can pretty much talk with him on most things and he'll talk you to dead. His age, however, is one of the few things that are off limit."

"Warn me next time."

"I'll try."

For the next hour or so the group settled down around the wagon. Naruto spent most of his time taking with the merchant and what he learned at the academy. Of course, to the blond's irk, he learned all of two jutsu and failed on the third. Yet the merchant kept pushing on subjects just as the Leaf's village.

"The best way to understand another person is there history," stated the merchant. With a sigh the blond did the best he could to explain. While he past the history portion of the class with some ease, Naruto only remember bits and pieces of it.

Naruto's thanked kami when three of villagers returned. Sliding off the wagon, Silver bowed to the newcomer. Returning the bow, the eldest of the pair stepped forward.

"So you're this Philosopher our people had been taking about," said an elderly woman.

"I am."

"When I heard that a man is offering to teach jutsu I thought they gone insane." Crossing his arms, the elder shook his head. "The shinobi villages are protected of their art. I doubt they just hand over their secret."

"I assure you good sir that I have little connection with the villages." Straightening up, the merchant summoned a stomp of earth to sit on. "What I teach does not have to use for war. In fact, I ask that you try to avoid that as much as possible. A village is a place to grow and help your kin become strong. That is all I want to do."

"Philosopher, as wry as we are, my village decided to take the risk."

A young lady stepped forward and bowed. "Greeting, Lord Philosopher. It will be a pleasure to learn from you." Her white dress stripped with blue cling to her body. Pale violet hair framed her head. Strapped to her back was a backpack.

"And it would be good to teach you." Reaching into his pocket, the merchant pulled out a map. "Here are the coordination to the island. Follow it to a key and you'll get there safely."

Blinking in confusion, the lady took it. "Can I not accompany you?"

"Sorry, but my group have its own schedule to keep. If you want this young lady to learn jutsu as fast as possible then go to the island. There are people who read to teach her."

"But I never traveled outside this village," said the lady.

Grabbing the map, the merchant pointed to a dot on it. "Then go to one of these dots and ask for help. I got friends there more than willing to help." Silver pulled away with a smile. "With luck you should get there within the week. Now if you excuse me, I got to get going."

The group made several more stops along the way. Silver putting on his show and drawing in more students. All the while Naruto kept on training with the tree climbing jutsu. By the time they reached the sea he mastered it. Would had done so quicker, but Fu forced him to take breaks despite his protest.

A steamboat captained by one of Silver's friends carried them over the seas. Standing at the bow, the blond stared off into the distance. His glared leveled on the water. Clenching his teeth, the blond darted to the hull of the ship.

Being a cargo ship, the cargo area served for sleeping quarters. Blankets had been hanged up to provide a little privacy. Naruto pulled a blanket aside to see Silver sitting on the floor. Twirling his monocle, he studied the Forbidden Scroll spread out in front of him.

"No fair!" Naruto plopped down beside the merchant. "You're already getting new jutsu and I'm stuck with some weak stuff."

"Naruto, I don't plan on using most of those jutsu." Putting the monocle on, he snorted. "Some of those, just as a jutsu that allow one to drain another life force, don't suit me at all. Too much chakra for my system"

"Come on!" Naruto stared at the scroll. "At least teach me something cool."

"Naruto, why don't you learn some sealing?" Getting a blank stare, the merchant rolled his eyes. "You called yourself an Uzumaki, correct." That earned a nod. "You do know what that names means?"

"It's a name," said Naruto, "what of it?"

Blinking, the merchant put the scroll down. "Boy, the Uzumaki clan was once feared in this nations." A blank stared caused a sigh. "Naruto, do you know anything about your parents."

"I thought we went over this already. I was orphaned from a young age. My parents killed during the attack on the village."

"Then I might enlighten you on at least one your family's history."

"What?" Naruto stared at the merchant as if a head had grown.

"Before the Third Shinobi War there was a nation known as the Land of Whirlpools. On that island was a shinobi clan known as the Uzumaki. They fought alongside the Leaf Village and their sealing techniques feared among the nations. So their enemies destroyed the village."

Twirling his monocle, the merchant sighed. "Words have it is what left of your kin is scattered throughout the world. It possible that one of them wound up in your hometown seeking refuge."

"Would the Hokage know about this?"

Humming, the merchant shrugged. "It wouldn't surprise me. Even for an ally the Hokage would have to grant them permission." Silver put his monocle on. "Come to think of it there should be a paper trail somewhere about the ma'am or sir. Uzumaki wasn't a common name to begin with."

"The old man wouldn't lie to me?"

"Hm."

Clenching his fist, the blond glared at the scroll. "If he know something he would had tell me."

"The Third Hokage?"

"Yes."

"Maybe he have a good reason not to." Silver held up his hands at the evil glare. "Look! I have little to no idea why he would do just a thing. All I'm saying is mere speculation. Once you see the Hokage again then maybe you can asked him straight up." Patting the floor beside him, the merchant gestured to the ground. "Until then, let talk about sealing. It's a little dumb to think that blood relation mean you'll have the skill, but the Uzumaki had skills in the sealing arts or Fūinjutsu."

Scratching the back of his head, the merchant chuckled. "Sadly, I have no ability in the matter. My cook-"

"For the last time, Silver," shouted a voice, "we take turn cooking."

Pulling the curtain aside, the scantily dressed dark elf kneeled down. "So you want to learn some sealing."

"What so great about sealing?" asked the blond. "All you can do is store stuff."

The dark elf presented his hand to show an eye staring at the blond. With a poof of smoke a yellow piece of paper formed. The foreign word 'froze' written across. Before Naruto could blink the dark elf slapped it onto his head. Muscles tensed up as the blond tried to speak. Within a millisecond his body refused to move.

"If I can catch an enemy off guard it's an easy way to disable them and end a fight with little bloodshed." The dark elf snatched the paper off. "Easy once learned, but difficult to learn in the first place. Care to learn."

"Hell yeah!" Jumping to his feet, the blond pumped a fist into the air. "Just show the hand signs and I'll work on it."

"It's a bit more complicated than that. Join me in my room."

With a nod the blond followed the dark elf to his space. Silver stared after. A smile refused to slip from his face.

Staring across the sea, Anko yanked a pair of dango off their stick. With a flick of the wrist she pegged it to a nearby tree. A massive gray dog with an eye patched over one eye glanced in her direction. With a snort he turned his attention back to his master. The feral woman sniffed the air. A frown refused to lift.

"We could try walking across the water," said the Inuzuka. "But we would run out of chakra before we get there."

A man covered in clothing landed nearby. "My insects are being of little help." Small beetles flew into his neck collar and up his sleeves. "And the local insect are refusing to speak with me."

"Yet Naruto is heading in this direction." Drawing out the bone knife, Anko spun it around her finger. A smile form at the thought of curving up the person who took away the blond. First thing she did was summon the snakes to ask if Naruto had summoned him. Upon hearing of a verdette assaulting her Naruto she nearly stabbed the snake for allowing the monster get away. "Don't worry Naruto. Once I find you I'm making your captives suffer."

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