Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise, nor any of the other series I will be drawing inspiration from in this fanfiction. This is a work of fiction created purely for enjoyment, and no money shall be gained in its production.
Author Note: So, yeah, sorry it took so long for me to get another chapter out. It has been a combination of drama, moving to a new home, work being entirely too busy for a few months, and the latest World of Warcraft expansion launching. Thankfully, things are relatively settled in at the new home, work is a bit quieter after the holidays, and I have gotten a few max-level characters in WoW and don't need to worry about spending marathon hours leveling them.
Thanks again to my beta, Amedao, and for all the assistance he gives me.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
BADGER
Chapter 07
Naruto had slept the rest of the night and clear through most of the following day, unaware of the desperate search that had brought Tsume and Kuromaru to the very entrance of Momma Badger's sett.
As he slowly awoke that evening be became aware of a strange sensation unlike any that he had ever felt before. Something was rasping against the hair on his head, and occasionally grabbing on and pulling small sections of it, while a low rumbling sound of an odd purr echoed against the dirt walls around him. Odd as it was, it had a calm and deeply caring feel to it like he always imagined a hug was supposed to feel like.
Remembering the previous night, he wondered if meeting Momma Badger had been nothing but a dream, and blearily opened his eyes to see the faintly glowing tree roots that formed the roof of her room. While this light would have been too faint to be seen during the day outside, even with the clouds over head, deep within the earthen tunnels of Momma Badger's sett it was the only illumination to be had. Unaware that it was caused by the sudden surge of Charka that had been sent through his body while he was sleeping, he just assumed that Momma Badger lived in a magical cave.
Sudden sounds of movement drew the boy's attention away from those glowing roots to where Momma Badger was laying next to him. Huffing in irritation as the fur she had just been grooming moved on her, she eyed his head for a few moments in before noticing another patch of his short blond hair that had not seen enough of her attention yet. Bright blue eyes watched her as she gently bit down on a particularly difficult knot, a look of deep concentration on her black and white striped face as she began to worry at it with her sharp canine teeth.
Momma Badger was laying on her side on the thick bed of dry grasses that covered the floor of the sleeping chamber, ignoring such unimportant things like glowing tree roots as she paid attention to grooming the new kit she had adopted the night before. Leaning her head back she eyed the small clump of hair before reaching her paws forward to rake her sharp digging claws along it, showing impressive control by not once touching his head with the sharp tools nature had gifted her with.
Mollified by the sounds she made whenever he tried to move, the half awake child waited for what seemed to be an eternity until the job was done, leaving his hair cleaner and straighter than he ever remembered it being before, though smelling heavily of the calming musk that came off of Momma Badger. Remembering his manners, he thanked her for cleaning him, earning an odd clucking sound from her in return even though she couldn't understand his human words.
Accepting that her oddly shaped kit was as clean as she was going to get him for the time being, she began nudging his body towards the dirt tunnel that had brought them into the sleeping chamber the night before. Leaving the dim light of the glowing roots behind, he followed her gray furred back as she led him through the few short twists and turns of her small sett, the occasional glowing root peeking through the dirt walls revealing the occasional tunnel leading off into other parts of the hill that he had not noticed the night before. An insistent dove like cooing from Momma Badger kept him from giving in to his curiosity, which was followed by the sudden realization that not only was he very hungry, he also had a desperate need to go to the bathroom.
Once they reached the entrance to the sett Naruto was startled to realize that it was late in the evening, the fallen leaves outside laying flat on the ground, heavy from the recent rainfall. Momma Badger noticed the muddy paw print of a large dog on the dirt piled outside the entrance, and spent a few moments sniffing at it before deciding that whatever animal had left it there was no longer nearby before leading him the rest of the way out.
Squinting his eyes against the brighter light of the outside world, he looked up past the half barren branches of the trees to see the bright pinks and oranges of a sunset peeking out of gold trimmed holes in the clouds over head, bringing a smile to his face.
Another soft, dove like coo from Momma Badger brought his attention back to the moment, and soon enough he was following his furry host as she led him away from the short hill that held the sett. He quickly realized that leaves were much harder to walk on when wet than when they were dry, falling several times as the slippery leaves caused his feet to slide out from underneath him. Lacking four heavily clawed feet, and the low center of gravity of Momma Badger, he was forced to crouch with his arms out ready to catch himself when he fell.
A musty scent soon hit his nose, reminding him of the smell his room back at the orphanage often had due to the bathroom at the end of the hall, and they soon came across a small patch of bare dirt where several small holes had been dug. Getting closer to these holes, and the source of the scent, Naruto soon realized that this must be Momma Badger's bathroom as he saw her squat over one of the holes and do her thing.
Shrugging to himself, he dropped his threadbare pants and kneeled over one of the other holes, realizing that it wasn't much different than going to the bathroom in the squat toilets back at the orphanage. A handful of leaves did a passable job at helping clean himself up, and he felt much better afterwards.
With that taken care of, Momma Badger led him off to the bank of a small stream that ran along the opposite side of the hill, dipping her nose to take a drink. Following her example, the boy was amazed at how clean and cool this water was, and proceeded to nearly drink himself sick, his empty stomach soon complaining that it would need something more solid put into it.
It was at that point that Naruto learned how lucky he was that Momma Badger had found him the night before, as she apparently knew all the right places to go to in order to find food in the forest. Even this late in the year there was a surprising amount of things to eat available in the forest, their path following the small stream until it led to the bank of a shallow river, where several bushes offered him a handful of late season berries. After biting into one of the berries from the same bush that was a lighter shade of red he quickly learned to follow Momma Badger's example on which berries to grab, leaving the unripened ones alone.
Deciding that they had spent long enough there, she led him away from the river and deeper into the woods, bringing him to a small clearing holding a few scraggly looking trees with small green apples hanging from their branches. Fallen fruit littered the ground beneath these trees, standing out against the darker green grass that grew there.
While Momma Badger contented herself to eating the fallen fruit off the ground, worms and all, Naruto reached up his thin arms and pulled several apples directly of the tree. The sound of crunching fruit filled the clearing as they both ate, the sour taste of the hard little fruits cleaning the taste of berries from his mouth.
He was amazed at all the different things there were to eat in the forest, from mushrooms growing on the moss covered trunks of trees to hard shelled nuts that he had to break open with a rock to get in to. It seemed to him that berries and apples were only the beginning, and there was a whole new world beyond the orphanage walls filled with food just waiting to be eaten! It was an amazing feeling to finally have a full stomach, the constant companion of his gnawing hunger finally fading away as the sky slowly darkened above their heads.
Their foraging lasted well into the night, the full moon giving just enough light for Naruto to follow the gray furred back of Momma Badger as she led him all over her territory, the occasional coo guiding him when he lost sight of her in the growing darkness. On occasion she made an unusual whickering sound like a horse whinny whenever they became separated, an urgent call for him to join her side once more.
After making a final visit to one of the latrines that bordered her land, they eventually returned to the safety and comfort of her sett, and settled down for a well deserved rest.
Naruto was content in a way that he had never felt before, the warm glow of being watched over and cared for filling his heart with joy after a full day of having someone take the time and effort to make sure that he was safe, well fed, and comfortable. After the cold inattention and harsh glares he had received from most of the people he had met in the village, this was a major change for him.
He didn't care if Momma Badger was furry and couldn't talk human, she was the most awesome person in the whole world.
It was with that thought in mind that he fell asleep, spending his second night within the embrace of the roots of the Chakra tree, the warm body of Momma Badger pressing against his back calming any fears he might have had deep within the safety of her sett.
Hachimitsu had experienced walking in the minds of others before during her training under Yuudai, but there was a vast difference between the minds of adult badgers in a deep meditative state, and the uncontrolled mind of a five year old child. When the thin tendril of Yin Chakra connected her with Naruto she had been expecting to find herself drifting along calm currents of thought, navigating her way through the boy's memories like a ship sailing the sea.
She was ill prepared for what awaited her when their minds connected.
Instead of finding herself tracing along the surface of his memories, viewing them from the outside with only a small taste of the emotions attached to them, she found herself fighting against uncontrolled waves of thought and emotion that threatened to drag her under and crush her within their depths. This was the most dangerous part of the memory walk, for if you were forced to experience the full weight of another person's memories, and the raw emotion attached to those moments that truly made them who they were, it was easy to lose your own sense of self.
Hachimitsu was fortunate that she had such a strong sense of self, her own life experience and the stubborn will of a honey badger anchoring her own psyche as she weathered this storm of memory and emotion.
Hazy memories of his infancy drifted by in fragmented bursts, confusing blurs of sensation that disappeared quickly, soon forgotten again under the weight of more solid memories that began to form as his mind and body grew and slowly matured. Some memories were faded and indistinct, while others seemed intense and inescapable, burning themselves deep within her soul as she watched on helpless to stop them.
Tears leaked down her muzzle as she came to realize how hurt the child had been by the people around him, isolated from those his age by the harsh whispers of the adults, and constantly followed by cold glares wherever he went. What made these moments truly heartbreaking was that the poor boy did not even know that he was a Jinchuuriki, and that the hatred focused upon him was due to the demon fox that was lying wounded beside her within the Seal. She soon realized that the waters flooding his mindscape represented the tears he had refused to let out, hidden behind the smiling mask he showed to the rest of the world.
Unable to act on her need to hug the child and show him the love and respect that he truly deserved, the massive honey badger managed to gain some control and turned her mind to the brightest of the child's memories to console herself.
Of the few good memories that stood out, many of them focused on those rare moments when the Hokage would come by to visit, the kind eyes looking down from that aged face a shocking contrast against the glares that he normally received. It was no surprise that the young child had already decided that he wanted to become Hokage himself after seeing the respect the Old Man got from everyone in the village. The fact that being Hokage apparently meant that you could also breathe fire and make the earth shake by stomping your foot on the ground was pretty awesome too.
Another face stood out among these brighter memories, belonging to a young girl named Tenten. Ignoring the whispered 'suggestions' of the adults, the fellow orphan had become a good friend of his shortly after his third birthday, quickly becoming one of his few precious people. She could often be seen sitting beside him during meals and classes, as well as dragging him along behind herself during the occasional field trips that the orphanage took.
Following these memories Hachimitsu came across a memory of the Hokage taking the entire orphanage on a field trip to see a puppet show during one of the annual festivals. Amazement filled Hachimitsu as she relieved the memory of the puppets' reenactment of her battle against the Kyuubi, experiencing the joy and wonder that the boy felt as he watched.
Even though she was locked within the Memory Walk, her left cheek still twitched upon seeing the blow that had scarred her face, remembering the blazing pain that had made her worry that she had lost her eye. While her eye had healed enough for her to verify that she could still see out of that side, she would likely bear the scars for the rest of her life.
Happiness and sorrow blended together in the last memory the boy had of his friend on the day that she had come to tell him that she had been adopted. While the girl had been happy she was going to live with an actual family, it had obviously pained her to be leaving him behind.
Without the bright presence of his friend at his side, the world had become dark once more, those few bright moments drowned out against a sea of loneliness and pain. Bracing herself as wave upon wave of raw emotion crashed upon her in growing intensity as the unhealed emotional scars of his most recent memories played out, she was still unprepared for the sudden explosion that rocked her upon reaching the day he was kicked out of the orphanage.
Hachimitsu let out a long keening wail the likes of which she hadn't uttered since she had been a kit, the newness of his pain still fresh in his own mind overwhelming her defenses. Unseen in the dark corner of the cage, the slowing healing body of the Kyuubi twitched in its sleep, tears suddenly flowing from its closed eyes as the unprotected mind of the Bijuu relived these memories as well through the link tying it to Hachimitsu within the seal.
Although Naruto wasn't counting, nearly a month had passed since he was kicked out of the orphanage and first met Momma Badger, and the weather was getting decidedly colder. Winters in the Land of Fire were usually fairly mild, especially in comparison to the winters suffered by those in Earth or Lightning, but this season was shaping up to be one of the harsher winters in recent history.
Without the benefit of the stores and trade agreements of the village to keep them fed, Naruto and Momma Badger were forced to roam further and further from their Sett every day to find enough food to keep them fed. While the woods around Konoha were healthy enough to support the limited winter needs of a hibernating badger, the growing human child did not share this ability with her, forcing them to leave the warmth and security of their earthen home every day in search for sustenance.
Shivering as his breath created puffs of white mist in the cold air, Naruto clutched the meager covering of his tee shirt around his body in a vain effort to fight off the cold. He had taken to stuffing handfuls of leaves beneath his clothing to help keep himself warm, but even the heat generated by their walking was proving to be insufficient to keep his small frame from constantly shivering. At least Momma Badger was better off, her thick fur serving her well as she ambled along the ground in front of him in search of their daily meal.
Several times he had thought about sneaking into the village to try and find some food there, but every time he did he remembered the man he had stumbled into the night he had left there, wondering if he maybe had done something to deserve being hated by the villagers. Fear of what the villagers would do to him if he came walking in to ask for food warred with his hunger as he stumbled along behind his friend, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes causing the forest to blur for a moment before he blinked them away.
A startled yelp escaped his mouth before he could stop himself, causing Momma Badger hunker her body closer to the ground and search their area for hidden threats, her black eyes darting around as she scanned the forest surrounding them. Naruto had crouched close to the ground the moment he made the sound, imitating her own hunkered stance as he gazed over the small rise of a hill overlooking the nearby river. They had traveled for over half an hour along the shores of the same river they had drunk from on his first day, the rich soil of its flood basin giving better bounty than the higher rises of the hills themselves, before reaching this point. During the entire trip they had not run into any sign of people until now.
Sitting at the base of a hill overlooking a wide sweeping turn of the river was a small log cabin, shuttered windows looking out from beneath a wide roofed porch. Caution warred with the gnawing hunger in his belly as he stared at the building, wondering if there was any food inside. A quick look at the cobblestone chimney that climbed the side of the cabin showed that no smoke was climbing from the fireplace inside, causing the exiled child to relax a bit inside as he came to terms with this sudden invasion of the wilderness.
"What do you think, Momma Badger?" Naruto mumbled to his companion.
Her response was a series of chitters and a soft barking sound.
"Yeah, I know it might be dangerous, but there might be food inside," he told her. "There's no smoke coming from the chimney and the leaves aren't all messed up. I don't think anyone is home."
This odd back and forth was becoming more common between human child and badger as they spent their time together. Although they did not really understand what the other was saying, body language and tone was a large enough factor in communication for them to get by with most of the time, and constant practice helped ease their learning curve.
He could tell that she was nervous about the unfamiliar cabin, and worried that something there might hurt them. It had been this caution that had drawn him away from the large fenced off part of the forests earlier that week just in time to see a massive bug charge at them, only to be stopped by some kind of blue glowing wall thing. But in this case it wasn't some fence with a sign saying 'Training Ground Forty-Four', but a well kept log cabin weathered gray with age.
Eventually hunger overrode caution, the grumble of a near-empty stomach having much to do with that decision, and Naruto began creeping along the edge of the tree line towards the cabin. It would be quicker to just walk across the pale gray river rocks that spread out along the inner bend of the river, left behind during the floods in spring time, but he figured it would be safer to stick to the cover of the woods until he got closer just in case there was someone in there who wouldn't want him coming close to their home.
The leaves he had stuck under his thin t-shirt for insulation crinkled as he moved, making him wonder of maybe there were some spare clothes in the cabin be might be able to take as well. Food was of course the most important need, but it would be nice to be a bit warmer, and the single change of clothes that he was wearing were getting rather torn up, not to mention very smelly from constant use.
As he reached the edge of the clearing closest to the cabin, he crouched down behind a fallen tree for cover, idly plucking an edible mushroom from the side of the moss covered log and taking a bite. Momma Badger came ambling up beside him, taking a moment to grab some of the other mushrooms growing there for herself as he peeked out at the cabin.
There were leaves scattered along the porch pushed there by the wind, a few older leaves plastered to the wooden planks by the heavy downpour that had fallen a few days previously. This gave evidence in the boy's mind that nobody was home, as he always remembered the groundskeepers at the Orphanage going out to sweep the walkways every morning. He didn't see any signs that anyone had bothered to clean the porch there for quite some time, giving him the confidence to at least approach. If he knocked and someone answered he could just say he was lost and leave, but if nobody was home then he figured it was fair game.
"I'm going to risk it," Naruto muttered to his companion.
Putting action to words, the young boy slowly stood up from his hiding place, deciding to simply climb over the mossy log instead of walking around the long way. Leaves slid and crunched beneath his worn sandals as he walked out from between the trees and into the small clearing that could be called a yard, if one was being generous, as his feet carried him towards the cabin. As he got closer he noticed that the cabin was in better shape than it looked like from afar, the wood gray with age but smooth and solid without any major cracks. White plaster sealed where the rounded logs of the walls met, showing signs of recent repair in places where older plaster had been chipped away and replaced with new.
Three short steps led from the ground up to the porch itself, a handrail mounted on one end to one of the heavy wood posts that held up one corner of the roof of the porch, the other end mounted on a smaller post at the bottom of the stairs driven into the ground for support. Ignoring the handrail he walked up the side of the stairs closest to the wall of the cabin itself, using the skills he had practiced over the last several weeks to walk quieter by rolling his weight from the outside along the balls of his feet like Momma Badger did. After reaching the top of the steps without an incident he made his way across the porch, avoiding the dry leaves there as best he could, the wooden shutters over the windows drawing his attention as he neared the front door.
Heavy hinges ran along both sides of the window where the shutters met the window casings so that they could swing out to the sides to let the light in. Currently the shutters were closed, a metal latch holding them together in the middle, leaving the solid wood to block him from seeing inside.
It would probably be safer to knock on the front door instead of opening the shutters to look inside, or at least less suspicious he thought. Nodding to himself he walked the final distance over to the large door, taking note of the metal doorknob even as he reached a hand up to knock.
After several tense moments with no response, he knocked again, this time a bit harder than before just to be sure. Straining his ears to try any catch any sound of movement inside, his effort was met with nothing more than he sound of a breeze sweeping through the leaves and the shuffling walk of Momma Badger as she made her way up the stairs behind him.
"I don't think anyone is home," Naruto said, looking down at her as she came to a stop on the porch next to him.
Her response was a nervous chitter as she eyed the unfamiliar surroundings.
Some of the doors in the Orphanage had locks on them and wouldn't open unless you had a key, but this doorknob didn't have a hole for a key to go in, so hopefully that meant that it wasn't locked or anything like that. Steeling his nerves, the boy reached out and grabbed hold of the door knob, surprised relief filling him as it turned easily under in his grip. Darkness greeted him as the door opened, the only light he could see inside the cabin coming from the open doorway.
"Hello?" he asked, his voice echoing back at him from inside. "Is anyone there?"
Again, no response.
Several leaves followed him in as he inched his way into the house through the now open door, Momma Badger remaining behind on the porch shifting from foot to foot in nervous excitement, speaking to her kit in a constant low chitter. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness with an ease of practice, having spent so much time recently within the unlit Sett that he and Momma Badger called home, he looked around the inside of the cabin.
The chimney he had seen going up the side of the cabin as he was approaching belonged to a fireplace off to one side in a kind of living room area with a few chairs and a table in the corner under the shuttered window, but it was the kitchen on the opposite side of the cabin that drew his immediate attention. On the far wall opposite the fireplace in the living room stood an open door, light shining off of several glass jars sitting on shelves inside. Ignoring the black mass of the large wood burning stove the young boy made his way over to the pantry, a wide smile growing on his face as hope filled him.
Even with the minimal light coming from the open front door he could see that these jars were filled with all kinds of food, the thought of having such a bounty available to Momma Badger and him without having to go wandering the forest for hours on end bringing tears of joy to his eyes. Grabbing several nearby jars at random he cradled them in his arms and made his way carefully back to where Momma Badger still stood on the porch, refusing to enter the strange building.
Under better lighting he could see that one of the jars held what looked to be jam made from some kind of dark purple berries, filling it to the brim. Another jar held long thin vegetables, green beans he remembered, while the other two jars contained eggs, all floating in some kind of liquid. The jars themselves were made of clear glass, letting him easily tell what was inside, even without having to read the hand-written labels running across the front. However, the lids had some strange scribbling written on top in black ink. He couldn't read very well yet, but he knew whatever that was wasn't normal writing, but shrugged it off in favor of putting the jars down on the porch in front of Momma Badger.
Curious as to what their Kit had brought out to her, she leaned her head down and sniffed at one of the jars with her pointed snout, ducking her head back as she almost knocked it over causing it to rock back and forth for a moment on the wooden floor.
"Okay, it looks like we got eggs, eggs, green beans, and jam," Naruto told his friend. "What should we eat first?"
Examining the jars with a suspicious look in her eyes, Momma Badger gave out another chitter and pawed at one of the jars with eggs in it, that at least looking familiar enough for her.
"Eggs it is," he said with a smile.
After a few moments of strain, and an embarrassed glance at the nonplussed look on the badger's face, he finally got the lid opened with a faint pop of displaced air. Unseen in the daylight streaming down on the cabin the Fuuinjutsu seals drawn on the lid flashed with chakra before dispelling, the matrix broken when the jar was opened.
Both badger and boy spent the next several minutes enjoying this unexpected bounty, Momma Badger pinning the pickled eggs between her front claws and biting into them with gusto, while Naruto tried his best to fit an entire egg into his mouth and chew it all in one go with varied levels of success. After they had eaten their fill they went down to the river to grab a drink of water before returning to the cabin.
Emboldened by his first success, Naruto went back into the cabin to see if there were any clothes as well, now that he knew that there was plenty of food for the taking. Noticing a wooden ladder leading up from the living room towards the peaked ceiling, Naruto climbed up as best he could taking one rung at a time. When he reached the top he saw what looked kind of like a bedroom cut in half by a curtain, bed rolls sitting in the corners of either side, and a pair of dressers against the far wall.
Spotting these dressers, Naruto grinned to himself, hoisting his body the rest of the way up the ladder so that he could set his feet on the floor of the loft. Deciding to go to the right half first he walked over to the dresser and opened up one of the drawers at random, a grin on his face. Said grin immediately dropped when he saw that while there were clothes in the dresser, they were way too big for him.
Sighing in disappointment, he closed the drawer and scuffed his worn out sandal on the wooden floor before remembering that there was another dresser on the other side of the curtain.
With a thunder of footsteps on the wooden floor of the loft Naruto made his way around the curtain to the other side, stopping in front of the other dresser. With another smile he slid open one of the drawers, and shouted in excitement when he saw that there were clothes that looked like his size!
Momma Badger's voice echoed up from below with a worried chitter, causing Naruto to shout down that he was okay. Her response was a half-hearted huff, which he took to mean she only half believed him, since she still couldn't see him.
Within the first dresser drawer he had opened there were several pairs of gray pants made of a smooth but durable looking cloth. They were definitely thicker than the civilian clothes he had been given by the Orphanage, and the seams were stitched a couple of times to make them stronger. Hands recently cleaned in the river, Naruto reverently picked up a pair of these pants, tears coming to his face when he thought about wearing actual clean, warm clothes.
This was the best... day... ever!
Dropping the pair of pants he had grabbed on to the floor, he closed the first drawer so that he could open up the one beneath it, revealing several odd shirts folded up on one side, and a couple of short sleeved jackets on the other. Shaped just like the torn up tee shirt he was already wearing, these shirts were made of a type of black net material with a inch wide trim of green cloth along the neck, as well as the ends of the sleeves and bottom hem.
Shrugging at the odd shirts, he dropped one of them on top of the pair of pants, along with one of the short sleeved jackets, before closing that drawer. Opening the final drawer revealed several pair of underwear and socks, as well as a scuffed up but serviceable pair of ninja sandals that looked like they might be just a little too big for his feet yet.
Making a quick decision to clean himself in the river real quick before putting on his nice clean clothes, remembering that lesson from the last time the Matron had been forced to give him a new set of clothes when he had outgrown the past, he carried his new outfit to the edge of the loft floor, dropping it onto the floor of the living room below with a satisfying thump sound. A few stressful moments of navigating the top of the ladder again, and discovering that climbing down was much harder than climbing up, he reached the bottom floor to find Momma Badger inspecting the new clothes with a curious snout.
"Look, Momma Badger," he said with pride, "new clothes!"
Understanding him to mean a new set of not-fur coverings, the badger made a satisfied churr sound. After all, these ones did not smell nearly as bad as the ones he was currently wearing, and they would carry the scent of their Sett soon enough.
Later that night a clean, freshly clothed, and well fed Naruto fell asleep again beneath the faintly glowing roots of the Chakra Tree, looking for all the world like the bastard child of a Nara and a Yamanaka. Nestled safely within one of the branches off the main tunnel of the Sett they had stored as many jars of food that they could carry, using a pair of pants from the big clothes tied off at the ankles to help Naruto carry the containers in.
With this bounty, they need not worry about starving this winter, and the new clothes had proven to be even better than they looked. Unseen within the hems of the clothes Fuuinjutsu seals helped keep his body at a comfortable temperature, and wick excess water from his skin, as only the clothes of a Clan Heir could be expected to have.
