'Thinking'
"Talking"
"Talking in mind-scape"
'Demon Thinking'
"Demon Talking"
Chapter 7 : Never forget Elegance and Style
It was nearing the end of the afternoon. The streets were mildly filled with people, lightly walking from shop front to shop front or chatting on the side of a shop entrance. And then, like a shock-wave, the crowd began to be silent, and the air seemed to thicken, like if winter had suddenly fell on one end of the shopping street. As more and more people were shivering in the beginning of the street, people from the middle of the street became curious, then resentful and then fearful. Some even changed their plans and walked faster to exit the street by any possible sides. On a bench, in the middle of the street, some elders were sat.
"Ain't it getting cold?" one asked
"Yup, winter might be coming..." the second replied.
"Definitely, winter is coming." the third completed.
For and outside point of view, it looked just like a small patch of winter was advancing in the street, shivering and frightening people as it approached and relieving them as it went away. When the weather aberration turned to a smaller street, it seemed like the whole street was freed.
In a shop, looking blunt from the outside, an old man greeted his two newcomers in a most unusual way.
"I told you already to not do this when you come here, I know they don't like you, but you know there are other ways to come here than take from the crowded street, Anko!"
"I know but I really love to frighten them..."
"Ano, Nee-chan, I'd rather not be with you when you do that, I know they're going to come at me for that later..." replied Naruto, who entered just after Anko.
"Who do you bring with you? Isn't he too young to be your new boyfriend?"
"Don't be silly, old man, he is my new younger brother, and my pupil... I present you Uzumaki Naruto. He has troubles being properly served by some of your less talented rivals..."
"Oh, and he is a ninja?" The old man asked, a bit dubious.
"Sure I am, dattebayo! And I'm going to be Hokage!"
"And you think that wearing a jump suit that scream "I AM HERE, PLEASE STAB ME!" is the best way to achieve that, you sure don't like to take shortcuts..."
That remark from the shopkeeper made the boy embarrassed, and the girl grin.
"There are no shortcuts... so... in a way... I'm playing it the hard way..."
"Come here, we'll see if there are some things that will ease the road a little bit, so I can add another Hokage to my customer list." He then winked to his new customer.
The three of them spent the best part of an hour to make Naruto try new clothes, to find a style that will match his personality while still being stealth ninja clothes.
The choice ended on a black tactical pant, with two orange lines running from each hip til the middle of the sides of his thighs, then breaking to reach, one on the back, one on the front, the center of his legs and then going for his feet. He had a shuriken pouch strapped to the right leg, two pouches for kunais on the back of his orange belt. On the top he chose an orange shirt with black flames on the bottom, and over that a black jacket, with an orange line running from the neck to the bottom of the sleeves. He had asked for the swirl to be added on the left shoulder, and the kanji for Fire to be embroidered in red in the back.
"Very well young boy, how many do we make?"
"Make that 5 pants, jackets and belts and 15 shirts, we don't want them to be rugged too fast..." Anko replied before the boy could think.
"OK, I have the pants, belts and shirt, but I will need a week for the jackets to be ready. If you want, you can take a non-embroidered jacket, and you come any time this week, and I give you one already done in exchange for this one to be finished."
"Ano... I... That will do, I guess..."
"Eh, gaki, do you know how to use sealing scrolls?" Asked Anko to her brother.
"Sealing scroll? What for?"
"Well, to store things easily so you don't need an heavy backpack to carry on missions." She turned to the shopkeeper and asked.
"Can you add some sealing scrolls, like 10 of these?"
He grabbed a pack of scrolls and put them on the counter, besides the clothes he had already put there.
"There you go."
"Now, Naruto, show me your weapons"
The boy took his kunais and shurikens from his old pouches and handed them to Anko, who looked at them before laughing and throwing them in a bin, which made Naruto look at his feet, visibly hurt. Anko saw that and stopped laughing.
"Sorry kiddo, I didn't want to hurt you, but these should not even be considered as weapons at the academy, at best they can be used to train children so they don't cut themselves."
"That's not my fault, I could only afford these, and they were so expansive it cost me 3 months allowance to have this much." He was now refraining tears from filling his eyes.
"I know otouto, but this time has come to an end. Old man, bring me 20 kunais and 50 shurikens. Naruto, Kurenai told me about your research at the Library, maybe you should go take a look at the weapons to have a feeling of what each kind are so you can have a better idea when choosing. I'll seal everything here."
The boy nodded and went for the weapon racks, cleaning his eyes.
Leaning on the counter, Anko asked quietly to the shopkeeper.
"Can you also make two jackets and pants in white instead of black? With Uzumaki Naruto embroidered on the back, one word on each side of the Fire kanji. And put 5 white shirts also. I know he will not ever want to be dark..."
As the man nodded and went back to grab the new items, she started to seal clothes and weapons in the scrolls. The man came back with what she asked and a bit more.
"You know, if he is who I think he is, he might be interested in these, someday. They were already payed when ordered so, they're just waiting for delivery." While whispering this, he opened a box full of three pronged kunais, with a blank paper handle.
"I did not understood why, but he also ordered these, but maybe he will find out." He then opened another box, in which were 2 fingerless gloves, with a patch of metal on the back of the hand and scales of metal protecting the joints of the fingers. The patch of metal on the back of the hand were engraved with a swirl, while the interior of the hand had 3 seals. What was truly special about these was the color. They were plain bright Hinata-facing-a-topless-Naruto red. Even the metal was red.
"The metal used is able to conduct or store chakra. They were made to empower the punch of the user."
"I will take these, but let's say that, for now, he is not who you think he is."
Anko winked to the man at the end of her whispered sentence, and sealed the two boxes in a separated scroll, which she put in her pocket. She then payed for everything and took the scrolls to Naruto.
"Face me, gaki."
Naruto turned to face his sister-figure. She then started to put scrolls in the special pockets on the boy's jacket, like on a chuunin flak jacket, but on the inside.
"On the left, your weapons and two empty scrolls, on the right, your clothes in the first two, and the last one contains empty scrolls. We will see how to seal and unseal later."
They waved goodbye to the shop and its owner and went away.
"Wanna grab some food otouto? And then I teach you about your scrolls."
"YEAH, RAMEN!"
"Hell, no!"
"But they're the best!"
"I am sure you love them, maybe as much as I love dango, but it is not a good idea for you to eat only ramen."
"But..."
"You need to eat more than just ramen. Why do you think you are so small, tiny-boy? Eat more different things, and you will grow in a normal way."
"Kurenai-sensei also said something about eating correctly... But if I don't eat ramen, I will not survive long..." Naruto was now thoughtful and he started to walk again.
"Tell you what, you can have ramen once every two days, lets says every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, for dinner, and on Sunday, you can have it for lunch. On lunches during the week, you have to have proper lunch, and on dinners that are not ramen, you can't have the same thing twice a week, and you can't have the same thing two weekdays in a row. Is that acceptable?"
"So I have to eat different things all the time... I don't know if I can do it... I will try"
They went to another small shop, took food from a angry looking shopkeeper who was too frightened by the jounin to chase them off, and went to Naruto's apartment to eat.
"You know, otouto, this place can handle a lot of fresh air and light, can't you open the blinds during the day, and the windows when you are here?" She went to the largest opening while she said it
"Well... it's not... exactly... blinds..."
The boy was embarrassed and more so when she opened the said "blind" and it resisted a bit.
"This one is stuck, wait a bit."
"Ano... Anko-nee-chan...", the boy was now fidgeting with his fingers, not unlike his female teammate...
A loud sound was heard.
"How... Why..." She was now looking at the wooden panel resting on the ground 2 floors lower in the street, and she was speechless.
"They are not blinds, they are more like a barricade..."
"Well, at least, now there is some fresh air. Open the door, it will ventilate a little bit. You have some plates, so we can eat?"
"Ah..."
He opened the cupboard and saw the small pile of plates covered in dust.
"Let me wash two, they are... a bit... dirty..." He grabbed a sponge and quickly washed the first two plates of the pile.
After they ate, they moved on to the scrolls.
"OK, pile the scrolls on the table, and let me explain. These are for..."
Some drunken guys were heard in the street, and some splashed glass much nearer made her stop her speech. Then a bottle entered by the window, and the boy caught it in the air, startling the young woman for an instant and then her face switch to a questioning look, like waiting to see his reaction.
"Always trust..."
"Always trust in your instincts, yeah" he muttered, but she heard, a bit shocked.
He rushed to the window and armed his arm.
'A ninja is someone who can endure the greatest hardships and burdens that was placed on him.'
He threw the bottle back to the drunken men, or more exactly, in a bin just by their side while they walked away. They jumped at the sound and looked back at the window, looking at the boy with shock, and rushed away, he was not alone and the girl behind him was frightening.
"That was quite a show, gaki, I thought for an instant that you would attack them."
"I cannot let their hate gain me, I have to endure, and show them that I am better than what they think, so they will acknowledge me."
"What you said earlier, about your instincts, what was it again?"
"Always trust in your instincts"
"How did you came with that?"
"I read it, it is one of the rules of the shinobi, isn't it?"
'How...'
"Not exactly..." she replied. "It was one of the rules that one man has taught me, not long before your birth... Where do you read it?"
"On a paper I found..." He then went thoughtful.
He made two clones.
"Put the barricade back in place. Nee-chan? Come with me, be stealthy." He grabbed four of the scrolls and rushed through the door.
Telling that she did not understood was an understatement, but she followed. He was fast, and he was hard to follow, jumping from shadow to shadow in this early night. They reached a small building, just outside the center of the village. He stopped on the roof, in the shadow of another building.
'I could handle a bit more of darkness, guess I'll have to cope...'
He went to one side of the roof, and leaned face first, so as only his eyes to appear out of the roof, and after a quick glance, retreated over the roof.
'Still the same building. I thought I could enter by the small window, but it could be a little too small... Maybe with a Henge...'
He glanced at Anko, who was also hidden in the shadow.
"Henge no jutsu." He muttered before being replaced by a smaller child wearing a full black suit covering all but his eyes.
Glancing again at Anko, he saw her changing into the same boy, without a word.
Then, she saw him jump from the roof and reached the edge to check what he had done. He was crouching next to the highest window, trying to open if, and clinging to the wall using chakra. She went down to the same window and helped him open it, showing him a clean way to do it. And then, they entered the building. The boy shivered.
'Just like my memories...'
He glanced at Anko and made sign for her to follow. He went straight to the back of the attic. He then crouched to go under a table, sliding between the top of a trunk and the desk, behind he then turned a little to crawl under the closet standing against the wall. Once under, he once again turned to crawl to the right side of the closet, to a small opening between the wall and the boxes standing there. It was hard, he had imagined Konohamaru when doing his Henge, and he was a bit bigger than what he was at the time he was there, so he had to move a little bit the boxes to fit in the gap. Once behind the boxes, he was facing the ventilation grid, and started to remove it slowly. Putting the grid aside, he glanced behind him to see another young boy following, still under the closet. He then went in the ventilation tunnel, and arrived in a room he had not seen since his expulsion 7 years ago.
"You sure know how to entertain a girl, don't cha?" She was grumbling a bit, lowly so as not to be discovered, but when she finally got out she was stuck in awe.
"Holy crap... What... How come?"
"When I was placed here, they used to lock me in the attic whenever they didn't wanted to see me. So I explored, and I found this place... When I entered the attic, I knew I was there for at least 2 hours, so I spent a little time here. I found scrolls and books with funny pictures. I did not knew how to read, I learned by myself once in my own place due to books Jijii gave me, so I drew. Look there are still the drawings I made at that time..."
"Wait you made these?" She was looking at blank scrolls, full of pictures looking like complex seals.
"Yeah, I copied these from books, I had nothing more to do, so when I found the empty scrolls, I started to draw..."
"And you don't know what you drew?"
"Well, I nearly forgot this place and everything till earlier... I just recalled everything when we talked about the rules..."
"But, what is the link with the rules?"
"I was there a few moments before they threw me out. I heard them in the stairs and got out quickly, I put the paper I was handling in my pocket, by reflex, and when they opened the door, I was just out and they threw me directly in the street telling me that if I came back I will suffer."
"That means that they will threw me out also?" This came from a voice unheard before.
Hearing this new sound, they both turned and took a combat stance. They saw a little girl, could be 4 or 5 years old. She was standing in front of the hole, looking worried, wearing dirty and ragged clothes.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto, still looking like a young boy, asked.
"They told that they didn't have a bed for me so I had to sleep under the roof."
"What the ..."
"ANKO!" Naruto shouted. "There is a child here!"
And he dropped the Henge.
"What is your name, little princess?"
"Tomomi"
"I am Naruto, and she is Anko-nee-chan. Hmm, Anko, can you drop the Henge?" So she did.
"Tomomi-chan, why are you here?"
"They told me that I had no parent and that no-one will ever want to adopt an ugly girl with this kind of hair."
Naruto looked at her hair, it was a dark mess, a kind of strange brown color reaching the top of her back, and it seemed like it would not budge even under strong wind.
"Well, your hair sure can handle a bit of cleaning, but I don't think it is a sufficient reason to prevent you from being adopted..." Naruto replied, a bit skeptical.
Anko had started to look around the room, while Naruto discussed with Tomomi about the life in the orphanage.
"Otouto, you know these symbols?"
She pointed to two crest, one on the top of the shelves on the right wall, the other on the top of the shelves on the left wall. He looked at the right self and shook his head, then to the left and nodded.
"It is the one on the back of all Konoha flak jackets, isn't it?" he replied.
"Yes, but it is a bit more. It is the crest of an old and mostly forgotten clan, at least in Konoha, for it has nearly no members left. In fact, I know of only one left."
"These are the crests of my best friends, Kit."
"You mean..."
"Yep."
"Yes." This one came from Anko.
"This is the crest of the Namikaze?"
"Nope, but you couldn't have been nearer" she turned "This one is the Namikaze crest."
"So this one is the crest of my mother..."
"Yes, this is the crest of the Uzumaki Clan."
"So, this is all mine?"
"I don't think anyone will protest."
"I don't want these to stay here. This whole building is like an embassy of Hell. We have to store this elsewhere." Naruto was a bit worried.
"First of all, do you know this design?" She shown him a picture on a scroll.
"Yeah, I copied that some times, look there" He grabbed a scroll on the desk where the symbol was partially visible.
"OK, can you draw another one?"
He sat on the chair in front of the desk, unrolled the scroll he got in his hands to search of an empty space. He found one and took a brush and a pot of ink and drawn the design with precision.
"I have no qualification for fuuinjutsu, but maybe you can understand this." She gave him a book coming from a shelf.
"Fuuinjutsu basics?"
"This is the design of a storage seal. All the things you drawn when you were younger are seals of different kinds. So the only thing that you need to learn, is to transform these drawings into real seals. This book should have the explications. Until you are able to create your own storage seals, all these things will stay here. It is too dangerous to move them all."
"That will give me the opportunity to spend time with you Tomomi..."
"Leave five clones here to read the scrolls, and another one to practice what's in this book."
'OK, Kurama-sensei.'
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"
7 clones appeared in the room.
"You read this book and start practicing if you can. You five, you read all that you can here."
"And me, boss?"
"You, you are the new personal bodyguard of Tomomi, til you're relieved. Tomomi, you should head back to sleep. My clone here will stay near you as much as he can, if they throw you in the street, he will show you the way to my home. Don't come in this room if I am not there, it is too much danger for you, even if my clones are here. They don't last forever, so I will replace them as much as I can, and I will come back here every evening."
"It's time for the children to go to bed..." said Anko as she changed once again in a little boy.
"Henge no Jutsu." said Naruto.
"Get back first, I will close the passage after I got out." Said the newly transformed Naruto.
