(A/N- start)

Huh... Only two reviews... Oh well, guess I won't release this chapter.

Psyche!

Anyway, I don't own Naruto, Psyren, or any other source material. Wish I did- I'd be rich, and you would be reading this in a manga instead of on a fanfiction website.

Enjoy!

(A/N- end)


"I'm hilarious and you will quote everything I say."- Nappa from DBZ Abridged


Chapter 7- Delegation and Economics


The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had a problem. Well, to be more specific, he had several problems- he was still aging, he did not have a named successor, he was fairly certain he had some form of lung cancer (from smoking his pipe all the time), he could feel his liver slowly giving up, and he was having trouble with his... Y'know, let's just say he had a lot of problems.

Being an old ninja came with problems, after all.

However, his current problem liked the color orange and had whisker-marks. Whatever power the boy had acquired from the Uzumaki heritage scroll, it caused his crystal ball to white out while trying to watch the child- but no ANBU could feel anything that was particularly off if he set a physical surveillance team on the child.

They were, however, plagued with bad luck (branches breaking without warning, slightly mis-aiming their tree-jumping, etc.) and almost always lost the boy.

Even his tracking seal was no longer working- and that had been a devil to tune in the first place.

This fact was not a particularly bad problem though- he could always tell Kakashi to make sure that Naruto was injured at one point (whereupon he would drop by the hospital, and apply the seal while Naruto was knocked out by enough drugs to kill a platoon), or have the ANBU squad collect the child so that a seal may be reapplied during the night.

No, what was a problem was that Anko Mitarashi had walked into his office carrying a tied up and pissed off Kurenai Yuhi- and then said that the Jounin had attempted to torture Naruto so that he would 'never set eyes on any woman again'.

Now, Sarutobi had okayed the 'humility training' for Naruto- he had shown to be too bright, smarter than he should have been, and too powerful during the Genin test. Too independent- and sealing away his mind now might be disastrous. By the Hokage's estimation, Naruto should be able to easily kill any Jounin with that 'burning metal line' attack that Kakashi had told the Jounin about during the weekly debriefing- especially if they didn't see it coming.

The Jinchuuriki needed to either look up to those who were superior in rank, otherwise they began to get ideas. Like what happened to the two Jinchuuriki that used to belong to the Stone Hidden Village- both ran away and became wandering ninja because they were allowed to grow too much. Or the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi- he became Mizukage (Water-Shadow), and started purging bloodlines from the surrounding Land of Water.

From the Hokage's perspective, no Jinchuuriki could have too much power- for the sake of the village if nothing else.

But since the forbidden scroll had been sealed, well things had changed too much. Naruto didn't want to be Hokage anymore, it seemed, and had found a way to buy more clothes than most of the shops allowed- something Sarutobi was thankful for (after all, the neon orange clothes were not very effective ninja clothing), but still... He was supposed to be dumb! Naive! Childish!

But that did not excuse Kurenai from trying to neuter the boy. He was the last Uzumaki, and only an Uzumaki could hold the Kyuubi for long. A crippled, sterile Jinchuuriki would be of less use than a crippled one after all.

The old man got up from his chair in a creaking of bones, and walked over to the large window that looked over the village. Maybe it was time to get some more potential Jinchuuriki ready... "Mouse!"

An ANBU with a mask that had been styled to look like a mouse's face appeared to his left. "Hokage-sama?"

"Contact Danzo. I have need of his... Services."

"At once, Hokage-sama." The ANBU disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Rat!"

A slightly different ANBU appeared. "By your command, Hokage-sama."

"Get Inoichi. He should be done with Kurenai by now."

This ANBU bowed. "By your leave, Hokage-sama." Rat vanished in another swirl of leaves.

The old man pulled out his pipe, and filled it with tobacco. Then, with a gentle exhalation of fire chakra, he lit it, and took a nice, deep pull.

Then someone knocked on his window. He opened it with a hand, and let in Kakashi. "Good morning Kakashi. How goes the humility training?"

The jounin looked nervous. "Not as well as we hoped. Head trauma seems to heal faster than anything else, and Naruto seems to get smarter ever day."

Sarutobi removed the pipe and blew out the smoke into an ominous cloud. "Any other indication of the powers he displayed during the bell test?"

"No." Kakashi was frustrated. "Nothing out of the ordinary. He seems very fast for a Genin, even when doing mundane chores, but the only Jutsu I have seen him use has been the shadow clone... And they seem different."

The old man sat back in his chair. "Really? Maybe the humility training made him forget the skills he learned from that damned scroll... What do you mean by different?"

"No visible range limitation." That was a major flaw of the normal shadow clone- they could only move within twenty meters of the original without popping. "And they seemed as smart as he was, working coherently together when separated." Another oddity, as the normal shadow clone got dumber the more clones someones chakra was distributed between.

"Did you memorize the head seals?" Sarutobi asked, knowing how Kakashi liked to utilize his Sharingan eye.

"I can't." Kakashi growled. "He looked like a miniature sun every time I tried. And when I don't use it the only handseal I can see is that cross-finger seal that ends the seal cascade."

The Hokage considered this information. "If he appears to defer to his other teammates, then stop the humility training. If he becomes more independent, start it up again. And your other students?"

"The Uchiha shows some talent in ninjutsu. His fire and lightning affinities are coming along nicely- but no sign of the Sharingan yet." Kakashi pulled out his 'Icha Icha' novel. "That's to be expected though- it can only activate if he thinks he is in true mortal danger."

"And Sakura?"

Kakashi shrugged. "She has almost no chakra, but excellent control. I have been instructing her on capacity-building chakra exercises."

"That's it?"

"Should there be more?" Kakashi asked. "She is, after all, the daughter of a civilian, and we have no contract for tutoring."

Sarutobi nodded. He knew how the system worked- it played towards his benefit in his time. Still, to see such a lack of effort... Well, he was Kakashi. "I understand. Now, I have other matters to attend to."

Kakashi, still reading his book, nodded, and walked out the window.

Inoichi, one of his most trusted (and experienced) interrogators, walked in with two ANBU. Each ANBU was carrying a kunoichi- one with Anko over his shoulder, the other carrying Kurenai. "Hokage-sama, I have some... Interesting result of the interrogation."

Anko was giggling.

"Report."

Anko was placed in one of the seats in front of the Hokage.

"Anko Mitarashi, Special Jounin." Inoichi recited. "Kidnapped (?) one of Kurenai's students yesterday. Our search teams were unable to find them for four hours- and only found them when the group, which consisted of Naruto Uzumaki, Anko Mitarashi, and Hinata Hyuuga were all outside the ramen stand 'Ichiraku Ramen', eating take-out." The mind-diver looked uncomfortable. "Upon being found by search team 3, she appeared to be very cheerful, and told them to follow her. She then proceeded to head to the Hokage tower, where she and the search team ran into Kurenai Yuhi, Jounin. Upon seeing the Jounin, Anko moved faster than she had been recorded moving, and tied up Kurenai within half a second, immobilizing her with a mix of shibari (primarily Kinbaku-bi), and standard Shinobi restraint techniques." Inoichi paused, and held up a sheaf of pictures. "We took photographs. It was... Informative."

The Hokage, in a single movement, took the photos, hid them about his person, and motioned for Inochi to continue.

"Seeing this, team 3 signaled for teams 7 and 11 (who were within eyeshot) to assist them, and promptly attempted to take Anko into custody. Despite not moving at the extreme speeds recorded earlier, she managed to evade capture while carrying Kurenai, up until the point where she managed to get to your office and accused the Jounin of several crimes- specifically, trying to prevent the continuation of a valuable bloodline via a traumatic experience... Since the victim in question is a Jinchuuriki, any physical attempt at sterilization would have been useless (as per Naruto's medical file)."

Kurenai glared at Anko from her tied-up position on the floor.

"It was at this point that teams 7 and 3 managed to restrain her- but you are aware of that, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded. He had seen this bit.

"After removing both Anko and Kurenai to the T&I cells, I attempted to preform a surface scan on both Kunochi. Kurenai responded well, and, unfortunately, she is, in fact, guilty of attempting to inflict debilitating psychological trauma on the last Uzumaki."

"Kurenai- what is your reasoning for this?" Sarutobi asked. He didn't shout- he didn't need to for this. "ANBU, remove her gag."

The cat-masked ANBU took the gag out of the Jounin's mouth, and she stared at the Hokage for a few moments before answering. "He gave one of my Genin a note. I had to make sure he didn't spend any more time near them than nessesary!"

"Hokage-sama, she attempted an illusion first- a Hell-Viewing Justu, the Thousand Flowers." Inoichi informed.

The Hokage winced. He had seen that one in action before- one of his students employed it when they were undercover. The target either became completely suicidal, or... Well, if they didn't commit suicide, then they would be terrified of the opposite gender for the rest of their (usually brief) existence.

"Kurenai Yuhi." Sarutobi said coolly. "If you cannot justify this behavior-"

"I couldn't let them die like my parents did!" She pleaded. "They got a little too close to a Bijudama during the Kyuubi attack, and..." She began to cry. "Their skin peeled off their bodies. It took them weeks to die, cooked from the inside out. I will not subject my Genins to that risk!"

Sarutobi rubbed the bridge of his nose as he considered this point of view. Unlike most of the villagers (who, if they saw the Kyuubi at all, were usually killed by it's sheer killing intent if they were too close), she had seen some of the worst of what demonic chakra could do.

"After seeing the illusion fail," Inoichi continued as though he had never stopped talking. "She proceeded to use senbon on his reproductive organs in an attempt to sterilize Naruto at best, or cause internal scarring at worst."

Kurenai sounded desperate. "Don't you see! If we can keep the Uzumaki from reproducing, we can make sure the Kyuubi is gone for good! No more risk of a rabid Jinchuuriki, or a faulty seal!"

"That is enough." He said, making sure to make his voice icy. "Your punishment will be a fine- the value of an S-class mission will be deducted from your accounts, and paid as reparations to Naruto Uzumaki for attempted damages." He held up a hand to stop the Jounin's protests. "I could have had you demoted, or executed for attempting to kill off the boy- but we don't have any other beings that could hold the fox. On top of that, none of my ninja should ever see the sterilization of a child to be the ideal course of action... So, on top of your punishment..." The Hokage smirked. "You will be undergoing an multi-year A-class mission, without pay, starting at the beginning of the Chunin exams. Cat, please take her outside while we finish our debriefing."

Kurenai, in a state of shock, was dragged out of the room, and the door closed behind them.

"Now, Inoichi- what about your scan of Anko?" Sarutobi asked, steeling his fingers.

"She doesn't seem to have a mind." Stated Inoichi bluntly. "My Justu just seems to pass through her, or around her... It's hard to tell."

This was worrying. The mind-transference and telepathic Justu that his clan were renown for were supposed to be impossible to block without a lightning-armor technique.

"However, she did admit to 'borrowing' both Hinata and Naruto." Inoichi handed the Hokage a transcript of the interrogation. "She knew about the boy's tenant, and thought that he would 'understand' her."

"And the Hyuuga?" Asked the Hokage as he read through the transcript. He was reading the answer, but Inoichi compiled more than just the report from interrogations.

"She knew that the girl had a crush on the Kyuubi, and wanted to see what would happen. Apparently, the two Genin were chatting amenably when the ANBU arrived, and by the time I had learned that she had abducted the Genin (and sent an intern to recon them), the two had split up." Inoichi admitted. "The Hyuuga guards didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when Hinata returned to the compound... Well, except for the fact that Kurenai usually escorts her back, and was present this time. No odd behavior, nothing that they would mention in any case- and you know how my authority is limited unless we are under war conditions. The intern was able to ask Hinata enough questions to verify that all they really did was talk."

Sarutobi waited for Inoichi to continue, and when he did not, the Hokage promoted his internal affairs interrogator. "And Naruto?"

"He's a Jinchuuriki." Inoichi dismissed the problem. "He is not entirely stable by default, and the ANBU found him writing a sealing diagram on simultaneously multiple scrolls. Kid has a real talent for shadow clones."

Anko nodded vigorously.

"So, Anko... Did you learn what you want to learn?" Sarutobi asked carefully.

She nodded again, and grinned happily. "Yup."

Inoichi whipped his head around. "I thought you were gagged!"

"Why?" Anko looked puzzled.

"I always gag interrogation subjects before I bring them to the Hokage!" Inoichi insisted.

"Um... Do you need a holiday?" Anko asked, sounding amused and a bit concerned. "Even I sometimes need a break."

The interrogator started rifling through his pockets- and found a spare gag. "But... But..."

"Inoichi, take a day off." The Hokage wrote up a quick notice, and handed it to the Jounin. "And give this to Ibiki, and you can leave use tomorrow as the start of a three day weekend." He smiled. "I know you get involved in your work, but sometimes it's a good idea to de-stress a little."

Inoichi Yakama took the note. "I understand, Hokage-sama."

"And you, Anko..." Sarutobi turned to the kunoichi, who had taken her restraints off and was standing up. "Ask permission next time you want to impinge on the time of a Genin team."

She snapped a salute, sending a piece of rope slapping into Inoichi's face. "Hai, Hokage-sama!"

"That's all Anko." The Hokage and Inoichi both watched as she left the room, sashaying as she walked out. Once the door clicked shut behind her, both ninja turned back towards each other. The older of the two ninja sighed. "Still a handful, even after all these years."

"I wouldn't know, Hokage-sama." Inoichi responded loyally. "However, I know that I tied her up as securely as I could. And I KNOW I put the chakra-restraint gag on her!"

"... Inoichi, I need a favor." Sarutobi sighed, and felt every day of his 68 years. "I need you to ask your daughter to try getting closer to Naruto."

"No!" Inoichi growled. "I will not risk her anywhere near that... That..."

"He is not the fox-" the Hokage began, but Inoichi continued.

"That delinquent! He stole from shops-"

"Food. He stole food when shops wouldn't sell to him for months at a time."

"He stole from citizens!" Inoichi insisted. "If he steals from the people of his own village, how can we trust him with anything?"

"He hasn't stolen food in two years." The Hokage felt a headache coming on. "He was never given more money than any other orphan, and did starve when shops overcharges him. He had a Jounin watching over his behavior now. Just... Ask your daughter. It isn't a command, but I am afraid that, if he loses too many links to the village, he may try to go elsewhere."

Inoichi grumbled, but he knew the value of a Jinchuuriki- especially one that was not known to the other villages. "I will ask... But one inappropriate move towards my daughter, and I will-"

Sarutobi raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"

"I will make him regret it in a non-permanent way?" Inoichi was nervous- an intent Hokage was a dangerous Hokage.

"Good." The Hokage purred. "Now, tell Kurenai that I would like to speak with her about that A-Class mission."

Inoichi bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

Once he left, Kurenai walked in, flanked by the ANBU with a cat mask. She was nervously rubbing her arms. "Hokage-sama-"

"Kurenai, I regret doing this, but it is for the good of the village." His hands blurred, and a pulse of blue light enveloped her for a moment.

"What?" The kunoichi tried to move her body, but it was enveloped in a lattice of pulsing, blue lines, starting in a ring around her neck, and sent down her body, sliding over and through the bandage-like clothes she usually wore. "Why can't I move?"

The door opened behind her, and Danzo walked in. "Hokage-san." He took in the frozen kunoichi, and turned to the Hokage. "What do you need?"

The Hokage gestured for Danzo to wait. "Kurenai, due to your attempt to prevent the only Uzumaki from reproducing, and allowing the Kyuubi to remain in Konoha's power, the mission I have for you is simple:" he cleared his throat. "You will, by a method of your choosing, bear a child of the Jinchuuriki Naruto Uzumaki, without his knowledge."

Kurenai could only control her face- and her mouth. "What? I refuse! It is not an S-rank, therefore I can refuse."

Sarutobi and Danzo both looked bemused, and Danzo spoke up, his single eye glinting in amusement. "This is a punishment, not a mission assignment."

She began to look panicked. "I have a boyfriend! I-"

"Yes..." Sarutobi said slowly. "My son... And it has been a while since he had a steady girlfriend. Fine- a choice." He raised his left hand. "On one hand, you can bear the first Uzumaki child in more than a decade, and have control of the Uzumaki estate."

"It is rather considerable at this point." Danzo smirked. The Uzumaki estate paid for Root- well, the explosive seal rights did. Since they had better designs for the explosive notes than Konoha had, refugees had sold their rights to one of the designs in exchange for a pretty penny. Kushina had bought them again, but with the estate in abeyance, Root had managed to use their own money to purchase said rights.

"Indeed. Naruto would never need to know." Sarutobi smirked. "Of course, to ensure that the information of who the father was never left this room, you would need to have a seal tattooed- and Danzo can do that now."

Kurenai swallowed. Tattooing seals was only done on the mucous membranes, as normal sealing inks (even chakra-effused and directed) would slough off. "What is the other option?"

Sarutobi's other hand raised. "You will assist a Root Operative in completing the task. This will only count as a continuous A-rank, and (needless to say) you will not be able to gain control of Uzumaki fortune."

Danzo chuckled. "I would still have to apply the seal, but it wouldn't force a pregnancy."

The kunoichi bit her lip. On one hand, massive monetary payout and a baby- with the downside being that the baby would be from Uzumaki, and she would be seen as whore by other kunoichi. On the other, a decent continuous payout, no societal punishment, and she can maintain a steady relationship with her boyfriend. It was not that difficult a decision, really- ninja rarely had a stable family unless they were part of a clan. She looked at Danzo. "I will escort your agent."

He grinned, one visible eye filled with a cruel glee as his left hand pulled out a elongated rectangular strip of rice paper. He placed it on the hokage's desk, and, using a fresh bottle of sealing ink, he placed a drop of his blood into it. The Hokage followed, dripping two drops of his own blood, and then Danzo stirred the ink carefully, mixing it completely.

After a few seconds, the one-eyed one-armed man began to carefully draw a very complex series of symbols using the hair-thin brush. It took a few minutes, but Danzo knew his sealing.

"Danzo will apply this seal to your tongue." Sarutobi explained. "It will never disipear, but there are not lethal safeguards in the unmodified Silencer seals."

If looked at from a distance of more than a few feet, it looked like two rectangular bars over a series of four squares, but each made of a multitude of minute, intricately-linking symbols. Sarutobi recognized it as a 'statement' seal, the modified version of which all Root operatives had.

Danzo blew on it gently, drying and setting the ink, before motioning for the Hokage to touch it with his still-bleeding finger. It absorbed the blood, glowing slightly, before becoming just another drawing on rice-paper.

Delicately, making sure not to rip it, Danzo picked up the paper, and looked at Kurenai expectantly.

The kunoichi opened her mouth, and extended her tongue. Feeling the almost-tasteless rice paper adhere to her tongue, Kurenai had to fight the urge to get it off.

Then the pain hit, and she barely heard the Hokage speaking.

"Lock information regarding the following concepts: any children sired by Naruto Uzumaki, the knowledge regarding this meeting between myself and Danzo and Kurenai Yuhi, end initial command. Secondary command: override first command for all signatures present on the seal, end final command. Seal lock, engage."

From the perspectives of Danzo and the Hokage, the seal writhed, sending ink tendrils into the kunoichi's tongue, digging in and bypassing natural defenses within her body as it did so. After Sarutobi finished talking, the seal dropped, dissolving the rice paper and sinking into her tongue fully, turning from a dark ink into a pale imitation of what it initially was.

The Hokage placed the ink and brush in a metal bowl, and, using a low-rank Fire Jutsu, boiled away the ink and burned the brush.

Danzo addressed the twitching kunoichi- at this point, she would have been writhing on the floor if the restraining Justu had failed. "My agent will contact you via your seal. It should tingle pleasantly when she is nearby, and will show you hers when you see it."

Sarutobi canceled his Jutsu, and watched as Kurenai swayed. "Expect her to make contact in a few weeks. Good luck."

The kunoichi bowed unsteadily, and walked out, regaining control of her body with every step.


Fifteen minutes later, Kurenai had finally walked to the apartment she was sharing with Anko, and opened the door tiredly. When a hand shot out and grabbed her by her dress-thing (A/N- seriously, what is that?), she was surprised, but began the handseals for one of her better illusions.

Anko was holding her, off the floor with one hand, while the other closed the door quietly. She grinned in a very disconcerting manner, and leaned in close to Kurenai. "Kurenai, Kurenai, Kurenai- I have known you for years."

Kurenai shuddered as the heated breath hit her neck, but finished her illusion- and was dumbfounded when she felt the construct shatter against Anko's chakra network.

"And you know me- I act erratic to most, but you know I have never betrayed the village... Not that they haven't made that hard." Anko hissed the last sentence bitterly. "But then you call the ANBU on me? Oh well, no matter." She shrugged, then glared. "However, attacking a Genin when all he wanted was to talk with one of your Genin- because of what he holds! Really?"

"I had to!" Kurenai pulled out one of her drugged senbon discreetly, and tried to stab it into Anko's hand. But when her hand came within an inch, it slid away, as if the kunoichi was covered in a layer of glass. "He is dangerous!"

Anko leaned closer, and Kurenai blushed from the proximity. "Really? Well, I said we would talk, and I know when you are lying. Probably better than your boyfriend Kurenai-chan, and I know when you are uncertain. What's-"

A small bird fluttered into the room, landed on the back of a chair, trilled an odd harmonic set of notes, became as still as a statue, and began to tick.

Anko noticed the bird, and when she saw a sparkle of bronze on its back, she perked up, and dropped Kurenai, who began to twitch slightly. Using her Rise, she shot towards the bird, and grabbed it gently with one hand. With the other, she grabbed a nearby pot, stuffed the bird in it, and used the increased strength and durability that her Rise provided to bend the edge over.

In a few seconds, the pot was sealed- not airtight, but no bird should be able to-

There was a muffled thump, and acrid smoke poured out of the pot. "Shit!" Swore Anko. "What the fuck was that?"

Kurenai stopped twitching, and began to cry. "What have I done?" She bawled. "Oh god! No!"

Anko had no idea how to deal with this... Other than...

A minute later, Anko walked back into the Hokage's office, this time carrying a crying Kurenai and a still-smoking pot.

The Hokage quickly hid the orange book he had been reading.

Anko did not waste time. "Hokage-sama, you might want to get Inoichi again- something happened to Kurenai, and it has to do with this." She hefted the pot.

"Did you try to cook again?" Sarutobi asked. Everyone in the town knew of Anko's talent with cooking- hell, her cooking was listed as a 'cruel and unusual punishment' for criminals.

"No sir." Anko placed Kurenai, still sobbing, on the chair. "But I don't think I can help with this much."

"Cat!" The ANBU appeared. "Recall Inoichi. We require his services immediately.. Again."

The cat-masked kunoichi nodded, and vanished professionally.


Across town, Naruto walked up to the weapons shop, a large bag over one shoulder. It was about the same size as he was, and was filled with various hard metals, all compressed into spheres. On his belt was another bag, this one a bit smaller, that jingled in the decidedly unique way nearly-pure gold does when it came into contact with other pieces of gold, silver, and platinum.

Carefully, he stepped into Higurashi's Weapon Shop, and was amazed at the sheer number of different weapons on the racks. Swords of several different descriptions, staves of all sorts on descriptive stands filled the floor as a swarm of kunai and shruken were visible on the walls. And, of course, there the casher, who seemed somewhat familiar...

"Tenten?" Naruto queried, he knew her from his second-to-last year in the Shinobi academy. "You work here?"

The girl looked up. With her hair done up like it was, she had a vaguely panda-esque outline- but that was not the most noticeable trait about her. Her most noticeable trait was the spark in those eyes. The bit that said 'oh look- a target for lots of short and pointy things!' was clearly visible in those eyes, and she loved her weapons.

"Oh, hey Naruto." Tenten perked up a little, but not much. "Welcome to Higurashi's Weapon Shop! I haven't seen you for nearly a year."

"Hey Tenten." Naruto walked up to the counter, still carrying the sack. "Um... Can I trade material for weapons here?" He asked. "My Genin pay has been delayed."

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "What sort of material would you be exchanging?"

Naruto dropped the sack, which clanked onto the ground. "2x the raw materials needed for the item, by weight, and a gram of gold per item."

Tenten smirked, and retaliated with a counteroffer. Barter still happened in Konoha, as some ninja proffered to trade in rare weapons (or purchase the ), and value was negotiable for some things. "10x the raw materials, and 10 grams of..." She stopped. "Wait, gold? Why not pay for it with gold?"

Naruto shrugged. "Would you be willing to take straight gold?"

Naoto Higurashi, the owner of the store, walked out of the back room, carrying several strings of kunai (they were sold in batches of thirteen, strung together with a red silk thread). He was a large man, as blacksmiths often were, and hung up the kunai on their rack, warily watching Naruto as he did so. "Did you say gold, lad?"

Naruto nodded, and pulled out a small, hexagonal prism of gold. It was small, shorter than one of his metacarpals, but on it there was a declaration of value: 20 g. "Yup! Figured out a way to collect and refine it-"

"Great, great." The smith looked at the tiny prism of gold. "May I test it? You are not the first Shinobi to be hawking gold in lew of coin."

Naruto handed the prism over carefully. "I will be wanting that back if you won't take it."

"Of course." The smith pulled out an odd-looking scale, and a measuring cup. Then, he proceeded to measure the volume of the prism (by dropping it into a partially-full measuring cup of water), and the weight (using the cup of water, and the scale). A minute to do the maths... The smith whistled. "Damn kid- this /is/ gold! I'll allow Tenten to exchange every gram of gold for 10 ryo credit."

Naruto looked around the shop, noticing the price tags. "20."

The smith laughed, a big, hearty, belly laugh. "11"

"19"

"12"

"18"

"13"

"17"

"14"

"17"

"15"

"16"

"Deal!" The smith stuck out his hand, and Naruto shook it, his rise easily keeping his bones from being crushed. The man handed back the test piece. "Now, how many-"

Naruto began removing ingot after ingot from his pouch, laying an even hundred on the table. "That is 2 kilograms."

The man whistled. "I will need to check these, but I don't see why I can't give you 3,200 ryo credit."

"What about platinum?" Naruto asked, pulling out a 1 kg bar of the chakra-conductive metal.

"Um..." The man blinked, and ran a finger over it.

Naruto saw the bar heat up slightly as his chakra ran through it- the man was a fire-type.

"That will do." Tenten said, after Higurashi didn't say anything for a minute. "I'll ring you up for an even 10,000 ryo then?"

"I have a few more bars-" Naruto stopped talking, and backed away from Higurashi, who was looking at him and drooling.

The smith noticed his state, and wiped his mouth. "Kid, if you can ring me more of these platinum bars, I will make anything with it that you want in exchange for an equal payout in the platinum."

Naruto grinned widely, then frowned. "What do you mean, equal payout?"

"This-" the smith tapped the bar, "is platinum. It is the MOST chakra-conductive metallic material known to man. I have never seen it in larger quantities than a thimble, and that much at a time is used to make the conduction channels for all chakra-conductive weapons. I only ever got to work with it once!" He picked up the surprisingly small bar, and, using the scale and measuring cup, worked out the density. "And it appears to be more pure than anything I have worked with before. Right, Naruto- if you can provide me a bar like this every month, I will guarantee that everything from this shop is set on a Tab, which will then be paid off from the continuing quantities of platinum."

Naruto scratched the back of his head a bit- it was a nervous tick. Well, a tick for a whole bunch of emotions, but now he was nervous. "Um... Why don't you just pay me for the bar?"

"I can't." Admitted the smith, to Tenten's fascination. "That bar is worth more than the weapons in this building and the building itself."

Tenten began to protest, but stopped when the smith held up his hand.

"Yes, even your sealing scrolls in the back, Apprentice." He turned to Naruto. "How many of these do you have?"

The Genin pulled out another three bars, and Higurashi whistled.

"Damn kid- take everything you want. I'll put these to good use- and I know the other blacksmiths will pay through their nose for small chunks of these bars, and the ninja always go nuts for anything chakra-conductive."

"Can I have a percentage?" Naruto asked, a bit timidly.

The smith grinned. "Sure. Hell, I'll even help you with your cash problem. Tenten, you want to get in on this?"

She stood up so fast that her chair toppled over. "Yes Naota-sama!"

"Good. Weigh and record the exact value of each of these bars of gold. Write a receipt for Naruto, and bring them to Usagi's."

"The jeweler? Who hates you for being able to work iron finer than he can silver?"

"The very same. Show him the gold, and get the best price you can for them. More that 30 ryo per bar, at least." The smith turned to Naruto. "That alright with you, kid?"

Naruto'a head was spinning a bit. "Um.. Sure. Are we going to divide that between us?"

"Of course!" The smith laughed. "But don't worry about it. I'll take twenty percent, and Tenten will take five- she's an apprentice after all." He rubbed his chin, making a noise like coarse sandpaper on old leather. "And for the chakra-conductive weapons- for every 1kg bar extra, I'll make you up to ten kilograms of chakra-conductive kunai/sword/armor/whatever." He looked pensive for a moment. "Is fifty percent of the price of any pure platinum I sell to the other blacksmiths good enough?"

"Sure!" Naruto was not exceptionally poor, but he was malnourished (even after eating anything he could find in the Forest of Death), and lots of money would be a step to solving that problem.

"Great- Tenten, get to work." The smith clapped his hands together as Tenten began measuring and weighing the bars of gold. "So, partner- what would you like?"

Naruto considered his options. "A few strings of kunai, and if you have any scrolls on sealing, I would appreciate it." He knew how to seal, but the designs were different than any current forms... And he needed to look like he was blending in.

"Three strings of the best, then?" He watched Naruto nod before Higurashi grabbed three of the multitude of kunai strings on his wall- the ones with the white silk, not the red ones- and handed them over. Then he headed into the back, and came out with several thick books, each almost as big as Naruto's torso, all bound in leather. "And some old Uzumaki-written books on the subject. They didn't like scrolls all that much, I can't really read them, and Tenten has already copied them into her own scrolls."

The girl had the decency to blush at this. "I needed to use them for the twin rising dragons!"

"I know. Still, at least we have copies. Anyway. Here you go kid." He dropped them on the counter, along with the strings of kunai. "So..." The smith drew out the word for a minute, before pointing at the sack. "What's in there?"

Naruto blinked, and pulled out a sphere of iron. "Yeah... I thought I would trade these for weapons, but-"

The smith picked up the deceptively heavy ball, and tossed it into the air. "Yeah... Nice quality iron. Any other metals?"

"Iron, copper, and this stuff." Naruto pulled out a sphere of a grey, somewhat dull material. "I don't know what it is, but it acts... Well, my Jutsu picked it up, as it was a metal, and I thought it would be a good idea to ask what it was."

Higurashi picked up the sphere, which he could barely do with one hand, and rubbed it a little before he smelled it. "Let's see... It is a metal, but not one I can recognize by smell." He then pulled out a small hammer with a tuning fork jutting out of the back end, and tapped the sphere, listening to the him generated. "Not by sound." Then he pulled out an oddly-shaped wooden ring, with spikes along the outside, each spike a different metal or crystal. The smith began to test the material, scratching at it with different spikes on the ring, until he had gone through all the spikes. He looked puzzled. "It's not as hard as Quartz but harder than steel and cobalt. Huh... Do you mind if I experiment with this? I might be able to make something with it."

Naruto shrugged. "Sure. I brought it in to trade anyway."

Tenten finished her measuring and handed Naruto the receipt. "Here Naruto. I'll have your money in an hour or so." She gathered the gold ingots into a small bag, and walked out of the shop, leaving the smith and Naruto alone.

Naruto tried to keep his eyes from being riveted to her backside, without success.

A large hand clasped his shoulder. "Why don't you head out to the range- I'll go get a sealing scroll for you to carry your purchases, and you can try out the kunai." His grip tightened on Naruto's shoulder. "And don't even think about what just went through her head. She's my apprentice, and that means hands off. Capisce?"

Naruto nodded, and fled out the door marked 'Range'.


End Chapter 7


I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.

Please review- it lets me know what I am doing wrong (or right), and helps my muse create. She tied up the other ones, and I CAN'T GET THIS STORY OUT OF MY SKULL!