Chapter 10: The New Guy

Minato absentmindedly tapped the wooden end of his brush against his drink, the audible clink dampened by what water he left in the glass. The wind chime hanging at the window rang in a gentle breeze. He had commandeered the kitchen since his desk wasn't nearly large enough to spread out everything (mental note: get a bigger desk). His scroll full of various sealing notes lay unrolled across the table in front of him, and Minato stared at the elegant spiral.

He was distracted: busy considering the person who had drawn it there.

Axel was, to be frank, kind of weird.

A good kind of weird. Just… different than he had come to expect.

It had been a few weeks since then, but Minato still had no clue why he had decided to seek out somebody he had only meet twice, kind of—and a civilian, no less!—and yet he still couldn't say it had been a bad decision. Far from it, actually, and that was a big portion of why he was so confused.

He'd stopped by several other times, just wanting to chat or maybe fish for more information about the spiral or, as he had come to discover, a whole slew of other random tidbits. His scroll of notes was getting rather crowded with theories and thoughts and the occasional attempt at explanation written in by Axel in large careful script. Most of Axel's notes had drawings to go with them, to clarify any issues in his writing.

The last time Minato had visited, just the other day, the store had appeared to be up and running; the shelves were built and stocked with everything from basic civilian tools (which were, perhaps, a little over represented for a smithy in a shinobi village) to tools of a more… deadly variety.

Since he'd blown up a good number of the regular kunai he had had on hand, Minato had bought a small set of ten. In a mildly interesting coincidence, although he had only chosen based on how the throwing knife felt in his hand, all ten he had chosen off the rack had been made by Axel rather than Morimoto.

With a quiet noise of a jingling key, and a soft swoosh of familiar chakra to temporarily disarm the various security seals on the front door, someone let themselves in. Then there was a pause.

"Yo, Minato, you here still?" called Kushina in that brusque, to-the-point way of hers. She could sneak with the best of them, and often her directness was just a cover for something sneakier, but not now.

"Yes?" Minato looked up to smile at her as she walked in. "Welcome home."

She quirked one red eyebrow at his relaxed greeting, and then ran a cursory glance over the latest mess he had brought to their kitchen table. Then a more focused one, once she took in just what project he had laid out. "Is this that sealing thing you've been on about for the past few weeks but haven't let me help with?"

"I let you help at the start!" he objected. "Then you tried to commandeer the entire project, so I kept it to myself."

Snorting a bemused laugh, Kushina shook her head slowly: couldn't argue with that. She pulled out another chair and sat down across from him, reading through the notes on the scroll with increasing interest.

A good deal of it—well, most, to be honest—was in her boyfriend's familiarly tidy handwriting. Less often, but always with a sort of confidence in content, was another script; the lines themselves were uncertain, but, unlike the 'what-if's from Minato's scribbles, these seemed to be explanatory.

After reading one such note and looking over the image next to it, Kushina paraphrased, "Triangles are strong shapes in architecture stuff, so they could be strong for seals. Ya know, that… does sorta make sense."

Minato nodded distractedly as he considered a list of increasing numbers. He tapped the number '3' contemplatively, followed by the numbers '5' and '8'. Thinking aloud, he said, "I feel like these come up a lot."

Taking the shift from her topic to his in stride, Kushina simply asked, "Comes up in what?"

"Just…" He paused, gathering his thoughts. "Like the Five Elements Seal. Or, well—" tapping the '8' again, "—there's the whole Eight Sign Sealing Style."

"What about the Four Symbols Seals? Four seems to come up a lot as well." She could see what he meant, however, since, although she offered up a counter example, her mind had thought of far more that matched those numbers in some way.

Minato frowned slightly. "I know, but basically all the other ones I think of fit this sequence."

"'Sequence'?"

"1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on," explained Minato. "The next number is the sum of the previous two."

Having joined him in staring at the list of numbers, Kushina thought for a few minutes, then slowly proposed, "Ya know, the first three add up to four."

For a moment he just blinked at the numbers he had written, and then, smiling, he sat back in his chair. "And 3 is even the next number after the first three, making it the fourth number with the previous summing to 4. Not to mention how layering a pair of Four Symbols Seals, an 8, is stronger in general." Minato shook his head in amazement. "How did Axel come up with this?"

Kushina tilted her head, long red hair shifting through the motion like water; she had thought she'd met all of Minato's close friends, but apparently not. "…Uh, who?"

"Brandt Axel." Distractedly taking down more notes on what they'd just figured out and thinking back to the first time he'd met Axel, he added, "I nearly blew them up with a defective seal, and later, on somewhat of a whim, I went back to have someone to bounce ideas off of."

Frowning, Kushina proceeded to make an assumption that was as humorous as it was wrong. "Well, if these notes are any indication, at least she was able to help."

"Yeah, I wasn't— Uh… 'she'? You think Axel—?" Minato tried not to laugh at the unbidden thought of his blacksmith friend in a dress, then tried to correct her. "No, no, Axel isn't a— Why would you think—? I mean, sure the name's a bit odd, but—"

Seeing her frown become ever so slightly more pronounced as he tripped over himself trying to fix the misunderstanding did not help him stay collected. Indeed, talking around swallowed laughter was incredibly difficult.

Glancing up at the clock, Kushina peevishly asked, "Weren't you meeting with Kakashi-kun today, ya know?"

Minato blinked at the abrupt topic change, but nodded an affirmative before looking over to check the time as well. Still caught up in the hilarity of his girlfriend's mistake, it took him a moment to recognize that it was about five minutes till noon.

And noon was, of course, the time he had agreed to meet his ever-punctual student.

Oh dear.

In a flurry of motion, the scrolls on the table were rolled back up and sealed away. Or at least, most of them were. Some notes he left out, just in case Kushina wanted to look over them further. Then, standing up so fast his chair nearly slammed into the wall, Minato ran for the door. His arms were still full of various sealing tools, but he had more important things to do than worry about tidying up right this instant.

Still, he paused. "Er, sorry to just—"

"Get going," she said, waving him off. "I'll be angrier at you being late than I will be because you ran off mid-conversation."

Smiling gratefully, Minato gave a quick goodbye and was off at close to top speed. Still staring at where her boyfriend had vanished, Kushina was left to wonder just who this strange—she tried to wrap her head around that name and couldn't quite manage—new someone was.

=X=X=X=

It wasn't so much that Minato-sensei was late, Kakashi mused to himself, but rather that he wasn't early.

Kakashi had arrived at their usual training ground with about fifteen minutes to spare. That was usually more that enough time, given Minato-sensei was nearly always already at the meeting spot before his student. Contrary to what was usual, however, was that today his sensei had yet to appear.

Of course Kakashi wasn't really that concerned. The young shinobi shot a speculative look in the direction of the Hokage Monument and, more to the point, the Hokage's office.

He was just… wondering why Minato-sensei was late.

But, before Kakashi could definitely not tie his insides up with worry, and just a minute shy of their scheduled time, his sensei appeared at the front of their training field in a flurry of leaves and paper.

…Paper?

As Kakashi jogged over, he saw that there were indeed several partly unrolled scrolls strewn about. He caught one sheet of paper before it could be carried away by any stray breezes. Minato-sensei knelt to quickly gather them all up, offering his student an apologetic smile.

"Sorry I'm so late today," he said, and the scrolls he had gathered up were sealed away with a puff of chakra smoke. "I lost track of time."

Kakashi was about to state his blunt opinion on punctuality—and maybe also ask about what could have been so distracting—when he glanced down at the paper he had grabbed. It looked like one of his sensei's usual unorganized note sheets, until he noticed that more than half of the page was filled with handwriting he didn't recognize. After curiously reading through some of it, he had to admit to some interest; whoever this other person was, no matter how childish some of their lettering or wording might be, they knew what they were writing about.

It only took a moment to collect the rest of the pages and seal them away, and Kakashi noticed that virtually every sheet had at least some scribbles written in that unfamiliar handwriting. He resisted the urge to ask about it.

He was fairly sure Minato-sensei noticed his curiosity, despite his efforts to appear disinterested. But, rather than provide an answer, his sensei simply moved onto the task at hand. "Okay, today we will be—" he suddenly paused, then slapped one hand to his forehead in annoyance. "I forgot the box. Be right back."

The blond shinobi crouched to touch the ground with one hand, leaving behind his signature mark. Then, between one blink and the next, he was gone. Kakashi felt himself frown slightly: Minato-sensei wasn't one to just forget things like that. Whatever had been distracting him must have been very interesting indeed.

"I'm back."

It was hard to keep himself from jolting in surprise—even with the advantage of having seen the technique before—but Kakashi managed. A box full of something with a familiar metallic smell was dropped at his feet with a clatter, and, after dusting off his hands, Minato-sensei grinned a satisfied smile.

"Okay." He opened the box to reveal a heap of kunai, all of various conditions and sizes and weights. "Today we'll be focusing on this."

Kakashi looked over the collection carefully, then took what looked to be a fairly average kunai from the box. It turns out that it definitely wasn't: the knife weighed far more than it should have. Though he was beginning to get an idea of what his sensei had planned, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Often you might find yourself fighting with equipment that isn't your own: maybe you grabbed it off an enemy, or are forced to borrow a teammate's." Ignoring the slightly derisive gleam that entered his student's eyes at the subtle suggestion that he would be part of a team in the future, he continued, "It's best to be familiar with subpar equipment, just in case."

Humming to himself in consideration, Kakashi dropped the heavy kunai back into the box and chose another: it looked newer than the rest, and nothing about it seemed damaged in any way. He held it up, questioning.

His sensei nodded, and added, "Of course, some of the kunai are good quality. I bought that one just a few days ago. You won't know which sort you've got to throw until it's in your hand."

Another quiet hum, and then Kakashi turned sharply and launched the knife at the targets. It hit dead-center, right where he had been aiming, with a very satisfying thunk. A perfect shot.

That throw felt—somehow, for some reason—better than usual.

Looking from the kunai now half-embedded in wood, to his hands that had lodged it there, Kakashi frowned ever so slightly.

Noticing this, Minato-sensei asked, "What is it?"

He didn't answer right away, instead thoughtfully drawing out one of his own kunai from his pouch. After regarding the weapon for a moment, Kakashi again threw at the target. Again it struck right where he had wanted it to, but it felt different. It was a noticeable difference, too, like comparing older shoes that fit perfectly with an unfamiliar new pair.

And it made no sense, because it hadn't been his own kunai that felt most comfortable in his hand.

Almost unconsciously, curiosity driving his actions, Kakashi took another kunai from his pouch and reached out to pair it with another from the box.

Minato-sensei watched this, and he got a knowing glint in his eye. "Ah, so you've noticed already?"

Suspicious of his teacher's almost nonchalant tone—nonchalant shinobi are always up to something—the student gave him his full attention once more. It would seem that there might be more to this lesson than simply acquainting oneself with a wide variety of otherwise familiar tools. "…What do you mean?"

"Here," Minato-sensei said, carefully selecting several more average kunai from the box. "Mix these in with your own and practice."

After Kakashi accepted the knives, his sensei made a single hand sign to cast a subtle but thorough masking genjutsu. Now the box kunai looked exactly the same as his own, and neither had any defining scents. It was a bit disconcerting, to be honest, though Kakashi simply shuffled the weapons and refused to acknowledge that feeling.

"I see where you're going with this," he said, setting aside all but one of the now indistinguishable kunai. Turning it over in his hands, Kakashi tried to guess whether it was one of his own knives or not.

Walking down range toward the targets, Minato-sensei called out, "Go ahead, throw it."

Trusting his sensei's skill, Kakashi did so. Just as the others had, the kunai struck true.

"Well?" Minato tugged the kunai from the log. "Was this one of yours?"

Kakashi, expression contemplative, shook his head. Then he threw the next one.

They worked their way through the small collection of mixed knives, and, depending on his answer, Minato-sensei sorted the disguised weapons into one of two stacks. When he was out of weapons to throw, Kakashi joined him by the knives and his sensei dropped the genjutsu.

The smaller collection of kunai were all ones taken from the box, no exceptions, while the large stack had all of his and only three that were not. He had to admit, that was an unexpectedly high success rate.

"I almost got them all correct."

"Actually," Minato-sensei said, crouching by the stack of Kakashi's kunai to pick up the three unfamiliar ones. "You guessed correctly for all of them, given what I was trying to show."

Kakashi frowned behind his mask. "But I missed those three, Sensei."

As the blond shinobi tucked away the kunai in question, he shook his head. Gesturing to the smaller stack and seemingly veering off topic, he asked, "Why did you single these out?"

"Those felt different, so they couldn't have been mine. Throwing them was…" Hesitating, not sure how his gut answer could be right since it didn't make any sense, Kakashi drifted off.

"Easier, right?"

He nodded.

"I noticed something like that, too," Minato-sensei explained with a smile. "And there is one major difference between these two stacks: who made them." He pointed to the small stack. "Axel made all of these."

Kakashi blinked. "…Who's 'Ak-ser'?"

"Wait, haven't I—" He cut himself off, looking rather surprised at himself. "I haven't introduced you yet?"

The blond shinobi suddenly seemed to notice something just behind his student, and his blue eyes lit up with happy surprise. At the edge of his vision, Kakashi thought he saw something move into the trees. He didn't get a good look before he was quite thoroughly distracted.

"Yeah, come on, Minato-kun," came a teasing voice, and a heavy weight—an arm—draped across Kakashi's shoulders. "Why haven't you introduced us?"

Startled, though his mask helped hide it, Kakashi tried to jerk himself away. "Release me, Jiraiya-sensei." He tried to cram as much annoyance as possible to the added title, but the eccentric shinobi didn't even seem to notice.

"Ne, Chibi-kun, don't look so peeved."

"Don't call me that."

"Call you what? Peeved?"

Kakashi couldn't help but growl under his breath, though he tried to keep a lid on it.

Of course, Minato-sensei would have been perfectly content to just watch them bicker—he'd done so before—but this time he chose to step in. "I wasn't expecting you to be back for another few days, Jiraiya-sensei."

Dramatically, the white-haired shinobi gestured grandly at the village. "I couldn't bear to stay away: I haven't seen my precious student in months!" His smile became slightly… twisted. "And, of course, all the lovely ladies. Truly, nowhere else can compare to Konoha's beauties."

"In case you couldn't tell," Kakashi bit out, "none of those 'beauties' are anywhere near here."

"Ah, but Chibi-kun—"

"Don't call me that."

Jiraiya-sensei looked set to continue as if he hadn't even heard him, but he was cut off by a slightly reprimanding tone. "Sensei…"

"Heh heh, well." He coughed, a little sheepish, then completely changed the subject. "Anyway, who is this guy you mentioned? He wouldn't happen to be that new blacksmith in the abandoned district, would he?"

From Minato-sensei's expression, it would seem so. Which meant that both of them knew who this 'Akser' person is, while he was left in the dark. Kakashi didn't like being left in the dark. "Wait, so who is 'Ak-ser'?"

"He's a friend," provided Minato-sensei briefly, before moving onto his own questions. "But I'm more interested in how you knew about him."

"It's my job to know. I've been hearing some rumors among the civilians."

That led into an anecdote the older shinobi had overheard about fishermen and gloves and sharp knives that felt somehow easier to use than others. Kakashi, while interested, didn't catch much of it since he was distracted by an unexpected smell: snake. He subtly glanced toward the trees, over to where he had thought he had seen motion earlier.

A white tail vanished into the undergrowth.

=X=X=X=

The serpent dismissed itself with a puff of chakra smoke, leaving his master to muse over its report.

Orochimaru had assigned that particular snake to a reconnaissance detail. Unfortunately, due to a surprisingly persistent pair of stray dogs, his snakes had been unable to get a good position to monitor the subject of interest directly and still remain completely undetected. The next best thing, though still difficult, was to spy on the one person who seemed to be on familiar terms with the subject: that upstart Namikaze Minato.

This latest report was particularly interesting.

He steepled his fingers, looking over the various data he had gathered over the past weeks with a careful eye. By now, the shinobi had checked over the information several times. It was frustrating to admit, but he still had no answers.

Tapping at the subject's name at the top of one sheet of paper—a crude phonetic spelling—Orochimaru found himself smiling.

"Fascinating," he murmured to himself.

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Wow, this chapter was a bit hard to write—the holidays are so distracting. Plus I had so much trouble choosing who would show up and what points I'd hit, but I think (and hope) that it pulled together well.
So we've jumped forward a few weeks, and Axel has got the shop up and running. Minato's coming over fairly regularly, and so has firmly inserted himself into Axel's life; this, of course, being despite Axel's decision to avoid ninja. Plus, much to his chagrin, it seems that people are talking about the peculiar blacksmith in the abandoned district. Wonder what he'll do about that.

By the way, I'm curious; what do you think might be the reason why Axel's knives feel so easy or comfortable to use?

Updates come on the 15th of every month (though it was pretty late today).
Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! Can you believe that we just past 10,000 views?! I can't possibly thank you all enough, and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.

See ya on the flipside, everyone!