Chapter 11- The Faceless Blacksmith

The next day training went more or less the same as the day before, but without the rotten fish and instead of tying him up Naruto and Cooper just had Sasuke spin on his feet in one spot.

When he had been doing that for a few hours they had Sasuke try and spin while moving towards a tree in an attempt to get him used to keeping his balance while he spun. This was a lot harder as it was no easy task to see while spinning and going in a straight line was difficult.

After another couple of hours of this Cooper decided that it was time to call it a day and set out to do their own training with Naruto following him while Kakashi had Sasuke doing the tree climbing exercise again.

At one point Kakashi had tried to find the two to see if he could help them in whatever it was they were training in, but couldn't find them. Giving up he had gone back to supervise Sasuke as he tried over and over again to make it up the tree without success.

It wasn't until just before the sun went down that they saw Naruto or Cooper again. they didn't even seem tired, but then again they never did.

Heading back towards the house Kakashi tried multiple times to get Naruto or Cooper to tell him what they were doing and where they had been but every time the boys would just smile at him without answering.

After dinner all the ninja met up in the sitting room to discuss what had happened in the day and what they would be doing tomorrow.

The bridge was going well, but if Tazuna lost anymore workers they would start to fall behind.

Kakashi gave a quick summery of how Sasuke's training was going but explained how Naruto and Cooper would go and do their own training and couldn't report on the two boys progress.

When Kurenai didn't say anything Kakashi guessed that this happened regularly and it wasn't just him.

At some point while they were talking Shino and Hinata took out their respective weapons and started to clean them for something to do.

When Kakashi and his team took notice of this they all moved forward to see. They had all heard about the new weapons of the Aburame and Hyuga clans, but not many people had actually seen them. They marvelled at the elegant tools of death and destruction and how much care had gone into the making of them.

Kiba, seeing his chance to ask about the weapons for his clan stepped closer with a smug look on his face.

His mother had been trying to find out who the craftsman was ever since they had been shown at a council meeting. All she was able to find out was that they were connected to a small ninja shop owned by a man named Higashi.

But despite numerous attempts at getting the old fool to talk he refused to say anything. His mother was desperate, as were the other clans of Konoha, to have their own weapons made by the mysterious weapons maker known only as the 'Faceless Blacksmith'.

"So these are the new famed weapons of your clans. They don't look like much, Shino's looks like a pipe. What harm could they do? I bet the guy that made them was just a fraud."

Both Shino and Hinata raised their eyebrows at the dog like boy's words and resisted the urge to look at Naruto and Cooper in the corner of the room but then they all felt the room get colder and the feeling of death filled the room at the insult to his beautiful creations of death and destruction.

Standing up from his seat Shino went over to the log pile next to the unlit fireplace, picked up two large pieces of oak and made his way into the centre of the room. Putting the wood down for a moment the bug user fixed his Wasp Point to his arm.

Without saying a word, Shino through one of the oak logs into the air and, with speed Kiba could barely follow, thrust his arm forward. The pipe like weapon shot out of his sleeve and pierced the log. What shocked the young Inuzuka was that the log started to disintegrate before his eyes. When there was nothing left they could all see the bugs flying back to Shino from the pile of dust on the floor.

Turning to look at Hinata she gave a small nod and stood, her Hands of Kami already on. Bending and picking up the other piece of wood Shino through it at the waiting girl.

All Hinata did was raise her right hand, which had a light blue glow trailing along several of the seals carved into the metal, and tap the wood as it flew towards her which caused it to explode in a shower of splinters.

They turned their attention towards the shocked members of team 7 and Hinata explained.

"Both our weapons are designed to increase our clans fighting styles and overall damage we can do to an opponent."

Getting over his shock Kiba got a contemplating look on his face. When he was done thinking he looked at them both with determination in his eyes. Forgoing being polite Kiba asked them straight.

"Who made them?"

This time it was Shino to answer.

"We are not at liberty to reveal the identity of the 'Faceless Blacksmith'. It was a condition made when we received the weapons, only our clan heads know who he is."

At his words Kiba lost his temper, slamming his hands on the side of his chair and shooting to his feet he stormed over to the quiet boy and grabbed him by the collar.

"Listen here you freak! It's not right that both your clans get special attention and it's not fair that you don't tell the other clans who he is. You think that you can keep him all to yourselves? We all want a weapon made for us, now start talking or I'll fucking beat it out of you."

"I would suggest you release me. As I said I am not allowed to tell you anything and-"

"It's ok Shino, dog piss; if you don't release my friend in the next three seconds I'm going to strangle you with your own intestines."

Turning to face the black haired boy in his rage filled mind Kiba barely heard the fret.

"Shut your fucking mouth Jackson! This has nothing to do with you!"

Cooper's grin just widened at the dog like boy as Akamaru ran away from his partner and hid under a chair. The reason for this is because unlike his master the pup was more intune with nature more and could feel the chakra in the air turn colder and even angrier as if the world was reacting to the boy's emotions.

Walking over to Kiba the boy, without saying a word hit him in the face, sending him across the room and into Naruto who then punched him in the face changing his direction., the shock snapping him out of his anger.

"That's where your wrong pup. We are the Faceless Blacksmith shit brain."

At his words all of team 7 turned shocked expressions towards Shino and Hinata. When they reluctantly nodded their heads Kiba went very pale and stared at the insane brothers that were grinning down at him and said the only thing that he could think of.

"Fuck."

XXX

Flashback

XXX

Naruto and Cooper were in a good mood.

They had just met their team and they had a feeling that they would be fun to work with. They all seemed like good people, so they wouldn't need to kill them later on, which was a plus.

Also Naruto had just successfully snuck into an ANBU base and dyed all their uniforms bright orange. The look on their faces was priceless and he was glad he had a carmra.

.

Naruto was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't realize he had wandered into a back alley of the market district of Konoha and their for leading Cooper their as well. (ok quick lesson on how Cooper can see with the bandages on. The simple lesson his that he can not see at all he can feel the molecules in the air allowing him to see/feel anything that was around him, and with the ground he is much like Tofe from the Last Avatar he can sell the movement in the earth other than that he is as blind as a bat so he relies on others mostly Naruto to lead him to places he doesn't know how to get to by himself.)

When Naruto did take notice of his surroundings he found themselfs outside a small shop. It had an old wooden sign in the shape of a kunai hung over the door, the universal sign for a shinobi shop. The windows were so dirty that he couldn't see inside. They couldn't see a name anywhere and there didn't seem to be any other shops in the area.

Their interest peaked; they pushed the door open and went inside.

The inside was the same as the outside of the shop, dark and dirty. There was just enough light to see without bumping into anything.

The shelves were stocked with an assortment of different weapons from kunai to swords, but they all had a thick layer of dust coating them. In one corner of the store Naruto could see clothes and armour on display.

If he had to guess Cooper would say that this shop hadn't had a customer in a long time.

Smiling to themselves at the thought They made their way to the back of the room in hopes of finding someone.

And they did.

There, at the back of the room leaning on a counter was a large middle aged man. He was big, almost 7 foot tall with huge mussels and large hands. He had on a fin grey sleeveless shirt under a thick leather apron and thick pants. The top of his head was shaved and he had a thick black beard.

When the man saw Naruto and Cooper he stood up and looked at the boys with hope in his eyes before saying in a deep voice.

"Please tell me you want to buy something."

They wasn't surprised at the pleading tone; it seemed he was right about the shop not having much business.

"You got a smithy or do you order everything?"

The large man was surprised at the boy's question.

"It's in the back, why?"

When said this their grin stretched even bigger.

"I've been looking for one to rent out to work on a few projects of mine."

This got the man thinking, if he let the boys use his smithy he could charge them and make a bit of money, Kami knows he needs it.

"Names Higashi, and if you can pay I don't see a problem with letting you use my workshop."

Taking the man's outstretched hand to shake Theirs ther replied.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Jackson Cooper."

Now the two boys had expected a lot of things when they told Higashi their names, insults and shouting being at the top of the list. But what happened was enough to shock even them.

Higashi's eyes widened and he let out a small gasp.

Without letting go of the young boy's hands the muscular man pulled them forward and hugge them.

They two stiffened at first, thinking they were being attacked, until they felt water falling onto their face. Looking up at the mountain of a man Naruto was shocked yet again when he saw the tears falling down his face.

"Thank you, thank you."

When Higashi let the shocked blonde go he let out a hearty laugh and explained.

"I never got a chance to thank you for what you did. You two might not remember but five years ago you two saved a girl from being raped in an alley not far from here. That was my daughter, Tenten; I've been waiting for five years to thank you."

Cooper just tilted his head to one side in thought.

"Short girl in a Chinese style dress with buns in her hair, looks kinda like a panda?

Higashi just laughed again and nodded his head.

"Small world, how's she doing nowadays?"

"She became a ninja, graduated last year. She'll be glad to see you, no one knew where you disappeared to, and she was worried something had happened to you. Where you two been for the last five years."

Naruto just shrugged and said.

"Place called the school, and from the look on your face I'm guessing you are an ex-shinobi because that's the only way you could no about it."

True to his word, at the mention of the school Higashi went deadly pale before a sad look came onto his face.

Nodding his head the large smith said no more about it.

After a few minutes silent's Cooper asked if he could see the workshop.

Nodding his head again, Higashi led the young boys to a door behind the counter and down a corridor past several rooms until they came to the workshop.

It was a good sized room, about twenty feet by twenty and a lot like the shop it was dark and dusty. Again, Naruto could tell that it hadn't been used for a while. The tools were all neatly arranged on hooks on a wall and the furnace was good. The work counter was full of old broken kunai's and swords. On a wall at the back of the room were several different designs for weapons Naruto had never seen but Cooper had seen them when he was in his original world but said nothing. He couldn't help but be impressed by the mans out of the box thinking for this world.

Seeing what the two were looking at Higashi made his way over to them.

"These were all my ideas, I had planned to make them one day, but after the Kyuubi attack my first shop was destroyed. When it was finally rebuilt I ended up back here and nobody even came. I found out that one of my old competitors had bribed the civilian council to have me put here to get rid of me, so I never had the money."

Nodding his head Naruto reached up and took down some of the designs.

There was a double bladed axe, a zanbato, and several more complex designs that he could just barely comprehend.

Putting them down he pulled out several peaces of paper and handed them to the old smith.

Curious, Higashi took the offered paper and looked over Naruto's designs. They were ruff around the edges, and some of them wouldn't be possible, but he was impressed.

Turning his gaze back to the blonde boy Higashi asked.

"You make these?"

At Cooper's nod the man grinned.

"Impressive. So what do you know about weapon crafting?"

"Strong theoretical knowledge, but no practical experience to back it up."

Nodding his head at Naruto's words, Higashi looked back at the designs in his hands.

"It shows. What would you say to me going over some of these designs with you, when we've got the bugs ironed out I'll show you how the furnace works, sound good?"

Naruto just grinned.

XXX

For the next few hours Naruto, Cooper and Higashi were in the work shop, leaning over the designs Naruto had brought and the ones on the wall.

It felt good for the old man to actually work again; he was always at his happiest when he was working on a new project. He had mist the feel of the paper and the satisfaction of seeing his work coming to life.

As the hours passed Higashi was more and more impressed with the blonde boy. The way his mind worked allowed him to think outside the box and here and their Cooper would trow Naruto an idea leading them to think of things no one else had ever considered. And when put together with Higashi's years of experience and Cooper's natural skill on the farge they found the time flew by without them even noticing cooper had even taken off his bandages on his eyes as they worked so he could see what he was working with..

The two were off their rocker, there was no doubt about that. But it was that touch of insanity that made their designs stand out.

At one point during their time together Higashi had made a shadow clone to make them tea. The clone court they two boys attention and they asked the old man what it was.

After a quick explanation of the Jutsu and a demonstration they spent the next hour working on the shadow clone Jutsu.

It surprised Higashi that it didn't take longer for the boys to do it, but what really shocked him was that they made so many on their first try. The room was filled with clones. The amount of chakra needed to make even one clone was substantial, but from the looks of it Naruto and Cooper had just made thirty etch like it was nothing.

Deciding to put this unexpected gift to use Higashi had the clones go around and clean the workshop while he and the original went back to the designs.

It was this sight that greeted Tenten when she came home. She had just finished a hard day of team training and was nearly dead on her feet.

Hearing her farther in the workshop surprised her at first; he hadn't set foot in there for years. So trying to be quiet she gently pushed the door open only to see a sea of blonde and black haired boys that looked about her age moving around the room cleaning.

Slowly making her way into the room Tenten found her father stood at the workbench leaning over the shoulder of another of the blonde and blacked haired boys.

They were without a doubt two of the oddest looking boys the girl had ever seen and she was team mattes with rock lee mind you, with their long hair and black straightjacket. But for some reason she could have sworn she had seen them before.

Shaking the thought out of her mind, Tenten walked over to her farther and looked over his shoulder, the fact that he didn't even notice her there showed how engrossed he was in his work; he never took his eyes off the papers in front of him.

Taking a better look at the paper she realized that they were weapon designs, complex weapon designs. Without realizing it Tenten had been leaning forward to get a better look. It was then that her farther noticed her.

"Oh, Ten-chan, when did you get home?"

"Just now, who's this and why art there so many of them, and while I think about it why are they even here?"

Tenten didn't miss the slight shine in her father's eyes when he turned to the boys at the desk that didn't even lift their head when she asked about them.

"That my dear Ten-chan, is Uzumaki Naruto and this is jackson Cooper, you've met them before, they came to ask about using the workshop we got to talking, and I guess we lost track of time. As for why there is so many of them I showed them a Jutsu from back in the day, they seems to have took quite well to it."

When her farther said she had met the boy Tenten got confused, sure the black haired one seemed familiar, but she would remember someone so... strange.

Seeing the look on her face Higashi laughed and tapped the black haierd boy on the shoulder to get his attention.

It was then that she finally got a good look at his face and was unable to stop the gasp that escaped her mouth; all the clones had their heads turned away as she walked in the room so she didn't see either of the two boys face until then.

His face was covered in thick white bandages, similar to the ones Lee always wore on his hand. But it was his crimson crossed eyes and huge grin that jogged her memory of that night five years ago.

She could feel the tears starting to run down her eyes at the thought of it, if it wasn't for the boy that had come to her rescue she didn't want to think what would have happened. It was the words he had said to her that night after he saved her that made her want to be a kunoichi.

"I might not be around next time, so you better learn to save yourself. The world is full of damsels in distress; we need more women that can look after themselves because i am no hero the world has no need for me to be a hero so you will have to be."

To never be a victim again, that was her ninja way.

Tears still running down her face, Tenten through herself at the still seated black haired boy and pulled him into a hug.

This time it didn't shock Cooper as much as when Higashi hugged him. Locking eyes with the man Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I'm starting to see a pattern here."

This just caused the older man to laugh at the boy as he was struggling to breathe as Tenten's grip around his neck tightened.

Deciding to take pity on the young boy Higashi put his hand on his daughters shoulder.

"Ten-chan, I think you should let the poor lad breathe."

At her fathers words Tenten released Cooper from her death grip and took a step back with a blush.

"Sorry."

Cooper fell to the floor and made a big show of sucking in big gulps of air before rolling around laughing at the girl's reaction, which caused her to blush even more.

"Don't worry about it, anyway I better be off, I'm starting missions tomorrow. I'll be back some time tomorrow so we can start working on my designs. Goodnight."

Naruto had walked out the door but before Cooper had left he had turned he looked right into Tenten's eyes.

"Tell me when you have become the hero that i could never be, find me and tell me with your own voice that you will never be the victim again, got that little Ten-chan."

And with that he left, leaving a blushing Tenten and a smiling Higashi behind.

XXX

Over the next few weeks Naruto had and Cooper taken to going to the workshop every day after his training and under both Higashi and Tenten's tutelage the two proved to be a quick learner.

It wasn't until a month into his lessons that he was comfortable with is ability's that Naruto had the idea to combine his research of seals with his weapon designs with Coopers bilding and his own seal research..

After he had given his team their completed custom weapons and he had got the attention of the clans word quickly spread of a mysterious new blacksmith working out of the Higashi shop. And when the Hyuga and Aburame clans announced their weapons to the public, ninja were flooding the shop.

Higashi and Tenten were constantly questioned about the 'Faceless Blacksmith as the two had come to be known, something that had amused the four of them greatly because of Naruto and Cooper always wearing bandages to cover their face.

XXX

End Flashback

XXX

The room was deadly quiet, no one knowing what to say.

Kiba was still frozen in place, staring at Naruto and Cooper in shock. He might have just ruined his families chance to have weapons made for them.

Running up to the two Kiba through himself at his feet and practically shouted.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything by it, really. I just wanted to help my clan, please make us a weapon."

Looking down at the grovelling boy Cooper's face went hard, he still had the smile on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes anymore or where his eyes would be.

"Get up dog piss, show some pride. For Kami's sake have some self fucking respect, you're a future clan head. Don't bow to anyone but the Hokage you fucking bitch ass. As for the weapons, give me some fucking time. Do you know how much effort and time it took to understand the Aburame and Hyuga clan styles to make those weapons will go you? we have been studying all the clans of Konoha for bloody fucking months."

When Kiba heard this he raised his head to look at Naruto's face in confusion.

"You mean... you were going to make something for my clan the whole time. But then why didn't you just say something to the clans, they have been desperate to find out who the 'Faceless blacksmith is for months!"

Shrugging his shoulders Coopers regained his normal grin.

"It was funny watching them all run around like headless chickens."

This caused all those in the room to sweat drop.

XXX

The next day it was Naruto, Cooper and Sasuke's turn to guard Tazuna at the bridge.

It went without saying that the three boys were impressed with the sheer size of the bridge.

At some point in the day Naruto and Cooper had taken to helping the workers by moving heavy rocks and equipment that would have needed to be moved with a makeshift crane.

Several people had left during the day saying that they had to think of their families. Tazuna wasn't happy, but he could understand.

That night, like every other night they all fell asleep to the sound of Naruto playing his violin and Cooper his flute.