Sorry for the long wait everyone! Author notes are at the end and the chapters just below. Enjoy!
Training Ground 10
"So, what do you want to do first?" Tenten asked, spinning a kunai in her right hand as they arrived in one of the large clearings within the training ground 10.
"Why don't we warm up with some dodging practice." Naruto suggested with his typical smile. "You throw, I dodge and then tell me what you think."
"Sounds simple enough" Tenten said with a smirk while grabbing 2 scrolls from her waist. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you."
"I'd be disappointed if you-"Naruto began but stopped as he watched the weapon's master jump high in the air, unfurled her scrolls and began to spin rapidly. The unfurled scrolls seemingly wrapping around her to the point her body became barely visible.
"Whoa." He mumbled with widened eyes, it'd been years since he'd seen her technique, but he didn't remember it being this grand. However, he had very little time to dwell on it as dozens of kunai and shuriken began raining down from above.
"How is she throwing so many at once?" Naruto mentally questioned while dodging the incoming weapons and drawing 2 of his own kunai to help block the assault. Even more impressive than the sheer number of weapons being thrown at him, was that each one seemed to be perfectly aimed towards him. "She shouldn't even have time to aim!"
"It must be from training." Kurama replied before yelling out. "Boy behind you!"
"Wha-"Naruto yelled in shock as many of the kunai and shuriken he just dodged suddenly changed course and were flying back at him; effectively trapping him between the barrage above and those aiming at his back.
"Dammit!" He thought with little time to spare and jumped left, blocking several of the approaching weapons as he did so, and then made a beeline towards the outskirts of the clearing with shocking speed. The maneuver got him out of Tenten's trap and allowed him to avoid being hit on both sides by the deadly weapons. Even so, his speedy exit didn't allow him to come out completely unscathed, evidenced by the cuts on his arms
"Is it some kind of puppet master jutsu?" Naruto mentally questioned as he continued dodging weapons while Kurama began healing his arms.
"Possibly." Kurama replied. "I can't tell for sure with these raining on top of us."
"So she unseals the weapons from places along her scroll, aims, and throws them at a rapid pace. Then she also has a way of controlling weapons that she's already thrown without sacrificing her accuracy or speed" He noted stealing a few glances at the weapon mistresses with the corner of his eye as he was finally forced to dodge again and change course. "With that scroll twisting around her I can't see anything, if I could just see where she's aiming at dodging would be a lot easier."
"She's starting to slow down." Kurama noted. "She must be running low on weapons."
"Or it's a trap." Naruto thought as he fought off the last of the thrown weapons and made sure no more were coming from his blind spots. Breathing deeply, he turned back around just in time to see Tenten fall back to the ground and land on her feet in a crouched position with her scrolls falling harmlessly around her. Standing back up, she shot Naruto a grin and placed a hand on her hip.
"So what did you think?" Tenten asked with a grin.
"That was…intense." Naruto responded with a smile of his own. "Definitely a lot more difficult than having shadow clones hurl weapons at me all day."
"Glad you enjoyed it." Tenten responded with a smile. "I noticed you got hit a few times by some of my Kunai."
"Only minor cuts, Kurama should have them healed in no time." Naruto responded before adding. "It really took me by surprise when I had to start watching out for weapons I'd already dodged."
"I knew you'd enjoy that." Tenten said. "Before the war I tried to find a way to attach wire threads to my weapons which let me guide them better without messing up my aim, but then I met this nice Kunoichi from the Sand who showed me how to quickly make Chakra thread to better control my weapons. It took a lot of practice, and I'm still trying to really get the hang of it but It's a lot easier to handle and faster to attach and re-attach than regular wire would be. It also lets me rip them off the ground and fling them back ag people on top of guiding them. Not to mention there almost invisible, and I don't have to worry about having wires everywhere."
"So you unseal the weapons, attach the wires, and then throw them?" Naruto questioned as Tenten nodded. "But you were so fast."
"I've practiced my technique so it's just second nature, but I'm still pretty new using Chrakra strings." Tenten explained "I still can't guide anything heavier than a kunai and even then, I still can only guide so many at once, after that I either have to use wire or forget about guiding them."
"That's pretty cool!" Naruto nodded in understanding with a smile. "You really took me by surprise with it."
"But enough about that." Tenten said with a glint in her eye and an even wider smile. "Now that we've finished up this scroll we can start the real fun."
"Fun?" Naruto questioned back.
"Those were only my practice weapons." Tenten explained with a smile as she took out a scroll from her pouch, made a hand sign, and unsealed several more, larger scrolls. "Since you did so well dodging those I figured we could get serious." She said motioning to the unsealed scrolls. "These are the weapons I actually use on missions and are a whole lot deadlier than the standard shuriken and kunai I practice with"
"G-great" Naruto said with a quiet gulp and sweat drop running down his face.
"Those things were only for practice?" He inwardly questioned in disbelief. "There must've been at least 400 weapons in that last scrolll."
"There's likely at least twice that in these." Kurama affirmed with a nod. "They might also be poisoned, she said deadlier, so stay alert and be on your guard for anything. If you get poisoned it'll take longer to heal you than a simple flesh wound."
"Right" Naruto thought in response.
"You should also take off your vest and shirt."
"What!" The blond-haired ninja nearly questioned loudly.
"Is something wrong Naruto?" Tenten asked with a curious face as she got her scrolls ready.
"N-no, nothing." He said lamely
"…ok" She said with a shrug and a smile. "Sorry it's taking so long, I'm trying to get everything ready now rather than later. Just another minute or two."
"R-right." He said as he watched her go back to work.
"What's the big idea fox?" Naruto demanded under his breath.
"I just meant you should take off your shirt and vest before it gets torn to shreds." Kurama stated with a grin. "I can heal your scratches but I'm not going to sew your cloths back together, your sleeves already look bad enough."
"R-right. Good idea." The blond ninja responded with uncertainty as he walked towards a fallen log that he hoped would be out of range of their training.
"What did you think I meant?" The fox asked curiously with a hidden smile as Naruto took off his vest and set it on the log.
"Nothing." Naruto answered quickly, feeling a slight heat on his face.
"Pervert." Kurama laughed.
"Shut it fox." Naruto growled lowly as he mentally berated the 9 tails and reached for the bottom of his shirt. As he pulled the fabric from his torso and over his head he made sure to place it neatly on top of his vest. He then quickly turned around to check on Tenten only to see her staring at him intently from their training site.
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TENTEN'S POV
3 minutes prior
"This is great!" Tenten thought with excitement as she unsealed a few of her scrolls that housed her better weapons. "I can't believe I can actually use these now!"
She could only think of a handful of people who could handle her training scroll the way Naruto had. In fact out of everyone she'd trained with over the years, and there had been a few especially during the shinobi's alliance's war preparations, only 4-5 fared well enough that she didn't have to pull her punches or stop altogether and Naruto had definitely made the cut.
"He moves with such confidence." Tenten thought as she finished preparing another scroll. "Even when I upped the ante by using my threads, he literally wasn't down a second. He thinks fast and moves even faster than that! Even Lee can't compare to this!"
Now that she thought of it she'd only seen one person move the almost the same way, the same purposed determination that made training with him so fun. Sadly, that person had died during the war.
"In fact." She thought as she placed a hand on one scroll. "The last time I used this scroll during a training session was against Neji…he"
"What!" She heard Naruto nearly scream.
Her eyes widened and quickly looked to the blond, not knowing what to expect, but all she could see was a very pensive and embarrassed looking Naruto.
"Is something wrong Naruto?" She questioned while trying to look busy with her scrolls instead of daydreaming.
"N-no, nothing." He said lamely
"…ok" She said with a shrug and a reassuring smile. "Sorry it's taking so long, I'm trying to get everything ready now rather than later. Just another minute or two."
"R-right" He said as Tenten looked back down from her work.
"Focus on the now and not the past." Tenten inwardly reminded herself as she finished her preparations. Her best friend may be gone but she'll always have her old friends and new ones to help fill the void.
"Besides" She thought trying to renew her excitement." If Naruto can do as well as Neji could then this is going to be so much fun!"
"I wonder if he'd mind being my regular training partner?" Tenten questioned as she finally finished the last scroll she intended to use today.
"He did say he trained a lot and had nobody to practice with. Plus, we could help each other with sealing to. It's perfect!" She thought standing up and spotting Naruto a few yards away next to the tree line. "I'll go ahead and ask him and-"
Tenten's thoughts died in her head and her eyes widened as she watched the blond-haired ninja look towards her. His sweat from the previous exercise began reflecting off his toned muscles, making it almost glow as he causally walked back towards her.
"Whoa." Is all she could think as he came to a stop in front of her. She'd seen dozens of men without their shirts, all for either training or social events, but she'd never reacted like this before. Though to be honest most of them weren't as toned as Naruto was either.
"Sorry." He apologized while rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "I didn't want to ruin my shirt so I thought this'll be easier."
Tenten nearly jumped at Naruto's words and quickly looked away trying to hide her blush. "N-no problem. That's probably a good idea."
"So where should we start?" The blond ninja asked completely unaware of her embarrassment.
"J-just go back to where we started at I guess." She said still looking away.
"Got it!" The blond said happily as he walked back to where he was last time.
"What the hell's wrong with me?" She scolded herself with narrowed eyes, a shade of red barely viable on her face. "I've seen hundreds of guys without shirts and I've never acted like that! I'm a ninja not some…some school girl!"
"Still though, I can see why he's so strong." She admitted, her blush deepening slightly. "I got a decent view in the forest last time but it was nothing like this."
"Gah! What am I thinking?" She asked shaking her head "I'm better than this!". She'd worked hard, trained hard, had witnessed war firsthand and all he did was remove his shirt to make her freeze. How could she hope to be as respected and strong as Tsunade-sama if she's that easily taken off guard?
"It won't happen again." She assured and felt her determination swell. "I've worked to hard to gain everyone's respect to lose it like that."
She wouldn't back down, she wouldn't freeze, and she'd make sure to give it her all no matter what. She'd accept nothing less.
With these thoughts in mind she reached down and grabbed one of her scrolls and held it in front of her face and starred directly at the blond who had reached his position and returned her stare with a smirk.
"Ready Naruto?" She asked confidently, her past embarrassment dissipating.
"You bet." Came the blond's own confident response.
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NARUTO'S POV
"Something's different about her." Kurama said with a low growl. "Her form is much more rigid than last time. Be on your guard"
"Yeah." Naruto agreed. "She wasn't kidding about not playing around anymore."
"Ready Naruto?" Tenten asked, her voice streaming confidence.
"You bet." He responded taking a defensive stance.
(Several hours later)
"How can she keep this up?" Naruto inwardly questioned with bated breath, continually dodging the weapons hurled at him and stealing short glances at the weapon mistress before the next attack came. "She's relentless."
"Just keep dodging runt!" Came Kurama's furious reply. "And stop getting cut so much!"
"I'm not doing it on purpose." He defended, trying to ignore the pain of the dozen or so cuts on his torso, side, and arms that were currently healing. "There's just so many weapons, and there's no way to dodge or deflect them all!"
The two ninjas had already moved on from there second training exercise, which consisted of him dodging more weapons, only the weapons now included scythes, swords, explosive notes, and more. In fact, she threw so many things at him in that hour and a half that he could've sworn he even dodged a kitchen sink at one point. As soon as that let up he suggested they try something else instead of basic dodging practice.
He'd thought of, or more correctly Kurama had suggested, a type of game in which the goal was simple. Tenten would run around throwing weapons at him and the only way for him to win the game was to catch her. According to the fox this would allow them both to practice their strategizing as he would have to figure out how to get close to the weapon mistress without dying and Tenten could practice her accuracy on a moving target while also being forced to move around. The only real rules were that he couldn't use any of his transformations, which he wasn't going to use anyway, and that he couldn't use any of his more destructive jutsu.
After all, the fox had reasoned, if this is to improve your reflex's then it wouldn't make sense to use those techniques.
When he talked to Tenten about it, she seemed more than receptive to the idea and agreed to try it out.
When the fox first suggested it, halfway through their previous training exercise, he figured it would be to easy to catch Tenten off guard but decided to humor the annoying tailed beast anyway; however, they'd been at this for roughly 2 hours and he'd made very little progress against the Chunin since they started.
His best plan, so far, failed miserably when he summoned 30 shadow clones to charge her directly, and when she cut them all down from a distance he created even more clones to hit her in her blind spots using the smoke screen as a cover to get close. This ended poorly, and he had to quickly substitute himself out of the cloud or else he would've met the same fate as his clones. The main reason for the failure was because he had made the mistake of underestimating Tenten's skill in using her weapons in melee combat; the fact that he now had the memory of being stabbed by Tenten, several times made sure wouldn't make the same mistake again.
After his substitution to get away, Tenten used the dissipating smokescreen to her advantage and forced him back even further via barrage of kunai, how she could see him through the smoke he'd never know.
"At least she's not using her scrolls anymore." He thought as he dodged more weapons. For the last few minutes most of the weapons thrown have either been from her pouch, the ground, or from her connecting those blasted strings to them. Of course, it was always possible that she was saving them in case he got to close.
"Just be careful if you charge forward again." Kurama reminded. "Your carelessness is why I'm having to waste so much chakra healing you right now."
As Naruto dodged more weapons he continued to steal glimpses at the weapon mistress. He was amazed she could do so much damage with only traditional weapons, in fact he was awed by her sheer skill. Still whether due to her being tired or perhaps his own desperation he thought he finally saw an opening in his defenses.
Dodging more weapons, he decided to capitalize on this opening and quickly thought of a plan to catch the weapon mistress once and for all.
"Here it goes." He thought as he jumped into he air and weaved an all too familiar hand sign.
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TenTen's POV
Tenten took a deep breath after throwing more weapons towards her blond-haired sparring mate. She was honestly having the time of her life right now but was beginning to get winded.
"Naruto's stamina is incredible" She thought in awe as he continued to try and reach her, only for her to force him back each time. She'd long lost count of how many clones he'd sent at her, and with each wave he'd shown her just how unpredictable he could be.
With each wave he sent at her he would seemingly employ a different strategy, many she guessed were created on the fly, and while some fell flat on their faces others proved almost too much for her to handle. Moreover, despite each of his plans failing thus far and the massive amounts of chakra and clones wasted trying to get her the blond shinobi showed no signs of stopping.
She guessed that's why she was having so much fun right now. He was strong, so she didn't have to hold back, while also unpredictable which kept her on her toes and very interested in what he'd do next, and finally he never gave up which she loved because it meant he'd keep trying no matter what.
"Between his endurance, healing abilities, and sheer tenacity it's no wonder he did so much during the war!" Tenten thought in amazement as their sparring match entered what would likely be a very short lull as he stared at her from several yards away.
Just as she was beginning to catch her breath the blond shinobi made his move, he quickly ran towards her and leapt into the air weaving an all too familiar hand sign. Not a moment after he did so, several dozen clones appeared and jumped towards her from the front, a tactic that Tenten had already seen several times.
"What are you planning Naruto?" Tenten thought as she quickly grabbed any kunai she could find on the ground, having long since decided against using anymore scrolls as she didn't want to stay stationary anymore, and some from her nearly depleted pouch to dispatch the waves of clones trying to reach her.
As her weapons struck the attacking clones, a thick smokescreen began to develop in front of the weapon mistress, as expected, and she awaited what the blond would do next.
"Last time he tried this, he used the frontal attack as a distraction to get his clones around me." Tenten thought as her eyes cut to her left and right, and she subconsciously took a sidestep closer to a sword she had unsealed earlier to defend herself during that attack.
Just as the suspense seemed to much for her to bear, several glints made themselves known as they exited the smokescreen and headed straight towards the female shinobi. Tenten's eyes widened slightly as she registered the threat and dodged or blocked the incoming weapons.
'This is new' She thought as she kept dodging the incoming weapons with ease, "Still this can't be it" She reasoned, dodging more of the incoming weapons.
While she could easily tell Naruto was no slouch when it came to weapons, he certainly wasn't as good as she was in that regard. In fact many of the kunai thrown at her ended up missing her entirely, and landed around her harmlessly; however, the sheer number of weapons thrown kept her attention focused on dodging them rather than countering.
Luckily, before the barrage could do anything more than make her move a few feet, the smokescreen from earlier dispersed and revealed 5 Naruto's running towards her.
"My turn." She thought as she threw the kunai in her hand, taking out one of the charging attackers, and quickly picked up another weapon from the ground to do the same.
It only took her half a moment to aim and prepare to throw the weapon at Naruto's clone; however, before she could release the weapon it disappeared in a large puff of smoke.
"Wha-!" Tenten yelled in shock as she quickly released the weapon, and jumped back as a Naruto clone appeared in its place.
Realization hit Tenten head on as the new clone, which was less than a few feet away lunged at her.
"He transformed his clones into weapons!?" She thought alarmed as she barely had time to pull a kunai from her pouch and stab the clone into oblivion.
As she killed the clone, she further realized just how dire her current situation was. For the last hour she'd mainly been using the weapons on the ground as her main source of defense, but if all that weapons Naruto had thrown at her were transformed clones then he'd just turned her entire arsenal into a minefield.
"I can't risk picking up more weapons." She thought as she turned towards the wooded area to her right and made a beeline for it, hoping to reach it before his remaining clones caught up to her.
"None of his weapons went in here." She reasoned as she entered the wooded area and started going through running through the tree's. "So all I have to worry about is setting a trap for the clones behind me, after that I'll just have to rely on the scrolls and weapons I have left."
As she ran through the tree's, she set her mind to thinking of a trap to catch the pursuing clones off guard, only to hear a noise to her left.
Turning as fast as she could, Tenten threw her knife directly into the chest of a Naruto clone only for another to suddenly lunge at her from the smoke.
"Argh" Tenten yelled in a panic as she flung a kunai in desperation, hitting the clone in chest, dispersing it but only for another to lunge through the smoke and tackle the weapon mistress to the ground.
Knowing she was caught, Tenten closed her eyes expecting to hit the ground hard but was surprised when the only thing she felt hit the ground was her legs and lower body while her head never made impact.
"Huh" She questioned as she opened her eyes, only for them to widen at what she saw.
There, literally just inches in front of her face, was Naruto's whose eyes stared directly into hers as if peering into her very soul. He'd practically landed on top of her in a crouched position with his legs to the left and right of hers, while his left arm landing to the left of her head and his right holding up the back of her head.
"He must've caught me before my head hit the ground." She managed to think through the haze overtaking her.
"Caught you." He gruffly stated, his voice seemingly far deeper than usual.
A small voice in the back to Tenten's mind told her she needed to respond, congratulate him for beating her, or tell him how much fun she had training, but that voice was almost completely lost in the haze she quickly found herself in staring into those deep blue orbs.
As she stared into his eyes she suddenly found her breath jagged, her mouth felt dry, and a weird feeling swelling within her stomach. Then, almost without her noticing, she raised a single hand and touched it against his chest, her skin tingling at the contact.
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Naruto's POV
Naruto didn't know what was going on or what he was even doing anymore.
His plan to catch Tenten had been simple, he sent in several clones as a diversion to produce a smokescreen, so she couldn't see him create more clones, most of which transformed into weapons, and were thrown by his other clones.
While she was busy dodging those, he'd used that same smokescreen to sneak into the woods and make his way closer to where she'd likely enter at.
Then, just like he'd hoped, she'd ran into the woods to lose his clones after realizing he'd booby trapped the clearing and then all he had to do was create a clone to make her use any weapon she may've had in her hand and then catch her.
He'd tackled her to the ground as gently as he could and managed to even stop her head from hitting the ground in the process. Then, as if suddenly something in him shifted, he found himself staring down at her as she opened her eyes.
He then found himself lost in her cool brown eyes, as he bore into them and noticed how her lips seemed to part slightly as she stared back at him.
"Caught you." Is all he managed to say in response as he felt something primal in him begin to stir, something that even the fox residing within him couldn't hope to match.
Just then time began to slow as he continued to stare into her until suddenly he felt something electrify his torso. Looking down he saw, and felt, her hand touch lightly against his chest.
It was in that single moment that he almost thought he heard someone yelling at him, but his mind failed to either understand nor process the noise; instead choosing to re-focus his attention to the girl below him as it seemed her face grew even closer to his own.
Then, almost without warning, time seemed to return to normal as Naruto felt a sharp pain in his side and his entire body launched several yards away.
"Ah!" He yelled, neither expecting nor prepared for the strong attack as his body skid to a stop against a tree.
Looking up back to where he was from he saw no other than Rock Lee, who wore his chunin vest over his green spandex suit, glaring at him with Tenten still laying on the ground a few feet behind him.
"Ah the hell?" Naruto thought as he got up from his sitting position against the ground.
"It's about time!" Kurama roared. "Pay attention!"
"Why didn't you give me a warning fox?' Naruto asked through the pain in his side, his senses quickly returning to him.
"I did!" The fox roared in response. "You just stayed there staring at the girl!"
"Right sorry.' Naruto replied, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "I'm not sure what just happened."
"Whatever." The fox gruffly stated. 'You have 2 cracked ribs, I'm healing them now."
"Thanks.' Naruto replied and then re-focused his attention back on Lee.
"What's the big idea Lee?" Naruto asked his friend who glared daggers at him in response. "That really hurt."
"Be glad I only cracked a few ribs Naruto Uzumaki." Lee replied harshly. "Your unyouthfulness shall be punished by my fist for what you've done.'
"What do you mean what I've done?" Naruto questioned in annoyance. "I haven't done anything."
"You call taking advantage of my teammate nothing?'
"Taking advantage of-"Naruto angrily stated before realization hit him. "W-we were training!"
"I once believed you to be a youthful and honorable shinobi. "Lee said running towards him at even increasing speed. "But now I see that I must set you back on the proper path."
"Wha-"
"Leaf Hurricane!"
End Chapter
AUTHOR'S NOTES
So that concludes chapter 3 of "Weapons in Hand". Not a lot of real dialogue in this chapter, originally it was meant to go along with CH2 but I had it cut for length and time constraint reasons, but I like to think that it all worked out in the end; aside from possibly butchering Lee's character that is. Anyway, back t to the notes.
The main goal of this chapter was to show off Tenten's combat abilities, some of them, as well as Naruto and Kurama's teamwork. This chapter had a few other purposes as well, but I'll leave it at that for now. Next chapter will be a bit longer and will likely have a more slice of life style like last chapter did. It'll also do a better job of furthering Naruto and Tenten's relationship and help usher us into the final stages of the story (that's right we're basically halfway over at this point.) So, what did ya'll think of the chapter? Did you love it, hate it, indifferent? Please let me know and feel free to give suggestions and criticisms. AS ALWAYS, ALL FEEDBACK IS WELCOME!
Guardian's Blade- OUT!
P.S. Thank you all for you're reviews and PM's last chapter. You don't know how much all of it meant to me, from the praise, criticisms, and suggestions. I enjoyed every minute of it. Ya'll are awesome!