A/N
One more chapter. That's all the updates for today!
"That's a big barn." Sasuke commented.
"I wonder what the inventor does in it." Sakura said as she looked on. The barn had to be the size of most of village houses put together.
Naruto thought the village had been depressingly small. The whole trip was a waste of time. Who wanted a stupid envelope, anyway? And they had been receiving glares from all of the open doors.
The smallest bear archer marched up to the door of a house that looked as if it had been built onto the side of the large barn as an afterthought.
"Great Nani, come and share your wisdom!" The archer called as he knocked on the door. After no answer, he knocked harder.
The door suddenly swung open. "Look, Yamska, whatever it is that makes you announce to the world these things had better start canning themselves right now…Oh, hello, who are you all?"
To say the least, Nani the Great had not been what he was expecting. He expected an old, decrepit man full of himself and waiting for a bow from everyone….what was at the door was a skinny young woman with almost no figure to speak of with brown pigtails and brown eyes that were currently staring in wonder at them.
"We're here to deliver a package-" Kakashi sensei began.
"A package for me?" She said, cocking her head to the side. "What is it?"
"It's right here." The teacher pulled it out of his vest where it had been keeping dry.
"I hardly…well, no, I never get mail. You know…you guys look like drowned rats. Why don't you come inside for awhile? You must have traveled far to finally end up here." She took the package from Kakashi sensei held it over archer Yamska's shoulder.
"Great Nani-"
"Thanks for leading them here. Good luck on that guard duty you're supposed to be doing."
"Anything for you, Nani."
"Yamska."
"Yes, Inventor Nani?"
"Would you get out of the way so the drowning shinobi can get some shelter?"
"Sorry!" Yamska the bear archer hurriedly moved aside. "We will guard. You can sleep well tonight, Inventor Nani."
"I do every night, thanks to you and your team's brave efforts." She said with a big smile. Yamska puffed up with pride and marched off, two equally proud bear archers behind.
"Well, now that that's done, you guys want to come inside for some hot drinks?"
"I do! I do!" Naruto yelled. His sensitive nose picked up the smell of food.
"Well get in here. Don't make me invite you for a fourth time. I draw the line at five." She went back into her house. Naruto followed, followed by Sakura, Sasuke, and lastly Kakashi-sensei, who took a glance around outside before shutting the door.
"How did you know we were Shinobi?" Sakura asked suddenly.
"Those things you wear on your head were a big clue. Leaf, right?"
"Yeah, but this place is so…"
"Isolated?"
"Yeah."
"A few shinobi still show up now and then. Usually, they get lost and they get stuck here, where just about everyone is lost." Nani poured some tea into cups and handed it over to the shinobi.
Naruto drank his cup down fast, and then held it back up to Nani. "More please!"
"Naruto! Don't be so rude!" Sakura hissed.
"I said please!"
"That's okay. You must be shinobi. Nobody's ever survived my tea before."
Sasuke choked mid-drink.
"That was a joke. I didn't really mean it." Nani said while filling up Naruto's cup after seeing Sasuke's expression.
Letting the tea warm his hands, Naruto took in his surroundings. The Inventor's shack was full of old pieces of metal and other material, and the walls were lined with shelves full of books and bottles. One wall stood bare of shelves, and in its place was a large map full of markings. Looking closer, he saw that the map was of Konoha and the surrounding countries, all the way to the coasts. The only furniture in the room was a bed and a desk, with a small kitchen off to one side. There was one other door in the entire house, leading off to a small bathroom in back.
"So whaddaya invent, Nani?" He asked curiously.
"Hmm…I helped make those suits you saw those guys wearing. I also made the irrigation systems around here."
"Costumes and plumbing has been made before." Sasuke said.
"Yes, but around here, you need to do it differently. It takes big money to clear trees and have professionals put in plumbing, so we have to do these things ourselves."
"Anything else?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, but I can't show anyone that until the rain stops. It's my most incredible invention ever." Nani said in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Really?" Naruto said in excitement. "Can we see it?"
"Sure! That is, if you're willing to stay till the rain stops. That reminds me, did anyone offer to give you shelter in town?"
"No." Kakashi-sensei shook his head. "They seemed fairly hostile."
"Oh. Well, don't mind that. They give me those looks too. It just takes them a bit to come around. They're the old salt of the earth, as Granddad said, which means they can be really stubborn." She chatted away happily while pushing the desk up against the wall. "Pick a spot, you can stay here for tonight. Anyone can use the bed, I need to catch up on some notes, and there's some stew in the pot in the kitchen. I always use way too many ingredients, so I have a lot to spare."
"She talks as much as you do." Sasuke whispered. Naruto was about to lash back with an insult when Sakura asked another question.
"What are you writing notes on?"
"The calculations of wind speed on the structure of ordinary kites." Nani flourished a small paper box kite. "This kite can take up to fifteen mile per hour winds without breaking. I'm going to use what I know to construct a kite that can stand seventy."
"What will that do?"
"What will it do? It's a stepping stone. Who knows what I can learn from it? It also has a big thing to do with what I'm doing for my other invention, but I'll leave you to think on it." She put the kite on the dresser.
Naruto helped himself to the stew in the kitchen. It was a little salty, but warm, which was better than the slightly damp foodstuffs he'd been eating for the last few days.
"Oh!" Nani suddenly straightened up. "I've been talking so much I didn't catch your names."
"I'm Sakura, this is Sasuke, that's Naruto, and our teacher is Kakashi-sensei." Sakura pointed them out in turn.
"That's great! I haven't had visitors, actual visitors, for years. Make yourself at home, throw off any wet clothes and I'll heat up the oven to get this place warmed up some more." She walked over to the kitchen and turned up the oven, leaving the door open to heat the house.
Nani was nice, Naruto had decided. She talked a lot, and except for the whole secret invention stuff, she seemed perfectly happy to tell them everything about herself. And the stew was fairly good, which practically set her in immediately good graces with him. Anyone that would let them bunk in their house to wait out the rain was totally alright with him. Even Kakashi-sensei didn't say anything when Naruto and his team began setting out bedrolls. They were all too happy to get out of that rain.
The girls discretely looked away while the guys changed to better, drier clothes (except for Kakashi-sensei, who claimed he was dry enough) and the guys gave the same respect to Sakura. Nani didn't appear to go outside much in the rain. She claimed a little later that rain would turn her hair gray by washing all of the color out of it. She got a little embarrassed after she realized that she said that right in front of Kakashi-sensei, who had running a hand through his hair at the time.
Five minutes after putting his head to an extra pillow Nani had given him, Naruto was out like a light. The last thing he heard was Sakura asking about the various jars on the shelves.
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