A Unique Problem
As Goku walked back into the cube, Vegeta caught sight of him. He whispered to him, "Where were you?"
"No where," Goku replied absently. "Just checking something outside."
Continuing loud enough for the children to hear, Goku announced, "Ok, so first, let's see one of your katas. This will let us see what your academy has been teaching you and how good you are at it."
"You first runt," Vegeta said, looking at Sasuke.
Grunting in annoyance at being called 'runt,' Sasuke slid into a basic fighting stance and took in a cleansing breath. He suddenly snapped into action, sending three punches through the air in front of him before sliding his leg to the side slightly. Pivoting on the leg, Sasuke spun about with his other leg out to give it momentum before striking an invisible enemy at the end of the circle. He ended the routine by jumping diagonally off his kicking leg as he brought it back down, landing in a crouched position at what would be his opponent's left side before performing a leg sweep, and slamming his elbow just above the ground, as if breaking the enemy's ribs.
Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "What a fancy little pirouette there. Well, you're next boy," he indicated to Naruto.
Naruto nodded, lowering into a similar stance, so much more tension in his muscles that his arms seemed to jitter about slightly. With the same explosion of movement, Naruto sent three punches out, noting with a smirk that they were much faster than Sasuke's. However, as he began to spin on one foot, he couldn't compensate for the momentum his faster spin created, and fell to the floor. Catching himself with his arm, he found Vegeta's flat palm on his chest before he could get back up.
How did he move so fast…? Naruto gaped.
"Clumsy, aren't we?" Vegeta smirked. "You're dead."
Goku stood back, observing Naruto's failure, contemplating. Hmm, is it simple clumsiness, or…?
Sasuke smirked as Vegeta 'killed' Naruto. Unfortunately for him, this did not go unnoticed by the Saiyan prince, who turned on him. "Do it again," he growled. "This time, you're going to try to hit me."
Sasuke nodded, lowering into a stance. Vegeta stepped away from Naruto, who collapsed to the ground. As Sasuke watched Vegeta move, he calculated where to strike.
This isn't fair… he growled inside his mind. But his pride wouldn't let him say it out loud. He suddenly snapped into action again. One punch to Vegeta's chin, which the Saiyan batted aside easily. A second to his chest, but Vegeta simply blocked that one with his palm. Finally, Sasuke switched from the third punch to an uppercut, hoping to catch Vegeta before he could switch his guard, but to no avail. His foot slid to the side in preparation for his next move, and Vegeta took the opportunity to kick the offending leg. Sasuke slide to the floor, legs splayed to either side in a painful position. Vegeta poked him in the forehead, causing him to fall backwards.
"Pathetic," Vegeta muttered. "I can see we'll have to start with both of you from scratch."
Naruto wasn't in the mood to laugh at Sasuke after being knocked about himself. However, as Vegeta began to rant under his breath, Goku tapped Naruto on the shoulder. "Hey," he said, "Come with me for a second."
Naruto nodded, standing up. As the two walked into the opposite corner of the room, Goku took out some cloth. "Here, feel this."
As Naruto took the cloth, he gasped as it nearly pulled him to the ground by his arms.
"This is heavy!" he growled through the strain. Goku nodded, taking the weight from him.
"Tell you what, it's just about dinner time, and I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. How about we go get something to eat. You can choose where," he grinned, seeing Naruto's eyes light up at that. "After that, we'll go out shopping for a bit before coming back here, ok?"
"Shopping…?" Naruto asked.
"Well, we'll need some new furniture for the house," Goku laughed, gesturing around. "We can't hope to get any rest sleeping on cold metal. We'll need some other things as well," Goku added cryptically.
"Ok, let's go!" Naruto grinned.
"Well," Goku interrupted before the boy could get ahead of himself. "First, I want to see you perform your kata again."
Naruto's face fell. "You're really going to make me do that again?"
Goku nodded, "Try to see if you can hit me, ok?"
Naruto sighed, and got into his position. He quickly sent all three punches in rapid succession, aiming all three at Goku's chest, not daring to aim too high or low, for fear of loosing control. Goku dodged all three by weaving side to side, closing his eyes. Noticing this, Naruto got annoyed, and began the spin kick. However, he began to loose control again, but before he could fall, Goku rushed behind him, catching him. Taking the chance, Naruto sent a strike to his face, but Goku caught it with one hand.
"Very good," Goku nodded. "You didn't take the easy way out, and continued the exercise to the end."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto mumbled, annoyed at having nearly fallen again. "Can we go now?"
"Sure," Goku laughed. The two left Vegeta and Sasuke to their business.
-0-0-0-0-
As Naruto and Goku approached Ichiraku's (where else would Naruto eat?), Goku contemplated what he had learned in the training room.
I was right. Naruto has a very unique problem. Judging from the force behind that last punch, and the speed from which he launches attacks, he has strength far beyond what is normal for his age but he can't control it. He doesn't know how to compensate, because…
That last bit was what kept puzzling Goku. No matter how many times he went over it in his head, he couldn't figure out how Naruto could have arrived at this condition.
He would have had to spontaneously gain a great deal of strength over a very short period of time. But how did it happen? Well, with his hair color, he might be stuck in Super Saiyan but… that's ludicrous, Goku sighed, shaking his head.
"Um… what's wrong, Goku?" Naruto asked, confused.
"Nothing," Goku reassured him with a smile. Well, his ki hasn't fluctuating in a Super Saiyan's aura, not even once. His inner ki feels like it's flowing very chaotically, Goku noted, closing his eyes to enhance his senses. But it's not like a Super Saiyan really… it's chaotic, but not as energetic. To have this level of ki flow… he'd have to be way more accustomed to the transformation than he seems to be from his lack of control.
Opening his eyes, Goku resigned himself to the truth. There's only one other way he could have this power. Anyway, now I know my plan will work.
"I'm telling you otou-san; this is the best place in town, hands down!" Naruto exclaimed, yet again. "And the owner and his daughter are really nice too!"
"Really?" Goku laughed. "Well, that's good. I don't want my first meal in your village soured by unpleasant company," he laughed.
As the two sat down at the counter, two other people who had yet to receive their meals scowled, and left in disgust. Goku raised an eyebrow at that, but he knew why. Naruto pretended not to notice.
Stupid fox… he thought to himself.
"Order up!" Teuchi said boisterously as he placed two bowls of ramen on the counter, only to find his customers gone. "Huh, wonder where they went off to in such a hurry…" Teuchi said, shrugging it off.
"Hey," Goku gestured to Teuchi, "since they're gone, why don't you let us eat that?" he grinned. "I'll cover the bill."
"Sure!" he laughed, placing one bowl in front of each of them. "Hey Naruto, I didn't expect to see you here," Teuchi noted. "Who's your friend? I don't think I've ever seen him around the village."
"I'm Son Goku," Goku introduced himself as Naruto dug into the ramen. "I'm new to town. I'm a distant relative of Naruto's."
"No kidding?" Teuchi asked, slightly bemused.
"Yeah!" Naruto grinned, butting in. "He's even adopted me!"
Ichiraku gave a big smile. "Wow, that's great news! Tell you what, this ramen's on me in celebration!"
"Wow, free ramen! Thanks!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Well, I know Naruto here will eat more than that," Teuchi smiled, taking out a notepad to take their order. "So what will you be having today?"
Naruto ordered as Goku looked at their selection. "Well, I don't really know what's good so I'll take one of everything, I guess," Goku grinned.
Teuchi blinked. "You really are related to Naruto," he said, shaking his head. "One of everything, coming up."
As the ramen cook started preparing his bowls, he asked, "So where are you from?"
"Far away," Goku said, evading the question. "You've probably never heard of my home town, it's quite a distance."
"Do you have shinobi there?" he asked.
"You're talking to one," Naruto grinned. "See the metal cube out past the walls?" Naruto asked, pointing beyond the walls to the slightly visible structure of his new home. "Goku summoned that with some sort of storage seal!"
"So that's where that thing came from?" Teuchi asked. "A lot of the people around here kind of panicked when they saw that, you know? Some of the shinobi must have thought it was an enemy weapon or something."
"…The cube, a weapon?" asked Goku, a little amused.
"Yeah, I had some customers in here a few minutes ago who got called away to go check it out."
"Well, they needn't have bothered," Goku laughed. "Vegeta and I aren't an enemy invasion."
"Um… shouldn't we go warn the others?" Naruto asked, a little worried. Vegeta was strong, but who knows what kind of shinobi had gone to investigate?
"Nah, Vegeta can handle himself." Goku reassured him as their first bowls of ramen arrived.
-0-0-0-0-
"Ok, Sasuke," Vegeta barked like a drill sergeant. "Your first task is to clear the trees our home destroyed."
The two were out in the middle of the clearing. Sasuke looked around at the destruction warily. Most of the trees around the cube had been pulled out of the ground by the roots, a good number of which had snapped far before the full complexity of the root structure could be revealed. These trees toppled like dominoes, slamming into others around them, snapping both into pieces. The debris was extraordinary.
"You want me to clear this all out? By myself…?"
"Yes," Vegeta said. "You'll have to break them apart into small enough pieces to fit them through the door, and store the wood in one of the back rooms. We can sell the timber as firewood, or something."
…Is training with this guy really worth doing his chores for him? "What'll that do? I thought we were training."
"Idiot," Vegeta muttered. "This is a strength building exercise, designed to increase the power of your arms."
"…Fine, let's say I buy that. Where are your tools?"
Vegeta smirked, "Goku will pick up an ax in town. Until then, you will be chopping the wood with your bare hands."
Sasuke's eye twitched. "I can't do that!"
"Take all the time you need," Vegeta sighed. "So long as you work."
"No, I mean I can't do that!"
Before Vegeta could retort, two men in Anbu masks leaped down into the clearing. One was wearing the mask of an eagle, the other of a monkey. Both looked around the clearing, betraying no emotions.
"Identify yourself," the eagle said to Vegeta.
"My name is Vegeta," Vegeta responded. "Prince of all Saiyans."
They looked to each other. "Saiyan?"
Vegeta sighed in frustration. "You could call us a clan of sorts."
"Where are you from, Vegeta?"
"Far away," Vegeta said vaguely.
"That's not good enough, prince," replied the monkey masked Anbu. "We need to know what your purpose in erecting this metallic siege engine."
"Siege… what?" Vegeta growled. "Look, you've got it wrong. This is just a base we set up."
"A base?" the eagle asked. "Right outside Konoha? Who sent you?"
"Look, nobody sent me!" Vegeta yelled in frustration.
"This is your last warning," the monkey said, getting in a fighting stance. "Where are you from?"
"I'm not here to do anything to Konoha!" Vegeta responded, annoyance escalating. "Don't you dimwits understand?"
Vegeta suddenly felt a source of ki rushing up behind him. He grabbed the arm of a third Anbu member, this one a lion, just as he was about to slice off the Saiyan prince's head. Vegeta jumped up, and flew high in the air at high speeds, reaching a seemingly impossible height.
To those one the ground it practically looked like the two had vanished into the air.
He's…fast…! Sasuke thought to himself, stunned. This power is beyond anything I have ever seen. This is the power of a kage…?
Vegeta kicked the Anbu down to the ground, but disappeared in a rush of speed, reappearing down at the ground before the Anbu could land. Without looking, Vegeta slammed his fist into the Anbu assassin as he fell to the ground behind him. The unfortunate victim flew forward, slamming into the other two just before they could dodge out of the way.
"You don't want to piss me off…" Vegeta growled dangerously, as his ki began to fill the air. "If you'd just listen, I'd tell you that I have the Hokage's permission to build here."
He tossed down a slip of paper, which one of the Anbu managed to get up, limp over to, and read. "I see. Our mistake."
"Yeah. Your mistake," Vegeta snarled, charging up a small ball of ki in one hand. "You can run away now."
The one Anbu who could stand managed to grab his partners away, and shunshin away before Vegeta could fire, running in a burst of pure adrenaline. Vegeta let his energy die away.
God these people are dense. I've killed people for being this stupid…
Sasuke stared at the hand Vegeta had charged his energy through. Sweat trickled down his neck as he processed what had just happened.
He beat those Anbu to a pulp. Plus that last attack… there was so much chakra, it was visible. I can use this…
"I'm impressed," he admitted to Vegeta aloud. The words seemed to tear at his throat as he said them, but it needed to be done. "I think I'll let your little arrangement stand. For now."
Vegeta just sent Sasuke an annoyed look.
"Then pack your bags. From now on, you'll be living here. But first…: Vegeta trailed off.
"…Get back to work."
-0-0-0-0-
Even for such accomplished eaters as Naruto and Goku, it took nearly half an hour to finish their celebratory ramen feast. Of course, I always have time for food that good, Goku grinned. "Well, we need to get moving," he finally said. "It was good to meet you…?"
"Teuchi," offered the ramen chef. "It was good to meet you too, especially considering I have another ramen connoisseur of Naruto's… caliber to look forward to from now on."
Naruto grinned, and got up. Bowing to Teuchi, he said, "Thanks for the ramen old man! Come on otou-san, let's get going!"
Naruto ran off a slight distance, gesturing to Goku to follow. However, Teuchi had a few words to say before he could leave.
"I'd be a lot happier to see you go if paid for your ramen first."
"Oh, right! Sorry," Goku laughed. He reached into his back pocket, taking out a few zenie. "This should cover it, right?"
Teuchi frowned for a moment as he took the strange money. "I don't know where you're from, but this isn't any form of currency I recognize."
"What?" Goku asked, looking a little confused. "I thought everyone accepted zenie."
"Well, not in Konoha," Teuchi sighed. "Do you have any ryou?"
"No…" Goku admitted. Meditating on his predicament for a moment, Goku came to a realization. Reaching into his pocket for a capsule, Goku unsealed a bit of the weighted cloth.
"How about a trade? It doesn't look like it, but this cloth is heavier than lead. That should be worth something to the right people, shouldn't it?"
Teuchi nodded, but frowned in displeasure. "Normally, I wouldn't do this, but since you're Naruto's new father, I'll make an exception, just this once."
"Thanks, don't worry about it, we'll have money next time," Goku laughed, leaving behind the whole roll of cloth. "Thanks for the ramen, bye!"
With that, Goku ran off to catch up with Naruto. Teuchi sighed, and tried to get the cloth off his counter. He grasped it first with one hand, then with two, but no matter how hard he pulled the material wouldn't budge.
"…What do I do with this now…?" Teuchi muttered in defeat.
-0-0-0-0-
Goku ran at a very slow pace to avoid startling anyone in the village, so it took him a few moments before he could even see Naruto again. Nevertheless, the boy's ki was easy to track, so Goku had no fear of loosing his charge.
"Hey, what took you?" asked Naruto.
"Sorry, I had a little trouble paying Teuchi. Turns out my money's no good in Konoha."
"…So you're broke?" Naruto asked, incredulous. "Ok, how're we going to buy furniture then?"
"Well, I was going to save this for last, but if we head to one of the local weapon suppliers I can probably trade for some ryou," Goku reasoned. "I have some things that would probably interest them."
"You were going to go to a weapon shop?" Naruto asked, curious as ever. "You needed some new kunai or something?"
"You'll see," Goku smiled. "It's a surprise."
Excited at the prospect of a surprise, Naruto eagerly lead Goku to a shop he knew of close to the outskirts of town. Old and run down, the shop nonetheless boasted a fine display in its front window. Several swords, a myriad of kunai, and some of the finest craftsmanship Goku had ever seen adorned the display, proving to Goku that despite the poor appearance of the shop, they made quality work.
"I come around here all the time," Naruto explained. "Most shops won't let me buy kunai or shuriken since I'm not a legal adult, but the guy in this shop let's me use some of his defective stock."
"He gives you defective weapons…?" Goku asked, reevaluating his opinion of the shop.
"What? It's not like they're broken or anything," Naruto said, looking puzzled.
"Do you know what the word 'defective' means… Naruto?"
"Sure! It means free!" the boy laughed, running into the shop.
Goku hesitantly followed him inside, and instantly lost himself in the vast display of armament adorning the walls. The display didn't do the shop justice. Sabers, spears, maces, katana, and more adorned the establishment until you could hardly see the chipping paint beneath. Accompanying them, to Goku's relief, were combat uniforms of various sizes All of it was of fine quality, to Goku's novice glance at the least, but still Goku was uneasy. Why would such a place be located in a cheap building, in a poor neighborhood?
Approaching the counter, Goku felt a sweltering heat coming from just behind the wall beyond. Ringing a bell on the counter, Goku was surprised when the door just beyond the counter opened, and an immense heat wave blasted against his face. A muscular man wielding a hammer came out from the back room, closing the door behind him.
Goku instantly appraised the man. He was extremely tall, easily three heads above Goku's height, with girth to match. The sheer volume of the man combined with the low ceiling of the low rent establishment to force the shop keeper to hunch over to avoid ripping the plaster off the roof with his skull. The musculature on the man's arms was dangerous in its intensity, yet Goku could feel very little ki in the man. Certainly he held some strength of arm, but he was not a Shinobi by any means. However, Goku ceased to worry about the man entirely only when he saw his face. A well trimmed beard hid his chin, but not his smile, nor his warm friendly eyes.
"Sorry about the heat," the man said apologetically. "I just got a new shipment of steel in, so the furnace has been on for a while."
Goku laughed, "No worries. So you make all these weapons yourself?"
"Of course," the man bellowed in laughter. "I'm Konoha's number one blacksmith. So then, what can I do for you today?"
"Ox-san!" Naruto called up to him.
"Oh, Naruto!" the man grinned. "I didn't see you there. So he's with you then?" the 'ox' gestured to Goku.
"Yeah," Goku smiled. "We're family now."
"Really, how long?"
"Just today," Goku replied. "Which is also how long I've known Naruto needed a certain item. I was wondering if you stocked weights?"
Weights? Naruto asked himself. That's the surprise…?
"Sure do," the man nodded, gesturing to a small shelf in a corner. "Most shinobi don't use them too extensively since they interfere with movement, so I'm afraid we don't have a very large selection," the man admitted.
"No problem, I was really looking for a more of a custom job anyway," Goku admitted, reaching into his pocket. He released another large roll of weighted cloth onto the counter with a resounding crash. The large man looked at it in surprise.
"What is this?"
"Weighted cloth, heavier than lead. I want a vest, some wrist bands, and some ankle bands made to fit Naruto. He's probably not ready for the full routine, so please use only a thirty percent concentration of weighted to common fibers."
"Hm… I'm sorry, but I don't actually make the ninja combat uniforms we sell here," the man sighed. "We work through a… separate business," he muttered unhappily. "If she's willing, I can have one set done by closing. Is that acceptable?"
"Yes," Goku nodded. "That should be fine, thank you."
"Well then, the material's kind of silky, I guess," the man noted. "But silk's pretty expensive…"
"I don't know about that just yet," Goku hesitated. "I was actually hoping to work in a trade. We need about seven outfits for Naruto, but the excess material is more than enough to be a viable trade offer, I think. So, how much will you take for the roll?"
The man chuckled nervously. "Listen, I'm not really the person you should ask about cloth. That'd be the other side of the business, but since you're here… I'll pay for the weighted cloths, and let's say… ten thousand extra?"
Goku nodded, that should be sufficient for the rest of their little 'expedition'. "Ok, that sounds fair."
The man nodded, and grabbed the roll of cloth. With a grunt of effort, the man barely managed to lift the whole thing off the counter.
"Oi, Oushi-san… do you need some help?" asked Naruto nervously.
"No," grunted the man, I'm fine."
With one last heave, he placed the roll in a cart, behind his counter. Goku whistled, impressed.
"That must have taken a lot of strength… Oushi, was it?"
"Yeah, the man panted, grinning. He rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed, "I know it's all too appropriate a name but, what're you going to do, eh?"
Goku laughed, "Well, I'm Son Goku. It's been a pleasure to meet you, Oushi-san."
"Likewise," laughed Oushi, who extended his hand. Goku shook it, and treated the ox of a man to his patented 'son grin.'
"Say… where'd you get this stuff anyway?" asked the blacksmith, still panting from the effort.
"From my homeland, far away," Goku responded.
"Your homeland? Well, I don't look it, but I'm a bit of a scholarly man myself. Not to mention I have plenty of well traveled clients. I might have heard of your homeland."
"I… don't like to talk about it," Goku muttered, evading the question the best he could. "Listen, we have to go. Bye, Oushi-san."
Goku subtly herded Naruto out the door, hoping to leave before Oushi could ask any more dangerous questions.
Naruto waved and said, "Bye Oushi-san."
"Bye, Naruto."
As the door shut behind them, Oushi mused, Hmm… I wonder why he was so evasive? Well, I guess it's none of my business. Besides, anyone strong enough to just wave that cloth around like it was nothing has got to be Shinobi. Shinobi are just secretive like that I guess.
Oushi stared down at the roll of cart, settled into a small cart, and sighed.
I'm not looking forward to this part…
-0-0-0-0-
Naruto continued to pant heavily as he placed the bed down on the ground outside the Hokage's office, and collapsed. He couldn't believe how heavy a simple frame of wood and a mattress could be, especially after the first twenty or so blocks.
"Good job Naruto, you're even stronger than I thought," Goku grinned. "Keep this up, and you'll be the strongest Shinobi in your year."
"Really?" Naruto asked, excitement belayed only by exhaustion.
"Of course. Now then, you wait here and rest a little. I'm going to have a short conversation with the Hokage."
"No problem," Naruto muttered before falling silent. Goku gave the boy a little smile before walking into the tower. Inside, he was greeted by a receptionist.
"You're back again?" she asked politely. "Here to see Hokage-sama?"
Goku nodded in the affirmative, and she led him upstairs. She entered the office first, and then came back out moments later to give Goku permission to enter. Goku did so, thanking the receptionist before she left.
"Goku," the Hokage greeted. "How was your first day with Naruto?"
"Disturbing," Goku sighed, getting right to the point. "His strength worries me."
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes slightly, "What is it that worries you exactly?"
"Well Naruto is far stronger than any boy his age has any right to be. I performed a little test on my way here. While out shopping for supplies, we purchased some furniture. I sealed up most of it, but I had Naruto carry his bed here, under the guise of training. From what I had seen earlier, I wasn't surprised when Naruto was able to lift it, so I decided to jog for as long as it took for him to reach his limit. He made it the whole way, from the outskirts of town, carrying three hundred pounds over his head, at the age of eight years old," Goku noted.
Sarutobi had to work hard to contain his surprise. "The boy is that strong?"
"Stronger, I should think. I had to keep us at a slow enough pace to keep him from tripping over himself. Which is another problem, the boy has clearly gained most of this strength so quickly as to be unable to control it."
Sighing, Goku muttered, "There's only one way he could have this much power under these conditions."
Sarutobi nodded, waiting for Goku to continue.
"When a Saiyan fights, he always gets stronger, even when he looses. No, I should say especially when he looses. When a Saiyan is placed in a near death state, his power can nearly double." Narrowing his eyes upon the Sandaime with some anger, Goku said, "This is how I believe Naruto gained this power. So I will ask you only once. How and why was my son able to reach a state of near death several times simultaneously?" Goku couldn't help but growl out in anger.
-0-0-0-0-
It had taken all of Oushi's strength to roll the heavy cloth off his counter and into a cart, but that was where the real work began. Yet now with his labor was finished, he had managed to bring the material to its final home.
Now the real trial of his would commence.
Sighing, he looked to where he had arrived. The store was a large fashion boutique in a wealthy part of town. The pristine white walls and large windows showed a display of such fine clothing that only a noble woman could afford. Along side were many lesser yet still stunning pieces for the more common women of Konoha. Clearly, Oushi noted, the tactic was a success, or else the owner could not have kept the store open amidst the wealthiest district of Konoha, only meters down the road from the Hyuuga clan's compound.
Walking in, expending the last of the energy his muscles could afford for the moment to pull the heavy cart, Oushi was happy to note that there was not a soul in the store at the moment, save him. There were only minutes until closing, so perhaps that was to be expected.
"Uma! I've got a custom order for you, along with a surprise!" he called out to the empty shop.
It was a few moments before a woman casually walked out of the back room. She noted the rough figure of the poor blacksmith with a slight twitch of her lip, hiding a sneer.
She needn't have bothered, Oushi thought to himself. I know that sneer well enough already.
"Well if it isn't Konoha's finest blacksmith," she said boisterously, friendly as if he were a customer. "You say you have a custom order? From a Shinobi then, I presume?"
"Well, I believe the man who's paying for it must be a Shinobi, but I didn't see a hitai-ate. However, the order is for Naruto. You'll remember his measurements from last time, correct?"
"Naruto," she sighed. "The little whelp that was willing to take those disgusting orange cloths off my hands? You're still doing… business with the brat?"
"Of course, though he's paying in a very unusual way this time," he noted, indicating the little cart full of material. "He has a father now, a Shinobi from a faraway land. This cloth he has here is weighted cloth. He says it's heavier than lead, and I believe him," he said with a bellowing laugh.
"Interesting…" she said as she ran her hands over the silky cloth.
"They need seven sets of the following: a vest, two wristbands, and two ankle bands made from a combination of thirty percent this material, and seventy percent silk. I was sort of hoping you could make the first set within the hour…?"
"That's a tall order," she hissed at him. "No other seamstress could even lift this, nonetheless make cloths from it. Even you can't lift the whole roll, and you expect me to be done in an hour? It's very difficult work you know, very difficult."
"Well, if you can't do it…"
"I never said that," she shot back with a fox like grin. "Any other specifications?"
"Well both Naruto and the Shinobi seem to enjoy wearing orange," Oushi muttered, "so it better be orange then. Oh, and there was a rather simplistic pattern on the back of the man's gi, like this."
Oushi pulled a scrap of paper out of one of his pockets, and Uma rolled her eyes, handing him a pen. He quickly drew the symbol of the kame school on the crumpled up paper, and handed it to her.
"So I think you should probably put this on the vest. That's all I can think of really."
"Ok, now then, just hand me the cart."
"No," Oushi grinned, "I want to know what you'll pay me for the material first."
She sighed, "Alright, I figure there's enough there to make a couple hundred outfits, if I made them all out of pure weighted cloth. So I'll give you two hundred thousand for the lot of it, plus the outfits from this job."
"Three hundred," Oushi countered.
"For three hundred, I want the rights to sell shinobi outfits in my store back. Lord knows how many of my better pieces you have waiting for the rats in that hovel of yours to devour. You were doing poor enough before, but ever since you started letting that Naruto kid in-"
"Fine," Oushi snapped. "Three hundred and you can have the rights to sell to shinobi back. I'll have Tenten bring over your old work tomorrow, agreed?"
"Agreed," Uma nodded, taking the cart from Oushi, and pulling it casually behind her back. "So how is Tenten anyway? It's been a while since I saw the dear girl."
"She's been doing pretty well," Oushi replied, as he began to walk away.
"Think of her, Oushi, before you make rash decisions. If you continue letting Naruto shop at your store, you're going to loose it. Then how will you take care of her?"
"That's none of your concern," Oushi growled as he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
-0-0-0-0-
"So that's how it is…" Goku sighed.
"What I've just told you is one of the greatest secrets in all of Konoha. You can't tell anyone, not even Naruto. Do you understand?"
"Does he know?"
Sarutobi nodded. "As I said, he got himself hurt so badly so that I would have to tell him and I did, but you can't tell him you know, it's his place to tell you this, not mine."
"Still, I'm glad you did," Goku said with a nod. "I just wish there was something I could do."
"I know the feeling, but there is very little that can be done. Now then, there's another matter I wish to speak with you on. As I'm sure you noticed while out in the town today, people are going to be curious as to where you're from."
Goku nodded, "I've been vague so far, but I don't know how long I can keep it up."
"Yes," the Sandaime nodded. "Goku, you and Vegeta pose a very unique problem. I can't tell the village you're from a whole different universe, it might cause a panic. We're a people who strive for peace, but we're all too accustomed to war, and the idea of an enemy who can show up so unpredictably, while we could never strike back against them would make my village's peace of mind impossible."
"If it makes you feel any better, it's not actually that easy."
"I know," Sarutobi nodded. "However, that changes nothing. So I need a way to account for your sudden appearance. Here's what I have in mind. You're the sole survivors of the Saiyan clan, a powerful clan from a small country across the sea known as Na no Kuni, which was ravaged recently by a Biju. You have come to Konoha seeking to integrate what remains of your clan into our village."
Goku thought for a moment, and nodded. "That sounds mostly true anyway, so that should work."
"Good," Sarutobi smiled in is grandfatherly smile. "We'll discuss the details of your role in the village at a later date. However, there's one dilemma that must be attended to first. Neither of you are actually Shinobi and while you're strong, you lack some of our basic skills."
Goku nodded, "So what're we going to do about that?"
"Well we can't very well send you to the academy," Sarutobi chuckled. "I want you to tell Vegeta that I'll personally attend to your no doubt brief educational needs. I'll set some time aside tomorrow night to hammer in the basics, I don't think you'll need any more than that to prove your status as a shinobi."
"Thank you," Goku said, standing to take his leave.
"Oh, by the way Goku, Naruto's not the only one you'll need to keep an eye on. I already told Vegeta this, but Sasuke is of questionable stability right now. Sasuke is Vegeta's job, but it wouldn't hurt to have another pair of eyes on him."
"Ok, I think I understand," Goku replied.
They exchanged their goodbyes, and Goku left.
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A/N: Yes, I do know that Na no Kuni is a country in the filler. For those not in the know, it means "Land of Vegetables." Now how could I resist saying the Saiyans came from a land of Vegetables? Besides, filler isn't canon anyway.
More egregious a violation of canon is probably the fact that I made up an origin for Naruto's orange jumpsuit, even if I'm pretty sure he doesn't wear one when he's eight. About Oushi being nice to Naruto… no excuse there really, I'm just sort of going with it. By the way, Oushi is a word meaning 'bull' or 'ox.' Uma means 'horse.'