"What- what was that?" Naruko asked bewildered.
"You will be shopping at my store now, Naruko. they wouldn't dream of mistreating you like the others do." Sakura lead her to a store that was in an alleyway corner, Naruko's interest was piqued when the door opened and the heady scent of incense wafted out. She entered the place behind sakura, there was a heavy dim lighting, all the windows were covered in orange blankets and the lamps had colorful glas covering them so the walls flashed with muted color. the air was heavy with e=the smell of incense and oil.
"Welcome miss Haruno." A heavily lilted voice purred from a corner. there was a dark skinned delicate woman behind the counter, her dark shining hair was braided and strung with beads throughout, her dark amber eyes glittered welcomingly, Naruko immediately felt herself relax. the woman, was a gypsey.
"Oh, who is this? you bring me a new customer?" she asked smiling, showing that her canines were capped in gold.
"Yeah, Miku this is my friend Naruko. the other shop keepers are cruel to her, and i don't know why, but I figure you won't be that way, and you have much better quality clothing anyway" Sakura smiled, and wandered off into the hazy store. Naruko looked back at the gypsey Miku.
"Miss, just out of curiosity, why do you stay in konoha? most Gypsies are traveling merchants...:"
"Oh, that." she drawled, "a group of bandits over took my caravan and killed most of us, I was able to escape though, I remembered traveling to konoha in the summer festival to sell wares, and out of the other villages that I have visited Konoha was the most hospitable to us, I feel safe here." Miku replied. Naruko smiled, she was glad that Miku had found somewhere she felt safe.
but, she reflected, Isn't it sad, that a non native, a gypsy who's generally looked down upon by general populace feels safe in this village, while I, a native, feels the need to look over my shoulder when simply walking home?
Naruko did like the clothing. she picked a sleeveless red shirt with a funnel like collar and a black scarf, she would be able then to cover her face and head for covert missions. she got a pair of long black pants with two pairs of chains attached to them. Sakura didn't understand why she chose something with chains. she also grabbed a pair of heavy boots that had metal over the ends up to where the laces were. looking at it, the metal seemed to end at the rubber sole, but the metal actually expended under the foot, and it was chakra conducting metal that would bend under the padding in the shoe, conforming to the shape of the wearer's foot.
"This is a nice outfit you have picked out. you are a stealth ninja?" Miku asked
"Not yet, I haven't quite yet been classed, but I want to be an Assassin, i think my chakra type would be good for it, I have sensory chakra, and a very large amount of it." SHe smiled, "I think I could be good at stealth.
"I see. I do believe I've heard of you, Naruko Uzumaki." Miku smiled as she rang up the clothing, "Orphaned, and beaten into submission by the village, said to be a failure and a dunderhead,as well as a demon. you don't have to conform to what people say, and it doesn't sound like you are. you are changing how others perceive you. I like that." she smiled and put Naruko's clothing in the bag, "your total is 310 yen.(roughly 25 usd)"
"What? come on it's gotta be more than that?" Naruko's eyes widened,
"You have a new customer discount, and when you want to get another set since I'm assuming this is going to be your ninja uniform, you will have half off if you get this same set of clothing, oh- and also this," she grabbed the shirt and pulled out a seal from under her drawer and put it on the back of the shirt, and released it. the seal paper burned away and the Uzumaki spiral appeared on the back of the shirt in black.
"Any other clan symbols?" Miku asked. Naruko's eyes were wide,
"Thats super-cool."
"Thank you." Miku smiled, "I invented them my self."
"Whoa, your a ninja?" Naruko asked, a grin spreading on her face.
"Not really, just a fujitsuist. definitely not a master, but I use seals for my wares. I can use it to put the symbols on my cloths, so that anyone from any clan can buy any clothes they want and then get their family crest on it."
"Awesome, can you put the crest on the side of each boot and ten on the left hip of the pants?"
"Sure thing, Naruko." Miku smiled and did just that. "A Lot of people like having the Uzumaki swirl on their clothing, actually, especially the older ninja who know the story of Uzushiogakure."
"I can imagine." Naruko smiled sadly at the mention of her mother;s home. "Can you put a crest on weapons?"
"Of course." Miku nodded, Naruko looked around to see sakura looking at medical ninja garb, and Naruko unsheathed her sword, and pointed to the base of the blade,
"The Uchiha Symbol."
"Hm? Are you betrothed to an Uchiha?" Miku asked.
"No, but I'm allied with… them." Naruko said softly. Miku frowned, as far as she knew there was only one in the village… but she had learned that she shouldnt ask too many questions of her ninja patrons. she just shrugged and placed an uchiha crest on the base of the blade. it was very small, nearly imperceptible. but Naruko smiled at it, the small fan looked like it had been expertly etched into the metal.
"Thank you" Naruko smiled, sheathing Mohotsubasa.
"There's no need to thank, just doing my job" Miku replied. Naruko and Sakura made their purchases and left.
"Miku is pretty cool, right?" Sakura laughed as she she brought her cloths up, "I think I need to do a change in wardrobe too, Naruko, do you think I could do the same as you?"
"Yeah, you could learn to conceal your chakra signature." Naruko smiled,
"Great!" Sakura laughed, the clothed she had picked was a short sleeved long dark red shirt and spandex shorts and some chakra conducting shoes that would cancel out the noise of her walking, the shirt had a hood so she could cover her blindingly pink hair. Miku put the haruno crest on the back of the shirt, and gave Sakura a pair of white wrist warmers as a bonus. Sakura thanked her, and they walked out,
"Come on Naru let's go to my house!" Sakura smiled, "We can get ready and try on our new uniforms there!" Naruko nodded and went behind Sakura walking to the home.