Bloodline

chapter 07

isdh

The cheery blond was all but bouncing around as he showed his new friend about the town. Twenty minutes after leaving the Hospital they arrived at the hotel where Gaara's brother and sister were staying. When they came down, they frowned at the Blond.

"What is he doing here?" the puppet user asked.

"He will be showing us around the village." Gaara spoke quietly. "Baki is being questioned about the planned invasion. As far as we are concerned, it is called off, seeing as that it was not Father who ordered the attack. They think it was someone they are calling Orochimaru."

"Of the Sanin?" the wind user asked. "Okay who are you and what did you do to our Gaara?"

"Shut up, or I will kill you." Gaara snapped, then smiled, "Is it not a wonder what you can do when you get a full nights sleep? I feel fully rested."

The older two of the Sand Children twitched and moved away from their creepy little brother.

"I thought we would start with a quick bite of Ramen, then we could wonder the Markets, I need to stop off at my preferred weapons shop and turn in this thing." Naruto held up his new sound gauntlet.

"Hey, Isn't that the..." the pajama wearing, kitty eared male paled as the everyone looked at the metal tube in the blond's hand.

"Yeah...It probably be best not to think about that too much. The official version is that it was a gift from the oto nin sometime last night." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, Ramen awaits!"

'Oy! Old man, New Converts for ya!" Naruto hopped onto his stool as the Suna team looked about the small hole in the wall eatery. "I think I will start with four beef please." turning to the redhead next to him, "What do you want?"

Gaara looked the listings over, "I think I will have the miso, please."

Temari had the tofu and Kankuro had a pork

Not bad for midmorning snack.

As the four young ninja wondered through the village, Temrai and Kankuro noticed the hostile glares the citizens would throw their way as they walk along the street. But they also noticed that the glares were not directed at them, but at their guide who was ignoring them.

"Oi, Baka," Kankuro interrupted Naruto as he was sprouting off about some random fact on some random feature of the village. "Why do the villagers seem to hate you?"

Naruto stopped and looked around as the villagers kept on doing as they were doing, ignoring the kid as long as he was not in their way, frowning or glaring at him if and when their eyes drew across him. "Oh, That. Mostly the same reason you two are always keeping an eye on where Gaara is at all times." Naruto rubbed his belly, "While I am not as dark and destructive as Gaara is/was, I do not think Gaara is feared for destroying half of the village."

"Not half of the village, no. But since the age of 5, I was killing assassins and verses ninja or villager about once a week. Our Father feared me, as I had ripped my way out of my mother, killing her in the process. Since the age of three, I have had troubling sleeping, Mine kept muttering in my head. A poor seal and the act of being sealed before birth caused us great discomfort. Last night was the first real sleep either of us had in the last thirteen years."

Naruto bumped the door to his favorite weapons shop open with his hip as he was telling of how he once faced off with Zabuza, the demon of the mist.

Seeing that the counter was not manned by the old retired ninja that owned the place but rather by girl a few years older then him, he broke off the telling of his story. A girl that he saw just the other day...

"You! What do you want?" the Bun haired Weapon Mistress seethed at the blond Suna.

"Just Following him." Temari pointed at Naruto.

"Hey Panda-Chan, is the Old man in? I have a new toy he might be interested in. Also thought we would poke about the oddities." Naruto toss the 'sound arm' gauntlet on the counter as he ducked into the back racks of the shop. The three Suna ninja followed him.

Almost immediately, Temari spotted two small iron/chakra metal war fans. Eighteen inch fins that with a flick of the wrist snapped into a crescent blade. They were wicked, sharp, and light. She smiled, she found her latest toy.

Gaara found a pair of gauntlets that were little more then sealing pouches, but when he inspected them with his sand, he found that they combined, held more then his gourd. Just what he needed, more sand carriers... 'And a bottle of Toad Sake, and our life is good. This time, next year, and you will need to include a female...'

Gaara grabbed his head. At least the voice was no longer crying out for blood...now it was just sake and women!

Naruto found a pair of tantos, that slid into different ends of the same sheath. In truth he had been looking at these two knives for some time, just did not have the ryo to cover the cost. But with everything going his way, he thought he could get them now.

But it was Kankuro that found a real treasure. A top. A Suna Top. A battle top, crafted by master puppeteers during the second war. Where a puppet just danced at the end of its strings, the tops were spinning death as they swept through the enemy lines. He gingerly picked it up. He ran his fingers over it. Trailing his senses and chakra strings over the polished wooden hull, a number of blades snicked out, as the he felt the the inner gyros engage. Had it been on the floor, it would have torn off and attacked anything in its path. Dropping the chakra strings, he watched as the blades retracted.

As the four genin headed towards the counter with their treasures, Naruto was looking at what his new 'friends' had found. He raised an eyebrow at the war fans in Temari's hands. The gauntlets in Gaara's drew a nod, hey they looked cool. But the top got a frown.

As the four genin arrived at the counter, the Shop owner ducked out of the back room. He noticed the looks Tenten was giving Temari. "Whats up?"

"That one was the one who beat me yesterday." Tenten hissed.

The old ninja looked over the three from Suna. "A wind user, a puppeteer, and the red head, I do not recognize his style. I told you, there were flaws in your style. Let me guess, she blew your weapons aside as you threw them at her." He chuckled at her frown and wince. "To master a weapon, you must first set the others aside. You can not Master all weapons at once. Pick one, Master it, and then move on to the next weapon."

Turning to his customers, "Now lets see what you got, Two chakra War fans, Gauntlets of holding, a Suna Battle Top, and twin tantos. Is this going to be together or separate?"

"I also brought that thing for you to poke at." Naruto pointed at the sound arm.

"Sweet." he picked up the gauntlet, "Any idea what it does?"

"Sound waves. A single punch stopped Choji's meat tank, and when he swiped at another and missed, he still cracked the guys glasses." Naruto pipped up. "Judging from the looks you gave everyone, Kaze-chan just took her wind jutsu to the next level, Gaara got some cool gloves, but Dolly-kun's confuses me."

Gaara cocked an eyebrow, as his siblings frowned at their new nicknames.

"The hand fans will act like smaller versions of that monster on her back, but with the proper application of wind chakra, she will be able to slice and dice her foes. The Gauntlets your red headed friend has can hold almost as much as that gourd on his back." the old ninja grinned as he leaned on the counter. "Judging from his nickname, you know what it is he is carrying on his back. A sub-clan of Suna, during the second war, started using tops, instead of humanoid Puppets. Nasty little things. Twice the range and speed of a puppet, limited only by its size and the craft-master's skill and imagination. Got that little guy from the grand daughter of one of our veterans. Got a good deal on it, but never could get it to work. Guess my chakra control skills are too limited."

Welcome young Kunoichi, if this scroll was lifted from the box, it means you

have the gift to wield the female half of our family Jutsu.

While these arts are similar to the wood-style, keep in mind they are completely

different. In terms of power, they are using rope, where we use thread. With enough chakra.

They can raise entire Forests, where we can only do a family size hedge maze.

Our Art is divided into five sub-classes;

Lotus; Water and Healing

Lilly; Poison and Pigmentation

Rose; Combat and Capture

Ivy; Containment and Endurance

Poppy; Medicine and Sleep

Just because you can use on, does not mean you are denied the others, or that you can use them too.

Each to their own skills and blooms.

Ino snorted, and skipped down to the listing of the Jutsu. Under Rose, she found three that she wanted to try out right away. Setting the scroll on the bed, she stood up, stretched. Took a deep breath, and threw the five hand signs, "Toge Barikedo[ thorn barricade]"

Inoichi returned home from his duties to the village, minor as they were at the moment. He wanted to take the time he had to hold his wife, seeing that over the next three weeks he was looking at long hours and short nights. He found his wife sitting at the table, the dishes from breakfast still in place.

"Flower of my life," He crooned, as he sat across from her. "Are you okay, my sweet?"

"I tested Ino today. To see if she was of the Clan." she looked into his eyes, and he saw the unshed tears. But were they of joy? "She tested of the Rose. The full Rose. I was just a primrose, and my mother was only a Lotus."

"Is that pride or jealousy I am hearing?" Inoichi asked.

His wife sniffled. "A bit of both. Our little girl is so strong...I feel that we are losing her."

"Toge Barikedo[ thorn barricade]"

Both parents eyes widened, then grinned. Their baby girl just proved that she still needed them. She did something foolhardy.

He smiled, "Do you want to yell at her while I get the hedge clippers? Or should I do the yelling?"

As Naruto was leading the three Suna ninja out to an unused training area, a square rock was tracking him.

"Where are you taking us now?" Kankuro asked, a slight whine to his voice. He wanted to try out his new toy.

Naruto grinned at him. "I do not know about you, but when I get a new toy, weapon, or jutsu, I like to go try it out, try to master the basics of it. I am taking you guys to an unused training area, that has a sand pit and an old shed that you can use to target your top."

"Why a sand pit?" Neko hooded boy asked.

"Gaara might want to load up on his sand, unless he is just going to empty out his gourd..." Naruto looked at the red head, who shook his head. "Besides we only have a couple of hours, before I have to be back for lunch." Naruto shook his head, as he pulled a kunai and threw it at the square rock.

Three raised eyebrows, became six as the rock exploded in a bloom of colored smoke. "I told you the Boss was watching." A high pitched voice declared.

"Okay, so we totally need to improve our stealth skills. How do we do that?" snorted another kid.

"Are we done here?" a bossy toned girl asked, as the smoke cleared.

"Who are these kids?" Kankuro asked as he made a fist. He so want to pop the kids, recognizing them from when they first came to town.

"They are the grandchildren of the Hokage and his team." Naruto sighed. "I give you my rival for the title of Hokage, Konohamaru and his team; Moegi and Udon." looking the young Sarutobi in the eye, "No special jutsus today."

"Okay, but you owe us a cool jutsu later." the goggled cadet put his fists on his hips.

"Deal." Naruto stood tall. "Now go find Tora. If you can find him, hide him. It will annoy the genin that are hunting him."

"Okay Boss" and the three cadets charged off into town.

"So the kids play with you?" Gaara asked.

"Not really, just Konohamaru. As the Hokage's grandson he is given some leeway, and he talks the other two into tagging along. They are the only ones that do not run screaming from me. Of course they do not know why I am treated this way, but they just figure it is between the adults and me, and leave it at that. Besides, I showed Konohamaru my 'sexy jutsu', a real Hokage killer, old-man's words, not mine, and he has taken it to the next level."

"Sexy Jutsu?" growled Temari.

"Only to be used against Perverts and over stuffy elders." Naruto explained. "It was the first real jutsu he got down. But seeing as you were with us, It was inappropriate for us to duel today."

She snorted, and snapped her hand fan.