Trickshot

Chapter 3

-Tsume-

"Duuuuuude!" Kiba whispered to Naruto eagerly under his breath as the trio entered the Shinobi focused shop. It had taken a few months for the two to both complete her requirements, but they'd accomplished it and now she was owning up to her part of the deal.

"I know!" Naruto was just as giddy, the two taking off to look at what the store had on offer while she stood by the door; watching her idiots in fond bemusement.

"Sup Higurashi." Tsume grinned to the store owner behind the counter.

"Hello Tsume." The tired looking retired Chuunin nodded, "The brats yours?"

"Damn straight they're mine." Tsume grinned wider at that, flashing her canine teeth at the man, "I promised the kids if they hit a threshold in their training, then I'd get them some proper gear. That won't be a problem, right?" the last part was said with just the hint of a growl to make it clear how displeased she'd be if he caused trouble for her blond dumbass.

"Relax, I know the difference between scroll and Kunai." Higurashi waved off her threat, using the expression that those in the know about the Kyuubi had taken to stating they didn't blame Naruto for it. "Any idea what they'll want?"

"Honestly, not a clue!" Tsume laughed, "I'm eager to see what my idiots'll pick though."

"Well, Uzumaki seems to be gravitating towards the swords." Higurashi snorted amused "Not a real surprise there, is it?"

"Not really, no." Tsume smiled in fond amusement at the kid she'd all but taken in at this point. A quick glance through the area let her see, much to her own surprise, that her son wasn't looking at weapons. Instead, he was looking at defensive gear.

"Not trying to get something to make things more deader?" Tsume leaned on her son's head as she approached, her grin playful as she looked at the jacket he'd been considering.

"I've been working on my Taijutsu more." Kiba admitted, "But Naruto and I were talking. He's worried about me getting hurt on a mission given I focus more on offense than anything else." She'd have to thank that boy later for helping her son think like this. The two were good influences on each other, the brothers each one needed in their lives.

"It feels thicker than it looks." Tsume noted as she pinched the material of the long jacket, the collar lined with fur.

"The tag said it was lightly armor padded." Kiba nodded, "I…well I kinda hoped Naruto could add more seals to it to make it even better."

"Oh?" she was curious at that.

"I saw him do those resistance seal thingies on his training bow and wondered if he could do some other seals on my coat to help training." Kiba grinned, "Plus ones to make it more durable and defensive…and keep me from overheating if I wear it in the summer."

"I see you're thinking ahead." Tsume's proud grin was genuine as she saw how the two boys were helping each other. Each one had the utmost confidence in the other, saw the best in the other's skills and encouraged that. If Hana wasn't so much older, she'd be tempted to try and set the girl and Naruto up together. Glancing over, she noted that Naruto had seemed to decide on a Katana, one she noted didn't have any sort of seals already put onto it. She guessed he planned to do that himself.

"You boys ready?" she grinned as Naruto and Kiba walked up to the counter, putting their choices on the counter for Higurashi to ring up.

"Yep!" Naruto was practically grinning as she saw his hands twitching, miming writing in the air as the kid was probably already planning out what sort of seals and seal arrays to put onto these things. She couldn't wait to see the result.

-Sasuke-

Sitting in his classroom, Sasuke's eyes flit about from person to person as he waited for the one, technically two, he needed to speak with. This year at the academy had been so far from the ones before it that it almost felt like his education had been started over from the beginning instead of the continuation this final year was meant to be.

And it all went back to one person. Someone he barely even knew existed before the school year started.

Naruto Uzumaki.

The histories he knew were wrong.

The teachers he'd trusted were corrupt.

And those he'd passed off as weak, as unimportant, were rapidly growing stronger.

Seeing those he needed to speak to finally arrive, Sasuke grit his teeth and approached the duo of Kiba Inuzaka and Naruto Uzumaki. The two had been wearing new gear in recent weeks with the blond Uzumaki always scratching out ideas in a journal so he knew that Uzumaki could help him.

"Uzumaki." Sasuke forced himself to stay polite, knowing these two weren't nearly as weak as he'd thought before, not after seeing how fast they'd grown when the teachers were forced to actually teach.

"Need something Ducky?" the blond tilted his head, still using that nickname he'd saddled Sasuke with day one.

"I…wanted to ask for a weapon." He admitted, hating how weak he felt asking others for help, "A sealed weapon. I need to get stronger."

"Not just gonna ask the teachers?" Inuzaka raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. The dog boy had mellowed out since Uzumaki showed up on the scene but still had pride to rival Sasuke's own.

"Those fools?" Sasuke didn't bother to hide his derision as he scoffed, "Now that I've seen how much they failed before? How they're having to be forced to actually do the responsibility they'd accepted at the academy? I wouldn't trust them to teach a toddler to tie their shoes unsupervised."

"Fair." Inuzaka seemed pleased by that statement.

"I'll…offer compensation." Sasuke did his best to negotiate, not used to people not just giving him what he wanted. This was too important to let his pride hinder him though. The new history lessons had made it clear just how effective Uzumaki seals were and if his classmate was even half as skilled as the examples he'd read about, then he needed this.

"I can think on ideas." Uzumaki nodded, pencil spinning rapidly between his fingers as the blond let his mind race, "Yeah, yeah, I think I have something good. Something that would only be able to be used to it's full potential by an Uchiha with their Sharingan. I just need to know a few things about how it functions to know if my idea is even possible. If it is, and if I make this weapon for you, then I want to be able to choose some Jutsu from the Uchiha library." That was expected admittedly. The Uchiha Jutsu library was the largest in Konoha given how many abilities and techniques his clan had copied and recorded over the years.

"I…don't have mine active yet." Sasuke admitted with a scowl. There was a chance that Uzumaki's question could be answered just from records but also a chance it couldn't.

"We could always ask that scarecrow looking mother fucker." Inuzaka pipped in as Sasuke and the blond Uzumaki looked at the dog boy in confusion. "What? You two hadn't heard about him?" the feral Taijutsu user looked surprised "Mom mentioned him a few times. Apparently, he used to be the student of the fourth Hokage. During the last war he was on a mission and lost his eye. His teammate was injured and dying and had their third partner transplant one of his Sharingan into the half blinded one. The guy's still active in the Corp and has apparently copied over a thousand Jutsu with it."

"I could ask Jiji if he could arrange a test." Naruto grinned, "Should only take a few minutes so I can't see it being an issue. If this works though then you'll have swords that'll be perfect for you." Uzumaki's grin was wild, full of energy and excitement at the chance to create. Sasuke couldn't deny he was eager to see what the blond would be able to create.

-Tenten-

"Dad! I'm home!" Tenten called out to her father as she entered the family shop, 'Higurashi weapons'.

"Hey sweetie." Her dad gave her a smile, his expression looking as eternally tired as she always saw it, "How was training today?"

"Exhausting." Tenten groaned as she flopped onto the counter, "Gai sensei is as brutal a taskmaster as ever. Even if he's only all that good at Taijutsu and regular physical training. I've been having to handle all my weapon training by myself. Not to mention I've never seen that man even try to perform any Ninjutsu, let alone Genjutsu."

"Yeah, Gai was never the best at those." Her dad gave a rueful chuckle, "I could ask around if you really want to learn more about those. Try to find someone to give some training?"

"I'm good for now dad." Tenten stretched, cracking her back with a content sigh, "I'll just stick to what I'm doing at the moment for now. Still, I don't get why Gai sensei seems to…weird about training. He wasn't at first but after a couple weeks he became a real slave driver." Not noticing her dad's conflicted grimace at that, Tenten ran a hand down her face, "Anyway, I'm gonna go sharpen my kunai before dinner. Love you!"

"Love you too." The tired man's voice perked up a bit at that as Tenten grinned at her dad. She was determined to make him proud.