Naruto : Chapter 26

Next time he would be ready for something like this.

Probably realizing that he needed more variety in his equipment was also part of the exercise. It would be typical for Kakashi. Let his team make mistakes to avoid them in the future. He needed to look up better storage options. Just two pouches wouldn't do at all.

...

Sakura was in a pinch. She wanted to catch some small animals, but they all noticed her before she could get close enough to hit them with a shuriken or kunai. Building traps had never been her forte and would take too much time. It was also too unsure to catch something in an hour.

She didn't want to be embarrassed in front of Sasuke again. That had happened too often over the week. What other possibilities were there to get food if she couldn't catch animals? Edible plants, fruits, nuts, perhaps she could find some eggs.

She knew the river was too far away to get there in time to catch fish. So she resigned herself to collecting as much as she could. Thankfully it was a good time for nuts and berries. Living in the land of fire had the advantage that they never really got winter. It was always mild, so the plants had two phases of bearing fruits.

She found that transporting the things she wanted would mean carrying them with the front of her skirt pulled up, but as she had short leggings under it, it wouldn't matter that much.

...

Once the hour was up Kakashi reappeared in the meeting place. His students were already assembled there. Naruto was busy unsealing his spoils. He presented them with three rabbits, two pheasants, one chicken, obviously it had been lost in the forest, a box of berries, a box of nuts, a crate of apples, a box of mushrooms and a wolf.

"What is the meaning of the wolf, Naruto?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"The wolf thought I would be easy prey, I taught him better. As I already killed it, I decided I would keep it for the fur. The merchant caravan pays good prizes for fur in a good condition.

I regularly sell them the fur I get from the animals I catch. Mostly it's deer or rabbit though. After all those are the animals I hunt mostly for my meals." Naruto explained.

"Why wouldn't you just buy the meat in a shop?" Sakura asked stupidly.

"I won't give the shop owners any money that I don't need to give them." Naruto answered coldly.

Sasuke put that information away as another part of the puzzle that was Naruto Uzumaki. He presented his collection. The six fishes, the nuts from his pouch, a hand-kerchief with berries and some leaves from a form of wild salad.

Then it was Sakura's turn. She let the contents of her dress roll to the ground. There was an assortment of nuts, berries, some mushrooms, three eggs, a few plums and three apples.

"Okay, the good news is, none of you will have to go hungry. The bad news is that you still need to cook your meals." Kakashi announced.

"But before we start doing that, I would like to ask about your impressions of the task."

"While catching the fish by building a small dam to intercept them in the river was easy, I found that transporting smaller things like the berries and the nuts was complicated due to limited space.

If I had to do a task like this on a mission for the whole team, the only thing I could easily provide would be the fish as I can just tie it to a stick with wire, which makes for easy transport." Sasuke said.

Kakashi nodded. He had observed each student either himself or with a shadow clone. Sasuke's method of organizing food was solid, but could need some improvements.

He would have a lesson about sealing scrolls next. Nothing better than addressing problems after the genin had spotted them themselves.

"Catching animals isn't easy. They have fine senses and with a time restriction building traps isn't that useful. As Sasuke said, transport is also an issue if you are not prepared for a task like this." Sakura said.

At least she hadn't totally failed the exercise. Kakashi had told them if they couldn't catch anything, they would have to collect food. And with the eggs she at least got some proteins.

"Correct, that means we will have to work on your stealth. Naruto, as you obviously were the one best prepared for this task, please tell your team-mates how you solved the task." Kakashi said.

"As I said, I have experience with hunting, so I know how to read animal tracks. I quickly found a clearing where the rabbits were grazing. I got close by sneaking up from above.

I killed them with a senbon to the forehead. That damages the fur least if you don't have the time to use slings. Pheasants are pretty stupid, even if they are shy.

A bit of corn in a place I could see in well, a bit of patience and again, senbon to the brain killed them good. The chicken was a coincidence. It just crossed my way and I used the same method like with the pheasants.

I sealed the animals in sealing scrolls and took to collecting berries in a box, nuts in another, the same for the mushrooms and as the apples were too big, I needed a crate. I have different containers in a sealing scroll which I always carry with me in case I need to transport something." Naruto explained.

Kakashi nodded. That was a good summary how a ninja prepared for any mission.

"Where can I buy some sealing scrolls?" Sasuke asked. "I wouldn't be able to make them myself, so buying is my only option." He said.

"I recommend Jakonato's shop for shinobi equipment." Kakashi said. "Genzo Jakonato is a retired shinobi and knows the needs of a ninja well. His goods are high quality and reasonably priced."

Sasuke nodded, swearing next time he would be better prepared.

"But isn't Jakonato's more expensive than other, civilian shops?" Sakura asked. Her uncle had a shop that sold ninja gear after all.

"No, the problem with civilian suppliers is that in ninety five of all cases the equipment they sell is of low quality as they don't know how trying our job is on our clothes and weapons.

You need a special mix of metal to get good kunai or shuriken that don't chip on their first use. It's even more important with swords and the like.

While you were at the academy there was nothing wrong buying your supplies there as they were cheaper, but on real missions quality equipment can save your life. What would happen after all if an exploding tag doesn't work properly? Either you miss your target or worst get killed.

That's the reason Hokage Sama has fuinjutsu experts supplying the shops run by former shinobis with good seals." Kakashi explained.

Sasuke nodded, making a note to visit Jakonato's in the near future. Sakura frowned. She hadn't thought that there would be such differences between a civilian shop and a shinobi shop. Naruto kept quiet; after all, he was the one that made the seals for the shinobi shops now.

"I haven't heard a lot about fuinjutsu at the academy. If seals are so useful, why don't they teach them at the academy?" Sakura asked.

"It's a difficult art to learn, which takes precision and a lot of study. True masters are really rare. Konoha has one acknowledged seal master at the moment, Jiraiya of the sannin.

The other seal master we had was the Yondaime Hokage. There are perhaps six seal experts in the village. I am one of them as I learned a lot about them from my sensei." Kakashi informed them.

"Who was your sensei, Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage." Kakashi answered.

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