Chapter 2

(3K Words...)

The next morning Naruto woke up early feeling fresh as a daily, despite having been up late last night helping deal with a traitor and the shocking revelations that followed. He stood up and stretched out, working out some of the kinks he had gotten from the night before, and after that he started to get ready for the day, getting showered, getting dressed, eating his ramen, and then heading for the library.

As he walked down the street Naruto ignored the glares and mutterings sent his way. While they still kind of bothered him, he refused to let it get to him in any way. Now that he knew why he was hated, he was more determined to make them see that he wasn't some demon. That he was a proud shinobi of Konoha.

He would start by following his grandfather figures advice and start getting stronger and smarter. Hence the reason he was heading to the library to study. He didn't much like the idea of studying, but he had promised Sarutobi as a future Hokage so he had to go through with it. And if there was one thing Naruto would never do, it was go back on his word.

Who knows, maybe it would actually help.

Naruto entered the library and looked around, feeling his eyes widen at the sight before him. He had never been to the library before and was amazed at how large the place was. There were about four stories in the library altogether, and all along the walls and in isles going down the library were books, loads and loads of books.

It was giving him a headache just looking at them.

Just as Naruto was about to make his way towards the ninja section of the library, he was stopped by the custodian.

"I am going to have to ask you to leave Boy," the custodian, a woman who looked to be in her mid-fifties said, spitting out the word boy with venom.

Naruto's first desire was to jump at the woman and start yelling about how she couldn't kick him out. However, he had promised Ojisan that he would be an amazing ninja and ninja were mature and did not lose their emotions over something as simple as this. Instead, he merely looked at the woman calmly as he spoke. "Listen, lady, I happen to be a Shinobi of Konoha, and it's illegal to bar my entrance into the library." To emphasize his point Naruto pointed to his headband, making the woman pale a bit.

"Of course, if you feel this is still a problem I am sure that I could escort you to see Hokage-Sama and we can work it out with him." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, he had almost called the Hokage Ojisan, but that would not sound good if he called the Hokage that right now, after all, most people could never get away with calling the most powerful ninja in the village an old man.

The woman took a step back in shock for a second, unsure what to do in this situation. The boy had never actually come to the library before so this had not really been a pressing issue. However, like people who worked at other places she did not want the demon to be in her presence, or in the vicinity of stores of knowledge that could potentially help it shed its human flesh. She soon realized however, there was nothing she could do. It was well known that the Hokage was quite partial with the boy, and would favor him over her. Scowling she turned around and left but not before giving him some 'advice'. "Fine, you can stay, though I suggest you take care when reading child. Should any of these books be out of place or damaged in any way I'm holding you responsible."

Naruto snorted as the woman walked off. Seriously, did she think someone like her could scare the great Uzumaki Naruto with such a lame threat? Shaking his head now that the crisis was averted Naruto made his way to the shinobi section of the library. He put his hands in a ram seal and created five Kage bunshin's.

"Alright, I want you guys to grab some books and check them out, anything you can find on chakra, seals, taijutsu, and basic shinobi skills will be fine. Also, find a book on… politics, whatever that is, Jisan said it was important for a Hokage to know so I need to know it. Bring them back home and start reading them."

"Wait, what will you be doing?" asked one of the clones, angry that his creator was shoving off his reading on them.

"I'm going to go shopping," Naruto said. He hated that he was going to get new clothes, but again, he had promised Ojisan that he would get new clothes, and the man had made a point. After all, he wanted people to take him seriously, and if this would help then so be it. "After all if I want to be a good shinobi I have to look cool too."

Naruto sighed as he was kicked out of another store. Walking off Naruto tried to think of a way to get into a store. Unlike the library, which was owned by the government, Aka the Hokage, the stores were all civilian-owned, so they could kick him out if they did not want to do business with him. Which basically meant every store he had gone to had kicked him out, not wanting to sell anything to the Kyuubi brat.

Looking around the blond found a store that looked fairly nondescript, the only sign that told him it was for shinobi was the rather large kunai symbol above the door and the sign that read 'Higurashi Weapon Shop'. Deciding to give this place a try Naruto walked in.

Looking around the first thing Naruto noticed was that whoever owned this place had an obvious love for weapons. There were racks upon racks of weapons lining the entire shop. Swords, Staffs, Scythes it seemed that anything anyone could name was there. He had never seen so many different weapons in one place ever, and some of these weapons he had never seen at all. It was enough to make even someone like Naruto, who knew next to nothing about weapons, drool.

"Can I help you?"

Naruto stiffened and almost shouted as he spun around. Behind him was a young girl that was maybe a year older than him, wearing a Chinese style pink tank top, dark green cargo pants, and had her hair done up in two buns. To Naruto, they made her kind of look like a panda. Or a mouse. Naruto did his best not to snicker at the thought.

"Helloooo?" Naruto blinked as the girl waved a hand in front of his face.

"Um… what?" Naruto said, blushing in embarrassment as he took a step back and put a hand behind his head.

The girl just looked at him before she rolled her eyes at the kid's inattentiveness and shrugged. "I was asking if you needed help finding anything?"

"Erm…" Naruto blinked in surprise. "You work here?"

"That's right!" the girl said. "My name is Higurashi Tenten. My father owns this store so I come in and help when I'm not on missions."

"You're a ninja then?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Yep, I've been a ninja for about a year now," Tenten replied.

"That's awesome!" Naruto stated with a large grin. "I just graduated…" he blinked as he remembered why he was here. "You know you can help me, I was looking into getting some new clothes!"

"I can see why," Tenten said with an amused smirk. "Your clothes are hideous."

"Hey!" Naruto said, feeling the need to defend his clothes. "These clothes are warm and comfortable and-"

"Ugly," Tenten finished with a grin, "seriously who wears orange?"

"I like orange!" Naruto shouted indignantly. Seriously, what was it with people continuing to diss on the color orange? It was the best color in the world! "It's my favorite color!"

"Even so, it's not a very good color for a ninja," Tenten replied, finding the boys' defensiveness amusing. "Especially when it's so bright."

Naruto clenched his fists a bit as he resisted the urge to yell. Remember your promise to Ojisan. Naruto had to remind himself. You promised to act like a real shinobi, and real shinobi do not get upset over things like this. Damn him for making me promise this! He's so lucky I promised not to do any more pranks or I would be pranking his ass into next week! He took a deep breath before letting it out. Feeling a little more in control Naruto looked back at Tenten. "Look can you help me with my clothes or not?" Naruto asked when he felt he had calmed down sufficiently.

"Sure," Tenten replied, amused by Naruto's reaction. She took him over to the clothing section of the store. "So what are you looking for exactly?" she asked.

Naruto thought about what he wanted to look like. He needed something that made him look cool and added a mysterious persona to him. Something that screamed powerful and awesome! Something...

"You know… I'm not sure," he said sheepishly. "I've never really shopped for clothes before so…" He had actually tried clothes shopping once when he was six and had just gotten an apartment, however, the store owners had kicked him out before he could actually shop, that had actually been the same day he found his jumpsuits in the trash after the same store he tried to shop from had thrown them away.

"You're kidding right?" Tenten looked at him incredulously. When he shook his head she sighed. "Then it looks like we're just going to have to see what works." She pulled him over to the clothing section of the store, where she began grabbing different styles of clothes and then making him change into many styles she gave him, essentially turning him into a life-sized dress-up doll.

Eventually, she found a style that fits. Now Naruto was wearing dark black shinobi pants that tucked into a pair of black steel-toed combat boots instead of shinobi sandals. He had a black sleeveless Chinese style shirt like hers but with dark orange trim, she had tried to talk him out of wearing any orange but was unsuccessful in getting the blond to completely rid himself of his favorite color. At least there was less orange than before and it was in a darker tone than his jumpsuit had been. His hands were covered in fingerless gloves that had metal knuckles that he could channel chakra through to increase the damage done. His arms were also covered in black bandages up to his biceps. Over this Tenten threw on a black cloak that covered his form down to the ankles. Lastly, she changed the strap to his headband, giving it a long black fabric that went down to his knees.

"There, you look much better now," Tenten said, smiling at him. Indeed he did look much better, now that she was seeing him without all the orange he actually looked cute. "Now you like a real shinobi."

"You think so?" Naruto blushed as he scratched the back of his head.

"Of course! So will that be all?" Tenten asked.

"Yes I-" Naruto paused for a moment and his eyes glazed over as the memories of one of his clones hit him.

"Hello, anybody home?" Tenten asked at seeing the blond space out again. This kid is so weird.

"Actually I do need some more things," Naruto said, turning his attention back to Tenten who was looking at him with her head tilted. "First do you have any training weights I can buy?"

"Of course," Tenten said, leading Naruto over to one section of the store. She went up to a shelf and grabbed a box. "This has a two-pair set of training weights, one for the arms and one for the legs. To change their weight you just channel chakra into them and to release the weights you just hold your hand in the release seal and say 'kai'."

Naruto nodded at the explanation as he grabbed the box in her hand. "Next up I need a standard set of kunai, shuriken, explosive notes, smoke bombs, and ninja wire, flash tags, a sealing scroll to put it all in, and…" Naruto closed his eyes as the information of another clone hit him, this was going to take some getting used to. "And a Bo staff."

"A bo staff huh? Well, you're in luck because we have all of those things." Tenten said, once more leading him around the store. "Now then what kind of staff are you looking for?" she asked as she grabbed some of the other equipment he had asked for.

Naruto blinked as he went through the information of his clone. "It needs to be made of a light material, but has heavier ends for added force, if I can get something that has studs or some kind of protrusions to do more damage than would be awesome too. And I want to be able to channel chakra through it."

"Wow, that's quite a detailed item you want."

"GAH/KYA!"

Both Naruto and Tenten yelled as they spun around.

Naruto found himself staring at a bull of a man. Large and built like a brick shit house. The man had muscles on every part of his body that Naruto could see; he even had muscles on his muscles! He had brown hair and brown eyes much like Tenten. He was wearing an off-white shirt, brown pants, and a pair of brown boots.

"Damn it Tou-san!" Tenten shouted as she clutched a hand to her chest. "How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me? And especially when I'm with a customer!"

Tenten's dad merely laughed, "Ah take it easy Tenten. Besides aren't you ninja supposed to be more aware of your surroundings?"

"Do you want to be used as target practice again?" Tenten asked with a maniacal gleam in her eyes and had one of her hands inside her kunai pouch.

Her dad merely sweat dropped before he coughed and turned his attention to Naruto. "So I heard what you want. That's a pretty descriptive weapon. Your fortunate that I have just the thing!"

Naruto watched with a mixture of shock and weariness as the man led him and Tenten to the back room, which turned out to be a forge. Getting a ladder the large man positioned it above a shelf and climbed up. Not finding what he was looking for, he got off and repeated this process several more times.

"I know I put it somewhere… but where- Ah hah! Here we are!" the man said as he came back down the ladder with a large object that was wrapped in cloth. "This was actually custom made for someone else, but well, he had died before I could give it to him. Since it's just been collecting dust over the years, I figured I may as well get rid of it."

Naruto and Tenten followed the large man back to the front where he rang Naruto up.

"Now all that stuff you got there will come to around 10,000 yen," Tenten's dad said.

Naruto cringed a bit but got out the necessary money, it would put him back by a lot, especially since he would no longer be able to gain a stipend from the Hokage since he was a ninja. That meant he would have to find some other way to get food, so he could use the money he had left to pay for utilities.

"Um… I think you missed the staff sir," Naruto said as he realized that the staff should be a lot more expensive than all of his other stuff combined.

"Nah, it's good," the man gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "You can have it to commemorate your first time shopping here."

Tenten gasped, her father had never given anything away, ever. Yet he had just given what Tenten could tell was one of her father's finest pieces of work, and to someone, he just met!

Naruto was even more shocked, this man had to know about his status as the Kyuubi container, there was no possible explanation for him not to know. Ojisan had told him that everyone who was old enough to remember that night knew of his status. Yet here he was giving him something that looked like it had taken more time and effort to make than all the time and effort that Naruto had put into all of his pranks combined.

"Why?" Naruto asked in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. "You know who I am…" both Tenten and her dad saw Naruto's hand unconsciously go to his stomach, one looked at him with understanding while the other was just confused.

"Because I'm not like most of the fools in this village kid," the brown-haired man smirked at the blond. "Besides it's not like I'm giving this away for free!" Naruto looked up at him. "I expect you to come here for all your shinobi needs!"

Naruto looked at the man with shock; he realized that this man was also someone he could count on to see him for who he was and not what he held. He gave the two there one of his most brilliant smiles. "Thanks, mister…"

"Kaito," the man replied.

"Thanks, Kaito-san," Naruto bowed before grabbing his equipment and running off with a grin. "I'll make sure this staff becomes famous when I'm Hokage!" he yelled out as he left.

Tenten looked over at her father in undisguised curiosity. "What was that about?" she asked.

"Nothing that concerns you for now Tenten," Kaito replied as he looked at where the blond left.

Minato, Kushina, I hope that this will help your legacy grow; it's all I can do for him…