Chapter XII: Chakra Nature

Naruto let out a yawn as he sat in Shiho's house at her kitchen table. It had been a few days since he had returned from his very long excursion on dual missions; his original C-rank mission and Team 10's A-ranked reinforcement mission for Team 7. Asuma had told everyone that after the compounding missions had been completed, they all got a week off from doing anything, and Naruto decided to spend a few of his days doing nothing to keep from burning out.

So he decided to hang out with his bookworm friend and see what she had been up to while he had been gone. He had given her the play-by-play of both missions and saw her face light up in excitement when he told her how well things had turned out, however he saw her frown visibly when he got to the part about Zabuza and Haku.

"I'm glad that worked out for you Uzumaki-kun." Shiho said, taking a seat at the same table with tea she had prepared for both of them, "But the next time, don't ever do that again." She noticed him look down, "I know that you just wanted to save someone that you thought was your friend, but when your 'friend' is supposed to be your enemy it could be really dangerous. What would you have done if this Haku person had been bloodthirsty enough to kill your teammates instead of incapacitate them? No report would have been able to explain that away. You would have lost your team and probably your career."

"I know..." Naruto said out loud. He really did know. He had played it through his head a thousand times since it actually happened. If Shikamaru and Ino had been killed because he had wanted to 'do the right thing' he would probably have never gotten over it. Even now he still kicked himself eight times every day over it. The fact that he could replicate himself and the fact that his clones had a propensity to talk shit to him when they weren't fighting didn't help matters at all either, "I don't like it, but I know that now Shiho-chan. It won't ever happen like that again."

When he said he didn't like it, that was probably the most honest thing he could have said at the moment. So now trying to be a decent human being would end up getting him and his friends killed? Apparently the world really was that messed up. And he was still too weak for what he needed to be. For him being one of the muscles of Team 10 he just wasn't strong enough and the battle with Haku proved a very valid hole in his game that Sasuke had not-so-subtly wordlessly pointed out afterwards, although the young Uchiha himself was unable to take advantage of it during their skirmish.

If Naruto and his clones couldn't get close enough to grab his opponent then there wasn't much he could do. If he could get close, but his opponent still could kick his head in or stab him before he grabbed them then all of his taijutsu was pretty much useless.

Now granted, not every opponent he faced would have the Sharingan to clock him and each of his clones position in slow motion as they came towards them, but that simply wasn't going to cut it any further. That just wasn't going to fly against anyone stronger than him. If he had to fight Sasuke again he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get close that easily again, and if he ever wanted to beat Tenten he needed to step it up, because she would be throwing more weapons than Sasuke did and he and his clones both knew that she didn't miss. Another Henge trick like the one from before wouldn't save him the next time, and he wasn't as fast as he thought he was. He could be outmaneuvered and then he and his team were in trouble.

Shiho had let Naruto come over for lunch as she had been granted a short day at work and was free. It gave them both some time to catch up, and finally getting to hear about his first mission seemed like as good a way to do so as any. But now it seemed that the conversation had settled into the negative parts of his most recent experience, "What are you thinking about Uzumaki-kun?"

Naruto's face twisted slightly before he spoke, "I need to get better. I didn't need you or Asuma-sensei to tell me that we shouldn't have walked away from that, I already knew, I thought they were dead. I messed up." He looked over at Shiho who was listening to him intently as she drank her tea, "So do you know what I can do? Until I get bigger the scroll says I can't learn anymore of the Nebaiken moves that it has since I'm still short..." He finished with a grumble.

Shiho smiled at him, "I'm glad you're taking the scroll's advice instead of trying to force it along, it takes a big man to admit that they're little." He glared at her, getting her to laugh a bit, "I'm just messing with you... but if you want my advice you should go to your sensei about this. I don't know any ninjutsu that would be good for you and like I said I'm not much of a fighter."

Naruto bucked out a snort from his nose as he thought about it, "Do you think he'd teach me a new jutsu if I asked him?"

Shiho shrugged, "I don't see why not. It's not like you aren't already the most adept user of Kage Bunshin in the entire village so you don't need to finish mastering that jutsu, and you just told me you can't go any further with Nebaiken without making things up the way you told me you did. I think he'd be happy to help you if you asked him to." She said supportively.

Naruto perked up significantly after hearing that, "Alright then, I'll wait until the next team meeting and-."

Shiho cut him off, "You should probably ask before that. The sooner the better."

Naruto nodded and stood up, "I'll go right now then." He said, rather excited at this point towards the prospect of maybe learning something new, "I'll see you later Shiho-chan, I've got to find Asuma-sensei right now."

Shiho waved to him as he headed out towards her front door, "Well I hope I helped. Don't be a stranger Uzumaki-kun. If you'd like the next time you see me I'll probably have something set up for you to start learning. You might like it." He gave a small wave back as he grinned at her through the spaces in her bookcases and shut the door behind him.

After leaving his friend's house, Naruto grumbled to himself as he stood in the middle of the street scratching his head, "Well this sucks... I don't know where Asuma-sensei lives or where he hangs out... or anything about him in general." Naruto bonked himself on the head a few times to try and jog his memory in case he had forgotten something, "Grr, maybe shikamaru knows where he is?" He quickly let off a preliminary burst of his sensor jutsu and smirked.

XxX

Menma walked through the streets of konoha and seemed to get more odd looks than he usually did due to the giant sword on his back. He still hadn't gotten used to having this sword, compared to his katanas which required speed and agility he wasn't used to Zabuza's sword yet because it required more brute strength.

'I wonder if Asuma is around maybe he can help me train.' Menma thought.

(Yamanaka Flower Shop)

Ino leaned against the counter inside of her clan's shop waiting for business. Not much had been happening during her week off, and to keep from doing absolutely nothing for the entire week she had been conscripted to work for a day in the shop which was still rather slow going, only now at least in addition to being bored she was also being 'productive'.

A ring of the door opening barely registered her attention as she prepared to drone out the usual response to customers entering, "Welcome to Ya-. Menma?" She said in confusion as she saw her fellow teammate enter and look around, pumping his fist victoriously, "What are you doing here?"

"Yes!" Menma shouted to himself, "I thought I messed up for a second and still couldn't read signs with my jutsu." He then noticed Ino looking at him blankly as if wondering why he was there, "Hey Ino, how's it going?"

She let a humorless smile come onto her face as she sat her elbows on the counter and placed her hands under her chin, "I'm so bored Menma. Please tell me you've been doing just as much of nothing as I have."

"Pretty much..." Menma said, rubbing the back of his head with a salty look on his face. Ino laughed slightly, by now she knew that Menma hated not really doing anything so this week off was probably killing him slower than it was her, they weren't even half-way through it yet, "Listen I need your help really quick, can you?"

She blinked her blue eyes in a confused manner before pointing around at the store, "I'm working right now Menma. I can't leave, what if a customer comes in later?" Menma stared at her and slowly brought his fingers up into the cross-seal he used to form Kage Bunshin before Ino cut him off from doing so, knowing exactly what he was about to do, "No Menma, that's a bad idea! You don't know anything about these plants and you'd leave a Henged Kage Bunshin?"

He brought his fingers down to cancel attempting the jutsu, "Well damn Ino, I know how to water and take care of the plants and act like you long enough for you to help me out. I just want to know where Asuma-sensei is."

Ino arched a feminine eyebrow at hearing what Naruto needed from her, "Well how would I know where he is if you don't? Check his house or something."

"I don't know where that is." Menma admitted, putting his hands in his pockets and kicking at invisible dust on the ground, "That's why I'm here. Where does he live?"

Ino shrugged helplessly, "I wouldn't know. I figured either you, Shikamaru, or Naruto would know where he lived if anyone would know. You're out of luck this time with me." She then had another thought, "Why are you looking for him anyway?"

Menma frowned, "I'm going to see if there's anything he can do to help me get better using the Kubikiribōchō and get stronger. I almost got you guys killed back in Nami no Kuni by deciding to fight Zabuza on my own and let you guys fight Haku that was reckless of me. My insane speed is cool and everything, but if I dont have any strength and force to go with my taijutsu then I'm still too easy to scout."

Ino gave him a dry look that showed her lack of amusement at how he perceived his own skills. Yes, If Menma couldn't overpower you then there wasn't much he could do other than speed blitz you, and the bulk of his solo offense was directed around his speed and doing whatever it took to get his opponent off balance.

If anything, Ino was the one that figured she needed to pick up something new, hence why she had taken to watching the shop today with no complaints. If she could get on her dad's good side then maybe she could get him to help her with something else, maybe help her come up with new ways to hit Shintenshin no Jutsu without anyone helping her keep the enemy busy, or even a new jutsu altogether.

Ino opened her mouth to talk Menma down about how what happened in Nami no Kuni was all of their faults when an adult male voice sounded out from behind her, "So this is Uzumaki Menma, the third teammate I've heard so much about." Ino didn't need to turn around to know who that was, she had been hearing that voice every day of her life, and from the look in Naruto's eyes as he looked up at the man she knew she was right about who it was.

"Hi daddy." Ino said without turning around, laughing inwardly at the deer-in-the-headlights look Menma had on his face as he looked up at her father, "Yes, this is Menma. Menma this is my dad, Yamanaka Inoichi."

The man had long blonde hair in a ponytail like Ino had, only his was darker in shade and spiky on top, not like his daughter's. He had blue-green eyes and wore the usual Konoha shinobi outfit and flak jacket as well as wrist and hand-guards and a sleeveless red coat.

Menma slowly raised up one hand and waved weakly, "Hi Ino's dad." Ino palmed her face at Menma's introduction to her father while the black haired male continued, "Nice to meet you."

The man kept a rather unnerving gaze on Menma that lasted long enough for Ino to even turn around as she wondered what exactly the man was doing. Rolling her eyes, Ino spoke up to her father, "Daddy, stop trying to read Menma's mind!"

Inoichi face-faulted and abruptly stood up, "I wasn't trying to read the boy's mind!" He defended to Ino, who simply glared up at him and placed her hands on her hips as if to challenge him, "I'm being honest, I wasn't trying to!"

"Then why were you staring at Menma so hard?" She asked, gesturing back to Menma who seemed to be seriously considering what having someone in his head reading his mind would be like.

"I was trying to judge the boy's character at first glance." Inoichi said as if it were obvious, "If he had backed up or flinched or started sweating then I would have had to consider the boy of lower caliber character and he would have had to work harder to earn my respect. Thanks to you, you messed it all up and now we'll never know." He said to his daughter who sweatdropped at her father. He ignored her and walked from behind the counter up to Menma, "It's good to meet you Menma, I've heard a bit about you recently."

"Really?" Menma said happily, the way he said that sounded promising. He wasn't used to people saying that they'd heard of him sounding positive about it, but Inoichi hadn't glared at him yet, or anything really. He half expected the man to kick him out when he first saw him, and after that point he started feeling more at ease about things.

"Yeah." Inoichi said with a toothy grin, "For instance, 'Perverted Swordsman', 'Bookworm', 'Junior Smokestack'-..." Menma's face fell to one of a deadpan with each title he had apparently been given that Inochi recited. His vision slowly turned to Ino who was smiling apologetically and actually mouthed the word 'sorry' to him, "-...and then there's-."

"Daddy, Menma gets it." Ino finally said with her face in her hands, just wanting it to end. Maybe if she was lucky Menma would only stop talking to her for a week until she could prove she was sorry for coming up with all of those fake aliases for him. She was so getting Inoichi back for that one whenever she got the chance.

"Why? There were still so many more, they got better." Inoichi chuckled back at her before looking over at Menma who had the proverbial rain cloud over his head at the moment, "It's okay Menma, she had way more names for you." That seemed to make the rain pour down harder so to speak as Inoichi continued to talk, "You're lucky like that. Shikamaru only has one, so does Asuma and Naruto, and I don't think that Sasuke kid has any."

Ino had to avert her eyes from Menma as he gave her the teary puppy-dog look. Damn he did that really well. Giant, quivering, emotional blue eyes were super-effective.

Inoichi finally noticed that Menma wasn't taking these revelations very well and he laughed as he patted the boy on the back, "Oh, I didn't explain. That's how Ino shows that she actually gives a damn about you kid. The more names she uses when she talks about you means that she actually thinks about you enough to pull up something about you to name you with. Like I said, they get better."

That actually prompted him to stop acting down in the dumps, as if someone had flipped a switch. With a blink his eyes turned back to normal and he looked up at the towering adult, "They get better? Like what."

Ino's eyes widened and she looked up at her father desperately, "Daddy no, don't you-."

Inoichi grinned and grabbed Menma's shoulder, "Well there are a few, but my favorite one is when she calls you her idiot companion...*laughs* I think that one's rather cute, and I can actually see it a little bit." He turned back when he heard something bang against the counter and saw Ino with her head down, "Alright Ino, I'm done picking on both of you now."

Ino let out a huff and blew her bang out of her face before turning her attention to Menma, "Sorry about that. Anyway, I don't know where Asuma-sensei lives or where he hangs out. Sorry." Menma nodded with a frown on his face, "And stop talking about Nami no Kuni... it happened, we're not dead, you're stronger than the rest of us. Don't make me go into your head and switch your wiring around until you get over this."

"I'm over it, I'm over it!" Menma exclaimed, knowing enough of Ino's family jutsu to not exactly desire having her poke around in his head. Who knew what she would find in there? He definitely didn't. After all, Iruka said his mind was scary, he remembered that, "I've still got to do something though. If it's not just because I want to get better it's because I'm bored. What the hell did he expect me to do for a whole week?" He shouted the last part indignantly. Growling to himself, Menma turned and headed towards the door to the shop, "I'll see you later Ino."

Ino waved to Menma as he left, "Bye Menma." As Menma disappeared from the doorway of the shop and headed off towards wherever he planned on heading to next. She then turned to Inoichi with a dry look on her face, "Did you have to tell him the 'idiot companion' daddy? That was a slip."

Inoichi laughed as he started returning to the back, "Yeah, a slip. Just like the other slip that you called him, or did you want me to tell him about thatinstead?" He said, getting Ino to give him a wide-eyed look, "I could go find him right now and tell him the other thing you called him, he might like that one."

"You tell him that and I swear to Kami daddy I'll-!" Ino threatened, prepared to fight a losing battle against her old man if he was even slightly sincere with his previous suggestion.

Inoichi just waved her off as he vanished from the front area of the store, "I thought it was just a slip." He taunted, "I like that boy more than the Sasuke kid you've been talking about for the last five years anyway."

Ino didn't bother chasing him back there as someone still had to watch the front and her shift wasn't over yet, she simply seethed in the front, gritting her own teeth to keep from yelling, 'I'm going to make him teach me how to erase memories and then I'm going to rip that one out of his head damn it!' She sighed and calmed herself down as she pulled a scroll from under the counter and blew the dust off of it, "Why was this one so far back in the storage room? It seems like something useful to me." She said to herself as she started to read it mostly out of boredom, "Poisons, Toxins, and Venoms: The Equalizers of the Ninja Arts..."

XxX

(Later - Nara Clan Compound)

'Where the fuck is Shikamaru's house?' Naruto thought to himself as he rushed through the grounds owned by the Nara Clan. He really didn't know where he was going, he just knew the general area of the village. He hadn't had any friends before being on this team, let alone friends that lived deep within specialized areas of property like clan grounds so he only knew where to begin looking for where people lived. He had been running through the forests that were abundant on the grounds and so far all he had seen were the wrong houses and tons of deer. Letting out another burst of his sonar jutsu to see if there was a person around to ask where he was he turned around abruptly, stopping his movement through the forest, "And who the hell keeps following me?" He yelled, waving his arms spastically, "Come out already damn it! If you can help me out then come on, and if you're trying to kill me... then still come out, let's get this over with, I've got stuff to do today!"

Nothing sounded out in the forest except the natural sounds that would have been there regardless. Naruto bared his teeth, "Chakura Hankyouteii no Jutsu (Chakra Echolocation Jutsu)!" With his next pulse he noticed the person that had been hanging back and following him had left the area again, "Seriously... who is that?" He didn't know who the person was by their signature, but every so often he'd catch the person shadowing him when he tried to use his jutsu. It irked him before, but it was starting to unnerve him now, especially after the last time he had been shadowed by someone it led to his battle with Haku that by all rights should have ended with his team's deaths.

All he could do now was continue on through the Nara Clan grounds, hopefully he would run into someone that could help him soon. Didn't any of these people get up and go outside, or were they all just as lazy as Shikamaru? What, was it genetic or something?

The forest started thinning out and Naruto saw a smattering of clan houses and prayed in relief. He had wasted upwards of two hours looking for Asuma by way of both Ino and Shikamaru whom he had yet to find and even ask. He then cursed when he began looking at the addresses on the house, 'Come on already! Cut me a break!' Naruto wanted to yell again, but in a mellow place like the Nara Clan area it seemed wrong.

The reason for his disgruntled attitude this time was because every house had the address and the name Nara... and he didn't know Shikamaru's personal address. In his defense however, he was sure that none of his team knew where he lived either so as far as he was concerned when he found Shikamaru he would have a leg up on him in that department.

As he started wandering around, a grin came to his face as he finally found who he was looking for, sitting in the front of a house with an older man that looked like him, only he had two scars on the right side of his face, a goatee, a mesh shirt under a flak jacket, and over that he had on a deer skin coat and hand-guards. The two were playing some kind of board game that Naruto had never bothered learning how to get good at. Shogi just wasn't for him.

"Shikamaru." Naruto said in relief as he ran up to them, "Do you know how hard it was to find you?"

"Why were you even looking for me in the first place?" Shikamaru asked him as he stared down at his pieces while his dad waited for his next move. Suddenly Shikamaru's eyes drifted up towards Naruto and narrowed, "Did Asuma cut our break short?" He said, sounding somewhat miffed at the prospect.

Naruto shook his head, "That's the thing, I don't know where Asuma-sensei is. I was hoping that you would, but seeing as how you don't know where I live..." He said, trailing off.

Shikamaru sighed and looked back down at the board, finally moving a piece, "You and Menma live on the south side of Konoha, edge of the residential and business districts, Monument View Apartments, third floor, apartment number 3."

"Why do you know that?" Naruto asked him incredulously, "Nobody knows that."

"Asuma knows that." Shikamaru responded as he waited on his dad to make a move, "I know it too, and so does Ino. We know where you live because of that day you didn't show up because your clones put you into a coma or something. We went to see what the problem was, you don't remember it because you weren't even awake when it happened."

Naruto's shoulders dropped, "Aw man... I suck. I don't even know where Ino or Asuma-sensei lives and I just now found where you live. Meh..." He grumbled, "So do you know where Asuma-sensei is? Please say yes, I've been looking around for more than two hours."

Shikamaru sighed as his dad made a move, prompting him to think about changing up his strategy. Having Naruto ask him a question was distracting him from his game with his dad. He wasn't going to lose this one damn it!

"Answer your friend Shikamaru." Shikamaru's dad Shikaku said lazily.

"Yeah, yeah, troublesome old man..." The younger Nara boy said before stopping to think about it, "If I had to look for him, and I never have, I would check with Kurenai. If you can find her you can probably find him."

"Damn it!" Naruto said pulling his goggles off of his head to scratch his forehead, "This sucks, I just want to ask one question, is that so much to ask?"

Shikamaru moved another piece, "Apparently it is. Find Kurenai, that's your best shot."

Naruto frowned but nodded as he still held his goggles in his hands, "Fine... I'll see you later Shikamaru." He said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Shikaku watched Naruto's smoke dissipate quickly before he addressed his son, "He can do Shunshin?"

Shikamaru nodded, still focusing on the game and not on something he had already known about for the better part of the last month, "Yeah. Now stop trying to distract me."

Shikaku yawned, "Just accept that you lose already so that I can take a nap... and go train."

Shikamaru scoffed, "You're supposed to be training me old man. I told you about our last mission."

"I will..." Shikaku said as if he were trying to placate his son, "...I will when you beat me at this."

Shikamaru's eyes moved from the board towards Shikaku's as they just stared at each other for over a minute, "You're really going to make me get up and tell mom aren't you?"

"You wouldn't." Shikaku said, still relatively comfortable at this point, "You're bluffing."

"I would." Shikamaru fired back immediately, his face not changing to illustrate his point, "Who do you think she'd be upset at; her son for wanting to get in some training with his dad, or her lazy-ass husband that wouldn't bother training with his son when he didn't have anything better to do?"

Shikaku gave his son a blank stare before moving one more piece on the board, "Fine, check. Now let's go already. I think your mother can sense when we talk about her... you troublesome brat."

Shikamaru looked hard at the board to see if there was another move he could make before slumping back in his chair, "Ugh... checkmate then." Both of them stood up slowly and headed towards the forested backyard to begin, "How the hell did you do that? My entire strategy-."

"-Was to wear me down with stonewall defense and let me beat myself." Shikaku finished for him, "I know. That was your problem. That was too conservative, you never tried to attack. I left my gold general and rook open for you twice to see what you would do, no trap involved, just to see if you'd attack when given the chance and you didn't. Sometimes it pays to be a little reckless Shikamaru."

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto eventually came to a stop on a rooftop with a twitching eye, "Wait, what am I doing? Why should I be running all over the village five times over just for a hint or a clue of where Asuma-sensei is? I've got unlimited help!" He quickly formed two dozen Kage Bunshin, "Go look for Asuma-sensei, or someone who would know where he is like that Kurenai lady."

One of the clones spoke up, "Where are you going?"

The original Naruto sighed with a dejected look on his face, "Where else do I go when I know I need to train but don't have anything to train on?" He asked rhetorically as his clones already knew the answer to that question, showing that they knew by cringing, "Yeah, I think I should go to the library to see if I get lucky..." All of his clones let out low hissing noises at the prospect of going to the library, "I know... be happy that I'm not making any of you go. I'll make other clones for that to help me look for something later. Now get going."

The clones saluted and took off in their search for Asuma while Naruto made his way towards Konoha Archive Library to see if there was anything worth digging up like the gold mine he had found in his taijutsu theory scroll.

He doubted it, since his clones had scoured the place with Shiho, someone who actually knew what to look for, once already over the period of an entire week and pulled up nothing, 'Yeah, I'm not going to the library.' He thought to himself as he dropped back down on the street and began walking, 'If I want to read a book I'll just go to Shiho-chan's house and ask if I can get anything from her, she has enough books in her house for it to be a library by itself.'

"Gah, why is having time off so irksome?" Naruto said to himself as he dropped back down onto the street, "Ino's working, Shikamaru's being Shikamaru, I can't find Asuma-sensei, and I don't have anything to do today!" He blinked after subconsciously letting off a pulse of his sonar jutsu before twisting his face rather angrily, "And come out or stop following me already, damn! I can sense you, I just don't know who you are!" He yelled into the air, confusing all of the villagers. Letting off another wave of it, he shook his head at the signature vanishing again from his radar.

Taking his headband off to scratch his forehead momentarily he stared at it before pulling his goggles up in their place over his forehead. As he continued walking through the village he loosened his headband so that it took on the shape of a bandanna that he tied back around his neck. With nothing to do but play the waiting game, Naruto decided to just walk about the village. Maybe something would find him and fall right into his lap.

After a while of walking through the business district on the way home to grab something to eat for the late afternoon, Naruto heard someone call out to him, "Naruto!" He stopped in his tracks and looked around but didn't see anyone in the streets trying to speak to him. Shrugging, he was about to go on his way again when he heard the voice again, "In here, look harder!" He turned around again as the voice started to guide him, "That's it, keep walking that way. Ten more steps and then turn right." He did as instructed and wound up looking inside of a doorway at Tenten, standing inside of a shop, stocking packs of shuriken, "How are you? Long time no see Naruto-chan."

And just like that his good mood at finding someone to hang out with for a bit was gone, "Do you have to call me that?"

"Am I your senior in age and rank?" Tenten asked him in turn, a grin on her face, "So what's up?" She asked him, finishing her task that Naruto walked in on her performing.

"Not much." Naruto replied flippantly, "I'm supposed to be looking for my sensei, but I don't know how to find him so right now I've got nothing to do. What are you doing stocking stuff?"

Tenten gestured around the store, "I work here sometimes. Why else do you think I can afford so many weapons on a genin's regular salary? I'm not a part of any clan that has a storehouse full of them. By now you should know we don't make that much money."

"True." Naruto admitted. With the missions they did he only had enough money really for his necessities and not much for anything leisurely. Hey since he was there he might as well have a look around and restock on his stuff. As much as he didn't want to spend all of that money on new stuff, he had to eventually. He used a lot of weapons in Nami no Kuni, "Do you mind if I have a look around?"

Tenten shook her head, "Not at all. Why would I? You want me to help you out?"

Naruto smiled slightly, "Yeah, if you're not busy. I need a new set of kunai, and a few shuriken to restock with."

Tenten nodded and began leading him around, "That sounds easy enough. Come with me, I'll get you all set up." After being pelted with pinpoint accuracy by the bun-haired girl's weapon prowess once before, Naruto trusted her knowledge on armaments enough to let her get his gear together. As she grabbed the equipment they had gone around to collect she tried making small talk, "So anything happen lately on those ever so exciting D-rank missions?" She teased.

Naruto's eye twitched, that's right she didn't tell him that he'd be doing odd jobs instead of actual ninja stuff when he had clearly talked to her about it before he ever started doing them. Thus when Naruto put a vindictive smirk on his face he didn't feel too bad about it, "Oh, I wouldn't know. We did like ten and I got to do a C-rank." That got her attention, and Naruto decided to go in for the kill, "...And before we even got back from it we were given an A-rank mission to reinforce another team. We had to fight missing-ninja and help a country free itself and everything, Oh and Menma beat this Zabuza guy and took his sword I think it was called the Kubi...I forget how to say it."

And Tenten's reaction didn't disappoint. She simply stared at him blankly as if trying to process what he was saying, " The Kubikiribōchō!?How-? Why-? What?"

"Yeah that." Naruto said, taking the kunai and shuriken off of her hands for her, "Oh, didn't you get an A-rank mission by now?"

"Not in the first two months!" Tenten yelled at him, waving her arms, 'I still can't believe a genin killed a high ranking missing nin' "That's so not fair! What the hell?" She actually pouted at Naruto getting a mission like that so soon after getting started. It totally wasn't fair to her, and Naruto seeing her pout for the first time ever started laughing at it, "Are you going to tell me about it or are you just going to keep laughing."

Naruto stopped laughing enough to speak, "Can I do both?" He was enjoying actually getting to one-up someone for once. Tenten shook her head as Naruto told her about the mission and before long they wound up at the checkout counter, "So how much is it?" He said, already dreading the total due to the last few times he had gone to buy himself weapons.

Tenten added everything up, confused at the way Naruto spoke all dejected over paying, "Cheap aren't we Naruto? It's 910 ryo for everything. You didn't get that much."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, 'Normally I have to pay twice that... man this store has good deals.' He thought to himself, 'I'm definitely coming here from now on.' He grinned at Tenten and eagerly fished the money out of his wallet, "Great! I've still got so much money left over!"

Tenten laughed slightly at his reaction to the price, "Well do you want to keep looking around for something else?" Naruto looked around before turning back to her and nodding, "Alright then. How much money do you feel like spending?"

Naruto looked through everything he had left in his wallet and answered, "I think I can spend another 2000 after buying this stuff and then I have to save the rest... rent, food, and savings you know?"

"2000 ryo..." Tenten said to herself as she started leading Naruto back through the store to find him something else, "That's pretty frugal, but I think we have something right up your alley."

Naruto looked around in the specialized weapons section as Tenten led him through it. His eyes ran across all kinds of weapons; swords like a nodachi, chokuto, katana, even broadswords like claymores and the like. He stopped there, but when he looked at Tenten she gave him a small smile and shook her head before leading him on further. Looking at the price tags he saw that they were out of his price range anyway. They passed all kinds of things, even maces and kusarigama... he was kind of glad Tenten didn't stop him there. With a blade at the end of a long chain he probably would have ended up cutting his own head off sooner or later with that thing.

She eventually brought them to a stop in a section of short blades as she started perusing through them, picking something up and putting it behind her back. Naruto cocked his head in confusion until Tenten presented him a sheathed weapon, "One of these would normally be around 720 ryo, but this one is made of special metal that can allow chakra to flow through it. All kinds of higher level ninja can use weapons like that in cool ways, I haven't gotten exactly how they do it down yet."

Naruto took the weapon from her into his own hands and looked at it. It was in a black sheath with a plain black handle that had no guard. Naruto pulled the weapon from the sheath and held a 26 inch blade in his hands. As it went further to the top, it curved forward and then directly back, leaving the flat of the blade straight. Tenten had given him a machete.

"It's 1650 ryo because of the metal it's made of and I think it suits you better than a regular sword would. You look like the kind of person that would appreciate functionality over having to learn too much technique." Tenten said as she walked back towards the checkout counter, "If you want it I'm sure it would be a cool weapon for a genin to have, it's pretty easy to use and they're really versatile. The sheath even has a sharpening stone in it so when you put the weapon up it sharpens itself."

For years when Naruto thought of himself with a weapon he always saw himself with huge shuriken or a wicked looking kunai or a katana, but now holding the machete in his hands he had to say... his daydreams were overrated. He marched up to the counter and put it up there with his other things, "I'll take it." He said, more than happy with it. It was light and it looked very sharp and pretty easy to use just like she said.

Tenten nodded and finished adding everything up, "Okay, that'll be 2560 ryo Naruto." Naruto quickly forked over the necessary funds and Tenten placed a scroll and some strange papers with a little bit of ink on the counter, confusing him and prompting her to explain, "We got a shipment of sealing supplies so as a promotional thing we're giving away samples of ink and papers to start with to people that spend over 2000 ryo in here. Maybe if we end up getting some to someone that enjoys it a bit we can sell more of the stuff quicker. I tossed in a sealing scroll too, like what I had for my weapons, it's just that mine is special."

Naruto grinned at Tenten as she placed all of his stuff in a bag to take out. This was great, not only did he get his kunai and shuriken for under half price, he wound up getting a special weapon and some sealing stuff too. He remembered Tenten putting all of that stuff away in one scroll instead of lugging them all around and figured he had to get him some of that too, "Thanks a lot Tenten! Man this is great!" Before he made it to the door he stopped and turned to her, "When do I get my rematch?"

"Has it been five months yet?" She asked him with a bored look on her face and a small smirk.

"It's been two... maybe three... damn it!" Naruto said before walking out of the store into the street, getting Tenten to laugh a little, "I'll see you later Tenten."

"Later Naruto-chan." She said to mess with him one last time, not being let down when she heard him curse from wherever she was down the street, "That was a pretty interesting run-in." Tenten said to herself as she went back to waiting out the rest of her shift.

XxX

Naruto had dropped his stuff off at home before heading back out. His clones had systematically dispelled over time, having found no sign of Asuma and having used all of the chakra he gave them letting out pulses of the sonar jutsu over time. Grumbling to himself for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, he patted himself down and pull a cigarette from his pocket as well as a lighter and lit himself a smoke, "Where is Asuma-sensei? Is he ducking debt collectors today or something?" Naruto then laughed to himself slightly as he blew out a cloud, "Nah, Asuma-sensei's a jounin, the best of the best. There's no way a ninja that good would do something like that."

XxX

(Elsewhere in Hi no Kuni)

"Achoo!" A woman with blonde hair in pigtails sneezed as she sat on the floor of a gambling den. She rubbed her nose and growled before slamming money on the ground, "I'm upping my bet, now my wager is on han!"

The dealer in front of her shrugged and lifted the bamboo cup on the ground, "Sorry, the dice are chou. You lose again ma'am."

The woman's eye twitched, "Fuck!"

XxX

Naruto absently realized as he kept walking through the village that he was getting too used to smoking these things. He wasn't even coughing a bit anymore. In his defense, after the day he was having so far, failing miserably to find his own sensei just to ask him a question, he earned that damn thing.

"Where the fuck is Asuma?" He reiterated once more for the benefit of his own sanity at this point. It was sunset at this point and Naruto was pretty much ready to call it a day and grab some dinner at Ichikaru Ramen. He had looked as hard as he could and failed, no shame in that. He then saw Menma walking towards him.

"You looking for Asuma too?"

"Yeah"

"Did someone just call out my name?"

Naruto and Menma turned around and saw Asuma walking towards them with Kurenai... however both Naruto and Asuma had something of a symbiotic thought the exact instant that Asuma saw the little white stick in Naruto's mouth and Naruto saw Kurenai. Luckily Naruto was able to think fast... and by thinking fast he swallowed the cigarette whole without a second thought. Asuma had to hide his own surprise at seeing his shortest student pull that one off, 'That was gross and extremely manly... I'm a good role model.' He decided at that very moment.

As the two jounin got close, Kurenai wrinkled her nose, "Why do I smell cigarettes?" She asked as Naruto had on his best possible poker face, ignoring the fact that he had just swallowed a goddamn lit cigarette.

Menma trying to get his brother out of this situation stared at the scary jounin lady with wide eyes, "Because you've been hanging out with Asuma-sensei?" Menma said as if that were the exact reason why, and from the look on her face she was about to buy it, thus it was time to change the subject,

"Nevermind that." Naruto turned to his sensei, "Where the hell have you been all day? We've been looking all over the village for you." He started listing things on his fingers, "I asked Shikamaru, I ran my own errands and still kept looking for you, I had clones all over the place, I've been getting stalked all freaking day by someone I don't know and haven't seen just looking for you. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Kurenai looked at him strangely, "You were stalked?" She said unbelievably.

Naruto pointed directly at her, "Don't change the subject Kurenai-sensei, where have you two been?"

Asuma and Kurenai looked at each other before looking back at the rightly pissed off genin, "Um... don't worry about where I've been all day." He said to Naruto, hoping things didn't go much further than that as did Kurenai.

"No." Naruto said shaking his head, "No, no, no, no. Hell no. This makes no sense at all. It doesn't matter that I don't know where you live or what you do in your free time or anything. I have been out and looking all over the place for both of you and didn't find a single thing. What the fuck have you been doing all day that made you both so damn hard to find? It's like you were ducking every single form of life."

"You know this kind of reminds me of the part in Icha-Icha when-" Menma was about to finish when Asuma interrupted.

"Ahem!" Asuma fake coughed.

'Shut up now...' Asuma said in his mind. A day with Kurenai like the one he had really didn't need to slip down to his cute little genin students. Because if Naruto and Menma knew then Ino would know, and if Ino knew then Inoichi would know, and if Inoichi knew then Anko would know, and then they were both screwed because then everyone would know. And nobody was supposed to know, "Well I'm here now, so don't worry about it anymore. What do you guys want?"

They both let off a sigh, "Alright, here goes. Asuma-sensei can you teach us something new?"

Asuma shrugged, "Alright, but please don't talk in unison it's creepy." He said, easily and with no hesitance whatsoever.

"Wait, you said okay? That easily?"

"Yeah." Asuma said, scratching his head, "I told you guys that I'm pretty much the only one that can help you out with... well, anything. You don't have a clan to help you out or any shinobi relatives... or relatives period. If I didn't help you out with learning new things then who in the world would?" He saw both faces light up and that brought a smile to his own face, "So I'll drop by your place sometime tomorrow if that's alright. Since you guys came to me for help I'll help you and let Ino and Shikamaru alone for the rest of the week, maybe we can start you guys on something."

"Yatta!" They jumped into the air excitedly, "That's so great! We can't wait! Thanks Asuma-sensei!" With that, the Uzumaki twins made a ram seal and used Shunshin to vacate the scene.

Kurenai blinked at the fading smoke and pointed at where they were standing, "Did they just-?"

"Yep." Asuma said, alluding to nothing else.

Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "It's only been-."

"I know." Asuma cut her off as he got them to move along again to whatever destination they had been heading to before they came across Naruto and Menma, "What can I say? Those two are gold, pure gold. Like a raw lump of clay that's just steadily shaping up. They got some moves you'd never think a genin could pull already."

Kurenai nodded. Asuma had been the one to say that they could have been good way before the teams were even finalized, "So what about it? Do they know after you told me what happened on your last mission?"

Asuma frowned at that, "I already talked to my dad about it... He said that they've known about it since their early academy days. But he hasn't told them about Jiraiya yet." He let out a sigh and rubbed his beard, "I still think it's a bad idea to keep it from them."

"There's nothing you can do about it though Asuma." Kurenai reasoned with him.

"I still don't like it." Asuma said, fishing a cigarette out of his vest pocket. Kurenai didn't even bother admonishing him for smoking around her seeing that he was really sort of upset about things at the moment, "It's like putting them in a minefield and telling him to run laps. There's so many things that can go wrong."

Kurenai could see that he was going to be overthinking this for the rest of the day and then some. She only had one more thing left to try to get Asuma out of his slump or else she might as well have left him alone to think right then and there, "So... are we going back to your apartment or mine?" As she noticed him freeze up and look at her blankly she knew that had worked towards snapping him out of it.

XxX

(The Next Day - Team 10 Training Ground)

Naruto still had his headband in the form of a bandanna around his neck and his goggles set squarely on his forehead as he looked at his sensei who was grinning widely, "Asuma-sensei why are you in such a good mood?"

"Studly reasons kid." Asuma said cryptically as he walked over to Naruto and Menma fishing something out of his pocket, "Okay brats, you can walk on water like a pro at this point and from you showing off with Shunshin yesterday I guess you've got that down. So now we're going to get you jumpstarted on something advanced. It might take you a while to get it though, even with your clones." He pulled out a slip of paper and put it into his hand, "Channel chakra into that."

"But Asuma sensei we already know our chakra affinities." Menma said.

"Yes, but I doubt that you know all of them you may have more than you think."

Naruto looked at his sensei and then at the paper in his hand before doing as he was asked. The paper split in half, not surprising to him since he already knew he could use wind style chakra, but then the two pieces got wet then, crumbled to dirt surprising him, "What happened? Did I use too much?"

Asuma had a look of noticeable surprise on his face, "No, no that was just fine." A smirk came to his face, "It looks like as a sensei I picked right going for you again. Naruto you have an elemental chakra nature of the wind variety just like me. Lucky you. You also have an earth chakra affinity and a water chakra affinity."

Then he gave Menma a piece of paper. Menma looked at the paper and took it. The paper then wrinkled not surprising Menma, but then it turned wet and damp and then it burned to flames.

"So lightning, fire, and water? Hmm....I don't have those chakra affinities but I do know who can help you with your training."