CH 7

Yep, not a good month overall one could say.

The bell to the store rang, signifying a potential customer, "Hello, welcome to-."

As Tenten's eyes drifted to the door she saw the very same blonde kid that had beaten her teammate looking around her shop, "Hey!"

Naruto turned to face her curiously. Realization spread over his face, "Oh, hi there. Tenten right?"

As she looked at his inquisitive face she noted the scar sitting over his right eye, huh, that's new. She pointed out at him accusingly, "You're the kid that beat Neji!"

The tone of her voice stated it like he had committed some kind of crime. Naruto tilted his eyebrow, "My name is Naruto, and don't look so shocked. Was I supposed to let him win or something?"

Tenten was taken aback by his calm answer. She was conditioned from seeing him throughout the exams to expect a loud, hot-headed response, "It's not that, it's just that you really weren't expected to win then."

Damn idiot persona… It just had to wreck his standing in the eyes of the many. Oh well, he liked to be surprising anyway. Naruto sighed, "And that is why you have to learn to expect the worst in most cases, because then you can only be pleasantly surprised." Naruto remembered Danzo or other elder Ne operatives saying that to him a lot back in the day, then they would usually hit him or something… Stupid emotional conditioning.

Tenten noticed the scar over his eye and found herself curious, "How did you get that scar? Did you get it during the invasion?"

Naruto waved off her question, "It's a long story that I'm not even sure of and that you wouldn't believe if I told you. Don't worry about it. Do you sell shinobi clothes here?"

She nodded and pointed over in the correct direction, Naruto thanked her and went on over. Tenten watched silently as he walked over to the clothing section of her store and rifled through the selection, apparently he was getting rid of that sense-offending jumpsuit on his back. He nodded as he pulled out a set of shirts and a few pairs of pants.

He went into a changing room and came out a moment later in a dark-blue muscle shirt and dark blue loose pants tied at the ankles with wraps. He set the extras on the counter and went back into the accessories section and grabbed some black bracers that wrapped around his forearm entirely. As he walked back to the counter he stopped as he came across the swords. He stared long and hard for a moment until he pulled down and ninjato and unsheathed it, looking it over and testing the balance before shrugging and walking back to the counter with a grin.

He set the sword down and looked up, "Do you have something to secure this on my back?" Tenten nodded and reached down behind the counter to grab a strap for him to use. "So how much is all of this?" He seemingly gave her a set, appraising look as she tallied it up.

Tenten looked over what he bought and looked at him, "That will all come to 68500 ryo." Tenten watched him switch moods apparently as he cringed jokingly and pull out his wallet and money he had in his pocket.

He brightened up after hearing the price of his new equipment. Naruto chuckled as he gave her the necessary funds, "This'll clean me out, but it's necessary." He strapped on the sword and placed the bracers on his forearms.

Tenten watched him finish outfitting himself and huffed, "Do you even know how to use that sword on your back?"

Naruto shifted the ninjato into a comfortable position on his back, "I'm an old hand at it. It's time for me to get back into practice with kenjutsu. I was no slouch I should say, I might be rusty if anything." Naruto quickly drew his sword for a few test slashes and shifted through a few regulation Anbu stances before re-sheathing it, "I think I'll be fine."

Tenten's eyes gleamed for a second, "You wouldn't happen to be interested in a spar would you?"

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, sure why not? I don't have anyone to practice with anyway. I have to leave right now thought. I might look you up when I get back."

Tenten smiled at him as he moved towards the door, "I think I'd like that Naruto."

Naruto stopped at the door and turned around, "I left the jumpsuit in the back. Feel free to burn it at your leisure, like on your break or something. I still have a closet full of them to get rid of. Bye Tenten."

Tenten waved goodbye as he left the store. She furrowed her brow in thought, "How can a guy change like that in two weeks?"

XxX

Jiraiya noticed a familiar mop of blonde hair heading towards the main gate. As he got closer he whistled at Naruto's appearance, "Looking dapper kid."

Naruto looked up at him and grinned, "It's easier to get girls if you don't blind them when they look at you."

Jiraiya patted him on the back as they began walking through the gate, "Well said gaki…"

As they walked on Naruto eventually sighed and looked up at Jiraiya through half-lidded eyes, "Alright, we're far enough from Konoha that if I don't like what you have to say I can kill you and no one can stop me. Tell me what you know about my seal."

Jiraiya tried to be funny, "Well the Shiki Fuujin is meant to hold back the Kyuubi-."

Naruto gripped his sword as he glared at him, "Don't be an ass about this, I'm serious. What. Happened. To me?"

Jiraiya sighed, "Okay, but if I tell you this then you have to wait until I'm through explaining before you try to gut me, deal?"

Naruto kept up his glare but nodded. Jiraiya began, "Alright, you know your little trip to Ta no Kuni? I'm the one that found you. I was there too investigating rumors on Otogakure. When I left I decided to torch their files; stuff on Orochimaru's bloodline research, jutsu development, things like that."

Naruto's eyes widened. He unsheathed his sword and took a swing at Jiraiya in anger, forcing the man to jump back, "Hey brat! I said wait until I was done!"

Naruto pointed at him angrily, "You dumb old bastard! You were the one that turned the heat onto me! Don't you know the first thing about infiltration? Never let the enemy know you were there!"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Hey in my defense I didn't know you were there."

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