It's a S.I.N. 4
"Doesn't that hurt after a while?" Tenten asked Naruto as the naked kunoichi balanced kunai over her hands by the point while standing on the surface of a tub of water.
"I am a Uzumaki," Naruto reminded them.
"And that makes you immune to blue balls?" Anko asked, henging into a naked Naruto clone with breasts and feminine curves who was still definitely male below the waist.
"Uzumaki bloodline means I heal quickly from damn near anything including blue balls," he assured them, standing in his own tub and having added a leaf to float over his erection.
"Useful bloodline," Anko said.
"Means I have a lot less down time," Naruto said cheerfully, causing Tenten to lose focus and fall in the water.
"Sword fight?" one of the clones asked another taking off his clothes.
"Swordfight," he agreed, stripping.
Both kunoichi looked a little disappointed when they realized the two clones were just going to spar using their tails to wield swords.
"Now you're doing it on purpose," Tenten realized.
Anko laughed. "Took you long enough."
"As we get used to it we have to up the difficulty," Naruto explained.
"I get it, Tenten said, "it's resistance training. I just thought we were working a bit slower."
"Back to the grind," Naruto said ignoring the clones working on tail use. "How do you avoid metal crystallization while cooling the blade?"
"Water impregnated with chakra," Tenten replied.
"That wasn't the answer I expected," Naruto admitted.
"What do you use?" Tenten asked.
"Sex lube," Naruto replied bluntly.
"Seriously?" Anko asked.
"It's the only high temp lubricant I could find," Naruto replied.
"And it works?" Tenten asked.
"Works fine," Naruto assured her. "The oil carries away the heat without cooling it too quickly or catching fire."
"That would make it a lot easier for people who can't use chakra to smith," Tenten said, thinking of Lee.
"It does," Naruto agreed. "And am I right in thinking that the jutsu used to impregnate water with chakra is a major part of smithing chakra blades?"
"A refinement of it is," Tenten said. "The reason that chakra blades cost so much is it requires a jonin who can channel the proper chakra nature to work with the smith for an entire week, sometimes longer."
"It has to be jonin?" a clone asked.
"Chakra nature isn't usually taught until chunin but the amount of chakra needed is beyond most of them," Tenten replied.
"So the reason we only see chakra blades in the standard natures is because the jonin involved are standard one element jonin themselves," Naruto said.
"How do you figure?" Tenten asked, while Anko perked up and looked at him intently.
"I mean, certain bloodlines have unique chakra natures like wood for instance," Naruto said. "Now chakra blades convert normal chakra into the type the blade is designed for, so theoretically, if a wood user were to create the blade, then anyone using it could use the blade to create wood natured chakra allowing them to use Mokuton jutsu."
"There are a couple more steps to help attune the blade to a specific nature, but that would probably work," Tenten agreed.
"We have to test this," Anko said. "Mist has been known for two things, bloodlines and swords, and this sounds like the reason. If we pull this off..." her voice trailed off with a grin.
"Chakra blades break easier than normal steel," Tenten said. "It's why they aren't nearly as expensive as they could be or as widely used."
"I know of a way to make steel that is a lot more resilient and holds an edge like you wouldn't believe," Naruto promised, waving a hand to a clone who brought out a katana.
Tenten accepted the blade and examined it closely for flaws. " A bit of an unusual design," she noted.
"I know straight edged swords aren't nearly as popular, but it was a test piece and I like the design," Naruto replied.
"It's got a good edge. Got anything for me to use it on?" Tenten asked.
"Wooden post in the corner," Naruto waved her over.
"How much do you know about wood release?" Anko asked.
"I practically grew up with ANBU," Naruto said bluntly but avoiding mentioning Tenzo. "I know... but it's also something our first Hokage was famous for, so if I talk about it, people assume it's him I am talking about."
Anko nodded. "Want me to bring him in?"
"First we see about making normal chakra blades then we see about modifying them, then we see about making legendary swords," Naruto said. "Walk, run, fly!"
Anko grinned.
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"You should start on water walking," Ebisu told Naruto leaving him to it. "You need to build up your reserves before you can start on water walking," he told Sakura. "Keep climbing trees for now."
"And how did the dobe get it so fast?" Sasuke demanded upset.
"Don't refer to your teammates so disrespectfully," Ebisu ordered. "I will not tell you directly how he got it so quickly, however I will confirm if you get the correct answer, consider it a test."
Sasuke calmed down and tried to figure out how Naruto had mastered tree walking before he did. He never even noticed how much easier it became to perform the exercise while he was thinking about something else.
Sakura pouted and rested for a moment before climbing the tree again. Naruto had been outperforming them both recently and it was hurting her pride even worse than Sasuke's. Naruto was someone she had depended on, to make her feel superior, and wanted, but Naruto had changed the instant they'd graduated. He no longer hit on her and he no longer made her feel superior or wanted, in fact, he pretty much did the opposite. He ignored her and outperformed her and Sasuke. Sure, several times he'd had to rely on Ebisu to show him something he should have known already, but once he'd learned something he put it to use effectively and those moments of ignorance were getting more and more rare.
"How did Sakura learn it before I did?" Sasuke asked.
"Kunoichi generally have less chakra and thus greater control," Ebisu explained.
"So, Naruto has less chakra then I do," Sasuke guessed.
"Not remotely," Ebisu said without hesitation.
"If he has more chakra it should take him longer," Sakura said, collapsing to the ground, feeling seriously rung out.
"Yes it should," Ebisu agreed, happy they were both using their brains and rather proud of how Sakura was pushing herself.
"That implies he's spent more time on the exercise which would only be possible if he already knew it," Sasuke said, moving to mark the tree and realizing he'd reached the top.
"Exactly," Ebisu agreed. "Naruto has been working on his chakra control for quite some time."
"So he cheated!" Sakura exclaimed, the righteous indignation in her voice actually startling a laugh out of Sasuke.
"If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying," Sasuke said, quoting something Naruto had said.
There was a splash and cursing from the water as Naruto fell into the water. One of his clones called out, "If you can dodge a rock, you can dodge a kunai!"
"You guys want to help me throw rocks at myself?" another clone asked.
"Yes, I believe I would," Sasuke said.
"No explosive tags," the clone warned. "We're saving that for next week once we improve some more."
"Help me stand," Sakura said, "and get some rocks, sharp ones!"
"That's the spirit!" the clone encouraged her.
"What distracted him enough to fall in the water," Ebisu asked the group of clones throwing rocks at Naruto, with him clumsily dodging but managing to stay on top of the water.
"Naked kunoichi jumped one of his clones, begging for his sword," the clone replied.
"What?!" Sakura sputtered.
"I've heard of the alloys he's developed," Ebisu said. "It's that good a sword?"
"She seems to think so," the clone said.
"Any objections to outfitting your team?" Ebisu asked.
"Still experimenting to find what works best," the clone said. "I'm willing to do armor and swords at cost when I've got some of the kinks worked out."
"Are you going to be making chakra blades?" Ebisu asked hopefully, as getting one of those at cost would be a fantastic bargain.
"That's what we are aiming for," the clone agreed. "We're hoping to make ones with less fragile blades."
"I'd hardly call them fragile, but I have heard good things about your body armor," Ebisu said, ignoring the two genin throwing rocks at the third.
"Stand Still!" Sakura yelled flinging a sharp edged rock at Naruto's crotch hard enough that it made a buzzing sound as it cut the air.
"I'm still playing catch up, the clone said handing more rocks to Sakura. "I have to make tools, to make tools, to make yet more tools, to make what I want."
"All the while working as a genin on a team as well," Ebisu noted.
"That's why I have clones," the clone said cheerfully.
"There's a kunoichi watching you from the trees," Ebisu said.
"She's shy," Naruto replied. "Her intentions are anything but hostile."
"Your star is on the rise," Ebisu noted.
"Yours would be too if you worked on becoming a jonin," the clone pointed out.
Sasuke threw his stones methodically trying to bracket his teammate, his concentration so intense, Naruto was surprised he didn't accidentally activate his Sharingan.
"My chakra level's plateaued," Ebisu explained. "I've heard rumors on how to increase it, but nothing I'd lay credence to."
"Ahh!" Naruto took a stone to the chest and fell underwater.
"Nice throw, Sasuke!" several of the clones cheered.
"If you don't mind mental scarring I can think of a couple of ways," the clone said.
Ebisu would have dismissed it out of hand, but he'd had to seriously re-evaluate his opinion of the boy every couple of days lately, so he carefully considered it. "Would it interfere in my ability to lead the team?"
"Only for a day or two, we'll have to schedule it during time off so you can recover," Naruto replied.
"I'm interested," Ebisu admitted.
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"You do realize we're planning on making even better swords, right?" Naruto asked.
Tenten shuddered and caressed the blade.
"I'm turned on and slightly disturbed," Naruto told Anko.
"We'll work on that," Anko said cheerfully. "Can we do tentacles with this jutsu?"
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"How does mental scarring factor in?" Ebisu asked.
"It just does," the clone replied. "All great ninja are mad."
Typing by: Stephenopolos