A/N: Finally, this gets updated. With any luck, we'll have more chapters in the future…and that this one is up to snuff. Either way, do read and review would you kindly? And please keep it classy.

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[Konohagakure, two years later]

Birds sung loudly and sweetly, trying their hardest to find mates in the wilderness. Their songs were mixed in with the raucous of exertion and wooden objects colliding with each other. Uzumaki Naruto landed on the ground, wearing a padded white gi and indigo hakama, over which he wore a dō made of lacquered and hardened leather. He also wore a pair of open-toed sandals and a pair of suneate that were hidden under his hakama. In his kote-wearing hands, he wielded a solid oak pole that was carved into the shape of a naginata, with a shorter oak stick in the shape of a wakizashi.

His opponent was a girl with buns in her hair, wearing a sleeveless pink qipao. She wielded a pair of wakizashi-sized bokken that she brought down on him. Naruto was able to block with the shaft, but knowing Higurashi Tenten, this was not her strongest blow; she used Naruto's parry to bounce herself off, and strike him in his dō. That one strike was hard enough to knock him onto his ass, and scissor the wooden blades around his neck.

"You're getting better by the day Naruto-kun, but I still beat you!" the bun-haired girl teased.

"Damn it, Tenten! It has to've been a thousand fights and I still can't win!" Naruto cursed. "Seriously! Don't you ever get tired of winning?"

Tenten stood up with a silence that seemed to be of mock consideration…before her answer came out as a quick and teasing "No." She laughed as she sheathed her wakizashi bokken, helping Naruto up. "But seriously; if you're so tired of losing, then why aren't you switching weapons?"

"At least I'm taking the time to really get to know my weapons," Naruto reminded her, "Besides, didn't sensei tell you the same thing?"

"Oh, don't bring mom into this!" Tenten fired back as the two of them walked on home. "Not unless you want me to tell the whole class tomorrow how you got your ass owned by a girl a thousand times!"

He snorted. "What, am I supposed to be intimidated by that? So I lost to a girl, how's that supposed to be threatening?"

It'd been two years since the earthquake that destroyed Naruto's apartment and things were getting a bit better. The Hokage had made arrangements for him to live with Tenten's family shortly after he got out of the hospital. That and records were found that proved Nezumi had been short-changing Naruto on a lot of things; going so far as to make him pay 'protection money' in addition to the premium he had to pay for his utilities alone. And all so that she could piss it all away in casinos and illicit drugs that may or may not have included amphetamines. In response to that, he ordered to have all her assets seized, liquidated and given to Naruto in compensation; all her gambling and drug debts were turned over to her family.

With the destruction of the apartment, people tended to tread very carefully around him. It was their belief that the fox had given him the power to start that small-scale earthquake. Since that time, he'd taken to experimenting outside the village whenever Tenten's mother gave him a break from naginata training. So far, he was able to figure out that the earthquake power was triggered whenever he liked, but what happened at the apartment complex that night had been an accident. He could control the quakes to a limited extent by channeling it through his hands, but he had to work hard to keep his emotions in check; lest he cause more collateral damage.

In the meantime, while he stayed with Tenten's family, he picked up naginatajutsu to pass the time until he was strong enough to use a tanren bō for proper kanabo- or kenjutsu training. A few pointers and a solid foundation in tai- and bōjutsu from the Hokage had helped his skill, but it didn't change the fact that Tenten kept beating him down. Not when she could switch weapons on him on an almost daily basis. One day she'd use a katana or naginata-style bokken on him, the next she'd bring out some nunchaku or tonfa. Still, it kept him on his toes and forced him to adapt to every situation; which was why he'd taken to learning how to use a wakizashi should things get too close for his naginata to handle.

"You think this'll let give me better chances against Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I honestly don't see why you two go at it that often," sighed Tenten, "I mean, it's not like he's better than me is he?"

"Trust me. The guy is definitely way better than you…I'm betting he'd even beat out that guy you ogle so much."

"Don't exaggerate!"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, yeah. We'll see about it tomorrow then."

"Ah, don't be like that; you already have a pretty good foundation!"

"It's not gonna help if we're going to be sparring in class again," Naruto informed her moodily, "Iruka-sensei won't let me bring my naginata in to fight with. He's gonna call me out on it; stuff like 'it's dangerous!' 'It's unfair!' And of course, my favorite: 'what're you going to do with a weapon that big anyway?!' I mean seriously! It's like he's picking on me specifically!"

"Well I'm in the same boat. I can't use anything but taijutsu…though to be fair, it is called 'taijutsu sparring,'" Tenten agreed gloomily, patting Naruto on the back, "Any serious weapon training would have to be picked up when we become genin; and besides, as much as I hate to say this, he's right—a naginata is not as versatile as you think."

"I get that, but he could be less of an ass about it," the blond grumbled, "I wonder if I should tell him about the prank that's going to happen tomorrow…?"

Tenten turned to look at him with a somewhat horrified expression...shortly before it melted away into sadistic interest. "What'd you have planned for him?"

"Whoever said anything about planning? It's already done!" Naruto chirped, the devious grin clear on his face, "You just won't see it 'til he does the morning lesson."

"I'll hold you to that. But now, we gotta get home; mom and dad are gonna kill us if we're late for dinner again." It was true; Tenten's parents weren't anything like the villagers, who either ignored or glared at Naruto behind his back. They were however, very strict on discipline; it's not that they were abusive, they just wanted to make sure that any children in the house did not wind up being spoiled brats.

The emphasis on discipline in the house also stemmed from their love for their daughter's and now Naruto's sake, making sure they were prepared for whatever life threw at them. It was to make sure they were capable of giving their all in whatever trade they chose to pursue. Other than that, the Higurashi couple were very good people and exceedingly skilled craftsmen; no doubt the discipline they enforced on Tenten and Naruto had helped keep them alive as chūnin. It also contributed to a seamless teamwork that allowed them to consistently churn out high-quality weapons and armor day in and day out.

[Somewhere nearby…]

Several figures hid away in the treeline, watching as Uzumaki Naruto and Higurashi Tenten left the training ground. All four of them stood dead-still, the ambient sounds of nature masking their presence and their heartbeats. It was an easy task to hide in a wooded area, especially since their target had yet to master basic survival skills, much less chakra detection. Still, there was a job to do; and dangerous as it may be, these shinobi were determined to see it through.

The porcelain-colored animal masks they wore marked them all as ANBU, but the fact that they refused to be seen at all made it clear that they were not exactly here on official business.

"Looks like the subject is not training in his quake-powers today," mused one of the ANBU, "A shame. Danzo-sama was very interested in seeing how far he could take it."

"I hear that," said another ANBU, "and I can honestly see the potential of such a power." Ever since Uzumaki was house-broken, people were investigating as to the cause of the quake. After some operatives walked across the boy practicing on his own, as small quakes had been happening in the village, Shimura Danzo had been keeping a close eye on his progress. The Jinchūriki had what amounted to a kekkei genkai that allowed him to cause earthquakes of varying magnitudes. This would undoubtedly make him into a living weapon of mass destruction, as the ability to generate earthquakes was like a meat-cleaver to the scalpel that was his ROOT cell.

However, there was still the problem of Hiruzen keeping his ear to the ground when it concerned Uzumaki. If a kidnap operation was mounted and botched, then Danzo was looking at a raid that would make what happened at Orochimaru's lab look like a tea party by comparison. Still, he entertained the idea of abducting Uzumaki when the time was right…preferably when the Sandaime Hokage had already died. And since the Higurashi family was charged with raising Naruto, it stood to reason that they'd be baying for blood…with some of their newer weapons at the ready.

"Let's return to base," said a ROOT operative, sitting up from his surroundings, "there's nothing to see."

With all four of them in assent, the four ROOT operatives vanished in a blur. Their steps were so swift that not even a leaf was overturned.

…

[Daishōgun Smithy, morning]

If one were to sum up the entirety of the Daishōgun's inventory, 'art gallery' would be the first thing to come to mind. In the time since they'd come back from the Third Shinobi World War, the Higurashi couple had taken references from various weapons they'd collected from around the world. Combine that with their emphasis on discipline, and they practically became a brand name that churned out the finest quality weapons and armor in Konoha going-on twenty years straight.

Naruto walked along the aisles with Tenten escorting him. He never could get tired of seeing the works of art on display in the shop; many of which were either really well-made, or had ingenious mechanisms to make them special. An example of the former was a red katana blade roughly two feet in length and a solid tang…a weapon as good indoors as it was out, and was exceptionally strong. As to the latter, one only needed to look at the massive hand-axe that hung on the wall; it seemed ordinary enough at first glance, but Naruto knew that it was capable of transforming into an even bigger weapon.

Many of the weapons on display were sinfully expensive works of fully-functional art, but they were all worth every ryō invested in them. And while they specialized in weapons, Higurashi Byakuya and Higurashi Kanshō also occasionally made custom-tailored suits of armor for shinobi and kunoichi that specialized in heavy assault roles. Each suit they made required the wearer to come to them in person to get measurements and sketches on how it would look.

The particular piece they passed by was a suit of armor on a mannequin made from strong quilted cloth and thin, overlapping plates of hardened steel that conformed to the contours of the wearer's body. Every piece was made to rest on -and be supported by- the body part it was meant to protect, therefore granting better weight distribution than traditional samurai armor without slowing down a shinobi. And to increase its wearer's survivability and the armor's durability, Byakuya and Kanshō had taken to studying a bit of fūinjutsu to make the armor every bit as practical as it was beautiful.

"A real shame that client backed out at the last minute," mused Naruto, "he could've looked cool while kicking ass."

"That guy was a pretentious idiot that thought he could afford quality," a voice snapped from behind. Naruto turned around, recognizing the owner of that voice to belong to a soot-covered woman in an apron. "And to be honest, that's just fine," She mused, admiring the amount of work she and her husband had put into making it, "it's still attracting a lot of paying customers, so it's pretty much paying for itself. All we need is for someone to buy it and it'd be even better. In the meantime, that coward's blacklisted from this store until he takes responsibility for his end of the commission."

She wore welding goggles pulled over coffee-colored eyes that looked at the armor with no small amount of pride. Higurashi Byakuya was a striking woman that had recovered her slender, feline form well after giving birth to Tenten. Her skin showed signs of an upbringing on the upper crust of society before time had given it a pretty healthy tan. Her long, black hair was gathered in a functional bun behind her head.

A quick look downward from the corner of her eye at her daughter and ward caused a shiver to creep up their spines. Both were startled from the sudden movement, the grin on her face making the sensation even worse. "Just like you two have a responsibility to get to school before I decide to not cook you anything for dinner tonight."

When she had seen that neither of them had left, Byakuya's grin only widened. "Well? Why aren't you two at school yet?"

A few seconds was all it took for Naruto and Tenten to speed out the door, leaving a laughing Byakuya behind. She always enjoyed terrifying them this way, as it always ensured that they would get to school sooner.

…

[Konoha Ninja Academy]

Iruka walked up to the podium with the usual scene that would accompany a morning such as this.

Akimichi Choji was sitting down, chilling with his friend Nara Shikamaru while snacking on his chips. Knowing the clan he came from, it'd be best to let him have that bag of chips and to avoid calling him the f-word lest they suffer the consequences. Nearby was Inuzuka Kiba, pretty much having a staring contest with Rock Lee, the former of whom was obviously trying to to blink without laughing at his opponent.

At the center of attention was Uchiha Sasuke, sitting and brooding with Hyūga Neji right next to him. The two of them were surrounded by girls their age, cooing and asking them for dates. Sasuke was very rudely ignoring them; at the very least, Neji was polite enough to ask his fangirls to leave him be so that he could continue to glare at his cousin. The two of them had the potential to be 'rookie of the year' in their particular age groups…with Sasuke being number two among the boys at the moment.

Mixed in with the other fangirls were Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura; likely the biggest of them all. True, their focus was on Sasuke, but that didn't make them any different from the other harpies. What they saw in the last Uchiha, Iruka had no idea…especially since he just ignored them as much as he did the other fangirls. Still, he had to hand it to the unofficial presidents of the 'Sasuke Fan-Club'; even through their competitive rivalry for the boy's affections, they still remained friends. Not exactly a steady friendship, but still a friendship nonetheless and for that he was thankful that it did not get any worse than that. That, and they were actually nice to Hinata-chan, who sat alone withering under her cousin's glare.

Hinata however, found her mood lightening the second Naruto and Tenten had entered the classroom. True, her gaze was on Naruto, but the fact that her other friend had appeared made things even better. Were there more girls to pay attention to the armored student, she would very likely be able to start her own fanclub. But for now, she enjoyed watching as the two of them approached her section…allowing her to shrug off Neji's glare now that her friends had come to greet her.

There was something off with the picture; something Iruka couldn't put his finger on. Naruto and Tenten were acting pretty well-behaved, which triggered alarms in his mind. Normally, the two of them were very rowdy, behaving like a brother-sister duo as they bickered over whatever it was that brothers and sisters fought over (Iruka wouldn't know, he was an only-child). Today, they were relatively calm as they brought Hinata in on a new topic that he could not hear.

Something's off. Iruka thought to himself as he walked to the podium. It was especially the case when he noted that Naruto did not bring his training naginata with him this time…normally, he'd be reluctant to let go of it, even in taijutsu practice. Feels like I'm about to get my bad karma. Heaving an exasperated sigh, he continued to walk towards the podium. Let's get it over with.

The students looked in his direction, watching as he set up for the lesson. "Alright class, let's get this done and…" Iruka would've said more had he not been catapulted off his feet upon stepping behind the podium. He then landed on a nearby chair, watching as something was launched into his face. Quick reflexes had him pick up a nearby book and shield his face with a loud 'splat!' Unfortunately, the trap was not done yet; he then watched as two large cages fell to the ground, filled with black contents. The slight cawing and the little reddish-brown eyes he caught a glimpse of made his fears even worse…especially as they flew around, dropping black feathers everywhere as they tried to attack him. From how aggressive the crows were, they were probably pretty hungry; and much to Iruka's horror, there was quite a lot of food splattered on him.

There was nothing for Iruka to do except to run away lest he was pecked to death by the murder of crows hot on his tail, screaming and cawing for food. Tenten looked to Naruto with a bit of amusement on her features. "You do realize he's gonna kill you when he finds out?" she whispered.

In response, Naruto snorted. "With how complicated this one was, I'm willing to bet that it's gonna be pinned on Shikamaru."

"NARUTO! YOU'RE GOING TO GET DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!" came Iruka's shout from the distance.

Tenten giggled. "Spoke too soon." she said, revelling in Naruto's look of shock. He then sighed, his last words being, "Totally worth it."

…

[Sparring grounds]

It cost the entirety of the history lesson, but Iruka was able to shake off the crows and get himself a new set of clothes. The students gathered did their best to not laugh as the teacher glared at one particular student in particular. Naruto on the other hand, simply stood there; waiting patiently as the pairings were called up…with Mizuki standing by, ready to hand out the list of names.

"Since we've wasted time in getting rid of the crows, we're going to skip all the way to the sparring sessions," began Iruka, after being given the list of matchups, "and it looks like the first match will be Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's eyes had widened. This was exactly the sort of matchup he didn't want; not simply because he would lose to Sasuke, but because he was afraid of accidentally triggering his quake powers during the fight. It was made even harder when he was unable to use his naginata. Besides, win or lose, he'd have fangirls stomping towards him to start giving the Uchiha no small amount of unrequited praise.

"Naruto, I know you've heard this all before, but before you come on down, take off your armor." said Iruka. "If you don't, you'll be disqualified and Sasuke wins the match by default."

There was a heavy sigh as the fangirls agreed loudly with Iruka. Some of them called him a wimp for even wearing his naginata-do armor. "All right, fine!" Naruto snapped, "Sheesh! You don't have to play favorites with me! I mean, I don't see you taking off your flak jacket! Isn't that armor already?"

"That's different! I earned the right to wear it!" Iruka admonished, "For you, it's not fair on the other students and you might break someone's hand on it. And besides, don't you know that armor is too heavy to be practical?"

"Ha! You obviously have not come to the Daishōgun and tried on the armor on display!" Naruto shouted, as he pulled off every piece of armor from his body; at this point, he wore nothing but a gi and a hakama…overall, giving him the appearance of an aikido practitioner. The only piece of armor he was allowed to keep on were the pair of kote, as they were soft enough to act as fighting gloves and had five fingers so as not to limit him to either striking or grappling techniques. "What, you too chicken to put on a few plates of metal?"

His opponent came on over to the arena, seemingly confident in his victory. His attitude never showed on his face, but it was there in his stride. Naruto never really understood why Sasuke had such a bleak outlook on life, but it never killed to smile at least once. The Last Uchiha never even seemed to revel in his victory whenever they sparred…come to think of it, he only ever got along fine with Hyūga Neji, and both were miserable sods who wouldn't know happiness if it hit them in their scowling faces.

As soon as the suneate came off and were neatly stacked with the dō, Naruto went to the arena himself. If Byakuya or Kanshō ever found out he lost any part of his bogu because he was sloppy, they would kill him dead; understandable, considering that the entire set wasn't easy to make. All those layers of boiled leather did not seem easy to shape, much less to his measurements. It only took more time to make considering the amount of lacquer used to harden the armor.

With only the kote, he was prepped for the fight. He and Sasuke bowed before the two of them assumed the standard academy taijutsu stance; profiles minimized, left hand and foot forward, weight on the right foot, right hand ready for striking. Naruto simply took a deep breath, allowing the tension to collect before letting out a calming sigh. Win or lose, he had to be confident that he would not make a fool of himself…especially not with Tenten and Hinata-chan watching.

Iruka's hand went down, beginning the spar with a loud 'Hajime!'

As usual, Sasuke began the fight quickly; at least this time, he didn't even try a sucker-punch. However, he did fake Naruto out with that first punch, and landed an even heavier one in his face that caused him to reel backwards. Luckily, Naruto had learned to take a hit better―he regained his balance at the last moment to catch Sasuke by the sides of his head to headbutt him. With his opponent disoriented from the sudden strike, Naruto could've taken advantage of the moment to kick him out of the rink…were he not also disoriented from headbutting Sasuke in the forehead.

Fortunately, he was able to recover from the hit sooner than Sasuke, and moved in to continue the spar. Sasuke tried to keep some distance away from Naruto with a jump-kick, but Naruto grabbed him by the leg and allowed reflex to do the rest; Sasuke hit the rubber ground of the ring, bouncing several times off the ground before rolling away and rising on his feet. The look on his face was livid, as Naruto looked back at him with a bit of nervousness.

"Since when did you get this good, dobe?" he snarled.

"Since I've been getting my ass owned by people better than you." Naruto replied with a bit of confidence this time.

"Bullshit!" Sasuke snapped, "How can you keep getting stronger if you don't win at all?"

"Winning isn't everything, dumbass!" Naruto yelled back, "Losing a lot of fights to opponents better than you can be good for you too, especially when you learn from them! What've you been doing aside from brooding all day long?!"

Sasuke said nothing; instead, he charged. Any sort of control he would've had in the match was dispelled as rage fuelled his mind. His pride wouldn't accept a loss, much less to the dead-last of the academy. The punches he threw were fast and strong, but he still had just enough control to ensure that they were accurate. Naruto had a hard time trying to block and dodge as Sasuke wound up faking him out several times, giving him no opening for a counter.

Desperate to finish the fight quickly, Naruto managed to duck under a punch, rise up into a shoulder tackle and push Sasuke back to gain some breathing space. The last Uchiha regained his balance just in time to avoid a ring-out. His charge this time was so fast that Naruto panicked, ducked to avoid a kick. As he began his counter, Naruto wound up for a punch that -much to his shock- cracked the air between his their fists inches away from impact as they seemed to vie for control. The look of horror on his face contradicted the morbid curiosity that was on everyone's faces (especially Sasuke's) as the air cracked even further.

For this, Naruto had only one word: "Shit."

The air finally shattered, redirecting Sasuke's fist and throwing him off as the punch's trajectory continued unimpeded. The Last Uchiha bounced on the floor several times before writhing on the floor in pain. Naruto quickly looked around and felt the ground before letting out a sigh of relief; there was no quake coming, but he didn't doubt that Sasuke would have a broken arm after today. And for that, he was thankful; he could've destroyed the entire school from that one accident.

Either way, he knew that he'd be having words with Iruka-sensei pretty soon.

…

A/N: And we're done. And in regards to Naruto, "Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad."

…

Vocabulary

Dō―a cuirass worn in kendo training

Suneate―a pair of greaves

Kote―normally, this would be a pair of armored sleeves or regular gauntlets.

Naginata―a Japanese glaive…or halberd if you like.

tanren bō—a big, heavy bat that is primarily used for cutting practice…although it could also be used for other sports such as baseball and golf to train swinging strength. It is mainly used in aikidō to build up arm strength.

Kanabo—also called a 'tetsubo' (鉄棒), this is a big, heavy mace or studded war club that samurai sometimes use; it's so heavy that there's a specific martial arts style dedicated to its use known as 'kanabojutsu' that teaches its practitioners skill to recover from missed swings. Due to its weight, it's also known as the weapon of choice for the oni.

…

Cameos/References

Naruto's outfit—pretty much a modified version of what you'd expect a naginatado practitioner to wear. Naginatado practitioners pretty much wear the same attire as a kendoka (a padded gi, a hakama, a pair of tabi, a pair of kote, a dō, and a men), with the addition of a pair of greaves due to the fact that in naginatado, strikes to the leg are allowed.

Red blade—Sam Rodriguez's Murasama blade.

Transforming Axe—the Hunter's Axe from "Bloodborne".

Kanshō and Byakyua―pretty much the namesake of Archer EMIYA's swords; they were named after a legendary Chinese swordsmith couple who produced the finest swords in the world. Kanshō (Chinese name: Gān Jiàng (干將)) is the husband, and Byakuya (Chinese name: Mò Yé (莫邪)) is the wife.