Ninja Tool Exchange

Naruto did not deliberately hide his footsteps. He followed at an unhurried pace, keeping a distance that was neither threatening nor far enough to lose her.

Tenten was a genin who had graduated the year before. She had a full extra year of training and combat experience over Naruto, and Team Guy's training intensity was notoriously brutal throughout Konoha.

Any ninja who could endure Might Guy and Rock Lee's self-torturing training regimen could not possibly lack vigilance.

Sure enough, when Tenten reached the middle of the alley, her pace suddenly faltered slightly.

Though it was only a subtle shift in rhythm, in less than a fraction of a second, she transformed from someone simply walking into someone ready to fight at any moment.

Then, without drawing attention to herself, she turned a corner and headed into a corner at the end of the alley where empty wooden crates were piled. She stopped, turned around, and faced the alley entrance.

The small cloth bag in her hand had already been placed at her feet. Her right hand hung naturally at her side, her fingertips less than a centimeter from the clasp of the ninja tool pouch at her waist.

"Who are you? Why are you following me?"

Tenten's voice was crisp, but it carried a chill as it echoed through the narrow alley.

At that moment, she was calmly scrutinizing the blond boy before her.

A Konoha forehead protector. A genin. Three whisker-like marks on his face.

She had never met him, but based on his appearance, she could vaguely guess who he was.

That fox demon everyone hated.

Naruto stopped at the alley entrance, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, with no intention of approaching.

He gave a slight nod and offered a polite smile.

"Hello. I'm a genin who just graduated this year, Naruto Uzumaki."

"The Chūnin Exams are coming up soon, and I need some ninja tools to improve my combat ability."

"I heard your family runs a ninja tool shop, so I wanted to follow you and take a look."

Tenten did not answer immediately. She looked Naruto over from head to toe.

Her gaze was not overly guarded, but neither was it relaxed. It was a habit drilled into her by Team Guy's training: evaluate any unfamiliar person who approached first, then respond.

"There are so many ninja tool shops on this street, yet you didn't enter a single one. You specifically followed me through an entire alley."

"Why did you pick me?"

At those words, Naruto's smile gained a trace of undisguised bitterness.

He raised a finger and tapped the three whisker-like marks on his face, then pointed at the Konoha symbol on his forehead protector.

"You can probably guess my identity."

Tenten's gaze shifted slightly.

Of course she could.

As someone in the same trade, she knew better than anyone what the owners of the ninja tool shops on this street were like. If they saw the fox demon enter, they would probably want to shut the door in his face.

"There probably isn't a single owner on this street willing to sell me anything."

Naruto's bitter smile faded a little.

"Then why are you so sure I'd sell to you?"

Tenten moved her hand away from the clasp of her ninja tool pouch, crossed her arms over her chest, and raised her chin slightly.

Naruto met Tenten's scrutinizing gaze. Before answering, he seriously considered how to phrase his words.

A moment later, he had his answer.

"Because you look at me differently from everyone else."

"When you turned around at the alley entrance just now, your first reaction was to assess an unfamiliar person's strength and intentions, not to step back."

"When everyone else sees me, their first reaction is to take half a step back or look away."

"You didn't. So I thought you might be different from them."

"Sorry. Following you through most of the alley really was rude."

At that, Tenten slowly lowered her arms from her chest.

She looked into Naruto's blue eyes. There was no attempt to curry favor in them, nor any polite pretense of familiarity. He was simply explaining his reasoning seriously.

Someone who evaluated before judging, rather than labeling someone first and instinctively rejecting them, really was the sort of person Team Guy would appreciate.

"Fine. Come with me."

Tenten bent down, picked up the small cloth bag by her feet, slipped it back onto her wrist, and tilted her head toward the alley exit.

"I can't guarantee we'll have what you want."

"Thanks..."

Naruto followed her. "By the way, I forgot to ask earlier. What's your name?"

"Just call me Tenten."

"Okay, Tenten."

Tenten led Naruto out through the other end of the alley, around two street corners, and finally stopped in front of a ninja tool shop in the middle of the ninja district.

The storefront was not particularly large, but three words had been hand-engraved on the sign: "Ninja Tool Exchange."

Naruto paused when he saw the shop. He had passed by it earlier.

He had stood outside for five or six seconds, carefully studying the samples displayed in the window. Under the side lighting, the chakra metal coating on the blades faintly revealed interwoven pale-blue and reddish patterns. The quality was indeed excellent.

At the time, he had not been sure whether this was Tenten's family shop, so he had not dared to push the door open rashly.

Unexpectedly, it was this one.

"Jingle!"

Tenten pushed open the wooden door, and the bronze bell hanging above the doorframe gave a crisp ring.

The shop was not especially spacious, but everything inside was displayed with exceptional neatness.

Various sizes of shuriken and kunai hung on the wall to the left, ranging from standard models to elongated and weighted ones.

Several complete ninja tool maintenance kits and rune engraving knives specially used for sealing techniques were displayed in the glass counter on the right.

On the wall directly opposite the entrance stood a locked glass cabinet containing several unusually shaped weapons.

There was a long whip that could fold into three sections, a matching set of throwing daggers, and a large item half-covered by a dust cloth that looked like some kind of foldable large-scale throwing weapon.

Tenten casually placed the small cloth bag containing soldier pills on the counter and waved toward the display racks inside.

"Look through the ninja tools yourself. Let me know when you've picked something."

Naruto slowly walked around the left wall, carefully examining every kunai and shuriken hanging there.

These weapons were all forged from high-quality iron ore, and the tempering process was excellent. The sheen of the blades was even and refined, while the wrapping around the handles was tightly bound.

They were on an entirely different level from the mass-produced standard equipment he had seen in ordinary ninja tool shops.

But after looking around, Naruto did not pick up a single item. Instead, he turned to Tenten and asked.

"Tenten, does your family have any ninja tools forged from chakra-conductive metal?"

Tenten was pulling out an inventory ledger from beneath the counter, preparing to record the sale. At his words, the ledger froze in midair, and her eyebrows rose.

She closed the ledger, set it back on the counter, and leaned against it as she looked at Naruto with an expression of realization.

"Oh? Naruto Uzumaki, so this was what you were after."

Tenten nodded, not looking particularly surprised.