Naruto made sure to pull his hood lower as they approached the small port settlement, this was both to cover his hair and to hide his masked face. While the mask couldn't be linked to him like could his hair, it would still put people on edge, plus he was tired of all the mocking he was receiving from Victor about it.
Yes the workmanship wasn't the greatest, but he was only ten so give him some credit. When it came to unnerving people though, he really shouldn't have bothered, after all Victor did enough of that for the both of them, what with his scarred features and the insanely large grin spread across his face.
It had taken them just over two days to reach the ocean from when they had left the loggers settlement, though they did waste another five hours searching for the small port village they now found themselves at.
The both of them drew more than a few odd looks as they walked down the road towards the docks passing the small hut like buildings that made up the settlement as they did so, though no one seemed bothered enough to actually approach them.
Between Victor's scars and Naruto's dark hooded clothing they could pass for ninja even if they were young, it was fortunate really that most civilians never looked too deeply where Shinobi were concerned.
Naruto was forced to drag Victor away from a few stores as they passed, the older boy taking a ridiculous amount of time to examine their wares, though to be honest Naruto believed he just did that to piss him off. At one point he had needed to use both hands to pull bizarre boy away from a butcher's shop that had several whole animals hanging from hooks in the window.
What Victor wanted with the dead bodies of animals Naruto really didn't want to know, though the fact that he was salivating when he looked at them was very unnerving.
The port village was tiny when compared to the Hidden Leaf and wasn't even half the size, so even with Victor being a pain in the arse they got to the docks in under an hour. Though it was a struggle at one point, the streets were quite narrow after all and there seemed to be a lot of people in the town, turns out there was market in village today.
The smell of fish was heavy in the air; along with the smell from the recently returned and unwashed fishermen who had caught them. Victor looked like he didn't even notice while Naruto was trying not to be sick, but considering the older boy's habit of digging up graves it wasn't that much of a surprise that the stench of dead fish didn't both him.
However after they got to the dock they came to realize that the hard part of their journey had only just begun, they had to find someone willing to take them to the warzone that was the Land of Water. It turns out a lot of people were a little put off by the Civil War and had been avoiding it for the most part ever since it began a few months ago, not that Naruto could blame them.
Supply Ships had a tendency to be attacked and raided by both The Hidden Mist and Rebellion, though the crew was rarely if ever harmed when they were attacked, the loss of income from their wares was still a harsh blow to the captains and investors.
This made offering to work on a supply ship for passage no use at all, because no one was stupid enough to even get near the Land of Water. Fishing Ships were also a dead end, most being too small to go that far away from the mainland. The few that were large enough to make the trip had set courses and none of them came even close to the Land of Water.
In the end after hours of searching and asking around, Naruto found the owner of a small ship willing to take them…for an unreasonably high price of course. The boat was in surprisingly good condition, even though there were a few patches of rust and a need for a new coat of paint.
The man himself was middle aged with charcoal grey hair and a great big bushy beard that fell down to his chest, he had tattered and stained clothes with rotten teeth and repulsive breath.
Though it wasn't just his breath that smelled, as he also smelled very strongly of alcohol, fish and shit, and Naruto very much doubted in the man's ability to get them across the sea in his boat.
Luckily between the money Naruto had saved over the years, and what Victor had…acquired over his travels. He thought it best not to ask for details, especially when he saw the spots of blood.
They were set to leave within the hour, after the boat was loaded and ready to sail. Victor had been…volunteered by the old man, Naruto didn't bother to remember his name, to help load the ship. Naruto was sure if he didn't still look like a walking skeleton that could barely hold himself up he would have been forced to help too, but the old man had taken one look at him and snorted before telling him to come back within the hour.
While he had been getting slowly better, it would still be a while before he looked anything but skinny. However over the last few days since he ate those human Souls's Naruto had defiantly bulked up slightly and he hadn't been hungry for the last few days either.
....
Walking through the village Naruto looked around at the dirty streets and the large number of cramped shops and stores that ran along the main high street of the village. It was a shock to Naruto the difference between Konoha and this place, the disparity in wealth between the two was obvious. Looking around Naruto saw a market stall that grabbed his attentions, the stall was just a table with a dirty canvas roof overhead.
But that was not what grabbed his attention, no it was what the stall was selling that did, it was selling weapons.
Walking up the stall Naruto could see the suspicious and wary look in the owner's eyes as he took in his appearance, puffing on a cigarette as he did so. Not that Naruto's appearance seemed to bother the man though as he forced a large smile on his face, the grin showing of his yellow smoke stained teeth.
"Welcome to Wakaba's Weapons! We have weapons for all occasions, the finest in the land, wielded by famous Shinobi and Samurai alike!"
Rasing his eyebrow at that Naruto looked down to peruse his collection, he was not impressed. Now Naruto's was no expert in weapons, in fact he couldn't even call himself adept but even he could see that most of the items the man sold were no better than scrap. Of course the stall owner didn't seem to catch Naruot's disappointment with his selection.
"See something you like young master, I weapons for Shinobi of all ages if that interests you. Why even the Hokage of Konoha himself has shopped from this store.
Ahh I remember it like it was yesterday. Wakaba he said, we are on first name terms you know, so he said Wakaba I have recently been trying to create a new technique, I call it the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, but I have not finished it…"
The man carried on in that fashion for the next few minutes, telling Naruto how he had helped Minato Namikaze perfect his signature Jutsu and how even now the man still comes to him to buy his Shinobi gear. Suffice to say Naruto was left wide eyed at the amount of bullshit this man was sprouting.
"So anyway young sir just what kind of weapon were you looking for?" Wakaba finally asked, his question knocking the dumbstruck Naruto out of his daze.
"Ermm…" Naruto began as he looked down at the poor quality weapons the man had at his stall, assessing them to the best of his ability as he tried to find something half decent.
His gaze soon fell on a hatchet, a single-handed tool which had a sharp blade on one side which looked like it was used to cut and split wood, and a hammer like head on the other side.
Looking at it Naruto flashed back to a few days ago when he had cut down a full grown enemy Shinobi with a similar kind of weapon, the ease at which he did it still surrpsing him even now days later.
The axe he had used then had had a double headed axe blade, and had unfortunately been unfit to use afterwards, the wood handle having been broken and splintered beyond repair. Looking at the hatchet on the stall, he saw that it had a metal handle and head, with what looked like a leather grip on the shaft.
Wakaba the stall owner upon seeing what had caught Naruto's eye instantly jumped at the opportunity and began his usual spiel.
"Ahh a good eye you have indeed young sir, a formidable weapon that is sir, why I sold one just like it the other day to another formidable Shinobi, tell me have you ever heard of Zabuza Momochi one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Why of course you have, well just the other day he came in and bought the exact same weapon to replace his old one."
"Aren't hatchets usually used for cutting wood…?" Naruto replied blandly looking up at the man again as he did so.
"W-well yes I suppose but…" The man said taken off guard slightly by Naruto's blunt question.
"I will give you 50 lien for it." Naruto said deciding that since he was going to an active war zone it would be worthwhile have a weapon. He did still have his knife, but using a knife in combat would require a certain amount of skill, skill that Naruto had not quite built up yet. (1)
"50 lien!" Wakaba said aghast a look of shock on his face as he did so. "Why a fine piece like this is easily worth…"
"45 lien."
"Wait…"
"40 lien."
"Ok, ok you can have it." He said hurriedly as Naruto showed no signs of stopping, the greasy man gaining a scowl on his face as the masked boy did not buy into any of his spiel.
"Good." Naruto said fishing out the money from the pocket of his coat as he did. It was not much money, but it was still only slightly less than the weapon was probably worth.
Picking up the hatchet from the table after giving the grumbling Wakaba his money, Naruto turned away from the stall and began heading down the street again.
...
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