Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Upon this story's release, I will have written the bulk of it before even posting it. Still, don't expect updates on a regular basis, as my Fall Semester will eat up a lot of my time. Either way, I'll try in-between to answer any reviews and questions I get. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this story.
Hello! From the Edge of the World.
Introduction: A Law Is Broken
One Haruno Sakura walked herself down one of the many conspicuous halls that made up the tower that was the Hokage's Offices. At age 15, the young woman had grown to be quite the opposite of her former bratty self. Of course, being an apprentice of the legendary Tsunade would do that to anyone, regardless of attitude.
No longer adorned in red and pink, the kunoichi took on an entirely darker color pallet. Her outfit consisted of combat boots, shorts, and a short-sleeve shirt. While the the vest was a blood red, the short and boots were pitch black. Her body had developed though both nature and the intense training her teacher put her through. Long, shapely legs, a trim stomach, and even assets that impressed the busty sanin.
As she reached the end of the hall, she noticed two of her friends hanging outside the doorway.
Yamanaka Ino was considered the most beautiful of the kunoichi with made up the Konoha Twelve by many shinobi in the village. Ino had grown very curvy, and showed it in her royal purple outfit, which was cut at mid-rift as usual. She had grown to wear purple hose with a skirt layed over it. Her blond hair was always clean and sparkling in the sunlight, and was tied into a ponytail that ran down to the small of the back.
In contrast, Rock Lee was not on everyone's "to do" list. The main factor of this was his face. Lee, ever idolizing the great taijitsu master Maito Gai, had groomed himself to look the spitting image of his former sensei. Where Gai had some deposits of fat and such here and there on his healthy body, Lee appeared to be chiseled from granite. During his last physical, he was recorded at having only 3 percent body fat. Many shinobi saw Lee as the young man who achieved his dream: to surpass his sensei, and show the world the benefits of hard work.
"Hello Ino, Lee-kun," spoke Sakura, as she slowed herself down after reaching her destination.
"Hello Sakura-chan!" exclaimed Lee, in his usual boastful and booming voice.
"Any idea what this meeting is about Sakura?" asked Ino.
"Not a clue," shrugged Sakura. "I'm supposed to just stay out here by the door and do a head count for Tsunade-sishou.""Well, I guess we'll both kill time in the meeting room," said Ino.
"But I wanted to help Sakura-chan!" complained Lee.
"Don't be a prude Lee," said Ino, motioning at the door. After a defeated sigh, Lee followed Ino inside the room, closing the door behind them.
Sakura leaned her body against the sturdy wall, and found she didn't have to wait long for the others to show up.
First to show up were the Hyuga siblings: Neji and Hinata. Neji had long since forgone his old, bulky white combat vest, and instead wore a loose-fitting white gi with ninja chainmail underneath. The sleeves were exceptionally wide; Neji said that they aided in confusing the enemy, as well as concealing weapons. Long, black cotton pants with white boots finished off the simple ensemble.
Hinata however, was a complete overhaul of her youth. Having grown into a beautiful young woman, Hinata had grown much more confidant and proud of herself. She still wore a fur coat, but it was much smaller and only reached her waist. It was left open as well, and she wore a dark blue shirt which was cut as mid-rift underneath. She also wore dark blue spandex pants, which was quite capable of showing off her attractive body. Still, no one dared to even go near her, lest they wished to be numb for a weeks due to a tenketsu assault.
"Hello Neji, Hinata," greeted Sakura.
"Hello Sakura," said Hinata, in a sweet tone of voice.
Neji chose to remain silent, but bowed to Sakura before opening the door for both Hinata and himself. He then closed it firmly behind him.
The next pair Sakura saw was Kiba and Shino...
Kiba Inuzuka was a young man, but his clan's heritage combined had given the young man a large amount of hair to deal with. While his hair was managed with a flattop haircut every now and then, his facial hair was slowly getting to be incredible. His face had a short, yet bushy mustache atop his lip, but that was only for the moment. Kiba, unlike many of his peers, had chosen to wear most of the standard Chunin equipment provided by the village. Aside from the vest, pants, and boots, Kiba also wore a long-sleeve black shirt. His hands were hairy atop, but thankfully his palms were used enough that hair couldn't grow there.
Shino was the least changed, as far as the Konoha Twelve was concerned. The only noticeable difference was that the Aburame prodigy had chosen to wear a large-hooded jacket. Shino's hands were in two of the jackets many zippered pockets. His trademark glasses reflected the little light that managed to enter the hooded dome that surrounded Shino's head. Another discernible feature was that Shino wore combat shorts, instead of pants. An insect could occasionally be seen crawling about his legs.
Next came Shikamaru and Chouji.
Chouji, for the moment, had recently exhausted his chakra supply during a strenuous mission with his team. As such, the Akamichi boy was slim and trim for the moment, until at least his next eating binge. His arms were still wrapped in tape, and Chouji was still wearing his green vest over his favorite T-shirt. He had forgone shorts for cargo pants, which were brown in color. His mohawk hair was now longer, and Chouji brushed it down to cover his ears and a bit of his face.
Shikamaru was dirty-looking, and his clothes looked a bit tattered and worn. Knowing the lazy genius, the Nara man probably kept the same clothes on until he was forced to change them by circumstance. He was wearing his green Chunin vest, along with a gray undershirt and chainmail mesh underneath that. He wore black slacks, with his hate-ate worn as a belt. Shikamaru still had a spiked ponytail, but also had a few bangs of hair which covered his forehead and one of his eyes.
"Sakura?" questioned Shikamaru, after finally noticed the pink-haired shinobi guarding the door.
"That's my name," she replied, a small smile on her face.
"What's going on with you and that door?"
"Tsunade's orders, I'm supposed to do a head count, and make sure you all show up."
"Whatever," said Shikamaru with a shrug. With that 'colorful' exchange the two boys let themselves inside the office with the others.
The last two to show up were two complete opposites of each other. They were Uchiha Saskue and the kunoichi only known as Tenten.
Sasuke was used to dark, cold colors in his ensemble. They reflected his heart in the past: one of darkness and a thirst for vengeance. However, with the sudden destruction of Akasuki and the hated Uchiha Atachi, Sasuke had lost his darkness, and his thirst quickly dried up.
This however, didn't change the boy in a dramatic way. He was still reserved for the most part. Sasuke was a no-nonsense kind of person, regardless of his goals and ambitions. His new attire reflected this: a decent man who prefers to be up-front with everything. Sasuke was wearing a black hakama robe, which was tied down with a large red and white obi. He also chose sitabaki with his clan insignia imprinted on each knee. Black kung-fu shoes finished off his look.
Tenten was known as the weapon-master of the Twelve. As such, she complimented her lithe and curvy frame with several weapons. On her back were two katana, which she crafted with her own hands. She had affectionately named them Shame and Blame, after she used them to dispatch a particularly despicable shinobi while on a mission. She wore a white vest, which had notches sewn into it to hold various shuriken. She used a pair of nunchaku for a make-shit belt, which were made of walnut and painted black. She bore black pants, which were surprisingly bare of any weapons. Her shoes however, were fitted with blades. One was protruding from the top, and was wave-shaped. Two were were placed on the front of each side of the shoes, and were also waved-shaped. There was one large blade attached to the heel of the shoe as well.
"Hello Sasuke-kun, Tenten," said Sakura.
"Hi Sakura," said Tenten cheerfully.
"Hello," spoke Sasuke softly.
There wasn't much conversation left as the two made their way inside. With everyone showing up, Sakura let herself inside the office and waited with the others.
Tsunade entered the occupied room a short while afterwards. There were twelve chairs set out on the floor. Right above the entrance, there was a screen used for projections and planning. The eleven ninja in the room immediately went silent for their leader, who made her way to the front of the room, facing everyone.
"I'm glad everyone made it here," said Tsunade. At that remark, her apprentice raised her hand.
"Yes Sakura?"
"Tsunade-sishou, you said we're all here, but there seems to be one missing."
"I know that Sakura, but he should show up in a few moments."
Like clockwork, the door behind them opened, which a rather deep, but still indignant voice.
"Tsunade-ba-chan, what's with asking me to show up my first day off in three years?!"
Everyone's gaze turned to the last of the Konoha Twelve, Uzumaki Naruto. They had heard of him returning to the village about a day ago. They certainly were surprised by the 'kuncklehead ninja' and his new look...
The most noticeable feature was the fact there was hardly any orange to be found on Naruto's outfit. His hate-ate wasn't in blue anymore, but a black form of the headband. His spiky sunflower hair was still short and it seemed even spiker if that was possible. Naruto had also stopped wearing thick, and bulky jumpsuits. His chest was covered by a simple orange t-shirt. Around his neck was the shining green crystal given to him by Tsunade. His right shoulder had a black mantle on it, which held up a black cape which covered his right side.
It was used so that Naruto could conceal a weapon he found he liked using: a kusari-gami. It seemed to fit his wild and unpredictable style of combat, and when he manged to save up, he asked Tenten to forge one he could call his own. He called his new toy 'Spiral Hell'.
Black cargo pants and shoes were on his lower half. Naruto also wore some shin guards. They were metal, and at the top of them - which reached the bottom of his knee – was a spike he could use to get a nasty knee-blow on his enemies.
While the others were still taking in the sight of a changed Naruto, Tsunade just smiled at her 'grandson' as he was still the loudmouth she believed in so long ago.
"Sorry to call you in this morning Naruto," said Tsunade, "but I needed to call a meeting today. And you, Naruto, are the guest of honor."
Naruto wasn't sure how to take that remark. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll find out soon enough," said Tsunade. The Hokage then picked up one of the remaining chairs, and planted it right in front of her, with the seat facing the others.
"Take a seat Naruto, if you would," she asked Naruto, though everyone knew it was an order rather than a request. Naruto walked to the front of the room and sat down promptly.
"Ino, could you come up here please?" 'asked' Tsunade. The Yamanaka quickly obeyed, standing right in front of the Hokage.
"I understand you've been learning a lot more of your clan's advanced techniques," remarked Tsunade.
"Yes 'mam," nodded Ino. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"I want you to use your family's Mind Projection on Naruto," Tsunade said. At this, both Ino and Naruto's eyes widened.
"What the hell Tsunade-ba-chan?!" exclaimed Naruto. Tsunade went behind Naruto, and clasped down on his shoulders to keep him in the chair.
"Everyone, I've gathered you here for one reason," announced Tsunade. "As you know, there are many laws that we uphold in this village. However, there is one law that has been kept from you, our latest generation of shinobi. You are not ordinary shinobi however; on the contrary, you twelve before me today are some of the most promising ninja our village has ever created. For this reason, and for the good of the village, I'm taking a drastic measure as Hokage, even though it is well within my rights. Today, in front of you all, I will break what is known in the village as 'The Law of Naruto.'"
Everyone looked to the Hokage in a combination of shock and confusion. Everyone but Naruto, who looked up to Tsunade's eyes, with a look of horror that none of the other eleven had even seen before.
"Tsunade-sama," spoke Naruto, shaky and trying to persuade his 'grandmother,' "please, don't do this to me!" Everyone was shocked to see the loudmouth shinobi pleading and begging.
The woman looked into the young man's eyes. There was no cruelty or evil behind her smile.
"Naruto," she spoke in a soothing voice, getting close to his face. "Please, I want to trust me on this. I've thought this over, and I know things will be alright."
Naruto seemed to calm down a bit at these words. However, he was still sweating the situation he now found himself in. Tsunade nodded to Ino, and the blond approached the Uzumaki.
Ino got to Naruto's eye level, and put her face right in front of his, their noses touching momentarily. Naruto started to show a tint of red, and the gossip Ino caught on to this quickly.
"What's wrong Naruto, never had a girl this close to you?" she teased, which seemed to get the boy even more bothered. "Relax, I'm just synchronizing our breathing and heartbeats."
After a few minutes, Ino stood up, and walked behind Naruto. Tsunade walked to the opposite end of the room, and pulled down the projection screen. Ino slowly went through a series of kata, as she concentrated on keeping the rhythm. When she finished, Ino clasped onto Naruto's temples with her fingertips.
"Mind Projection," spoke Ino, and chakra could be seen by the others flowing into Naruto. At first, Naruto appeared to be uncomfortable, like he was having a stomach ache. After a minute though, his body relaxed, and he soon fell into a deep sleep.
"Okay, I'm in," spoke Ino. "Now what exactly am I looking for?"
"Ask this exact question," instructed Tsunade. "Naruto, why does the village hate you?"
Ino nodded, and repeated the command. "Naruto, why does the village hate you?"
Nothing noticeable happened for a few minutes. Suddenly, Naruto's eyes shot open. He appeared to be in a trance, and light began to shine out of his eyes, towards the projection screen.
"Tsunade-sishou," said Sakura, "how is this possible? Light is coming out of Naruto's eyes."
"Well Sakura, surely you know how the human eye works?" Tsunade questioned her apprentice. "Light enters the eye, and collides with the various rods and cones that are located on the retina. Ino's technique dives into a person's memory, and then reverses the flow of light. The images and sounds that were experienced by that person are then displayed."
"And the question?" asked Sakura.
"That is used as a sort of hypnotic command. Ino gives a suggestion to the person, so that she can access the memories associated with that suggestion."
While Sakura would have loved to know more about this subject, their conversation was cut as images started to appear on the screen. Apparently, the technique Ino was using was also capable of providing the sounds Naruto heard with each memory. It was almost like watching a home movie in this respect.
The images were in first-person: no doubt that person being Naruto.
The first memory was Naruto starting into the ground. The 'camera' would shake every few seconds, and sounds of pain and anguish could be heard with each rattle. The view changed to a view looking up at a few teenage boys and girls.
"Had enough, demon?" taunted one of the boys, before kicking Naruto in the gut.
"Why don't you do us a favor and die already!" asked one of the girls, before spitting on Naruto's face.
After another swift kick to the side of his head, the thugs decided to leave Naruto alone.
Naruto groaned in pain, and could only crawl on his hands and knees. His head shot up to see what appeared to be Tenten at an early age with her father. She gave a concerned smile, but was quickly caught in the vice grip of her father.
"Tenten, I forbid you to even look at that boy!" lectured Tenten's father. With that the two left the image.
Later on, a young Ino and Sakura could be seen. They appeared to be playing catch with a red ball.
They looked at Naruto, and a snide grin appeared on Ino's face.
"Hey Sakura, wanna play a new game?" asked Ino.
"What kind of game?" said Sakura.
"Its one my father taught me," answered Ino. "You see that boy? You kick him and see how loud you can make him scream."
"Ok," said Sakura, though a bit hesitantly. She didn't want to be ousted by her only friend.
The two approached an already wounded Naruto and kicked him in his tender gut. They kept at it until their tiny legs were exhausted.
The screen went black, and then faded into another memory. It was nighttime, and Naruto was on the ground again. He was screaming a crying very loudly this time.
"That hurts!" said Naruto. "You're going to rip my hair out! Stop please!"
His pleading for mercy fell on deaf ears. Eventually Naruto was tossed by his hair into the center of a circle of villagers. They all were carrying some sort of weapon. Some looked angry, while others had a sadistic smile on their face. The screen was getting blurry, and the others knew this meant that Naruto was crying.
The situation looked grim until a puff of smoke materialized the Sandaime. He had a grim look on his face.
"Hokage-sama," spoke the villagers, in a more than humbled tone.
"I see now that I can't just stand idly by and hope anymore," he spoke solemnly. He was very disappointed in his village at the moment.
The Sandaime slowly approached the boy, who instinctively flinched, waiting for the oncoming blow.
What he found that he was wrapped in the man's arms. Naruto was held close, and could hear the heartbeat of the Hokage. It was relaxing, and he suddenly found himself drifting off to sleep.
The next scene was a chat with Jiraiya, who the other's knew had taken Naruto under his tutelage. Jiraiya was sipping on a cup of sake while he listened to his student.
"So," said Jiraiya, "now you know kid."
"About this demon inside me?" asked Naruto. The Sanin nodded.
"Its important for you to understand your situation. Now that you're older, you're going to have to learn to either control or withstand Kyuubi's influence on you.""Why me?" asked Naruto, as he looked down to his seal. "Why would the Yondaime do this to me? Does he realize what I've been put through because of him!?"
"Believe me kid," said Jiraiya. "you may not like him for it, you may even hate him for it, but the Yondaime is paying the ultimate price. The Death-Reaper Seal not only takes the soul of the target, but the user. And these souls will fight for eternity inside the Reaper. An un-living hell for anyone who dares use the seal. And yet knowing this, the Yondaime did the seal to save the village he so loved."
"And for this, I'm supposed to be punished? Why don't they see that I had no choice in the matter?"
"I'm sure they don't care kid. You see, they feel its your fault the Yondaime is dead. That's how twisted their hatred of the Kyuubi has become. And even though the Sandaime proclaimed a law forbidding anyone to speak of the incident, they will still find ways to express their hatred."
"And their children?"
"That how childhood works. A child emulates and idolizes their parents. They try to be just like them, and do whatever they think will make them happy. And they will keep doing this until the time where they can make their own decisions. Hence, the villagers try to teach the other kids to hate you unconditionally."
It was at this that the show slowly faded to black. The only thing that could have accentuated the end of the memories would be 'The End' in bold white letters.
A minute later, the other's turned to see Naruto. His eyes had become red; not from keeping his eyes open for so long, but he had started to cry during the presentation. Ino as well, had long tear streaks running down her face. The two snapped out of their trance simultaneously, and looked to see the faces of their peers. Ino thought they appeared to be debating what they just saw to themselves.
Naruto however, had assumed the worst. To him, the looks on the other's faces showed that they had grown – or perhaps – refreshed their hatred of the Uzumaki. Naruto slowly made it to his feet, his head kept down at the floor. He made his way out, slowly opened the door, and barely closed it behind him, a faint clicking noise announcing that he was gone.
"I hope you realize why I chose to do this," spoke up Tsunade, getting the attention of the group back to the point. "You twelve are some of the most promising shinobi this village has ever produced. As such, you should know the deepest, darkest secret of your generation. I hope that by doing this, the bond's between you all will strengthen, as you will most likely be on many missions with everyone in this room. You are all dismissed for the day, now go."
Once everyone had shuffled out of the office, Sakura went on her merry way, only to be stopped almost instantly by Ino.
"Can we talk?" she asked the Haruno.
Sakura simply nodded. "Lets go get some coffee," she suggested, to which Ino agreed.
A short walk later, the two found themselves sitting down in a booth at one of the local cafés. The two had made their orders short: Ino chose coffee and a cake set, and Sakura coffee with some small cookies.
"Sakura, do you remember any of that?" asked Ino, once they had their food and were left alone.
"I didn't even think of it until today," said Sakura, her head hanging in shame.
"I can't believe how horrible I was to him," sighed Ino, taking a sip of her drink.
"I can't believe how mean I was as well," retorted Sakura.
"You wouldn't have done it if I hadn't suggested it Sakura," interjected Ino.
"No," refused Sakura. "I would have done anything back then. I was such a fool, to value staying popular over the life of another human being. I have as much fault as you have Ino."
"I don't get why he never sneered at us," said Ino. "As far as I remember, he never said a harsh thing about us unless cornered. He always had that smile on."
"It was his mask," said Sakura. "A mask that kept back all the pain and hate he must have been feeling. And every one of us only helped add to the burden."
"Why?!" she exclaimed loudly, gathering the attention of the other café patrons. She immediately quited down. "Why didn't he get his revenge?! Why does he still treat all of us like his friends?!"
"That's just him I suppose," said Sakura. "Being with him on Team Seven, I noticed his special ability. No matter how badly he was treated; no matter if he was meeting someone for the first time; Naruto always had the ability to make friends with everybody."
"Still," replied Ino. "I feel like there's nothing we could ever do to atone."
"We can only try to treat him better than he has been treated," said Sakura, as he bit Ino one of her cookies.
Naruto had been walking the streets of Konoha, thinking to himself how to solve this new 'problem' as he perceived it. Surely his friends would turn on him, maybe even hurt him? Naruto was slowly trying to figure out how to overcome this horrible obstacle to obtain his dream. He was also cursing the Kyuubi, for if the bastard didn't exist, he wouldn't have these problems in the first place.
"Naruto! Naruto!"
The blond man was snapped out of his self-examination by a voice. And Naruto turned to find Tenten approaching him. The young woman stopped before him, barely even winded by her exertion.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked innocently. Naruto wasn't sure if he should, but he had no reason not to trust the weapon-master.
"Ok," he nodded dumbly to the girl. Tenten took the boy by his hand and led him towards a place she knew he'd be comfortable at: Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.
Naruto reluctantly took a seat, and Tenten sat next to him.
"Can I get you anything?" she asked Naruto. "My treat."
"Um," questioned Naruto, "a bowl of pork ramen would be nice."
"Hey mister!" exclaimed Tenten to the old man. "One bowl each of pork and vegetarian ramen please!"
The pair waited for their food, which was served to them swiftly. Afterwards, the old man went into the back for some other business, leaving the two alone.
"So, that was quite a show Tsunade put on, wasn't it?" Tenten asked casually. Naruto seemed to tense up however.
"I suppose," he said. "So now you and the others know the truth about me. I can understand if you hate me now. I should thank you though Tenten; I mean, you were the one who made Spiral Hell for me."
"Now why would you think that I hate you?" she asked the boy. Tenten wanted to get inside this guys head, for better or worse.
"Well, don't you?" asked Naruto. Tenten shook her head, much to Naruto's relief and joy.
"It does make sense of a lot of things. Like for example, how you managed to channel chakra after Neji hit you with the 64 Divine Strikes Technique."
"Yeah, it was because of the Kyuubi. I demanded he let me use his power," explained Naruto.
"You demanded power from the King of Tailed Demons?!" said Tenten, with a laugh. It was heartfelt, which allowed Naruto to finally relax and laugh along with her.
"Now Naruto," asked Tenten. "what I'm curious is to how you got so strong?"
"What do you mean? I trained with Jiraiya, everyone knows that," answered Naruto.
"That's not what I meant," retorted Tenten. "I mean, how did you get so strong emotionally? Any other boy your age would have probably committed suicide or such by now."
Naruto looked crestfallen at this question. Tenten felt a pang of guilt and pain feeling that she was the cause.
"It's not like that Tenten," said Naruto. "The truth is, I've probably cried more tears than anyone else. There were times I cried so much, I had practically given myself a bath. Nowadays, I have no more tears for my past. There is still anger, and pain, but no more sadness left."
He felt Tenten pull him in close, which surprised him greatly. Not just because he didn't expect it, but because it felt...nice.
"I'm sorry," she spoke to him gently. "If I had known, perhaps things would have turned out differently for you. I'm sorry, and I want to say it on behalf of everyone Naruto. Please believe me that your friends will never hate you Naruto, not after what you have done for all of us."
After saying his goodbyes to Tenten, along with thanking her for her comfort, Naruto headed back to his home. He opened the door to his tiny apartment, and found his teacher, Jiraiya, sitting on his couch in waiting.
"You told her to do it, didn't you sensei?" asked Naruto immediately.
"I had a talk with her about it, yes," confessed Jiraiya. "But it was a decision that we both agreed on. Even with the best intentions, sometimes people place barriers that only harm rather than heal."
"But why now? Why this time and this place?" asked Naruto, as he sat down next to the Sanin.
"Because its the best time and place. You and the others are starting to become powerful, and influential shinobi in the village. With the secret out in the open, your friends can help you out with any problems the senior villagers give. So, how did you find the others to take the news?"
"It was unusual for me. No one has ever been so kind to me before, aside from the guys at Ichiraku. But I can't help but feel it was more out of pity and guilt than any friendship."
"Give it time kid," said Jiraiya, as he got to his feet and headed for the door. "With all this time, guilt and pity will be felt in the beginning, but soon you'll find that slowly those kind deeds are truly out of friendship."
With Jiraiya making his exit, Naruto now found himself alone in his apartment. He looked outside to find that it was almost nighttime, so he decided he'd turn in early. Who knows what Tsunade-ba-chan would make him do tomorrow?
Naruto stripped himself down to his t-shirt and white silk boxers, and led himself to his bed. He collapsed on top of it, set his alarm clock, and slowly drifted off to sleep...
The new life was about to begin...
Footnotes:
(1)
Some people might know the names/weapons I've chosen for this little number of mine. Part of me wants you to just guess, but the other part wants to be up front about these as well. I've gone with the latter.
Tenten's katanas Shame and Blame, are the default weapons of Voldo, one of the characters from one of my best fighting games: Soul Edge/Calibur. Since I decided on a pair of them for the costume/equipment, I thought it would be proper to give them a named used on another pair of weapons. Naruto's weapon, Spiral Hell, is named for one of the special attacks in Final Fantasy XI. Though the name has been borrowed, I intend to give the weapon a reason of its own to be called it. If you don't know what a Kusari-Gama is exactly, its a sickle/kunai attached to a length of chain. Sometimes, its two sickles tied together with a long chain, and that's the version Naruto carries.
(2)
Yes, this will be in the Naruto/Tenten fiction. What can I say? I've fallen in love with the prospects of this pairing. When I first thought this out, I wanted to involve Astrology in this story. However, I decided it would make things to complicated, so it was tossed out. This story is going to involve Every Last One of the Konoha Twelve, and it's most likely going to be even longer than my last story!!! I hope you enjoy it.
KPAAF