A/N: Wow. Just... wow. I've never had that many reviews on a single chapter of anything before. And it's only gotten a fraction of the hits my other storys have! I hope I like up to the rather high standards that set me. Now, on with chapter two of Weapons of Life!
The morning after the fire, Naruto stretched as he woke up. He blinked for a minute, as he tried to remember where he was. Then he remembered that he was in the Hokage's office. The man had stayed with him there all night, working while Naruto slept. A frown engulfed his face as he remembered the fire, the villagers, the chant. But he started smiling as he remembered other things. The ninja who saved him, the Ramen that Ichiraku had made him after he got to the Hokage Tower, the nice old man that stayed up with him and taught him things he had never heard of before. If it hadn't been for the fire and the terror it brought, it would have undoubtedly been the best day of his life.
With a now-familiar puff of smoke, Kakashi appeared. Sarutobi looked up and sighed. "Is it too much trouble to use the door, Kakashi?" The Hokage sighed again as Kakashi nodded. "So, what's your answer?"
Kakashi smiled, his exposed eye shaped like a crescent moon. "Rin is out buying him stuff right now. And we'd like to adopt him, not just have him live with us."
Sarutobi gave a knowing smile. "I thought you might think that." He reached under his desk and pulled out adoption papers, which Kakashi signed without a second thought. Sarutobi looked over at Naruto, who was sitting in his seat in stunned surprise. "Do you hear that, Naruto-kun? You have a family now!"
Naruto blinked for a moment, still stunned. Then, in a blur of yellow and orange, Naruto latched onto Kakashi's neck. "TOU-SAN!" he yelled. Kakashi gave Naruto and unpracticed hug (he never really hugged anyone by Rin before), which Naruto returned with extreme intensity.
After a few minutes of extreme hugging, Naruto let go and dropped back to the floor. Rubbing the back of his head with his hand, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Tou-San."
Under his mask, Kakashi smiled again. "No problem at all, Naruto-kun." He said. "What do you say we go meet your kaa-san?" Naruto grinned wider, then nodded enthusiastically.
Kakashi grabbed Naruto and swung him onto his shoulders, so he was giving Naruto a piggyback ride. Then, instead of teleporting out like he usually did, he jumped out of the open window. Sarutobi listened to the whoops of adrenaline and joy from Naruto as the two bounded over rooftops. 'I think that was one of the best decisions I've made since I became Hokage.' He thought.
"Hey, Tou-san!" Naruto yelled at Kakashi.
Kakashi winced, because Naruto had just screamed into his ear. "What's up, Naruto-kun?" Naruto's next statement caught him completely by surprise.
"I want to be a ninja! A really good one!"
Once again, Kakashi grinned. "Good! We'll train you to be the best ninja ever!"
"Thanks, Tou-San!"
By this time, they had arrived back at Kakashi's house. Kakashi landed on the ground outside the front door, and put Naruto down. Inside, Rin heard the noise of the them landing and went to greet them.
As Rin walked outside, Kakashi nudged Naruto. "That's your Kaa-San, Naruto-kun. Go say hello to her." Naruto looked at Rin, who was staring back at him.
'He looks just like sensei.' She thought. But then her thoughts were blown off track by a sudden impact to her midsection. Rin looked down, and saw Naruto latched onto her, giving her the biggest hug she had ever gotten. Quickly, she kneeled down and returned it. "Hi, Kaa-san!" she exclaimed.
"It's nice to meet you, Naruto-kun." She said with a trembling voice.
The rest of the day was taken up with Naruto getting to know his new foster parents, and being shown around the house. He learned that Rin and Kakashi had been on the same gennin team when they were younger, and that Rin was an extremely good medical ninja. When he was shown his room, already stocked with all the things Rin bought for him, he began to cry before he grabbed both Kakashi and Rin in a tight group hug. They wrapped they day up with an exceptional dinner prepared by Rin.
"Well, Naruto-kun, tomorrow I think we'll start your training." Kakashi said after dinner.
Rin looked up from her meal in surprise. "Training? As in Ninja training? Kakashsi, don't you think it's a little early for that?"
Kakashi grinned under his mask. "We'll start slow, weights and the leaf exercise, and some weapons training, but we'll be far ahead when he gets to the academy. I'll handle the physical part, you take care of the mental part."
"Are you sure Naruto-kun wants to be a ninja?"
At this point, Naruto himself answered the question. "No. I don't want to be a ninja. I want to be the BEST NINJA EVER!"
Rin looked expressionless for a moment, then a wide grin spread over her face. 'He truly is sensei's son.' "Well, if you want to be the best, you're going to have to train hard and be stronger then both me and your Tou-San."
"I'll train hard! I'll be better then both Kaa-san and Tou-san, and even Oji-san!" Naruto exclaimed.
The next morning, Rin woke Naruto up from a very sound sleep. "Good Morning, Naruto-kun!" She pulled the blinds open, letting the sun shine in on him. Naruto, like most young boys, pulled the covers over his head.
"Five more minutes, Kaa-san." He said. Rin grabbed the blanket, and pulled it off.
"Nope! Get dressed, and meet me downstairs!" Naruto shook the slumber out of his eyes, then nodded and obediently got up and began groping for clothes. In five minutes, he was dressed in his new clothes and downstairs, eating. Surprisingly, his new clothes weren't orange. Or at least, not entirely orange. He was wearing a black and orange bodysuit, with pockets everywhere. He also had one comfortable boots and fingerless gloves. Down around his neck was a black and orange mask that would look just like Kakashi's once it was pulled up.
While he ate, Rin told him what he would be doing that day. "First, you will have an hour-long warm-up with Tou-san that will probably include a lot of running and stretching. Then, he'll teach you the basics of hand-to-hand combat, otherwise known as Taijutsu. He'll be training you in the standard style until you find one you wish to focus one. Then, another hour on missile weapons, like kunai and shuriken. Then I'll lecture you on history and assorted shinobi things like the ninja code, basics, and strategy. Then Kakashi will spend the rest of the day with you on chakra control, close combat weapons, and stealth. After that, you can do what you want as long as it's not too destructive. Sound good?" Naruto sat there for a moment.
"I didn't really understand all that, but I guess I'll pick it up. Sounds good, Kaa-san!"
When Naruto went outside, Kakashi was waiting. "Ok, the first thing to do is put these on." As he said that, he threw two wrist bands and two ankle bands at Naruto, who easily caught them and put them on.
"What are these, Tou-san?"
"Those, Naruto-kun, are sealed weight bands. Do you know what chakra is?" Naruto shook his head. "Kaa-san will teach you that later. Well, those bands have special seal on them that absorb a small quantity of your chakra, and use it to gain weight. They naturally way one pound each, but they will absorb another pound worth of chakra every week. So they may be light now, but they'll be heavy soon enough. Only, you'll have worked up to the weight so it will seem like nothing. Do you understand?" Naruto shook his head again. "Ok, basically, they'll make you super strong if you don't take them off unless you need to." Naruto let out a cheer at that.
"Good, I'm glad you like them. Now start running laps around the house! Run five!" Naruto took off, and was back in ten minutes breathing much more heavily then he had been before. "Good job. That was fast. Now, start with some stretches!"
After an hour of warm-up, which included running, stretching, push-ups, sit-ups, and minor meditation, they began work on Taijutsu. Naruto proved adept at that, needing only to be shown what to do in order to do it. He was so good at it that he had absorbed the fundamentals of academy taijutsu in the session, and was beginning to work on the more advanced maneuvers which people didn't usually get to until their third year at the academy.
Missile weapons were next. The first twenty minutes were full of Kakashi talking about kunai and shuriken. Instead of the usual history Naruto was expecting, Kakashi told him about how they were used. There were five types of kunai, each having its own specific purpose. Even more, there were seventeen types of shuriken, each different in how effective they were and how they were thrown.
After that, it was lunch time and time to give his body a much needed rest while his mind worked out. Rin lectured him about shinobi conduct and history, and then gave him basics, like what chakra was, what jutsus were, and what kinds of elemental jutsus there were. There were Katon, Doton, Suiton, Fuuton, Raiton, Hyouton, Mokuton, and many more that Naruto didn't remember.
Next was chakra control. Now that Naruto knew what chakra was, he was ready to start trying to control it. He couldn't do anything with it at first, but was soon able to master the ram seal to focus it. He was terrible at controlling, but he was progressing quickly for a young boy.
The next step, a logical one following chakra control, was hand seals. Kakashi demonstrated all twelve seals, and had Naruto try to make them. Naruto had already learned ram, and picked up horse, tiger, dragon and snake quickly. But he had trouble with all the rest. At the end of the session, he could do all the seals, though only ram and snake were perfect, and he couldn't make them in any order.
But then it came time for close combat weapons. Kakashi decided it would be more efficient to have Naruto become a master at one weapon then somewhat good at many. "So, Naruto, what kind of weapon do you want to learn?"
Naruto thought for a moment. "Swords. I've always wanted to learn swords, but everyone uses them. I want something more special, different. They always lead to really cool nicknames, like, say, the orange whip of Konoha, or the dark dagger of Konoha. Something like that."
Kakashi blinked for a moment, non-plussed. "We need to go shopping."
Ten minutes later, the two were in front of the Shinkotama weapon store. "Ok, Naruto-kun, don't touch anything without me being there." Kakashi said, and waited for Naruto's answering nod before entering.
Once they were inside the weapons store, an awestruck look settled on Naruto's face. He had never seen so many weapons in one place! There were swords, staffs, shuriken, kunai, whips, kama, sickles, and even more weapons that he didn't know the names of! He walked into the store, looking over the instruments of pain.
Kakashi chuckled as he looked at his adopted son's face. 'He sure loves weapons!' he thought. Kakashi was about to follow Naruto when a man he knew came up to him. "Tenroshi-san, good to see you!"
"Kakashi-san, it is a pleasure to have you in my store once again. What will you be looking for today?"
"I'm not really sure."
The proprietor of the store was surprised. "But you only ever come here for kunai and shuriken! Decided to change up your arsenal?"
Kakashi shook his head. "No, today I'm shopping for someone else." While Kakashi was explaining the situation, Naruto was wandering through the store, looking at all the sharp and pointy objects.
'Whips? No, not my style at all. Daggers? Too sneaky, but I will need kunai. Swords? I'll probably get a katana, but I'll need something more unique. Scythes? Do I look like a shinigami?' Naruto was pondering his choices in weaponry. He kept, unconsciously, drifting back towards the swords, looking for something special.
As he looked through the shelves and racks of weapons, his breath caught. Naruto reached out and touched the most beautiful swords he had ever seen. They had handles of dark oak inlaid with gold. Their blades were steel so fine it looked almost like crystal.
A voice from behind him made him jump. "No touching, Naruto-kun." Kakashi and Tenroshi had caught up with him. "What are they, Tenroshi-san?"
In an almost reverent voice, Tenroshi said, "They are the Tsuin Yaiba." He picked up both of them, and began measuring Naruto's arms with them. They were supposed to be as long as his forearm, but they were too big. Considering he was only six and he would grow into them, that was a good thing. Naruto marveled at the two swords in Tenroshi's hand. "Well, Kakashi-san, leave it to your son to pick up the most expensive things in the place without trying."
Kakashi gaped under his mask, then said, "I don't think I've ever seen swords like those before."
"Nor will you again. These are exotic blades from the west, and we only got this one pair. They are perfectly balance, and chakra conductive. They even," he leaned over to whisper in Kakashi's ear. "They're even self-aware, and have their own conciousness!"
Kakashi looked at the two blades. "How much?"
"Well, Kakashi, there we hit an interesting idea I just had. Follow me please." Tenroshi walked into the back room, with Naruto and Kakashi following.
"Kakashi, frankly, you couldn't afford these blades without putting yourself into extreme debt. The price is the reason we haven't sold them yet. But I'm willing to give you the Tsuin Yaiba, and the scroll that has the three basic techniques for it, if you'll do me a favor."
Kakashi was wary. "First, are the techniques any good? Could you do them with any sword?"
Tenroshi answered quickly. "No, these techniques are specifically designed for the Tsuin Yaiba, and you'll never be able to use them with any other blade. The moves are Tou no Mai (Dance of the Sabers), Hagirenoyoi (Staccato), and Tora Tsume (Tiger Claws). They're the basics, and with them you can form your own techniques."
He was starting to be swayed. "What's the favor?"
"Well, my daughter Ten-Ten is supposed to start at the academy this year. Pretty much everyone there is getting basic lessons already, but I frankly don't have time with running the store. I think she would benefit more from training with you and your son instead of going to the academy. You would train her as you trained Naruto, and she would enter the academy with him next year."
Kakashi thought for a moment. He was going to be training Naruto anyway, so training Ten-Ten along with him would be no added problem. And it would be good for Naruto to make a friend with someone his own age. Rin wouldn't mind either: she had always like training children. She would have made a great Jounin instructor if she hadn't taken up the post at the hospital. "Deal."
A/N: Well, that was chapter two! I hope it was ok! Oh, and a cookie if you can guess what Anime/Game I blatently stole the Tsuin Yaiba from!