As Toji strolled down Tea Avenue, he couldn't help but marvel at the bustling energy of the street. Food vendors hawked their wares, their savory scents wafting through the air and mingling with the chatter of passersby. The aroma of freshly grilled meats and steaming bowls of noodles filled the air, tempting Toji's senses with their tantalizing allure.
Despite his disciplined approach to nutrition, Toji couldn't resist the occasional indulgence in street food. The dango sticks he had just purchased were a welcome treat, their sweet and chewy texture providing a satisfying contrast to his usual diet of fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. It was a small indulgence, but one that brought a brief moment of pleasure amidst the rigors of his daily routine.
As he walked, Toji's thoughts turned to Naruto and the academy. While Toji had been granted a reprieve from classes due to his monthly doctor's appointments, Naruto was still hard at work honing his skills as a ninja. Toji couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy at his friend's boundless energy and enthusiasm, even as he admired his determination to succeed.
It was where Naruto sunk most of his money after most of his academy classes. A habit Toji was trying to shake out of him, to no avail. The blonde simply loved ramen too much. Plus it was one of the only food stands that fed him willingly. Toji could let it go. He just wouldn't show the blonde idiot any mercy whenever he asked for money. They each got equal allowances. No way he was wasting his money so the blonde could eat more ramen.
Not his fault Naruto always moaned about not having any money for ninja supplies. That one was all on him. Toji could forgive mistakes in training. The one thing Toji wouldn't forgive was an idiot wasting what little money they were given.
Toji had just finished his first stick of dango when he heard the academy bell ring, signaling the end of classes for the day. He stood back across the road from the academy as the parents for most of the other kids waited just outside. He could see the Yamanaka and Akimichi clan parents standing together. Just off to the side were some Uchiha. And further away from almost all of them was the Hyuuga.
He hardly ever saw any Nara, Inuzuka, or Aburame parents. They usually let their kids have more freedom than the other main clans. The Yamanaka and Akimichi were more like helicopter parents where the Uchiha and Hyuuga just wanted to control every moment of their kids' schedules.
Toji was almost glad he was an orphan. He didn't think he could handle having parents butting in to his every action. He just wished the Uchiha who came occasionally would stop sending him looks. He wasn't dumb. Toji knew how similar he looked to them. He wouldn't be surprised if he was in some way related. But there was no way in hell he was ever getting involved in clan politics. It was too similar to the damn Zen'in. Just the thought of them gave him a bad taste in his mouth.
It wasn't long until all the kids were streaming out and Toji felt suddenly like a parent when Naruto came rushing over. He noticed the blonde had recognized his scent before spotting him. His nose was getting better. It was one thing he noticed the two of them had in common; their sense of smell and hearing was heightened compared to those of a normal child. Toji wasn't quite sure what gave Naruto the same kind of senses as Toji himself had, but perhaps it was just an innate technique he was born with, or as this world called it, a kekkei genkai.
"Ooo! What'd you buy?!"
Toji handed over the three dango sticks he had graciously bought for Naruto with his own money while he munched on his last one.
"Just some dango. The usual sugar fix the doc recommended. Were there any new things I missed?"
"Nah." Naruto said before he took a big bite out of his first dango stick. "Jusht the ushual lesshons on chakra conhtorl."
"Ew. Don't talk with your mouth full."
Naruto grinned before he swallowed and continued talking.
"Anyway! We're going to practice new stuff today right? You said you had something new planned!"
"Yeah." Toji crumpled up the paper bag the dango came in and stuck it in a pocket. He'd throw it away when he got home. "We have to go buy the supplies first. Come on, let's get there before the rest of the afternoon crowd does."
Toji dashed off in a run and Naruto was quick to catch up with him. This had become a normal way for them to travel through the village. It also served as a form of training. Toji mapped out the most direct route through the village in his head, and treated it like an obstacle course. They'd run between houses, over fences, drop down retaining walls, and jump over roofs when they were close enough together.
Essentially he was teaching Naruto parkour. He knew it was almost redundant when most ninja could use chakra to boost their speed and use it to stick to surfaces, but Toji still thought it was good practice for training the body on how to react to new surroundings. Especially if you needed to avoid an opponent. The more obstacles between them and you gave you more time to think of a counterattack.
Naruto had been making leaps and bounds in progress too. The blonde was always competitive and loved winning their races, so he was always pushing himself to find new ways to slide between obstacles to cut down on time. Again, Toji was quite surprised at how quick witted his blonde friend was. While he wasn't the smartest when it came to his studies, his mind was quick to pick up on tactics and decision making.
Sometimes Toji almost thought he could see the image of what kind of Hokage Naruto would make.
Spotting the material shop in question, Toji stopped on top of the roof of a nearby building. They were well into the market square in the center of the village now. It was full of shops that sold anything ranging from weapons, clothes, toys, and foreign-wares. The multi-tiered structure of all the shops made it quite fun to run around in as well. Something the shop owners always yelled at the two of them about.
He felt the misplacement of air as Naruto stumbled to a stop beside him. While he was quite good at the running portion of parkour, his landings still made him stumble a bit.
"Which one is it?"
"There." Toji pointed to a weapon shop that had a sign hanging over it in the shape of a kunai crossing over a shuriken. Written in katakana below the sign were the words 'Lei-Feng Weapons' .
"Huh? Lei-Feng? What kind of language is that?"
Toji shrugged. "I don't know what it's called. But I heard it's from the lands beyond Earth and Wind Country. Some of the smaller countries between them speak the language from those lands. Konoha gets immigrants from them sometimes."
"What are immigrants?" Asked Naruto in confusion.
"They're people who move away from their country and move into a new country."
"Oh."
"The point is, it's a new shop and they probably don't know enough about us yet to overcharge us. Which is why we're gonna shop here for the supplies we need."
"Oh! Good idea!"
Toji slid off the edge of the roof he was on and hung off the edge for a second before dropping down and rolling as he hit the ground. Naruto was right behind him and used his hands to spring out of the roll and onto his feet. He always used that move whenever he had the chance. His blonde friend loved to show off any chance he got.
It didn't take much time for them to enter the shop and the sounds of the market disappeared as the door closed behind them. Weapons of different sizes and shapes lined the walls and the smell of metal polish tickled both of their noses. In the center of the shop's main floor were a few racks with different ninja supplies, including, but not limited to, ninja-wire, fuinjutsu scrolls, fuinjutsu ink, premade seals, body mesh, and ninja wear.
There was a subtle scent of incense, and when Toji turned towards the counter where a little girl sat, Toji spotted the small shrine located up on a high place on the wall. It tickled more than the smell of metal polish did. He tried not to sneeze.
The girl brightened up when she noticed them. She had brown hair up in two buns and her brown eyes were wide in excitement.
"Oh! Hi! Welcome to Lei-Feng Weapons! My dad just stepped out to pick up some supplies so I'm watching the shop! I'm Tenten! What's your name?"
Toji had been about to open his mouth when she cut him off.
"Oh wait! I recognize you! You go to the academy right? We're in different classes but I see you on the playground sometimes!" Exclaimed the girl.
Naruto jumped in when he recognized Toji's building irritation. "Yeah! We do! We're actually here to buy some stuff. Right Toji?"
Toji grumbled under his breath and tried to control the crease in his brows. "Yeah. You have scrolls and ink for fuinjutsu right? We need a few of each."
"What?" Naruto pouted. "Fuinjutsu? I thought we were gonna buy cooler stuff, like new kunai or shuriken or something."
"Hey! Don't knock fuinjutsu! It's really cool and super versatile!" Tenten seemed to be vibrating in her seat. "Did you know the three Sannin used fuinjutsu for a lot of their techniques?! I'm gonna be like Tsunade and use seals to store power and be as strong as her!"
Naruto was a little taken aback by the strange girl's excitement over the subject, but seemed to settle when she mentioned fuinjutsu being used by the Sannin.
"Really? Well...I guess if the Sannin used it then it has to be kinda cool. It just...seems kinda boring to learn is all."
It was after Naruto finished saying this that an older man came out of the back carrying a large box in his arms. He had large shoulders and equally large biceps, but was softer around the middle. The beard and mustache around his face did a lot to soften the harsh furrow of his brows.
"Hmm? Customers?" His brown eyes took in both Toji and Naruto. "Do you know them, Tenten?"
"Nope!" She bounced off her chair and walked over to them. "But can I play with them, baba? They said they wanna buy fuinjutsu scrolls and I wanna help them pick out the best stuff!"
"Ah, so you are customers. Of course. I'll be here when you're ready to purchase."
Tenten took charge of the two of them and led them over to a rack filled with different sorts of paper, scrolls, ink, and brushes. Toji was still a bit irritated at how he couldn't get a word in with this new girl around, so he just clicked his teeth and followed after Tenten and Naruto. It at least seemed like they weren't corrupted by the rest of the village when it came to their view on Naruto yet, so he could let it slide. This time.
"If you're gonna learn fuinjutsu more in depth than what the academy teaches us, you're gonna need this book." She took it off the shelf and set it in Naruto's arms before he could argue. "I've read through it all and trust me it's great!"
She then continued to pile on notebooks, scrolls, brushes, and ink jars into Naruto's arms. His blonde friend almost couldn't see over the pile. "H-Hey, wait, how much are you gonna hand me?!"
"Oh you're right. Sorry, I should have given some to your friend too...wait what are you guys names?"
Rolling his eyes, Toji started putting back duplicates of items he knew he didn't need, nor could afford. "My name's Toji."
"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm gonna be Hokage!"
Toji grabbed the items that were in Naruto's hands, now down to one notebook, one scroll, and two pairs of brushes with two bottles of ink. It would be enough for them to get started on fuinjutsu and should last them until Toji was able to get more money from donating blood again.
Toji brought the items over to the counter Tenten's father was at and listened in to the conversation as he rang the items up.
"Really? You're gonna be Hokage? Isn't that like the leader of the village? No way! That's so cool!"
"Eheheheheh."
Naruto's signature embarrassed laugh was easy to spot. Maybe she wasn't so bad. Most people who knew Naruto around the village always made fun of him for it. Toji decided he could put up with her if she kept treating Naruto the way she was.
"Well I'm gonna be as strong as Tsunade-sama and she's practically Hokage level strength, so that means we already have a lot in common!"
Toji had just taken the bag of the supplies he paid for when Tenten came to stand beside him.
"Baba! Can I go play with them? I'll come back before dark! Pleeeaaassse?"
Toji didn't know when his plans for the day had been commandeered but by the excited look on Naruto's face, Toji knew they suddenly had a new friend who was going to be following them around. She did seem to know a lot about fuinjutsu, however, and Toji was willing to put up with any annoyance from her if it meant she would help teach him more about the subject.
Toji had been an expert freeloader in his past life, after all. Especially with women. This wasn't quite the same, but the concept was. Make a woman happy and reap the rewards.
Or in this case, put up with a potentially annoying brat and take advantage of her knowledge.
"Hmm. Alright Tenten. Just be careful. And come back before curfew. You boys watch over her, you hear?"
Toji nodded and followed Naruto and their new companion Tenten as they left the shop. The more he thought about being friends with Tenten the better the idea became.
A future full of discounted weapons was slowly unfolding before his eyes.