Blood In The Water: A Tenten Fan Fiction (#3 In Shifting Series)

Feminist vs. Chauvinist

Reno was really enjoying life in the Leaf village.  The slow pace of life in the village had been good for his weary soul.  He had been in the village for a month now.  It had not taken him long to get a job in the new construction.  His formidable size had the foreman hiring him on without any questions.  He spent his hours doing a wide variety of building projects.  He had found a very small house just outside of town right next to the woods.  He spent a lot of time walking through them and creating a map in his mind of the area surrounding.  It was ideal for him as he was able to walk a relatively short distance and go fishing.  He had gone hunting but his precariously low bullet supply was going to put a hinderance on it if he did not find the equipment he would need to make more bullets.

One his off days, he usually would grab his nephews and they would go on adventures together.  They had a rule, what happened on uncle day stayed at uncle day.  Sarah would probably kill him if she knew half of the things they did for fun.  The boys were adventurous, though, and he would have a blast with them.  Some times they would just go down to the river and fish, or explore new areas of the forest.  Other times, they would climb to high points on the mountain.  The two were like goats, never losing their footing and if they did start to slip they would employ their chakra skills and simply keep walking up.

Today, however, he was on a hunt for equipment he could tweak to make more bullets.  He was not about to stop hunting just because bullets didn't exist.  He knew how to make his own casings and how to mix the right amounts.  It was a skill his great-grandfather had shown him years ago when he was a kid.  One that had come in handy on numerous occasions.  Now that he was in a bullet-less world, it was essential.  He could always bow hunt but he did not enjoy it as much as carefully lining up his prey before picking it off.  He had always loved guns and weapons, that was not something that would ever change.

As he passed by one shop he slowed.  It was a weapons store and if nothing else, they would have the components for the gunpowder he would need.  It looked like the business was almost dead.  From what he understood, now that it was peaceful for the most part he could well imagine that business was almost dried up.

Reno stepped into the shop and was instantly intrigued by all the weapons that were about the room.  At the counter, a young woman with long brown hair and wide brown eyes looked at him with an expression of hope? He would have smiled at that had he not been wondering what a girl like her was doing operating a weapons shop.  She looked delicate and not the type to carry much knowledge on the subject matter.  He groaned inwardly, hopefully she would know what he was talking about and not just be another pretty show piece to lure men inside.

It was his observation that women in the Leaf were predominantly housewives or working in locations best suited to women.  It was one of the things he liked so much about the Leaf.  He did not necessarily think that women were incapable but in his world, they often would try to do thing that they just physically couldn't do.  It wasn't that they were weaker per say, just not equipped like a man was in some areas.

Men and women were designed to be different from one another.  Not that some of them couldn't fight.  He had his ass beat by a woman or two in his time.  It just wasn't often and they usually looked more like men than women.

He was intrigued by how many weapons were in the shop.  He could not help but look at each and every piece as he went through the store.  He found a crossbow that would work well as a substitute for his rifle until he got his bullets made.  He then was standing looking at a rather intricate sword when the young woman came up to him.

"Can I help you?"

Reno felt like a giant standing next to her.  She barely reached his shoulders and was so small of frame that he thought he could probably break her in half just by accident.  She was also shocking beautiful up close.  Her large brown eyes were framed by thick lashes, her lips were curved in a way that would make any man want to kiss them, and her nose was adorable on her face.  Maybe running into her wasn't such a bad thing.  It had been a while since a woman caught his fancy.