Naruto Uzumaki, a Slip of Fate.

Chapter 3

He hurt, his legs hurt, his chest hurt, every single part of his body hurt like it had been slammed by a bag full  of bricks over and over and over again.

He was begining to hate that goddamn monkey. His test to see if he would train under the Sandaime was a taijutsu spar against Enma in which he got decked by the large primal much to the amusement of the reining Hokage. The second part of the test was a shogi game versus the Kage in which after learning the game he got beat in about 20 minutes. The final part of the test was a quizz about the Shinobi life, he had done reasonably.

In the end of the day he had managed to show enough to be approved. And during the first week of the training he had learned a lot. As soon as he arrived the next day he learned about the secret of his shadow clones.

Upon getting that information the Kage made him create a 100 clones of which 25 worked on getting his knowledge up to par with use of books that the Sarutobi patriarch chose. Another 25 worked with a clone of the Kage on taijutsu. The last 50 worked on water walking and Kunai balancing. The original Naruto worked one on one with the Hokage.

And after a week Naruto was convinced of something he needed a summoning contract and a weapon. So it was no surprise that after a long and aching walk he finally arrived at a weapons store.

He composed himself and walked in his masked face in a small smile that translated to his eyes making him a eye smiling blonde version of his Sensei.

Moving slowly so that he could inspect some of the weapons, he came across a very interesting site, he through his own blue eyes saw a beautiful angel with brown hair cascading down her back.

When she turned to look at him after the bell rang he found himself looking into the beautiful chocolate brown eyes of said angel, his mouth dried up and in that moment of contemplation he did not even think of his own crush Sakura.

She started back at him their eyes meeting each other in the middle of the store that she worked at. His eyes continued to stay in her eyes but he also took in her full beautiful pink lips, she was wearing a Chinese top with pink add-ons along with brown pants that covered her long legs.

When she spoke her voice melodic and carried a nice amount of sweetness and much to his confusion he knew it from somewhere but he couldn't place it in his mind.

"Hey there Naruto right?"-she said and he nodded.

"Yeah, I don't remember your name? I apologize."-he said with an eye smile. Watching Kakashi-sensei use his eye to show expression was something he valued now.

"It's TenTen."-she added with a smile.

"I'll make sure to never forget the name of someone so beautiful ever again"-before it could stop them the words came right out of his mouth.

He knew this line because it was in one of the books that is trusted grandpa made him read and it took a lot of coaxing because it was the bright orange book that is own Sensei read.

He was now mentally cursing is Sensei and grandpa for making him read that book because he would get slugged in the face as soon as she finish interpreting those words and he was already preparing for it.

Meanwhile, TenTen was blushing due to the compliment of her blonde customer, when she saw him for the first time she dismissed him as unimpressive she even forgot his face but now now he was looking very much better without the orange eye sore and dare she say attractive.

While in during her time in the academy she had the crush on Neji, that soon disappeared when she started working with him due to his beliefs in fate and him being dismissive of everyone else around him.

Now TenTen was not really interested in anyone, this Chunnin exam also didn't show anyone of value that  caught her eye but now here was the boy she passed up as just another one complimenting her while her hair was down.

She had always been self-conscious about her hair and unlike many girls in the academy she didn't spend hours taking care of it, but still she valued it as part of herself so she always kept in her trusty buns so that even if someone tried to do something to it, it would not matter because it was safe and it helped move along without having to trip over herself because of her hair. So used to this she felt exposed when it was down and because today she was closing up the shop and it was close to closing time she felt she could let it down for a while before going for a shower.

"T-thank you."-she bit her anxiously at the short reply.

"No problem."-Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Regaining some sort of control of her slightly pink face she turned to him and spoke "So what can I do for you?"

"Uhmm well I'm looking for a Bo-Staff, Could you show them to me?"-he replied moving the conversation along.

Moving along to the section she took in his new outfit, and had to admit he looked good, she could see through the clothes a small bit of his arm and it looked muscular but not overly so.

She was also trying and failing at remembering his face from the small interactions they had before the exam.

She had always been a fan of mystery so she wondered what did he want to cover with that facemask.

Maybe a bad scar, maybe a ugly pimple, agrhh that damn mask.

As they move through the store they finally found the Bo-Staffs, Naruto let his eyes wonder through the army of weapons, finding one that called out to him was not easy after all, he spent a good 10 to 15 minutes looking around just trying to find something that would fit him when suddenly he saw it a black staff with silver add-ons on both ends and with the swirl dressing the same silver color on the ends.

He reached out grabbing it with one hand it was heavy but not overly so he took a few swings with it careful to not damage anything around him nor hurt TenTen.

"I take it you like."-came the voice of the girl as she giggled.

"Yeah I do. How much is it?"-he responded.

"10,000 ryo."-she giggled.

"I'll take it."

Coming to the registration he paid for the weapon and as he was grabbing it from the hands of TenTen he brushed his fingers upon her smaller hands but just as calloused as his own, she blushed and he noticed he supported his own pink color but his was hidden by his dark mask he carefully retrieved it and stuck it to his back using the training exercises of chakra control.

You smiled at her and gently rubbed a stray bang that was on her face using another one of the lines from the book he read.

"I hope that even if I lose and get hurt you bandage me right up my beautiful weapon mistress."-behind this mask it was a blushing mess, has he had never spoken to a girl much less one around his age like this but apparently she liked it the pink color in her cheeks growing more.

He walked out of the store calmly with his new staff strapped to his back he turned back one last time eye smiling at her and waved goodbye.

As he walked out he finally remembered he had a crush on Sakura and wondered why he had never thought of her when talking to TenTen.

                                                   .&. 

Hope you liked it.

Another chapter. Next chapter will be about the rest of the month and Naruto's character development.

Tell me your thoughts.

Cya