To The Marrow

Shell of Myself

Last Time:

After everything calmed down everyone went to bed including Naruto, who stayed in the guest bedroom. They'll need plenty of rest for what was to come ...

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"Hurry up, idiot!" Sasuke called out as Naruto carried a heavy box their new client gave them to deliver.

Sakura giggled, "Aren't those goggles cute, Sasuke? He's actually thinking he'll be a real ninja." She whispered to Sasuke, who had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing. Due to suppressing his laughter he ended up snorting just as the blonde got close.

Naruto heard Sasuke snort as he ran over to them, "I'm moving. I'm moving. Get off your high horse, Sasuke. Geez, you complain a lot for someone just standing in the shade." He said with a mix of annoyance and teasing in his tone, making it sound like he thought Sasuke was just being an ass like usual and was trying to get back at him.

In truth Naruto heard the entire conversation. However, he had to play along no matter how mad he was at them. The two fake teammates had no problem leading him around and he couldn't do much to stop it. All he could do was try to get under their skin, which wasn't going to be easy considering they were trained higher ranked ninjas.

Sasuke scoffed, "Whatever, idiot. Where'd you get those cheap goggles? Can you even see through those?" He muttered despite being well aware of what brand of goggles they were. Actually he was a little jealous that Naruto managed to get some.

On the other hand, Sakura was more curious especially since the demon stigma should make it impossible to get decent equipment. After all, why would he need any when he was meant to be dangled in front of dangerous situations, but unknowingly be protected by Sasuke and Sakura? Ideally he'd never need to actually fight or grow strong.

The blonde grinned, "Ayame and Teuchi gave them to me for doing that taste test last week."

Sakura smiled, "How sweet of them." She kindly, but then immediately glanced at Sasuke.

There's a few reasons that civilians aren't allowed to buy ninja equipment. Mainly because ninjas can't be left without the very things they need to complete missions. There was one time a brat wanted a ninja themed party. So many genuine pieces of ninja gear were bought that there was a shortage and missions were delayed. As a result the hokage made all civilians return the gear and banned the sale of such things to civilians.

Obviously, everyone handed everything back save for the parents of the brat who started the mess, who were pissed. They demanded compensation and a fully paid birthday party in the hokage tower since the hokage was the one who ruined their son's party. On top of that the brat cut his finger on the kunai his parents bought. Of course, the parents tried to use that as another excuse. The hokage answered the parents with a couple questions ...

Would you walk into your kitchen, pick up the sharpest knife and give it to their son should he ask for it? If not, then why give him a sharpened weapon that only a trained killer would use?

That question enraged the parents. However, before they could accuse him of calling them bad parents they were treated to a detailed lecture about consequences. Included in the lecture was the amount of money that Konoha lost due to the delay, which led to some canceled missions. In the end all the civilians were thankful, albeit still sulky, that they were only told to give the gear back even if they didn't get any money back. It was far better than potentially being forced to help cover the cost for the lost mission funds.

Another reason the two Anbu were curious was because of Naruto. The blonde wasn't allowed a fighting chance. Therefore no one wanted to risk the decoy getting good equipment and trying to bolt.