Chapter 7

Tenten eyed the abandoned camp. "Are you completely sure there's no one there any longer?"

Gai nodded firmly. "There wouldn't be. The samurai of the Land of Iron are very firm in their views on bandits. There may have been at some point, but I can assure you that they are here no longer."

Tenten nodded. It looked like everything had been left behind, which was a bit odd. Mostly undamaged too, which was even stranger. Huh, what was that bow laying on the ground? "I'm gonna check something out, I'll be right back," she said distractedly to Gai, already heading for the broken bow.

It looked like a long bow, something she was familiar with, although didn't use often due to the specific muscles it needed being something that would come with practice, which she unfortunately, didn't really have time for. It looked to be made of both wood and metal, intricately carved with seals.

She only recognized a couple, the ones for durability mostly, and didn't see any alarm or trap seals, so she picked it up.

Nothing happened, so she sealed it away and hurried to rejoin the main group.

"What was it?" Gai asked curiously.

"A broken bow," she replied, humming. "It had seals all over it, the only ones I recognized were for durability. I'll probably ask about it either while we're there, or when we get back to Konoha."

"Good idea," Gai praised easily. "My advice is to do both! It will get you more opinions! After the fall of Uzushio, the Land of Iron became one of the top weapons makers in the Elemental nations!" 

Tenten nodded in agreement. It made sense. Although what was with mentioning Uzushio? "Wasn't Uzushio known for their seals?"

Gai nodded. "Correct! However, they also had high concentrations of chakra sensitive metal! They really only sold weapons to Konoha, and most chakra sensitive blades you'll find in Konoha were made in Uzushio!"

"Like the White Fang's blade?" Tenten asked. She'd always been curious about how that had been made. And where.

"Yes! That is one of the best examples of something made there! It's rumored the Seven Swords were also made in Uzushio, although got stolen by Kiri! No one is quite sure whether that's true or not though."

It made a bit of sense, Tenten had always wondered how Kiri had managed to make the swords, and why they hadn't made any others. "Did they always use the metal for weapons?" She remembered Genma's note about musical genjutsu, and the clan that used it.

"No! They also made the best instruments this side of anywhere!" Gai grinned impossibly wider. "The sound from their instruments was supposedly the best of any place. Unfortunately, most Uzushio instruments were lost in the fall, so it is very rare to find anything like it now days. They also used it in jewelry sometimes!"

"Jewelry?" Genma hadn't mentioned that from what she could remember.

"Yes!" Gai nodded enthusiastically. "My Rival Kakashi has a pendant from his father made by Uzushio jewelers. I believe it allows him to talk to wolves! He doesn't wear it often, as there is almost nothing like it anymore."

"I wonder if it can be found any more," Tenten mused. She knew Uzushio had been mostly ransacked when it fell, almost anything of any value taken away and sold.

"It's possible," Gai agreed, slightly quieter. "However it is very nearly indistinguishable from normal jewelry unless one knows how to find and activate it."

Tenten hummed distractedly. It kind of made sense? She didn't think the jewelry would have a noticeable activation thing, that was just asking for trouble. "What sort of things would the jewelry do? Other than Kakashi's talking to wolves one." Sue her, she was curious! And Gai seemed to know about it, so it wouldn't hurt to use some of the remaining trip to Iron to get some questions answered.

"Well, they'd do all sorts of things!" Gai replied. "It depended on the maker and the jewelry. Sometimes you'd get a seal based thing that would turn you into a seal. Or it'd let you talk to seals. Or it'd actually let you manipulate water with a bit more ease. It was all a toss up."

Tenten tilted her head. "Why were the uses so different between one piece of jewelry?"

"Uzumaki are distractible. They like random things doing random things. Sometimes, there'll be identical pieces of jewelry that'll do different things. Kakashi has accidentally been turned into a wolf when he activated the necklace he thought was his fathers, but was actually a different piece. Kushina had swapped them out when he wasn't looking."

Tenten snorted. "Sounds like fun."

"I've only used two pieces in my life," Gai said somewhat wistfully. "One turned me into a turtle! I still have it of course, although can't really use it unless I'm in water. Turtles are not land animals, unlike the tortoises I summon."

Tenten nodded. "What was the other?"

Gai laughed. "A breathing underwater one! It was an adventure! Breathing underwater jewelry often means you can't really breathe above water, simply because there is more oxygen in water!"

"Huh," Tenten muttered. She hadn't really thought of it like that, but it was cool.

"I am not in possession of that one, it belonged to Kushina! She merely allowed me to try it out for a single challenge with Kakashi!"

Tenten wondered if she wanted to know. The city they were going to wasn't visible yet, so she decided that it was going to pass the time. "What challenge?"

"Who could adapt to one piece of Uzushio jewelry the quickest! Kushina provided ones that would prove troublesome to us! I won that one!"

Tenten hummed. "What did Kakashi get?"

"A fox pendant! He had the ears and tail from it for a week before it wore off!"

Tenten choked on nothing as she tried to imagine that. She couldn't quite manage it. She bet it had been hilarious though. "I can imagine how annoying that must have been."

"He kept sitting on it," Gai admitted, laughing. "He got supremely annoyed at chairs with backs as well! He sat almost exclusively on the ground or on a stool the entire time. He vowed never to wear a piece of jewelry he didn't know what it did ever again."

Tenten snorted. It sounded hilarious. Oh, was that the city!? She hoped it was, she was tired of walking for endless miles.