Chapter 8

While they waited for the trader to finish up, Tenten wandered into a shop she thought she recognized from somewhere. It was a weapons and seals shop, so she figured she might as well ask about the bow there while they were waiting. "Hello?"

"Oh, hello!" A redheaded woman sitting at the counter stood up. "How're you."

"I'm doing well," Tenten agreed. "I found a broken weapon a ways out of town, and was wondering if you might know about it."

"It's very possible, I see a lot of different weapons in here," she agreed. "I'm Spyte, pleased to meet you."

"Tenten," Tenten returned, unsealing the bow. "Here it is."

Spyte came around the counter, looking to her for permission to look over the bow.

Tenten nodded, offering the bow to her.

"Huh, this is Uzushio workmanship," Spyte mused, running her fingers over the surface of the bow. "I vaguely recognize this signature here," she turned the bow and pointed at a little carving of a music note. "It's Uzuki made, to find a weapon made of them is a rare thing. The craftsmen in their clan usually make instruments."

Tenten tilted her head. "Then is it an actual weapon, or was it disguised as a weapon?"

Spyte shrugged. "I can't tell. I'm not particularly familiar with Uzushio disguising seals. I can repair the bow, but other than that you'll have to work out what each of the seals do. I can write each of them down along with a breakdown of the symbols found in it."

"How much to repair it," Tenten decided, setting her hand over the seal she used to keep her money in.

Spyte laughed, but gave her the price.

Tenten was, admittedly mildly surprised. She'd expected more, having grown up in a weapons shop. Repairing the weapons was often more difficult than making them, as you had to ensure the weapon was still clearly the same weapon it had been.

Spyte laughed again, clapping her on the shoulder. "You've worked in a weapons shop haven't you."

Tenten flushed lightly. "Yes, I grew up in one."

"Well, I haven't seen Uzushio weaponry in decades," Spyte replied easily. "Other than my own, which isn't technically Uzushio weaponry, considering I made it here, not in Uzushio."

"You're from Uzushio?" Tenten asked, mildly shocked. She'd sort of guessed, based on the bright blood red hair Spyte had, but she didn't like to assume.

"Yep," she volunteered no further information, so Tenten left it alone.

"It would be appreciated if you could write down the seals you know though. I don't really have a sealing teacher in Konoha," Tenten added, remembering her offer from before.

"Don't ask Jiraiya if you ever see him," Spyte said, shaking her head. "A theoretical seal master maybe, but also a pervert. I'd suggest ignoring him. I have a couple books in the back if you want to read them while I repair this. It'll just be a couple of hours."

Tenten knew she did have a few hours, Gai-sensei had released them for the day, with the condition that they'd meet back up for dinner at the place the trader was. Then they'd rest in a hotel, and head back out back to Konoha in the morning. So she nodded. "I'd love to, if you don't mind."

"Back here," Spyte agreed, gesturing to a back room. "I'll be out here in the main area while I work since I don't have any other employees, so shout if you need something."

Tenten nodded agreement, pulling out one book at random.

Tenten was startled out of her reading a few hours later when Spyte put the clearly repaired bow on top of the book she was reading. "All done."

Tenten put down the book to pick up the bow. She could barely tell where it was broken, Spyte did good work. "This is really good work."

"Thanks," Spyte said, smiling when Tenten glanced up at her. "I've worked with harder materials, so that wasn't too difficult."

Tenten quickly scanned the rest of the page she'd been reading, then closed the book, putting it back on the shelf and slinging the bow over her back. "Thanks for repairing it." She held out the agreed upon amount, and Spyte took it.

"It was a pleasure working on it. Now I believe you have a team to get to."

"I do, thank you." Tenten followed Spyte out back into the front of the shop, then exited the shop itself waving goodbye to her. Spyte waved back good naturedly.

Tenten knew her teammates were probably off doing something stupid, and she didn't really feel like trying to find them, so she'd stay in the area. She could see Gai in all his bowl-cut glory a ways away, and decided to stay within eyeshot of him. It'd be easier for her, and she had no chance of getting lost.

She wandered over to what looked like a jewelry stand, looking at the very pretty jewels inset in a variety of backs in weird patterns. One, oddly, didn't look particularly like it had a gemstone in it, more like there was something clear protecting a colored backing that almost looked like snake skin. "What's this made of?" She asked the person, gesturing to it.

"Glass," he replied. "Very durable though."

Tenten hummed in quiet agreement. She wondered how they'd gotten the pattern behind the glass, as she was well aware glass had to be heated up pretty high for it to melt. Maybe they formed the covering, cooled it, then put the pattern down. Yeah, that sounded about right. "They're pretty."

"Thanks," he said, seemingly content to let her look at them.

Tenten hummed quietly, eye catching on a whirlpool hairclip. "What's that one made of?" She pointed to it.

He shrugged. "I believe it's lapis lazuli and some gold, possibly silver, but I didn't make it. Got it from a parent who got it from somewhere else."

Tenten checked the price. It wasn't bad actually, she could probably manage it fine, even with the repair of the bow, although she might want to take on an extra D-rank by herself just in case when they got back to Konoha. "I'll take it."

He handed it to her, and she handed him the money. She clipped it into her hair, holding back some of her bangs using the mirror at the stand.

"Thank you," she said, nodding to him then walking towards Gai-sensei. It was getting close to time for the team to regather together anyway.

Once standing near him, he didn't seem to notice her, or at least didn't acknowledge her, too wrapped up in what looked like aggressive letter writing. She assumed it was to his rival or something, and leaned against one of the wagons, absently flicking a tendril of chakra at the hair clip.

She blinked and looked down as she felt her toes get wet, and found a swirling puddle of water at her feet. Huh. So she'd been right, it was a piece of Uzushio jewelry. She cut the chakra connection to the hair clip, and the water stopped moving. She'd have to test if more chakra made a bigger puddle, if she could stand in the middle of it, and if it would draw on existing water. That was for at home however, and would have to wait.

Lee and Neji came in from opposite directions, and honestly she wasn't surprised in the least. Of course they'd headed in opposite directions and directly away from each other.

"That is a very pretty clip!" Lee informed her loudly.

"Thanks," Tenten said, smiling and stepping out of the puddle. She shook the water off of her shoes, although couldn't really do anything about the water inside her shoe. It'd just have to dry out.

Neji seemed unimpressed, but Tenten wasn't all that surprised. He was rarely impressed by anything.