TSoL Chapter 10 - Friends with no friends

"Hokage-sama! There is information on the object Uzumaki Naruto."

In a spacious office with open windows, an elderly man in a white cape with a large white hat and a pipe in his mouth looked at the Anbu agent who was kneeling in front of him, and exhaling smoke, said:

"Oh, great, it's been a while since I checked how Naruto-kun is doing. I sent you yesterday to check him" drawing in another batch of smoke, he continued, "is everything all right with him? Did he have any problems because of his pranks?"

"No, Hokage-sama. After the incident with the painted faces of all the kage at the monument, Uzumaki Naruto hasn't done anything like that again, and at the moment, he shows positive improvements in both his studies and his character." the anbu agent in a bear mask reported, still kneeling and not daring to change positions without an order.

Surprised, old man Sarutobi replied:

"Hoh... Really?" taking another puff of smoke, Sarutobi smiled and said, "It looks like Naruto-kun is starting to grow up. Well, it's good to hear that he's finally got his head around."

Sarutobi approached Anbu and took the scroll from him, after which he asked:

"Is this the whole report?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" answered the agent, still not changing position.

"Hmm…" unrolling the scroll, Sarutobi checked the contents, "Good job. Dismiss."

"Hai!" with these words, the anbu disappeared into the shunshin.

Walking over to the window, Sarutobi began to read the scroll until he finally came to the point where it was about Naruto's change of clothes. After reading the description, the Hokage could not help but be surprised, as it was very similar to what his father wore in his youth. Perhaps the red-orange edging was a distinctive feature of Naruto himself.

Smiling warmly, Sarutobi thought:

«Minato, your son is starting to look more like you,» then after reading the part about the conflict with the boy from the Inuzuka clan, the Hokage laughed slightly, «but he still seems to be showing more of Uzumaki's side. Kushina-chan would clearly be delighted.»

After finishing reading, the Hokage returned to his desk and thought again:

«By the way, the time will soon come to pay the orphan's allowance. Perhaps it is worth adding Naruto a little more this time, as I hope that now that he has decided to take up his studies, he will spend the money on his training, and not on gimmicks. And I hope that he has not forgotten about me and will visit me at that time.»

After smoking tobacco in his pipe, the Hokage ended his break, and with a weary glance at the stack of papers returned to work.

* * * * * * * * * *

[Mission "Defeat 30 Clones using Namikaze basic fighting style" - completed.]

[Reward - Fuin Seal of Resistance.]

"YES, I DID IT DATTEBAYO!... Ha.... ha... ha…" with severe shortness of breath, covered in bruises and mud, a satisfied blond boy was lying on the ground.

At that moment, Minato and Kushina appeared next to Naruto, and the red-haired woman spoke happily:

"Hey Naruto, we're back, how are you... doing...?" seeing the state of her son, the woman was a little taken aback, and suddenly ran up to him, asked, "Naruto! What happened?"

"Huh? What?" Naruto noticed his parents just now, and lifting himself up heavily into a sitting position, he replied with a slightly frowning smile, "Ah, this... System-chan, that's what happened. She wanted me to fight thirty of my clones using the basic taijutsu of the Namikaze clan. And so you know, they used the same thing."

Hearing this, Minato was surprised and said:

"Naruto, where did you learn this style?"

"From system-chan, where else could I have learned this?" Naruto didn't quite understand why the creator of this seal system was so surprised.

Seeing his son's face full of confusion, whom Kushina had already managed to take into her arms, Minato smiled and answered:

"I just did not expect that the Seal of Legacy has developed so much that it can already transfer the knowledge of taijutsu to you. It's not as easy as showing the seals with explanations for the ninja technique." Minato's gaze clearly showed pride in his creation.

Hearing his words, Naruto snorted a little and said:

"Pf, this is not System-chan's only ability. This style was a reward for winning sparring, but the punishment was a ban on meeting you," he finished with a slight sadness in his voice.

Hearing his words, Kushina and Minato looked at each other and asked him to retell everything. This is exactly what Naruto did, and by the end of the story, the parents' reactions were different.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Well done, Naruto! Let those flea Inuzuka know their place, dattebane!" Kushina was completely happy with her son's performance.

Minato, on the other hand, was a little thoughtful, showing a hint of frown on his face. When Kushina stopped laughing, he said:

"Naruto. Apparently, the development of the Seal of Legacy is proceeding in a rather unpredictable manner, and although my mother and I still have some influence on it, over time, this influence will be minimized. So there is a possibility that the system will really be able to block our ability to go outside, in the event of your failure of these "missions"."

Hearing this, Naruto tensed slightly, and Kushina, who was still holding him in her arms, felt it. Looking at her son, she said warmly:

"Don't worry Naruto. You have completed Seal of Legacy missions more than once. So I'm sure nothing will change in the future."

Hearing his mother's words, and seeing his father nod in agreement, Naruto perked up, and jumped to his feet said:

"Right! All I have to do is just complete every damn mission of the System-chan, dattebayo!"

Seeing the rapid change in their son's mood, Minato and Kushina smiled, after which Minato said to his son:

"If you have such a high attitude, then it's time for us to continue your training, so that in the future, no mission could catch you by surprise. What do you say?" Minato asked, placing his hand on his son's head.

"Um! I'm always ready, dad!"

Smiling happily, Minato nodded to Kushina, and together they began teaching and training their son.

Over the next week, Naruto trained both in the art of shinobi, including Fuin, and in playing the guitar, where he even began composing his own song.

During his breaks, he enjoyed spending time with Tenten, sparring with her and practicing his bukijutsu. At the moment, he was explaining to her the final details of how to complete her seal of the twin dragon scrolls containing a huge arsenal of various throwing weapons.

"Okay, now that the basic seal design is ready, I would suggest that you leave the formula open so that you can add an additional function to the weapon release." Naruto ran his finger over the scroll, pointing Tenten in the right place.

Watching his finger closely, Tenten asked:

"What kind of function are we talking about?" Tenten's face was filled with heightened interest, as she was intrigued by the possibility of somehow improving this technique.

"Well, it's hard for me to explain, because I only recently found out about it myself, so I still don't fully understand all the details. But if we speak in a completely primitive language, then there is such a thing as an elemental transformation, and it is associated with chakra." Naruto scratched the back of his head, trying to explain what he didn't fully understand himself yet.

"Elemental... transformation?" Tenten frowned, trying to remember the term, but nothing came of it. "I'm not sure I studied this at the academy. And this is strange, because I am a year older than you. Where did you find out about this, and how does it relate to an additional feature in my Seal?"

Naruto sat with his arms crossed and closed his eyes a little thought, choosing the correct answer, since he did not want to talk about his parents, so he picked up a more or less believable answer:

"Well, I often visit the library, so I get all the information from there," then opening his eyes, Naruto looked at Tenten, and continued with a smile, "and as for your seal, this most elemental transformation of the chakra can become quite a strong support in your attack, as it can give the weapon additional offensive power," but then, Naruto smiled bitterly, and added, "I'm not yet sure how it all works, and how to do it, so I can't say anything more yet. That is why we will leave the formula open in order to return to it in the future and improve it."

Nodding, Tenten began to collect her scrolls, and after a while she looked at Naruto strangely, and slightly fidgeting in place, cautiously asked:

"Listen, Naruto..." Irritated from her own indecision, the girl slapped her face with her palms, knocking out all the indecision out of herself, thereby startling Naruto.

With her cheeks reddened from the blow, the girl looked resolutely at the guy, and said:

"We have been training together for a whole week, but we have never spent time just like that, outside of training" taking a pause to observe the reaction of the guy who showed a slight surprise at the realization of her words, she continued, "I have almost no friends, so that I don't know much about this, but... How do you look at just taking a walk, and perhaps having a snack somewhere in the village, what do you think?"

Hearing her offer, Naruto's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly, making him speechless. It was at this moment that his conversations with his mother were replayed in his head.

* * * * * * * * * *

(Flashback)

"Naruto, in this lesson, you and I will discuss how best to communicate with girls so that your mom can see her grandchildren as soon as possible!" Kushina said with a bright and sly smile.

"M... MOM! I thought we were going to do seals!" Confused and flushed, Naruto was too startled by his mother's so frank statement.

"Oh no, you already absorb information like a sponge, and have already learned too much for your age, so today, your generous mommy will tell you a little about a girl's heart, so listen carefully and remember. After all, you are such a cutie, and I am sure that this knowledge will be useful to you very soon!"

"Um... i... okay..." Naruto still blushed as he listened to her words, but didn't resist. He may not have shown it, but this topic was no less interesting to him than shinobi techniques. He never knew how to communicate with the opposite sex, which was more than once confirmed by beating from Sakura or irritating other girls. Perhaps this will help him become less of a failure in this matter.

Seeing that her son was ready to listen, Kushina nodded contentedly and lifted her finger like an all-knowing guru and began to explain.

"So, let's start with how to understand that a girl likes you. First you need to understand that no matter how they all behave, and no matter what character they have, the way of thinking and behavior in the question of love for girls is more or less the same."

Taking a pause to confirm that Naruto was listening intently, Kushina continued:

"Let's start with the simplest situation. To be more precise, when a girl readily talks to you and always smiles in your presence. In most cases, this is a sufficient reason to start suspecting that she is not indifferent to you. And I'm not joking, if a girl is not interested in you, then most likely she will reduce communication with you to a minimum,"

Then folding her hands and nodding her head, Kushina noticed:

"Of course, this is not an absolute rule for everyone, and rather gives a 40% likelihood of liking. But this percentage can easily rise to 60-70 if a girl is ready to spend her free time with you. And this is especially true when she herself offers to spend this time with you. In this case, the odds increase up to 80-90."

Naruto listened to his mother, and began to realize that there is nothing absolute in this science, and everything is built on imprecise probabilities that confuse him rather than give confident answers to his questions. But at least Naruto could rely on the numbers his mom had given him. At least something logical in describing relationships with girls.

After letting her son process all the information received, Kushina continued her lecture:

"Next, we will consider a slightly different option…"

* * * * * * * * * *

(End of flashback)

Rolling this conversation through his head, Naruto's thoughts began to rush with unimaginable speed.

«She offered to take a walk? Does that mean she likes me? Although she said it was something friendly. Damn, I don't have any experience with that either, dattebayo! But she is absolutely right that all of our pastime together was training. The mother's explanations seemed more understandable when the situations she described were purely hypothetical, but now, in a real situation, I cannot determine anything for sure. Is it possible that she really liked me? Or is this her attempt to become closer friends?»

Seeing Naruto freeze, Tenten waved her hand in front of his face and said:

"Hey Naruto, are you okay?" Tenten was already beginning to feel embarrassed, as his silence created a slight tension for her.

Finally drawing his attention to her, Naruto had one last thought:

«As my mother said, even if she invited me to take a walk and spend some time together, it still does not mean that she is interested in something above friendship, so I can only be sure when we spend time with her outside of training.»

When he finished thinking, Naruto replied:

"Y... yes! I'm fine. I was just surprised. I kind of… don't have any experience with friends either. The attitude of the people of the village towards me is quite negative." With a sad smile, Naruto scratched the back of his head explaining his situation.

Blinking her eyes in surprise, Tenten asked:

"Seriously? What a nonsense! You are one of the nicest people I have ever met. Especially among my peers. «Especially among the guys.» The last part she thought to herself.

"Hehe, thanks, Tenten." Naruto was a little embarrassed, and decided to answer the compliment with a compliment, "you are also one of the nicest and coolest girl among those that I have met. I always like to train with you. So I am sure that the time outside of training will be a great opportunity to get to know each other better, tebayo!"

Naruto said all this flashing his warm smile, tilting his head to one side, which, under the breeze of the wind, created a very cute picture of a blue-eyed boy, whose golden locks fluttered in the wind, making the young girl blush slightly not only from his words, but also from a cute look.

"Oh, thanks…" Tenten was embarrassed again, but quickly overcoming this, she said, "Since we are both newcomers to all this "friendly activity", then let's meet tomorrow at our usual place, and there we will decide where to go, and what to do, what do you think?"

Hearing this suggestion, Naruto nodded happily and replied:

"Yes! Sounds great. Tomorrow after the academy I will visit Hadji-san to take the last guitar lesson, and after that I am completely yours!"

Hearing his choice of words, Tenten inadvertently bit her lip and thought:

«Completely mine? I like the way it sounds.» then, as if realizing her thoughts, she shook her head sharply, scolding herself inwardly «God, what am I just thinking about !? Pull yourself together Tenten, you don't have to screw up your first real friend. I don't even want to think that he will find me strange and start avoiding me.»

When they finished their inner storm of thoughts, Naruto and Tenten discussed the final details in the girl's battle seal, and parted ways, agreeing to meet the next day.

Naruto returned home, ready to return to the academy, which he skipped again for several days, in favor of time with his parents and practice with Tenten.

But Naruto was not worried, as he was sure that no one would punish him if he showed good results in tests and in practice.

Disconnecting the resistance seals from his body, Naruto sighed relaxedly, finally feeling the long-awaited lightness. This was the award he received last time, and he only mastered it very recently, so he wears these seals on his body for only three days.

On the advice of his parents, at first he installed only double resistance, and removes them only when he is preparing for bed. Now, Naruto himself understood that the body needs to be allowed to rest, otherwise there would be almost no benefit from such training.

After taking a shower, and eating meat soup, which he prepared according to the cookbook from the ingredients found in the forest, he lay down on the bed, and in anticipation of tomorrow, fell asleep in a sweet dream.

* * * * * * * * * *

Author's note:

Here is a new chapter, it turned out not the way I wanted, because I could not fit the entire planned plot, but I hope you like it. I will try not to delay the continuation of this scene.

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