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Canon Side-Story: Shooting Training with Tenten, Traps with Naruto
🕑 Added 2024-10-05 23:33:51 +0000 UTC“Like this, and here…” When she invited Ino to come practice marksmanship with Tenten, she had expected the three of them to spend most of their time throwing weapons and shooting off Tenten’s prototypes. The special guns from the dungeon are too limited in ammunition for practice, though they do have hundreds if not thousands of rounds for missions. What she hadn’t expected was for Tenten to get very hands on about her form and positions, and for Ino to spend most of her time moping while watching Tenten put her hands on her.
How did she not realize Ino liked her? It’s up there with the most obvious things to have ever transpired. The sky is blue, Chakra is awesome, tasty things are glorious, grinds are life, and Ino likes her. Still, it’s nice
She also totally understands why the weapons they found in the dungeon are a massive improvement. The ammunition difference on its own is massive. The weapon she’s holding - a rifle with a few rounds able to be loaded in at a time - is using balls with pointed tips. They’re not a good shape, they’re not very aerodynamic, and they’re not very fast. Maybe it’s being a ninja with higher stats than any civilian could ever hope to achieve, but she can actually see the rounds fly through the air. In a lot of ways this makes it easier to figure out why her aim is off. She can see the whole process, which makes it easier to accommodate. Instead of guessing based on improper information and eventually getting it after hundreds of shots, she’s already able to hit a target quite far away after just a few magazines. Most of the time.
Again, these bullets suck, and there’s only so much her aim can do when it doesn’t shoot straight in the first place. She’s surprised these function at all. She knows for a fact there are better guns in the world than these, she read about some in school! The capital has some so civilians can help fight in the event of invasion. Tenten may be better than her, but she’s absolutely an amateur gunsmith, and it shows. She can tell from what she already knows, before even opening a book - and she very much plans to - that these’d be more effective without pointed tips. If they’re going to be balls, they need to rely on their ability to roll and spin, if they’re not going to be a ball, they should be more cylindrical.
Still, that’s not all bad. She’s been trying to figure out a way to bond with Tenten, and her own analytical ability and study capabilities means she can work with the girl to advance her craft leagues. In a few months - maybe years depending on the tools available and just how crazy things are - they may be able to recreate the ammunition gathered from the dungeon. They could revolutionize the entire arms industry, and give the Leaf a massive leg up on the competition… Well, until the competition steals the data and uses it for themselves, they are ninja after-all. Now she just needs to figure out how to word the point.
“Hey uh Tenten, no offense, but this is terrible and I don’t know why you thought it was a good idea.” Ino palms her face with both hands so forcefully the clap is almost louder than the weapon firing. “I can tell I worded that poorly. I mean that I’d like to help you figure this out, as clearly you have no idea what you’re doing.”
“... Stop talking.” Ino whines loudly.
“I get what you mean because I feel the same, but wow.” Tenten pats her shoulder, “we need to work on your confrontation.”
“I’m doing better in normal conversations.” Sakura defends herself with a whine.
“I know, I know.” Tenten shakes her head with a snicker, at least she’s not mad. “Thank you Sakura, I’d love the help.”
[Marksman Skill Lvl 1 Obtained]
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“Why are we still here?” Sakura asks, observing Naruto putting together some kind of mechanical contraption on her bed, “I mean, instead of out in the field or something.”
“You wanted to learn traps, not trapping.” Naruto snorts, shaking his head while working a screwdriver into a notch of some sort.
“There’s a difference?” Sakura asks.
“Trapping is the practical application of traps. It’s all about location, timing, and prediction. You figure out what’s going to happen, and predict it, or maybe predict a situation in which what you want is most likely. It’s mostly luck based if you’re not super smart. I’m, I do okay.” He winces at himself. “I can normally figure out a few things, but most of my traps are about the start of an engagement, not leading someone into it or anything. That kind of forward thinking just isn’t something I’m good at.”
“But it’s something I’m good at.” She points out.
“Exactly, I don’t think you need any help with trapping. If anything, I think after the first lesson or so, you’re going to start teaching me.” Naruto admits with a smile, he’s not jealous of her, he’s happy she can help him. It’s nice to have such a warm and comfortable brother, it would have been really awkward if he was spiteful about her brains. It’d be especially awkward, since most of his experience with her has been watching her run sword first into their problems. It’s really problematic how little of her mental stats are used during her normal combat style, but then, that’s what she’s trying to fix now. “But creating the traps themselves is totally different. That’s experience, I know how each trap functions because I’ve used them hundreds of times. No matter how smart you are, you can only brute force experience with your brain so much, and if the tools you’re working with are garbage…”
“So you’re showing me how to make the right tools.” Sakura surmises.
“Yes, there.” He finishes screwing in whatever he was doing, before grabbing the metal and prying it apart until it’s down. She hears a few clicks, and he nods to himself in admiration of his work. It’s got so many sharp teeth on it that she’s a little afraid of it. She finds she’s giving it the same look as she did the first time she had to kill her own food. Eating something that had a face is different, especially when you beheaded it and it’s still over there on a log, watching you eat its body. “This’ll stop whatever steps on it, now I’m going to take it apart in front of you, I’d like you to make it again after.”
“I’m not really good at stuff like that,” She admits, “I’ve barely been paying attention.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s why we’re doing this in your bedroom instead of outside. I bet we’re going to be here for a while, it’s comfortable here, and when you get bored we can take a gaming break.” Naruto knows her so well!
Best brother ever!
It takes a lot of time, and patience, and twelve different gaming breaks, but eventually she gets it.
[Trapmaking Lvl 1 Obtained]
[Trapping Lvl 1 Obtained]
Comments
Christopher Cummins
It was pleasant to write. Just some self contained, cute friendship moments.
Dopplerdee
I like Sakura spending time with friends
