If one made allowances, the base form looked like a three-barrel shotgun with one barrel located atop the other two in a rough pyramid shape.
He called it "Vera" for Variable Enhanced Round Autogun. He found a design in a database for a bandolier and another for something called a "utility belt" and added pouches for various gadgetry.
Vera was, in Naruto's eyes, a thing of beauty and utility. He could feed in three different types of ammo at a given time and shoot whatever was necessary by a given situation.
Now to test it.
Sasuke looked up as the boy entered the training ground. The dead last who played with odd toys but was fairly easy to beat down.
The blond nodded at him, pulled the goggles down over his eyes, and then aimed a metal-and-wood rod arrangement at a kunai target.
The sphere that streaked towards the target and then set it on fire wasn't all that impressive. His own Great Fireball technique was more powerful. Still, it was at least a step up from having no jutsu at all.
The Dead Last of the class made an adjustment to the device and aimed at a different target.
The shot completely covered the target in a green goop that seemed to turn dull within a heartbeat or two. The boy then walked over and hit the goo with a small hammer he'd pulled out of a belt-pouch. It made a dull thud.
The boy went back to where he'd been standing and adjusted the odd jutsu-hurling weapon again. Another streak from the barrel and he had a small metal rod protruding out of the mass.
Which then exploded in a fairly decent sized fireball. Not that he couldn't do better.
"What the heck was that?" asked one of the annoying girls that tended to congregate around him.
"A jutsu-launcher?" asked the pink-haired annoyance.
"Hnn," indicated Sasuke thoughtfully. The fire jutsu and explosive jutsu he had something like that already, using Great Fireball and explosive tags. The other one though - that was probably to immobilize targets. He could do something with ninja wires, particularly if he tied kunai to such, but that was something interesting at least.
The class clown settled in three more oblongs into the tubes on the jutsu-hurler, then aimed and fired one at the burning target. A foam spread out from the point of impact and the flames died out. Okay, that was something he didn't have and was deemed potentially useful.
The other two oblongs turned out to be some kind of smoke bomb and something else which dissolved the solid mass and the target it encased. Acid?
Perhaps instead of dismissing the class clown/dead last as something beneath his consideration, he should observe him a bit more carefully?
Three days later:
Sasuke Uchiha had observed, shaken out of his usual brooding by having seen something outside the known values he'd taken for granted.
The dead last, the loser, the weakling, had begun showing considerable adaptability and had developed a number of surprises.
The groups surrounding him didn't understand, as they kept complimenting him and dismissing the "loser" as being inadequate and goofing around. They didn't see.
Which led him to conclude that the girls surrounding him were idiots.
He COULD have gone to the class clown and demanded that he be shown how such things worked. No doubt his hangers-on would back him in such.
No. Better to ignore it for now. None of the things he'd seen so far would be of any use against That Man - but there might be some promise there.
He'd just have to watch.
A week later:
"Naruto," said Hiruzen Sarutobi, called "the Professor" because of the amount of knowledge he had regarding jutsu, "what is this?" Sitting at his desk, he hefted the goggles in one hand.
"I just wanted to get those to Tenten, but apparently her team is out on a mission," grumped Naruto.
The Hokage nodded. "Yes, Team Guy has a C-Rank that they are fairly well suited for. It's very unusual for a team to get a C-Rank mission this early, but not unheard of. That's beside the point. What are these?"
"Try 'em on," suggested Naruto. "Then turn out the lights."
The Hokage raised an eyebrow, then glanced at the two ANBU and nodded. Then he put the goggles on. A moment later the lights cut out and things got dark.
"I see," said the Hokage, his voice intrigued.
"I thought you would," said Naruto, putting his own goggles down as the lights were brought back up.
The Hokage was silent for a moment. "Can you make more of these?"
"Well, yeah, some at least," admitted Naruto.
"Could you incorporate these into an ANBU mask?" asked the Hokage.
"I'd have to redesign it a bit," said Naruto. "Did you want instant communication and a locating system added? That'd be fairly easy."
The Hokage considered that briefly. "Why not work a couple of these up and let me see them. Consider this a D-Rank Mission, which will be paid appropriately and added to your ninja file."
"A 'D'?" asked Naruto.
"You haven't graduated the Academy yet," pointed out the Hokage. "If it works out, I may bump it up a bit."
"Now that might just be cool," admitted Naruto. "Got a spare couple of masks for me to use as base materials?"
Five months to Academy exams:
"What the hell is this? You're giving an Academy Student, and THAT boy at that, a C-Rank mission?" asked Koharu Utatane. "Have you lost your mind?"
"You haven't gone senile so there's something else going on I'd think," began Homura Mitokado, his voice stopping as the Hokage held up two very odd-looking ANBU masks. "What?"
"I'm thinking of making it a continuing mission until we have a full set," said Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"What's all this?" asked Homura, picking one up. When he fitted it into place he went very still.
"The finished version will include a user-identification seal to prevent anyone but the authorized wearer from using it," said the Hokage, deciding to refer to Naruto's devices as a sort of sealcraft since it was the simplest way to summarize it. "Each mask allows instant communication with anyone else wearing one, as well as allowing me in my office to tell where any mask is at any given time within Konoha's boundaries. It has light-amplification that cuts in after a few seconds of being in the dark, an automatic and instant darkening of the lenses when subjected to intense light, and is made of materials which provide some degree of armoring greater than the existing ones."
"You're joking, right?" asked Koharu.
"I'm taking a list of other features and options to be added into later creations," said Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Now, if you have anything productive to contribute?"
Homura took the mask away from his face, looking thoughtfully at it. "Instant communication across distances?"
"Mitokado?" asked Koharu.
"When I put it on, I was able to hear two members of ANBU. I take it they are testing these?" asked Homura.
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded.
"How about something to amplify voices when needed for situations like crowd control?" asked Homura. "Or when giving orders in the field where not everyone has such a thing."
Hiruzen nodded, jotting that down on a piece of paper. "That'll be number seven."
Koharu frowned. "It appears that I was misled as to you wasting money."
"I think you ought to reprimand that particular spy," said the Hokage pleasantly. This was an old team-mate and someone he kept on as a councillor, but he relished being able to rub this in properly later.
"Scanning, Master."
"Good boy, K9."
"Have located one spy at edge of training ground. Orders?"
"Are they wearing an ANBU mask?" asked Naruto.
"Negative, Master."
"Not the Hokage, right?" asked Naruto, thinking that it would be BAD if he did anything like he was thinking to the Hokage.
"Negative, Master."
"Stun 'em," ordered Naruto.
VORP!
Naruto went over to the bushes where K-9 had just zapped someone. To his surprise it was:
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(Posted Thu, 22 Aug 2013 16:55)
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