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Shikaku was satisfied that all was going well as they were lead to their seat, but suddenly, unexpectedly, Timmy broke the act. Well, not entirely, but he definitely took it in a direction that was certainly not beneficial to them, and he couldn't understand why. Not that it was easy to understand Timmy at the best of times. He could be pleasant as could be one second and a snarling beast the next, over the most seemingly inconsequential things. Most of the time, Shikaku just did his best to ignore it when it happened, because it was usually over as fast as it came on. "Control yourself!" the boy hissed as the waiter walked off, sweeping into the curtained seating area before Timmy as if turning his back on the man in a huff. Once the curtain was closed though, the boy allowed himself a snigger. It was hard keeping up the act without that, and he was glad they were given the private booth. And then Timmy started the usual banter, only to be interrupted as a waiter arrived. A new one this time, and offered them drinks. Despite the fact that as a civilian he would currently be too young to drink, Shikaku decided to play along that line.

"Fire country?" the boy sniffed haughtily. "Only the finest from Rice country will do." Even Shikaku knew that the largest exporter of fine wines and liquor was Rice country, due no doubt to their abundance of rices and other crops used in the wines. Their high altitude and humid atmosphere apparently lent itself well to the crops. "We will signal when we are ready to order." he added on, waving the waiter off and picking up the menu set forth on the table as a show of beginning the search for food. He had it on good authority that nobles always took their time ordering, despite the fact they always knew what they wanted before they even left home.

Once the waiter had left, Shikaku dropped his open menu to the table, chuckling again as he decided to respond to Timmy's half finished statement. "Don't forget you promised to treat me after my first C rank, and promotions too." he grinned, looking down at the menu and back up a moment later. "Oh, and it doesn't count if you don't pay for it."

Giving his full attention to the menu in order to let Timmy steam after that crack, Shikaku briefly scanned the dishes, before scanning them again, and a third time. "I don't know what half these things are, and most of the rest sound disgusting..." the boy whispered so that nobody outside the booth could possibly hear. "Fish eggs, live snails... Live octopus, raw fish... Are rich people insane?" The worst part was, the more horrible the dish sounded, the higher it's price tag. The highest priced item on the list sounded to him like something he would vomit if he even saw it!

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Shikaku smirked at Timmy. Refined taste, right. He had long since mastered the art of eating without tasting, as did many orphans. The orphanage just didn't seem to get enough income to feed actual food to the kids. But that didn't mean he was willing to eat something that sounded like it SHOULD have been on the menu. The menu being the list of terrible dishes they were fed. As Timmy spoke of a dish he thought sounded good, naming it as "The third one down with the inpronouncible name", Shikaku scanned the list himself. Unfortunately, that title could have gone to five different articles on the menu. The actual third one down, or the third one down that he couldn't pronounce, or the one above that, because Timmy might not be able to pronounce that one, or another couple down, because Timmy might be able to pronounce some that he couldn't. Judging it by fish, as were the sounds, narrowed it down to three, two of which were raw and one... Not exactly something he thought sounded appetizing. Tuna was a common dish around here, at least if you had money, but it didn't exactly appeal to him.

Deciding he didn't care for any of the possible options that might have been Timmy's choice, Shikaku searched further down until he found something that looked good. Or at least, cooked. "Think I'll take this chicken thing. Looks safe."

Setting his menu down at that, Shikaku turned his attention to Timmy's last line. Owe him for training? "Or maybe you owe me medical expenses, since most of your 'training' ideas put me in the hospital." the boy said, rolling his eyes. That was also probably partly why he'd done so bad in the academy, though not entirely. It was hard to learn Taijutsu with a broken leg from your 'tutor''s private lessons. And he still hadn't figured out what falling off a cliff supposedly had to do with chakra control. He'd sort of always figured that was a followup to something Timmy had forgotten to try and teach him, but was embarrassed to admit it. He would... Ignore, the comment about him graduating. He had been a bit surprised himself, so he really was in no position to be upset at Timmy for it anyways.

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After walking around, hands in his pockets and subtly scanning the area around him for about five minutes, Shikaku nodded to himself. He couldn't see the shinobi from the restaurant anywhere, and nobody else seemed to be paying him any attention either. He had gotten clear. He sighed in relief as that realization came. As good as the food had been, the knowledge that he could and probably would get caught, and possibly lose his shinobi license on his first day, had weighed on him heavily. But now... What to do? He had graduated the academy that morning, told his only friend, gone to lunch, evaded a chuunin afterwards, but now what? He probably couldn't take missions alone. He definitely didn't want to take an E or D rank alone. He'd seen the mission board, and even had to do some as an academy student to pay for lessons. No, that was a tedium he did not want to take on alone.

So, he continued to wander aimlessly through the shopping district, checking out a few interesting displays here and there, examining some of the cooler looking weapons. He spent awhile admiring the Recon mask and considered buying one of those, since he did have the money and they had recently gone fully public rather than being rank locked, but even that seemed wrong. Maybe it was what Timmy had said. He wasn't allowed to discuss it... Despite the fact that if you went to the right places all the information was available. Did that really mean there was a new model in the works? Maybe that was why the current model wasn't rank locked anymore? But when would they come out? Would they be a lot better than the existing one? Probably, but they'd also likely be expensive, and rank locked at that.

While he was thinking about that, he wandered inside of the shop, and began idly looking over other things they had. Kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, razor wire... Wire could be useful actually. Normal wire could be used to silently strangle an enemy, leaving no evidence, and if done properly, no struggle. Razor wire could also be used for some vicious traps, and if used properly, kill an enemy without them getting near you. And with as little combat skill as he had... Well, he could use some alternative ways of finishing his opponents.

And then he saw something really interesting. Thinking about the wire, he had wandered into the experimental weapons section of the shop, where they kept models that were still in the testing phase, not yet mass manufactured. A steel covered glove, with wire reels built into the sleeve. That had some use if he decided to go the wire route. Grinning to himself, Shikaku picked up the glove and, taking off the glove he already had on, slipped it onto his hand. Unsurprisingly, it was far too big. Trying again with his other glove on wasn't much better. Huffing with disappointment, Shikaku pulled it off again and was about to put it back on the shelf when a hand reached out and snagged it from him, chuckling warmly. Turning and glaring at the middle aged man, who he recognized now as the shop owner, only brought more laughter. "We have one of those in a smaller size." the man offered once he managed to stop laughing at Shikaku's face, only to break up again as the boy's eyes lit up. It wasn't very ninjalike, but he really wanted that now, just as much as he'd wanted a recon mask, or his ninja license.

The man, still chuckling, left at that without a word, headed into the back presumably to fetch the smaller glove. Shikaku waited gleefully, bouncing on his heels for him to come back, and his eyes slid over the wire display again. It had said it had two reels for twenty foot sections, right? Running over he grabbed up one section each of plain and razor wire. Carrying those, he ran over to the counter where the man had just returned, carrying two boxes, one of which he opened to reveal the glove.

Picking up the glove and setting his wire on the counter, Shikaku pulled off his other glove again and shoved it on, grinning as this time it was a perfect fit. "We also have these, they make a nice bundle with that one." the shopkeeper spoke up, picking up what the boy had assumed to be a simple kunai sitting on the shelf. He surprised the boy though, by pushing a button on the side, causing two extra blades to leap out of it. "When this little fella sinks itself in, it hits the switch and shoots out the extra blades. Good for some extra carnage, or even a grappling line." Smiling appreciatively, the man held out the blade to Shikaku as if in offer. The boy just nodded dumbly. He definitely wanted that too.

Saw ya eyeballing the masks too. Grabbed one while I was in the back if you want it." With that, the man opened the second box, revealing a pristine recon mask, along with what looked to be one of the strange radios Kumo had developed recently. "Full set with throatmic already set up." And Shikaku had no physical choice but to nod again. he had wanted one of those for a long time now, and with it right in front of him, being offered? He had no choice but to accept.

Nodding, the shopkeeper took all the equipment and rang it up. "That's five fifty." he stated, looking expectantly at the boy. Shikaku frowned. That number seemed bad. Pulling out his wallet, he emptied it on the counter, slowly counting his coins out as the shopkeeper watched in amusement. He didn't have a lot of gold coins, which were the default currency. He had more silver and copper, coins of lesser value more often found in the gutters. That was why his wallet had been so full more than anything. After seemingly forever of counting, he ran out of coins, finding himself at a solid five hundred. "Umm..." He hummed quietly, looking up hopefully at the man. Taking no pity however, the man simply shook his head. Apparently he wasn't getting any favors despite how nice he'd been so far. Nodding sadly, he started trying to decide what to get rid of, helpfully, the shopkeeper slid him the slip showing all the prices. The glove surprised him. It was the same price as the recon mask... But he couldn't get rid of that. The razor wire he could use less of... But after counting out how much he'd have left to make up the fifty it wasn't much at all, and he didn't want to lower the regular wire as well... And that left, the radio. It matched the missing amount perfectly, and if he was honest with himself, he wouldn't need it just yet. He was unlikely to be on missions with a full radio equipped team for quite some time yet.

"The radio." Shikaku spoke, revealing his choice to the man. With a nod, he opened the box again and plucked the radio out, carefully detaching it from the goggles and sealing it up again. With that, Shikaku's money was swept away into the register, and the gear into his hands. Smiling again despite the loss of his life savings, Shikaku left, perching himself on a bench across the street to examine his purchases. And wait for Timmy. He had no doubt the man would be looking for him soon enough, once he'd lost his pursuers. Probably to try and have him help him out of the mess he'd be in, since his description would make it back to the kage on that stunt.

Purchases: 500
Recon Mask - 200
Wire Cestus - 200
Barbed Kunai - 20
Ninja Wire - 20
Razor Wire - 60
Final total: 0

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"Let's see..." Shikaku muttered to himself, picking up one of the bundles of wire he'd bought, as well as a slip of paper, apparently instructions for the glove. "Insert wire, and activate mechanism? Seems simple enough. And the switch is... There!" Sliding the tip of the ninja wire into the proper slot, he found the catch and flipped it, letting go of the wire as it zipped quickly into the reel of it's own accord, stopping with only a tiny bit sticking out, enough to get a finger grip on. Very nice. The razor wire quickly followed, more carefully to avoid slashing his hand, into the second slot.

The boy frowned then, as he looked at his fancy new kunai. He had declined the tool puch he'd been offered on graduating, preferring to hide his weapons in pockets, and used his sole kunai holster for his first real kunai, but this one needed to be rather more accessible... Well, for now it'd just have to go in... No... The boy's smile returned as he picked up the blade and slid it carefully into the cuff of his new glove. It was plenty large that the kunai wouldn't interfere with his movement, and tight enough that he wasn't worried about it falling out and getting lost. Perfect.

Well, with that, all that was left was... Shikaku's grin grew wider yet as he picked up the box containing his new recon mask, the current peak of Kumogakure ninja technology, and only just recently made available to genin. This, would be amazingly useful. Perfect nightvision. His own was good already, but this would only make it better. Constant strategical updates from team members on missions, any and all needed information on a target available at a simple command... Having this would undoubtedly advance him from the kid who barely graduated to a true, revered, ninja.

Opening the box, he slowly lifted the mask out, and was about to put it on and start testing it out when he froze. In the back of his mind he'd registered hearing an eery sound growing closer for the last while, and while that didn't bother him, since lots of people in this area enjoyed such past times as whistling eery tunes, the fact that it had stopped just as he began to feel eyes on him, and that they were still on him, well, that bothered him. Slowly, carefully, he lowered the mask back into the box, sealing it back up. Yes, this wasn't the place to experiment with that anyways. Available to genin or not, it was still secret Kumo tech. He'd wait until he got to his new apartment to test it out in privacy.

Slipping the box into his backpack, since he'd worn it today, excited about finally moving out of the orphanage and taking all his worldly belonging with him, he looked up, scanning the area for the person who had been watching him. The crowds were thick though, and he wasn't entirely certain of the direction the feeling had come from, nor whether it was even still there, or just a phantom feeling left over.

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