A/N I wrote this on a riverbank, on a deck chair under the warm sun. The river sparkled, the birds chirped, the ducks beat the shit out of each other, a deer and a heron wandered past, the horses wandered around and the rabbits fucked each other's brains out. I sat there and ate chocolate chip cookies and wrote stuff, it was very zen.

Beta'd by Bob Saget.

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The tomoe in Sasuke's eyes spun slowly as he watched through the chain mesh window in the earthen bunker. It was said that nothing could hide from the sharingan. This was not true of course, but it was truer than most of the things people say.

Crump-whmph

Went the new weapons, one by one as Tetsuo threw them in soaring arcs towards the targets that tried so hard to be shinobi, or at least to die like them. They fell as black crows wearing suicide vests; harbingers of death in the most literal sense.

Crump-whmph

The last weapon exploded, and the three walked over to examine the wooden logs dressed in spare chain mesh and cloth, with watermelons for heads. They were peppered with hits and the watermelons were reduced to so much red flesh.

Well, here goes nothing. Let's see if good reasons to make an exception can trump culture and tradition. "Sasuke." Tetsuo turned to him. "You've been training with Kurenai. Can you show me the world, the way you see it?"

Sasuke started slightly, his brows narrowed as he focused on the middle distance. Shikamaru sucked in a breath. "You know why it isn't done. You remember when they drilled it into our heads at the academy. You dispel genjutsu immediately after noticing. It has to be a reflex action, or you lose valuable time mid-combat."

"I'll take the hit." Tetsuo's voice was turning frustrated. "It's worth the tradeoff."

"Come on." Shikamaru replied heatedly. "Most couples don't even do this! Remember what happened to Mizuki when his girlfriend tricked him into a genjutsu of his neighbour propositioning him? He was limping for days."

"I can accept that risk," Tetsuo reposted, stubborn as a mountain. "It is lesser for me than it would be for others anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shikamaru shot back.

"Bloodline secrets." Tetsuo's fists clenched.

Shikamaru fingers twitched towards his the spot on his leg where his kunai holster rested.

Sasuke's eyes refocused as he finished his deliberations. "Tetsuo." His jaw clenched.

"It's okay Sasuke, I trust you." Tetsuo put an arm onto his shoulder and stared into his eyes, then glanced at Shikamaru. "And I trust you not to tell the fangirls."

Sasuke drew a deep breath. "The long term is meaningless if we don't survive the short." He replied evenly with only a hint of cracking in his voice. "And I suppose you did unlock them for me." A faint smile reached his lips.

Tetsuo smile beamed out as he tried his best to categorise this as something other than what he had been taught repeatedly to dispel on instinct. Friend, not enemy, don't dispel, don't react, don't flinch, accept welcome openwelcomeaccept, went his thoughts and for a moment he felt an eddy of white-purple and the scent of a sea breeze brush at the tips of his fingers. Something he had never experienced in this life. He stared into Sasuke's eyes as they changed from black to red, and Shikamaru glared from behind him.

"See the world as I see."

Sasuke met Tetsuo's gaze, and then everything was different.

The chain mesh was close. Like thin fabric held right up to the eye, it didn't meaningfully impair vision. Every detail screamed for his attention. Every leaf a symphony of green, the fall of a water droplet from the canopy above was a serene procession of multicoloured light. The fragmentation blade dipped slowly through the air, as a wave of blue pulsed out to catch it. The wave passed with barely a ripple and lit the weapons' own glow, which snapped from black to blue to bright cyan in an instant. It was odd, the blue was there, but the colour underneath was still visible in a way that shouldn't normally be possible. Along a seam the blade ruptured, then came apart. Black sections tore along carefully shaped ridges to free shining metallic innards as bright glows of cyan-yellow fire first bulged then speared free of their confinement. The ridged lumps of black and silver first matched then outraced the fire, which slowed as it spread into a bright, irregular starburst metres across.

Then there was impact. Two of five watermelons threw chunks of purple flesh, wooden targets released puffs of sawdust or clusters of sharp splinters. Cloth rippled, metal bent.

Fire faded and died. Cyan-yellow turned to blue-orange, to red, to nothing.

And then Tetsuo was back in his body, sucking in deep breaths with his arm still on Sasuke's shoulder, who was watching him with rapt attention.

Shikamaru's eyes darted back and forth between them. "Son of a bitch," he muttered.

"It worked?" Sasuke asked. "You're..."

"Just..." Tetsuo sucked in a breath, and another, "A lot to process. You really see like that every time you fight?"

"A wonder, isn't it." A serene smile on his face.

Tetuso nodded dumbly.

"Gods and silence," Shikamaru wore a poleaxed expression, "And I actually laughed when Hinata suggested something like this would happen. I laughed."

Sasuke turned away, embarrassed. Tetsuo just stared Shikamaru down. "Do you have something to say about who I choose as a genjutsu partner?" Tetsuo asked meaningfully. Best way to deal with getting caught out: own it. No-one can embarrass you without your consent. Double down, go balls to the wall, and see who flinches first. His grin grew so wide it seemed to eclipse the rest of his face, orange eyes glinting in the evening sun. "Why Shikamaru, I'd almost say that you were jealous." He threw his arms out dramatically, voice loud and expressive. "It's okay! You know I would never abandon our 'agreement.'" Tetsuo's eyebrows wiggled.

Sasuke burst out laughing while Shikamaru choked on his own spit. "That wasn't our agreement and you know it!" He paused, realised he'd been played, refocused. "You said this 'fragmentation blade' would affect the balance of power in the Elemental Nations. It seems useful and everything, but I wouldn't say it's anything a jounin couldn't do."

"It's not supposed to be." Tetsuo replied seriously, back to business in an instant. "In the end, they're nothing but a harder to dodge explosive tag with a larger kill radius... But I can make them cheap. Really cheap. The idea is to mass produce them, win more low-mid level battles so more ninja survive long enough to become jounin."

"They seem pretty simple." Shikamaru replied, tone challenging. "Obvious even, in retrospect."

Tetsuo nodded, accepting the point. "We'd only have the advantage for a short number of years before they were reverse engineered. If their use is tightly controlled, used only in certain situations, we might still have the advantage by the time the next war rolls around."

"You want me to tell my dad." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "You want me to explain it instead of you."

"When they're ready, yes." Tetsuo nodded again. "Earlier than that in fact, so he has time to prepare things. After all, he would be the person in the best position to decide where and how to make use of them. I could make them myself but... I really don't have the time to organise a company, so I'd be happy to sell you the idea and the secret to making them in exchange for a cut of the profits and a dedicated supply." A thought seemed to occur to him. "Sasuke, do you want to buy in? It seems likely that you'll more than make your money back, and you'll end up with the very best of the weapons we make."

"Sure," Sasuke nodded evenly, "It's not like I really spend it on anything anyway, and I don't see a better way to buy a power boost."

"There, you don't even have to front the up-front costs." Tetsuo spread his arms invitingly, palms up. "Just the manpower."

"I see what you're doing." Shikamaru's gaze was laser sharp. "You end up with a nice pile of money and weapons, someone else does all the work, and you can get back to experimenting with seals and explosives." He spat the last words like a curse. "Like you've apparently been doing for years without supervision."

"Then you see that it's good for Leaf that I do it." Tetsuo countered. Each word was deliberate, weighty. "After all, the Ino-Shika-Cho faction would be much more likely to be able to manufacture them while keeping the whole thing under wraps. Good for me, good for you, good for everyone apart from the enemy."

Their gazes matched for a long moment, each looking for the slightest tell that the other would back down. Shikamaru barked a mirthless laugh and looked away. "There's really no helping you is there?" He muttered just loud enough for Tetsuo to hear, then spun on his heel and left the clearing.

"What do you suppose got him so upset?" Sasuke wondered aloud.

"You know?" Tetsuo looked up at the sky, then down at the ragged ruin of the target dummies. "I really couldn't say for sure. With a guy like Shikamaru, there are so many things."

"Hn." Sasuke replied eloquently. "He'll live."

"I suppose." Tetsuo agreed. "Still, I'll have to talk to him later."

They stood in silence for a time, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Could you show me the third one?" Tetsuo broke the still air. "I want to see how the vents affect the final speed."

Sasuke smiled.

ooo

A/N Arg! This wasn't supposed to be shipping fuel! How did this happen!?

Also I'd like to thank everyone for all the reviews so far. I read all of them and reply to questions when I've got the time.