Writing Kanji isn't as easy as I had envisioned it when I tinkered about the idea.
Sure, this very sentence is quite confusing considering that kanji makes up for most of the alphabet here and being unable to write in it was a sign that something was indeed wrong with me. The thing was that I wasn't exactly unable to write it, in fact I was more than capable of writing it with the whole 'brain understands things I did not know about until now' predicament.
The real issue was trying to make the kanji as proper as it should be. One of the many things that remained from my old life was that I liked to play alternative when it came to writing. It was something that got me scolded back at school for a while, from elementary up to the end of high school, but that I didn't have much control over it because of how much accustomed I was with my own style.
It wasn't unruliness speaking, but rather a sense of detaching myself from the common. A streak of rebelliousness that was diluted in a sea of unwillingness to follow a standard I found mostly unfit for what I could do with a pen and a piece of paper.
So when I realized that Mito-sama was going to be the new teacher for both me and Hiruzen, I knew I had to expect Fuinjutsu to be an essential bit of that part of education. Not in the terms of high-tier sealing techniques, but rather the standard that was known by many younglings back in Uzushiogakure. And I didn't mind, I really didn't.
If I wasn't even able to properly make the simplest of sealing arrays, then I wasn't exactly in a position to demand for 'cooler' bits to add to my arsenal. Knowing how complex Fuinjutsu was, I really wasn't making plans of risking exploding for the sake of getting better really fast. So, instead of allowing myself to spend the time I had before going to visit Mito without doing anything, I started to do something I had tried when I was a little kid in my previous life that I had given up after months of frustrating failures.
I started to force myself into accepting the proper calligraphy. While the idea sounded incredibly dumb and quite painful to apply, the truth was mellower and doable. I needed to sharpen my hands into getting down the way kanjis were meant to be drawn, and that meant I would have to flawlessly copy kanjis from textbooks into empty papers. Small, numerous, and with each step adding corrections to my previous mistakes.
The process wasn't meant to be solved overnight, but I went through four of the more complicated Kanjis I couldn't write down in the correct manner. It was grueling work, but one that saw me actually happy with how far I went with just a couple of hours to start doing something while I was free from the homework.
When the time came for me to leave home to visit the Hokage Manor for the first lesson with Mito, I felt ready to tackle whatever kind of early lecture we were going to receive this early in our journey through the madness that was the Art of Sealing. And boy, was I proven wrong about the concept of maturity I had about the redhead.
The moment Hashirama wasn't around and only kids were there to keep her company, the woman saw it fit to throw away much of the standards of teaching people the basis and skip to something a little more advanced.
"Mito-sama-"
"Auntie is fine, Da-kun."
"Auntie dearest," I reiterated even more uneasy with my tone. "I don't believe we have enough chakra to go through these seals."
I mean, I could've understood if it had been some higher version of the Storage Seal, but she wanted us to write down the proper combination to create a working Sound-Silencing Seal. While the name sounded cool, the real issue with this specific kind of seal was that it had a range of action that required multiple of those to affect even a small room… and a lot of energy to keep working for long amounts of time.
"That's correct. Which is why I believe it's best you test your affinity with seals with something you can't use even if you wanted," The woman said with a brief giggle. "Even by putting all the chakra you have, I don't think you two might be able to achieve much with what you're preparing right now."
And I wasn't exactly going to tell her she was wrong with that reasoning. I could actually understand the logic and, albeit a little blunt and kind of annoying since I would've wanted to dive in with the Storage Seal first, I knew better than pushing for that so extensively.
"And then… we can go through the basis?"
She nodded happily. "Yep. And I hope you're ready for the gruesome little step that is the Storage Seals."
I frowned at her empty joy as she mentioned that specific topic. Maybe she found it too easy and thus wasn't looking forward to it? Was this why she was actually having us go for something that difficult this early on?
I was the one thinking these questions, while Hiruzen was putting a decent effort in being incredibly polite and being easily flustered by the motherly teasing coming from Mito. Her pregnancy sure was making her more emotional than she had been before. And I wasn't sure I should've picked this situation as a boon or something far worse than the usual. The fact we were handling seals in this very instance, and with Hashirama not being there meant that the woman had free reign with how she dealt with us.
The only saving grace in those dark times was, much to my surprise, Yoshiko. The girl that would normally be a tentative friend, and a slow-building problem for me to face when we were both going to be older, was sympathetic to our plight. I was quite certain that, from the way she was being quick to help us, the young redhead had some extra experience with this kind of issue compared to us.
Enough to drive her to actually soften up the blow that was trying to get the good combinations of kanjis within the seal to have it properly work. And once the first one was done after a number of attempts which saw my mind filled with foul words of various caliber, the next three were the ones that drove the insanity even out on my exterior.
Hiruzen was spared by the full madness as he took his sweet time to get through the first half of his first paper, and thus not going through the sheer folly I had to endure before being able to get the second and third one done. Either I die writing this, or I'm going to become a Saint of sorts once I'm done with this troublesome assignment.
By the time I was beginning the fourth paper, the brunet had taken his leave to the bathroom, and thus leaving me to deal with a bored Mito and a fascinated Yoshiko as the young girl took hold of the first and third seal to study them closely. The girl had taken a seat near to me, quietly looking at what I was writing and how I was doing it.
I could tell she was expecting me to fail at some point, so that she could try to get some cookie points by trying to give me some assistance on the matter. Funny thing was that I wasn't planning to fail, at least not so much to get immensely frustrated by it. Sadly enough for me, this still didn't deter the young redhead from speaking up about those I was already done with, leaving to a couple of sudden interest from the occupants in the room.
"Auntie, did you see these?" She asked, passing the papers to the woman as the older Uzumaki started to quietly study the current state of my progress. While she was quick to appear surprised at my hard work, a degree of perplexity resounded on her face as she studied the flawless seals.
"Da-kun, didn't I mention that it would've been best for you two to not go beyond two of the four papers?" Mito inquired rhetorically, but I saw it fit to answer it since I could feel a storm brewing if I hadn't.
"I might recall something of that kind, auntie," I muttered distractedly. "Could either be that or make twice the required papers."
A snort left her lips as the red-haired woman took the sarcastic response in a mirthful way.
"I believe you should stop now. Writing so many seals and going through countless attempts at once can be quite draining and-"
"And I'm done," I interrupted with a relieved sigh as I delivered the last blasted paper to the redheads. The two Uzumakis frowned and shared a quick concerned look between each other before staring back at me.
"I wasn't joking, Da-kun. Fuinjutsu isn't something that you should rush to learn, and I believe you're already going through some mental stress as of now."
Maybe I had a little headache. It wasn't anything too concerning to be actually scared of. In fact, I wasn't even feeling that much drained by the task despite how lengthy the process behind it had been for me to get through.
"Your hands are shaking," The woman commented, her worry rising as I noticed that my open palms were visibly shivering in front of my eyes. I tried to close those and try and get them to stop doing this unpleasant thing but… it didn't work.
"I believe you should take a pause, Danzou-kun," Yoshiko spoke up, her eyes fixing on my hands for a little while, and making me rather uncomfortable at the thought that I was having this much of a problem right now.
Like, I had been training with Madara for more than just a month now. This was nothing compared to the draining exercises I would usually need to go through to improve myself and… yet this very activity had left me in such a poor state.
The sudden rise of pain from the headache, slowly becoming a migraine, didn't help my nerves in keeping up with my usual posture.
"I'm fine," I lamented curtly but tensely. "I… I can do more."
"I don't believe you can," Mito rebuffed quietly. "In fact, I think you would do better if someone saw you escorted back to your home and… given the rest of the day for you to find some sleep."
I scoffed, my right hand reaching for my forehead and further intensifying the worry that I was receiving from the two Uzumaki. I wanted to say that I was doing well and that they were exaggerating my current conditions. But as soon as I saw my sight starting to grow less focused and more distorted, I knew that this was a big fat lie.
One that eventually crumbled onto me when I felt my sensitivity falter and my tiny body collapse on the ground. My ears started to ring as all noises and sound started to grow distorted, my sight growing even more blurry as my consciousness steadily left my body in the most unusual of situations.
I couldn't do nothing, but brace for the darkness that waited for me on the other side…
Only for me to be surprised by something far worse than I would've wanted.
My head… hurts.
It wasn't the first time I had to face something so troublesome, but this migraine was still splitting my head open despite the fact I was aware that I was asleep. This very information was odd since that kind of pain shouldn't have trailed to my pseudo-dream, but it still did. And I was immensely confused because of it.
The moment I opened my eyes in the surreal reality I woke up into, I started to look around this massive throne room I was incredibly unfamiliar with. I knew that this was a little too elaborate to be something born from my head since there were details that didn't fit with my preferences. Sure, I liked the simple columns on the side and I could see myself bringing those up in case I decided to build a palace for myself, but the rest of the room just wasn't fruit of my imagination.
In fact, I was given further confirmation of this when I realized I wasn't alone in that throne room. And I really wished I was when I got a proper look at who was with me in that bizarre scenario. Sitting in the single chair, or throne, of that place, the silver-haired pale-faced lady that was staring at me with a pair of Byakugan-like eyes seemed to be pondering if she should've attacked me at once or now.
Her white robe was particularly simple, and the style reminded me of a kimono, only much longer and less detailed than the ones I had seen worn by other people. But I wasn't lingering for long with my staring as I saw the final hint of how screwed I really was and why I needed to leave at once. On her forehead was a single opening, one that slowly opened to reveal a third red eye with circles within it. It was her. It was the monster that was ultimately the final obstacle for 'peace' in Naruto. And I was stuck in the same room with that terrible being without an apparent. Instead of contemplating fighting this 'illusion', I went through the standard plan in case I ended up finding myself dealing with people that wanted to kill and were morally ambiguous about sparing or killing people.
"I suppose it's time for… Nigerundayo~!"
Turning around and away from Kaguya, or the copy that I thought was her, I started to run towards the doors that were meant to lead me out of that nightmare. Since dreams like this worked through metaphors and other BS stuff in this show, I had to hope I wasn't wrong as I felt bolting towards my only way out.
The fact I was really managing to get through that was enough to confirm a thought of mine about this bizarre situation. It had to be an illusion, a trickery of my imagination to get my poor butt off from being too hasty in rushing through the process that was training. I was in a comfy situation, but I knew well enough that neither being a lazybutt or being too invested in the work was going to help me in the long run.
So I had to balance that from now on and… hope this was all a metaphor for that. Much to my eternal disappointment, I was quickly brought to an unpleasant defeat when I felt my chances of being spared by a terrifying jump scare being crushed the moment I reached the doors when I felt a sudden gust of wind hitting part of my back as I finally found myself alone with… her. Kaguya merely stared, yet her height was more than enough to get me even more nervous about the situation as I reached out for the doors and... opened to nothing in there.
My jaws dropped at the pure darkness that existed all around this unknown location. I was stuck with this faux Kaguya for some inexplicable reason, and I had no way out of this as far as I could tell. Turning to address the woman, I tried to make sense of the predicament, and think how to handle this unpleasant circumstance.
This had to be fake. There was no way possible within the natural (and anime) laws of this world that this was the real one. I wouldn't have believed otherwise, and yet here I was staring at something as sinister as the mother of the two sages, and the host of the Juubi.
She was only staring at me, studying me as I carefully waited for something good to happen. To perhaps be blessed either with an exit or through my mind ending the copy and bring me out of my state of unconsciousness. Yet I could only look at her as she attentively eyed me to see me do something more than just looking back at her.
A blink, that was all Kaguya needed for her to fly towards me with a terrifying speed. Dread rising up at the bad development, I tried to do the most sensible of the things I could've done in that moment by starting to prepare a Fireball Technique to try and defuse this new issue. It was meant to delay my opponent, to give me the chance to last longer than a couple of minutes.
I knew well enough that if Kaguya could shrug off full-power Naruto during the last fight, and I wasn't expecting for my attack to do much more than annoy the dangerous being that was going to eventually kill anyone against her, and enslave the rest. The fire exploding from my lips soared furiously towards the approaching silver-haired woman, only to have her dodge the attack instead of blocking or deflecting it away.
Could it be that the woman was actually weaker in this domain? If this was my head, I knew that she wasn't going to have much to use against me considering how this was all a dream and… why was I having this much trouble banishing this nightmare? Why I felt this being far more real than I was painting it to be. There was no way this was something more than an illusion, especially with how she had yet to advance and kill me at once.
As if she could read my mind, 'Kaguya' resumed her assault without saying a single word. Her expression still stuck in one of fascination, and one devoid of any seriousness on what was happening in that moment. For some reason, I felt like I was a mouse being belittled and played around by a silent mad scientist.
Instead of relying on the Fireball technique again, I decided to try something a little more risky by going underground to try and get some element of surprise as she zeroed the distance between us. I ended up moving below her capacity to strike just in time to dodge her, giving me plenty of time to return above behind her and unleash my fire-based attack behind her back.
I pushed myself up, getting a full sight over the woman before delivering a second fireball directly aimed at her upper back. But she didn't dodge this time around. In fact, she didn't even put much effort as her hair sharpened and took the brunt of the attack without restraint. My jaws dropped as her silvery hair managed to live through the fiery onslaught, but after doing so the tendrils traveled quickly towards me.
After quickly reaching for two of my kunais, I started to cut around in an effort to be spared by these swift hair locks. But while I did have some early success against it, I saw my progress denied when a couple of those finally managed to wrap around my legs and pull me closer to Kaguya as the woman had my face close to hers for a little while.
Her white eyes stared at me intensely, and I could now see the degree of curiosity that had driven her to be this interested in me. She leaned closer, her lips turning up as she planted a kiss on my forehead. The action was more than enough to have me stop struggling, my mind going blank as I was caught off-guard by such action.
Why was she doing this? Why… What was going on here?
My brain burned even more after that chaste kiss only a mother knew how to deliver to a child, but my panic exploded in a new fit of struggling against my limitations as I was being pulled away from the safety of a stable room in the middle of nothingness… and right through the doors that led into the dark void surrounding this large room.
She gave me one last stare before nodding and throwing me out of there. It was in that moment that I actually started to scream. The sensation of plummeting to my own demise was far too real for this to be a mere dream, and another round of confusion started to completely leave me stomped about this matter as I couldn't do much but allow myself to fall into oblivion.
Not.. Mine…
My eyes opened to a familiar ceiling as I was finally pulled out of my dream. This wasn't… the Hokage Manor, no. I could recognize from the fact I had woken up inside my room and in my bed. I was still wearing my usual clothes, but I had been tuckered up to be sleeping under my sheets. My confusion could only grow in these circumstances, and when I found my mother bolting towards me after peeking to check if I was awake or not, I was given some more insight on what happened while I was unconscious.
As Mito saw me collapse on the floor, she panicked… and by panicking the woman ended up ordering a couple of healers to come to her home to check on my conditions before sending me back home. Somehow I had managed to stress myself to a point where I was unable to keep up with the mental strain created by my rushed approach over sealing. I could've taken a safer approach, but at the same time I was too invested on the topic to genuinely stop and worry about such a thing. I would've paid attention to this cumbersome problem from now on, and I had to promise my mother that I wasn't going to get too fast in trying to learn fuinjutsu.
It was an unpleasant decision, but I decided to uphold it considering how that mere session managed to get me to face… something. Something I myself wasn't sure what it was and what it wanted, nor how it ended to materialize in my mind and why it is me being the one that has to now deal with this new circumstances. And with the fact that I would have to spare a full day from action, I had made plans to try to study what had exactly happened and what the 'words' really meant in these circumstances.
If only I knew at the time that the next months were going to be a pain in the but… then I would've paid extra attention to what was soon to come.