"Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys." ~ Emma Bull
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I sat on the edge of the bank, carefully positioning my feet on the water. The river in the training field was slow moving, almost a pond, and nearly perfect to try to learn to walk on water.
Water had natural surface tension and would resists the efforts of anything trying to break through. Of course, that only went so far and anything heavier than an insect couldn't really take advantage of it. What the water walking technique was supposed to do was use chakra to enhance that natural surface tension to support human weight. It went deeper than that, though. You needed to keep it solid to balance on and anchored to avoid washing away with the current.
My chakra control was more than good enough for it but the feeling of standing on something so unstable took some getting used to. It was a reflexive reaction to channel more chakra to make the platform more stable but it really had the opposite reaction and shattered the delicate chakra balance sending you splashing down into the water.
Channelling chakra through your feet was supposedly one of the most difficult ways of channelling chakra. That was because most people moulded chakra in the Hara, the centre of energies located near the stomach, and then transported it through the body to the point they wanted to emit it. This required them to keep tight control over the moulded energy or risk losing or wasting energy as it travelled. Maybe it was because I was so much more in tune with my chakra pathways but I found it just as easy to mould it at my feet where I needed to use it.
I stood, wobbling slightly from the feel of the water underfoot. It felt… squishy, like standing on thick jello. I knew intellectually that it was stable, but it didn't feel it. I stepped forward. Disconnect the chakra. Reconnect. Test the weight. Step again. Each step was a little more certain, a little steadier, a little easier. Water Walking, like Cat Foot or Leaping Monkey, was one of the skills that became, needed to become, second nature. When you needed to use it, you couldn't be thinking about it.
I jumped, a slight bounce, then higher, then higher again. I darted to the side, zigzagged back, using the chakra on my feet to counterbalance the action and pivot neatly. I loosened the anchoring aspect and slid across the water like I was skating. I suppressed a giggle. It was fun.
"Whoa!" Came an appreciative shout from the bank. "That's so cool! Can you teach me that? Please, Shikako? Please?"
I skidded back onto the back, where Naruto was standing waving his arms about. He and Sasuke had apparently shown up while I was busy experimenting. I flushed.
"Ah, sure, I guess," I said. I hadn't intended to teach them but there wasn't any reason not to. "Umm… But we'll have to start with the first stage." I added hastily as it looked like Naruto was about to dive head first into the river. It might have been spring but it was still too cold to spend the day soaking wet.
I walked towards the trees that edged the clearing. Naruto and, unsurprisingly, Sasuke followed me. Even though he hadn't said anything he was undeniably interested in learning.
"The first step, before Water Walking, is Tree Walking," I started, looking at Naruto to make sure he was listening. He was. Eagerly. "It requires good chakra control. You use your chakra to grip the tree." I reached out and touched a hand to the tree bark. "Do you see how the bark on the tree is uneven? You fill in the gaps with your chakra to grab onto it. The deeper into the tree you can get it, the more solid your grip. But, if you use too much chakra it can blow the tree apart. If you don't use enough you just wont stick."
Trees were actually easy to use to learn this technique because they had such a rough surface. Rock would probably work too, but flying stone shrapnel was probably a little more dangerous. The same principle applied with everything else, but at a much more minute level. I walked a few steps up the tree before jumping off, to Naruto's amazement.
"To actually Tree Walk, you channel chakra out your feet to stick to the tree, but it might be easier if you start with your hands." I demonstrated, moulding chakra in my hand before sticking it to the tree in front of me. "Less chance of falling off, that way."
"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'll totally get this down before sensei gets here!"
I smiled at his enthusiasm, but doubted it. Not unless he used his Shadow Clone training…
"Hey Naruto," I asked slowly. How could I bring this up? "What does it feel like when your Shadow Clones pop?"
Naruto frowned at the weird question. "What do you mean?"
"Well," I tried to explain. "there are a lot of different types of clones, right? The Clone Jutsu we learnt at the Academy require direct manipulation - you had to keep thinking about what you wanted it to do - while some other types of Clones can carry out a basic plan like Water or Earth Clones. But your Shadow Clones seem to be autonomous - they think for themselves. I was just wondering how… how you controlled them, I guess. How it feels."
Sasuke was actually listening intently to us, even as he attempted to stick his hand to the tree.
Naruto frowned again. "I don't know. I never thought about it." He scratched the back of his head. "They do what I'm thinking when I make them but if I come up with a new plan I can sort of tell them it. Not in words but like… the idea."
"Huh." I hadn't expected that. I guess it made sense though. "And do you get things back from them?"
"I don't know," he confessed.
"Well, if you make one now and I tell it something then if you know what I told it…"
"Yeah! That's a cool idea, Shikako!" Naruto clapped his hands into a Ram Seal and with an explosion of chakra there were two of him standing in front of me.
"Right. You keep working on the Tree Walking, and we'll go over there," I said pointing back at the bridge. It was far enough away that they shouldn't be able to hear us.
"Uh, right," I said to the clone. It really was an exact copy of Naruto. Without having seen it made I would never have been able to tell the two apart, not even using my chakra sense. "Lets see… maybe if I just give you some code words?"
The Naruto grinned. "Hehe, that sounds awesome. Just like Iruka-sensei always talked about in the Academy."
"He'll be delighted to learn you were actually listening," I said dryly, drawing a blank about any code words I could possibly use. "Okay. Bridge, blue and thirteen." They weren't the most original choices, given where we were standing, but hey. I wasn't trying to fool anyone here.
"Bridge, blue, thirteen," the Naruto repeated. "Err… what should I do?"
"I don't know," I said honestly. "Can you try and … send it to him?"
His face squinched up in heavy concentration.
I waited. And waited.
"Maybe we should ask Naruto if he's got it?" I wondered.
We headed back towards Naruto just in time to see the bark crackle under his hand and send him staggering back a few steps. "Hehe, I'm still working on it," he assured me.
I winced, but nodded. "Do you know what I told your clone?" I asked.
Naruto thought about it. "Not a clue."
I nearly face palmed. "Alright. What if he pops?" With a shrug, the clone did just that, dispersing in a puff of chakra smoke.
Naruto looked frozen. "Bridge. Blue. Thirteen," he recited. "That's what you told him, right?"
I smiled. "That's what I told him."
"That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "How the heck didn't I notice this before? Oh man, I can think of so many things…" he giggled.
I didn't want to know. "Like helping with your training?" I asked.
"Helping with my training?" he parroted, showing that that had not been what he was thinking.
"Just a thought." I shrugged. "But you know what they say. Two heads are better than one and all that."
I turned away from him. Sasuke had moved on from using his hands to starting climbing. There weren't any great holes in his tree, so I assumed that his chakra control in his hands was fairly decent. It was considerably worse through his feet. Without the momentum of running at the tree, he was only making a few steps before either sliding or being repelled. I considered his progress.
"Hn?"
I shrugged. "You've got the gist of it. The only thing left is practice." I considered suggesting that he run at the tree, but the speed didn't really do anyone any favours. It only meant you were higher up when your control faltered. "Unless you have questions?"
He shook his head and turned back to his tree.
I went back to the river. Sensei wouldn't be here for ages and I could still use practice.
"Well, well, well. Aren't you busy little bees?"
I turned back to the bridge, where sensei was perched on the railings. I glanced at the sun, pushing a hank of slightly sweaty hair out of my face. It was probably close to eleven.
"You're late!" Came a chorus of voices, all Naruto. They exploded in a huge messy cloud of chakra smoke, leaving only one behind.
Sasuke flipped gracefully off the tree trunk he had been standing on. Neither of them had made a great deal of progress but they'd only been working for about two hours. I skated towards the bank and we all converged on the bridge around Kakashi-sensei.
He was peering at us as though we had done something very interesting and unexpected. "Mah, it looks like you've been entertaining yourselves while you waited."
"Hey!" Naruto squawked. "Did you even hear me? You're late!"
Predictably, Kakashi-sensei ignored him.
There was a long moment of silence. Kakashi-sensei seemed to want us to say something, but I was baffled as to what he was asking.
"Well, lets go get a mission, then!" He said cheerfully, hopping off the railings.
"It better not be as sucky as yesterday," Naruto complained grumpily.
I shrugged. I didn't really care about D-ranks. It wasn't as though I'd never gone shopping or weeded a garden or babysat before either. "At least we're getting paid for it," I offered. "And they don't take long."
"But they're not even actual missions!" Naruto argued.
"You heard Hokage-sama yesterday," I said. "They'll give us an 'actual' mission once we've done a few D-ranks."
"Oh, that's what he was saying." Naruto nodded sagely. "We'll just do these stupid missions really fast so we can get to a proper mission."
If you ignored the wording, it was a good plan.
Naruto ended up selecting our mission for the day, which was a courier mission because 'it sounded fastest'. He even ended up explaining his whole plan of doing D-ranks really quickly so that the Hokage would give him an important mission. I would have been horribly embarrassed, but the Hokage just looked amused at him. I guess it was a step up from having him complain.
We went up three levels in the tower and were directed to a stack of papers nearly taller than Naruto was. Even Kakashi-sensei seemed nonplussed.
"Here's the list of where they need to be delivered. And a map," the Chunin at the desk said, with a quick smile. "The files all have a number corresponding to the delivery location. Any questions?"
"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto cheered, attempting to pick the entire pile up. I could see it tipping over and going everywhere.
"Wait!" I yelped. "We should take a quarter each… a third each," I amended as I turned to find Kakashi-sensei gone like the wind.
Sasuke was already examining the map and list. "To the Academy first," he decided. "It's closest."
We divided the pile up and trundled off.
"That… was exhausting," Naruto said later as we returned to the Mission Assignment desk to report a 'mission complete'. We had literally gone all over the village, the Academy, the Hospital, the Library, weapons shops… just about everywhere that dealt with shinobi anything.
"Yeah," I said as Sasuke grunted in agreement. It was only mid afternoon. "Did you guys want to spar? Since we didn't this morning and all…"
Sasuke hesitated, then shook his head. "I want to work on the Tree Walking some more."
Naruto watched Sasuke leave and seemed torn. "Umm. I want to spar. But… I want to master that technique. If Sasuke is going to… I can't be left behind."
I pondered for a second. Actual combat was something I needed to work on. "Could you… get some Shadow Clones to work on it, and train with me at the same time?"
"Oh! Yeah! I totally forgot about that! Let's go!"
I smiled and followed him back to the training grounds.
That was how most of our first week as Genin went with a small variation as to the kind of missions we took. After training I'd go home and continue my own projects. Mostly, that week, I was working on seals.
Sealing, or the art of Fuinjutsu, is one of the least studied areas of the ninja arts. To be successful at sealing one needs to understand the forces that they are attempting to work with - the properties of your materials, the energy flows, and how chakra will interact with them. In this way it can be considered similar to medical ninjutsu, however, unlike medical ninjutsu there are so many more factors to take into account not just the human body. Even those who are good at one type of sealing may never succeed in another area, simply for lack of information.
But to succeed in sealing, you must also have a 'natural talent' for manipulating energy. Some seals are powered not just by the individuals chakra, but by ambient chakra in the air. Natural chakra.
There are many different sealing theories, many which even contradict each other. Some sealers used nothing more than Kanji, others said nothing could be down without complex and estoric signs - including astrological signs, symbolic images or lines of text. Some sealers go by the Five Elements (wind, water, fire, earth and lightning), or the Eight Trigrams (sky, marsh, fire, lightning, wind, water, mountain and earth) while others go by the Three States (solid, gas and liquid) or Three Treasures (Budda, Dharma and Sangha) or Yin-and-Yang and others still invent their own tenets.
Some sealers claim that circles are the basis of all seals. That the redistibution of energy, be it chakra or otherwise, must be cyclic.
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, merely changed from one form to another.
In cyclic sealing, the circle itself is the conduit that focuses and dictates the flow of energy and allows it to be manipulated. A subset of cyclic sealing is spiral seals which are much more powerful - and unstable. Unsurprisingly, these were most famously used by Uzushiro.
A completely different form of sealing is triangular sealing. Triangles are widely regarded as the strongest and most stable shapes, so are a natural resource for powerful seals. Triangles can be combined in many different ways to form other shapes, and a hexagram is commonly used because it forms eight multidirectional triangles.
There was the arithmetical approach. Runic based sealing. Pictorial seals, which were, I suspected, what Sai used. Geometrical seals. And many, many more.
Seals usually involve repeating elements. Prime numbers are common, particularly three, five and seven.
Blood is often used, or blood mixed with ink, because it is an excellent conductor and container for chakra.
This much, I had been able to discover. Beyond that, beyond the 'hows', the 'whys' were … vague.
I frowned at my notebook (triple encrypted, with one layer being English which I was almost sure no one spoke) in consternation. I'd already raided the Konoha Library for sealing books at my access level, of which there aren't many. What there were focused more on the forces involved sealing - the combustion potential in exploding tags, for instance - rather than the principles behind the seals themselves. It was perfectly possible to just copy existing seals, as long as you just wanted to duplicate the same effects. Creating your own, now that was another story.
Maybe if I compared the major branches of sealing, I'd be able to uncover the principles behind the seals? It seemed as good a place to start as any.
With a sigh, I took out a new notebook and began.
It was Saturday when our schedule changed. Ninja didn't exactly have a 'working week'. We worked when there was work to do, and took breaks when we were tired, injured or not pressed for money.
On Saturday, we turned up bright and early at the mission assignment desk for a surprising announcement from the Hokage.
"Well now. Team Seven has been surprisingly productive," the Hokage said, peering at us. "What do you say, Kakashi? Are they ready for a C-rank mission?"
Naruto exploded with cheers.
Kakashi-sensei smiled. "Well, they're certainly enthusiastic for one."
The Hokage chuckled. "A C-rank mission it is, then. You'll be bodyguards on a journey to the Land of Waves."
Well. Shit.
That was something I'd been unconsciously trying to avoid. For it to happen anyway felt a little like fate.