Chapter Text
Iruka frowned, brow wrinkling in concern. A few weeks ago he would have suspected a genjutsu at work, but then again genjutsu wasn’t exactly his area of expertise. The only reason the academy teacher even suspected genjutsu was due to his belief that the child in question didn’t have it in him to sit so still for more than five minutes at a time. Now, it could be the work of someone else; however, no one else had any reason to do such a thing and, while unusual, it would have come as no surprise to find out it was just a prank. A very quiet, non-exploding, non-disruptive, glitter free, and paint free prank, which somehow made it unnerving and planted a growing seed of paranoia in most eye witnesses. Describing the situation like that sounded really extreme and overblown, but the reality was that Naruto’s drastic change in behavior was more than a little jarring.
It was most noticeable at the academy. Outside of class, the loud exuberant knucklehead was still very much present, harrying the odd civilian and otherwise sowing discord and mayhem. On the other hand, the studious and reserved child that currently sat before Iruka was a complete stranger. Whilst he didn’t necessarily pay any more attention to the lessons than he had before all this, he didn’t waste class time by causing a ruckus or picking a fight with Sasuke, nor did he sleep the day away like some honorary Nara. And, miracle of all miracles, Naruto actually deigned to turn in homework assignments. It was honestly astounding. There was a level of maturity and self-awareness to him that had been severely lacking up until the past month.
Of whatever had happened to prompt this change, Naruto hadn’t spoken a word. Anytime Iruka brought it up, Naruto brushed off his concern and quickly distracted him with actual academic questions. As happy as he was for Naruto to be taking his education seriously, every deviation in previous behaviors only served to fuel his worry. Something had to have occurred to have caused such a profound change in his student. If only he knew what.
Naruto ignored the droning of the teacher’s voice and focused on the pen and paper in front of him, tongue poking out the side of his mouth and a look of intense concentration on his face. He didn’t have anything against Iruka-sensei, far from it in fact, since Iruka-sensei was one of the few who even tried to treat him like a normal kid. But this was loads more interesting than history lessons.
And just what was it that had so captured his attention? Seals. Or rather, in this case, one specific seal, drawn over and over again until he could draw it out consistently as well as flawlessly. For as basic as this particular seal was, seals as a whole were both intricate and delicate, hence the need for repeated practice. This was something that really needed to be done with a brush, but since Naruto was currently at the academy and, from his hazy memories of covering sealing scrolls and explosive tags, would likely get in trouble if caught messing with seals unsupervised, he had to make do. Bringing a brush to class would be much too suspicious. No way was he going to let anyone, not even Iruka-sensei, prevent him from learning something so cool.
He continued drawing while mentally reciting the function of each component. This was a simple timed trap seal, meant to freeze an opponent in place for a short period of time. Naruto grinned just thinking of the pranking potential. Or even better, if he was able to place it sneakily, he could use it to finally kick that bastard’s butt in a spar.
Honestly, why was no one teaching this at the academy? It actually made a lot of sense and Naruto seemed to have a knack for it. And wasn’t that a novel idea? That he was actually good at something? It wasn’t like he had any talent for genjutsu, and there was no one he could practice his taijutsu with. Ninjutsu wasn’t so bad, except the bunshin was basically impossible and it was one of those things that they were always tested on. Everything else they were taught involved a lot of reading, which he usually couldn’t make heads or tails of and it only gave him a headache to try, so he didn’t.
In the end, he supposed it didn’t really matter if the academy was teaching fuinjutsu or not, since he was learning it now, and nobody would expect it when he became a master out of nowhere. Because he was determined to master the art of sealing. He wanted it. He wanted it more than his admittedly childish dream of becoming Hokage. Besides, it wasn’t so much the hat that he wanted, but the recognition and respect that came with it. Not to mention the common decency that no one seemed willing to grant to the no-name orphaned demon brat. The treatment he so desperately wanted by becoming Hokage could just as easily be gained by becoming a master in an obscure shinobi art.
Naruto shook off his heavy thoughts and switched to drawing explosive seals. He had to get the basics down or else he’d never be able to move on to making custom seals.
As soon as class let out for the day, Naruto skittered out the door faster than a rabbit with a cat on its tail, entirely ignoring the two sets of contemplative eyes he could feel trailing after him. He raced home bubbling with giddy excitement. In short order he was sprawled out on the floor of his apartment with paper, brushes, and ink. Over the course of the last month his brushwork had improved in leaps and bounds. Now he no longer left ink drips everywhere and his strokes were smooth and even. He smiled in accomplishment at his practice sketches. Maybe when Hinoe came by he could pester her into finally letting him try out the real deal.
“Naruto-kun, you’ve got ink smudges on your face.”
Speak of the devil…
Upon the sill of the window he had left open was an elegant woman dressed in a purple floral kimono, curls of smoke trailing from a thin pipe in her hand. Full lips were painted a blood red, matching eyes highlighted with purple shadow, although one was hidden behind her rich midnight blue hair.
“Hinoe!” Naruto cheered. He jumped to his feet and thrust his paper at her. “Look at this, look at this! I’ve been practicing all day and I think I’ve got it down so can I try activating them now? Please, please, please can I try?”
“So impatient, just like Kushina. You’re always in a hurry,” she chided, but the fond amusement was clear in her voice, so Naruto didn’t take it to heart. Hinoe brought the pipe to her lips, taking a drag, then exhaling a cloud of smoke. “Explain each of the components to me. Let’s make sure all the theory I drilled into your head actually stuck.”
Naruto’s cheeks puffed out in what was absolutely not a pout . “Come on, I can do that in my sleep by now.”
A paper fan appeared out of nowhere to thwack him lightly on the head. “Brat, there’s a reason I made you learn all of that first. This is a dangerous art. Mistakes can be fatal.”
“Fine,” Naruto groaned, capitulating and doing as he was told. In all honesty he wasn’t that put out. Hinoe was a good teacher and he was so thrilled to actually be learning something that he never complained much. Besides, it was because of her that he was doing so much better at the academy. One of her stipulations for teaching him sealing was that he put at least some effort into his normal schooling. On top of everything else, she was the one who stepped in to help when he struggled with reading.
She nodded in approval at his thorough breakdown of the seal and at last they headed out to the forest to practice. They went to the outskirts of Konoha, on the edge of training ground 44. There it was less likely that they’d run into any other shinobi and Hinoe’s presence would keep anything else from wandering too close. Naruto had never actually been inside Konoha's famous—or maybe infamous—Forest of Death, but instinct always had him sticking close to Hinoe, fenced off area or not. There was no need to tempt fate, not to mention that there were certain things that could not be stopped by physical barriers.
Naruto was a bit disappointed that Hinoe vetoed his suggestion of testing his exploding tags, however she had a valid point in that the noise could bring unwanted attention. It would have to wait until he learned some privacy seals. Instead, he used his trap seal to practice trapping small animals, rabbits, birds, and the like. Many of them were flighty and quick on their feet, so Naruto had to be careful to hide his presence, then swiftly activate the seal in order to catch them. Only after he had been at it awhile, with a number of failures and successes under his belt, did Hinoe show him how to adjust the seal into a passive trap.
The young ninja-in-training was only slightly miffed that he’d been made to do things the hard way first before being shown a more efficient method. Even he could see the benefit of learning to activate seals quickly on the unsuspecting. Plus, the prankster side of him would always appreciate the masterful use of stealth, surprise, and the delicate art of precision timing.
Armed with a stick and some new sealing knowledge, Naruto sat at the edge of the clearing he had claimed for his own, sketching a newly modified seal into the dirt. He muttered to himself as he went, devoting to memory the new components and their functions.
The chiming of bells coming from everywhere and nowhere at once had Naruto looking around in confusion while Hinoe just gave an exasperated huff. The clearing was just as empty as it had been from the start and there weren’t any people, human or otherwise, visible through the thick surrounding foliage.
“So this is what you’ve been up to. I’d heard that you’ve been coming to Konoha, but I wasn’t expecting this.”
Naruto looked up to see an enormous bull with a horse head descending from the sky. He—at least it seemed like a he, but Naruto didn’t want to assume because it was often hard to tell with yokai—was dressed in a pale lavender kimono with bells and gold rings dangling from his ears.
He had always been able to see them. Yokai. Ayakashi. Spirits. When he was younger and didn’t know better, he used to ask about the funny creatures he would sometimes see wandering into the village. The matrons at the orphanage, who already hated him, didn’t take too kindly to Naruto pointing at and talking to things that didn’t exist to their eyes. He learned quickly not to mention them. Which honestly wasn’t too difficult. They lurked in the shadows of the trees and the deeper parts of the Naka River, along unseen forest paths and in secret groves. Only the brave or the powerful ventured very far into the developed areas of Konoha. Hinoe said it was because even if they couldn’t see the yokai shinobi could still detect their presence to some extent. Despite the tasty meal shinobi made due to their power, those yokai who liked to eat people preferred to go for easier targets.
Naruto shivered at the thought of being eaten. So far, he had only run into a few yokai like that and only one encounter had been face to face. That had been an awful experience.
As a whole, the yokai weren’t so bad and they didn’t mind his presence too much. He had even befriended some that frequented the lesser used training grounds at the outskirts of the village. That is, after they had stopped running away any time they spotted him. But Naruto had kept coming back because he had sensed in them kindred spirits, filled with the same loneliness that he felt day in and day out. His efforts had eventually borne fruit and he had gained his first friends.
So far, he had yet to be given a reason to regret that choice. Not even the incident a month and a half ago, even if it still gave him nightmares. In the end, he had made more friends because of it, including Hinoe, so it still counted as a positive thing in his books.
The female ayakashi blew out a puff of smoke that danced and swirled in the light breeze. She asked, “Did you need something, Misuzu?”
Baring his teeth in an eerie grin, the bull yokai replied, “Is there something wrong with coming to visit an old friend?” Naruto wasn’t sure what to make of him just yet, but admittedly that smile was a bit disturbing.
“Uzumaki-sama!” A cheerful voice called out, breaking the faint air of tension that had unintentionally fallen over the clearing. The ox-like and one-eyed chukyuu pair popped up from behind some bushes, stumbling and swaying to some silent beat. “We’ve come to visit you again,” said One-Eye. Wearing a dopey smile, the ox chukyuu nodded his head in agreement.
The young boy in question stared at them incredulously. “It’s the middle of the day. Why are you already this drunk?”
“Evening is not far off. All the more reason to continue drinking through the night,” said Chobihige, the final member of their group, the Dog’s Circle, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. He sat calmly next to Hinoe with sake in hand.
Naruto pointed at him, shouting, “Where did you come from?!” His question went unanswered as more and more yokai showed up to join the party.
“Hey! I’m supposed to be training!” an annoyed Naruto yelled at them.
Too lost in the revelry and the prospect of copious amounts of sake, most of the newcomers ignored the fuming boy. Hinoe, sending a regretful glance towards the others—or rather the sake, compromised by agreeing to help Naruto with his homework. So they sat just off to the side of the revelers and their merrymaking as Hinoe tried to drill some shinobi history into Naruto’s unwilling skull.
From the other side of the clearing, nearly forgotten, Misuzu continued to watch the boy with a curious, searching gaze.