Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It wasn’t after the disastrous chunin exams-cum-invasion or was it after her life-altering encounter with Uchiha Itachi that she noticed the other boy. But Daichi assured her that he had been following her and her progress since he caught her explosive seal in a cleanup of the forests where they chased Gaara and his siblings.

Which, made sense, even shinobi struggled to sense seals and that particular path was frequented by traders and merchants who travelled west. It would have been detrimental to the reputation of Konoha if an exploding seal took out their wares or their lives. But it was initially a bit suspicious that out of all the clean-up crews, he was assigned to the single area where she accidentally dropped her otherwise carefully handled seals.

Daichi could not believe an explosive note that took out a horde of ninjas contained a simple rendition of “BLAST” with specific rubrics on range and impact. Then it struck him that the note was written in English, a language he never encountered in this life despite working in the Intelligence division.

On follow-up, he discovered it belonged to the daughter of the Jounin commander. And as a low-level civilian-based paper chunin, who was also four years her senior and thus not even in her age set, he had no reason to casually make the acquaintance of what he believed to be another reincarnation.

Yet, he made it a point to dawdle in her periphery, the training grounds, the Nara bakery, and the hospital (the boys barely noticed him and without Kakashi, no attention was brought to him). And thus, one day, soon after her return from Gelel and Suna, he was able to finally – finally have a conversation with her.

Shikako’s surprise lasted for a whole of 15 seconds before the idea that she was not the only reincarnation incorporated within her. (She also squashed the immediately arising ugly emotion that she was not the only special person to be reincarnated here and this immediately led to her relief and worry on how Daichi survived so many years without even having a clan as a support system).

Shikako was a bit wary at first but never hostile, even while she questioned (interrogated) his knowledge of the Naruto events without even hinting she knew them too, which was fair. She didn’t want him to turn out to be an imposter or a Root spy. But that still didn’t quench the imposter syndrome or the guilt in seeing a person younger than him doing and changing so much of the timeline for the better, while he had done nothing but watch one disaster after another take place.

“I tried, you know”, he would confess much later, sometime after Naruto’s departure with Jiraiya, when they earned each other’s trust and met for more than just training, meals and discreet conversations of food recipes that in actuality alluded to the different events the future held in store for them. (As an unspoken rule they never discussed their previous lives, the people and circumstances in which they left behind. They could never be ready for that).

It was a quarrel over how easily Shikako grasped concepts, which she insisted was an effect of having an adult brain and in no way a consequence of her actually being intelligent. Daichi snorted at her, his food got caught in the wrong pipe and he hacked it for at least 10 seconds but he felt it was worth it.

“Shikako, if your “assimilation” of facts stems from all the mental stimulations you have "experienced" in your previous life, then I must have been brain-dead or my never matured after Sesame Street was taken out of the air. Why can’t you just accept you are a smart and intelligent woman and it has nothing to do with remembering your previous life and all that?” he huffed before he took a large bite of the katsu to compensate for his previous misstep.

Shikako gave him her signature unimpressed look but he didn’t backtrack. He wasn’t scared of her. Not anymore. She scowled at his knowing smile that she could not win this argument and continued her conversation.

“What I’m saying is that you need to seriously consider coming up with your own variation of fuuinjutsu seals and not just copying them.”

“Yes, because it is a choice and not a question of whether I’m capable of doing it” he retorted sarcastically.

Shikako frowned at her friend, peer and fellow victim of a divine joke, the one who made her life easier in the past few months (not that she observed but her family took note of seeing less of the bone-wrenching loneliness they saw her growing up and pondered over what changed). Daichi for all that he liked to call himself as unremarkable or average was not so. Sure, he was no genius or a prodigy. But like her, he had been born and diagnosed with chakra sensitivity which he overcame despite the crippling pain of using chakra. While his sensing range was short, a mere 5-metre radius, he still would be able to encompass all the chakra factors, including dispelling individual and area genjutsu. Shikako was pretty sure he would fair better than her in a spar with Yakumo.

He was also a wizard at encryption, code-breaking and data analysis, one of the reasons why he was bundled up from genin-corps and placed directly under Shiho from Intelligence whom Shikako vaguely remembers from the manga. And like all civilian shinobi, he was no slacker. He worked twice as hard to learn anything that he could get his hands on despite never becoming a specialist in any of the fields.

Now, in intelligence, he was trying to change the timeline by presenting adequate data on enemy ninjas, already presenting facts on the immortal nature of Kakuzu, unique blood limit of Deidara and a thorough skill analysis of that "unnamed" ninja who fought the Yondaime. Information is the most important weapon a ninja can have.

And Daichi strived to bring this information to Konoha even if it meant risking his life a few times.

So yes, Shikako respected him. Looked up to him. Admired him.

Just not now. Now she wanted to punch him.

“What I’m saying is that not everyone could become a Fuuinjutsu specialist Kako-chan. There is a reason only a few excel at it despite Konoha being the next best destination after Uzushio." Daichi rambled while dipping his already sweet dish in more syrup. "You need an active imagination and an even better grasp of concepts that are Roman-Hanzi based. I lack the former and dwindle in the latter. I’m one man in possession of a brain that would rather recite line by line every supernatural episode than come up with ways to bend the laws of physics.”

“I… uh wait Supernatural?” Shikako raised her eyebrow.

“It’s an American classic! So, no. I won’t apologize to you or anyone else for loving the greatest story my side of the hemisphere has ever come up with.”

“Fine! Fine…. I’m asking you to just not stop… trying” Shikako was exasperated but she composed herself. She hated arguing and Daichi was a bit sensitive about not being able to master sealing even with a guide (and that’s what she is, not a teacher never a teacher). She did not want him to backslide and abandon sealing entirely because for all his operational readiness training this could seriously save his life someday.

There was a long moment where the only noises were the tinkling of spoons and vessels. Shikako did not kid herself that the conversation was over.

"I tried, you know" It came almost as a whisper from him.

"...What?"

"Itachi Uchiha. He started in my class. The first day I went and introduced myself and asked if he would like to share dango with me. We had a pleasant conversation and I almost hoped that I could change the timeline. The next day, I couldn't find him anywhere. When I asked around, they told me a young boy from my class had been promoted over two grades. One day, we were eating together and the next I realised there was such a skill gap we did not even share the same floor."

Shikako was unable to reply. She didn't know he was in the same class as Itachi or why he was bringing it up now.

"It was then I decided that I had to seriously level up if I ever had the chance to catch up to him. I have two sets of notes from my time in the academy, you know. The moment we moved beyond learning Kanji to ninja arts... when I realised for all my enthusiasm I was in danger of falling back, I started visiting the library every day. But it felt like rocket science. My chakra manipulation was abysmal with my body always fighting my chakra systems and I failed to understand that the hand signs were also in a way manipulating the chakra. Before I did understand, I had already ended up in genin corps and my reserves stopped growing taking away my chance to produce any decent ninjutsu."

"It was after Itachi... left was I able to become a better shinobi but by then it was too late. I couldn't change shit. Here, I was born in a place that could be the envy for everyone in my previous circle and I couldn't do anything. Even Lee has better willpower than me. I tried raising flags on Kabuto after I became a chunin. But I was barred by who I think were, you know "tofu" (their code for root). I was restless, and frustrated and was just about to confess the whole thing to Ibiki during the invasion when I came across your note." 

He smiled at her. Shikako returned it. 

"Of course, somedays I think I should have confessed." He smiled teasingly at her. "Would have been less dangerous than your sealing sessions, I will have all my hair and - ouch" He jokingly grumbled massaging the place where Shikako half-leaning. She had punched him and was now mock-glaring at him. She was glad that he quickly regained his mood back because she sucked at consoling and didn't want to invade his space too much.

"I told you it was an accident and it is your fault for using an explosive triagram over a storage seal. And your hair is now growing, so you have nothing to complain and I - shut up" she glowered at the still laughing boy. "Maybe, I should have started with explosive notes with you."

"Hey, hey that could be a great assassination method in the field, it would say storage seal and if enemy shinobi try to learn the seal or activate it, it will explode on their faces."

"That is... actually not a bad idea" Shikako hummed before taking her notebook to obviously pen down the ideas.

Daichi shook his head and was about to take another bite of the delicious pastry when he felt the chakra presence of the most badass shinobi of all elemental nations behind him.

"Mah, I was waiting so long for my cute little genin, Shikako-chan. Lost in the path of life are we?"

Chapter Text

“Kakashi-sensei! You’re back!” Shikako leaped at him.

He was gone for so long in the fronts. Their brief reunion at her hospital bed or Naruto’s party did not count at all. She was sad to hear that he had immediately left for a mission after Naruto’s departure and with the next chunin exams looming over, she feared they lost their chance to see him. Also, she was still upset about Naruto’s absence.

So, the “hug” was justified and overdue (Kakashi simply patted her head and gently removed himself away from her. So not cool!)

“Mah, here I was about to start training my cute genin, but my students are lazing about in my absence. Not even there to greet their poor sensei.” Kakashi shook his head in mock grievance.

Shikako huffed. “You were gone, they split up the team.” She narrowed her eyes at him. Because Kakashi volunteering himself for team training felt like a genjutsu. She glanced back. Daichi had stopped eating when Kakashi had arrived but had now resumed, helping himself to Shikako’s portions as well.

“Sasuke is probably training with Team 8. Team 10 training ended just an hour ago and I’m having lunch.” She defended herself.

By replacing Shikamaru, she had realized that Team 10 was actually a bunch of early risers. Ino usually woke up before dawn to take care of the flowers while Chouji was easily swayed with the promise of an early breakfast, another breakfast and a brunch. She suspected that Asuma was just glad he could actually train his team that he didn’t mention anything about unusual timings. Somedays, he was earlier than them.

“Yes, I heard food does taste better with friends.” Kakashi said looking at her. Just like sensei, he was probably not even listening to her. She internally sighed.

“Well, you’re back. Does that mean you are going to start training?” She wiggled her fingers at him. More training sounded good even if it’s just last-minute advice on tricks and techniques. She’ll take it.

Kakashi was quiet, his eye focused on her before it curved into a smile.

“Team meeting in 10 minutes. Getting lost in the path of life isn’t a viable excuse for being late, Shikako-chan.” He shunshin-ed away before she could respond. She turned to Daichi who had helped himself with more of Shikako’s meal.

“I’m pretty sure he is the one who is going to be late. Even Sasuke for that matter if Kurenai-sensei hasn’t completed her team training.” She shook her head. “Afraid, I have to cut this short. Can’t miss out on more training especially with the exams around the corner.”

“Personally, I think you should not miss out on any training with Kakashi. Even so I’m just noticing that the rumours are true. He actually uses those excuses?”

“You are just meeting him?” She asked surprised.

“We run in different circles.” Daichi replied referring to Kakashi's Anbu status until over a year ago. “And he is not someone you come across in a bar or a grocery mart. Bit surprised he actually tracked you down. People say he’s a hard man to talk to. And his mission report submissions are legendary.”

True. Even she would have a hard time seeing Kakashi especially if he did not want to be found. And Konoha is a big place and an almost-paper-ninja such as Daichi would have a hard time meeting other shinobi outside missions. And his mission report submissions are legendarily late.

“That’s his best excuse, you should hear the rest.” She shook her head, throwing some money on the counter. “Well, I’m not sure if I can meet you before the Grass exams, so just keep practicing your calligraphy, yeah?”

“Sure, because that’s why my sealing progress is deficit. Bad handwriting.” But he agreed amiably so she left it at that.

“The exams might be a bit interesting this time with it being a festival event. Heard that even Mist is entering a team for the first time after a decade.” He continued as an afterthought.

Daichi had told her that the Mist Alliance won and the previous Mizukage was allegedly killed during her time in the hospital. It wasn’t exactly a secret but no one other than upper-level shinobi had learnt the news. She hoped Haku was alright.

“But it is not the mist team you should be worried about.”

Shikako glanced up at him to see his laser focus eyes on her.

“Gaara of the desert and his siblings have entered the tournament again. They are the only ones from their village. Says a lot when even the minor villages send more than two teams.”

 That could mean only one thing. Gaara’s village is still terrified of him and are questioning his sanity. That was sad. Collaborating for the last few missions with the Suna team, Shikako knew that Gaara had improved a lot through Naruto’s influence. But she supposed irrational fear is not something that could change suddenly. Take her for instance, the Kyubi still gives her nightmares.

“So that is watch out for Mist and Sand. Added to the fact Iwa is already fuming on our borders and Kuma is looking for a single reason to declare war. Anyone else?”

“Hmm, no I think that’s about it. Grass never played favourites in any war so chances of a coup d’etat are lesser. Plus everyone is afraid of the Kantokushas to take any stupid actions in their turf. So have fun and if you get the chance kick some Kumo ass for me, yeah?”

“Kantakousha?”

“Ask your sensei. He is meeting you in the next seven minutes to three hours”

She huffed at him, snatching a bun from his plate and turned to leave.

Chapter Text

After her sensory training with Tonbo, Shikako dragged herself towards the Intel division. She was asked to wait until someone came to get her when she saw a familiar face.

“Oh, don’t tell me,” Daichi said, his grin widening as he balanced several coffee cups in one hand and a large box of pastries in the other. “You’re the newest recruit they were clearing the desk for?”

Shikako beamed at him. Her exhaustion from training was momentarily forgotten.

“I’m working for you? That’s great!” Shikako’s eyes lit up, a grin spreading across her face. It was hard meeting with Daichi in midst of her missions. But if they were in the same department, it will give her ample time and reason to spend time together without anyone suspecting them.

“Technically, you’d be working with me,” Daichi corrected, his tone teasing as he gestured for her to follow. “I’m afraid I don’t have the same clearance as you, Special Jounin Nara-san.”

“I’ll take this,” Daichi said, turning to the receptionist with a playful wink. “Aoba-senpai will be thrilled I saved him a trip down these ridiculous steps.”

Shikako rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress her smile.  

“Don’t do that,” Shikako said, half-laughing as she followed him up the narrow staircase. “It’s my first day, and I’m already on outs with the head of R&D. Got any pointers for a rookie?”

“Remember the thing about cigarettes being the currency in prisons”, Daichi began, shifting the box of pastries to one arm so he could hand her the tray of coffee cups. “Well, here, it’s coffee. Favors, alliances, even apologies—it all runs on caffeine. And trust me, being the ‘food guy’ is a surefire way to win friends. Always have enough to feed a dozen people. Here, hold these.”
He passed her the tray with a grin. “Trust me, this is the best first impression you can make.”

“Uh.. alright?” Shikako hesitated, eyeing the tray of coffee cups and the flights of stairs. That just spelled disaster. Right, she pulled back her coat’s sleeve and activated the seal.

“Nifty trick,” Daichi said, nodding toward the seal on her arm. “That thing really came in handy against that Grass-nin, didn’t it?”

“You like it? I call it ‘Gun to a knife fight’, patent pending. It’s a variation of a hammerspace seal that is not finished yet.”

After learning about the Kantakoushas in an old Bingo book (and with helpful pointers from her sensei), she realised that short and midway ranged-jutsus are useless against the notorious prison clan. Either she had to learn a high chakra intensive ninjutsu/seal that could immediately take out the grass nin before he noticed or she could go to her good friend Tenten and learn the art of Bukijutsu.

Luckily for her, Tenten had already developed a rudimentary hammerspace seal using her notebook and Shikako was not above a little nagging in forcing Tenten to show the seal. The result was she smothered Muku (who had hid his Kantakousha heritage but she was able to recognise his jutsu from an earlier match) with metal shrapnels and explosive notes the second the match started. And if Shikako posed a blowing the gun off smoke like from an old west movie when she finished the fight under a minute, she felt that Daichi would appreciate the gesture.   

Outside matches, the seal served well as an object dispenser provided it was “stocked” first.

“It wasn’t as flashy as your match with Gaara,” Daichi admitted, “but at least you didn’t give that Grass-nin a chance to trap your chakra.

“Yeah, the match was over before it even started. I think the Raikage thought we were plants or something.”

“Hilarious,” Daichi said dryly, though his eyes sparkled with amusement. “At least there were no international incidents—other than making a bunch of Genin question their life choices, of course.”

Shikako dismissed the accusation, he was just pulling her leg.

“We even stayed over for a celebratory dinner with the Sand and Mist teams.” Shikako said, her tone casual but her eyes sharp. “There was some… progress.”
She left it at that, hoping Daichi would catch her meaning without needing further explanation.

“Some progress here too,” Daichi said casually, his tone light but his gaze thoughtful. “I’ll fill you in later.”
They must have reached their floor when Daichi turned to a shinobi wearing sunglasses and gave a quick nod. “Aoba-senpai, I saved you a trip downstairs. Is this the kouhai you were expecting? Daichi nudged Shikako in front of him.

“Did you start her induction?” Aoba hummed looking between them.

“Just covered the important parts,” Daichi replied, gesturing to the coffee tray now in Shikako’s hands.

Shikako took the hint and bowed slightly, “Shikako Nara reporting for duty.” She extended a coffee cup to Aoba Yamashiro, “Please take care of me.”

What do you know, the girl might survive paperwork hell after all. Daichi thought to himself.