Naruto: Dreaming of Sunshine

Speed is a great asset; but it's greater when it's combined with quickness - and there's a big difference.~ Ty Cobb

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I made good on my promise to interrupt Naruto's training the next day, picking up my seal notebooks and scurrying out to the training fields. Truth be told, I was a little nervous. I'd never had to actually go and bother a complete, uninterested stranger for help before.

Still, it wasn't like I was going to get a better chance.

"Shikako! Look! Look!" Naruto shouted, shoving something bright green in my face. My eyes crossed trying to focus on it. "I did it! I summoned a toad!"

It was, well, a pretty small toad. Barely the size of one of his hands. But considering he'd only started learning how to summon creatures yesterday it wasn't bad. Especially when you considered Naruto had several dozen Shadow Clones running around at the moment. In fact, I didn't even know if this was the real one.

"That's great, Naruto," I said smiling.

Someone snorted. "I wouldn't get so excited about it, kid. That's a pretty pathetic attempt!"

"Shut up! I'm trying, alright?" Naruto hollered back.

I perked up, looking for the voice. There. A white haired man crouching behind a screen of bushes, giggling every now and then.

"Is that…?" I asked.

Naruto scowled. "Yeah, that's the pervy sage. Are you really sure you wanna meet him?" The way he said it implied he couldn't imagine why anyone would.

"What's this?" Jiraiya cried, suddenly there in the same way Sensei sometimes was - exactly where you didn't expect him. "Someone wants to meet with the great Jiraiya? Is it a pretty woman? Oh, brat, you make me so proud!"

"It's not like that, you - you pervert!" Naruto exploded, waving his hands about and shouting at the top of his lungs. "Why can't you be serious at all?"

"Well, you're starting to get the right idea," Jiraiya leered at me, clapping Naruto firmly on the shoulder. "This one is a little young for me though." He laughed, a tad too long and a tad too loud to sound natural.

I waited for the feeling of embarrassment or outrage to start up. There was some but…

A lifetime ago something like that would have had me flushing and stammering. Now? I wanted to check over my shoulder to see who he was talking to.

There was a feeling of disconnection, like the seconds pause when I looked in the mirror and didn't recognise the face looking back. Sometimes I still looked for a rounder face, a curvier body, lighter hair, paler skin… sometimes. Just enough to make me feel like this skin wasn't quite mine.

So Jiraiya leering at it…

It didn't feel like he was looking at me.

It probably wasn't a very healthy way to feel, but it worked for now.

"Jiraiya-sama," I said, bowing low. "Please-"

He cut me off before I even had a chance to ask. "Oh, no. Just because I got suckered in to teaching this brat doesn't mean I'm about to go around giving lessons to every kid he drags along. So you can just toddle off back home and do whatever it is young girls do." He giggled, thoughts drifting off on an obvious and obnoxious tangent.

"I-"

"Nope. Not a chance. Sorry." He waved half-heartedly over his shoulder and turned to go back to his previous spot watching whatever he was watching.

He obviously wasn't going to listen. Not without something to catch his attention. My thoughts raced. It was a gamble, because he was a ninja and a Sannin at that but he was obviously fairly laidback and I was mostly sure I could get away with it.

Shadow Possession wasn't strictly an attack jutsu. And there was no way he'd regard me as an actual threat.

My shadow lashed out.

"Jiraiya-sama," I said hurriedly, knowing it wouldn't pause him for long. Not if he didn't want it to. "I've been studying seal work but there is only so far I can get studying books without someone to ask for clarification. Please, could you answer a few questions?"

I dropped the Shadow Possession, knowing it would be better to let him go than have him break it. I definitely didn't want him to see me as any kind of enemy. He turned back around, and this time there was weight in his gaze. I raised my chin. I hadn't faltered before, under Orochimaru, and I wouldn't falter here.

"A Nara, huh?" he muttered. "Sorry, little girl, regardless of whatever clan tricks you've got up your sleeves, you just don't impress me." There was a shiver in the air. Not quite Killing Intent but … Intent all the same. It made me highly aware that if he wanted, he could crush me and I couldn't do a thing. "I'm a busy man, I don't have time to hold your hand and teach you how to make your own explosive tags or whatever kids want to do with seals these days."

It was utterly dismissive.

I couldn't stop the flash of anger in my eyes. "I already know how to make my own explosive tags," I said, pulling my notebook out of my pouch. This one held all the different templates for the tags I used. There were about twenty different variations of explosive tags alone. "What I want - what I need - to know is how to create my own seals. And how to apply them with a touch for use in combat. Nothing I have read even hints at it." I frowned just a little put out about it. Oh, I understood why ninja were so stingy with information, but it didn't stop being irritating.

Jiraiya's look was reconsidering, and he snatched my notebook out of my hands with a lightning fast movement. "Hmmm," he said, flicking through the pages. "You'll never be able to seal like that using mass production seals like these," Jiraiya shook his head. "You have to own your seals. Mind and soul. Look, the reason no one else can do the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique isn't do to any safety seals or secrecy seals, no matter what anyone else says. It's because he invented his own damn branch of sealing to make it work."

I blinked.

"Look. Seals are all about influencing the world with your chakra. The ink, the symbols… its all trapping. Important, yeah, but …" he flicked his fingers back and forth.

"But… then why are there so many distinct branches of sealing?" I asked, bewildered.

He laughed. "People only think in so many different ways, kid. You live long enough, you'll work that one out."

"Oh." I blinked. That made… so much damn sense. "So I guess this is useless then." I looked down at the second notebook I'd pulled out. Jiraiya quirked a brow. "I was comparing the twelve most used branches of sealing arts. Method, theory, range of uses, results, points of conflicts…" I trailed off. Sealing was a matter of putting your own thoughts, own ideas, to paper, and then making them real. No wonder nobody used the same process. Oh, there were bits cut from here and there, bastardisations of this technique or that, overlaps, crossovers, wild leaps of imagination.

Every seal master created their own language. Not out of arrogance, not to mess with everyone else, or to keep their seals secret… but because they had to.

"Let's see it," Jiraiya said. I handed it over, mind still whirling. That new perspective… changed everything. Sealing was so unpredictable, so arbitrary, because people were. In computer terms…The seals weren't the hardware… they were the interface.

"Well, you completely missed the point," Jiraiya said slowly. I nodded along. "But… do you mind if I read through this? A large part of being a seal master is working out what other people have done. I'll correct any mistakes you've made."

"Yes, of course, Jiraiya-sama," I said automatically. I wasn't quite sure what the look he gave me meant, it was long and judging and lacked any of the lechery he usually emitted. Probably wondering how I'd missed the point so badly.

Damn.

"Eh, I don't get what you're talking about!" Naruto complained, crossing his arms.

I jolted. I'd mostly forgotten he was there. You knew you were preoccupied when you forgot about Naruto. "Uh, I just did something dumb, that's all." I smiled at him sheepishly. "But that just means I have more training to do now. Sorry for interrupting your training and all."

Naruto shrugged the apology off. "Nah, don't worry about it. It's not like the pervy sage does anything but watch those girls, anyway. Hey! Maybe you can help me with this jutsu!"

I blinked. "Of course, Naruto. You know I'll always help you. What are you having problems with?"

"I'm doing this summoning jutsu, right? But all I keep getting are these tadpoles and tiny frogs! I want to summon a really big one, like the pervy sage did!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Okay," I said slowly. "So how does this jutsu work?"

Naruto demonstrated. "I build up the chakra, and do the hand seals and… Summoning Jutsu!" he slammed his hand down onto the ground, chakra smoke billowing out.

Ribbit!

"Aww, man. That's another tiny one!" The frog was slightly larger than the one he'd shoved into my face at first, but not by much.

"Hmmm," I said. I'd felt the build up, and I'd felt the chakra that he'd actually used in the jutsu. The difference was pretty damn big. "Let me try something. I'm going to use my diagnostic jutsu on you while you do the summoning jutsu, okay?" I summoned medical chakra to my hands and placed them on his shoulders. It took me a few seconds to zone in on his chakra system. "Okay, do it again now."

Using my chakra sense, I could get a fairly decent picture of his chakra usage, but this jutsu was designed for close up investigation of the body. Naruto's chakra built up and up and up, so much it must have been almost painful, then just … fizzled, as he tried to do the jutsu, only small amounts drizzling down his arm and into the summon.

I drew back and considered.

"Well?" He asked.

"Give me a second," I said, biting my lip. What on earth was going on here? It was bad chakra control, sure… but…

"Let me see you do a Shadow Clone," I said, creating more medical chakra.

Naruto didn't even question why. He built up his chakra again, faster and easier this time with a more familiar jutsu… and then it was snatched away, twisted into the air to form a new body.

I had a sneaky suspicion. "A Transformation?"

Again, his chakra built… and again it twisted outwards reforming his body. He didn't channel it.

There was more than one part to chakra control. You had to mould it, creating a balance of physical and mental energy. Then you had to manipulate it into doing whatever you wanted.

Naruto wasn't great at moulding chakra, being inefficient, but seemed to be much worse at manipulating it. His best techniques were ones that seemed to just take the energy given to him and manipulate it themselves.

"Hmm." I drew back again.

He looked at me expectantly.

"Okay. Let's try this," I said, deciding. "Build up your chakra." He did, closing his eyes to concentrate. His chakra built until it was nearly visible radiating from his skin. I winced. Gods, it was just steaming off him; what a waste. "Now do the hand seals but don't do the summoning yet." Slowly his hands moved through the seals, his face scowling in concentration. "Now move the chakra in your Hara down your arm."

Naruto blinked his eyes open. "Huh?"

I touched his stomach where the bulk of the chakra was. "This is where you're building your chakra, right? Now, you need to move it up your shoulder and down your arm." I traced my hand down the path it should have followed.

Naruto grimaced as he tried to follow. He was just bleeding chakra at an amazing rate.

"Now do the summoning bit," I said, as it reached his hand.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto said, biting his thumb and slamming his hand down on the ground.

Chakra dispersed.

"Yo!" A small orange toad said. It still wasn't very big, maybe the size of Akamaru, but it was an improvement.

"Hah! I did it!" Naruto exclaimed. "That's super cool! But… I don't get why it worked now but not before…" he looked at me hesitantly.

"Well," I said. "When you're Tree Walking or Water Walking, you build the chakra in your feet, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Right. Kakashi-sensei said that was the hardest part of the body to gather chakra." He looked pleased with himself for remembering.

"Exactly," I beamed. "So if you use your feet for those techniques, what are you using for this one?"

Naruto blinked. Then stared at his hand that still had blood smeared across the fingertips. "My hand. So I… should have been moulding chakra in my hand all along? OH MAN! Why didn't I think of that?" He smacked himself in the forehead.

"Ebisu-sensei probably talked to you about chakra control right? And manipulating it?" I asked.

"He said I wasn't any good at it," Naruto confirmed mulishly.

"You lose a lot of chakra between moulding it and using it in the jutsu. So you need to focus on moving it where you want to go, right?" I asked. "That's probably what more chakra control will help you with the most."

"Right! I'm going to get this jutsu down. Believe it!" Naruto said firmly. "Here I come! Summoning Jutsu!"

I smiled. "I'll leave you to it, then."

I headed back to the clan grounds, head buzzing with new information. I wanted to get started on sealing right away, but I also wanted to finish drawing up my analysis sheets on the other Genin. That way, I could pass them out to my friends tomorrow.

So instead of heading back to my room, I set course for the clan archives.

The Nara Clan collected information.

There were four buildings on the clan property that had secret basements converted into libraries. One was open to anyone in the clan, one to Genin, one to Chunin and the last only to those who had achieved Jounin rank. I suspected there was more that were too secret for me to even know of. That wasn't even counting the secret cache of information that each ninja would likely compile, to be added to the clan archives after their death (provided the clan head agreed, of course).

We collected information like Uchiha collected techniques. Some of it bizarrely specific, like my great uncle who had gone to lengths to classify precisely the kind of parasites that our deer collected. (Of course, that then led to medical treatments to remove them, so it wasn't useless). Other information was very broad. Other information still was likely stuff other people would like to keep secret.

Like, for example, fighting styles of other clans.

At Genin level, I didn't have access to that much about the Aburame or Hyuuga, but it was enough. Some of it, I had already puzzled out yesterday at the Konoha Library. Some of it sparked more ideas, and I wanted to go and visit Hinata again.

I didn't know if she'd talk to me like she would to Naruto, but it was worth a shot, particularly if she knew I was asking on his behalf.

I took flowers this time, and even grabbed an extra one to give to Lee. We weren't exactly friends, but we had made it to the same stage of the Chunin Exams. He was an orphan, so I didn't think he'd have many people visiting him, and there were rumours going around that he was badly injured enough to end his ninja career.

I doubted that Rock Lee had the common sense to let something like injuries stop him from doing what he wanted.

I signed in at the reception desk, indicating who I wanted to visit.

"Rock Lee?" the nurse asked before sighing. "Please, if he's not in his room, let someone know. We've already had to drag him back inside twice today."

I blinked. "He tries to escape?"

"Worse. He keeps trying to train." She sighed again. "It's only aggravating his injuries, but he just wont listen to sense."

"That… sounds like Lee," I admitted.

It was a very awkward visit. Lee was very polite, I wasn't sure that he knew how to be anything else, but we didn't have much to talk about once I'd wished him well. The only thing I could think to talk about was the Chunin Exams, and that was just a bit too insensitive for me.

So I put the vase of flowers on the - previously empty - beside table and fled the room at the first opportunity.

"Hey, Hinata," I said, knocking gently on the door to her room. "How are you?"

She blinked, looking up from the book she was reading. I recognised it as one of the ones I'd left here yesterday. "I-I'm well," she said softly. "It's nice to see you again."

I smiled. "I feel like I have a lot of time on my hands right now," I admitted. "Being that I'm still healing too."

Because I was still healing, I was only supposed to be doing light exercises. Though, I'm pretty sure that what I was considering 'light' exercise and what the medics actually meant by 'light exercise' were very different things. Eh, I was keeping everything chakra enhanced during training, so chances of rebreaking anything were very slim.

Hey, I was keeping a careful eye on it. It's not like I liked having broken ribs.

"Oh, I see," Hinata said. "Have you been doing much?"

I shrugged, sinking into the visitors chair. "Mostly visiting everyone else," I admitted. "Seeing how everyone is getting on and all. I saw Naruto this morning," I teased, dangling the information in front of her.

She brightened. "You did? How is he… how is he doing?"

I hummed. "Not bad, actually. It's really too soon to say how much he'll have improved by the Exams, but its bound to shock a lot of people."

She smiled, a little bit bashful and a little bit proud. "That's Naruto."

I grinned. "Sure is. Hey, Hinata? Do you think you could answer some questions for me?" I asked. "I understand if you can't… with clan secrets and all…"

"Umm," she twisted her fingers together. "I can try."

I smiled. "Thanks. Really. Umm… I know that the Byakugan can see through things… so my question is; can you see underground?"

Hinata blinked. "Yes, but… um… it's very difficult to walk when you can't see the ground…"

"Oh. That actually makes a lot of sense. So you don't tend to look down with the Byakugan unless you already suspect an attack?"

She nodded.

So while you probably could surprise a Hyuuga with an attack from below… you'd only get away with it once. It might slow them down a bit to have to constantly check where the ground was, but not that much.

"Second question… can you see through the Transformation Jutsu?"

She frowned, as though thinking about it. "Umm… we can tell that there's chakra but… it depends…"

"So if someone Transformed into, say, a kunai or something…"

"I-It would have a chakra system, so I'd know that it was a person," Hinata confirmed.

Hmm… there was a jutsu that created copies of kunai, but I had no idea how it went. But if Naruto created cloned kunai before battle, then they would all have chakra…

Besides, Naruto's clones were chakra constructs and his Transformation Jutsu changed their shape completely instead of just projecting an image overtop of the real thing.

"Thanks, Hinata," I murmured. "I know it's kind of awkward for me to ask, but I really think this will help Naruto."

"I-I'm glad to help Naruto," she said softly, looking down.

"You're a good person, Hinata," I reassured her before changing the topic. "So how are you liking those books?"

.

.

The next day I packed a cooler bag of food and headed out for Sensei's training camp. It was two hours run at a fast lope, a ground eating, efficient pace. If I was willing to spend chakra I could probably cover it faster, but I didn't know if Sensei expected me to join in on the training so I wanted to conserve energy.

Sasuke was running through some Taijutsu drills when I arrived, with Sensei standing lazily to the side. I guess that was one benefit of camping in the same place - it didn't give Sensei a chance to be late.

"Just in time for lunch!" Kakashi-sensei said, clapping his hands together.

Sasuke blinked, baffled. "Shikako. What are you doing here?"

I giggled at the look on his face. "You didn't think I was going to let you go for a month with no one but Kakashi-sensei for company, did you? Who knows what that would do to you."

"Hey!" Sensei objected good naturedly.

Sasuke smirked. "I can only imagine."

"Right." I nodded, sharing the amusement. "I brought food," I said, unpacking bentos and thermoses. "There's some extras for dinner, too."

"Thanks," Sasuke said quietly, taking the box. "I think I'm sick of ration packs and protein bars already."

I smirked. "One day down, twenty eight to go," I teased.

He shuddered.

It was a quiet lunch, but amiable. None of us were exactly talkative people but we were definitely comrades.

"Are you sticking around?" Sasuke asked me.

I shrugged and looked at Sensei. "Kakashi-sensei?"

There was a glint in his eye. "Why, I have the perfect idea! How about a race? I'll time you two."

"Where to?" Sasuke asked interested.

"Hmm, oh, I think to the edge of the plateau, down the gully to the last spire and back will be plenty far enough, don't you think?" Sensei said innocently.

I squinted. "I can't even see the last spire."

Kakashi-sensei just chuckled.

Sasuke shrugged and looked at me. "You up for it?"

I nodded. "Sure. I should be fine to run."

Kakashi-sensei drew a line in the dirt and we both dropped into runner's crouches behind it. "Ready, steady… GO!"

We both exploded off the starting line. Chakra flared in my limbs as I ran, boosting my speed. I used it to increase the amount of friction I could grab on the ground, instantaneous grip and release helping me eek out just that bit more speed. The ground flashed past underneath my feet, almost as if I wasn't touching it at all.

It was… exhilarating.

I didn't look for Sasuke, content to know that for now he was behind me.

There were a lot of spires, looming out of the ground as we passed through the canyon. It meant we had to weave around them, which would have been easier if we were going slower. And then they ended. The stretch of sandstone and open space was quite the sight, if I'd taken the time to observe it. I didn't really, sticking one foot to the ground and crouching to pivot around it using my forward momentum to swing around to face the direction that I'd just come from. I was suddenly quite glad for my chakra enhancements as I'd underestimated the G-Forces that would result from the action.

But it did give me a very tight spin, and a straight shot past Sasuke back to the starting line.

"Ten minutes and twenty seven seconds," Kakashi-sensei said idly as I cruised over the starting line. I started to bleed off speed, sliding over the ground.

"And eleven minutes fifteen seconds for you, Sasuke," he added, snapping his stopwatch closed.

I considered the difference between adult and child, Genin and Jounin. "So it'd take you, what, three or four minutes, Sensei?" I panted.

"Slightly less, probably," Sensei agreed.

Sasuke groaned, flopping down onto the ground. "I'm never going to get fast enough."

"Now, now, Sasuke. It's not time to give up yet," Kakashi-sensei admonished.

I caught sight of something I hadn't noticed before. "Are you wearing weights, Sasuke?"

He 'hn'ed in acknowledgement.

"We probably wont get far with the weights method," Kakashi-sensei said. "It relies on time to adjust to them, which we don't have. Mostly we'll be working on using chakra to enhance your speed. We should be able to get you up to Lee's speed, at least, by the end of the month."

I wondered if I should invest in weights. Maybe not, they only affected a certain part of the body, and only along with gravity. Maybe, hmm, maybe if I looked into making a resistance seal? To increase the effort needed by all parts of the body, like trying to move in water only without the buoyancy?

I could already tell that I hadn't been as chakra efficient during the race as I could have been. Not using chakra like that meant I wasn't exactly used to it. It had it's benefits, but I'd have to work on using it sometimes or I'd lose that advantage.

"Straight line running isn't going to cut it though," I said, thinking out loud. Fighting probably involved very short distance sprints and rapid changes of direction more than long distance races.

Sensei's eye glinted again. I was starting to think it signified sadistic amusement. "That's right. Next up; agility drills. Or, I guess we could call it… dodge training."