Smoke

I was standing on the water again, tomoe slowly spinning in each eye as I looked at my feet. I Flickered off the liquid, weakly, but in a definite Body Flicker jutsu nonetheless, hitting the ground with a step and turn.

It worked.

"So... I was right?"

It was the thing Zabuza had been able to do, creating a sort of semi-solid surface off of which the regular chakra repulsion rules worked, allowing him to Flicker normally. No, that was wrong. It wasn't right to call exclusively the reaction between chakra and solid objects repulsion. All the phases of matter more or less were repulsed by chakra, in their own little ways.

It was adhesion that only seemed to apply to solids... Or was it?

Hmm, more to test out in the future.

I had thought that there was a theme going on there, with plasma jumping into the mix as the fourth state of matter as the chakra elements of Fire or Lightning, but I had been mistaken. There didn't really seem to be any plasma in any of the great five elements.

Not as far as I could tell, at least.

It was more like all the elements were an extension of how chakra reacted with the three other phases of matter, and how that could be mixed up or applied.

"God, all these elements are making this too confusing - I need to make a mind map or list or something..."

I had borrowed another book on the matter—my newfound fame and the left-behind vest finally enough to get me access to some chuunin-level materials from the Hokage's tower—and it had explained some of the uses behind elemental chakra.

Mostly just about the practice of discovering and training it, involving some kind of special chakra induction paper and then increasingly difficult exercises to enhance the chakra nature's potency. After that, it was just more like a long list of different natured jutsus and what they did and their handseals, rather than any real dissertation on what elemental chakra actually was. Like no one had thought to analyze it further and break it down and to understand what the elemental chakras themselves were - at least not in any of the materials I had found.

But it also had a few tidbits about how the raw natured chakra could be used.

Things like how running Lightning-chakra through blades to make them cut better—not how electricity works, at fucking all.

Or attaching Wind-natured chakra to shuriken and making them similarly more destructive as Lightning, just without all the noise—again, not how wind works either. What is it with the Japanese and thinking that wind or vacuums can cut?

I kept seeing it in anime and games, back before, and it had never made much sense to me. It couldn't just be the Kamaitachi folklore, could it?

Fire also had that shuriken jutsu Sasuke used a lot early on in canon to hide his throwing stars, but it seemed pretty weak; more like pouring the blades in some oil and igniting them, than anything actually impressive on the level mentioned for the other two elements.

But there didn't seem to be any such easy uses for a lot of the other elements, which made the whole wheel of five rock paper scissors battle royal-thing kind of suspect.

Like it was all arbitrary, but not in the way where it was all made up and completely equal as was often the case with such elemental systems. It wasn't like all the elements were just a different flavor of power-up where the color was the only difference. But it still felt arbitrary and made up, just more... organically made up?

As if it had developed naturally as an extension of chakra in this world. They called it 'nature transformation' as opposed to the shape transformation, which seemed to be just using chakra in jutsu the normal way, but...

It didn't quite sit right with how chakra actually seemed to work. At least to my eyes.

It was all this handseals business that was making it so removed from the normal shinobi's understanding. Because there was elemental ninjutsu and then there was elemental chakra by itself. As in you could pop out a powerful jutsu with a long series of handseals and then you could actually form that chakra nature directly, with the latter seemingly being a lot more potent and versatile.

Like how I had uncoupled and free-formed the Great Fireball.

The way it seemed to me was that chakra natures were more like... descriptions. Chakra just did things and then ninja applied the nature description based on what it looked like.

Because as I had observed several times, electricity does not act like Lightning chakra, at fucking all. Electrons do not like being out in the air; it takes immense voltages to get it to arc through the air and even then it wants to go straight back into something else, preferably something very conductive like metal.

Electrons want to reach an equilibrium, like gases or water or...

It's not like Wind or Water jutsu make any more sense from the old perspectives either...

I sighed, sitting down by the pier and rubbing my throbbing temples.

I need to put this into words.

Lightning-natured chakra is an extension of the property of chakra to adhese and repulse solid matter, using free-floating electrons as a carrier to form a chain, moving them rapidly with chakra through the air, so they become sort of like real electric arcs or discharges in appearance, but not really?

This way they can cut, as when the electron chain is disturbed by a foreign solid object the chakra repulsion effect kicks in and at a very fine level starts tearing apart the matter perpendicularly to its original direction. There's probably also some level of resistivity-related heat generation as well, weakening the material for the chakra repelling it apart. So if you run Lightning chakra along the edge of a kunai, the kunai can seemingly cut through other kunai when the electron chains discharge themselves. Each individual electron carries a very small chakra charge, but the way the 'pearl necklace' or chain moves along allows it to offload its full charge in a very short amount of time.

This was why the Chidori took an immense amount of chakra to power up—it needed to gather free-floating electrons by adhesing to them and then getting them into all the chains—but when it was simply held did not consume much chakra at all—as the spinning and grinding electrons aren't going anywhere, simply being excited and moved by the rest of your chakra—until you slammed it into something physical and cut through it—at which point the charged up chakra is released as it tears apart whatever it connects to.

There was no real change in the 'nature' of the chakra, nothing different was being created, it was merely doing what it usually did, but only on a very fine level. It was very similar to the chakra string, too.

Was I so good at using both because of my affinity for that kind of chakra control?

Canon Sasuke had never used chakra strings, but I couldn't discount the possibility that his Uchiha wire tricks used something like it to work, too.

Then what about fire?

Fire needs three things to burn: heat, oxygen, and a fuel source.

I remembered that, still.

The oxygen was right there, so it was... chakra repulsion and adhesion applied on a similarly fine level to the gases in the air? Exciting them similarly to how the chakra chains of electrons were moved, but in a wilder, unrestrained fashion, causing the temperature to rise and finally ignite from the friction?

No, no... The Great Fireball jutsu is lit up inside my body before I expel it and that's not what happens with it at all... I think.

I hadn't been able to observe the process until now with my Sharingan precisely because of that reason. Maybe I should ask for Neji's help since he could observe the jutsu forming where I couldn't?

Maybe it's like a diesel engine?

Unlike regular gas fuel, diesel did not readily want to ignite from a regular old electric spark, so the engine design worked instead by alternatively compressing the fuel injected into the cylinders. It was why getting a cold diesel engine to start was an absolute fucking pain in the ass in winter. I had sometimes had to start literal fires beneath the engine of a tractor to get it to start when the snow needed plowing.

Anyhow, diesel when forcefully compressed would ignite and explode, pushing open the cylinder again and generating torque for the wheels and compression for the other cylinders to continue the operation cycle.

So by inhaling and suffusing chakra into the air—like in the Lightning chakra's electron chains—did I forcefully bring it in or push it together, compressing it enough to cause an ignition to occur as I released it?

It could be a mixture of the two as well.

Still, ignition of what?

Did chakra itself fuel the fire? That didn't seem right, but...

Wind-natured chakra does burn. Fire violently beats Wind, I remembered, the swordsmanship lessons bringing to mind the elemental circle of overcoming again.

So was the chakra infusing the oxygen or the... nitrogen? I couldn't remember what else was there in the air, not that I could readily confirm that the mixture of gases in the air here was the same as back before anyway...

Regardless, it seemed that chakra when mixed with something in the air did burn very energetically. This roughly explained how the Fire jutsu seemed to work, lasting only so long as it was continuously powered by the user unless it was used to ignite something else like wood dust or lamp oil or what-have-you. Which it seemed to ignite very effectively.

But wait, didn't Temari use her fan to put out a few of Sasuke's flaming shuriken in the canon invasion when he was chasing Gaara? I distinctly remember fire-coated shuriken being put out in the anime... How did that work—Oh, right. She didn't repel the shuriken with that attack.

She must have altered the attack to cause something like a low-oxygen, low-chakra mixture that would quench the flames, but in turn, wouldn't do anything to the projectiles themselves the way her usual Wind jutsu could. She would probably prepare something like that, well aware of her weakness to Fire jutsu, being a talented and drop-dead gorgeous kunoichi like that.

I let out a depressed sigh.

Which brings me to Wind chakra, I guess.

It was...

I got up, shaking my head. "I need to see this and try and figure it out."

Pulling back my sleeve, I turned the triskelion tattoo and called out a weak scouting Shadow Clone. It took him a second to sober up, but that was fine, I was in no hurry.

"I'm gonna use the Wind jutsu I stole from Orochimaru – the Great Breakthrough. Use your Sharingan to just try and figure out what the hell is going on there with the air, alright?"

We exchange nods as two pairs of Sharingan whirl to life, and I race through the handseals - a crutch, as I'm starting to realize.

Tiger—ox—dog—rabbit—sneak!

"Great Breakthrough!"

I scream out the howling blast of wind up into the air, keeping the effect down from what I had pulled off against Orochimaru, not wanting to uproot trees and level the walls around my property.

"Hmm," the clone says, adopting a thoughtful pose but not popping yet as the winds die out.

Fine, I guess a little talking and comparing observations would work, too. The clones were starting to get a bit uppity. I think the seal was messing with their heads a little, even if I hadn't noticed it in the return memories. Or maybe I was getting too crazy to spot the crazy?

Oh boy, let's stay on topic for now.

"So is the chakra doing anything special when it interacts with the air?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Doesn't it just do what it normally does, push it away?"

I roll my eyes.

"But how is that any different from when I just push chakra out from my hand? Why does one do that...?" I ask and point at the updraft having pulled leaves clean off a few branches, now leaving them to slowly fall into the pond. I would have to clean them up later, too. "And the other just... poooof, little mid-summer hand-fan?"

"Well, I mean your Wind affinity is probably garbage, so you need the handseals to make it work even a little. I mean, what's the difference between a Great Fireball and actually making the fire without the handseals... Not that we know how to do that, anyway. At least I can't...?"

I scowl and shake my head.

That part about the handseals was obvious, but still, how did Wind actually push things or cut things when normally the air just dispersed harmlessly—I blink, expression draining by distracting realization.

Right, of course. Just as how Lightning chakra can cut things, if the chakra in the air is controlled well enough, it can probably be pushed into a solid and tear it apart on a similarly fine level as by the electron chains.

"And the pushing effect is more like a net or blanket, than the string of a cut I guess, pushing it in the same direction as the moving air."

"Huh?" the clone doesn't understand, but that's fine.

The difference between a cutting edge and a blunt impact is just the area of the tool on the point of impact. If you put the same amount of force in a swing with the flat or back of a sword as you did into a cut, it wouldn't wound someone, it would just push them back a little.

Or smack them a little, only slightly painfully. And with the same amount of energy concentrated onto the tip, it could pierce clean through.

Then, does that mean Lightning chakra could be spread out and used without cutting something, too?

"Huh," I repeat, but with less confusion than my clone.

Could be interesting.

Freeform the electron chains and slow them down, align them all in the same direction so that they're not tearing everything into a million different directions. Like that Norwegian guy on youtube who would go ice-skating and ice-dipping with a chainsaw and a bottle of vodka: he would use the chainsaw to pull himself forward along the ice.

Could I do that with Lightning chakra? Electric rollerskates?

Maybe, but don't really see the point compared to how well the regular Flicker works.

That still left two elements.

"Earth and Water..."

But I didn't have an affinity for either, so it seemed like a waste of time trying to figure them out, while I was still trying to work out the affinities that did work for me. Even if my little Flicker experiment was clearly hinting at my theory being correct for water.

And with the few Earth jutsu I knew, I think I had a pretty good idea how they worked too.

It was just a matter of imposing how the chakra repulsion worked for one phase of matter into another phase of matter. You treated parts of solids like it was liquid to freely shape it, and treated liquid like it was partly solid to push it around.

The hidden mist jutsu was probably something like many tiny impacts in the water disturbing it enough to cause the droplets to become and remain airborne, similarly to how Zabuza had created a foothold to Flicker off of on the water. The easiest Earth jutsu I knew was literally called the Earth Swim, too.

Though the next jutsu up in my repertoire for those elements—that I clearly remembered—were the dragon projectiles for each element, so maybe my understanding was still a little lop-sided. But they did seem to work under the same principle: dirt was made more malleable, bringing up rocks and boulders from the ground, while water was given some solidity and form to allow it to be pushed around.

"Bring me the book over there. I need to check something," I tell the clone.

He glances that way and then back to me. And then he snorts and dispels himself.

I blink at the memory as it returns to me: "Bitch, I'd rather kill myself."

"What a contrarian asshole..." I grumble and go get the book myself. At least what he had seen sort of confirmed what I had thought.

Right, where was it...

Here.

"Chakra induction paper test..."

Fire causes the paper to ignite and burn to ash. That seemed about right if it was some sort of extra-sensitive material that reacted to the most natural tendency of the chakra that was pushed into it. So either the friction or compression would cause it to ignite and burn.

Lightning... wrinkles the paper?

"Uh... That's weird?"

Wasn't Lightning's big deal cutting things—no, wait that was Wind with the paper test... So...? It's as if the electrons inside of it were suddenly connected and trying to pull towards each other when chakra with a natural tendency towards Lightning was used?

Kinda makes sense...

But would be impossible to tell without seeing it for myself. Same as with how exactly fire ignited the air and paper.

"Water turns it soggy and Earth makes it crumble?" I mutter as I look at the text again, before shaking my head and closing the book.

I guess if 'Earth' chakra causes dirt to become more malleable, the chakra paper would fall apart and turn into dust. But why would the paper become soggy for a Water nature?

Maybe I was just seeing one or two aspects of each nature and mistaking it for the whole... Because my 'apply solid repulsion to liquids'-theory did nothing to explain how the Second Hokage was known for pulling water straight out of the air.

And the problem still was that for all this theory about the change in nature of chakra, I still didn't know what any of it really meant or what I could do with it.

"For now, I guess I'll just practice the Chidori."

If the idea about free-forming was right, then with enough practice wouldn't I be able to make it quieter by aligning all the electron chains so they weren't grinding against each other constantly? That was bound to have interesting implications, not merely limited to potential Lightning chakra locomotion. Because as was, the jutsu was probably wasting a lot of chakra on needless flair.

But first I had to get the jutsu down well enough to actually start picking up on the differences in the directions in which the electron chains wanted to move.

Which meant getting out of Konoha and getting some damn earplugs. Because I wasn't planning on going deaf before I turned twenty.

Sakura slapped herself lightly on the cheeks.

Shannoro, let's go!

Not hard enough to hurt or even redden the skin, but it was an action that seemed appropriate that she had picked up somewhere and never really thought about before. The plan to prepare a bento hadn't been quite as easy to pull through as she had suspected, but she still thought she could appeal to Sasuke-kun today.

She had finished reading another two books on sealing on subjects she remembered him struggling over a month ago, so while Naruto wasn't here right now, she still thought she might get him to agree to another study session.

"I'm going now, mom!" she called out, leaving her house.

It had always puzzled her why the Uchiha compound was so far away from everything else, but it always gave her an excuse to wander through Konoha so she had come to not mind it so much these days.

The Hidden Leaf was like an anthill again today; completely abuzz with the rebuilding effort.

Entire blocks had been leveled and streets had to be redrawn but some were even saying it had been well past time to expand some of the infrastructures, taking this as an opportunity to do so. Ninja villages tended to be used to these kinds of things, considering there had been three major wars in living memory and the Kyuubi attack besides.

To that end, it was more the civilian population who seemed to be struggling to adjust.

Many of them hadn't been living here all that long, the hired hands and laborers often coming in from the nearby satellite settlements and only working for a year or two before returning. Ninja villages tended to collect immense amounts of money and spread it around locally, after all.

So while the ninja had always seemed to hold a certain respect for the Uchiha clan—and a certain fear and wariness, she had sometimes noticed—it was now the civilian villagers who were practically fawning over her teammate.

Or rather, teammates.

It was a little bit difficult to believe how strong Naruto had become, but...

That's just Sasuke-kun for you.

He had seen something no one else had and turned him into a very strong ninja in practically no time. In contrast, she was starting to fall behind. And not just a little, either.

It was starting to keep her up at night.

No way! I'll make Sasuke-kun see my real potential and—

'You can't live for someone else, you deluded little girl.'

Sakura stopped, brows furrowed.

Why had Sasuke-kun gotten Anko-san to teach her? She and the crazy kunoichi had practically nothing in common... right? She had seemed more like someone Naruto would like. Especially following the catastrophe in the Forest of Death.

She tried not to think about some of the rumors she had heard. About who Mitarashi Anko's old teacher had been and what he had done to her. She was sure most of those rumors were completely false, anyway – Anko-san was many things; unpleasant, uncouth, abrasive, and almost abusive as a teacher... But she was not a bad person.

It hadn't been firsthand, but Naruto had practically vouched for her being a good person, and besides... she trusted Sasuke-kun's judgment!

"I'm sure it was to protect me," she declared finally, clenching her fists.

Who better to protect her from the traitorous Snake Sage than his former student who hated him more than anything in the world, right? At least long enough for him to be drawn him out and defeated.

"Right! I have to work harder, too!"

Sasuke-kun had done amazing things and he was sure to become one of the elite jounins in a matter of years, so she couldn't be left behind. Not after merely a few months together.

While she didn't have his ability to see right through to the heart of things and solve every problem with just one hand, or Naruto's endless energy, she knew she too had things she wouldn't lose out to anyone in. Things like books and sealing lore.

Just remembering how easily he had countered Shikamaru's shadow jutsu...

It almost made her think she could do something like that, too.

She hurried on towards the compound, waving at several people who recognized and called out to her in passing. It was when she arrived at the edge of the training area that Sasuke-kun preferred, that she only slowed again.

"Shino?"

The two black-haired ninjas turned to face her, no doubt having long since noticed her, but taking the uttering of one of their names as a cure to greet her.

Aburame Shino had always been a mystery to her. His bugs were extremely creepy, yet he was no doubt one of the most talented shinobi their age, thanks in no small part to Sasuke-kun's help again, surely.

"Haruno...san?" he greeted her, as if tasting the honorific with caution.

Right, they had never really talked to each other before. "Sakura is just fine, Shino."

He nodded stiffly.

"Sakura, something up?" Sasuke-kun asked her and she felt herself immediately turn towards him.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! I had found another book on sealing – I think it has an example of that problem you were trying to solve in the tower!"

He raises a sharp brow that almost vanishes beneath one of his silky black bangs, his hair's smoothness and luster always reminding her of raven feathers, their inky shade soft and luminous in a way that even her pink hair couldn't match. It was one of his most attractive and noticeable features.

"Oh, that."

Oh no.

She's done something wrong, but—

"I already figured it out. I asked Naruto and Jiraiya for some help on it before the finals."

"Oh..." She swallows heavily.

She had been looking into it all month, going through various books, and he had managed to solve it on his own? With Naruto, again?

Why does he always focus on that loudmouthed idiot so much!

She tried not to let the anger show, not in front of Sasuke-kun.

"Wait, did you mean the jutsu sealing or the... jutsu sealing?" he asks, suddenly frowning. "I mean, the preparation one or the counter one?"

"Umm... Both?"

She hadn't tried it out, but the records indicated that Uzushio ninja had used it both ways before their village was destroyed.

He had that far-off look in his eyes again, the one with just a hint of red, as if his bloodline limit was just bursting to come out because of his barely-contained excitement.

"Right. Could we look it over later? I, uh..." He turns to look at Shino, who had been waiting patiently by the side. So still that she had completely forgotten about him for a moment. "Sorry, didn't mean to sideline you after I asked you to train with me."

"It is no problem. I shall excuse myself. Why? It is very likely that our teams will be disbanded following our respective promotions, and do not wish to rob you of any of your time together."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, looking amused for some reason.

"No need to get jealous of her. You already told me that Hinata was busy again."

Hinata? Does she train with Sasuke-kun, too? Sakura blinked and bit the inside of her lip, glancing at Shino who was stiffly pushing up his sunglasses, even though she was sure they had not slid down his nose at all.

"Besides, I think this might work out even better for us. Sakura," Sasuke-kun continued, giving her a look.

"Yes?" she gasped, stiffening.

"How good are you with genjutsu?" he asked with a grin.

She cringed. Aside from what she had been taught by Anko when it came to detecting and dispelling them—something she had been strangely insistent on, despite Kankuro not having shown any skill with it—she knew practically nothing about it.

"Oh, umm..."

"Alright, then: how good would you like to be with genjutsu?" he continued, before turning to Shino. "She's got bar-none the best chakra control I've ever seen – I doubt either of us will be able to get her more than once with a crude trick. Teach her one or two of your genjutsu and I'm sure we can persuade her to be our test dummy for a little while."

Sakura blinked, not following along at all anymore, even as she felt her cheeks heating up a little.

"You believe that she would help us hone our fine tolerances?" Shino asked and even she could spot the surprise.

"I don't know... Would she?" Sasuke-kun asked her with that smirk that made her insides turn to goo.

"I... Of course!"

She managed to answer after only swallowing once.

"Look," Sasuke-kun interrupted Shino. "I know the texts say all that stuff about chakra being a combination of spiritual and life energy... But it doesn't mean anything in practical terms, even for genjutsu."

The Aburame heir was practically bristling—even she could tell to some extent, or was it buzzing?—and Sasuke-kun sighed.

"Okay, look... What is spirit?"

Shino inhaled slowly and then opened his mouth, but said nothing for a second.

"Umm, Sasuke-kun," Sakura hesitantly interjected. "All the books teach us that chakra is created by combining our physical energy and our spiritual energy."

"Right. And?"

"And...?" she echoed, owlishly.

"And? What are the implications of that? What does it mean? Can it be used to accomplish something?"

She shivered at his tone, not understanding what he was trying to say.

"Well, umm... By manipulating the ratio of spiritual and physical energy, it is possible to use yin or yang techniques...?"

"Of which genjutsu is the most well-known application of yin chakra," Shino finally said, having calmed himself down, which only made Sasuke sigh again.

"Right, but I don't do anything like that. Chakra is chakra – it's a medium for transmitting thoughts and feelings all by itself, no ratio management necessary."

Sakura blinked, frowning.

"Was that what you meant in Wave?"

Sasuke-kun turned to her, with clearly no idea what she was talking about.

"When you dismissed Zabuza's killing intent inside the hidden mist jutsu?" she reminded him.

He snapped his finger at her, an easy grin blooming on his face. "Right! That's exactly what I mean. If there was some fundamental shift in what chakra was, then wouldn't that be a problem in a jutsu that requires nature transformation? Would a water jutsu be a water jutsu and a yin jutsu?"

I turned to look at Shino again, who not exactly mollified still looked intrigued. Since when could she judge his facial expressions that well, though?

"Like, there's mind, body, and spirit, right?" Sasuke-kun asked rhetorically, continuing. "And to train the body—and the physical energy aspect of chakra—we can become stronger, ingest medicines like soldier pills, or train any other way we can think of to enhance our bodies, right?"

She nodded hesitantly, remembering reading as much in her Academy textbooks.

"But when it comes to enhancing the 'spiritual' side, we're told that it takes studying, getting more experience out in the field, and then meditation to improve."

"That is right – Kurenai-sensei has stressed all of their importance for developing spiritually."

"But see, that's the thing. They're not at all training the same thing, not like how everything that enhances the physical energy focuses on the body - there's a split between the mind and spirit in the methods."

Shino shakes his head, letting out a silent sigh.

"Just now, you were adamant in your refusal to accept the spirit, but now you are speaking of it as if you do believe in it..."

She immediately reacts: "Shino, that's... Sasuke-kun is just trying to work through the idea. He sometimes has trouble putting things into words if we don't give him time to think it through, first."

The two boys stare at her for a second and she tries not to flush, weakly adding: "I, umm, I try to always really think about what you say, Sasuke-kun, and sometimes it almost seems like you're working through iterations of what you want to say... changing it along the way. It can be a little confusing..."

He had mentioned mind, body, and spirit just now...

Sometimes she observed a tendency in him – a similar three-way split of sorts.

It reminded her of a passage in a book about infiltration and seduction, a scroll usually only read by kunoichi.

Words echo in the wind while castles are razed.

That had referred to councilors and customers who would make promises and great speeches, to always consider how they had acted as well. Someone could have an impeccable reputation as being a trustworthy ally, but in truth would never be there when needed, only truly capable of offering soothing words after that fact to salvage their reputations.

It was like his thoughts, words, and actions did not always coincide. Not quite like a lie, but more like there were always three distinct and independent sides to him. Like, he couldn't be contained by just being one person all the time.

He could be acerbic in words and expressions, but his actions would be gentle.

He could be fighting fiercely, but his eyes could be dancing as if he was having fun.

He could be quiet and still, but suddenly reveal that he had been undergoing a deep transformation or realization.

Sasuke-kun cleared his throat, looking away from her. "Right, uh, yeah. Sorry, it's just... Spirit is used so nebulously. It means different things and it feels like it's just used as a crutch to hide things, when you can't properly explain something. So I might be too harshly critical of it to better delineate my own thoughts from those of others."

Shino frowned but nodded, allowing him to continue.

"Anyway, for training 'spirit', the methods you mentioned are in conflict, or rather they do completely different things. Studying makes you smarter by teaching you how things work, but meditation doesn't. Meditation might reveal something you haven't considered before or allow you to reason something out afterward more clearly, but for the most part, it's just a method for calming down and centering yourself. Not just in the moment but also long-term with stuff like greater heart rate variance improving sustained focus... Anyhow, it doesn't make you smarter."

The bug-user nodded again, a little hesitantly.

"Anyway, the mind learns through studying, but does the spirit benefit from it? Just like meditation doesn't teach you anything, studying doesn't make you calmer—unless you've turned it into a meditative process, but that's kind of contradictory...—but, that split is still there, between mind and spirit in those two things. Or do you disagree?"

She and Shino remained quiet, trying to understand his point.

It wasn't unusual for her to have a difficult time understanding him, but usually, he had some kind of practical examples to prove his point. This time around she had no such help, and the way he talked about things seemed wildly contradictory from a lot of the Academy texts...

Usually, in these cases, Naruto would ask something, wouldn't he?

"Then what about experience, Sasuke-kun?"

"Right, experience does a bit of both. It teaches us things, but it also makes us used to those things happening. It's not exactly like meditating, but when we become used to something it doesn't disturb our spirit and so we can remain calm and do it more easily. Like, even if it's something easy, the first time is always a little bit nerve-wracking, right?"

"I have not thought about this in enough detail to argue you on these points, but I do not entirely agree with your conclusion," Shino said finally, resolutely.

Sasuke-kun shrugged.

"That's fine, since my original point was questioning what 'spirit' has to do with chakra? Because from my experience it's almost pointless to think about. Sure, it's a great attack vector for genjutsu, but it has almost nothing to do with using chakra. I mean, I've tried disrupting my spirit, and as long as I can think and act unimpeded, I can more or less use chakra and jutsu just fine."

"What do you mean you disrupted your spirit?" Shino asked, frowning. "No, no... Please, first explain what spirit is, if you do and do not believe in it."

Sasuke-kun inhaled slowly, looking away as he nodded.

"Right, that seems reasonable..."

He paused for a moment, his eyes unfocused before he looked up again. "The spirit is that which is between the mind and the body. It's what allows the mind to make the body do things and which makes the body's condition reflect into the mind. So when you eat honey, it tastes good and makes you feel better for a while."

Sakura didn't quite get that effect from honey, but seeing the resolute nod from Shino she didn't dare ask him to clarify. Sasuke-kun had that tone right now of certainty, where it was like all of him was suddenly present and poised into one direction and course.

"It's everything about your mind and body that you can't really control, but which is affected by both anyhow. Like dopamine, which not only regulates mood and interest, but also the ability to physically move..." Seeing how lost both of them appeared at that explanation, Sasuke-kun sighed and tried another example: "Like how you—most people—can't control their heart rate, but when they exert themselves physically it will start beating faster. Which you can emulate by just breathing harder and faster, even without moving.

"That's of course just the surface of it. All the things we learned about eating and sleeping habits in the Academy are all about that. About how to make sure we feel and how well we're able to focus on things. Hormone regulation and stuff. It's not something we can directly control, only try and coax into working for us. For example, Sakura?"

"Yes?" she gasped again.

"Have you ever read something which you know shouldn't be a problem for you to understand and learn, but no matter how many times you try to read it, it just doesn't want to stick? Like you constantly find your focus wandering, find yourself thinking about completely irrelevant things, no matter how hard you try?" he asked.

She blinked and nodded, wondering if he had somehow read her mind about her recent worries.

"Or as if there's a voice constantly nattering on inside your head, criticizing everything you do? Making you constantly doubt yourself and hesitate?" he continued, turning to look at Shino again.

She could only numbly nod again, even if he wasn't looking at her anymore.

"That's your 'spirit' being weak and flickering, if you will."

It felt like her heart was crushed. How could he know all that?

"Even if we want to focus on something, it seems like everything else inside of us is arrayed against that goal. Like you have to fight against yourself to achieve it.

"What I do when I notice that happening, is meditate to try and coax the spirit to work with me. If I'm too excited about something else or if I'm too angry, that's of course not going to work immediately, but that's what I mean by saying 'coax'. It's like a fire, you have to be mindful about it. The kindling will too easily be blown out by the wind and die when you're trying to get it started, but when it really starts burning, it's almost like it erupts and consumes me whole – that's the flow state, if you're familiar with the term."

Sakura blinked, hardly comprehending his words.

But something in Shino's body language appeared distinctly uncomfortable now.

"And that annoying voice? It's called the monkey mind, and it too can be handled. I'm not sure what to call the process exactly – internalize, assimilate, vanquish, or what... But it can be taken care of with meditation, by working on keeping your focus from wavering all the time."

"I... see." Shino still appeared ill at ease, but at the same time as if was very keenly listening on.

"Anyway, again, I've tried to measure the difference this can make and I haven't found any real impact in jutsu. I tried meditating or disrupting myself in various ways, but my jutsu output stays relatively consistent, so all that talk about spiritual energy mattering? I'm not seeing it. As far as chakra goes, the 'spirit' can be disturbed by it, along with emotions and stuff, or by way of genjutsu... But it's not some inherent component of it. I think it's more like a relic from when someone was trying to teach it by framing it as some kind of split between the two halves, when chakra just is life energy harnessed with the mind and intent."

"But... Yin chakra is..." Sakura frowned and hesitated.

Both because she didn't actually have any objection aside from some half-remembered passages from books that she had never tried to analyze and dissect, or test out the way Sasuke had, but also because she was afraid of objecting to him even if she didn't really understand what he was talking about.

"Let's look at it the other way around, then."

She snapped her head up to look at him.

"The Akimichi clan use primarily techniques based on the 'yang' chakra... What's the difference there from regular chakra?" he asked and when neither answered, he shrugged. "Because I can't see it. I don't think there is one, even if everyone seems to think there is. Maybe I'm wrong – I'm open to the possibility, but I haven't seen anything to really contradict my assessment so far."

"You do not believe in yin or yang chakra either?" Shino asked, moving the topic on stiffly.

"Well, like I said: it doesn't really matter for the one using the jutsu. But on the target, it's a very potent attack vector. The way the Akimichi can do things to their bodies with their 'yang' chakra, you can do it to others with your 'yin' chakra," Sasuke-kun answered. "I think the yin-yang split was just a method to describe doing things to yourself with your own chakra, as opposed to doing things to others, or then it's some terminology relic that's been transferred in from elsewhere and hasn't actually been examined..."

The bug-used frowned, crossing his arms and burying his face into his coat's raised collar in deep thought.

Sakura on the other hand felt like she was completely adrift. What use was knowing a hundred books by heart to helping Sasuke-kun, when she could barely even understand what he was saying? It was like his basis for everything about chakra was completely removed from anything she had ever learned.

"Assuming that you are correct, then, what does it mean for genjutsu?" Shino asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Well, anything having a weak spirit can do to you can be inflicted on someone else."

Shino straightened. "You are saying that... genjutsu is akin to a daydream, or a waking nightmare?"

"It can be. And it can be so much more." Sasuke-kun grinned, practically bleeding some excited energy, half-tinged with bloodlust. "It's half the reason I was asking after Hinata—or Neji could work, too, I suppose—because I think the whole 'dojutsu make genjutsu useless'-thing might be completely wrong, too."

And then his eyes whirled into crimson, those blacker than black tomoe spinning around his iris.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose up, that tingle of fear and excitement running down her spine.

It was like he transformed whenever he brought out his Sharingan – that unification of the three selves occurring and making him come that much more alive. It was like he stood a little bit straighter and broader and as if his hair became a little sharper and brittler.

"Because these eyes don't just see through visual illusions, they negate a lot of oblique genjutsu attacks too. And I think it's because they cause my 'spirit' to peak in a way. My excitement goes through the roof whenever I turn them on, as Sakura can tell you. Remember the bell test?" he asked with a devil-may-care smile that almost made her legs turn to jello.

She could only weakly nod at the reference.

Not noticing—or uncaring of—her reaction, he turned back to Shino. "It's like they enforce a very specific mindset and frame of... self. And most genjutsu just can't leverage that or disrupt it. I think it's the same with the Byakugan, because I've already managed to create a few genjutsu that work on my own clones even while they're using the Sharingan."

Exhaling heavily as he closed his eyes, his shoulders relaxed and his hair seemed to lose some of its static charge. Opening his eyes again, Sasuke-kun's full-black pupils had returned.

"Most genjutsu fails—of the one's I've seen and copied, at least—against the Sharingan precisely because it's trying to impress a specific idea or feeling from the user's own chakra, when it should be eliciting, or... coaxing, reactions from the target's own being instead."

They stared at him silently, trying to process what he was saying for at least a full minute before anyone talked again.

"I must think on this... Would you mind if I discuss this with my sensei and father, Uchiha Sasuke?" Shino asked.

Sasuke-kun shrugged, still wearing the remnants of his Sharingan-born excitement with a wide grin. "Sure, go ahead. As long as you tell me when it turns out that I'm completely wrong."

The Aburame nodded, giving her one last look. "Haruno-san. I hope we will meet again. Thank you for your help with practicing the genjutsu techniques. I shall procure a few genjutsu scrolls which I believe you will find helpful at a later date."

"R-right. It's no problem – I was happy to help," she replied, smiling politely.

It wasn't as if she hadn't taken anything away from being a practice target, since both of the boys' methods of using genjutsu were completely different from Anko-san's. She had been very queasy about the bugs at first, but it had been a very good way to learn how to resist actively re-applied illusions. They were like double or triple-layered genjutsu, which were normally very rare.

And there was something to be said about the intimacy of receiving Sasuke-kun's featherlight chakra touches as well...

As the Aburame left, she shook her head, returning her focus to Sasuke-kun in the present.

He was looking at her, making her straighten up instinctively.

"So, about those seals..."

"Yes," she gasped.

Wearing a weighing expression, he made a couple of funny expressions as he looked at her. "Eh, to start off, I'll show you the thing I cooked up with Naruto. It's half the reason why I was looking into those seals in the first place... I think you'll benefit from it, too."

"Oh, err... Thank you?"

"Come on, let's head inside and sit down. But there are a few conditions to me teaching it to you."

She nodded, moving to follow after him. I get to come inside his house again! "Of course, Sasuke-kun!"

He glanced at her prompt replying, his jaw working for a second in a way that put made his raven hair contrast against his porcelain skin...

"First of all, it's something of a secret. So don't go spreading it around or show it to others," he said, almost needlessly loudly.

She nodded again, a little more intently.

"Second, I'd like you to keep a journal of how well it works. Especially if you feel there are any side effects or mood swings. I have noticed a few, but I pushed it pretty hard. Probably a lot harder than you can with your stamina – but I'd like you to keep a record of anything anyway, just in case."

Sakura didn't really understand yet, but she nodded. It seemed fair enough, especially if it was an experimental seal he had developed.

"Third..." he began as they entered, closing the door behind him, his voice turning quieter instantly. "We're being tailed, so don't actually do the second thing."

"H-huh?" she blinked.

"That fucker Danzo—among others, probably—put tails on me, and since I can't leave the village right now..."

Oh, right.

"Then should I make something up in case they try to sneak into my house...?" she asked, licking her lips.

The thought of someone violating the privacy of her room made her skin crawl... but she was a kunoichi. That sort of thing came with the job, she had realized. But this—being alongside Sasuke-kun against them was somehow very exciting and made up for it.

Sasuke-kun grinned at her, making blood rush into her ears.

"I like the way you think. Don't waste too much time on it, but if you want to write some incomprehensible bullshit, I'll fully endorse it. If you want to really bait them, use the words 'eyes of entropy' somewhere there. Still, as far as the second point is actually concerned, if you notice anything weird, come and talk to me about it. I'm working on it right now."

She nodded, a little surprised that she would actually be getting his seal after all and that this wasn't just some ploy of his.

"So what does this seal do?" she asked as they sat down by the kitchen.

"Right. Remember Naruto's Shadow Clone jutsu? Of course, you do. Hard to forget since it's practically the only thing he knows. Well, I'll need to teach it to you first," he said a revealed his forearm.

She leaned forward, curiously peering at the stylized mitsudomoe seal there. There were several dots and lines there, which she couldn't decipher among all the fine brushwork and seals.

"Then, I'll show you how to seal them away for later use in one of these."

"For later use...?" she asked, frowning.

That had been the thing he had been so invested in figuring out earlier. Trying to circumvent their lacking stamina, she now realized, through preparations.

"See... Funny little fact about the Shadow Clone jutsu is, it returns its excess chakra to the user after it is dispelled... Allowing you to store chakra in this seal for later use."

Her eyes shot wide.

That was... That was massive. Revolutionize how all ninjas could fight massive.

"Was that...!" she almost shouted, before cringing and leaning in closer, whispering. "Was that how you beat Orochimaru?"

"Smart cookie," he replied with a smirk, leaning back.

Again, she felt the blood rushing up into her head and she had to look away.

"Anyway, just... don't kill yourself with the Shadow Clone jutsu first. It's not something just anyone can use, so I want to check out your stamina first. Anyhow, there was something I thought of just now while Shino was still here; would you mind doing some more seal research for me?"

Sakura perked up.

"Of course," she immediately answered.

And for once when she had this almost-instinctive reaction, he didn't frown. Merely nodding, he continued saying: "Could you do a little digging into the exact origin of how sealing works? I mean the very basics, of how we can put things into scrolls, I mean?"

"Huh?"

"I had this thought... You ever see Naruto Transform himself into a fuuma shuriken and throw himself at someone and have it work?"

"Huh? Like an actual fuuma shuriken would fly?"

That didn't seem possible. For one, even if they were big as far as shuriken went, there was no way anyone could fit inside one of them. Second, it would weigh way too much. Anyone would instantly notice it, wouldn't they?

"Right, I know. And no, I don't think it was a Shadow Clone." She hadn't thought of that, actually. "I think..." Sasuke hesitated, looking away as he steepled his hands in front of his face, as if tasting a thought or sentence before trying it. "I think the way we can seal items into scrolls is actually an application of some property in the Transformation jutsu. Like, the chakra construct creates a boundary separating the inside from the outside and allows it to be expanded, somehow? I just haven't really figured out how it works, yet."

Sakura nodded. "And Naruto isn't here right now."

She wondered if she was just his second choice right now... Well of course I am, with the Sharingan he could just see how Naruto does it and learn it in a cinch.

But Naruto wasn't always going to be there, nor could Sasuke-kun always find someone to see for an example for his wild and outlandish ideas, right...?

Which meant she still had a chance.

I need to work harder on seals...

"Right, Sasuke-kun! You can count on me!"

"Kukuku... Kakashi-kun, is it?"

Kakashi paused in his soundless step, looking over the naked and bound form of Orochimaru hanging from the wall. His lone eye went over the many seals and wires, cataloging and checking their efficacy before he allowed something within himself to unclench.

There was no way for the Sannin to see or use his chakra and the jounin's movements should have been perfectly silent...

But there were ninja and then there were ninja.

It was why he was a part of the 24-hour watch rotation for the captured traitor – very few could be trusted to even slow down the Snake Sage, should he somehow manage to free himself. Or even to be in the same room for more than an hour.

They should have pulled out his tongue, or at least gag him...

But the Hokage was too busy still with what remained of the Suna forces, the Kazekage making trouble to try and inflict enough damage to ward of a retaliatory strike on his own village from Konoha. It was an all-around waste of time and pain in the ass.

A shame the Hidden Sand's Kage had not simply died during the invasion.

"You have done fantastic work with Sasuke-kun. You must be proud..."

Kakashi did not respond, walking over to the far wall and pulling out his copy of Icha Icha, for once making an effort to have each page turn be audible.

"Of course... You have not actually done anything with the boy – it's quite obvious to anyone with eyes. He is Itachi's blood, through and through."

The jounin suppressed the annoyance lancing through him.

It wasn't the Sannin's words, but rather something else about that line of thought that was bothering him.

He well knew that Sasuke was something else entirely and that his role as a jounin-sensei was something of a joke. But that was perfectly alright; he had never considered himself someone who even could be a teacher. In that sense, he had actually gained far more from the arrangement than his students had.

It was the matter of Sasuke and Itachi which strayed at his thoughts.

Something about the incident following the invasion, when the Uchiha missing-nin had arrived looking for Naruto still didn't make sense to Kakashi.

"He almost accepted my offer, you know?"

"You were too late," Kakashi replied, finally deciding to get some of his own kicks in at the traitor. "He was incredibly angry and frustrated at first, but he's formed very strong bonds in the time since. To think if you had only showed a month earlier, it might have gone down very differently."

"Mmm, yes," Orochimaru agreed sibilantly. "The Will of Fire burns strongly in him. Too strongly, almost. They speak of the great love Uchiha hold – how it would consume them whole once it started... I had completely failed to account for that. I do hope that you do not make the same mistake."

Kakashi sighed and forced his attention back to the book.

"I wonder what will happen when he finds out the truth of the massacre... Kukukukukuku..."

Talking to him at all was a mistake.