Fuinjutsu is the true way

For some reason, Ren felt the urge to writhe as his focus was gathered on the scroll in front of him. He felt his pupils dilate at the tiniest of mistake his hand did while he formed the seal.

He was currently in the backyard of his house. Naruto was out doing something and had not told him where he was going, not that he really minded; It gave him time to practice his fuinjutsu without the worry of hurting someone – excluding him.

Not to mention it was not really his place to question where his blond friend was going. He wasn't his caretaker or something like that. Also, to be fair he had an inking about where he might possibly be, but he'd rather pretend he had no clue; it was much more fun this way.

Including the one scroll in his hand, there were a couple of other of scrolls scrambled around, some half-open and some left completely untouched.

Fuinjutsu was an ancient and mysterious art. It was said to have been first used by the Sage of Six Paths, the one who had given chakra to humanity and given them the power to use it for both evil and good.

It was a delicate art which few dared to tread through. The greatest and most well-known group to have tried this art were the Uzumaki.

You had to carry a lot in your travel? Use a Storage Seal!

You needed a more effective way to train your body? Use Resistance, Gravity or even Weight Seals!

You were fighting a bunch of thugs or bandits and were in a disadvantage? Use offensive or defensive based seals!

You were trying to ambush someone or a group of people? Use a barrier and seal combination!

You were trying to seal some source of chakra, or someone? Use seals capable of absorbing and maintaining.

A practice which led to their untimely demise at the hands of a coalition of three great hidden villages. Seals were scary; seals were capable of sealing creatures of immense power such as Tailed Beasts inside tiny constructs like humans.

Ren had no teacher when it came to the wonders and miracles of fuinjutsu, all that he knew was either self-taught or based on the many books and manuals his father and mother had collected during their short period of marriage.

The Senju Clan's library did contain some unique fuinjutsu scrolls – all due to Mito Uzumaki's efforts – but they were above Ren's level of fuinjutsu so he did not dwell too deeply into them. Perhaps another day.

He occasionally did discuss the matter of fuinjutsu with the Third Hokage who to a certain level knew of the usage of fuinjutsu even if it was nowhere close to that of the Uzumaki.

Fuinjutsu experts could be counted in one's hand. Ren knew one or two, such as: the already mentioned Hiruzen Sarutobi and Jiraiya renowed as the Toad Sage.

Much to his exasperation, the first was too busy to teach him and the best he had achieved was a short discussion about it for like half an hour, while the second was never in Konoha. Ren had lived in Konohagakure for over eleven years but he had yet to see even a glimpse of him.

'Let's see… This is a manual on how to create a stable seal which can hold weapons on a large level.'

Most weapon specialists basically had it mandatory to carry such seals, which most referred to as the Enclosing Technique.

This seal was closely related to the Unsealing Technique.

Ren opened a scroll and started practicing on it, using a brush and ink to gently form the required kanji symbols delicately.

"[Absorb] [Create Space] [Stasis] "

The scroll exploded with fury as Ren made the finishing touches. The red-head barely dodged the source of explosion by the width of a hair. He sighed as smoke rose from the remnants of the scroll and used wind chakra to quickly push it further away.

"That was close…"

The harshest thing about Fuinjutsu was that the slightest of mistakes could cost you the highest of price; such as a limb or even worse, your own life.

"Let's try again."

He stared at the mess he had created and grimaced.

"But first let's clean this mess."

~~

Hatake Kakashi's lone uncovered eye closed as he frowned while staring at the list of cards filled with information in front of him. Each card carried information about the soon to be graduates of the academy.

The cards did not hold the 'more' private of information, but information such as their grades in taijutsu or mastery of weapons and personality were highly detailed, but for a former ANBU operative like him this was already plenty of information.

Two names stuck out like a wildfire on a field of dry grass in his limited vision.

Ren Uzumaki-Senju and Naruto Uzumaki.

He knew the second one very well. He was the son of his late teacher and the last full-blooded Uzumaki on Konoha. His time as an Anbu operative had often led him to missions such as guarding the latter at times.

He previously had thought of the blond as nothing but of a more hyperactive Obito while being even less talented and a very big eyesore, but time and practice had taught him better than to judge someone based on their reputation.

The famous Copy Ninja had not been wrong in his thoughts either. The cards provided by the academy showed that Naruto stood out not just due to his pranking ways but also due to his taijutsu and chakra reserves – most likely due to his status as an jinchuuriki and bloodline.

The latter of the two impressed him a lot. He had not dwelled a lot into fuinjutsu but he knew that the seal Naruto had was very complicated. A lot of the blond's chakra was used to maintain it and also would mess up his chakra control.

It was not like his chakra control was incredible, but considering the fact that he had a beast the size of Konoha sealed inside of him, it was a feat of his own if he could form the occasional clone.

Kakashi had decided he'd seriously teach a team what it meant to be proper Konoha Shinobis. Ren and Naruto both fit the bill. The latter had raw talent which had been left unmined previously.

'Still the clothes he wears are an eyesore regardless, we'll have to deal with that later.'

His eyes wandered to the other card.

'Ren Uzumaki-Senju, son of Taiga Senju and Hikari Uzumaki. I did not personally know either but his mother was said to be quite a close friend of Kushina. He specializes in fuinjutsu and ninjutsu according to the data given by the academy, but that's odd; ninjutsu at his age?'

'Not to mention… Why was there a second Uzumaki in Konoha excluding Kushina? I'm pretty sure their Kage asked for every Uzumaki available to return to Uzushio as soon as possible, weeks before their demise. At least that's' what father used to tell me.'

The lazy shinobi wouldn't be as doubtful if not for the fact that ever since the last great war, the number of shinobis who actually strived to improve their abilities to whatever limit they could got lesser and lesser. Only exception to this would be Gai's new disciple.

He had actually been quite surprised when he had seen that the once lax academy had started to take things a bit more seriously. After all, while Konoha might be resting, the other villages were not.

They were hungry hyenas who had set their sight on a starving lion.

"Naruto, the eyesore with his orange clothes. Ren, the talented and fuinjutsu maniac." Kakashi was slightly amused. Was this how his teacher had felt when he had been given the command over Team 7 back in the days?

Hiruzen had already told him he'd have the two on his team and that there was a chance he might also get Itachi's brother on his team. Speaking of the Uchiha, from what he had read and seen he did not seem to be anything like his brother.

'Well that's to be expected, it would be incredible if the amount of mental stress he was put into at a young age wouldn't affect his personality. Not everyone is perfect.'

He had been given a lot of responsibilities and he'd make sure he did as best as possible… while being a bit lazy on the side.

Surely being a bit late wouldn't harm anyone right?

It was not his fault that there was always at least one elderly person needed help every day, or that he had to go through another road because he encountered a black cat!

~~

Naruto yawned while putting a hand over his mouth. He wasn't used to waking up so early just to meet with someone on a weekend.

"I wonder what the old man wants to speak about…"

His hands went behind his head with the fingers interlocking with each other and squinted his eyes. His mind wandered to other thoughts for a split of a second.

In less than 6 months, he would graduate and his journey to become the Hokage would finally start. You'd think that with such little time left, he'd probably be off doing something more interesting than walk around the maze that was the village; well if you did think as such, then you'd be very wrong!

For a reason he could not fathom the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi had wanted to meet him on this fine Saturday. Normally he'd be the one going over to him or he'd be the one coming over to his apartment – which he no longer owned by the way.

It wasn't like he really had much to do anyway, but to him today seemed just like a very good day to be lazy and oversleep by as much as he humanly could.

'Could it be related to the fact I stopped living in that apartment? I mean technically I did pay with his allowance…'

In a way Naruto was decently curious about the reason why Hiruzen wanted to meet him in the Sarutobi Clan's Compounds.

Finally, after walking for over half an hour he managed to spot the compounds of the famous Sarutobi Clan. A grin emerged on his face as he passed through the gates which marked the beginning of said compounds.

…

And he was met with a punch to his face

xXx

"Does my suffering mean so little you, dattebayo!"

Naruto rubbed the massive lump on top of his head while glaring with a murderous intent at the amused boy in front of him.

The moment he had entered the compounds he was attacked by a rather rude kid who went by the name of Konohamaru.

What had happened next was that Naruto had shrugged the attack and lurched forward at the poor kid who had mistaken him for someone else. How he had done that? He had absolutely no clue!

This was why the blond had immediately set for the only person who could answer his question, and who had been his goal in the first place.

Hiruzen had only laughed at his misfortune and told him to release his grandson. Which he had done after slapping the back of the kid's head a few more times. At least Naruto managed to enjoy the cries he released.

Apparently Hiruzen had been told by Iruka of Naruto's occasional struggles to form even the simplest of Clones, which was a basic rank technique literally every academy student knew how to do.

He had told him he was going to check if his chakra coils were working properly and had told him to raise his shirt. He had been rather confused but he had gone along with his whims.

The Third had then examined his stomach; something that still made him shiver when he thought about.

A moment later he simply confirmed a fact that Naruto had known about for ages. His chakra control was subpar for his age at best.

"I wonder if that damnable old man was just pissed at me pranking the Hokage Monument a few weeks back and just wanted to give me payback… Well I swear this won't be the end of it, dattebayo!"

Naruto put a hand over his face and stretched it as much as he could. "No wonder he fell for my Sexy Jutsu, he's practically a pervert at this point!"

"Then he told me that he could help me solve my issue of… struggling to form a clone at times." At this he scratched the back of his head and looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"And then, here I am! Plenty of more embarrassed and with a weird experience to boot at that too."

'He most likely offered to teach him the Shadow Clone Jutsu. I can't even really blame him, for the average genin it would be a death wish but for an Uzumaki it would just be a piece of cake, but I was going to offer to teach it to him. Well at least he is in more experienced hands now I guess.'

The redhead thought.

"Besides, why do you look like you knew about this before I even told you anything?!"

Ren had a Cheshire grin on his face as he opened his mouth to speak

"Well you see…"

xXx