Naruto arrived at Training Ground Twenty-Three at seven fifty-two.
Jiraiya arrived at eight thirty-seven.
Naruto sat beneath a tree with his arms crossed, staring at him.
"You're late."
Jiraiya yawned.
"A legendary Sannin is never late."
"That's not how time works."
"It's exactly how time works when you're legendary."
Naruto seriously considered attacking him.
Then he remembered yesterday.
He decided against it.
Jiraiya dropped a large pack onto the grass between them.
"How's your chakra?"
Naruto's irritation immediately disappeared.
"Normal."
"Normal for you or normal for a human being?"
Naruto frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"It sounded like something."
Jiraiya ignored him and opened the pack.
Ink.
Brushes.
Blank tags.
Chakra paper.
Several rolls of sealing parchment.
Naruto's eyes lit up.
"Now we're talking."
Jiraiya tossed him a brush.
"Show me a storage seal."
Naruto caught it.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Naruto grinned.
This was going to be easy.
It was not easy.
Twenty minutes later, Jiraiya stared at the storage formula Naruto had drawn.
Naruto stared proudly at it.
"Well?"
"It's ugly."
Naruto's smile vanished.
"What?!"
Jiraiya pointed toward the outer ring.
"Too much ink."
Then the center.
"That line is unnecessary."
Another section.
"You've reinforced this junction three times."
"More reinforcement is good."
"No. Correct reinforcement is good."
Jiraiya looked at him.
"If you're building a bridge, do you make every support ten feet thick because thicker means stronger?"
Naruto thought about it.
"...Yes?"
Jiraiya sighed.
"Of course you would."
He crouched beside the formula.
"The seal works. That's the problem."
Naruto blinked.
"How is working a problem?"
"Because you've taught yourself to judge success by whether something activates."
Jiraiya tapped the parchment.
"Fūinjutsu isn't just making something work. It's making it work efficiently, reliably, and exactly the way you intended."
Naruto looked back down.
Jiraiya drew a much smaller storage formula beside his.
Same function.
Half the size.
Naruto's eye twitched.
"Show-off."
"Fundamentals."
"Show-off fundamentals."
Jiraiya smirked.
"Again."
Naruto grabbed another sheet.
Across Konoha, Sakura ducked.
A kunai passed through the space where her head had been.
She rolled behind a tree.
"Too slow!"
Anko's voice came from somewhere above her.
Sakura immediately moved.
Three senbon struck the ground.
She jumped sideways—
—and a wire caught her ankle.
"Oh, crap."
The world flipped.
Sakura found herself hanging upside down from a tree.
Anko dropped onto the branch beside her.
"Dead."
Sakura glared.
"You put the wire behind the tree."
"Yes."
"I couldn't see it!"
"That was the idea."
Anko grinned.
Sakura crossed her arms despite being upside down.
"This isn't training. You're just bullying me."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
Sakura groaned.
Anko cut the wire.
Sakura dropped.
"AH!"
She hit the ground.
"Also dead."
"I hate you."
"Good. Hate makes people attentive."
Sakura pushed herself upright.
Anko crouched in front of her.
"Your problem is simple."
Sakura brushed dirt from her clothes.
"I'm sure you're going to tell me."
"You're too nice."
Sakura blinked.
"What?"
"In a fight."
Anko stood.
"You think like an Academy student. Dodge the attack. Throw the kunai. Use the jutsu. Find the opening."
"That's what we're taught."
"Because Academy instructors don't want twelve-year-olds poisoning each other's lunches."
Sakura stared.
Anko continued.
"Real fights aren't fair."
She held up a kunai.
"If your opponent is stronger, cheat."
A senbon appeared between two fingers.
"If they're faster, trap them."
A small packet appeared in her other hand.
"If they're smarter, make them angry."
Sakura looked at the packet.
"What's that?"
"Powdered itching agent."
Sakura stared.
Anko smiled.
"Extremely educational."
Sakura slowly smiled back.
Anko's grin widened.
"There we go."
Maybe Kakashi had made a terrible mistake.
Naruto carefully finished another storage formula.
Jiraiya inspected it.
"Hm."
Naruto waited.
Jiraiya continued staring.
Naruto leaned forward.
"Well?"
"Better."
Naruto pumped his fist.
"YES!"
"Still bad."
"YOU—"
Jiraiya laughed.
Naruto grabbed another sheet.
"Fine. I'll make a better one."
"Good."
Naruto dipped his brush.
Then stopped.
"What about barrier seals?"
"Storage."
"I already did storage."
"You did one acceptable storage seal."
"I know barriers."
"Storage."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched.
"What about gravity matrices?"
Jiraiya stared at him.
Naruto sighed.
"Storage."
"Now you're learning."
Naruto muttered several things under his breath.
Jiraiya pretended not to hear them.
The boy's problem was becoming obvious.
Naruto had jumped ahead whenever something interested him.
Storage formulas led to explosive tags.
Explosive tags led to barriers.
Barriers led to gravity seals.
Gravity seals led to matrices.
Every new discovery had sent him running toward the next idea before fully mastering the principles underneath the last one.
It was chaotic.
Dangerous.
And, Jiraiya reluctantly admitted, impressive.
Naruto finished another line.
Jiraiya watched his brushwork.
"Why'd you put that there?"
Naruto didn't look up.
"Balances the chakra flow between these two junctions."
Jiraiya's eyebrow rose.
"Why does it need balancing?"
"Because I shortened this pathway."
Naruto pointed with the end of his brush.
"So this side receives chakra first. The balancing line delays it just enough that both sides activate together."
Jiraiya became quiet.
Naruto looked up.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"You're doing the face."
"What face?"
"The impressed face."
"I'm not impressed."
"You totally are."
"Your handwriting looks like a drunk civilian fell down some stairs holding a brush."
Naruto looked offended.
"My handwriting is awesome."
"It's a crime against written language."
"Old bastard."
"Brat."
Naruto went back to work.
Jiraiya smiled slightly.
Hinata found Kiba outside the Inuzuka compound.
Akamaru noticed her first.
"Arf!"
Hinata smiled.
"Hello, Akamaru."
The puppy jumped from Kiba's head into her arms.
Kiba looked surprised.
"Hinata?"
"Hello, Kiba."
He looked her over.
"You doing alright?"
Hinata nodded.
"Much better."
She was still sore, and the medics hadn't cleared her for serious training yet, but walking had become easier.
Kiba shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Good."
His grin appeared.
"Neji really messed you up."
Akamaru barked.
Kiba flinched.
"What?! She knows!"
Hinata giggled.
"I'm aware."
"See?"
Akamaru growled.
"Traitor."
Hinata scratched behind Akamaru's ears.
"Have you seen Shino?"
Kiba pointed toward the nearby woods.
"Training."
"Of course."
They found him ten minutes later.
Shino stood completely motionless beneath a tree.
Hinata stopped.
Kiba didn't.
"SHINO!"
Several insects scattered.
Shino slowly turned.
"Kiba."
"What are you doing?"
"Training."
Kiba stared.
"You're standing there."
"Correct."
"...How is that training?"
Shino adjusted his glasses.
"You wouldn't understand."
Kiba's eyebrow twitched.
Hinata smiled.
Some things hadn't changed.
"I wanted to ask you both something."
That got their attention.
Hinata clasped her hands together.
"When I'm fully recovered... would you both train with me?"
Kiba blinked.
"We already train together."
"I mean seriously."
Kiba's expression shifted.
Hinata looked between her teammates.
"Not our normal exercises."
She remembered Naruto's words.
If one person figured something out that kept another from getting hurt, why wouldn't they share it?
"I want us to look at each other's weaknesses."
Shino tilted his head slightly.
Hinata continued.
"Kiba, you may have won your prelim match but there's much that you need to work on."
Kiba's eye twitched.
Akamaru barked.
"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE!"
Hinata covered a small laugh.
"And I learned things from fighting Neji."
Her expression became more serious.
"I don't want us to only practice what we're already good at."
Shino considered her words.
"When?"
"The doctors said I should be fully recovered soon."
Hinata thought for a moment.
"Two weeks?"
Shino nodded.
"Acceptable."
Kiba crossed his arms.
"Fine."
Then his grin appeared.
"But don't complain when Akamaru and I destroy both of you."
Hinata laughed.
Akamaru barked happily from her arms.
Two weeks.
That gave her time to recover.
And then Team Eight would get stronger together.
By midday, Naruto had produced thirty-seven storage seals.
Jiraiya had accepted six.
Naruto considered this an outrageous abuse of authority.
"This one's exactly like the last one!"
"No."
"YES IT IS!"
Jiraiya pointed.
"Your containment line is crooked."
Naruto stared.
It was crooked.
Barely.
"You can see that?"
"Yes."
"You're horrible."
"I'm a seal master."
"Same thing."
Naruto crumpled the tag.
Jiraiya immediately smacked him.
"OW!"
"Don't waste materials."
"You said it was bad!"
"Bad seals are useful."
Naruto rubbed his head.
"For what?"
"Finding out why they're bad."
Naruto paused.
Jiraiya picked up another rejected seal.
"Anyone can study success."
He placed it beside the accepted one.
"Failure teaches you where the limits are."
Naruto looked between them.
The differences were tiny.
Line thickness.
Spacing.
Balance.
Things he'd never cared about because his seals had worked anyway.
Jiraiya tapped the rejected formula.
"Your chakra reserves let you get away with being sloppy."
Naruto's expression changed.
"That's bad."
"Very."
Naruto looked down at his hands.
He'd heard similar things before.
Too much chakra.
Force it through.
Make it work.
He'd always treated his reserves like an advantage.
Jiraiya wasn't saying they weren't.
He was saying Naruto had been using them to hide mistakes.
Naruto picked up his brush again.
"Okay."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.
"Okay?"
Naruto pulled another blank tag toward him.
"Again."
Jiraiya smiled.
"Good."
Naruto dipped the brush into the ink.
This time he slowed down.
The first line was cleaner.
Then the second.
Jiraiya watched without speaking.
Naruto didn't rush.
Didn't jump ahead.
Didn't try making something cooler.
For once, he focused entirely on making something simple perfectly.
PING!
Naruto's hand stopped.
Jiraiya noticed.
"What?"
Naruto stared at the blue window.
Through instruction from a Fūinjutsu master, you've begun correcting weaknesses in your foundation!
Advanced Fūinjutsu LVL 2 (11/20) -> LVL 2 (14/20)
Naruto grinned.
Jiraiya couldn't see the System.
He could see the grin.
"What's that look for?"
Naruto lowered his brush.
"Nothing."
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.
"That's never true when a student says it."
Naruto returned to the seal.
"You're just mad because I'm getting awesome."
"You've made six acceptable storage seals."
"Seven."
Jiraiya looked down.
Naruto finished the final line.
The formula activated cleanly.
Jiraiya examined it.
A few seconds passed.
Then he placed it with the accepted pile.
"Seven."
Naruto's grin became enormous.
Jiraiya immediately regretted saying it.
"Don't get excited."
"Too late."
"Tomorrow we do containment."
Naruto froze.
His grin somehow grew wider.
"Barrier seals?"
"No."
"Gravity seals?"
"No."
"Explosive tags?"
"No."
Naruto's smile disappeared.
"You're boring."
Jiraiya leaned back against the tree.
"And you're going to have excellent fundamentals by the time I'm done with you."
Naruto looked at the piles of rejected tags.
Then at the seven accepted ones.
He picked up another blank.
"Eight."
Jiraiya smiled.
Maybe teaching the brat wouldn't be so bad.
Then Naruto knocked over the ink bottle.
Jiraiya closed his eyes.
"Dammit, Naruto."
"IT WAS THE WIND!"
There was no wind.