From that moment on, she began her Cerberus project on her own. The three-headed dog could grow or shrink at Kakashi-sensei's command, and not only that, it could separate into three independent bodies. It would be practically indestructible and could use its sense of smell just like the other dogs to track its targets. She also added clusters of runes so it could use some spells at Kakashi-sensei's command, such as a spell to create a protego shield, some modified spells to allow it to walk on all types of surfaces—an idea she got from the portrait of Walburga Black—and a couple of elemental spells.
At this point, she realized that none of the animals she had created for herself had been designed to use chakra, which was impossible, but she could mimic the effects of chakra with spells. She would have to go back and modify her creations so they resembled ninken like Kakashi-sensei's or Naruto's toads.
"What breed is this dog supposed to be?" Sasuke asked her days later when the dog was fully completed.
Seina looked up from the open mouth of one of the enormous heads.
"It's a modified Doberman. The normal ones have brown markings, but this one is entirely black. I was thinking of giving it red eyes for effect."
"Nah. Being all black, it will be better for stealth."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Well, let's see how it goes."
She tested the dog's spells, making it shrink, grow, separate, and breathe fire, water, and wind depending on the head.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Sasuke asked as he watched it slash a rock effortlessly with a swipe of its paw.
"Of course, its claws are modified. The only thing left is to animate it with sounds since it doesn't have vocal cords."
Almost an hour later, she finally finished her project. There were only five days left until Kakashi-sensei's birthday, and to her delight, it seemed that Naruto was also about to arrive, from whom she had heard almost nothing in weeks.
"Did he say exactly when he would be back?" her sensei asked.
"He doesn't know. He won't tell me what he's been doing, says it's a surprise."
"I'd say the dobe doesn't want to worry you."
"Mmm… Well, we'll just have to wait."
That same afternoon, Seina pulled Sasuke into her study and cast a silencing spell on the room.
"What are we going to do for his birthday?"
"What do you mean? Are you asking if we're going to throw him a party?" Sasuke asked with a blank face, not understanding the question. "Seina, he's an elite ninja, not a five-year-old."
"I wasn't talking about a party. How would we invite his friends, if he even considers anyone a friend, here?" she rolled her eyes. "I was thinking of inviting him to eat somewhere and then making a cake to give him here. We couldn't throw you a party because your birthday was during the chunin training month, but we did invite you out to eat, didn't we?"
"That makes more sense," Sasuke thought out loud, ignoring the second part of her argument as if it were nothing. "We could invite him to a restaurant and have the other jonin show up too. He seemed to get along well with Asuma and the others. We can talk to him to see who we can invite."
"Tomorrow, I'll send a clone to talk to Asuma-sensei or one of them while at the hospital."
The next day, Seina used one of her clones to reserve a private room at the Akimichi restaurant. It wasn't exactly cheap, but they had enough money saved up and only had about three birthdays a year to plan for, so they could afford it. An hour later, at the hospital, her clone dissipated, and all the information hit her at once.
"...And in the case of the soldier pills, we'll use these molds to maintain the shape. The composition of the mix itself will solidify into a pill form. Although the taste isn't the best and it loses some effectiveness."
"Why not use a gelatin capsule?" she asked. "We could avoid using a solvent without losing the active ingredient, and the efficacy would increase."
Mina-senpai blinked at her a couple of times, as if she didn't understand.
"What do you mean by a capsule?"
"Exactly that. A capsule," she waved her hand in the air as if it were obvious.
"No, explain."
"Have you ever used gelatin or agar for cooking?" she asked and saw Mina-senpai shake her head. "Seriously? Never?"
"Ninjas don't usually cook, Seina. We have more important things to do or we're too tired, or simply no one ever taught us to cook and we're terrible at it. Except for a few rare cases," she explained.
Seina thought of Sasuke and had to bite her tongue not to nod vigorously.
"Huh... Okay. Well, gelatin is an ingredient used in cooking that's extracted from bone, among other sources, and agar is extracted from algae. Basically, it's a compound that forms a sort of viscous paste when you add water, and you can shape it. That's why it's used in cooking, especially in pastry," she explained, wondering if she was making a mistake by talking about something common that a qualified ninja had no idea about. "We could make a capsule that contains the active ingredient in powder form. That way, when the capsule reaches the stomach, it would dissolve, releasing the contents like a normal pill, but without the need to mix the active ingredient in a solvent, thus gaining efficacy without losing functionality."
"...If what you're saying is true, we would be greatly improving the soldier pills," Mina-senpai said with a tone of surprise. "Alright. Since there's half an hour left before the class ends, we'll go to the village to buy some of this material. I have no idea where to buy it, so I'll count on your help."
"Hai," she nodded.
They headed towards the village. She couldn't believe these people didn't know what agar was when Japanese cuisine had hundreds of dishes with seaweed. Although, considering Mina-senpai's words, perhaps it was less surprising than usual. Sasuke was a disaster in the kitchen, and Kakashi-sensei, when he did cook, was a rather simple cook. Now that she thought about it, the chefs at the Akimichi restaurant, despite coming from a family of ninjas, were not ninjas themselves. She hadn't considered it before, but apparently, there was such a disconnect between the civilian and ninja sectors that, although it seemed absurd, it resulted in cases like this where ninjas didn't know the uses of gelatin.
For her, who was used to taking all kinds of medicines, from drinks to pills without capsules and others with capsules, it hadn't seemed extraordinary. For a ninja, whose technology was still quite outdated compared to the world she came from and who also relied more on medical jutsus than on instrumental techniques and equipment… Well, perhaps it was more understandable.
"This is it," she told her, pointing to a shop near her old apartment. "At least, the last time I came, they had it."
"Let's go in."
She walked down the aisles this time without any spell, but to her surprise, almost no one looked at her twice. She went straight to the baking aisle and easily found what she was looking for.
"This is it."
"I see… And with these strips, we can make the capsules?"
"Of course, we just have to follow the instructions."
They bought about ten packages to make plenty of tests and left a little before the two-hour class ended. Mina-senpai assured her they would try it the next day and if it worked, she would take their discovery to the lab chief for analysis. As she walked back home, she thought about her clone's memories. She saw how both Asuma-sensei and Guy-sensei were willing to go to the surprise party and, according to them, a few more friends of Kakashi-sensei would also be there. Apparently, her clone, on Guy-sensei's advice, had reserved a medium-sized room with food and drinks included.
Fortunately, Sasuke and Naruto were willing to pitch in for the cost, so it wasn't that much money after all. Plus, she hadn't known the restaurant offered birthday services, so the cake was included in the menu.
"Hey, nee-chan!" shouted a voice. Seina stopped in her tracks.
"Naruto?"
"We're at the main gate, dattebayo!"
She turned around with a smile and headed towards the village's main gate. First, she saw the silver hair of the great pervert Jiraiya and then her brother, who seemed to be talking to a young blonde woman with two pigtails and an impressive figure that was catching the attention of more than one man, and woman. There was also another girl with them, even younger, with short dark hair, carrying a piglet in her arms.
"Nee-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he felt her presence and ran to hug her. "I can't believe it's been a month without seeing you, Seina-nee! Come on, come on! I have to introduce you to Granny Tsunade!"
Seina couldn't help but laugh at hearing him. She saw everyone turn in her direction. Jiraiya nodded at her, knowing she didn't have much respect for him, but the dark-haired girl smiled at her. The Granny Tsunade turned out to be the stunning blonde woman.
"Oh? Is this your sister, knucklehead?"
"Less than a month and she already knows you well, Naru," she said with an amused smile at her brother's irritated face. "Nice to meet you, Tsunade-sama."
"Just call me Tsunade while you can," the woman sighed. "This is my assistant, Shizune."
"I've heard a lot about you, Seina-san," the other woman greeted her, "and about Sasuke."
"Did you just come from the hospital?" her brother asked, and she nodded.
"I went to buy some things with Mina-senpai."
"Are you sick?" Shizune asked suddenly, with a worried look.
"No. I study with Mina-senpai at the hospital every morning."
"Do you want to be a medical ninja?" Tsunade asked with interest.
The gate ninjas handed the newcomers their documentation, allowing them to pass. They walked down the village, probably towards the Hokage's tower. Since Seina had nothing else to do, she accompanied them.
"I'd like to know about everything, not just be a medical ninja," she said. "I don't see why I should limit myself to one field of knowledge."
"Seina-nee has been studying medicine for a long time," Naruto praised her. "She makes her own potions and other concoctions."
"Oh? Very interesting. I'd like to see your work, if you don't mind," Tsunade said.
Seina knew she was just humoring her, probably not imagining she could do anything really important or useful, but at that moment, she realized she had a golden opportunity thanks to her brother. She would give a copy of the recipe book she had written to show Mina-senpai and let her judge her work.
"I don't mind. I was planning to give a copy of my notes to Mina-senpai at the hospital to look over. Now that I think about it… I forgot to give it to her," she sighed, realizing it was true. "Well, I'll give them to her tomorrow."
She took the duplicated book out of her pouch and handed it to Tsunade. She watched as Tsunade and her assistant, Shizune, looked through it. It only took a few minutes before Tsunade looked up over the book to focus on her again, as she knew she would. Shizune continued reading a few more pages, with a surprised look on her face.
"Have you tested any of this?"
"Yes. The invigorating potion. I had to give it to Kakashi-sensei when our first C-rank mission turned into an A-rank one, after he was exhausted from using the sharingan."
"How many doses did you give him?"
"One per day for two days."
"And how long did it take for him to get back on his feet?" the medic asked clinically.
"By the next day."
"The next day?" she asked, blinking at her response. Seina nodded. "… Let me settle in and read this thoroughly. I assume you have samples of each one prepared. Bring them to me when you can."
"What have you been doing this month?" Naruto asked, bored of all the medical talk.
"We've been practicing kenjutsu and taijutsu with Yugao-sensei, a colleague of Kakashi-sensei. Also, this morning we prepared the birthday dinner. You did buy him something, right?"
"Actually, no. I asked ero-senin to give me a few unpublished Icha Icha manuscripts."
"Good idea!" she said, surprised. "I'm sure he'll love that."
"And you? And the bastard?"
"Sasuke is giving him some kind of expensive liquor on Asuma-sensei's advice, and I… I'll show you. When you see what I've been working on, your pants will fall off."
She heard an abrupt laugh behind her at her words.
"So, it's the brat Kakashi's birthday, huh?" Tsunade asked with a smile. "Not a brat anymore, after all…"
"I guess next to you anyone's a brat," Jiraiya said, obviously without thinking.
The punch was so fast and powerful that the man went flying, crashing into a nearby wall. Seina had to stifle an amazed laugh as she saw him groan in pain.
"Nice punch!" she smiled with a hint of malice. "Though I would've hit him in the crotch."
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune exclaimed, exasperated and worried.
Tsunade started laughing at hearing her while the pervert paled. Naruto didn't seem surprised by what had just happened, probably because it wasn't the first time he had seen something like this.
"I like you. Maybe next time I'll aim lower."
"Great. I'd like to see that."
"Do you really want to see Jiraiya suffer that much?"
"That perverted geezer almost killed my brother during training and then almost got him killed again while under his care," she hissed, ignoring Tsunade's amused snort at Jiraiya's nickname.
"Hey! It was all part of the training!" Jiraiya defended himself. "And how was I supposed to know the women flirting with me were under Itachi's genjutsu? I would never have expected that from him!"
Seina felt her lips curl in anger, but she said nothing. Tsunade looked at her colleague with exasperation and irritation. In the end, Shizune helped him out of the wall, and they continued on their way. She caught up with her brother about what he had seen and eaten, the places he had stayed that were worth visiting again, the training… She knew there was something big he wasn't telling her, from the adults' looks, but she knew he would tell her sooner or later. Probably when they were with Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke.
"Well, kids. We'll say goodbye here. We'll see each other soon," Jiraiya told them.
"Remember to bring me your samples," Tsunade reminded her. "I'll be around… here, I suppose."
"I will."
"Goodbye, Granny!"
"Naruto!"
They walked back home at a quick pace. Apparently, Naruto not only wanted to tell them everything that had happened but also to see what she had done in his absence. When they got to the house, only Sasuke was there.
"I see... Dobe, it's been a while," he greeted as if nothing had happened.
"Teme, what do you mean it's been a while!?" Naruto growled, and they started arguing.
She sighed and began preparing the food. It was as if nothing had changed. When Kakashi-sensei arrived a little later, he didn't seem surprised to see Naruto with them.
"How was your trip with Jiraiya-sama?"
"Great! I learned a new technique that my father created!" Naruto explained. Kakashi-sensei glanced at her. "It's called Rasengan. It uses wind nature to create a spinning sphere with blades on my hand."
He continued explaining in detail how difficult it had been to learn, the bet he made with Tsunade, and the necklace she gave him in exchange when he mastered it in less than a week. Seina listened to her brother with a satisfied smile. Sometimes, like now, she felt much older. As if instead of being his twin sister, she was his much older sister. Listening to Naruto and seeing his childish expression reminded her of the maturity difference between them. Despite having a good head on his shoulders, Naruto was still a child. A ninja child, but a child nonetheless.
"What is it that you wanted to tell us that you haven't mentioned before?" she finally asked.
"Ugh, right. On the trip, besides that jerk Itachi, we were attacked by Orochimaru and Kabuto."
Seina sighed at hearing this. Kakashi-sensei interrogated her brother extensively while Sasuke and she listened in silence to everything that happened. How Tsunade had drugged Jiraiya, how Orochimaru almost convinced her to join him using the death of her younger brother and her deceased partner as temptation, how Orochimaru couldn't use his arms... The worst of it all, it seemed, Naruto saved for last.
"Kabuto almost killed me with a medical jutsu, so the old Tsunade had to save me."
"...What?" she hissed before realizing she had spoken. "What do you mean by saving you?"
"According to Shizune, Kabuto caused me an... arrhythmia? Yes, that. In my heart."
Seina trembled with anger in her seat. Of all the times her brother had been close to dying, nothing serious had happened. Until now. Oh, how she wished to have Kabuto within reach and strangle him with both hands until his eyes popped out of their sockets, filled with fear as he realized she was going to kill him. No. First, she would torture him for trying to take away the last blood connection she had to this world. She would use every curse she knew, one by one, until he begged to die. She would laugh at his fear while breaking each bone in his body and peeling his skin off with a potato peeler, the old-fashioned way. She-
A hand on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts. It was Kakashi-sensei, squeezing her shoulder. He cleared his throat and, with an imperceptible jaw movement, pointed at Naruto and Sasuke, who were pale in their seats, pupils constricted with terror. She snapped back to reality, realizing she had done that unintentionally. She used her mental barriers to take a deep breath, and the moment passed without further incident. She saw her team regain their color and promised herself not to lose her temper like that again. She would kill Kabuto, but no one needed to suffer because of her anger.
"I'll have to thank Tsunade for saving you," she said, fixing the spoon she had bent without realizing it.
"...In the future, remind me not to make her angry," Naruto whispered to Sasuke, who nodded. She kicked them under the table. "OW!"
"Hey!"
"Tomorrow is Tsunade-sama's ascension to power," Kakashi-sensei said as if nothing had happened. "We need to be there to see it at 10 in the morning."
They finished eating without further surprises. Naruto went to take a bath and nap while Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei disappeared into the garden to do who knows what. She went to her study to continue creating her summoning creatures. She spent the entire afternoon inside the suitcase. When she emerged, it was already night. She saw through the kitchen window that Sasuke and Naruto were training in the garden, looking like two flying specks of color. She heard Kakashi-sensei before seeing him as he approached from behind.
"I see you're not bothered that Jiraiya-sama taught Naruto that technique."
"Why would it bother me?" she raised an eyebrow. "Because it's a technique from my father that only Naruto knows because that pervert only bothered to teach it to him?"
"As always, hitting the nail on the head."
"For starters, it's not a competition. Besides, it's a wind-type technique. Not my greatest affinity. Not to mention, I don't need to know a jutsu to feel like my parents' child. If I wanted, I could use something similar to hiraishin, or better."
"Really? Well…Of course. You're Seina Uzumaki."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but you and your brother seem to always achieve the impossible. Every time you tell me you can do something, I believe it."
"If you say so..."
Kakashi-sensei shook his head, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter while she prepared tea.
The next day, everyone witnessed Tsunade's ascension to Fifth Hokage. The nervous and worried atmosphere of the past few weeks, when they still didn't have a clear leader, vanished in the blink of an eye. Most were delighted not only to have a new Hokage but also that it was a relatively young and powerful ninja. Seina, like many others, breathed a sigh of relief at her presence.
From what she had perceived of her, Tsunade was not only powerful but also intelligent and a woman who wouldn't be trampled on. That was precisely what they needed. With her in power, others with fewer scruples would have to take a step back, allowing Naruto and her to be safer within the village. If Tsunade could investigate and resolve the issues the Third left unfinished, she would become her favorite Hokage, and she would even cheer for her if necessary.
She heard the excited murmurs and celebrations that were starting to commemorate her ascension and couldn't help but smile, infected by the general optimism floating in the air. She saw Shizune in the distance and knew it was the perfect time to deliver the potion, ointment, and other samples she had prepared. She knew that if she didn't give them to her, she would have to wait a long time to be received by the new Hokage.
"Shizune-san!" she called, moving away from her team.
"Seina-san! Nice to see you again, do you want to greet Tsunade-sama?"
"No. I know she'll be very busy. I just came to give you what I promised so you can give it to her for me, if you don't mind."
"Of course not. I'll give it to her as soon as we're alone, don't worry."
"Thank you."
She returned to her team, who were waiting for her, and they left the crowd. She was thankful that the Hokage's ascension didn't coincide with Kakashi-sensei's birthday; otherwise, it would have been more challenging to gather all their teacher's friends for lunch.
"Ah, finally everything is back to normal," her brother sighed deeply.
"I don't think so, Naruto," the jonin cut in. "Although it may not seem like it, Tsunade-sama faces many challenges. For starters, her ascension is due to a failed invasion that has left us with a shaky alliance. Not to mention the criminals reappearing on our borders, like Itachi and Kisame. Despite appearances and the general relief in the village, she has a lot of work ahead."
Seina and Sasuke nodded, understanding the situation. Fortunately, all that wasn't their concern since they were just low and mid-rank ninjas. More competent people would handle analyzing and investigating everything they knew; she couldn't and didn't want to do more unless ordered to.
"When can we start taking missions again?" she asked.
"And training?" added Naruto.
"Soon," Kakashi-sensei sighed. "The village can't afford a mission hiatus much longer, and you can't stay tied to the village every time you're in danger."
"Does that mean we'll go back to working like before!?" Naruto asked excitedly, and his teacher nodded. "Yatta!"
"We'll resume training tomorrow. I'll talk to the relevant people to see if we can get a mission."
Seina thanked the heavens. Although she could endure staying in the village without complaining, that didn't mean she wanted to stay confined to it for the rest of her life. Being a jinchuriki was dangerous, so sooner or later, she would be in danger. It was logical, redundant, and very likely. The only thing she could do was become stronger so no one could defeat her. There was no point in staying in the village with her head down until the danger passed because, for her, it would never end. Apparently, Kakashi-sensei and the others had to acknowledge that truth or at least realize they couldn't keep protecting them in Konoha. If her entire team was in danger, the whole team would have to train until they were practically invincible.
She felt her team's determination through their partially open bond. The last two months had been strange. Not only had they been apart, but they had also been training under different senseis and had barely seen each other for dinner. At least Naruto and her. They had fought before the entire village, suffered an invasion, people had died, they had a new Hokage, Sasuke's brother had reappeared, Naruto had fled the village and been attacked, she had been promoted to chunin, and they had been confined in the village for their own safety. No wonder she was eager to return to their previous routine.
The next day, they went to train together for the first time in a long while. They had several sparring matches to gauge their current level, and, unsurprisingly to everyone, they saw how much they had improved. Kakashi-sensei had them review everything they had learned so far, as well as practicing taijutsu and kenjutsu.
"I see I'll need to increase the level since our previous training sessions have become obsolete," Kakashi-sensei told them without once pulling out his porn book. "Definitely, the three of you are at the level of the other chunin. In the upcoming exams, if you learn from your mistakes in the last exam, you'll surely be promoted."
"How are we going to train from now on?" Sasuke asked him.
"You have a solid foundation in taijutsu, kenjutsu, shurikenjutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. Perhaps the latter is your weakest area. The only thing you can do now to continue improving is to train in each area with different opponents and learn as much as you can about jutsus," Kakashi-sensei shrugged. "I'm going to be brutally honest with each of you. Naruto and Sasuke, your strengths are taijutsu and ninjutsu, while your weaknesses are genjutsu and kenjutsu. Seina, on the other hand, you still have the same weakness as before, taijutsu, while your strengths are clearly ninjutsu and kenjutsu, and genjutsu because you're immune."
"And what can I do?" she asked irritably, still being the worst in that area.
"I think your problem is that you need challenging opponents with different styles than mine. Still, even though it's your weak point, it doesn't mean your taijutsu is deficient," her teacher assured her, "just like Sasuke's kenjutsu or Naruto's genjutsu. It's simply your weakest skill. What you need to ask yourselves is, in the future, do you see yourselves using or planning to use these skills regularly? If the answer is yes, then you should train harder in these areas. If, on the other hand, the answer is no, or rarely, perhaps what you know so far will suffice, and you may not want to spend so much time training these skills."
"I refuse to be mediocre in any field," she refuted without having to think twice. "Who can I spar with?"
"That! There's no way we're giving up, Kaka-sensei!" her brother exclaimed, and Sasuke nodded.
"Alright. Seina, I'll talk to Guy to see if he can help you. He's an expert in various forms of taijutsu, so he'll be able to teach you everything you want and more. Naruto and Sasuke, we'll continue working on your kenjutsu more than we have until now. As for genjutsu, I'll teach you several jutsus. However, this is a field that depends a lot on you and your imagination. What I'll teach you is how to perform a genjutsu, the basics of how it works, and then everything else will depend on you. If you learn that, genjutsu will no longer be your weakness."
"When do we start?"
"Always so impatient, Sasuke. Anyway, we'll start right now."
Kakashi-sensei began explaining how to mold chakra for a genjutsu, which targets in the brain to attack, how to imagine the genjutsu to make it as real as possible, etc. While listening, she realized something she had overlooked. Genjutsu used chakra to affect the central nervous system, that is, the brain itself. She had known that for years. What she had forgotten was that almost everything happened in the brain.
As far as she knew, all genjutsus tried to make the victim believe an "illusion," so to speak. That is, the genjutsu attacked the areas of the mind corresponding to the senses to make the brain believe it was witnessing something that wasn't actually real. For example, that genjutsu they put in the chunin exams to make everyone believe a classroom on the second floor was a classroom on the third floor had been possible because the victims' senses had been manipulated to believe it was true.
That meant that if she could manipulate certain areas of the brain, she could control someone from afar and not only that, she could kill them using their own brain against them. After all, she could make the brain believe, for example, that it was inhaling or consuming certain substances. The brain would produce some molecules as a consequence of that "inhalation" and, in extreme cases, could poison or intoxicate the victim's body with substances produced in excess controlled by their own brain. Not only that. She could modify the brain's senses to produce a real loss of balance, among many other things, giving her enough time to finish someone off if necessary.
That meant that "genjutsu" was really not an illusion but brain manipulation. The ninjas had no idea of the goldmine they had in their hands. Perhaps because they didn't have psychologists or psychiatrists who had studied the brain the way she understood it, or perhaps because no one had thought of using a genjutsu that way. She noted in her journal, along with everything she had just thought of, that she needed to buy a couple of physiology books or something similar to see if she could study on her own.
"Smoke is almost coming out of your head, Seina," the jonin interrupted her thoughts. "What are you writing so quickly?"
"If it works, I'll tell you," She chuckled with an evil laugh.
She saw out of the corner of her eye how Naruto and Sasuke shuddered. Seina, on the other hand, kept writing. If she could use genjutsu as she thought, she could also use it medically to influence her patients' bodies to regenerate themselves. She had to investigate it!
"Um... Yeah, well, as I was saying," Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat. "Now that you know how it works, I'd like you to try creating a genjutsu. There's no rush, so you have time to think through all the details. Leaving that aside, I'd like you to continue learning ninjutsu, so I've brought more jutsus for you to train with. Also, I've brought ninjutsu of different chakra natures to see what your secondary chakra nature is."
Seina ended up trying a jutsu of each nature and realized that she practically had the same affinity for all of them as she did for water. It didn't surprise her too much since, with her magic, the same thing happened. She could use elemental spells of all types, so why would it be different with chakra? Sasuke, and to a lesser extent Naruto, on the other hand, had a great affinity for fire and, once again, to a lesser extent, earth. Kakashi-sensei, upon checking, promised to teach them all the ninjutsus he knew over the next year.
When they returned home, sweaty and exhausted, she bathed thinking about what she was going to have to learn. She had realized she had been somewhat complacent. Even in the academy, she had thought she had time to train and get stronger, to graduate later, but in reality, what was holding her back from training three times as hard? She wanted to learn all possible ninjutsus, wanted to be a great medic, an expert in genjutsu, taijutsu, and kenjutsu, wanted to incorporate her magic into combat. She wanted to be the best. Only then would they think twice before attacking her. Why had she been hiding so much? She didn't want to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder or calculating what she could do or what she had to hide to not draw attention! Was that what she lived for? To be hiding? No.
Things were going to change, and if that meant having more enemies... Well. She would kill anyone who tried to harm her family. She would kill all her enemies, one by one, until they realized it was a bad idea to get in her way. She would talk to her team before deciding anything, but even at that moment, she already felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
When she went down to dinner, she couldn't hold back for even a second.
"I want to stop hiding my kekkei genkai," she said.
A silence fell as everyone took in her words. Kakashi-sensei motioned for them to sit at the table.
"I see. I'm not surprised," he commented. "You've been hiding your abilities less and less. I knew sooner or later you'd be tired of always looking over your shoulder and measuring your actions."
"And what can I do?" she asked him.
"Continue as you have been. Gradually introduce inventions and show abilities. There's no rush. You can think it over calmly."
Seina nodded. She felt Sasuke's leg touch hers under the table, reminding her that she wasn't alone. Just like the comforting presence of her brother next to her, who, despite being silent, felt the determination to support her within his core. Whatever she did, she had her new family.