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Now, back to the story. =]


Al had never been one to complain, but now, after three days of traveling, he could feel that desire to vocalize every grievance taking hold. Every muscle in his body ached and, if he didn't know it was impossible from anatomy books, he would swear that the bones themselves hurt, too. He was miserable.

As they had traveled the past three days, the trees had begun to shrink and the distance between them increased. Now, the last rays of evening light were able to filter down to the forest floor. The light breeze shifted the leaves causing the patterns decorating the ground to dance. Evening birdsong echoed through the treetops. As the forest had begun to thin out and more light slipped though, the birds took up residence. The light allowed the berry filled plants to grow, and where there is food, there is life.

With this pleasant backdrop, Al would normally have been content to walk for days if he had to. This wasn't normally. Years without exercise or enough nutrients didn't go away in less than a month – at least not fully.

Mercifully, Shikamaru called for a halt and to set up camp for the night. Al felt like simply plopping down in the clearing and going to sleep, but forced himself to put his pack down by the others. Next to him, Naruto dropped his pack and two sleeping bags. The extra sleeping bag was Al's. Halfway through the first day on the road, Sakura had taken Al's sleeping bag from him and given it to Naruto to carry. She claimed it was because Naruto was annoying her and making him carry more weight might make him more likely to shut up.

Al didn't believe that.

He believed the part about Naruto annoying her – when wasn't that the case – but he had a feeling that she had noticed his exhaustion and was trying to help him without running the risk of hurting his pride. Al appreciated the gesture.

His back cracked as he stretched. Al had tried to help set up camp yesterday, but he had just gotten in the way. Today, he just sat down under a tree and watched. With the help of Naruto's shadow clones, everything was set up and even the fire wood was quickly gathered. This wasn't a stealth mission, so they were taking none of the usual precautions to avoid being noticed.

Al leaned back to watch the shimmering light play through the leaves. The shifting light was mesmerizing. It was so… bright…. The next thing he was aware of was Naruto's face beaming down at him.

"Boy, you were sleeping good! Hungry?" He held out a bowl filled with rice and a pair of the wooden torture instruments. Grudgingly, Al took it from him. "Sakura told me not to wake you, but I didn't think you'd want to miss a meal. I never do." Naruto sat down next to Al and leaned against the tree. "I like food. Go on, eat! The chopsticks won't bite you! I already ate everything Shikamaru would give me. He told me to bug off, can you believe that? He was really rude and looked annoyed for some reason." Naruto paused and they sat in silences for a few moments while he sulked. He shrugged. "Oh well. Are you going to eat that? If not, I will."

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm eating, see." Al attempted to take a bite. 'Attempted' being the key word. The torture instruments played their part and maliciously managed to dump half of their load onto Al's lap. Naruto failed to stifle a laugh and Al decided to change the subject.

"Hey, Naruto. What's Hinata doing over there?" Al gestured toward where Hinata appeared to be looking out into the night. She seemed to be intent on something, but with dusk falling, Al was sure whatever she was looking for would be invisible.

"She's scanning to woods to make sure there's nothing dangerous out there." Naruto used his fingers to steal a bit of rice, chewed, swallowed, and then added, "It's part of her job as a look-out."

"But how can she see anything? It's getting dark. Shouldn't she actually be patrolling instead?"

"She's using Chakra." Naruto said this as though it was the most obvious fact he could imagine. "If you want to know how it actually works, you'll have to talk to Sakura. I don't get all of that stuff, I just use it. You know, make the hand signals, concentrate, and POOF – new jutsu. Well, it's more than that, but that's the basic idea."

"Could I do what she's doing?" Al was curious. Alchemy was a wonderful secret weapon, but if he could actually understand the ninja arts, or jutsus as Naruto called them, he would be able to better protect himself.

Naruto choked on his mouthful of rice, he was now freely helping himself to Al's food. "What? You mean, can you use Byakugan? No way, that's impossible." Naruto noticed Al's confused look. "Byakugan is a bloodline trait, a Kekkei Genkai. Only Hinata's family can use it. It lets her see people's chakra and in almost every direction at once. Even if her back is turned, she can see me. Watch." Naruto stood up and began frantically waving in Hinata's direction.

Hinata stiffened and then turned ever so slightly in their direction. Her eyes were pure white and the veins stood out in stark contrast in the glow of the campfire. Her face seemed redder than usual, but Al assumed it must be from the strain of using this… bloodline trait. He'd seen similar exhaustion in Sakura after she used her healing jutsus too much. She gave a small wave, only using a few fingers, really, and then turned back to look at the forest.

Naruto sat back down. "See, every direction. Amazing, isn't it."

"Yes it is." Truly amazing. If I would have had something like that, there would be no way for the Homunculi to sneak up on me and Ed. We would've been out of this mess long ago. "Say, Naruto, I know you said I can't lean to use the … Byaku-thingy… but is there something I could learn?

"Yeah! That would be awesome! I didn't know you were interested. What do you want to learn? There are clones, fire, illusion and replacement jutsus, even the Rasengan. Although, have you ever used Chakra before? No? Maybe you should start with something simple. Sakura's good at chakra control stuff. Hey, SAKURA! CAN YOU COME OVER HERE A MINUTE? HEY! SAKURA! PLEASE? HEY, SAK –"

"SHUT UP! I heard you the first time." Sakura marched toward their tree. "You're giving me a headache. What do you want? If you are just too lazy to get yourself more food I swear I'll punch you so hard you'll feel it for a month." She stopped in front of them, arms folded. She glared down.

Naruto was unfazed. "Could you teach Al chakra control and some simple jutsus?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow and turned to Al. "Do you actually want to learn or is this just one of Naruto's hair-brained ideas? You don't always have to go along with them."

Al nodded. "This was actually my idea. I would really appreciate it if you would teach me. Naruto says you are really good at chakra control. Much better than he is."

"I am." Sakura raised an eyebrow at Naruto as if she didn't believe the possibility of him actually praising her and then stared at Al for a second. "I ... suppose it wouldn't hurt…. Why not? We have some time before we need to turn in. Come over by the fire and we'll all try to help you."

She led them into the direct firelight to join Shikamaru. Hinata joined them a few moments later having finished her scan and determining that nothing hostile lurked in the area.

"Chakra comes from two places: the energy in your body, and mental energy. You get the second from practice. Chakra circulates throughout your body passing through all of your vital spots. You're lucky you have Hinata here. She will be able to actually look at your chakra flow and tell you what you're doing right or wrong." Sakura smiled at Hinata who nodded and then looked back at her clasped hands.

"In order to control the chakra, we use hand seals. This is an example." Sakura placed her palms together with the left lying flat on top of the right and thumbs on the outside. "This seal is the Monkey. There are 11 others. Depending on the combination of seals used and the amount of chakra, you get different jutsus." She demonstrated each of the 12 seals and Al's head began to spin. If she decided to test his comprehension, he would fail horribly.

However, despite the chaos from the rapid influx of information, it made a type of sense. In alchemy, Al used circles and runes to direct the energy. This was the same. If he could learn alchemy from old books, surly he could learn a simple jutsu from an experienced ninja. This time he would actually be able to ask a question and receive an answer rather than having to look it up on his own. If the laws of alchemy were still valid, gathering his chakra would be much like creating the circle and runes in his head before a clapping transmutation.

"So, how do I actually gather the chakra?"

"It's… more of a feeling." Sakura hesitated unsure of how to answer. "Shikamaru, you're the professor, you explain."

"No way. That's too much effort. Teaching is such a drag…" Lackadaisically, he poked the fire sending sparks spinning into the night sky.

"Shikamaru…" Her tone of voice brought to mind images of horrid fates that might befall the person who displeased her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright. No need to get huffy. Ok, here's what you do, Al." Shikamaru talked more or less for the next ten minutes. Every so often, Sakura would clear her throat to "invite" Shikamaru to continue with his lesson. Finally, he paused and Sakura let him be. Shikamaru sighed in relief. "Got it?"

"Possibly. How will I know?" Al knew that although the theory sounded reasonable enough, putting it into practice would bring about unforeseen complications.

Sakura smiled. "That's where I come in. We're going to have you try a jutsu and Hinata will watch to see what happens. Then we will be able to see your progress."

"We'll start with a simple transformation jutsu. You will be using the ram hand seal. Remember that one?" The lilt in Sakura's voice and her smile let Al know she was joking. There was no way she actually expected Al to remember one of the twelve hand seals she had showed him in rapid succession. Al took a stab at it anyway and formed his hands into a random shape. Naruto's snorting laughter let him know he had it wrong.

"Almost." Sakura chuckled. "Actually, not even close, but good try anyway." Sakura reached forward and moved his hands so they made the correct shape. "See. These two fingers point up, along with the index finger on your other hand. Perfect." Sakura stepped back.

"Now, concentrate your chakra how Shikamaru told you. Hinata, could you use Byakugan now? Thanks." Sakura took another step back as though she expected something to blow up. The veins around Hinata's eyes stood out.

Al took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Just like Alchemy. Concentrate, block out all background distractions. Feel the energy and let it flow. Let it build. Imagine what I want, who I want to look like. See every detail of Ed's face. Let the energy make it a reality. Al could feel the energy building, could imagine every detail. He could feel it almost overflowing. Then it burst.

Nothing happened.

Opening his eyes he looked at himself. He was Alphonse. The jutsu hadn't worked.

Alphonse let his hands drop, breaking the hand seal.

"What's the matter Al? Aren't you going to try?" Naruto looked concerned.

"I did."

"Ohhhhhhhhh." The light-bulb switched on. "That happened to me the first time, too. Don't worry about it, you'll get it eventually." Naruto was attempting to be encouraging. "Anyway, tell me about it. Did you feel anything? Aren't the ninja techniques neat?"

Al mumbled a random response. He had a different issue to worry about. I never bothered to test my alchemy; I always just assumed it would work. I mean, it worked once so why wouldn't it work again? That… jutsu… felt like Alchemy except it just… failed. Why? Is this place that much different than Amestris? Did something happen? If my alchemy doesn't work, I'm dead. I can't protect myself without it. I need to find out. Soon.

Caught up in his reflection, Al missed the look that passed between a slightly wide-eyed Hinata and the pink haired kunoichi.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." Shikamaru spoke up for the first time since he had been given a respite from teaching. "Since it didn't work, why don't we all go to bed? That's what I'm doing." He yawned, turned away from the group, and walked over to his sleeping bag.

"That sounds good to me too." Sakura turned towards Al a bright smile plastered on her face. "You must be tired. You can practice more later, alright? We'll keep watch so you'll be safe. I'll even take the first shift." She glanced at Hinata again. Al simply nodded his mind too full of worries to gather the details of his surroundings.

Naruto snuggled into his sleeping bag his head adorned with his frog cap. The camp fell into silence and Al drifted off unaware of the intensity of the gaze that watched over the camp and him.