"How does this not make sense?"

"How does it make sense?!"

"This is literally the simplest thing other than storage seals."

"Yeah, well maybe you're just an awful sensei then."

"It's an exploding tag, Asuka-chan. All you have to do is copy the calligraphy."

A low growl tickled Asuka's throat as she glared down at the small piece of paper. "Yeah, I get that, but I want to know how fūinjutsu works. The inner workings, what makes it tick, the different combinations. It's how I learned at the apothecary –know how each plant works, what they contribute, what happens when you mix certain plants. Things are so much more complicated than copying and pasting, and I want to understand it all."

"Seals are a bit of a fickle thing, though," Kushina reiterated. With one look at Asuka's dubious expression, the redhead let out a sigh. She decided to take a different route. "Seals don't just have a one way that covers all. There are thousands of different variations for different seals. Like this exploding tag, for example." Kushina snatched up the written example and placed it next to a blank paper. She grabbed a spare brush, and then placed the bristles against the blank paper. Her hand was incredibly smooth as she drew. "See how this one is different? This is what Konoha's standard exploding tag design is, whereas the one I'm drawing right now is from my village, Uzushio. Like these two villages, everyone has different variations of seals. People like to use different kanji, write it in a different way, and regarding more complicated sealing techniques; mix different types of seals."

Asuka studied the differences between Konoha and Uzushio's seals with a small frown tugging her lips. She knit her eyebrows together in thought. "Okay, and what about that seal you put on me when we first met? Would people mix different components if they tried to replicate it?"

Kushina hummed, tapping the end of the brush against her chin as she contemplated an answer. "It's hard for me to say, because the seal I put on you was made entirely from my own style. I used a mix of seals that made sense to me, and in a complete different style of writing. Like, with a normal chakra compression seal, it would block off your own chakra, and that wasn't what we needed, so I had to modify it to work against natural energy instead. And then I mixed it with a small protective seal to make it kind of invisible to your senses. I was targeting specifically for the natural energy, whereas others might add a regular chakra compression seal on top of a blocking and protective seal, which would more or less make chakra almost nonexistent in general."

There was a pause as Asuka registered the information. Kushina continued.

"There are lots of different branches regarding fūinjutsu. Tags are the simplest, because the energy is set on the object you draw it on, and all you need to do is infuse chakra into it for activation." Kushina demonstrated by wrapping the Uzushio tag around one of her kunai, and tossing it at one of the trees in the distance. Asuka shut her eyes as the remnants of the explosion waved over to the part of the training grounds she and Kushina were sitting at. "There are seals that can be passed over from paper onto another object." Asuka watched as Kushina quickly drew out the design for a flash-bang seal. She then pressed the paper against the ground in front of them, and peeled it away like a temporary tattoo. "And then there are touch seals –which is fairly self explanatory. You simply touch the area you want the seal on, mold the chakra, and there it is. It's a bit more difficult to do, though, because your chakra movement needs to be precise otherwise it might mess up."

Kushina paused, to let the information simmer for a moment. "There's a lot more than this, though. Some people create their own brand of writing for seals –like Minato."

Asuka lifted the heel of her hands to rub her eyes. "Oh god it just never stops."

"You asked for it," Kushina commented wryly.

"I know," Asuka bemoaned. "But I didn't think it would be this…uuugh!"

Kushina snorted. "I guess this means a break is next. We'll continue our fūinjutsu lesson tomorrow, how about we work on your customized katas?"

"Yeah," Asuka nodded, shifting into a standing position. "My taijutsu can still use work."

Nearly a month had passed since Asuka's genin test, spent in a flurry of training and D-rank missions, with the occasional C-rank added in. She had been sore about yet another loss to Kakashi, whereas the boy in question was particularly unconcerned, bratty attitude and all.

"It only makes sense that someone as pathetic as you could never win against me," Kakashi scoffed, interrupting whatever Hige was going to criticize her for, perhaps ten minutes after she had woken up with a killer headache and sore body.

"Funny," Hige said instead, as Taiki continued to heal the gash across Asuka's back. His eyes glanced over at the boy's twitching hand. "Because you're still having difficulty moving."

Asuka's eyebrows shot up at Hige's defense of her, feeling particularly baffled in her bleary state.

"Don't give me that look, kid –I helped train you, I'm the only one allowed to insult you."

"You should really give other people the memo, then," Asuka grumbled to Hige, absentmindedly petting Futaaimaru's fur while his head rested in her lap.

"Please, it feels like I practically raised you," Hige added with a scoff, a sardonic tone taking over his voice. Asuka felt her lips twitch.

"Right after you kidnapped me, you mean," she retorted with an equally sarcastic tone. The Inuzuka and Hitsugaya shared a mutually amused look. "Sounds like a classic fairytale."

Rapunzel, if her memory served correct. Not the ninja would know it, though.

"You're never letting that go, are you?" Kushina butted in, with a raised eyebrow and amused expression. She was sitting against a tree a couple feet away, Minato by her side while he gave Kakashi a light lecture on being less of a rude bastard (not that the kid would ever listen to it). Asuka sent the redhead a look that clearly said she wouldn't, and the teen sighed. "Okay, moving onto more productive means; how do you think you did?"

Asuka frowned, giving a light hum as she sorted through her jumbled and fuzzy thoughts. Barely a second after, she felt Taiki's relaxing chakra seep into her head injury, coaxing her tangled mind to snap into a sharper perspective. With her head injury mostly out of the way, her previous judgments were easier to organize.

"Taijutsu and speed could always use work," Asuka started off. At this point, she didn't really feel a point to sugarcoating things for herself. "I was barely able to keep myself from getting an internal organ punctured –actually, I think I did get an internal organ punctured with a kunai." Kakashi probably scoffed, but she ignored it. "Reaction time was awful –I need to utilize my sensing abilities more in battle– weapon usage could be improved as well. The use of jutsu fucked me over –thanks for that, Kaka-pyon– and my one jutsu can definitely use work because it was obnoxiously slow –not to mention when Kamehameha and the lighting jutsu collided it completely intercepted the raw chakra in the air, which also fucked me up. The paralyzing agent didn't last long either, not to mention it was disappointingly easy to get rid of. I'll need to work on that on my own time."

"Anything else you want to nitpick there, kid?" Hige added in sarcastically once she had finished. Asuka shot the Inuzuka a scowl. He reached over and lightly tapped his knuckles against the side of her head. "Don't be so harsh on yourself. You've accomplished this much in just a little over twelve months –it's taken other kids several years and a couple more to get to your current point. Relax a little."

Asuka's grip tightened just the slightest on Futaaimaru's fur, and she glared down at a patch of grass. "Relaxing isn't going to stop me from getting killed." Again. "And it isn't going to stop the fact that I'm not strong enough."

"You're not going to be working A or even B-rank missions until you become a chūnin," Taiki cut it, his warm chakra receding from Asuka's body as he shifted behind her. "I doubt you're going to be doing much C-ranks anytime soon, either. You've got no danger ahead of you."

It was silent for a moment, before Asuka dug into her kunai pouch and tossed one into the ground a little ways away for everyone to see. The bronze metal glinted in the early sunlight. Almost immediately, there was a shift in the surrounding ninjas' chakra. Curiosity, melancholy, guilt.

"No, I might not being doing intentionally dangerous missions anytime soon," Asuka agreed, her face going blank as she looked on at the weapon, her voice taking on a forced monotone as the flurry of unpleasant emotions hit her once again. Her initial trial of weakness was still as present in her mind as long as that kunai was with her. "But shit happens, doesn't it?"

…

Ninja Paranoia

…

"Asuka-chan, wake up!"

There was a red monster excitedly banging on Asuka's door, and she wanted none of it. Gai had opted to join in taijutsu practice the night before, and he absolutely tore her apart. The kid was an absolute beast, and definitely wasn't afraid to hold back. But that was why Asuka like to practice with him; she was able to hold onto a realistic perspective of her abilities. It helped her keep herself in check, all the while improving her capabilities.

Asuka gave an indistinguishable groan and shoved her head deeper into the pillow. She waited until Kushina's chakra had padded back into the kitchen before slowly coaxing her own chakra through the remaining stiffness in her muscles. After a couple of minutes, the caramel-haired girl managed to push herself from the bed to begin her morning rituals.

It wasn't long before Asuka had seated herself in front of the small stack of pancakes (over the past year, Kushina had very well demanded to know the recipe for the western breakfast –somehow it ended up being one of the most eaten foods between the two alongside ramen) dressed fully in her ninja gear. Her outfit wasn't necessarily aiming for a fashion statement; a fishnet T-shirt underneath a green surprisingly light yet sturdy tank top, with tan shorts over cropped fishnet pants. She had two pouches on her, one filled with her herbal concoctions inside a pouch strapped around her hips, her weapons in the pouch strapped along her thigh, and an extra scroll strapped around her back like a sword. Her forehead protector was wrapped around her ponytail, once again with small senbon secured through the material.

"So, I was thinking that today we'll do another C-rank mission," Kushina dropped a couple minutes into the meal. Asuka paused mid chew as several different emotions crashed through her body. Pride. Fear. Excitement.

"Really? What kind of mission were you thinking of?" Asuka prompted as she quickly gathered her bearings. It wasn't like she hadn't done C-ranks before, but they were all relatively simple and in the village. Part of her was wishing that they would become more difficult, rather than being called for detaining animals gone rabid by using a simple drowsy anesthesia from her arsenal.

"Something out of the village, I hope," Kushina replied with a slight hum. Over the course of the past year, Asuka had quickly learned that the redhead was eager to get out of Konoha on the chance she had time for a mission. Asuka suspected it had something to do with Kushina not being a native to Konoha, but she had no room to complain because Asuka was the same. With that being said, however, it was very rare for the Hokage to grant Kushina with an outside mission, for a reason that Asuka wasn't entirely aware of.

Breakfast was finished quickly, and Asuka soon found herself standing next to Kushina in front of the Hokage as he listed several C-rank missions. Those among the list weren't necessarily riveting, but there was potential in a few of them.

"We'll take the courier mission, Hokage-sama, 'ttebane!"

They were given a relatively large and heavy package, which Asuka had immediately sealed into the scroll strapped to her back once Kushina had handed it off to her. They weren't told of its contents, just of the village and person to deliver it to. It was a small village, located just along the outskirts of the border between the Land of Fire and the country Hidden Rain was located in, relatively close to the border that Hidden Grass resided in as well, perhaps a day or so of straight enhanced running, a little longer at a more relaxed pace, and to a man named Fujimoto Gorou.

By all means, it shouldn't have been a difficult mission.

The two bowed before they parting from the Mission Assignment Desk.

It didn't take long to pass though the gates, Asuka going through her mental checklist of supplies whilst doing so. She doubted that there would be much of an opportunity to use her more advanced and complicated concoctions –C-ranks were hardly anything to be amazed at in terms of ninja skills– but it was an unspoken mandatory must to always be prepared for the worst during a mission.

Running was a lot easier than Asuka had remembered, but the last time she had been running outside of Konoha was before her training had officially started, and since then she had often taken to racing with Gai around the village for a ridiculous set of laps –she lost every time, and it was only a couple months after her strange friendship with the eccentric boy that she realized that he was wearing weights on his arms and legs– so Asuka found she was able to keep a constant pace without being too wrung out. They stopped only briefly a couple times for a quick snack and water break before continuing with their speedy pace in hopes to reach the designated village before dusk hit.

The town wasn't as grand as Konoha, but it wasn't nearly as dinky as Taiyō had been. It seemed fairly average, bustling with different businesses and establishments. It looked to have a certain focus for trading posts –something that Asuka thought was probably more beneficial considering its location between two separate countries, although she supposed that it could prove for a high enemy infiltration rate as well. Several inns were scattered throughout the town, strategically placed towards merchants looking for a night's rest.

She noticed that the small village felt somewhat similar to Konoha. Not necessarily in size or population, but there was just something circling around the air that gave of the familiarity of Konoha that Asuka had become well accustomed to in her year spent training. What made the village give off familiarity, though, Asuka wasn't entirely sure of.

She glanced curiously to Kushina, wondering if the redhead felt it too. Her sensei didn't show any inkling of it on her face, so Asuka hadn't mentioned her musings; simply opting to keep her senses open for caution.

Instead, she followed the redhead through the village streets somewhat aimlessly, paying no attention to the speculative looks from native civilians. It probably wasn't very often that ninja would visit.

"So, Asuka-chan," Kushina's voice pulled her from her musing. Asuka glanced up to the redhead, who was naturally scanning the village. Perhaps to take note of all the easily accessible entrances and exits –an observatory behavior that the academy was quick to teach to prepare for a possible ambush. "What do you think we should do next?"

Kushina had taken to not-so-subtly testing Asuka during their missions by leaving small decisions up to her. It was smart in the way that it allowed Kushina to properly gauge how Asuka's mind had developed towards the ninja attitude from her past year of training. In using this method, Asuka found herself sharpening her mind a little more under Kushina's veteran guidance. The only thing that annoyed Asuka was that she hadn't realized that her sensei was doing this until only a week ago.

Asuka glanced up at the sky, which had darkened considerably. In the back of her mind, she registered the fuzzy feeling of those larger chakra signatures moving about in a strange rotation. "Usually it would be best to pawn off the package right away, but I feel it would probably be a bit difficult to find the guy we need in the dark. So…find him tomorrow morning?"

She watched as her sensei slowly bobbed her head up and down. "Okay. Do we want to stay inn or out?"

Asuka paused mid step and stared at her sensei. "Was…was that a pun?"

Kushina shrugged one shoulder. "Hey, I have to get some form of amusement while away from the village."

"You mean while you're away from hubby?"

A death glare was shot towards Asuka, but the blush she had been looking forward to see was contained. Kushina clamped a hand down onto the base of Asuka's ponytail and pulled without gracing Asuka with an oral reply.

"Back to the topic at hand: inn or out?"

Asuka pondered on it for a moment. She never was particularly fond of camping. "Why not? Let's stay at an inn. They usually have restaurants in them, so at least we don't have to go searching for one."

"Okay," Kushina replied somewhat off beat. Asuka raised her eyebrow at the half-pause, but let it go.

It didn't take them long to find an inn that passed all of Kushina's requirements (enough exits, decent structure, isolated yet public –and on an non-ninja related need, good food) and book a room with double beds. The receptionist took one look at the forehead protectors with a mixed expression that Asuka couldn't distinguish before quickly handing off the keys for the room.

Asuka spared a glance to the receptionist before following Kushina closely up the steps to their room.

"How do you suppose we find the guy?" Asuka questioned casually as she stepped up the wooden steps. "Ask around?"

She caught the sight of Kushina's pursed lips when the redhead inclined her head back. "We'll talk when we get to our room. More privacy there."

Asuka looked around the small stairwell dubiously. "Who's around here to listen?" She flared her senses to prove her point, letting the raw chakra nip at her skin. Other than the civilian-sized chakras gathered in the restaurant downstairs and the receptionist's at the desk, the only other prominent signatures were the larger ones scattered throughout the village.

Kushina just let out a small hum, wordlessly indicating for Asuka to stay silent until they made it up to her room. The smaller of the two frowned, but complied nonetheless and waited until Kushina had placed enough protection and silence seals around the room to be satisfied.

"One of the most important rules when on a mission is to not talk about it unless you're absolutely positive that no one could ever be possibly listening in," Kushina had started. "Even the smallest bits of information could be catastrophic if the wrong person was listening in. Ninja are capable of masking their identities entirely to conceal themselves from public, and small hearing enhancement jutsu are like child play."

"But this is just a C-rank mission," Asuka piped in. "It's not like those bandits when we first met, right? All we have to do is deliver the package to some guy."

Her redheaded sensei heaved out what sounding like a mildly frustrated sigh. "Yes, this may only be a C-rank, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be any less careful. It's like you said after your last spar with Kakashi-kun, isn't it? 'Shit happens.'"

"I –okay," Asuka conceded with a frown. She had say that hadn't she? "But I was alluding more towards getting mixed up into the business because of you."

Kushina let out another sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. "And what happened, exactly, that got you mixed into this business? Debrief me on what you remember."

Asuka thought back to that stupid mission from more than a year ago. Frankly, she didn't actually remember the events explicitly. Her memory of entire mission started to lose itself into her past memories and current ones from Konoha.

"Well, you guys found me in the forest right? And started following me? You guys kept pestering me, Hige had a nice dose of ammonium up his nose, and then I was captured." Her frown deepened. What was the point of this? "The only reason those bandits took such an interest in me is because you were being such a loudmouth about becoming my teacher and they thought that I had some kind of talent–oh."

When Asuka had said that shit happens, she had been thinking in terms of her weakness, not caution.

"We were being perhaps a bit more careless than we should have been, yes," Kushina revealed. "Especially since those bandits were higher ranked than usual. But all of it applies the same, doesn't it?"

"It's like you guys have to be paranoid all the time then. That sucks."

The Uzumaki shrugged. "Yeah, it sucks a little, but in the end ninja paranoia saves our lives more often than not. That's why genin are slowly introduced into missions through small D and C-ranks. They gradually learn to be sharp and alert so it's not as fatal for larger missions."

Asuka grimaced. It certainly wasn't something that the academy taught –at least not with emphasis. Perhaps they should lessen the curriculum on which place a stab wound is likelier to kill a person, and more on caution.

"How about we get some dinner? Another tip for ninja paranoia is checking your food for poison. I think you should be pretty good at this one."

~…~

Dinner had been more or less uneventful. The inn's restaurant was moderately populated, not so much in foreigners, but Asuka noticed that there were quite a few native civilians dining as well. Seeing their triviality and obliged politeness made Asuka cringe, the scene reminded her heavily of the life back in Taiyō. She much preferred the isolation in Konoha to the exhaustion of having to stop and converse with every villager.

After finishing off the average meal, Asuka and Kushina went back to their room to retire for the night. They decided that a watch was still probably best since they were in foreign grounds ("Ninja paranoia, Asuka-chan. It never stops.") and so Asuka had opted to take the first watch shift.

"What's so important about this package anyways?" Asuka asked as she set up a spot on the floor to practice calligraphy. If she was going to stay up, she might as well be productive. She glanced over at the scroll leaning against the bedframe that the parcel had been sealed into. "Shouldn't we at least know…like the gist of it or something?"

Kushina didn't answer until she had finished taking off her extra pouches and clothing. "It's important, and I know the gist of it."

Asuka's face twisted. "Why don't I get to know?"

Kushina assigned her with an unconcerned expression with a raised eyebrow. "Because I'm a jounin and you're a genin? I just taught you about watching what you say a couple hours ago, Asuka-chan."

"Fine then," Asuka relented with a grumpy pout. "I don't like it but I can understand where you're coming from."

"You don't like anything."

"I like knowing things."

Kushina snorted before tucking herself into one of the single beds. "Maybe when you're fully paranoid."

"All the more motivation," Asuka muttered sarcastically, although it fell on deaf ears. How Kushina gained the ability to fall asleep at will was baffling.

With a huff, Asuka turned to her ink and parchment.

The ninja life, in hindsight, was a lot heavier than she had originally assumed. Sure, children were lined up to be soldiers, but Asuka hadn't really realized the extent that ninja societies went. It wasn't just being ordered to go kill or sabotage, there were so many little elements that piled up towards the desired goal. She didn't just need to learn to fight, to be strong; she needed to learn to monitor her words and actions. Being a ninja was just as much physical as it was mental.

Being a ninja, Asuka realized, was not a career. It was a lifestyle.

And that was honestly kind of frightening. Kushina had essentially stated that Asuka's life could always have a possibility of being in danger –a factor that she had been trying to overcome by becoming a ninja– even when she wasn't out on a mission.

But Asuka also liked the feeling of fighting someone, and she also liked the adrenaline and power rush that came with it. She liked feeling more in control of herself and her new life.

She really did get herself into a complicated situation.

After a pause in thought, Asuka realized that her brush had created a very unsightly ink blotch in the center of the parchment. She dropped a few choice swears as she lifted her brush and dropped it back into the inkwell.

Asuka sighed at the mess before disregarding it entirely. Obviously she wasn't in a focused state to properly practice her calligraphy, so it was better to stop before she made a mess of her entire ink and parchment set. They don't come cheap.

She hadn't bothered cleaning up the mess, instead standing up to walk over to the window to open for air. She was pleased to find that the window frame was large enough for her to sit on like she would occasionally in Taiyō, and allowed herself to bask in the fresh onslaught of raw chakra that nipped at her bare skin.

Asuka shifted to take off her weapons pouch, quietly easing it to the floor as to not wake up Kushina, and then moved to take of her herbal pouch from around her hips before something made her pause.

The circulation of chakra signatures had stopped. At that same moment, Asuka realized why this village had a familiarity with Konoha. Ninja commonly had larger chakra signatures than civilians, something she had grown very accustomed to feeling ever day.

Asuka barely had a chance to yell before the chakra signature on the roof dropped off and ninja wire cut into her skin, tugging her out of the window.

Ninja paranoia indeed.

...

In which Asuka learns that ninja paranoia is a thing and that she desperately needs to learn it.

Hi everyone. College, I have discovered, is very different from high school. I have been trying to swim out of this tank of piranhas known as schoolwork for a while now, and I should actually be working on a final assignment right now instead of updating.

Oops.

It has really been too long, and I'm super sorry, especially since I get updates of favorites and follows every once in a while still. I'm probably not going to get a chance to update again until my final exams are finished, so hopefully this will satisfy you guys for now.

On the flip side, I will always be available if you guys have any questions for me.

Please tell me what you think. A huge motivating factor is hearing about what you guys like/dislike, thoughts, theories, and questions. I know that kind of sounds conceited about wanting reviews but every writer likes people telling them what they like about their stories. Even if it's not me you review, please just think about reviewing people's work more. It really is a nice thing to see in your inbox.

Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant. See you guys next time!