He is a quaint little boy, Tenten thinks as she sees Naruto grinning at his teacher after sticking some prank seal on Iruka-sensei's chair that glues his butt to the wood. Really, she's sure that Naruto doesn't even realise the talent he possesses when he makes such complicated seals with a casual flick of his wrist.

The older kunoichi-in-training knows how difficult it is to make even the most basic of seals - her weapon summoning depends on how good she is with them afterall. So, she can only watch in awe as this boy, just a year younger than herself, goes ahead and decimates most of the primary rules of sealing art and succeeds at it.

There's a buzz going around the academy lately. Of a young, yellow-haired boy. He'd been a troublemaker before, or that's what Tenten had been told about him. That this boy, Naruto, with sunshine smiles and goofy grins isn't as airheaded as the teachers thought him to be. That he's actually a weird experimenter who isn't afraid of exploring and discovering the sealing arts in their most dangerous forms.

Ofcourse, others don't see him that way. They see his pranks and an unnecessary paper-mending seal and give him a nod of acknowledgement; simply saying that yes, it's a nice thing that the boy is doing something productive with his time but no recognition of how truly remarkable his sealing genius is.

But Tenten isn't one of them. She sees the seal that sticks someone's ass to a chair and knows exactly the kind of intricate details Naruto must've incorporated to have the seal triggered when human warmth comes in contact with it - knows the three-layered array that makes said seal invisible till activated and yet she doesn't know how this 10 year old managed to form such a complex seal from scratch.

Maybe, it isn't really that impressive afterall. Many chunins can easily replicate that seal but for someone with no formal education in the discipline, Naruto's work must've been all intuituon and self-study - a concept Tenten is well acquainted with.

She, herself, is an amateur seal maker and has gone through several incidents of failure and success alike in her seal-creation ventures but she's aware - with a tinge of envy - that Naruto's understanding of seals far surpasses her own. And that's the very reason she's spying on him, as the blond fumbles through his shinobi training but shines like a beacon in his fuuinjutsu practicals.

Like any true kunoichi, she doesn't stalk someone alone. She's got Lee with her. He's her back-up and coverstory. If some teacher happens to catch them out of class - because ofcourse, they're bunking their Konohan history lecture to carry out this information gathering mission - she'll just smile sweetly at them and inform them that she is simply taking her friend to the infirmary because he got his ankle twisted. Which Lee had anyway, kami knows what a training-freak this guy is.

"This is highly unethical," Lee whispers, shifting on his feet as if contemplating whether he should bolt away the next second, "Intruding on someone's privacy isn't right, Tenten!"

"Come on, Lee," Tenten rolls her eyes, and stands on her tiptoes to get a better view of Naruto's hand that's currently moving fluidly to draw something onto a page, "We aren't observing him in his home. It's a public setting, so we aren't watching him do anything private."

Lee frowns, a war waging inside him. On one hand, it is pretty fun to sneak away from class and watch what the younger students at the academy are upto. On the other hand, his strict morals dictate that this isn't appropriate behaviour...but then his eyes land on a pink-haired girl that he's sure is Naruto's friend. She is talking to the Nara fellow, something shining in her green eyes and the two seemed to be engaged in some sort of intellectual debate.

Lee leans forward then, previous ethical arguments forgotten and just watches as Sakura and Shikamaru discuss the pros and cons of some obscure chakric artifact they'd come across a book in the library. He gets so absorbed in their conversation even when he can't hear them that he startles when Tenten huffs beside him,

"I don't get it," she complains, "He's ten. He's had far less experience with drawing seals than me, yet, he's able to grasp the theory better. Look, he's not even drawing on paper anymore! He's carving on the wood Lee!"

Lee just nods at her, unsure of what is so special about scratching on the desk.

Tenten groans, propping her head on two elbows placed on the window-sill, completely unbothered if the students inside spot her head.

"You don't get it," she mumbles moodily, "I've been trying so hard to etch seals on my weapons so I can summon them remotely but even after learning under my father's tutelage, I've yet to master basic seals on paper. At this rate, I'll never to be able to catch up with that boy. He's already moving to different surfaces to draw seals. How do I learn all of this, Lee? My dad's only average at the sealing arts, and there's no sealing master in the village to learn from. Books in the library just suck, they don't even explain how seals work most of the times."

Lee frowns at Tenten then at Naruto who is currently showing a boy, with two funny-looking spirals on his face, how to hold the brush properly so that the strokes are more precise.

"I think," he says, and slowly his lips widen into a grin, "I think you should ask Naruto-kun to teach you!"

Tenten opens her mouth as if to protest but she snaps it close after giving this notion some serious thought. It isn't exactly a...bad idea. There's some potential here - she could definitely ask Naruto for tips even though she'd rather learn from a proper seal master but it won't hurt much to gain some insight on the topic from an amateur such as herself.

"Hm," she hums, eyes narrowed on Naruto's oblivious frame, "I guess I could try doing that."

"You saw them right?"

"I did," Shino mutters to Kiba, "What do you think we must do?"

"Confront those stalkers!" Kiba says, hitting his fist on his palm, righteousness practically oozing off of him, "Those damn seniors think they can do anything and get away with it!"

"No," Shino says calmly, "I'd rather we continue observing and intervene when we're certain that they're also after Naruto."

"Also?" Kiba's outrage forgotten in the wake of his confusion, "What do you mean 'also'?"

Shino manages to convey his disappointment through the minutest of inflection in his monotonous voice,

"They're not the only final year students who have tried to seek out Naruto. Two weeks ago, the seniors had received some fuuinjutsu assignment and they tried to pawn off their work on Naruto. He refused and then the seniors got into a scuffle with Chouji, Shikamaru, and Sakura. When Hikari-sensei found them all, bruised and dirty, Naruto came up with some clever lie that ended with the final years being sent for detention and Naruto and his friends were let off with some generic lecture on avoiding conflict."

"Woah," Kiba blinks, "This is the first time you've spoken so much Shino."

Shino shrugs, and turns his gaze towards the girl with twin buns eating her lunch by the high walls surrounding the academy.

"Oi!" a cheerful voice cuts short their conversation, and Kiba turns to meet Naruto's blue eyes, "Kiba! Iruka-sensei's calling you inside."

Kiba stuffs a riceball in his mouth and chews hastily. Gulping, he gets up after thumping Shino's back in friendly farewell. He meets Naruto right outside the classroom door and is surprised to find that the blond isn't about to move inside with him.

"You're not coming in?"

Naruto shakes his head, "Apparently I didn't fail the test today so no extra lectures for me! You enjoy your time with sensei, alright?"

Kiba grumbles about the unfairness of his situation and glares at the cheeky grin Naruto gives him. The blond has always been his partner in such sessions - both of them have been at the bottom of their classes for years now. Shinobi theory just bores Kiba and for Naruto - he can't grasp it well so the duo always ends up failing in their weekly assignments which lands them in yet another boring class to fill the words on their textbooks into their 'underused' heads - Iruka-sensei's words, not Kiba's.

So the fact Naruto has improved in academics is as astonishing as it is annoying. Extra classes are fun when there's Naruto to chat with and cause chaos with but not when Kiba actually has to sit alone and focus on whatever Iruka's teaching lest sensei chew him out for his inattention.

"There you are Kiba," Iruka gives him a polite smile when he enters, "Let's start revising the names of Wind Country's Daimyos today. The first, as we know..."

Kiba looks despondently at the window as Iruka drones on and on about these political figures he's absolutely not interested in and he makes sure to stick his tongue out when Shikamaru glances his way with a smirk on his face. Later, when Iruka grills him about the topics mentioned, Kiba tells sensei that Akamaru really has to pee and that if he isn't allowed to take his dog and leave right that instant, Iruka will probably have to mop the floor himself. Sensei sees through his trick but doesn't stop him, on account that one can never be too careful.

Kiba, in turn, smugly tells Hana about how he outsmarted his teacher that weekend.

When the time comes, Tenten is tempted to chicken out but doing so will make her look stupid in front of Lee so she swallows her fear and walks resolutely towards Naruto. Talking to a junior can't be that difficult afterall.

Naruto's currently eating some raw carrots out of his bento, engaged in pointless banter with the pink-haired girl and the Nara. When Tenten enters his frame of vision, he halts his tirade about something mundane and gives her his full attention.

"Hello," she extends her hand awkwardly and ignores the suspicious look the other boy throws at her, "I'm Tenten, one year your senior here."

"Hi," Naruto shakes her hand without any hesitation and beams at her, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Glad to meet an older kunoichi aspirant!"

Tenten pulls her hand away to rub at her neck in an awkward gesture her father has tried several times to break her out of.

"Nice to meet you to...er...Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto frowns at her, as if offended, "Call me Naruto please."

Tenten nods uncertainly and is glad that Lee steps in and introduces himself enthusiastically. Soon, the blond and his friend engage in a conversation about push-ups that utterly bores Shikamaru and he simply lies on the dirt ground and shuts his eyes.

"They're quite enthusiastic, right?" The pink-haired girl remarks, "I'm Sakura Haruno, by the way. In case, you were wondering."

"Sorry," Tenten says with a short laugh, embarrassed that she'd forgotten to ask the girl her name - as proper social etiquette would dictate, "But yes, these two are on the same wavelength here."

"You're not here for asking Naruto's help like all those other assholes, right?"

Tenten coughs nervously but decides that if she's going to get herself humiliated today, she's going to do it on her terms.

"Actually, I am infact here to ask for his help. In fuuinjutsu. You see, I use scrolls to summon different weapons during combat and I've been stuck a stage of improving the method for quite some time. I thought I'd ask Naruto for some...tips, y'know?"

Sakura hums, as if considering something and then picks up a book Tenten hadn't noticed before and starts reading it.

"Why are you talking to me then?" she asks, "Go on, ask Naruto. He's right there."

Tenten sees no flaw in that logic and taps Naruto's shoulder to draw his attention. Lee takes a look at her and understands that he has to make himself scarce now,

"Naruto-san, as enlightening as this chat has been, I'm afraid I must go and strengthen my body lest my energy dissipate with talking alone! I shall see you soon!"

"Call me Naruto!" the blond yells but waves his hand enthusiastically at Lee, "Later!"

He then turns towards Tenten with a brilliant grin and she feels quite stupid about worrying that this boy, this bright-eyed, seal-obsessed, little kid would insult her or refuse to help her. So, she starts talking and doesn't stop till she's spilled all her sealing-related woes to him, with Naruto occasionally agreeing with her struggles. By the end, both students are seated on the grass, complaining about the extremely runny chakra-infused ink of all things.

"It's so blotchy, right?" Naruto says, shaking his head, "I can barely keep my symbols from becoming one big spot of black."

"I know right!" Tenten agrees, "Once my kunai melted because two tomoes just merged to become the fire mark. That ink needs to be improved."

Naruto nods his head seriously, "We should try finding a better version from another village, maybe? Or, or we could make our own?"

Tenten's eyes brighten, "I'm always up for some experimentation."

At that, Shikamaru's eye opens up lazily and he drawls,

"Infusing chakra in fluids is extremely dangerous. You two will end up either blowing something up or your ownselves. Just get the stuff the Hokage uses."

Naruto blinks and leans backwards on his elbows to look into Shikamaru's eye,

"Think you can...get us some of that? You know, borrow some from your father maybe?"

Shikamaru snorts, closing his lid again and drops his head on the grass.

"Yes, sure. I'll steal some chakra ink so you can make more of those complicated drawings."

"Ah, you're the best Shika!" Naruto declares before looking at Tenten who openly grins at him, "Now let's solve those doubts of yours."

The break gets over shortly after and Tenten promises to meet Naruto after the day's classes are over. He's given some useful tips to her already that just came naturally to him and Tenten marvels at the absurdity as well as the simplicity of the advice given.

"If you gotta seal something," he'd said, "It's better to take the container to the something rather than taking the something to the container."

"Don't apply the lid from the start," he'd continued, "First let the object enter the box and then seal it shut."

That's where the concept of incomplete seals came from and Tenten takes the information and stores it in some corner of her mind, convinced that it will help her better seal her wide assortment of weapons one day.

There's a smile on her face throughout her remaining lectures and when she pulls Lee with her towards Naruto's class at the end of the day, the boy doesn't protest.

They meet the group of younger students - this time there's a chubby boy and the Inuzuka kid there too but Tenten doesn't mind their company as long as she gets to speak about sealing with Naruto.

Before she realises, she's already a part of this ragtag group of students - all passionate about one thing or another, all held together by some invisible thread that Tenten thinks is Naruto's presence but never voices it out loud.

The next day, she meets them similarly outside the Academy and that's the day she brings out the topic of instant object displacement.

"Teleportation, you mean?" Naruto wonders, "That's how you want to summon your weapons?"

"Yes," Tenten says, "I'll carve the seal on a metal plate that sticks to my gloves or something? It's more efficient than carrying a bulky scroll around."

"The scroll's easier," Shikamaru says, stealing a chip from Chouji, "As far as spacetime fuuinjutsu goes, only the Fourth Hokage has been able to incorporate it in his original jutsu."

"No," Sakura says, creasing her brow in concentration, "The summoning scrolls for animals -- that's teleportation right?"

Shikamaru nods, "I didn't include them because their sealing arts are quite different than ours. No one's been able to decipher the patterns used and they're believed to be made by the first generation of these summon clans themselves. Their knowledge was never documented so it's all lost to time."

"Oh," Naruto says, "But maybe there's something there we can understand? I mean, sealing isn't about language or tradition. It's about finding the right pattern and chain and that fluidity -- I mean, we can atleast try to reverse engineer those scrolls right?"

"You should go for it," Chouji says when no one's quite ready to encourage Naruto in this crazy endeavour, "there's no harm here anyway."

Shikamaru quickly agrees because beyond the impossibility of the task, his curiosity reigns supreme and Tenten follows suit. Sakura isn't any more difficult to convince and Kiba just nods along, unsure of what exactly they're planning to do here.

"Now to get our hands on a summoning scroll," Naruto wonders aloud, "Any ideas?"

"I've got one," Tenten says, "It's called crime."

Shikamaru groans, "I'm not stealing that too. Sage knows I'm having enough difficulty getting that damned ink of yours."

"Please," Naruto says and it's really unfair how Tenten and Sakura cast those innocent, puppy-eyed looks at him and how Chouji nudges him to be a good sport.

Any protest dies on the tip of his tongue and he bangs his forehead lightly on the bark of a tree.

"I hate this. I hate every one of you."

That's exactly when Lee falls right on top of Shikamaru, having lost his balance from where he was standing atop a tree branch high above.

The laughter that ensues on Shikamaru's expense somehow makes the genius feel light and gross and oddly happy and that's the first night he comes extremely close to beating his father at Shougi.

[ Make Your Seal-Device

This is where I start moving forward with the proper application of sealing fundamentals you've learned so far.

Let's start with a shift in narrative: up until now I've told you that seals are to contain, carry, or mould chakra or an object.

Now, I'm telling you that seals are tools. Seals are anything you want them to be. They're devices that will perform the function you've defined for them to carry out.

Essentially, the functions of seals are quite limited if you make them by the books. This is why the basic three tasks of seals, as I'd mentioned before, were listed as: Containment, Transfer, and Moulding.

Mastering the aforementioned tasks using seals will serve to form a proper base for the next three functions, which are:Detection, Conversion and Release.

In this chapter, I shall guide you towards making a Fire-natured Chakra Detection Seal that works around a radius of 5 metres.

-Make the foundation of your matrix with all variations of water symbols.- Start forming an incomplete containment seal, and remember to build outwards to inwards.

- Once you're certain that the framework of your seal is somewhat stable, recreate the detection matrix at the very centre using the figure provided as a reference.

- Add the component "pop" or "smoke" as basic indicators to go off when the water within the seal decreases - as a result of contact with the fire chakra.

- Compete the incomplete seal by adding a key that opens when you provide chakra to power the seal.

That's it, if you've managed to follow these steps - congratulations! You've made your very first Seal-Device.]

Naruto sits on a sturdy tree branch, feet dangling below him as he draws the seal from the instructions provided.

In the same ground, at the opposite side, systematic and continuous thuds of kicks and punches on wood fill the silence. Sasuke practices till his knuckles bleed and his legs feel sore but he hones his skills till they're perfect, till there are no holes in his stance, till he can kick someone on their face within a second of warning.

He's not bothered by Naruto's presence at his sacred training spot anymore. He's usually left alone and as long as he gets to do his outrageously rigorous training in peace, his grumpiness doesn't show.

So, he's sufficiently annoyed when Naruto calls out to him today and after contemplating excuses to not help Naruto, he decides that it'll just be easier to humor the blond than argue with him.

It's something about expending fire-natured chakra again and he considers the fact that he's nothing more than chakra-producing factory for Naruto now-a-days before realising that he isn't really offended by that.

"Just a little," Naruto raises his hand in the universal gesture for a 'pinch', "A tiny amount only."

"You're awfully demanding," Sasuke informs Naruto, but expels just the right amount of chakra with much difficulty nonetheless.

Naruto waves another seal in the area surrounding Sasuke and the Uchiha is about to question whether Naruto has lost his mind when there's a soft pop sound that comes from the seal. The blonde jumps and whoops in delight.

"Thank you!" he says to Sasuke and before the other boy can give him a reply, he dashes out, exiting the grounds entirely.

"Weird," Sasuke says to the empty air.

Sakura is reading Fundamentals of Nin-Genjutsu when Naruto taps at her bedroom window.

She tries to shoo him away by a dismissive wave of her hand but he taps even harder and with a sigh, Sakura drops her current read to indulge in whatever mad idea Naruto has come up with this time.

"Welcome," she says with a raised brow when Naruto hops inside and jumps on her bed with his sandals still on, "Thanks for dirtying my sheets. I do just love to wash them so much."

"Don't mention it," Naruto says. He adjusts his position so there's room for Sakura to sit and the girl gives up on subtly teaching her friend some manners and resorts to aggression.

"Oi!" Naruto let's out an affronted yell when Sakura tugs off his sandals harshly, "You could've just told me to remove them!"

Sakura throws the pair of footwear out the window and smiles sweetly at him, sitting on her bed.

"Actions speak louder than words, Naruto."

"Asshole," Naruto mutters, "I've got a question for you."

Sakura nods, "Related to that seal device stuff?"

"Yeah," Naruto pulls out a paper from his jacket and steals a pencil from her holder. He draws a seal and Sakura recognizes it as the one he'd made last week to detect fire chakra.

"Here," he points to the large circle, "this acts a stabilizer, quantifier and the thing that changes in some fashion due to contact with the chakra."

Sakura tries to scrutinize the seal but apart from a few odd symbols for 'moisture' and 'wet', she's unable to identify the other parts.

"Cool," she says at last, "What's the question?"

"Er...see, so far all my seal detections have been for a specific chakra nature. I want to make a seal that detects a cluster of ambient chakra now. Meaning, something that can tell me where the chakra density is higher or lower than normal. It could be a trap detector since most traps are laid out with the help of some chakra. Or it could help us spot natural abnormalities."

"That's...a nice thought," and it really is, "but are you sure the seal would even be able to catch that? And wouldn't the seal need input about the normal chakra density to compare the volume of chakra you put in it to begin with?"

Naruto's brows scrunch up in confusion, "Okay, yeah. Didn't think of that. But...the seal can still spot a cluster of chakra particles - just a high density then. Right?"

Sakura thinks for a bit before confirming, "Yes, that could still work."

"Alright," Naruto is still enthusiastic despite the setback, "So what should the stabilizer be? For fire it's water, for wind it's fire, etc. but what stabilizes chakra itself? What overpowers chakra? Or what's...opposite of chakra so to speak?"

Sakura smiles because she's got an answer to this.

"Chakra is everywhere. It's in everything. It's energy itself. So think Naruto, what can balance chakra?"

Naruto chews the inside of his cheek, scratching his head in confusion,

"It's everywhere? So something that has no chakra will stabilize chakra? Uh...I don't get it."

Sakura gets up and walks to the bookshelf that covers her entire wall. She pulls out a thin book - barely 50 pages and shoves it in Naruto's hand.

"The answer's vacuum Naruto. Create a vacuum and it'll have no chakra. If the seal comes in contact with chakra --"

"Wow," Naruto interjects, "Oh Kami! This is so simple -- the vacuum won't remain a vacuum when there's chakra filling the space so there'll be a change in the stabilizer that'll make the indicator's go off. And I can set a threshold to make sure only a certain density of chakra is indicated."

Sakura beams at him, happy that she's able to help him in some way.

"Thanks!" Naruto gets off her bed and throws his arms around her. She gladly accepts and returns the hug. In a flurry of movement Naruto's out the window again. She laughs as he stumbles on the road, trying to find his sandals she'd thrown and goes to bed with after completing another chapter of her book.

Sakura enjoys helping people and now she understands this with a clarity she hadn't possessed before.

Author's Note:Naruto's going to work on many different projects before and after becoming genin. So far he's working on:

-The Human-object and Human-human chakra transfer seal.

- Object Teleportation Seal.

- Cluster of Chakra Detection Seal.

Original seals he's already made:

-Paper Tear Repair Seal.

- Chain Transfer and Storage Seal.

- Glue Storage and Release Seal.

He's mastered the Containment part of the seals only so far. Ironically.

Also, idk if Nin-Genjutsu is something used in fanon before but I'm totally headcanoning the shit out of this too.

Anyway,

Thanks for reading people.

Have a good day! :))