Hello!
Small chapter here!
But first, you need to know that Deece has beta read me again and that some of the ideas for fuinjustu are theirs. Big thanks to you, Dee!
Now, have fun!
Chapter 6: The terrible Sumi-sensei
It felt like being kicked in the teeth by fate. Not one of those kicks that hurt and maybe dislodged a tooth or two. No, a kick that fucking obliterated her and sent her mind chilling with the Death Reaper in the third dimension.
She wasn't liking it one bit.
She was busy scrambling her mind back together and admiring the wall with dead fish eyes, re-evaluating her life choices was the next step on her lis-
The next thing she knew the bamboo stick slapped her lower back, hard. She bit back a yell and turned sharply to glare. She hated to admit it but the burning pain in her back was somewhat grounding her.
The pain was real; all of the what-if, how and oh fuck weren't.
"Focus," Sumi-sensei growled, chakra churning around her like a raging storm ready to swallow her, "I won't repeat myself. And do keep your posture. No fuinjutsu master slouches and neither should you."
Choking an insult back, Nagisa nodded. "Yes, sensei. Sorry, sensei."
He hummed lowly. "Next time, I expect a bow."
She had to bite her lips to make sure no noise left her mouth. Excuse me?! Was he serious?
The three of them sat in one of the many alcoves of the library. Sumi-sensei was observing them above the twirling steams of his tea. The corner of his lips tugged down a fraction when Nagisa relaxed her shoulders but he didn't say anything.
"As you must know, your position will influence your writing. Why?"
Nagisa blinked. Did the lesson start?
"Because," her cousin started - Mito, her cousin. What the fuck?. Her voice was soft and her posture, perfectly held. "Most strokes require an amplitude of movement. Slouching, sitting in lotus and all of that only hinder it. That's why the perfect position is seiza and straight back."
Was Nagisa a bit starry-eyed? Perhaps, but she supposed it was the appropriate reaction when you were sitting next to a living, breathing legend.
Mito was a legend alright; her grandmother made sure she knew that. Sango talked about her a lot, she gushed about her like a teen in love. Mito did revolutionize fuinjutsu after all, especially with seal tattoos. Until her, seal tattoos were only a theory, something people talked over dinner with wine and saying 'man, that would be cool' before backing down because of the sheer complexity. And Mito made it a reality. And it worked?! How cool was that?
And that was before she single-handedly sealed the Nine-tail within her. She made a slapdash, last-minute, desperate seal and it worked. She became the first container of a Tail Beast. The level of skills it required was mind-boggling.
And Nagisa was sitting right next to her.
Excuse her while she freaked out, threw up, and leaped in joy. And not necessarily in this order.
Sumi-sensei nodded, appearing pleased before pointedly staring at her. Nagisa adjusted her position, biting her lips. Grounded, stay here, Breathe... Once he was satisfied, he took a clay tablet out and started the lesson.
"Very well, the two of you are here because of your… potential talent for fuinjutsu." Cue another meaningful look. Nagisa was going to take it personally. His voice turned dry. "You have cleared the school program. Well done, from nothing you became a baby. Now, it is my deepest pleasure to evaluate your growth in this subject."
Watching the old man walking back and forth the length of the alcove, Nagisa was starting to be less and less amused. She didn't mind when Yakihiro-sensei made fun of her, his eyes were shining with mirth most of the time and she knew, she knew he didn't really mean it. Sumi-sensei wasn't laughing.
"Like a caterpillar, you will either strive and evolve under my care or get picked up by a bird and leave." Nagisa leaned forward, trying to catch Mito's gaze and convey the universal message of 'What the heck is going on, is he mad?' but she stubbornly looked forward. A slap of the bamboo stick right next to her hand was the only warning she got. "In school, you have learned the symbolism behind every part of a seal. Now, I will teach you the basic theory behind sealing."
They nodded and Sumi-sensei settled down, his back cracking loudly.
"Complex seals - those are seals civilians can't create - are composed of basic seals and basic seals are composed of minor seals. The easiest elemental seals such as the fanning seal are basic seals." On his tablet, he drew the seal.
It was a fairly simple seal with the three kanji for 'small' and 'wind', 'flow' written each above the other. The kanji 'wind' was surrounded by a whirlwind, the two others by a circle. Curving lines - for power but not too much - connected each kanji.
"This seal has three minor seals: the kanji and its associated symbol. Can you guess why we use these symbols?"
Nagisa, pride still hurting and eager to prove herself, rose to the challenge. " 'Flow' and 'small' are orders and the use of the circle means repetition. So during the whole activation of the seal, these orders are going to be repeated." The old man raised a bushy brow while Mito made a small throaty noise of understanding. "Meanwhile, 'Wind' is surrounded by a whirlwind because-"
"Because it draws its power from the outside," cut Mito before promptly going red when Nagisa huffed at her. "Forgive me. I spoke out of turn."
She pouted. You're stealing my thunder, Mito.
"You have me impressed, both of you," Nagisa had the feeling he was targeting her. "You understand fast. However, it's an easy seal. It's not that surprising."
Nagisa bit back a grumble. It started well and he had to smack their spirits down. Typical…
"Good." He cleared his throat, "Seals are all about equilibrium. By themselves, they are fairly stable and they don't react. It's not something we want. So, to actually have a reaction, the equilibrium needs to be broken. Two possibilities: one, you create a spontaneous seal - a basic or complex seal that is originally not stable - or, two you give your stable seal an incentive-"
Nagisa knew all of that already but the man was so passionate that she found herself listening attentively.
"-You give chakra." They nodded.
Yes, everything was about balance. Creating a seal, just like creating a jutsu, was all about finding a balance in the instability created. For a shinobi to be able to bend the law of nature, they had to give something back: an equivalent exchange. That was why jutsus needed, at least, chakra.
Seeing the flames of passion igniting his eyes was so heart-warming.
Nagisa had always loved fuinjutsu. At first, in the Before, it was out of necessity and perhaps also a bit to connect with a past she was yearning for; to reconnect with her roots and feel the things they felt. But she soon found herself actually enjoying it. It just made sense and it was like puzzles, and mysteries, and-
She honestly had no idea what made her love it so much. Perhaps it was the way her grandmother lit up when she spoke about it or perhaps, it was her blood that made her that way. She could only speculate.
But seeing someone else loving their art so much. It was nice. Maybe she could grow to like that old man despire that terrible first impression-
The bamboo stick struck true and hard. Nagisa yelped, the stinging crawling across her ribs.
"No slouching. And wipe that stupid smile off your face."
She took it all back - she glared with tears in her eyes -, this old man could fuck a cactus! It didn't help that he hit her bruise from yesterday's fighting - Yakihiro-sensei still moped the ground with her.
"Spontaneous seals are the trademark of a bad fuinjutsu master, as nine times out of ten, they explode. It's something that I expect you would do during the first few months of your apprenticeship but I will not tolerate it after. If you fail too much, you're out. But these seals can work, very badly, but they can and it's only because of luck. They are dangerous and one of the reasons why so many of our own lost a limb."
The silence was intense and his stare weighed on her shoulders. Did he really want her to drop out or what?! Nagisa stubbornly crossed her arms, face scowling. Whatever his expectations were, she would not be bullied by him. She may have had advantages but she didn't end up here because of luck.
"I want you to understand that fuinjutsu is a dangerous art. I have lost many students to carelessness and I don't want another death. There is nothing that made a grown man cry faster than a limb being torn off in an explosion, let alone little girls-"
"Sensei," Mito cut him off, "You would be surprised by what girls can endure."
Nagisa blinked. She blinked and then slowly turned her head toward Mito, an expression of growing disbelief painting her face. Mito, on the other hand, was calm, her face covered by a stiff mask of blankness and the corners of her lips curled sharply. The fierce green flame in her eyes spoke volumes.
Nagisa snorted. Though, it was more an intake of air that choked her rather than an actual snort. It was totally inappropriate and she could feel all of her brain shutting down but the surprise, the disbelief and the face of Sumi-sensei… It made it inappropriately funny.
Thankfully, no one was paying attention to her.
"Dear girl, you have no idea what you are talking about." His haughty face was back but Nagisa was eagerly waiting for Mito's response.
"You're right, I don't. But you believe ourselves to be silly girls that ended up here by luck. We are not and we know what we are getting into. So, your threats are unneeded."
Sumi-sensei was making the exact face of someone getting owned by a child and it sent Nagisa into a fit of giggles.
The stick stopped right next to her face. "I will not tolerate such disrespect ever again."
Mito looked squarely in his eyes and after a painfully long moment, she nodded.
"And the same goes for you." Nagisa gawked as the stick was pointing at her. She squashed the urge to just do the opposite before it could fully form.
She nodded, internally smirking.
There was nothing more satisfying than seeing someone she disliked losing composure in front of a seven-year-old. Well, except writing a seal right after months of research. That was too satisfying to compare.
"On the other hand," Sumi-sensei continued after a long pause, "Stable seals are just as dangerous. Once the amount of chakra has exceeded a threshold, the seal will become unbalanced and it's this instability that will either make it release a huge amount of energy, in short - an explosion - or the chakra is molded into something else and the seal is released.
"For the fanning seal, your chakra receives the orders 'small' and 'flow' and takes the property of 'wind'. What makes that kind of seal so dangerous is that without extensive knowledge of sealing like mine, you can't know if the seal is a fail or not."
Internally, Nagisa rolled her eyes but felt the jab. Ahah, it's not like she was here because of a failed seal…
"Alright," He clapped his hands, sounding merrier than a minute ago. Nagisa squinted. "Now that the introduction is done, let's see how your penmanship is."
He was downright delighted, eyes shining madly and internal cackles, and she was fearing the worst. With a burst of chakra, he took two scrolls out.
"I want you to write all of the Joyo-Kanji," She choked, eyes popping out, "You have an hour."
"Wha- But it's like 2 000 words-"
"1945-"
"Yeah, whatever. How are we supposed to write that many in so little time?"
"You write quickly."
She blanched internally.
Now, Nagisa was never against a small challenge. It was healthy and it kept her on her toes. And there was, hidden very deep inside her, a small streak of competitiveness that would surge at times. But most of all, Nagisa liked realistic challenges, ones that she knew it could be finished and that challenge... It was colossal. Enormous. Titanic.
She looked at the girl next to her, hoping against all odds that she would say something, be affronted, surprised or something. All she did was writing serenely.
Nagisa gawked.
"You better start now," Sumi-sensei stared at her and in his hand, he had a small amount of sand that he let trickling back into a bowl. "Time is running out."
They were really doing this.
Crap.
"Nagisa-chan, hold your chopsticks correctly."
Nagisa slumped dejectedly before sending a teary stare at her mother over the dinner. Her hand was cramping badly and she had managed to somehow get splinters from holding the brush too tightly.
The only answer she got was a small laugh, "How was the lesson?"
She grimaced when Yukio grabbed a chunk of hair and tugged playfully. She swatted him away.
"Dreadful." Her hand was painful, her back was painful, heck! Her neck was stiff! "Sensei made us write all the kanji in an hour and if they were blotched, we had to start again."
"And?"
"I got one blotched…" She unfortunately had smeared ink in her hurry, quite an unfortunate accident, and she cried tears of blood when he took her scroll to give her a new one. "But at least, I got them all right. Mito had three wrong."
While Nagisa was busy rewriting all the kanji, Mito had to write fifty times each kanji she had wrong. Needless to say, none of them had finished in under an hour.
Her father's chakra spiked, as if startled, and he jumped on his feet to disappear in his room. Yukio was as clueless as a newborn toward what could have elicited such a reaction but her mother looked sadly after Daichi, her smile fading out of her face.
It was… unexpected.
"What was that?" She finally asked, watching her mother intently.
The woman, while retaining all of her beauty, lacked her usual liveliness. Kazashi's skin was a soft red-brown ochre that tended to deepen and freckle under Uzushio's sun, but during the last few days, it had a greyish glow as if she was growing sick. The speck of gold in her blue eyes dulled when her mother believed no one was looking.
Kazashi wasn't well, and - Nagisa looked at the door leading to her parents' room - she believed it had something to do with her father.
Her mother pondered on something, eyes softening before she took both of her children's hands. "Your father… isn't feeling well lately. Please be patient with him. It's a… uhm, a hard situation he is dealing with."
"But what is going on?" Yukio asked, bright blue eyes looking innocently at her kaa-san.
Her shoulders dropped ever so slowly as if a terrible weight was dragging them down. She smiled.
"It's nothing you should worry about," then she clapped her hands and was back to her usual cheery, bubbly self. "So, I made some cake. Who wants some?"
Yukio jumped to his feet, throwing his hands up. "Me, me, me!"
He cheered and followed their mother to the kitchen while Nagisa watched her father's spot thoughtfully.
…
Wait. Cake?
Nagisa ran to the kitchen.
...
Aaaand the chapter is finished!
Yay!
This chapter is indeed smaller and not a lot of things happen. Why, you ask? Simple because for now on I will slow down the pace, sometimes it might be painfully slow, to actually take time to build relationships. It's going to be a bit like Hear the Silence by EmptySurface (which is a fantastic story). And the length of the chapter will be more variable; the next few chapters are also going to be small.
Fuinjutsu here is very deeply based on chemistry: atoms are minor seals, molecules are basic seals, and polymers are complex seals.
Otherwise, what do you think about fuinjutsu? Did you like my explanation or not?
Yay! Thank you for the comments (always and forever) and also for the favorites and the follows.
TAKE CARE Y'ALL!
I'm out!
