A/N: This chapter waited for me semi-finished for a few weeks... but now I mustered the urge to write. I blame falling into FF7 rabbit hole. I watched the remake walkthroughs and then began reading time-travel fics. You know how it goes...

In the shadow of a ginkgo tree

Chapter 4: About chakra

Mitsuru was not impressed when she found Shinju blubbering over the scroll full of Ikoma's letters. This was mainly because Shinju had gone and opened a strange scroll without supervision without knowing security measures or the contents of the scroll. Hatori was of the same mind when he found out. The two shinobi inspected both scrolls carefully then but eventually deemed them safe. Shinju was not to handle them alone though. Or any storage scrolls. She was too young for that.

"Maybe I should step up her chakra training…" Hatori mused. "She must have some sort of grasp it already or she couldn't have unsealed the first letters."

Yes, Shinju had done that. And she'd been in the middle of parsing through the first letter with fat tears rolling down her cheeks when Mitsuru had come home.

Chakra was… interesting. It was foreign compared to Before and that made Shinju lowkey aware of it but at the same time it felt very natural and thus not intrusive. Mitsuru had instructed Shinju on evenings on meditation and basic chakra molding but nothing further than that. So if Hatori would add chakra exercises on top of taijutsu and kenjutsu… Hmm, at least more variation to the routine.

The thing was that there wasn't much in the ways of hobbies among shinobi. What leisure time people had, was spent training, resting, recuperating from missions, restocking supplies, preparing for next mission… Or then educating themselves on book subjects, attending further lectures on techniques (though that fell under the training umbrella) … There wasn't much stuff that was completely removed from shinobi life-style. Boardgames, fiction novels, gardening, maybe some sewing projects… Hatori had his ink-paintings. But there were no sports, no musical instrument training aside from what people picked up for infiltration work, no tv or radio or internet. Movies were very sparse and mostly shown in cities that were not Konoha.

And so most of Shinju's time aside from school had gone to training. None of the existing fictional literature interested her as they smacked strongly of propaganda. She was too young to learn an instrument yet and didn't have time to dedicate to it fully. She did some research in the terms of history and culture but most of that she learnt through osmosis or then from Hatori's lessons. Library she hadn't stepped her foot in yet.

Shinju was practicing using a brush so she could later paint as well as Hatori. She was also clumsily sketching together a timeline of possible events and important people. It was mostly depicted through different symbols or idioms rather than actual names. It wasn't much, especially when she didn't know how much of it would hold true later on.

Classic sticky leaf exercise. It had been going on for the past four days. Shinju decidedly was not counting how many leaves she had on her face and arms that Hatori was periodically adding on. She could feel them against her skin and to that spot she'd direct her chakra to make it stay.

"And one more…" This one was on her calf. Just when Shinju was sticking to it, one leaf fell from her cheek. And another from her arm.

"Ah!" And they were falling one after another even though Shinju tried to hold onto them. Wait! Was she accidentally repelling them now?

In the end only the one on her calf remained while the rest of the leaves were scattered around Shinju's feet. She pouted at her grandfather who was chuckling.

"It has to be instinct right from the beginning because in real life you need to focus your attention to other things." Hatori explained. Like enemy nin and other opponents, went unsaid. "Shall we try again?"

"Legs only." Shinju requested. They were new part of this exercise after all and harder place to channel chakra.

"Very well."

And so the training continued. Through basic chakra exercises that the academy wasn't yet teaching and would probably have a different approach to. Hatori was very practical with his methods and explanations. From there on he went on explaining about the different chakra natures and how to try to adapt to use them despite own affinity. As a Sharingan user, Hatori had experience in using all five elements though some came easier than others. Shinju didn't know yet what her chakra nature was. It could be fire like most of the Uchiha had. It could be water like Mitsuru had. It could be earth that Ikoma used to have.

What Shinju was semi-sure about though, was Hatori's intention of teaching her the Uchiha classic, Great Fireball jutsu. While secrecy was a must, Hatori appreciated practicality and variability more. And maybe there was some Uchiha pride talking too.

Speaking of clan pride… The other scroll that Shinju had gotten from Ikoma contained explanations of Nara shadow jutsu. The beginning steps, some riddles for working out details and technicalities of further basics, warnings of the 'black', request not to do anything without supervision. That Shinju would have at least Fusae watching over her as Ikoma had taught the woman preventative measures to help those in training, but preferably try reaching out to the clan if Shinju truly wanted to learn anything beyond further from basics.

It was all very fascinating to read but…

"I need to think this through on my own. I have the affinity for shadows but it doesn't mean I have to treat them as shadows." Frankly, Shinju wasn't interested in shadow paralysis or mime techniques… They were useful techniques, yes, but also immediate calling cards. Shadow stitching was more interesting but that was more advanced technique that had the danger of 'falling into the black' when training for it. But the three-dimensional malleability was what intrigued Shinju. If she started working without limits given by traditions, who knew what she could come up with!

It was a very exciting prospect.

Ultimately Shinju decided to postpone trying anything to do with shadows. Aside from some attempts to infuse the intangible dark tint on the ground with her chakra. Thus far no success. She needed more control… and strength too.

In the meanwhile she focused on everything else Hatori had to teach her. And outside of that, Shinju practiced her reading and writing and other literary skills so she could get a head start on other students in her age group. And as a consequence, she may have fallen asleep on class once or twice…

It was ironic but Shinju was not amused. Especially when Fusae didn't even bother waking her up and just to told her to deal with missing on lessons. To be fair, Fusae did that to everyone. If you didn't disturb the lesson, you could to whatever. If you missed on crucial information, then you better figure out what you missed or then it'd come to bite you in the ass later on. Which, effective but rude. Shinju would rather have chalk thrown at her than do extra work after hours or resemble Naras in any unnecessary way. She had more important stuff to do and learn. Mitsuru was finally instructing her with Kinoshita specific storage seals that the woman had in her wrists. But no… she could not because of school.

Anyhow, with everything going on in Shinju's life, she managed to conveniently forget about the fact that Hatori had had other students as well. So it took Shinju completely by surprise when Uchiha Shisui lightly vaulted over the bamboo wall of the garden and landed mere meters from Shinju.

"So you are my adorable kouhai!" The teen greeted her.

Fuuuuuuu…

Shisui was nice. Perfect big brother type really. Shinju might've been biased and predisposed to liking him but, damn, reality was even better than 2D media interpretation. Within first five minutes Shisui had apologized to startling Shinju, greeted Hatori cheerily ("Hatori-shisou!") and then roped Shinju into a conversation about anything and everything ninja.

"Can you teach me shushin someday?" Shinju asked while the boy was explaining the usage of his signature technique and the applications, he'd come up with, to Hatori.

"Sure! It's the duty of senpai to teach the younger students. Both of useful stuff and miscellaneous other stuff that may prove useful later in life." Shisui replied without hesitation. Huh, so this was h type of person he was.

"You are quite fixated on being senpai." Hatori chuckled while preparing a tea table on the porch.

"Of course. Mitsuru-senpai, Aoba-senpai and Obito-nii were all cool so now is my turn." Shisui nodded resolutely. "I might not be around much because of missions, but I'll still do my best to guide, Shin-chan."

Shin-chan… That was the name Mitsuru used of Shinju. The girl narrowed her eyes and fixed a stare on Shisui.

"Did you visit okaa-san before coming here?"

"I stopped by after reporting in, why?" Innocent blink.

"Within the compound, Shinju-chan is usually referred to as Katsuki." Hatori explained. Shisui let that sink in, blinked again and let out a soft 'oh'. Hatori observed his student for a moment and nodded then. "You understand why."

"Okay, okay… So I'll call Shin-chan, Tsu-chan then?" So Shisui was in on the secret… more than an average Uchiha. Well, he probably had gotten in contact with Mitsuru frequently during his year under Hatori's tutelage so there hadn't been a way avoiding the issue.

"Yes."

"What about outside in the village?"

"Can't you just ignore me then?" Being connected to Shisui ran the risk of falling under Danzou's radar even if she wasn't recognized as an Uchiha.

"Of course not!" Shisui seemed scandalized at the mere thought. "You're my kouhai. I won't ignore you, ever. No matter the situation."

Huh… Did this mean that Shinju should try avoiding him out of compound?

"By the way, when is Tsu-chan going to learn archery like Mitsuru-senpai?" Shisui directed a new question at Hatori, causing Shinju to blink at the sudden whiplash of topic change and the new information provided. Archery?

Hatori sighed, obviously used to such behavior.

"Not until she gains more height and strength." The man replied. "Pulling the bowstring may not be strenuous for a shinobi but it requires precision even more than that. Chakra-augmentation hinders in the process due the ease of accidentally snapping the string. So Shinju would need more of natural strength before starting to practice. Moreover, it is Mitsuru's prerogative to teach that."

"Hatori-ojiisan? What are you talking about?" Shinju frowned. Hatori looked down at her and poured then tea to all of their cups. The water had gently boiled in the pot against hot coals of portable boiler.

"Kinoshita style." Hatori answered. "Both Katsuki-san and Mitsuru practiced Kyuudo as it was customary of the Kinoshita. I had to teach Mitsuru in Katsuki's absence but… She took well to it. I'm sure you've noticed the seals on her wrists."

"Un. Okaa-san was going to tell me about them but we've been both too busy." Shinju took her teacup and sipped carefully. Basic sencha. Good enough. "I understood those storage seals were Kinoshita special."

"Yes. They carry arrows for quick deployment so the shinobi on field doesn't need a quiver."

Ooh, that made sense. They were like the storage seals Sasuke had when confronting Itachi finally. Handy.

"I can't wait! How long until okaa-san can teach me?" Shinju chirped. Archery was cool. Seals were too. Learning something specific to the Kinoshita was brilliant. Not only for security's sake but because of… family. Shinju was a Kinoshita. She wanted something of them even if she was the last of their clan.

"Few years I'd think. You can start the basics before graduating from the academy… so you have plenty of time to build up you other skills before that." Hatori thought out loud. He tended to do that when speaking of Shinju's training schedule as to give her the opportunity to ask questions and express her opinion. But in this case Shinju was quite as she interpreted the words in different manner.

She would focus on kenjutsu and ninjutsu for the next few years until Hatori's death and then be folded under Mitsuru's tutelage on Kyuudo, taijutsu and perhaps seals too.

"And I'll teach you all the cool tricks I know." Shisui added, picking Shinju up from her seat easily and deposing her onto his lap.

And there was that too. Idly Shinju wondered if Shisui had decided to have some sort of rivalry with Itachi in the terms of who'd teach their junior better… Hmm… would this mean that Shisui was setting Shinju up to be Sasuke's rival?

She hoped not.

A/N: ...and when writing Shisui I was about all the time thinking Zack Fair. :-|

I'm also in progress of making a cover image of sorts... There is one pic with Shinju and her future team mates... In this new pic there'd be the team, Hatori, Mitsuru, Fusae, Ikoma and Katsuki. I got it almost inked but I got lazy when it came to starting coloring.

I hope to get writing the next chapter. But I might write something else. I got some other SI ideas... We'll see...