AN: So.. I'm back. Here's a chapter. Also, got a beta reader, pretty cool dude, on discord he goes by TheMehGamer.

Trembling Steps - Technical Difficulties

Son,

I was alarmed to discover that you had disappeared during the night. I was about to call for a search before I was informed that you had reported to your superior in the morning.

I cannot claim to understand why, but I will respect your decision, even if it does sadden me. Should you change your mind, remember: this palace is your home as much as it is mine. If you ever feel comfortable explaining to me, I am here.

As always, I have been asking about you in every meeting I have with the sound village shinobi. They say little, as is expected, but from what I could you were officially considered a genin a mere 4 months into your arrival, a record within the country! Even so, I am thankful that they delayed your deployment to field work. A shinobi's life is not a kind one.

Nevertheless, I have faith that you will thrive as always.
Your Father,

Katsusyou Nogawa

…

A letter from the daimyo. It was always letters.

Up until now, I'd met the man directly a total of 7 times, but there were always letters. There were always gifts. There were always servants conveying messages.

This last week, I'd been handed at least one every time I reported to the local outpost.

If I looked in a drawer in my room, I could find thousands of them from before I started my official 'training' as a ninja.

Yorihiro got dinners, and I got letters.

What was I supposed to think about that? How was I supposed to feel?

He hated me, and being discarded like that hurt. The things he's done in my name disgusted me. How he got rid of Natsuhi and Issai angered me. I hated him.

Except… He loves me.

He's written literally thousands of letters to me by hand. He asked about me regularly, provided me with everything I could think to ask for, and respected my choices. All despite the trauma he associated with me. It wasn't that he wouldn't see me, he couldn't.

Every letter made me want to stomp and rage at him: 'How dare you! I'm right here. If you really cared you could say it to my face!'
Every letter made me want to run up and tell him: 'It wasn't your fault. Mother may be gone, but I'm okay, I'm here. Your daughter, safe and sound.'

Heart vs mind; What I felt in conflict with what I knew.

Either way, the daimyo would get neither the help he needed nor the justice he deserved as long as he ruled. The problem with that, as usual, was Orochimaru.

So it's back to that...

Experiments, annihilated villages, the attack on the hidden leaf, prisoners kidnapped by the dozens and conscripted into service, my father, and all the ninja affected by the rule that the snake supported.

…it all starts and ends with Orochimaru.

So how does a crippled genin kill one of the three legendary sannin?

In short, I can't.

…but the Hokage can.

Alone and caught by surprise, Hiruzen lost that fight.

Solution? Warn him and stop the sound four from putting up the barrier that isolated the two.

Problem: I wasn't strong enough to fight one of the sound four. Solution: Allies.

Problem: I need to be in the hidden leaf during the invasion. Solution: Participate in the chunin exams and make it to the finals.

In this theoretical scenario, Orochimaru dies. Great, but…

Problem: We made an enemy of the hidden leaf village.

…

…

…

I'm totally going to have to thwart an invasion… Fuck.

Warning the hidden sand village about their dead Kazekage might prevent their involvement, but I had no solution for dealing with an army and massive snake summons.

Not to mention, my very existence may have warped details of the invasion.

Solution: Allies.

Well, a supply runner would end up all over the place wouldn't they?

There was bound to be someone else who had problems with our big boy snake man.

I bounced down the stairs, ready to meet up for my first mission.

"I'm heading out, Natushi."

She nodded in acknowledgment.

Wait…

I grabbed a package off the shelf.

"Could I buy these?"

"Of course, but what do you need balloons for?"

I grinned manically and waved.

"That's a secret, bye!"

I arrived at the address I was supposed to show up at.

I think I know where this is going.

A warehouse.

A shinobi stood guard outside it in full standard uniform. There was also someone else, chatting loudly and energetically.

He seemed to be around 15, had short messy pale blonde hair, and wore an assortment of the standard issue clothing: the black trousers usually worn by jonin, the plain tunic, and the purple rope sash thing that the sound four and Orochimaru wore.

He seemed to notice me, because he turned and I got a look at his face. His features were neither particularly sharp nor round, and his expression glowed all the way from his dark blue eyes to his wide smile.

Contrary to his whole positive vibe, he wore the hidden sound headband.

"Yo! You Yumika?"

He said with a wave.

Way too positive.

Also… I still couldn't really talk to strangers. So I opted to nod instead.

"Yosh, nice to meet you. I'm Isoaki!"

He placed his hand to his chest for emphasis. Very emotive speaker.

"I'm going to be tagging along with you until I reach the border post I'm being deployed at."

I nodded again.

"Huh, a bow user, there aren't many of you around. Are you any good?"

I shuffled and mumbled out a 'sort of'.

"Ha, excellent! I'm more of a mid to close range fighter, so I'll be trusting you to have my back! No need to worry, it'll be my job to make sure no one reaches you."

I nodded.

Yumika, you've got to talk back. Ask him something!

My mind drew a blank, and Isoaki kept dominating the conversation.

He was nice, and didn't seem at all bothered with the fact that I wasn't helping carry the conversation at all. I even got comfortable enough to coax out a whole sentence.

"So do you know what we're waiting for?"

"That would be me."

The deep voice spoke lethargically.

A jonin, based on the uniform.

Meaning he's my boss.

I turned and stood to attention.

"Sir!"

"Shut up, don't care."

He waved his hand dismissively, forcing me to subdue a bristle at the attitude.

"So, you're Isoaki?"

"Yes sir."

The jonin turned to me.

"Girl, go inside and store away all the crates. Once you're done, we set off."

I'm sorry… what?

I turned to look at the warehouse.

I mean… I haven't found the limit of my storage yet.

…but how much chakra would going through that much take?

"Now girl."

The air around me stopped and I found myself choked for a second.

Killing intent.

Then it let up, and I bolted inside.

Nope, not doing this again. First Mitsutada, then that medic, now him! Nope, I'm going to be nice and friendly. I have much more important problems to deal with. I repeat, I'm not fighting this one.

…that was a lot of crates though.

Fortunately, they were carrying crates, meant to be strapped to your back like a backpack or stored away in a scroll, which meant each crate was just small enough for me to store away.

I'm glad Kanshi's not here, he hates it when I have to use my back seal.

A couple of hours later, I stepped out.

"Sir?"

"Are you done?"

I shook my head.

"Then why are you out here?"

I prodded my fingers together nervously, and avoided his judging gaze.

"I don't have enough chakra to continue…"

He stared for a moment.

"How far did you get?"

"A quarter of the way, I think, but-"

I didn't get any further as I had to fumble to catch a scroll and a ration bar.

"15 minutes. Eat, and familiarise yourself with that. Then get back to work."

Then he left.

I would have loved to read the scroll, but-

Crate Id 432. Wooden. Rough texture. Slight crack on the left side. Slight water damage on the bottom. Contains: Apple Id 5542 (roundish shape, type biological foodstuff…), Apple Id 5543-

I massaged my forehead to stop thinking about-

Crate Id 354. Metal-

-try to stop thinking about the exact details of every item in my storage.

Thanks Orochimaru- bottle of water, plastic- I really needed- Liquid mixture has- this as a side effect of the- bottle cap is loose- sixth sense.

Familiarise myself with the scroll? I couldn't even spell out my name in this condition.

"-are you okay?"

That's- Crate Id 335- Isoaki.

"Just a bit dizzy."

I was sure that there was more to existence than the sound of Isoaki's voice, where were the rest of the sounds?

Paper tag Id 224-

Also, I couldn't see anything.

No, that's not- ink mixture poor quality- it at all. My mind- ink is dry- can't handle the load and is ignoring information arbitrarily.

What was I doing?

"Yumika."

Isoaki again.

"Eat."

I saw something. The ration bar.

Am I holding it?

I tried to focus on my sense of feeling in my hands. It was there.

Okay, just- Crate Id 115- bring it to my mouth- contains- and chew.

The motion failed.

Why?

My mind took note of my sense of touch on my lips.

I didn't open my mouth.

With great effort, I did eventually manage to eat the bar.

I also managed to work out the core of the issue.

To explain, with your eyes you see a lot more than you actually think about or register, because you typically filter out unnecessary information.

The sixth sense for my storage that Orochimaru gave me did not have that filter. Every single unnecessary detail about each object was on my mind. Shape, weight, composition, texture, smell, etc…

So everything blended together into a meaningless blob of stuff, and I could maybe bring a couple of things into focus at a time by concentrating.

So my storage seals had no theoretical limit, but practically speaking I had long since passed it… and I needed to store three times as much on top of that.

"Yumika."

Isoaki's voice.

"15 minutes are up, we need to continue."

Okay focus-

I hadn't sat down so I didn't need to worry about standing.

The door…

My mind acknowledged the entry to the warehouse, and I stumbled towards it. It felt like I was playing that stupid game QWOP.

Touch, fingers.

I felt for the door handle, and opened it.

Mission complete, I've entered the- Shuriken Id 43- warehouse!

Now I needed to take off the robe again and go through the rest of the crates.

Wait, did I ever- Kunai Id 6643- put that back on?

"Yumika, you seem a bit more than 'dizzy'."

"It's fine, Crate Id 30."

I shook my head. This of course didn't help because I wasn't focusing on my sense of balance.

"Okay, not fine."

"So, how can I help?".

I focused on the sense of touch on my back. Nothing.

Yup, went outside shirtless.

"Grab the crates one at a time and place them on the seal on my back, and please… go slowly, we have the rest of the warehouse to get through."

"Yes ma'am."

I focused entirely on the sense of touch on my back.

Contact. Activate storage seal. No contact.

Nothing…

Contact. Activate storage seal. No contact.

This continued, until I realised I was running low on chakra.

Contact… Still Contact… Still Contact-

"Yumika?"

"Huh?"

"The crate."
I shook my head.

"Chakra is spent again."
"...then shouldn't you get up, move, rest, or… something?"

"Hmm…"

I took a minute to process and contemplate his suggestion.

"Good Idea."

…then let myself fall to the ground, and promptly fell asleep.

I shot awake.

Where am I?

Warehouse. Where I went to sleep.

Hostiles?

Two ninja, one unknown rank, one sound village jonin.

Wait, that's Isoaki and… asshole.

"What are you doing sleeping on the job?"

The voice was harsh.

What are you talking abou-?

That's exactly what I did.

"I'm so sorry, sir!"

"Shut up, don't care. Get back to work."

I felt my ears burn.

I've completely ruined my first impression.

My mind was still a mess, but it was quieter. Like getting used to being at a party, much like an actual party, it was still giving me a headache.

"Yosh, Yumika, shall we continue?"

I nodded at Isoaki.

Half a warehouse left…

The next quarter went by quickly, and my brain was fried again. Fortunately, good boy Isoaki had my back... Literally in fact.

"I'm putting you down in a chair now."

Tahnks Isoaki uyre' the- crate id- tseb.

"Haha, I don't envy you, that's for sure."

I lost track of time just mentally watching my chakra supply fill drop by drop.

Bloop… hehe- Smoke Bomb Id 94- Bloop… hehe- Isae Handmade Soldier Pill Id 15- Bloop..? No bloop- Kanshi's t-shirt Id 3- Why no bloop..? Oh!

"Isoaki! No bloop!"

"That's great Yumika! What does that mean?"

Isn't it- Pear Id 70- obvious? It means no bloop!

I brought his face into focus.

Confusion.

Urgh, why's he- Rice Grain Id 1956993- so stupid?

"Chakra can't bloop. So safe to use again!"

"Ah, so your chakra is full again?"

"That's what I said: no bloop!"

So we continued until the warehouse was empty.

I was piggybacking on Isoaki.

I was quite sure that Isoaki was talking with the jonin, but I wasn't focusing on that.

Breathe in…

Clear my mind, dismiss the cacophony of information.

…and out.

Meditation was my 'escape' so to speak. Like with most of my skills, I wasn't an expert or even sure I was doing it correctly. In my case it was a process of rejection, letting me put aside everything except my thoughts, or whatever I was trying to think about.

Breathe in…

It took me a couple of minutes to enter a proper meditative state, and the benefits faded within seconds of ending my meditation. That's why it was an 'escape' and not a solution.

…and out.

I didn't have a mental filter for the sense, so obviously: I needed to train one.

Breathe in…

My process was simple.

…and out.

I randomly selected 10 objects to focus on, and gave the selection a rating of relevance to various tags (combat, travel, etc…). Repeat.

Breathe in…

With enough iterations, my mind would start inductively forming patterns to distinguish them by, and sort them appropriately.

…and out.

It was a very basic form of machine learning.

Doing things this way also meant that I was setting up a system to go through and mentally browse the catalogue, though that was more of a side effect. It wasn't anything as neat as a 'mind palace' from some book or tv show, just the natural result of going through this process as much as I had.
By the end of my 'mental training/conditioning', I had reduced the issue to merely a massive headache, rather than crippling sensory overload.

I didn't think much about it at the time, but while I kept this up, I was occasionally forced out of it by Isoaki to eat, sleep, or unload some objects. Which was why I was surprised to learn that I'd spent 2 weeks in that state.

"Two Weeks?!"

I was out of it for two weeks! That's- Ow!

I may have gotten my thoughts in order, but the pulsing headaches weren't fading anytime soon.

Isoaki, who sat across from me, nodded.

"Yeah, we passed my stop, but I managed to talk to some of the guys, swap some shifts, and get the time to come along. Are you okay now? What was that?"

Swapping shifts? Why-? Oh. He's spending time helping me out with his time off duty.

This guy was way too nice. He didn't even know me.

There was something about the question as well. Surface layer curiosity, subtle concern, but also… an accusation?

It's not directed at me at least. The question, Yumika, answer it.

"Ah well, unlike a regular storage scroll, I know exactly what's stored inside me. A whole warehouse was a bit too much for my mind to handle normally. If I hadn't managed to meditate and do some mental training, I'd probably still be like that."

He went ominously silent for a moment.

"...you were remarkably effective."

Huh?

"We didn't need to spend more than 5 minutes at any of our stops. We arrived, told you what needed to be dropped off, and we left. Normally, sorting through the logistics and scrolls takes at least 30 minutes if everything is meant for the same destination, but more realistically it would take hours to drop off, maybe a few days to store properly."

I wanted to be amazed, but he spoke with the weight of the world.

"Yumika… I would like you to do me a favour."

I nodded cautiously.

"You're going to be asked to report how this went. I need you to make it sound like a miracle that it worked at all. Do you understand me?"

Oh god…

Of course I understood.

Even with my mind fried, I was useful. Arguably, I was more useful. I didn't have the mental capacity to disobey orders, cause trouble, or waste time. I was a complete robot, just doing the tasks set before me because it was the only thing that seemed real.

It would have been laughably easy to replicate. Just grab 10 people off the street, put the seals on them and force a bunch of things into storage. Boom, 10 self sorting storage scrolls. For ease of carrying… he'd probably use children.

I feel like I'm going to be sick.

Realisation.

Is that what Orochimaru intended for me?

I didn't need the whole warehouse to finish the passage through all the outposts in the country. We'd finished it and I still had around 80% of the stuff. Yet, the orders were explicit: store all of it. I didn't know about the potential side effects, but Orochimaru was a genius, and the seal's creator.

I wasn't useful enough.

He'd already labelled me a lost cause. A pawn to be discarded, and I hadn't even seen the trap for what it was.

…but the results are probably only theoretical.

I stroked my chin in contemplation.

If I go with Isoaki's suggestion, I'd be giving Orochimaru a false error. An unexplainable problem that would prevent further attempts with the same seal. If he catches my lie…

I shuddered.

…but that's exactly why it would work.

I had what I'd call a 'healthy fear' of the man, one he knew about very clearly. He'd even pointed it out. Orochimaru probably couldn't fathom that I would dare.

There is the other question…

Why did Isoaki care?

I plastered a smile.

He was too nice.

I wanted to believe it was genuine, but it was far more likely he was a plant. Whether as a spy from another village, or an eye for Orochimaru, I couldn't guess.

"You are my senior, sir. If you think that's best, then I'll falsify my report."

There was no way in hell I would tell Orochimaru the truth with the potential consequences on hand. This way, even if he was a plant, I could use him to do so.

He's also the only one who knows.

"Um… since we're back in the capital, want to see the coolest store ever?"

He loosened up, and that sunlike bright smile came back.

"When you put it that way, how could I refuse?"

I needed to keep him close, figure out his intentions. There was a chance he was just a good guy, but if he wasn't… I'd deal with him.

Strategy Journal

New Entry - Eye based bloodlines: Uchiha and Hyuuga (1)

First instinct is a flashbang. Blinding an eye user seems like an obvious solution. If it isn't a thing, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Magnesium burned bright, so that might be a component.

Problem: Would it even work against the Byakugan and Sharingan?

The Byakugan perceives via chakra nonsense and might not be affected by a bright flash of light. Bright flash of chakra? Denied, Naruto didn't blind Neji with Kyuubi active.

The Sharingan has the element of quick processing as well, and the Uchiha love their bright fires. The flashbang might work, but only for a split second in all likelihood.

Compromise: Might have an effect if applied to regular eyes before activation of bloodlines.

…

Sensory overload, the Byakugan has 360 degree vision and the Sharingan basically puts the world in slow motion and reads a lot more information. Excessive use of clones, loud noises, widgets and gadgets, might make it difficult for users to process information.

Problem: The sharingan already clearly has a mental component, it would not be far fetched for the Byakugan to have one as well.

Side Note: The clone technique and transformation techniques may be illusions, but they aren't genjutsu, and should still be somewhat effective against both eyes.

…

Smoke. The sharingan is such a major advantage that blinding both my opponent and myself would be an advantage. Ineffective against the Byakugan.

Note: practice blind fighting.

…

Gas. Some form of eye irritant might be effective. Onion extract? Investigate further.

…

Chakra Negation. From previous life, life without chakra is possible. If I can force the chakra out of a part of my body into another, the empty section should be practically invisible to the Byakugan. If possible to move limbs without chakra, would make battle against Byakugan much simpler.

Side Note: May also make gentle fist strikes ineffective.

Investigate Further.

Progress on other projects:

Stink bombs for use against Inuzaka acquired.