Against The World

"What a tangled web they weave."

-x-

"I don't see why I should help you." The woman snarled at the man standing at her door step. "I'm not involved anymore. I'm done. Done. I've more than paid my dues."

"Please, if not for me, then for them. They don't deserve this—it's not their fault. I'm begging you." The man dropped to his knees, his gaze pleading. "We can help you. You won't be getting nothing out of this."

"I said no." The woman retorted, and slammed the door in the man's face. She listened for his footsteps to fade away. Once they did, she spoke once more.

"I won't have anything to do with your lot anymore."

-x-

Four

I copied a storage seal onto the inside of my sandals. Eventually I hoped to have a storage seal on my person, but I wasn't confident enough for that quite yet. Who knows what I could fuck up?

So my sandals will have to do. I chose them because they are almost always on my person, and even when not they were usually close by.

With my own personal and secret storage seal, I no longer hesitated in taking notes from the scrolls I got from Hanako. I wasn't sure if English existed here, but my notes wouldn't be left out for just anyone to stumble across. To be safe, I decided to switch between English and French in my notes, though I wasn't nearly as good with French, but hey, inconsistent grammer and spelling could only help me here. In addition, I alternated the way I wrote letters, somewhat. Sometimes My l's were straight lines, other times they were loops. Some times my E's were blocky, other times curly. Sometimes I even substituted in numbers. (Leetspeak ftw, n00bs.) And also throwing in Latin abbreviations and phrases, acronyms, chat speak, whatever. (Thank you internet.) Anything to make it more difficult to find a pattern if you don't speak English and/or are unfamiliar with slang born alongside technological advancements of the twenty-first century.

Even to myself, my notes were a bit hard to look at, but keeping up with it would take care of that, and I'd soon be reading and writing like that just as well as I'd adapted to the language of this world.

It would still be a bit suspicious if anyone were to find my notes, but worst case scenario? They send a Yamanaka to mind rape me and get fuck all because I still think in English. Even remembering events in this life, I've mentally translated it all into and remember it in English. I process and translate things so quickly no one even notices my short pauses before speaking.

And besides, even if they have records of my native language, I highly doubt anyone is even conversationally fluent.

Still, I knew I wouldn't feel completely secure until I managed to create a seal only I could open, and keep it on my person.

-x-

The whole "look for dad" thing was a lot harder than I initially thought. While some information was public, there weren't convenient lists detailing who was in charge of what department and who was famous. And even when those things were recorded somewhere I could find them, there were almost always no pictures.

There were cameras in this world, but they were obsolete by the standards of The Before. They were big, clunky things that took up to thirty seconds to take a picture. On top of that, they were highly regulated. Very few people had access to one. There were a handful of licensed photographers, but they were extremely expensive. Most photos were for record keeping purposes and official events.

It was frustrating, because how the fuck would I know if some dude could possibly be my father if I didn't even know what he looked like?

It was easy enough to rule out the men from clans and women, but it still left a lot of possibilities and unknowns.

It was maddening.

-x-

About half way through the term, Kago-sensei started teaching us ninjutsu. I was happy for something new to learn, but to be honest the subject stumped me.

We'd learned the twelve zodiac hand seals already, but I never did understand how they actually worked. I figured it would make sense when we actually started on learning ninjutsu, but alas, it was not so.

No matter what I did, I couldn't for the life of me get the transformation jutsu to work. My hand seals were perfect, but I might as well have been flailing my hands around in a poor attempt at jazz hands. And it wasn't just that I wasn't getting the jutsu to work right. It was that nothing was happening at all.

I just didn't understand.

"Kago-sensei? Do you have a moment?" I asked one day after class as the other students trickled out of the room.

"Of course, Hoshino-chan." Kago-sensei smiled. "Is this about the transformation jutsu?"

"Yes, sensei. I just—ninjutsu as a subject isn't making much sense to me. How does moving your hands a certain way cast a jutsu?" I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion.

Upon hearing my question, Kago-sensei's expression could best described as a "light bulb moment."

"Ah. I see. My apologies Hoshino-chan. It hadn't occurred to me you hadn't learned this." Sensei blushed. "I completely overlooked it, it's usually taken care of by parents for ninja-born students and in first year for civilian-born ones."

"Eh?" I titled my head to the side. That answered nothing.

"There is nothing special about the hand signs themselves—they are more instructions of how to move your chakra, to shape it, for the jutsu. Each sign corresponds to a different movement of chakra." Kago-sensei lectured.

"But how does everyone know which chakra movements are associated with each sign?"

"Young children, usually up to three or four years of age, have chakra very similar to their parents. This allows the parents to harmlessly insert their own chakra into their children and move it for them while teaching them the hand seals. It is generally easier for the mother to do this, but the father can as well, though they usually have to start earlier. After the age of about five years children's chakra becomes too... personalized, so to speak, for their parents to insert it without harming them, unless they have medical training."

"But... then what about children like myself? Who never had a parent to do that?" I asked. Plenty of civilian-born ninja existed, there had to be a way.

"That was actually one of the villages first major struggles." Kago-sensei chuckled. "Clan ninja have been doing this for generations, and before the formation of the hidden villages ninja only came from clans. Initially, they had medics do it for civilian children, but that became a burden on the medics as the number of civilian-born students increased. Eventually, someone created a genjutsu that shows students how to move their chakra. I had assumed you're already experienced it."

"Oh. That... makes sense, I guess." I nodded. I could have done without the history lesson though. "But..."

"Yes?" he prodded.

"Why do people always use them whenever they use jutsu?"

Like, what the fuck. If it was just a matter of moving your chakra a certain way, why not just do that without the hand seals so people can't predict what you're doing?

"Generally, as young children ninja have the association of making a hand seal and shaping their chakra—they don't even have to think about it, it's instinctive. But without the hand signs they have to focus on each movement of chakra, consciously direct it, and that is generally slower for most ninja." Kago-sensei explained with a smile. "You're very interested in how's and why's, aren't you Hoshino-chan?"

"I—yeah. I guess." I mumbled. "I like to know how things work."

"And that's what makes you unique—most children your age, most ninja even, just care that it does. Now, I can't cast the genjutsu myself, but I believe Iruka-sensei can, and he should be free at the moment if you'd like to do it now?"

"Sure." I nodded, clenching my fists nervously. I couldn't help but think about what genjutsu had done to my mother, and willingly subjecting myself to one made my instincts scream in protest. But I had to do it, so I would.

The chuunin didn't seem to notice my unease and led me down the hall to an unfamiliar classroom, where a man with a scar across his nose was marking papers at a desk.

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Ah, yes? Can I do something for you?" The man, Iruka-sensei, asked.

"Hoshino-chan brought it to my attention that she has yet to undergo the hand seal genjutsu, I was wondering if you could cast it on her?"

"Of course. Just give me a moment to finish up and I'll be right with you." Iruka-sensei smiled, holding up a red pen. "You can take a seat, ah—Hoshino-chan was it?"

I nodded and took a seat in the front row as Kago-sensei excused himself.

I didn't have to wait long, and after making sure I was ready, the unfamiliar chuunin cast the jutsu.

If I hadn't known what was going to happen, I never would have guessed that I was in a genjutsu. It felt so natural to just start practising the hand seals, and as I made each one my chakra shifted, like it was following my command. I repeated them several times, familiarizing myself with the way my chakra responded to them.

"Why don't you try doing it yourself now?" Iruka suggested, startling me. The genjutsu had been lifted after my last run through of the seals, and I hadn't even noticed.

Disturbed by the subtlety of the genjutsu, I swallowed and took a deep breath. It was terrifying to know that I couldn't pinpoint when it started and when it ended, and not only that, but everything I'd done in it seemed completely natural, like it was my own decision to practice the hand seals.

I pushed my thoughts aside and focused on doing as Iruka-sensei suggested. For the first time outside of the genjutsu, I could feel my chakra move when I cycled through the zodiac.

"Thank you for your time, sensei." I bowed politely.

"It worked, then?" he smiled. "I'm glad. Have a good evening, Hoshino-chan."

With that, I was dismissed, and decided to head out to my usual training field.

I took a moment to best organize my time, ultimately deciding to first run through my taijutsu forms, then move onto strength training, and finally practising the transformation jutsu.

It was my fourth month in the academy, and my taijutsu had improved by leaps and bounds. I was still a bit sloppy, though. In spars I had trouble smoothly moving from one attack to another and from offence to defence, but Isamu-sensei said that would just take time and practice.

He was impressed with the improvements to my speed and strength, though, and even let me sign out training weights for prolonged use so I didn't have to turn them in before I went back to the orphanage every evening, and could wear them at all times.

As a result, I was building up some real muscle, and whenever I looked at myself in a mirror, I couldn't help but be impressed by how toned by arms were getting, though I was by no means buff, and I never would be.

After working up a light sweat with my taijutsu forms and drinking some water to stay hydrated, I moved onto strength training. It was amazing to me that just six months ago I could barely manage a dozen push ups, but now I had worked my way up to over one hundred, and then could move on to other exercises without being completely exhausted.

At first, I worried about pushing my body too far. I vaguely recalled hearing that weights could stunt a child's growth back in The Before, and other dangers of over doing it, but I haven't had any problems, and Isamu-sensei wouldn't let me do something that was detrimental to my growth as a ninja. Either I was misremembering or once again, it was an alien thing. I'd already noticed that my bruises, cuts, and scrapes heal faster than they did in The Before, so I figured that might have been balancing out any damage.

After finishing my last set of pull ups, I finished off my water bottle and went to refill it at training field's tap.

I lay down on the grass, basking in the coolness from the ground. Once I had cooled down sufficiently, I reluctantly stood to practice ninjutsu.

With Kago-sensei's image in mind, I attempted to preform the jutsu.

Dog, boar, ram.

Poof!

I coughed on the smoke the jutsu produced and tried to wave it away, but screamed when I caught a glimpse of my hand.

It was... I didn't even have words. My arm was large and muscular, like Kago-sensei's, but my shoulders and my hand had stayed the same size, except for my finger nails, which were huge. My skin was blotchy, a mix my own skin tone and my instructors.

My lip curled in disgust and horror. It was just wrong. I stared at it in horror for ages before I realized that if I dispelled the jutsu I could make it go away.

And then I realized I didn't know how.

Eventually, I figured out that disrupting my chakra flow would do the trick, but that experience was enough for me to put my ninjutsu training aside for the time being.

-x-

A kick swung towards my face and I bent over backwards to dodge, placing my hands firmly on the ground. I kicked off the ground into a flip, my foot connecting with the underside of my sparring partner's chin. The force of the blow sent him reeling backwards, giving me enough time to right myself back to my feet.

Instead of waiting for him to come at me again, I charged forwards. He dodged my first punch, but on my second he grabbed my arm, flipped me over the shoulder, and slammed me to the ground. I let out a pained groan, but was too slow to stand because before I knew it, he had me pinned down, and Kago-sensei was calling the match.

My lips thinned in displeasure as my opponent and I formed the seal of reconciliation and then left the ring to make room for the next pair.

Part of me wanted to make excuses, I was barely seven years old and he was the largest boy in class. But excuses were pointless. I had just over a year to go until graduation, and then I'd be sent out to fight grown adults. I had to be good enough that a size and weight advantage didn't result in an automatic loss. I needed to hit faster and harder if I wanted to survive, to take out my opponents before they could fight back.

My gaze shifted to my sparring partner, and despite my loss, I was proud of the nasty bruise forming just under his chin.

-x-

Time passed and soon it was the end of February. I made little progress on finding a potential lead on my paternity, so I set aside that project for another time and focused on my training.

End of year testing was coming up, and I was frantically trying to perfect the transformation jutsu in time. I'd improved, but barely, and nearly everyone else was at least decent with it. After asking Kago-sensei, I found out my issues with the jutsu stemmed from my skewed chakra. Apparently the jutsu used mostly physical energy, and my spiritual energy was disrupting it.

It was frustrating, because there wasn't much I could do about the issue. My classmates who had trouble, were having difficulty due to chakra control and could work on control exercises to improve. But I was already doing my best to build up more physical energy, but like that medic said, even at my most balanced, I'd still have a severe skew by regular standards.

On the bright side, aside from that I was confident with my achievement. Ever since I joined the class I was at the top for book work, and over the term I'd wormed my way up to fourth place in taijutsu and first in weapons. Overall, I ranked fifth in the class. (My ninjutsu rank was nearly dead last, sadly.)

As for seals, I'd finally designed a storage seal that I felt confident enough to place on my own body. Hanako had finally passed on scrolls that went beyond theory and touched on application, and with the knowledge gained from those scrolls I was nearly certain it was safe, and so, late one night I locked myself in one of the orphanage bathrooms and got to work.

After much deliberation, I finally decided to place it on my inner thigh. From what I'd read, placing seals on skin, on living beings, wasn't like placing them on other mediums. As I drew the seal I had to channel my own chakra through it to essentially tattoo it onto myself, else it would eventually wash off.

The fact that I'd summed the process up as "tattooing it on myself" should have given me a hint to what it would feel like, but I was still unprepared for the pain.

Months of sparring with my classmates and Isamu-sensei had improved my pain tolerance drastically, but none of it had prepared me for this.

It took everything I had to keep my hand steady as I drew the seal onto my sensitive flesh. While it was an ideal place to hide it from others, it wasn't in terms of pain.

It was rather disconcerting to see steam trailing after the pen and ink, but in the end it was worth it. I had a secure place to store my notes. It wasn't practical to store any old thing there, so I also inked one onto my left arm, just above the elbow.

I was extremely proud of the seal, to be honest. It was completely of my own design, and the pocket dimension it was linked to even lacked a time component, so I could seal away perishables without worry of them spoiling.

The first thing I did after finishing the seal on my arm was sneak down to the kitchen and seal away a large container of clean water and two dozen niNRG brand meal replacement bars. You never knew when you'd need it, after all, and I doubted anyone would notice.

Instead of going straight to my room, I stopped by the bathroom again, to admire my seal. I was very pleased with the design—two Fibonacci spirals connected together, with encircled kanji cluttered at the bottom, connected with straight lines to additional kanji closer to the top of the seal. It was beautiful—a work of art, if I did say so myself.

Content with my progress, I returned to my dorm, curled up in bed and promptly fell asleep.

-x-

The next day I was exhausted and my arm and thigh still stung slightly, but I forced myself to go through my morning exercise routine, regardless, and upon completion I plopped down in my seat and rest my head on the desk.

"Hoshino! With me!" Isamu-sensei ordered, causing me to snap my head up in surprise.

"Sensei...?" I asked hesitantly, noticing that he'd left off the usual honorific.

"Now." he snapped.

"Yes, sir." I nodded and scrambled to my feet. He turned on his heel and marched out of the classroom as soon as he was sure I was following. The few students present snickered at me as we left.

He led me down to the tiny room I'd written my entrance exam in and motioned for me to sit at the desk. Instead of speaking, he spent an indeterminate amount of time pacing in front of me. (Mind games again, I noted.)

It took all my self-control not to flinch when he slammed his hands down on the desk. "Do you have any idea how stupid, how dangerous, placing an untested seal on your own goddamn body is?"

"I—what?" I blinked in surprise. He notic—?

"Of course I noticed, you stupid child!" He hissed, like a fucking mind reader.

I blinked, but remained silent.

"Well?" He barked. "I'm waiting!"

"Uh... Well... I mean, obviously it was a bit—dangerous... but I tested it on another medium first and was well aware of the risks—"

"Well aware of the risks, you say?" He scoffed. "You could have lost a limb! You could have died!"

"I know!" I growled. "I said was well aware of the risks! I knew what could happen!"

"And you did it anyways?" He gaped at me in disbelief, and shook his head. "I never would have thought you'd be so reckless—your classmates, I'd expect it from, Hoshino-chan, but you? I thought you were smarter than this."

I shrugged. "Worst case scenario I died, and I'm hardly afraid of death. It's but the next great adventure, you know." I couldn't help but laugh, actually laugh, at what I said. Man, who knew just how right Dumbledore was? (Answer: I did.)

Isamu-sensei stared at me in disbelief. "I don't—I can't... Wait here, Hoshino-chan, I'm getting someone to come make sure your seal is stable and won't blow your arm off if you use it."

And with a poof of smoke, I was alone. Huh, I think he was actually worried about me. It was almost cute.

I huffed and crossed my arms, then tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling. My seal was fine. I'd already used it! I'm surprised he hadn't realized that himself.

When my sadistic sensei returned, he was accompanied by a woman with scarlet hair down to her ankles.

"So you're, like, the kid my scrolls have been going to, eh?" She said.

"Ah—I guess? I was never told where Hanako got them from." I answered. "Oh, um. Thank you? I appreciate them?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You can thank me by not being so stupid in the future, yeah? Well, let's see the damage."

My lips thinned. "There is no damage." I retorted and lifted my sleeve to give a better view of the seal. "But have a look, I guess."

She snorted, but approached me and grabbed my arm, inspecting the seal closely. After several minutes she let go of my arm and stepped back.

"Where did you, like, find this one?" she asked. "I don't think it was in any of the scrolls."

"I designed it myself." I replied, but she eyed me doubtfully.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Hm... Well, it's, like, a solid design, and looks to be fairly stable. I see it's intended to be a stasis storage seal only you can open, yeah?" I nodded. "I thought so. It's like, well balanced, and flows well. It should work just fine and be safe."

"It does." I affirmed, and her eyebrows rose again.

"You've already used it? That was dangerous, kid."

"Yes, I did. And I tested it on paper first, I wasn't going into this blind, I knew the risks and did my best to mitigate them." I defended.

"You draw your first seal on your body and like, you think you weren't going into this blind?" she asked incredulously.

"It's not my first seal." I scoffed. "This is my fourth, and the first I've used on myself. My previous versions all worked just fine, too, for the record."

"Let's see them." she demanded, and pulled out a scroll from the pouch at her hip. "Sketch them in pencil on this."

"Hold on." I told her, and tugged off my sandal and held it out to her, indicating the seal. "My first successful design is here. It's empty now, though."

She looked at me strangely, but took my sandal and examined it. While she did so, I released a pencil from the seal on my arm and sketched out my other two seals.

She took her time examining them as well. When she finished, she broke out into a grin. "Well I'll be. You're, like, a natural! I'm super impressed."

"Thanks?" I squeaked, surprised and a bit unsettled at her sudden shift in tone.

"Sorry, sorry!" she chuckled. "Man, it was so weird to come in here, like, all serious and stern! Usually they get Minato to do this, but he's away at the moment."

"Uh..."

"I'm not making much sense, am I?" The woman rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"No. Not at all."

"Well, what I mean is that while I'm the village's best seal master, I'm not so good at the whole serious-stern-warning-lecture thing, yeah? My husband isn't as good as me, but they usually have him do it 'cause he's so much better at serious stuff. Now that I know you're not an idiot messing around with things you don't understand, I don't have to act all stuffy. Plus that teacher dude is gone." she explained. Surprised, I noticed she was right, at some point Isamu-sensei had left the room, and I hadn't even noticed.

"Oh... I see." I said, even though no, I did not see.

"Heh, anyways. The name is Uzumaki Kushina! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san. I'm Hoshino Sekai."

-x-

"How is Hoshino-chan progressing?" asked the head of the academy. He was a short, stocky man with wild black hair and blue eyes.

"Well in some regards, poorly in others." Kago answered, shifting through Sekai's file. He pulled out her score card. "As directed, during most lectures we let her focus on her own studies so long as she isn't disruptive. Academically she's at the top of the class. Her taijutsu, speed, strength and stamina have increased substantially—she's not quite top of the class in that aspect, but she's close. She's more than ready to move onto fourth year with the rest of the class. Wouldn't you agree, Hara?"

"Yeah, she's definitely going to be a taijutsu user. I expect she'll be top of the class by the time she graduates..." Isamu added with a nod.

"But?" the head prodded.

"She doesn't interact with her classmates at all, and struggles with ninjutsu—though we've only covered the transformation jutsu, which was noted as likely to be difficult for her due to her imbalance. I suspect she'll struggle less with the clone jutsu and replacement jutsu."

"Her ninjutsu struggles matter little—we were expecting that, and she'll never be a ninjutsu specialist. I'm more concerned about her relationship with her classmates." The academy head rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Why is it so poor? Is she hostile towards them?"

"She's not hostile towards them, sir." Kago began, hesitantly. "It would be more accurate to say that she is apathetic towards them. She's never outright said it, but it's fairly obvious she thinks they're stupid. I doubt she sees a point in spending time with them. As for how the other students view her..." The academy instructor sighed. "Their opinions vary. Most think she's creepy—she rarely shows any sort of expression and that's hard for them to process. Another common view is that she thinks she's better than everyone, and they're jealous of her."

"She kinda is..." Isamu muttered, only to receive a glare from Kago. "Hey, it's true. And if you think the whole lack of expression thing is creepy, it's even creepier when she does."

The academy head coughed to draw the attention of the instructors. "That will be a bit of a problem... Start to incorporate group work—perhaps an ongoing group research project?"

"Yes, sir." Kago nodded. "We'll come up with something."

"We both know I'll be the one coming up with the idea, bastard." Isamu muttered to himself.

"Anything else?" The head cut in before Kago could respond. "You say she's expected to excel in taijutsu? Any other expectations?"

"Genjutsu, obviously. We don't do much with it in the academy, but after she graduates she needs to receive instruction in it." Isamu answered promptly. "Also seals—she's mostly studying those during class."

"Good. Kago?"

"Nothing to add, sir." Kago replied.

"Moving on then, how about Yamanaka Aiko?"

-x-

Notes: Another chapter done. I passed out and fucked up my back when I fell, so I've been stuck in bed all week, unable to move much, and will have to get authorized withdrawals from my classes. So yet again, bad for me, good for you.

A wild Kushina appears! I decided to translate her verbal tic as "like" instead of "you know" because that's the translation I'm most familiar with, and feel works best for Kushina.

What do you think of my explanation for hand seals? To be honest it was a struggle to come up with an actual explanation for them—canon just seems to have decided "well, because it's cool" without any thought of how moving your hands around actually does anything.

Thank you all for the reviews, favourites and follows. I appreciate you all taking the time to read this.

Regards,

The Mathemagician