Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

I awoke feeling leaden, it felt like I had been sleeping on my left arm for quite a long time and shifting to sit up made it feel like lots of small insects were biting at it. 'It looks like I fell asleep,' I thought to myself, 'It was only a matter of time I suppose.'

I looked around for Shikaku and saw him looking looking rather resigned around the entrance to the room where I was designing the seal, on closer inspection it appeared that what had woken me up was the raised voice of a women who looked old enough to be retired, she stood opposite a severe looking man who listened to the tirade and, despite his calm face, seemed to be reaching the end of his patience with the woman. I shrugged myself out of my futon and began making my way over.

"... Are the shinobi that killed my daughter-in-law, my son in blood! We have the old seals, we do not need their assistance in this, they will only use it against us later."

The old woman seemed to have finally finished arguing and stood trembling in that state that suffuses you after expelling your anger, as if her body was drained of the resources it needed. The severe looking man - the Suna Kage if the hat he was holding at his side was any indication - took this opportunity to begin speaking.

"I brought you to analyse the seal for the purpose of being sure there was no ill will, you are one of our village's few seal masters, can I rely on you to be impartial in this? For your village Chiyo." The Suna Kage's voice to my ears was like stone grinding against stone, implacable in its tone it brooked no room for argument, his eyes flicked over to me noticing my approach towards the end of his response.

Chiyo seemed to be about to respond but then, in a change that seemed to come by great difficulty, she took hold of herself the tremors in her shoulders ending, her eyes began to lose the heat that anger had blossomed in them, even her fists began to loosen at her sides, "You can rely on me Kazekage." She finally said at length.

The Kazekage stood, as if unconvinced for a few moments looking at Chiyo before nodding quickly and turning to me, "I hope you do not mind young Konoha shinobi, but I believe you will understand the importance of being sure of the veracity of every aspect of a jinchuriki's seal." I nodded respectfully, the man's chakra felt almost as controlled as the Hokage's and just as titanic, it felt like the smooth texture of worn sandstone to my senses.

"I have no problem," I confirmed with my hands, "but there are some elements that may be unclear to one not familiar with Uzushiogakure sealing methods, I'll answer any questions if there's any confusion."

There was tsk of annoyance at that from Chiyo, "You're decades too early to teach me anything new child, I have travelled to the village myself in my time."

I nodded again, I did not want to reignite her earlier anger. The Kazekage looked between her and myself before nodding again, "I leave this to you then Chiyo." He said before promptly taking his leave nodding again to Shikaku on his way past.

Chiyo got straight to work looking at the work that I had laid out across the floor of the sealing room, I glanced to Shikaku wondering if I should stay to help but before he could reply Chiyo spoke up, "If I have need of you I will find you child, begone."

Shikaku shrugged at me before pulling me away.

"Are we doing more training?" I asked.

Shikaku nodded, "Not the same training but in a similar vein."

I frowned, "I have another shortcoming?"

Shikaku barked a laugh, "We've barely started on your worst flaw, though I think this will be easier to fix."

"How?"

Shikaku sat down in the corner of the room where our futons were and indicated to me to sit down across from him before he pulled a scroll from a pocket and unsealed… a shogi board.

I felt my eyebrow twitch, "This isn't training is it? You just wanted to play Shogi."

"On the contrary, I think this may be the best avenue to communicate this lesson." He replied

I raised an eyebrow, "And what lesson might that be?"

"That is for me to know and you to figure out… or not. It depends on if you're up to it." Shikaku said laying out the pieces.

Shikaku seemed to know exactly what to say to push my buttons. I sighed away the frustration and resigned myself to a long day of Shogi, I moved my first piece.

It was a few minutes later when Shikaku played his move and then took one of my pieces and moved it, my thoughts on my plans going forward screeched to a halt in my head, I visibly flinched it was so jarring.

"Why did you move my piece?" I asked

"What do you mean," Shikaku yawned as he moved another of his own pieces, "It's your move."

"I mean you just took my move."

"Did I? I can't recall. It is your move now though." Shikaku gestured to the board.

I glared at him for a few moments, it wasn't like Shikaku to interfere in a game of Shogi in such a way, maybe it had something to do with my training, I looked down at the board and began the process of coming up with a new strategy, the move Shikaku had made wasn't a terrible move but it was… aggressive. Perilous even, at least to my eyes, my first order of business was shoring up defences around the aggressive piece or maybe even putting it into retreat, I wouldn't do that unless I could help it however - it would lose me a tempo and give Shikaku the advantage.

After a few minutes I finally made my move, my choice being to shore up defences and trade off some minor pieces to keep its position. Shikaku took his move and I moved up another piece making the defence more concrete.

Then Shikaku made his move and proceeded to move one of my pieces again.

"If it's a game with yourself you want I can facilitate that." I signed to him, my face carefully blank, I felt he was trying to rile me up by doing this and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to me.

"Mah, why don't you take your turn." He said moving his piece.

I looked at him for a few moments before looking down at what I could do now. Again the move he had made wasn't bad by any means but it opened me up to more risk than I was willing to take, I spent a few moments re-adapting my strategy before reaching out to move a piece and Shikaku reached out at the same moment and moved another of my pieces before sitting back and yawning.

I wasn't going to continue playing a game like this, I made to swipe the pieces on the board aside but Shikaku caught my wrist.

"I believe it was my move, this game isn't over yet." Shikaku said.

I relaxed my arm and he let go. He moved one of his own pieces and sat waiting for me to make my move, I sighed and looked down to see what I could do from my position.

Shikaku let me take a break after a few hours of games and I was about to get some fresh air for the first time in days when the Suna woman Chiyo called for me, or more accurately demanded my presence in the sealing room.

"What is your intention here child? A seal made in this way will not last a week, did you intend to bring a rampaging biju down upon Suna?" It seemed she had picked up on the general gist of my seal but saw the same issue I had.

"I'm working on a way to make sure the seal stays strong even after having biju chakra running through it, the alternative as you can see is to have the container have full mental contact with the demon at all times. I think it would be ideal if the container of a village destroying creature had a good grip on their sanity." I signed to her.

She huffed, "Well I can't deny you at least are no amateur in this area. The Kazekage will be hearing about this however." She warned before gazing at my workings for a few more moments before setting her gaze upon me again, "If you cannot find a solution to my satisfaction I will not allow you to endanger the safety of this village." She finished before sweeping past me and towards the exit.

Shikaku stood in the doorway watching after the leaving elderly woman before his eyes fell back towards the room and then finally on me, "You didn't mention you were having issues making the seal." He said.

I shook my head, "Not an issue, more of an optimisation I'd like to make in the usual way of making jinchuriki seals. I'm just not quite sure how I'll do it, I have a feeling I'm on the right track though."

Shikaku nodded, "Take the rest of the day as a break, come back tomorrow morning."

I nodded, I could do with some time to think.

There aren't actually all that many places to go in Suna, the village was limited by the walls around it and as a result the shopping district was small and there certainly wasn't any large open spaces where you could sit and think, I eventually found myself at a kind of fast food restaurant specialising in a kind of dish where they pile eggs and some kind of leafy plant into a sort of pancake cooked on a hotplate. It actually smelled rather good despite the stall sitting almost empty.

"Welcome," The cook intoned absentmindedly, "any particular preference on sauce?"

Not seeing a menu I assumed that they only offered the one dish. I shrugged, not knowing what sauces were on offer, "Whatever you think is best." I replied, the chef however shook his head brow furrowed. I held back a sigh and wrote out what I had said onto a corner of my scroll and held it up for him to see.

The cook nodded his hands moving with practiced ease across the hotplate, cutting and flipping as he went.

I pulled out a small scroll I had been jotting down some of my ideas for the seal in and frowned, hoping that I might perhaps find some inspiration in my ramblings. It came as a surprise seemingly moments later when a plate came sliding out before me, looking around though I saw I had merely become over absorbed and lost track of time, the stool next to me had become occupied whilst I had been obsessing over my notes.

"Looks good," The man said gruffly, "I'll have the same." He nodded this last at the cook who quickly set some more ingredients on the hotplate as I tried to refocus my attention on my notes, shovelling food with my free hand into my mouth.

"That looks like a mighty complicated piece of work right there." The man said, I set down my chopsticks and turned, he had his head idly resting in the palm of one hand leaning on the counter almost looking over my shoulder. Something about him seemed alarmingly familiar though I knew I hadn't seen his face anywhere before.

I nodded in reply, "Don't suppose you know anything about seals." I joked.

"Not worked it out yet?" He asked, still looking at me in that idle sort of way I was beginning to realise he was teasing me if the smile on his face was anything to go by.

"I wouldn't be here if I had," I sighed, "I think I'm getting close though."

He laughed gruffly and leaned in, "Ah I think I see you're problem, smart to have gotten this far, real complicated stuff." He reached out a hand and pointed, "Your problem is your looking at this as an all or nothing kind of deal, why don't you try balancing out the equation a little." He finished by tracing a line between two elements of the seal.

"That…" My hands hung in the air as I aborted what I was going to say, I was about to say that wouldn't work, he was suggesting using the chakra of the host to balance out the chakra from the tailed demon but of course it didn't need to match all of it, just a bit, a slither at first.

"At least you get that fast enough, huh kid." The man said as he stood up, his empty plate in front of him - I hadn't even noticed him eat.

I nodded before twisting abruptly, "Wait, who are you?"

The man looked back and winked and I saw for the first time he was wearing a henge and suddenly my preoccupied mind put two and two together, no wonder I found him familiar his chakra should have tipped me off immediately, he must have seen the moment it clicked for his smile broadened, "Finally worked it out eh? I couldn't have missed you being in the chunin finals. Good luck kid."

I made to get up but in my haste to go after Jiraiya my scroll slipped from the counter, I caught it mid flight but by the time I looked up he had disappeared into the crowd, I snorted to myself, I could never accuse him of being boring.

"What do you mean you gave away my room?!"

I had returned to the hotel where I had left some small selection of my possessions, nothing I would miss but still things I would rather have kept, luckily I travelled light anyway and hadn't unpacked much from the storage scrolls when we had arrived.

"I'm afraid I was given the impression that you had left, you haven't been here in days after all." The proprietor didn't seem concerned, he said this as he idly turned a page of a small book, looking up only to glance at my note.

"What about my things?" I asked again, jabbing the note under his nose forcing him to pay attention.

He scowled at the interruption, "Your things will have been disposed of, we have no rooms at the moment, I might recommend you look further afield if you have need of accommodation." He went back to perusing his book and I knew a dismissal when I saw one, no point causing a fuss in a foreign village I told myself. I sighed mentally to myself before leaving.

The comparative cool of the evening air met me as I stepped outside and I took a few moments to think about my next move. I didn't really want to return to Shikaku, he had given me until the morning anywa-

"Don't just stand in the road child, can you not see people are trying to get through." The voice was unfortunately one I recognised but I turned to confirm my suspicions.

"Apologies." I signed as I stepped back, not that I needed to, the road was ten paces wide and she could have made her way through even if I had laid down in the middle.

Chiyo sniffed, "I can see Konoha at least manages to teach their young manners. Well don't just stand there, help me with my bags."

Her tone brooked no disagreement and before I even considered the request I had quickly disowned her of the small bags she was carrying which seemed to just contain groceries and was ambling along easily at her side. She kept glancing sharply at me out of the side of her eyes as we walked.

"I trust not everyone in Konoha is as mute as you?" She asked finally, I shook my head in response.

"Thank the sage for small mercies." she sighed, seemingly exasperated, "I don't suppose you have a reason for lollygaggin in the middle of the street?"

I shrugged the handles of the bags into the crooks of my arms as I explained the situation with the hotel.

Chiyo had listened to my story without comment and by the time I had finished we were already in her home.

Embarrassingly she caught me looking around at the house, It was the first time I had seen the inside of a house outside of Konoha, "When you're done gawking you can leave the groceries on the counter." She grumbled, "You can stay for dinner?" It didn't really seem like she was asking a question.

I made to help but she stopped me with a stare and I held up my hands as I smiled good naturedly slowly backing away.

"I don't need the assistance of a whelp no matter your size." She turned her back to me and began efficiently chopping some kind of vegetable, after a few moments she continued, "My grandson is upstairs. Sasori. Let him know dinner will be ready in around half an hour."

I nodded, and made my way out of the kitchen into the main hallway. I still found myself wondering at the design of Suma homes. The ceilings were domed so that rooms towards the edge of the house had sloped walls that rose around you, the doorways were roughly cut into the sandstone, only the front entrance had a door. I found the stairs quickly enough and ascended through another roughly cut hole onto the next floor.

Cautiously I explored further, moonlight fell in shafts through small windows cut into the domed roof. The smell of linseed oil struck heavy in the air with the smooth, cut-flower odour of freshly sanded wood, I set my path towards the source, an entryway with two large doors, from where a rhythmic grinding sound emanated.

The door moved smoothly on its hinges producing no noise excepting the quiet sigh of displaced air. The gloom of the room beyond was cast in stark relief against a flickering lamp that sat in an alcove on the far side of the room. Between myself and it though hung tens, perhaps hundreds of macabre skeleton automatons, all made of wood, some with gilded brass highlights in the form of hinges or protuberant additions to standard anatomical design. They seemed to make the figures move around the edge of my vision as the light danced against them.

"Grandmother." A voice called, I assumed it to be Sasori, it was the voice of a child but it sounded oddly flat, like a broken bell.

"Your Grandmother is downstairs preparing dinner." I replied with my hands as I rounded the aisle of human puppets that hung the length of the room.

Sasori place the plane he was using to one side as he looked at me, I felt somewhat uncomfortable, on the surface he seemed an affable child, his red hair lay in a mousy sprawl that cast most of his face in shadow but as my eyes adjusted to the light I perceived his greyish eyes that were uncharacteristically piercing.

"I do not yet know sign language." He said simply and made to rise.

I waved him back to his seat as I took a pad and pen that I had gotten into the habit of keeping on me at all times, "Your grandmother is downstairs, preparing dinner."

He studied me carefully for a moment but did not retake his seat, "Then we should not keep her waiting."

I shook my head and took a seat near his workstation hoping to put him at ease, "She said it will not be ready for another half hour." I gestured at our rather lugubrious surroundings, "Are these all your work?"

Sasori hesitated a moment before sitting down again, his plane fast resuming its rounds up and down the wood in front of us. "Some. Most of them. They are none of them an adequate though. Not yet. Who are you?"

I wrote my name and gave him the oppurtunity to give his own but he just nodded once to indicate his understanding and turned back to his work, "You were in the exams."

It wasn't a question but an observation. "I had thought the first stages of the exams were not loudly advertised."

"They aren't, but I plan to become a shinobi like my parents and grandmother. It's my business to know."

I nodded and let him continue in his work for a few moments, his concentration was such that I felt any further questions would disturb him from something he obviously considered of the utmost importance.

Eventually, he put his plane to one side to pick up another tool, I took the opportunity to ask more questions.

"Do you plan to become a puppeteer shinobi?"

He snorted, oddly bitter for a child, "Do you not think these puppets I have constructed make your answer self evident."

I nodded placatingly, not one for idle conversation I surmised.

"Does anyone else live here?" I asked

His work paused momentarily before continuing, "Not now." He answered. Though he still worked his frame was stiffer than before.

I had made him uncomfortable I surmised. I struggled to come to another subject of conversation and took a closer look at his work, he had turned it over and was pulling long black hair through the wood, it appeared this puppet was a woman. Fr the first time I saw next to the table was another puppet of adult stature, this one though was a man, with the same mousy red hair as Sasori.

'Ah' I mentally sighed. I had heard the old idiom grief displays itself in different ways but this had to be the most macabre setting I had ever seen. Looking at the puppet he was working on now I saw the similarities in the angle of the nose, the turn of the mouth and the one glass eye, already in place, seemingly shining with more light than the child working upon it.

"I think dinner might be ready now." I said to Sasori.

"You said half an hour. It has been only 13 minutes. I have time still."

I rose an eyebrow, there wasn't a clock around to be so sure of the passing of time.

"I think it has been longer than that, come we should not keep your grandmorher waiting." I repeated his words from earlier, and at that he did lay down his tools.

"I will not waste my grandmothers time but you will see that you have wasted mine." He said as he stood.

I grimaced and made to follow him, his tone did not change but he clearly thought this to be a useless endeavour.

At the door I felt the presence of someone else and looked closer to find Chiyo sticking closer to the shadows furthest from the lamp.

"Observant child." She said, then snorted at my narrowed eyes, "What you feel betrayed, thought I'd leave you with my grandchild alone? I am not senile yet, and your village still has much to answer for." She finished nodding towards the unfinished puppets.

I swallowed. True the blood of his parents was not on my hands but I suddenly still felt some measure of guilt.

"Don't go soft on me child. It was not you who cut them down, and I do need to thank you. Wild horses could not have pulled my son away from his work early. It is a mental hurt that has become physical. I worry, and I do not think unduly."

I followed Chiyo out of the doors, casting a last look back at the room of puppets and the female woman, now I realised fast becoming a facsimile of Sasori's mother, it's single eye gently wobbling in the light of the lamp was where my gaze lingered.

Dinner was a subdued affair, Sasori could not be brought to speak more than a few words and I could only effectively make conversation with Chiyo to the natural exclusion of Sasori. Once dinner finished Sasori immediately excused himself and left the table heading upstairs.

"That child, he'll be the death of me," she sighed. She did seem to age as her gaze lingered on him as he left the room.

I hesitated bringing my hands up to ask a question, eventually though "Are you sure this is OK? Me staying here. He's probably marked the fact that I'm a Konoha shinobi."

Chiyo snorted, "You worry too much, like an old man. I know what I'm doing. As it is Sasori has had little exposure to the outside world, never mind shinobi from other countries. What we don't know we fear, especially as children. And that can change us. Twist us. I brought you here to give a form to what he feared, perhaps he won't fear it quite so much."

I narrowed my eyes, "You used me." I accused, though there was not too much venom behind the accusation.

"I am giving you shelter for the night, you can't complain." She laughed harshly, "Come now, at your age you cannot have been so trusting."

I smiled, "I am only 6," Her face narrowed in suspicion but I continued, "Or around that age. I'm not exactly sure of when my birthday is."

She looked at me for a few more seconds before shrugging and beginning the task of clearing the table.

"You believe me just like that?" I asked incredulously, she seemed too cynical a person to believe the sky was blue without checking herself.

"I am old enough to know when I am being lied to child. I thought myself old enough to tell when someone was a child but your eyes hold more weight than any child of your age I have seen so I will admit myself fooled for a time." she said, "Follow me, there is a spare futon in the living room you may make use of."

I made to follow her, still ruing myself for how she had so well manipulated me when I suddenly realised.

I knocked on the wood of the table to get her attention before saying, "I'm sorry but I have to go." saying so I stood and made to leave, my feet approaching a run before I had left the door.

"Go then, I didn't want your company anyway child!" she cackled from behind me.

Outside her house I headed back in the direction of the cave Shikaku had been training me in.

Chiyo huffed folding the futon back into the cupboard, "He is a child after all."

"Even in this cave I know it isn't yet tomorrow morning." Shikaku drawled, he hadn't looked up from the scroll he was reading, observant as ever.

"I don't need any more time." I said sitting down in front of him.

Shikaku paused for a moment analysing me before putting the scroll aside with a yawn, "You always have been a fast learner. Alright, let's see what you've learned."

Shikaku brought out his board and began laying out the pieces before taking his first move.

"I'm not entirely used to being manipulated." I said making my first move.

Shikaku glanced up and smiled, "I prefer to think of this as a bit of gentle cognitive reconfiguration."

The start of the game began as it usually did, it was only when we both had taken our own share of a few pieces that Shikaku finally reached across the board and made my move for me.

'Cognitive reconfiguration?' I thought to myself, 'This is certainly a…' I glanced back up at Shikaku who was looking on with his usual smirk, 'Shikaku way. Yep, definitely a Shikaku way of going about things'

Concentrating again on the game the move was, as was typical, more aggressive than I was used to making but this time I decided to look at the opportunities it might offer instead of retreating and recovering. It required a dexterity of thought that I was not used to employing. Eventually I made my move.

Shikaku nodded his head contemplating, "A good start, but you still aren't seeing all the possibilities. You think in a logical way Ko, your decisions are logical but in your desire to be logical you act… hmm how can I put this" He seemed to think for a moment before smirking, "You act like an idiot."

I raised an eyebrow

"I've told you about some of the questionable decisions you have made since you joined the village but that is not the same as being led to see the benefits of taking these other viewpoints." He reached out to the board and took his move

"... And you chose to do this through Shogi." I deadpanned.

"In a fashion. It's hard to deny the merits when you can see them for yourself." He then reached to one of my pieces and took my move for me before responding himself.

I frowned and paid attention to the game again. So he wanted me to get mad? Could I? I had spent so long trying to distance myself mentally from things that happened, treating events with such a viewpoint of stoicism that I wasn't sure. I had to hand it to Shikaku though, he was starting to get to me. I flashed Shikaku a vicious grin as I made my move.

Shikaku sat up, "Now that is more like it."

I never did get a true game of shogi with Shikaku that month, I suppose I should have expected him to keep his word - no matter how frustrating both of us found it. By the time the tournament was upon us I was certainly getting the hang of seeing the possibilities Shikaku had shown me though I still struggled with the application. Shikaku had told me it would be enough, I wouldn't be held back from a promotion on account of my judgement.

Shikaku managed to get my hotel room back as well though my posessions were still missing. I was creating a new air condition seal for it when I sensed a flare of chakra from the next room and the sudden presence of two individuals I recognised, I headed to the next room to greet them

"I guess you weren't a fan of the journey here?" I asked Minato, Kakashi was leaned over the bed retching.

Minato grimaced looking a little guilty, "I can't say I'm a fan of the desert. Unfortunately longer distances can make the nausea for people travelling along a lot worse."

A groan from the bathroom Kakashi had made his way into punctuated his announcement, "You never thought to let me know?" Kakashi called.

Minato gave me another guilty grimace and a shrug of shoulders and I rolled my eyes. He probably thought he was sparing Kakashi the worry, he was quick to change the subject in any case.

"I heard from Shikaku that you were successful in your side project?" He inquired.

I swung my head non-committedly from side to side "I think I was, it remains to see what their fuinjutsu expert thinks of it. I have a meeting with them later today."

Minato clapped a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sure it'll be fine. How have you and Shikaku been spending your time? Not playing shogi I hope."

I laughed as I scratched the back of my head but didn't trust myself to answer, luckily Shikaku, punctual as ever chose that moment to show up.

"Did you hear your name from the other side of the village Shikaku?" Minato joked in greeting.

"I was just taking care of an issue with the hotel owner." Shikaku replied, "Nothing to worry about." He added at Minato's inquisitive expression.

Kakashi emerged from the bathroom, still looking a little green and Shikaku brushed him and me towards the door, "Come along children the adults need to talk." He said in an oddly flat sing song voice.

The door slammed closed leaving Kakashi and I in the hallway

Kakashi was overjoyed to see me after a month away and truth be told it had not been the same without him around. I was still confused about why Minato felt the need to take him all the way back to Konoha for his training.

"Kushina hasn't stopped asking about you, you know." Kakashi told me, we had gone back to the cave where I had devised my seal - I wanted to be absolutely sure of every point before I presented it to the Kazekage.

I smiled, I had missed Kushina's eccentricity myself, Suna seemed dull in comparison, "I bet she's running everyone ragged." I laughed

"You don't know how right you are, she tried teaching me fuinjutsu when I wasn't training for the tournament."

"Perhaps you could help me with this." I said

He shook his head, "I saw some things that look like this in a seal Kushina was drawing once, I didn't even understand that and this is a thousand times more complicated. What is it for anyway?" He asked.

"Something Suna wanted and the main reason why I had to stay behind. Can't say more than that I'm afraid." I spotted a torch coming down the stairway in the distance, "It looks like we have company."

Chiyo emerged from the stairway looking as severe as ever.

"This is the Suna representative that's been checking my work," I told Kakashi as she approached.

Kakashi walked over from where he was leaning against the wall to take a look at who was coming and Chiyo suddenly stopped.

"You!" She seethed, "How dare you show your face in this village after what you have done."

Suddenly she was moving a lot faster, faster than I'd expect of a woman her age and there was something about her eyes that made me think she didn't have the best of intentions for Kakashi. I closed the door just in time and she swung her fists against it creating an impressive amount of noise.

I rapidly started writing a note which I stuck under the door "Chiyo" I wrote, "There must be some misunderstanding - Kakashi has only been to this village once before for the exams, there isn't anything he could have done to deserve this."

The poundings slowed until finally "Kakashi? Not Sakumo Hatake? I could have sworn for a moment, from a distance..."

I shared a look with Kakashi who nodded, "Kakashi is Sakumo's son but he's my best friend, he wouldn't have done anything for you to be this angry." was the next note I shoved through the gap.

"The son of the white fang eh?" Chiyo mused, "Open the door child, my quarrel is with his father so long as he stays behaved I won't harm him. I came to take a final assessment of the seal before I make my decision to the Kazekage."

I opened the door a small amount at first so I could look at Chiyo, to make sure she was truly not going to attack Kakashi, when Chiyo saw me she rolled her eyes and pushed the door the rest of the way open. She didn't look at Kakashi in any kind of way that could have been interpreted as approving but she made no further move to attack him. I gestured to Kakashi that he should wait outside and he didn't argue - probably not wanting to be in the same room as the crazy Suna woman. Chiyo didn't seem to pay him any mind and instead she examined the seal.

"Hmm I see you've made some improvements since last time, I can see what your intention is. Too much chakra kills the host, too little and the seal collapses so you seek to eke out a little chakra whilst making sure the corrosive nature of the demonic chakra does not corrode the seal. Explain to me this part. I do not understand this element."

I looked over to the part she indicated and nodded, it was the key to making sure that the demons chakra didn't corrode the seal away, "I like to think of it as a kind of waiting room. I realised no seal was going to be able to hold all of the chakra of a demon back so I devised this part of the seal to act like a waiting area for the demonic chakra that manages to leak through the seal to wait before getting released to the host. It is basically a storage seal for chakra but made for vast amounts - much more than would leak into the seal in a small time. Whilst it is held there a corresponding amount of the hosts chakra is brought in preventing the chakra from corroding the chakra storage seal too quickly and making it more palatable for the host when it is released. It will of course still eventually degrade due to the nature of the demon's chakra but by that time the host should be well into adulthood and should already be accustomed to dealing with the chakra that manages to get through."

Chiyo nodded along with what I was saying, "And you are confident it will work?"

"I certainly hope so." I said with a smile.

Chiyo didn't share my light hearted joke, instead taking a last look through the seal before sniffing, "On your head be it child. I will give my approval to the Kazekage later today, you needn't come to the meeting." she said before making to leave, at the door she turned back, "I look forward to seeing you in the tournament."

Kakashi walked back in after she left.

"I think she's beginning to like me." I told Kakashi

Kakashi let one eyebrow rise comically high but didn't reply.

AN: So this year has been somewhat of an annus horribilis for me but I wanted to try and get another chapter out before the end of the year despite that and it looks like I succeeded if only just. My writing hasn't been the best this chapter because of distractions and the sometimes weeks/months between getting the opportunity to get more done. I don't think/hope that there will be as large a gap between the current chapter and the next one. The next one should be the tournament and that should be fun if nothing else. Please leave a review if you have time it lets me know you're enjoying it and what you're not enjoying so I can change it. Without keeping in practice this year I'm sure much of my writing has gotten worse :)