The last year at the academy I had found out about Sealing and it's application in shinobi life, it was fascinating and something that I tried to learn... downside was there isn't many books that someone who isn't a ranking shinobi could access. What I did find was a book on the basic calligraphy of the seals; how to improve your strokes and such. The sealing was what I'd practice at home, until I happened upon a very drunk genin who seemed unaware of the explosive tag he was showing off, enough ryō for a drink and he happily handed it over, this little happening had lead me to the woods where I would practice copying the tag onto pieces of paper trying to make my own. The premises of sealing meant that I could basically place the seal onto what I wanted and the seal would do it's function if applicable, provided chakra was placed into it. More intricate seals could allow the chakra to act as a timer before activation or having seals release something that had chakra in it to then activate more things... In theory anyways.

The makeshift explosive seal had been drawn close to two hundred times before I tried putting chakra into it, the Calligraphy had to be very pinpoint or else the chakra couldn't correctly flow. I was near the entrance to the village and had decided that would be the best place for my test. The forest like area would be ideal for having no-one around to be injured but close enough to the village that I could get in quickly if I needed for any reason. The seal had been drawn to the best of my abilities using an ink I had been saving for my actual trial run; it had been used before when I thought I'd get it perfect but alas it was going to be today, it was a special ink used in all the frequently seen seals and to me that meant that this had no way of failing. With the area I picked being almost quiet I placed my equipment down and began making the strokes for the seal. Once the seal was done I started to get slightly anxious; what if I had done it slightly wrong, there was a reason people spent years doing theory for this stuff. But I mean, I had already made it and all I have to do is put some chakra into it.

Before I could decide whether to activate it or not a yelp was sounded from nearby it didn't sound to great and it was closer than I would have liked. My instinct had me hide in a nearby tree to try and find out what is happening. I had moved to a tree which was closer to the origin of the sound, clambering into the tree I had peered into the clearing to try and spot anything. When I had a clear look on the situation I was conflicted heavily. Kiba was there, against the tree opposite the one I was parched on, he had clearly been hit into it by the two people standing over him; Akamaru was stationed on the floor having been put out of commission. My first reaction was to attack or get their attention, but that wouldn't result in anything good. There was two and I was alone. I could try separate them but how, my bushin jutsu wouldn't work for long and what would I do after.

As all these thoughts flew through my head a voice stopped it dead "Hey, Kaito get the kid in the tree." As soon as that voice stopped my eyes went wide, one of the people had seemingly vanished and then a hand grabbed my arm and then suddenly I was right next to Kiba the two men in front of me had similar disposition and had almost identical clothing. The outfit consisted of a dark brown flak jacket with red drapes on one leg and one arm, there was a headband which gave me all the realization I needed. These were shinobi of the hidden stone. They shouldn't be this far into the other nations' land. They then spoke again "Kid, you don't happen to know anything about this village here do you? Anything that is worth us sparing your life?"

Now I had been scared before but this was the worst. These people had the means to kill me without even thinking about it, the only reason Kiba wasn't dead is probably because he was spouting his mouth... that was until I had a closer look from the corner of my eye, the man who hadn't spoke yet decided to confirm my suspicions "Yeah that kid is dead, tried to kill us, saying that he was a clan heir. If that was the heir then I'd feel sorry for the rest of those fuckers." The situation became much more serious, they could kill without remorse, and that was a clan heir, someone who had some status. Then there was me.

"What information exactly are you looking for?" It was all I could think of to stall time to think of something. The more info I had the better my chances were.

"Anything that would be useful to an enemy of the Leaf." He had a small smirk when he said that, trying to instill more fear.

"Well by the sounds of how open you are about being enemies of the leaf, how can I be sure that you won't just kill me anyways?"

"If you want we can kill you? But since I doubt that is the answer then I can tell you it is because who is going to believe someone like you. You don't have any status it seems; no particular clothing or attributes that stand out, you might not be involved in anything to do with shinobi but at least we might get something out of you." It was sound reasoning who would actually believe me. But what could I even say.

After a moment of thought I had a plan, it might not work but I'd be dead if I didn't try. "Well I don't know much about it but there is this piece of paper that they give to people like me, then sometimes they just end up gone." I pull out one of my failed explosive tag seals which could hopefully pass of as a new kind of seal "They say that if you ever feel like offing yourself and all that then you can take this to the hospital where they can activate it for you and then it will all be better." It was slightly out there, but they don't know how this village works. I was winging this and going all or nothing.

They took the seal and inspected it. The one who seemed to be the leader had turned back to me "By taking it to the hospital do they mean put chakra into it?"

It felt like interrogation, every word was being analysed and one slip would end it all. "I think something like that, they only give these to orphans and people who can't get into the academy and stuff." This hopefully was convincing enough that I could get a way out.

They placed the seal on the ground before activating a jutsu. Doton: Earth clone! The ground shook slightly while a replica of the leader had emerged and went over to the seal. The clone put some chakra into it before it crumbled into rock. The seal sat dormant for a moment. The more quiet of the two had started growing impatient and picked the seal up before pulsing a large wave of chakra into it before his partner could object. They seemed somewhat disappointed however as nothing happened for another minuet. They turned back to me, suddenly brandishing their weapons. The sword held by the leader was now pointed at my throat.

Before he could declare his anger at the failed seal, the seal had triggered, a small burst of chakra had blown out of it knocking the three of us onto the ground. It was the two Iwa nin who had gotten up first then subsequently screamed as the seal marks had started spreading onto them, from the tag on the floor it had encased the two shinobi and immobilized them. This I took as my opportunity to dash into the shrubbery watching as there was a flash of the seal before two consecutive explosions had reigned through the clearing leaving the area where they stood scorched and littered with a red mist that was settling on the lack of green that was there a few moment prior.

I stayed there in an utter petrified daze. Trying to absorb the recent events that had just transpired. My class mate was killed by two skilled shinobi of the stone, had tried to scare information out of Kiba and myself. Then I somehow bullshitted my way into getting rid of them both. I don't even know how to react at the sight before me and what had happened.

A squad of ANBU black ops and two jōnin had swarmed the area, an unidentified voice told me to come out, and I complied. When I was fully visible to the adults I just stood there unsure of what would happen, some hushed and unintelligible whispers were exchanged between the Jounin and then a woman with long black hair, unbelievably red eyes and a unusual outfit had crouched down to my level "What's your name? We need to know what has happened here okay."

It seemed reasonable so I complied "I am Zuko, I am an academy student." I tried to avoid her gaze which seemed to have a particular draw towards them.

She nodded at my response "Well Zuko, can you come with me, I need you to do something for me." At this point I had no choice and just nodded, then started following her.

When we had just walked into the village the woman must have decided she didn't like the silence as she struck up a conversation "My name is Kurenai Yuhi. Zuko could you tell me what happened? It will help to deal with all of this." She had lead us to a cafe which was just off the main street of konoha.

"Um... Okay, I'm still not entirely sure what happened myself still. But I guess I'll try." We took seats near the back of the cafe and Kurenai had offered a drink of my choosing; when the waiter left to get my water and Kurenai her tea I started my recap. "I was practicing drawing seals to see if I could create an explosive tag. There was a yelp nearby which disturbed my practice. However when I looked there were Iwa nin who had killed Kiba and injured his dog."

I took a break as the waiter returned with the beverages. Kurenai took this opportunity to ask some questions for clarity. "So you knew that these people were from the hidden stone?"

"Yes, they had the headband and I'm assuming uniform, they had asked for any village secrets that could be useful for enemies of the Leaf." The situation hadn't fully kicked in and it was somewhat unreal, talking about it like it was reciting a performance I had watched.

Kurenai looked at me and then asked another question "These shinobi, did they attack you?"

I shook my head "No they had threatened to kill me if I didn't tell them something useful, I questioned them about it but they had said that if I gave them useful information then no one would believe me that some Iwa nin knew secrets, they seemed to think that my social status was an advantage for them"

A look of shock had spread across the young Jōnin's face and I wasn't sure if it was because the shinobi described in the story or me. "They seemed to think it was an advantage? wasn't it?"

I sighed before looking directly at her eyes for the first time "It was the only leverage I had over them really. Unlike Kiba who had said that he was a clan heir, and ended up dead, I had a plan that hinged on them knowing my place in this village. To them I was a nobody who might know dirt on the village and couldn't care less about me." I was given a look to continue when I stopped for a small amount of my drink. "I had tried to convince the shinobi that the village gave these specific seals to people like me, I told them that ones who aren't in the academy and things of that nature were given these tags that we could take to the hospital in case of suicidal thoughts they would then activate the seal and later you would vanish." At this point Kurenai's face was entirely unreadable. "I had given them a seal that I failed to do correctly while practicing it and because it didn't look like an ordinary seal they had used an earth style clone to activate it, it crumpled instantly after and the other nin had pushed his chakra into it directly because of the lack of activation for a few minuets."

She could now see I was hesitating a small amount "Please carry on, I need to know all the details of this, it will be over quicker if you do Zuko."

It wasn't like I had much choice either way in all honesty. "The seal had eventually activated, it trapped them in the seal's calligraphy then I hid, just before they exploded. Then you guys arrived." I was starting to get uncomfortable with the story the more it started to settle.

Kurenai had then said there was one more person I had to see before anything else, so after the drinks I accompanied her to the destination she guided me to. It was only half way through the day when we had ended up at the Hokage's office. Entering it was much different this time. Kurenai had ushered me inside and before the kage and the door was then closed behind as the three of us were now situated in the room. "Hello Zuko, Kurenai. To what do I owe the pleasure, I wasn't aware that you two knew each other?"

Kurenai was the one to respond, making the situation more tense and more serious in a few select words. "Iwa shinobi have killed Kiba Inuzuka, but have been dispatched." This had the elderly man raise an eyebrow.

"That explains the gravity but how is Zuko here involved?" The sandaime had a small look of worry edge onto his features.

"He was there and dispatched them, inadvertently." she added on the last part at the look of pure disbelief on the Hokage's face.

This sparked a conversation akin to the one previously had at the cafe with Kurenai, except it was kurenai doing the recap not me. She managed to make the recap seem shorter than it was at the first retelling of the events. After the two had finished the hokage looked me, his eyes now somewhat more weary, "Zuko, I am sorry that you had to witness such a thing. However you have helped the village a great deal." I felt as if he was just saying something to lift my spirits. With the Konoha shinobi who found us they surely would have done what I did - without any problems - I was grateful for his attempt, but it didn't do what it was intended. He then spoke up again "There is someone you will have to talk to, he will just need to ask some questions; nothing to worry about. Tomorrow come here at midday if that's okay?" I nodded without thought, I wasn't entirely sure with what to think as this day was insane, I wasn't sure if I should tell Naruto or Iruka.

Kurenai had offered to walk me back to my home, I wasn't in any mood to deny it or say anything really. We had just started walking from the Hokage's tower when the young jōnin struck up a conversation. "You're in your last year of the academy, Zuko?" She was looking at me from the corner of her eyes.

"yeah... Graduation isn't far off." I decided to ask her a question. "Why did you become a shinobi Kurenai?"

There was a small pause, "My father was a ninja, and I had always admired him." She left it at that but the way she had said it made me believe that there was more to it. "I know it is probably too early to ask but most shinobi have a specialization, at least by the time they are chunin, any idea on what you are good at?"

I hadn't really thought about it and the question caught me slightly off guard. "I don't really know, I like the idea of Sealing but I can't find any good information about it."

She looked thoughtful for a moment before talking again. "Why does it fascinate you? Sealing is a very niche side of shinobi life, most people just use the conventional ones and buy them. Although one who masters the art is a very formidable."

"I think sealing is more useful than the academy had said it was, they claim that it was only useful for storage and explosives. I think today proved that wrong and also told me why the academy only teach that much about sealing... If you do it wrong it can be devastating."

We neared my apartment building and I turned to Kurenai who started the farewells "Zuko-kun, I hope you don't dwell too much on today. I think you have potential with those seals though..." It felt as if she was considering adding onto her utterances but decided that it was best left there.

"Thank you Kurenai-san I won't worry about what happened too much, I just need a way to tell Naruto that's all." I hadn't thought about Naruto until I had seen the building where we lived. My face began to tense in a thoughtful way while walking towards the top floor.

Over the years at the Academy, the apartment building had begun to fill up slightly. People would be tempted by the lower than usual price but deterred by either the residents (Naruto and I) or the less than ideal standards of the rooms. However some people could not refuse the cheap housing and tended to keep away from the upper floors. Which was slightly stupid in reality; the lower floors were more vandalised because the teens would flock to the abandoned apartment building and mark it or break the glass and such. It seemed that the lower floors were considerably more polluted than the upper ones, while not unscathed, it was noticeably different.

I opened up the door to my apartment and watched as Naruto fell over his feet in an effort to greet me. "Very graceful there, couldn't have done it better myself." I couldn't help but give the sarcastic remark as his antics causing him to look less 'awesome' than he boasts about.

He flung himself up as he retorted "Well only the best of the best can fall over on a flat surface!" His logic baffled me.

I sat down in the kitchen scanning for something quick to eat... And surprisingly enough I found a few instant ramen packs. I begin following the instructions as I try and tell Naruto about Kiba... Even if they weren't on the best of terms I don't think Naruto would take it too well.

"Ne, Naruto, What do you think of Kiba?" I poured water into the kettle as I gauged his reaction to my random question.

He looked over slightly vexed to this, "Did he try anything again?" After I shook my head he carried on. "Well he is okay, we do pranks every now and then, he always gets caught before me though!"

I nodded before responding. I didn't want to set off any of these explosive tags I was walking past... Figuratively, for the most part. "Naruto... Today something happened, and it involves Kiba." It felt slightly different telling it to Naruto than the others, they could infer a lot more than what Naruto could. meaning I had to be blunt.

Naruto nodded in confusion allowing me to tell the tale "I was out practicing my sealing when I saw these enemy ninja attack and kill Kiba." I had tried to keep calm, I had to tell Naruto, he's the kind of person who would have been questioning everyone until he got an answer, and I don't think anyone would want to answer as to why Kiba isn't in class today.

Naruto looked at me, or maybe past me for a few seconds. I hadn't expected this... Naruto blinked and shifted his head slightly more towards me, confirming that it wasn't me originally. "Kiba is dead? But he didn't even become a Shinobi yet." I couldn't do anything but look back.

An uncomfortable silence rolled over and maintained itself. The kettle had started making a high pitched noise, suddenly remebering that it had been boiling the whole time. It had been caught listening to a conversation it had not intended to. The kettle was swiftly removed and poured into the bowl of compacted noodles and powder. "Naruto... I wish I could have done something but they were strong." all I got in response was a nod and everything went back to silence until I had finished my ramen.

"I want to focus on training more... I can't let anyone from my village die. Help and train with me Zuko, I know that if we really go at it we could kick even Sasuke's ass!" He seemed to take the news better than I expected in the end. All I could reply with was

"Sure Godaime Hokage, as you order."

The next day came in fast and I barely had enough time to get completely ready to go to the Hokage tower, nervous to meet the somebody that the Hokage had mentioned. I definitely didn't want to be late. Rushing through the streets bypassing the residents and buildings making my way to the location of today.

I had arrived with eight minutes to spare, so I decided to hover unsure as what I am to do near the receptionist of the tower. After five minutes of staring at all the details of the room I hear a voice "Are you Zuko?" I turned around to the receptionist and nodded "The Hokage is available now." she seemed bored and to prove this she sighed right after.

I had approached the door belonging to the Kage of this village and knocked a few times before hearing a 'you may enter'. Opening the door felt like allowing yourself to peek into a sealed box: you weren't sure if you were allowed to.

Walking in I noticed the presence of the Hokage, positioned dead center, so those who walked in saw his gaze first. Then a man who was taller than that one guy who helped Naruto and I before, wearing all black and as he turned I immediately identified two large scars on his face, which was encapsulated by a bandanna with the konoha symbol for all to see. They now were both looking at me and the Hokage spoke up first, the second man had a steely analytical eye on me. "Zuko-kun here is Ibiki Morino and he's going to ask a few questions about the incident yesterday, okay?" I nodded with a small 'Yes Hokage-sama' all the while Ibiki started walking towards the door motioned for me to follow.

We walked in complete silence before arriving in a different section of the building that was more concrete, less coloured and extremely cold. The shinobi had opened a door and implied that I should go in, to which I complied to the implication. He followed suit and shut the door behind him. I had noticed the simple two chairs, one table and nothing else. Ibiki motioned to the chair and not a moment later it was occupied by me, he then sat on the other side and said two simple words, they resonated loudly and clearly, reaching me but never echoing or giving any thoughts away. "What happened." There was no question, he wasn't giving me the choice all the while letting me remain silent. It was a rigged statement and he needed no effort to talk that way.

I looked a little below his eyes, fearing the type of person that was here. I surmised that this was his job, and he had to be one of the best at it. The question was why was he asking me; surely there are other qualified people to do this. Some that are less... Less intimidating or flawless in their strategies.

Before I could fulfil my thoughts Ibiki interrupts the process reminding me of my silence "Do you have reason not to tell me?" These powerful phrases he used were intense and I started blabbing about the events of yesterday and he kept up, never missing a jumbled sentence, or rushed word. Yet his passive expression showed nothing; I was talking at a brick wall that wouldn't budge.

By the end of my story Ibiki had then started asking questions. "Did these people give any thing about their plans away?"

Almost instantly I responded with "They wanted information... 'Anything that would be useful to an enemy of the Leaf.' They didn't seem to care if I was connected to the shinobi or not."

Ibiki jotted something on a pad that I hasn't noticed at that point. Then looked back to me, "They were capable of ninjutsu including Doton. They wore Iwa clothing. Had intention to threaten Konoha. Killed a clan heir. But Zuko managed to kill them both with a defective seal." While reciting the facts we both new he never blinked, gazing at what felt like my soul, trapped I had no way of looking

away. After what I recall to be 30minuets of intense staring Ibiki stood up and left. leaving me to my own thoughts, something that I had not been able to do this entire time.

I first analyse my surroundings to be sure I'm still in the same place, though with how little there is in the room it would be hard to tell. There wasn't even a clock... which now that I think about it is probably to improve the effectiveness of some of the tactics used here. Something so simple could be used to such a big degree.

With the bland room out of my mind, I began to think about Ibiki. He was really good at this, that was obvious. Which makes me wonder why he was the one to do it. I don't think there are many people better than him when it comes to this area. Meaning that either I was a super big important enemy. Which wasn't the case, the Hokage could prove that for sure. So people involved were important, but there's no way to identify them so they might not have been.

There was more to it then? What did these guys represent: The village hidden in the stone, Konohagakure's biggest enemy (at war times anyway). After saying that it dawned on me. They weren't important it is the implications behind it. Iwa wanted to damage the leaf somehow even in these times of peace. Ibiki was here because they needed the most information as possible to counter this event. It showed that Konoha doesn't like the thought of people disrupting the peace of the village at all. If people start to think there's war then nothing good would happen. We learned that much in history of the Shinobi.

The door had silently opened, unsure if this was a rigged thing where if I left they would place me responsible for all the trouble. I stayed still looking for someone to come in and allow me to leave.

a few moments pass and I decided to try ask if someone was indeed there. "Uh. Did anyone accidentally open a door?"

Silence.

"Uh, Ibiki-san just left without saying anything, so I don't know if I could have left or not."

Another round of silence ensued.

"Well uh, This is kind of weird and I'm gonna try and go home now..." It felt stupid talking to no one, but if I just upped and left when some sneaky shinobi was watching then it would be worse than talking to the void of this room.

I meandered back through the door and followed the steps I took before to get here. Passing by the Hokage office was more tense because the door had (in)conveniently opened as I was nearing it. Probably sending signals that I was supposed to stay and wait, and normally I would have but it had been a few hours there and I was starting to regret not having lunch.

The person who appeared from the door made me let out a breath of relief, which I hadn't noticed I was holding.

Kurenai had just come out of the office, and ended up looking at the sound she noticed coming towards her, the person she least expected was there. Surprise flashed on her face but was gone before I could fully realise it. "Hello Zuko, how are you today?" A nice friendly conversation starter, it was kind of refreshing after Ibiki's minimal vocalizations.

"Hello Kurenai-san, I have been better; do you know Ibiki-san?" It was slightly off hand but I felt like I could tell her about today.

Kurenai just nodded in slight confusion.

"Well the person Hokage-sama asked me to meet was him... Do you think he's scary, or is that... uh just me?

I was slightly uncomfortable with the notion that a shinobi to be was flat out scared, but Kurenai just smiled a little and replied "He prides himself on that. Ibiki is the head of the Torture and Interrogation, but I didn't think he would be the one you had to see." her musings had brought us to the outside.

"I figured it was because the nature of what happened. Kurenai-san have you ever been to war?" The abrupt change caused a shock across her face and at that I elaborated for her sake "Just yes or no, I'm certain the specifics aren't something you want to tell everyone."

Kurenai sighed and gave a simple "yes" before I continued.

"I believe that if something were to happen, if more ninja try take more information from someone else then another war could spawn from it. That's why Ibiki was doing all that. I think so anyway."

"Very astute way of thinking. It is definitely possible." After this we continued to walk for awhile, something becoming more confusing as time proceeded on. I was on my way to the academy at this momentmoment, yet Kurenai was still walking beside me. I had to go back to classes, Iruka already notified about my absence by the Hokage's messenger. But Kurenai had no reason to go that way, she didn't work there. She could possibly be going to a friend's house or somewhere though she would have gone on and said her goodbyes.

"Kurenai-san, I am slightly confused." I looked up at her, in response she glanced at me and asked why.

"Well you seem to be going to the academy, though you don't seem to work there... And I'm certain you're not just following me." Kurenai laughed at the response.

The Jōnin had reminded me of how we met today. After confirmation of that she decided to put a veil over her words. "The Hokage assigned me a special task for the foreseeable future and go aid in this I'm going to the academy." There were noticeable areas that weren't detailed or just left at it's basic level.

I thought of some possible reasons but I would never know unless I asked. "Kurenai-san, are you going to he a Jōnin Sensei?" the Jōnin in question could barely contain her mirth.

"Why do you say that?"

"Your timing of the assignment, the location you are heading to and the fact that you're a Jōnin made me believe that you are a soon to be Sensei." By now we had reached the gates of the academy.

"That is true. I am here to look at potential Genin. Though if you have any information on them, you could tell me. it'll save me some time then."

Kurenai didn't seem like one to cut corners but then again, she hadn't got her team yet, just wanted a little overview of the class. "Sure. I don't see why not, Iruka already is prepared to have me out all day." The young woman nods before suggesting a more relaxing place to talk.

We had wondered to a place nearby, a small park that held a few benches surrounded by foliage and trees rising above them. The few swings and slides dotted around had a red colour with green shades to comply with the traditional colours seen within Konoha. Kurenai had just waited for me to start, I wasn't sure what she wanted me to say. I had decided to tell her about their personality, or what they portrayed in the academy and their placement in the class.

I gave a rundown of all the students; Kurenai only seemed interested or more interested in the Clan heirs and oddly enough Naruto.

Aburame Shino:

Quiet and appears isolated, however seems to get ignored because of his clan. He focuses most his time on academics rather than social aspects.

Akimichi Choji:

Almost always eating and hanging out with Nara Shikamaru. People tend to point out his size although his anger has made it so people have learned not to comment on this. Choji balances his studies with his social life.

Hyūga Hinata:

Anxious and shy. She barely speaks, and no one forces her to. Unlike other Hyūga she doesn't flaunt her relation to the clan. Focused on her studies and seems hesitant in spars.

Nara Shikamaru:

Bored and clever, though he doesn't try much Shikamaru makes sure to stay directly in the middle of the class.

Uchiha Sasuke:

While he used to be more open the lone Uchiha has turtled up and focused only on his shinobi training. He is top of the class and only really seems to respond to Uzumaki Naruto.

Uzumaki Naruto:

Loud and proud. He always pulls pranks to get peoples attention, however he struggles in the academic side.

Yamanaka Ino:

Like most females she has an obsession with the Uchiha, despite this she is one of the top female students. Ino tends to care more about social factors and looks rather than studies it seems.

With that Kurenai had all the info she needed. Posing her thoughts I was about to get up when she asked an odd question: "What is your assessment of yourself?"

I stared at her in confusion before complying to her request. "I possibly focus on too many things, I am middle of the road in class... I'll pass the graduation exam without much problem, the biggest problem being taijutsu..." I trailed off hoping that would satisfy her demands, which she seemed to accept.

"I think you should head into class now, thank you for the information."

With that we parted as I rushed towards the academy.