All Things Being Equal
By I.K.A. Valian
What if Obito had doubts about Madara's plan? How much would everything change if he put a counter plan in motion, in case the Moon's Eye Plan failed, or worse, succeeded beyond all expectations? Honestly, how does he expect one man to stop what could be summed up as the fate of the world?
Chapter Zero-Zero-Two: A Future Hope
"Do you understand the task for which you were summoned?" asked the mud clone.
The man nodded. "I understand. I will make sure the plan you described doesn't fail or exceed its mandate."
"Very well," the clone said. "I will dispel now. You are free to pursue your task in any way you see fit. Should you succeed, you will be sent back. Failure will mean death. Do not fail." Having said that, the clone suddenly let out a sigh as its colors faded and the whole thing turned into a semi solid collection of mud shaped like a man. That mud then slumped into a pile as the last of the chakra left it and gravity took hold once more.
The man, tall with rich brown eyes and sandy brown hair, turned to look behind him. He could still see the nine writhing tails of the red demon that had appeared several moments after the first man literally stepped through space. He watched as the demon roared and destroyed the landscape, as well as the village in the distance that the creature was standing inside of.
As the events destined to happen played out before him, the man opened his mouth, took in a deep, deep breath, and shouted, "FUCK!"
With everything that was happening at that time around the village in the distance and the valley in front of him, it was no wonder that no one ever heard the very loud swear word echoing through the clearing. Some birds that were hiding from the oppressive weight of the great demon's chakra were startled from their havens and squawked loudly as they flew away from the naked man.
The naked man turned and walked away from the cliff side into the forest behind him.
Sitting on the side of the road leading into a deep forest with tall trees, the same man was hunched over a scroll of paper, scribbling words with a brush and ink as best he could. He was no longer naked, now clothed in a rather dingy brown-gray cloak that appeared to be too big for his average frame. Underneath that, he had on a simple gray shirt and pants that was frayed at the edges and was obviously a size too small, as his flat, but undefined stomach showed to any who looked.
Journal.
First Entry.
Day Forty-four.
Today I finally managed to snag myself a couple of sheets of paper. I can finally begin writing about things that have happened to me over the past five weeks. I hope writing down everything that's going on in my head will help me deal with the fact that I'm in another reality.
Holy crap! Yes! It's true!
I've tested to see if I'm dreaming or hallucinating by purposely injuring myself. I nearly lost a hand to a farming tool of some kind, but I'm quite certain now that this is all real. I've tested to see if this is just some elaborate hoax or practical joke. But after watching a bunch of bandits mercilessly slaughtering the innocent farm family before ninjas (real ninjas!) came to chase them off has sufficiently convinced me that this is not a hoax or a joke.
I really was brought into this world by Obito. He really did summon me from home. Home… where this whole world was considered nothing more than a fictional universe. Hell, the author had already finished the story and had released several short sequel one-offs. To find out that this world is real has totally screwed with my head. I spent my first month here performing the experiments written about above and coming to terms with the fact that I'm really here.
It is hard to believe, but I must carry on regardless. Obito, for what it's worth, has promised that I'll be sent home if I complete the "task" he assigned me. He wants me to make sure that his and Madara's plan succeeds, or if it doesn't work as advertised, make sure it fails so that another path can be taken.
The man is clearly insane. I have no chakra, and clearly, have no manner of working against the plans that Obito and Madara set in motion on the day I arrived. How he thinks that I can assure his plan succeeds or fails is beyond my capacity of understanding. That said, I did not mention during my "mission briefing" that I am clearly biased against his plan and will actively work to make sure his plan fails. Not that Obito actually explained what his full plan was, since all he said was "I want to remake this world into a place where no one dies or suffers." But having come from a world where his full plan is known and defeated by a sixteen year old blond boy with blue eyes and a nine tailed demon sealed into him, I'm fairly certain I know far more than he anticipated.
One point for me, on that one, Obitobi.
So, I'm stuck now, in this world of ninja. What am I going to do? Should I look for a way to go home? It might just be that only Tobi has the ability to send me home. No… there is one other person who has the same power as Tobi, even though he doesn't realize it. At this point in time, it's sixteen years or so before Kakashi learns how to use Kamui. Whatever Tobi did, it was related to space and time, which is a Kamui thing, right? If I could somehow speed that process up, then I have a second way to return home and I won't have to screw around with this freaking place.
How do I get Kakashi to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan faster? How can I get him to trust me? And will Kakashi be able to send me home if or when he gets the ability to? Just thinking about these things is making my head hurt.
My goal is to find a way home. One way or another. If I have to sacrifice this world… then so be it. I don't belong here. I shouldn't even be here. I need to return to my own world, no matter the cost.
I should probably be taking this whole thing in baby steps. So the first step to getting home would be… crap… I dunno. I'm so screwed.
At least in the last week I found some good luck. Some guy passed out drunk on the side of the road didn't need this nifty cloak with all these pockets in them. It even had this paper I'm writing on and the ink I'm writing with stored in it. Sure, the thing is a bit large, but it fits and it keeps me warm at night. Because I just watched the Nine-tails assault the village a month ago, I am assuming that I'm in fire country, so it's not that cold. This is fortunate because the other clothes I found drying on a laundry line are a bit too small for me.
In any case, I'm headed toward Konoha. I assume this road I'm on will lead me there. I just hope I can figure out what to do once I get there. That is, if they even let me in.
The man lifted the brush from the scroll and blew on the quickly drying ink. Once it was dry, the man rolled the scroll up and stashed it into a pocket sewn into the inside of his cloak along side the brush and ink well. That finished, the man stood up and started walking down the road toward the forest.
The sky overhead rumbled softly before the pitter patter of water drops hitting the ground started up. In very little time, the rain storm was dropping a steady rhythm of water onto the landscape. Fortunately, for the man, the rain didn't penetrate the tree cover very well.
"Halt!"
The stranger came to a halt and lifted the hood covering his head. He gave a bewildered look as he took in his surroundings. A huge, tall wall with a gate almost as high and wide enough to fit a four lane highway through. A thick, heavy forest on either side butting up against the wall that was higher still than the stories tall trees. The gate was closed now, with two men standing in front of the door.
The two men wore identical uniforms. One was taller than the other, so his green flak jacket and black outfit beneath was several times larger. They also shared a similar expression, one of complete and utter apathy. They clearly didn't care, or didn't seem to care, about what they were seeing. That said, their actions belied their expressions, because both of them had their hands the hilts of a Tanto sword strapped behind their backs and were leaning forward threateningly.
"Konohagakure no Sato is currently not open to civilian traffic. State your name and business and then leave," the smaller of the two men said in a clipped tone that made clear that he wasn't going to be accepting any funny business from the stranger.
The stranger blinked a few times before he ran a hand through the scraggly locks of brown hair haphazardly falling from his head. "I'm not sure my name would mean anything seeing as how I'm just a homeless man. I heard Konoha had jobs available from a merchant I met a while back and considering your villages reputation, it seemed like a worthwhile opportunity." The two ninja guards shared a quick glance but didn't release their swords.
"As I said," the smaller ninja repeated, "Konoha is in a state of emergency. No civilians are allowed in or out at this time."
"Can I wait?" the stranger asked, interrupting the guard.
"We-err, what?"
"Can I wait here?"
"No," the larger guard said suddenly. "Now please leave. There is no place for you here."
The stranger bowed his head, letting the gathered moister from the drizzling rain drain off of his long bangs. "I see," he said. Slowly, the stranger pulled his hood up and turned around. He started walking back down the road.
"Wait!" The stranger stopped and looked back over his shoulder as the smaller man was walking forward.
"Toshiro!" shouted the larger man.
Toshiro spun around and must have gave the larger man a glare. "You heard this guy, Ichise! He's homeless! Even if we can't let him inside, we can't just send him out there alone like this!"
"He got here on his own somehow," Ichise argued, "he can obviously take care of himself! The village is damaged enough as it is, we don't have the resources or the capacity to take in outsiders!"
"Your house was destroyed by that monster, wasn't it?!" Toshiro shouted. Ichise flinched. "How can you accept the hospitality of my wife and I as we accepted you into our home and not be able to show some kind of mercy to those less fortunate that you are?!" Toshiro pointed at Ichise and said in a much lower volume, "We're better than that, Ichise. Konoha is better than that. Even when we're at our worst. I'd expect Cloud or Stone to send people away, but Konoha doesn't and won't."
"Toshiro," Ichise said in a strained and tired voice. "We can't let him in. It doesn't matter if he's homeless. The village has been locked down and for a damn good reason."
"I know that," Toshiro snapped back, "but that doesn't mean that we can't let him stay out here and wait."
"I…" Ichise curled his lips in disgust and then his shoulders slumped. "Fine. Do what you want. But I'm not taking the heat for this from Lord Hokage."
Toshiro rolled his eyes and turned back to the stranger. "I'm sorry, but you can't enter the village. But if you want to wait, you may be allowed in later."
The stranger turned around fully and nodded his thanks to Toshiro. "Thank you. I greatly appreciate that."
Toshiro nodded and moved back to his post standing next to Ichise. The stranger moved to the side of the road where a fallen tree sat conveniently where people could sit on it. There was a guardhouse next to the door where Ichise or Toshiro entered every so many minutes to give updates to someone on the other end of a radio.
"I'm sorry that it took over a week before you were allowed in," Ichise said. "The state of emergency was only just lifted."
"It's fine," the stranger said. "I understand. You were just doing your job and it's not like I can fault you for that. Besides, you already explained that one time about how there were security concerns. No doubt a village as famous as Konoha has many enemies and needs to be on the look out."
"Yeah," Ichise said solemnly. "You know, I didn't think I'd ever get to like you at all. You're not what I'd expect from a homeless man. You're quite well educated compared to the normal riff-raff I've met on missions outside of the village."
"Some say knowledge is its own reward," the stranger said. "Others say that knowledge is power. I believe knowledge is merely a tool that one can use to better their life. The greater your knowledge, the stronger your tool. I'm sad to say that despite my learning, I just can't seem to find any luck out there."
"As you mentioned, there are many bandits and rogue ninja in Kiri," Toshiro said with a nod. "I can see now why you'd find Konoha so appealing."
"Compared to Kiri, Konoha sounded like heaven," the stranger said, "which is odd, considering how many tropical islands that Kiri has under its control. But even a tropical paradise ruled by a tyrant can be a hell on earth."
"Say, Ian, why haven't you gone in yet?" Ichise asked. "The gate's been open for several hours now and you've just been wasting time out here with us." Ian raised an eyebrow as he glanced curiously at large bearded man. "I-uh.. I mean," Ichise spluttered, "that is, you've been waiting for so long that if I were in your position, I'd rush in as soon as I could."
Ian smiled up at the big man. "Of course, but you two have kind of grown on me." Toshiro smirked while Ichise couldn't help but grin broadly. "Plus, gate guard duty has to be pretty boring so I figure I might try to repay your kindness for letting me wait by keeping you company."
"Your help rebuilding the village's damage would be help enough for me," Toshiro said. "It would get this ugly pig out of my house sooner."
"Pig! Ugly!"
"Yeah, yeah," Toshiro said. He closed his eyes and indifferently waved off Ichise's anger with a lazy swing of his hand. "Fine, you're not a pig."
"Hmph, that's be-wait!" Ichise's eyes bulged as he tried to hold in his anger. "Are you saying I'm ugly!" Swallowing loudly, Ichise turned to Ian and grinned while reaching out and punching the smaller Toshiro with one of his fists. Toshiro laughed as he was pushed slightly but didn't stumble. "As you can see, we keep ourselves occupied."
"Go on," Toshiro said, waving Ian into the village through the now village gates. The massive wooden doors were swung open letting the sunlight that was choked off by the canopy over the road in from the village side. "You're homeless right now, so you'll need to find a shelter to register at as a reconstruction worker. Then you'll need to find one of the labor bosses overseeing the work crews to get started. If you follow this road, you should find what you're looking for without any trouble."
Ian nodded and then shook both Toshiro's and Ichise's hands. "Thanks, both of you."
"Hey, if you really want to thank us," Ichise said, "when you get some money, how about buying us a few drinks."
Ian smiled and nodded. After that, Ian, the stranger in a strange land, entered the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Ian pulled out the scroll from the pocket in his cloak and unrolled it. Got to the part where he'd left off last and brought the new pencil he'd bought to bear. The other patrons at the bar, which serviced both shinobi and civilians alike, didn't pay Ian any mind as he sat in a dark corner of the establishment and wrote.
Journal.
Seventh Entry.
Day Sixty-Nine.
I've been a construction worker here in Konoha for two weeks now. As I mentioned before, it took a short while and several helpful people pointing me in the right direction before I found the shelter and the work boss, most of the first day, actually. After that, I sort of fell into the routine that I described last time. All things said, it's not been that bad of an experience so far, building houses for those who were displaced by the rampage of the nine-tails.
Speaking of the nine-tails, I found out the hard way that it's something of a taboo subject around here. Never mentioned it personally, but whenever I ask about what caused all of the damage, people just clam up, change the subject, or tell me to stop asking questions that I'm better off not knowing the answer too.
It's a bit freaky how much control the ninja establishment has in Konoha, but at the same time, at least the ninja aren't indiscriminately killing people just because they can. I met this old drunk guy who used to live in some village that was wiped out a long time ago in the second war. Seems that Konoha actually did the world a service by wiping the 'Village Hidden under the Moss' off the face of the planet. It sounded like it was worse to live there than it would living in Wave under Gato. At least Gato didn't have a whole village of ninja to order around and suppress the people with.
Aside from state sponsored censorship, I can't really find anything to complain about in Konoha. It's hot, sure, but the nights are cool enough to make up for it. The breezes here are awesome, especially on top of the Hokage Mountain, which I was allowed to go up on top of during some kind of civilian allowed ceremony. Civies aren't allowed up there normally for several reasons, the main one being the several high level training areas up there. Not to mention the hidden bases that I know are inside of the mountain, despite them not being so much of a secret as they are just hidden.
Living in the homeless shelter isn't so bad either. Seeing as how the nine-tails destroyed a lot of homes, there are a lot of people that have been displaced. But, rather than get depressed, the villagers I've seen and met during my stay here have been hard working and optimistic about the future. Why wouldn't they?
After all, not three months ago, their greatest hero, Hokage, and ninja defeated the feared nine-tailed fox. At this point, the only thing that the village seemed to fear was another war breaking out because other villages might think that Konoha was weak after the fox attack. And having just finished the third war with Iwa, decimating their foe in the process, it was likely that Kumo would be the attacker. Kumo, of course, hadn't come out of the last war unscathed, while Konoha was riding high and strong still, despite the fox.
The patriotism and nationalism here are astounding. Everyone here fervently believes that they live in the greatest hidden village ever, that Konoha is practically invincible. Everyone is practically jumping over themselves to help and do something to make the village stronger. They then turn around and take pride in their citizenship. A part of me wonders if this wave of pride and willingness to help make this place stronger is simply a reaction to the attack itself. The people here may not want to admit it, but they were hurt by the fox's attack. They were hurt by the death of all their loved ones. They were hurt badly and now everyone is doing whatever they can to help if only to make the pain go away even a little. That's probably why everyone around me is a patriot and a national at this point.
I hope this wave of state supporting emotion wears off soon. I mean, there's nothing wrong with believing in your nation or wanting to help. But the way that most of the people here are putting every ounce of their being into it is disconcerting and a little bit frightening.
At least the kids seem to be oblivious to atmosphere around here. Or oblivious as kids are want to be. They probably can sense the fear and other things flying around, but don't know what it means. I've seen a few kids running around the street on my way to and from work. They're usually laughing and screaming or playing 'ninja' as the game is called. It's a little bit odd to see children running around, throwing things at each other, and then brawling and grappling until they can barely breathe. And then the adults around them are just laughing at the display as if it were normal.
I mentioned this before, but the anachronistic nature of this world is quite astounding. Back home, the manga had examples of electronics such as radios, alarm clocks, televisions, satellite dishes, electric lights, and so on. Now that I'm actually here… I'll just say that I still haven't gotten over how a civilization can have technology on the level of putting satellites into space and yet still transport cargo long distance by donkey and cart. What the hell, world?!
I mentioned last entry that I was thinking about trying Ichiraku. I was hesitant before because if I became a regular there, I know who I'd end up running into sooner than later there. Well, I bit the bullet and had lunch there two days ago. Let me tell you that I've had ramen before. The self boil kind you need a pot for and the instant variety. They have both here, too. The ramen that Teuchi makes at Ichiraku, well, that's set a new standard for my ramen tastes. It's hard to treat myself to an instant ramen meal anymore, because it tastes like shit in my mouth compared to the symphony of flavors that Teuchi can produce with one bowl of Miso Ramen. The man is a ramen cooking GOD!
Most of the people I meet here are very friendly. The work boss was a hardass at first, though after a few days, I warmed up to him. Or rather, he started yelling at me more and I started working more because he found out that I was accomplishing my task faster than anyone else. Actually, I'll be truthfull, I respect the man, but Akahabe is an asshole. I wish he'd take a long walk off a short pier wearing lead shoes. Asshole that he is, the man knows how to build buildings and the pay is good enough to keep me from looking elsewhere for work.
And where else would I work? That's another thing. Once all of this reconstruction is complete, I'm going to be out of work. Toshiro mentioned that if I can't find work again soon after that, then I'll be escorted to the nearest friendly village to find work. Konoha may not be as sadistically evil as other villages, but they don't seem to suffer idle workers either.
Well, here's hoping I can find new work soon. It's already starting to be harder to see any of the damage done by the fox. I think I might be able to find work in the market district from the rumors I'm hearing around the other workers.
I need to save up money and get official citizenship here in the village. Once that's done, I can work on a way to stop Obito, find Kakashi, or whatever other plans I can think up. I'm really just flying by the seat of my pants here.
Ian looked up, his eyes narrowed as his blurry vision took in the rest of the bar. It was loud there for a while but now it was much more empty and it looked like the bartender was closing the place down. Ian pocketed his pencil and scroll before ordering a drink from the bar. After downing the alcohol, Ian left.
"Ouch!"
Ian rubbed the bump forming on his head as he looked up. The sky was pretty and blue and completely empty. Bending down on one knee, Ian picked up the roll of paper that had struck him and inspected it. It didn't take him long, from inspecting the inked designs on the paper, to realize that he was holding a roll of exploding tags.
"Holy shit!" Ian's hands tensed and his hands suddenly became much more jittery. Considering what he held was enough to disintegrate his body, he was understandably scared. Before he could drop the roll of tags though, it fell back into the palm of his hand and he grabbed it.
Looking up again, Ian searched the sky once more. "I wonder who dropped this? Eh… I better give this to someone who knows how to handle it."
Several minutes of walking later, Ian found himself at the gate he'd entered several weeks before. As before, he found Toshiro and Ichise guarding it. They waved at him as he approached, and Ian waved back with a friendly smile.
"Ian," Ichise boomed. "What brings you out here? You're not leaving yet, are you? I don't have my apartment back so I know construction isn't complete."
"No," Ian said. He handed the roll of tags to Toshiro. "Someone dropped this and it hit my head. I thought it would be best to hand it over to someone who knows what to do with it. Plus, I wouldn't want to set them off and blow myself up accidentally."
"I can see your concern," Toshiro said with a smirk as he pocketed them. "So have you found any other work? I know Ichise hasn't got his place yet, but there can't be much construction left to do. It'd be a pain to have to find some other civilian that's willing to put up with Ichise and buy us drinks every now and then."
"Hey…" Ichise said, feigning indignation. "I am not the one who drives off unsuspecting victims."
"Haha," Ian snarked. "Laugh it up, but I know you two would miss me for more than the free booze you get."
"Haha," Ichise laughed. "Of course. You're a good guy, Ian. I'd hate to see you go."
"Yeah, well the market was a bust. Akahabe has made it more than clear that he hates my guts and never wants to see me again. I secretly think he doesn't know how to be nice at all and that was his way of saying he'll miss me too. The different shipping companies that run out of here don't have any openings, though they say I might have more luck in the capitol. Everything else is run by ninja here, including the police and the bureaucracy, so I've pretty much run out of options. Unless I can find something, anything, I'm out."
"Damn man, that sucks," Ichise said.
Suddenly a thought entered Ian's head. "Hey, do you know how hard it is to make those?" Ian pointed at Toshiro's bulging pocket. "It can't be that hard, right?"
"I don't think you'll get very far with seal making," Toshiro said. "It takes years to master and you kind of need to have minimal training as a ninja to even perform it."
Ian tilted his head and crossed his arms. "So then how did anyone know how to work seals before there were ninja?"
"I… I don't know," Toshiro said. He glanced at Ichise, but the big man was just as clueless. "Okay, I guess it's worth a shot, but I doubt you'll even get in the front door. There are several seal makers in Konoha, all of whom work under one Seal Master, who supply the ninja with explosive tags. He sells them to us at a discount and they're damn good quality. Thing is, he's a bit of a recluse, so you'll need to go to the Admin Building to request a meeting with him."
"Lots of security for a seal maker, don't you think?" Ian crossed his arms over his chest.
"Of course," Ichise said with a vigorous nod. "If anyone messed with the seal maker, then our exploding notes or sealing scrolls wouldn't work. It would be a breach of security and our ninja would be in a lot of danger. Exploding tags are pretty useful, after all."
"I guess that makes more sense," Ian said, nodding. "So I need to go request a meeting with this seal maker, then. I'll get right on that. Thanks!"
"Good luck," Toshiro called out as Ian walked away.
"Do you think he'll make it?" Ichise quietly asked Toshiro.
"Not a chance."
"Bet fifty Ryo he makes it."
"You're on."
The old man with one arm handed Ian a rather large and ponderous scroll. He eyed Ian suspiciously before he turned and walked away. Ian held his grumbling in check, just in case the old man had ninja hearing. What kind asshole hands a prospective student a scroll and walks away?
Regardless of Ian's personal feelings on the matter, he toted the scroll back to the public library, which wasn't very thick on reading material. There he set the thing down and opened it. There he ran into his first problem.
"How the hell am I supposed to learn this shit if I can't read the damn language?" he muttered to himself.
"Hello. Do you need assistance?"
Ian looked up to find a young woman looking down at him. He recognized her from the front desk of the library. She must have noticed him pulling on his hair and mumbling to himself.
"My name is Mebuki," she said as he came to a stop next to him. "Can I help you?"
Nodding, Ian pointed down at the scroll and said, "I'm trying to learn sealing, or whatever else I can from this scroll, and I think I'm going to need a dictionary to translate."
"Oh dear," Mebuki said. She was clearly skeptical and expressed her incredulity by asking, "Don't you know how to read kanji?"
"It's been so long that I've forgotten," Ian said, shaking his head. "I've been homeless for a… long time. I can't remember the last time I read anything of importance. Usually I just follow my nose to food and ask others to point me toward a barn or some place to sleep. At least, when I'm around civilization." A light of recognition went on in Mebuki's eyes. She seemed to consider Ian with a small amount of pity now. "I really like it here in Konoha though, but I don't really have any skills to speak of. I asked the Seal Master here in Konoha to give me a chance of being his apprentice, but then he handed me this monstrosity and walked away. I can't even make heads or tails of these characters and it's driving me nuts."
"Hmm…" Mebuki tapped her chin. "I believe I have an idea. How long exactly do you have until you must prove your knowledge?"
"I believe the time limit is four months," Ian said. "But I'm not sure, the people at the Hokage Tower weren't very clear on that matter. And the Seal Master never said a word the whole time."
"Well, my idea was that you could ask for permission to drop in on the academy first years and listen in on the class, but that would take too long and they wouldn't teach you everything you need to know fast enough." Mebuki slumped her shoulders and sighed dramatically. "I guess a dictionary is the only option." As the blond walked away, she muttered, "And here I thought working as a librarian would be easier than being on active duty."
Ian, once again in that bar, sat scribbling onto the scroll with his much shorter pencil. The bar was rather quiet that night, which might have had something to do with the next shipment of booze coming in on the day after. A bar light on alcohol was a bar with little business.
Journal.
Thirty-fifth entry.
Day two-hundred and seven.
Tomorrow's the big day. It took nearly all of the four month grace period to figure it out, but I believe I have the basics worked out. The irony of this situation is that the scroll that old fart gave me was next to useless. That first month I spent translating it was a waste of my time and eventually, Mebuki had to find me a completely different book on the basics of sealing. This whole situation has been just ridiculous.
That said, I'm finally ready to explain my secret to sealing that I've developed. It seems that, despite the fact that I can understand what everyone is saying, the written language is closer to that of Asia back home. Lots of characters and different meanings assigned to different strokes, and so on and so forth. It's much more complicated than English, which is the secret to my own sealing technique.
It turns out that, for whatever reason, when you write words onto paper with chakra laced ink, the words hold power. Exploding tags, for instance, are based around the simple kanji for "Explode". Around that kanji are instruction as well as 'grooves' through which chakra can travel that determine how and when that "Explode" kanji activates.
Well, naturally, I tried to make my own with kanji and it failed. Horribly so. I tried copying an exploding tag that had already been created and in doing so I nearly blew myself up. It didn't help that the scroll the old man gave me went up with that failed tag. If I couldn't understand what the hell I was writing, then I had no hope of ever being able to make seals.
I had such a difficult time with this kanji crap that I finally tried writing the thing out in English. At least then I could figure out what I wanted the tag to do before I translated it back into kanji. Really, it was an accident that I discovered that English words hold the same power as their kanji counterparts. I'd mistakenly used the chakra laced ink to write the tag out in English, mostly from my own stupidity. The results were… amazing!
I wrote the word "Explode" in the middle of the tag and then drew a circle around it with the words "not until". I really had to stretch the letters of the limit so that it made a circle around the word explode. Then I drew a line from the 'not until' circle to the words "five seconds after charged with chakra" at the bottom of the tag.
At the time, I thought this was a useless practice tag written with regular ink. I was going to use it as a stepping stone to using kanji. It was a few days later, while showing Mebuki my work, that I learned what I'd done. She must have leaned on it or something, because five seconds after we both got up from the table, the table promptly exploded.
It was the most awesome ball of fire I've ever seen. It took me a week to figure out which tag had gone off, but when I did, I was so excited that I made ten more of them. Then I asked Mebuki to help me test them. We traveled to a training ground in a wooded area where she attached the tag to a kunai, primed it, and promptly hurled it at a tree.
We watched the kunai sail at the tree while internally I was counting to five. When I reached five, the ball of fire that was created snapped the tree in half. I was grinning like an idiot the whole time as Mebuki was congratulating me on a job well done. I don't know what I would have done without that woman helping me. I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. Haruno Mebuki is a freaking angel and the best damn reference librarian I've ever met, bar none. A former ninja to boot, which just makes her a badass bookworm, if nothing else.
It has not escaped my attention that the woman helping me is the mother of Haruno Sakura. In fact, when Mebuki asked me to have dinner at her home in celebration of my success with the tags, I met Sakura. She was a little over one year old and, yes, she had really pink short hair. Kizashi, Mebuki's husband, had dark pink hair himself, so it's clear which side of the family the pink came from.
Kizashi is still a ninja, though over dinner he proclaimed through a slew of bad, corny, and off color jokes that he wanted to leave active duty so that he could pursue other activities. What those were, he didn't say, but I got the feeling that it wasn't something very productive from the glare that Mebuki gave her husband. Sakura's response at the time, and I quote, was "blablblb". She also drooled.
The girl may be nearly a year and a half old, and she sure was a cute baby, but she didn't look anything like the future student of Tsunade. I dunno, maybe it's the drool and the blank expression, but I got the feeling she wasn't all there at the time. You know how some babies have that curios, wide eyed, studying-everything-they-look-at 'look' in their eyes when you study them. Yeah, not Sakura.
Other than becoming some kind of friends with the Haruno's, life's not going so bad. It's a good thing I got this… almost apprenticeship? …with the seal maker when I did. When I look back on it, four months ago was about when they finished the construction. Right now, since I was 'in the running' as it were, I was receiving a small stipend from the village itself. Ostensibly, they were making sure I survived long enough for them to evaluate if I had what it took to make seals. Clearly, my success at making the exploding tag is proof that I do have what it takes, even if I don't have any chakra to use myself.
If all goes well tomorrow, I can introduce a new type of exploding tag tomorrow. Apparently, kanji has a hard time with what English uses adverbs for. So in order to get a bigger explosion, they have to do some fancy writing where as all I have to write is "Big Explosion" in the center. I already tested one of these awesome new tags and the results blew my socks off.
Actually, I don't wear socks anymore. It's the middle of spring and it's already so damn hot out. I thought it was supposed to be relatively mild here based on how the weather was when I arrived. Turns out, that was fall. And winter here in the land of fire, it turns out, doesn't get any worse than the lower seventies during the day and the lower fifties at night. That's winter. Spring, you're going to be uncomfortable. Summer, prepare to sweat to death.
So, I suppose, it would be better to say that the "Big Explosion" tag blew my sandals off. All it really did was utterly destroy one tree and create a small crater. Mebuki was speechless for a full minute at the amount of destruction while I was just grinning like an idiot. Such a spectacular success, the new tag. According to Mebuki, these types of tags were marginally more expensive to buy, from her experience, which leads me to believe that the kanji version of the tags must need a lot more work put into them to get the same effect. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to look at one of these big explosion tag kanji versions, so I have no idea what the comparison is.
Ian looked up at the tap on his shoulder to see the bar owner giving him the 'eye'. Ian grinned and immediately started cleaning up. The bar owner, a rather nice fellow by the name of Aeon, was rather considerate most of the time. He just didn't like Ian spending time in his bar without buying anything. Fortunately, Ian had done so before starting on his writing.
"So, what do you have to show me?" the seal maker said. "And where's my scroll?"
"Uh… hehe, it kind of blew up."
"You fail."
"What?!" Ian ran in front of the one armed old coot to stop him from walking away. "What do you mean I fail? You didn't even find out if I succeeded in making any of the tags."
"If you can't take better care of your resources, it doesn't matter to me," the old man said with a glare. "Now get the hell out of my way. I've got business to deal with." With that the old man shoved past Ian and quickly walked away.
"That… That…" Ian clenched his shaking fist and screamed up into the sky. "That asshole! I'll show him! I'll just outsell him! Then I'll put him in a retirement home where they tell him everyday how old he is and how he shouldn't strain himself by moving too much. Mwahahahahaha!"
Ian noticed he was attracting the attention of a few people passing by him in the street. Thinking nothing of them, Ian spun on his heel and stalked away. Ian quickly found his way to the Hokage Tower, where upon entering, he walked right up to the administration ninja at the front desk.
"I want to see someone about selling explosive tags!" Ian said.
The ninja at the desk blinked twice before he slowly said, "Sir, we already receive explosive tags from our own seal maker here in Konoha. But if you'd like to see if you could work with him, then you'll need to fill out an application and then contact him to see if he's willing to take you on."
"I already tried that," Ian said. "The guy's a grade-A asshole. Wouldn't even let me show him how I could make bigger explosive tags cheaper, just walked off. I personally think he's gone senile. No, I want to see someone about competing with that guy."
The admin ninja just stared at Ian for five seconds before he made a motion with his hand. Two ninja appeared on either side of Ian and grabbed his arms. As they hauled him outside, Ian realized he wouldn't be able to do this in a straight about way. Fortunately, an idea came to him even as he was walking away from the tower.
"Let me get this straight," Toshiro said. "You want me to get you in to a meeting with the Hokage so you can sell your services as a seal maker?"
Ian nodded happily with a grin. "Yep."
"Oh, I don't know," Toshiro said, tapping his chin in exaggerated thought. "How about, not in this life time?"
"What?" Ian cried out. "Why not? I've bought you tons of booze and I'm offering to give you a lifetime supply of exploding tags! Free tags! That's got to mean something, yeah?"
"Oh, come on Toshiro," Ichise said, ribbing the smaller man with his elbow. "It's not like it would hurt to just introduce him. Besides, Lord Hokage might just be interested."
"I know he'll be interested," Ian said. "I've got Booms, Big Booms, and my special happy tag, the Big Bada Boom. Three different levels of explosions and force, all made with similar amounts of effort so they're all the same price!"
Toshiro snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it. In the mean time, my answer is n-What's that?" The exasperation in Toshiro's voice was evident when Ian pulled out three slips of paper. "What? You brought them here?"
"You said you'd believe it when you see it," Ian said. "So, take these, and go explode a tree, or something. I'll be staying at the shelter one more night. You can tell me when I'm meeting the Hokage in the morning, alright? See ya!"
Before either gate guard could respond, Ian turned and quickly walked away. Ichise smirked as he watched Toshiro guardedly looking down at the three slips of paper with characters that neither of them had ever seen before. With a sad groan, Toshiro pocketed the tags and went back to staring out at the forest.
"You do realize that if the Hokage accepts this, that you owe me-"
"Shut up," Toshiro snapped.
"Hehehe," Ichise snickered. "Twenty thousand Ryo, here I come."
"Lord Hokage."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from the paperwork he was signing and focused on the young woman who was now his new secretary. He only had a few months of "retirement" before he was saddled with another person waiting on him hand and foot to make sure he got this damnable paperwork completed. If nothing else, he cursed Minato to hell for going off to be heroic while leaving him, an old man, to deal with this curse.
"Yes?"
"Lord Hokage, Yonichi Toshiro is here to see you," said his secretary. She had her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, which in conjunction with the formal clothing, made her look the part of a very pretty and responsible Kage's secretary. "He wasn't in the schedule, but he insisted that he meet with you as soon as possible. Would it be possible for you to see him now before you meeting with your advisors?"
"Of course," Hiruzen said. He went back to signing the paper in front of him. "Send him in."
"Right away, Lord Hokage," she said, with a short bow. Moments later, the brown haired Toshiro walked in. He gave a short bow and then stood tall, waiting for the Hokage to recognize him.
"Toshiro," Hiruzen said. He finished with the paper in front of him before he sat back in his chair and cast a studious look at the chunin in front of him. "What brings you here today? Has there been a development at the southern gate?"
"No, Lord Hokage, nothing like that," Toshiro said. "I'm here because I have a friend who would like to meet with you. He wishes to sell you his services as an explosive seal maker."
"I see," the Hokage said. "Unfortunately, we already have a explosive seal maker who is fairly competent and capable despite his handicap and age. I would be remiss to contract the services of your friend and put a man who's served Konoha faithfully for forty years out of business." The Hokage took in Toshiro's reaction and nodded to himself. "But you knew that already."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
"So then, you came here in the hopes that you could curry favor for your friend," Hiruzen shook his head. "Unfortunately, I cannot contract just anyone's friend that comes along. Doing so would lead to corruption in the system, which I've worked a long time to keep out of Konoha."
"I understand, Lord Hokage," Toshiro said. "But…"
"But?"
Toshiro swallowed loudly. "I mean… You should see his work for yourself to understand. I didn't believe his claims myself until I actually tested out the work. Having done so, I know without a shadow of a doubt that his explosive tags are not only better, their cheaper. The explosions are larger. The tags themselves are less prone to shorting out and going dud. And also…"
"Also?"
"It must be the new sealing language he's using, because I can't understand how it works. It looks like he's just writing random lines and shapes, but the seals actually work!"
Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but even with your glowing review of your friends work, unless he's vetted by my staff and approved by our current seal maker, then I can't accept him."
"Would it be possible for you to come to a demonstration then?" Toshiro said.
Hiruzen rubbed his forehead. Toshiro was just not giving up. Either this friend had a way with words or the new tags were that impressive. With a dismissive wave of his hand, Hiruzen said, "Talk with Tetis and schedule it for later. I've got another meeting to attend now."
"Of course, Lord Hokage," Toshiro said with a bow. "Thank you."
"Are you sure he'll be here?"
Toshiro's left eyebrow twitched from his seated position on the ground. Behind him was line of trees and in front of him a clearing, through which Ian was walking back and forth. Toshiro chose to ignore Ian, once again, because he'd asked the same question now at least forty times.
"Damn it," Ian said as he paced forward only to spin around and go back the way he'd come. "He's not here yet. What could have happened? He's old right? Maybe he forgot? Or he had a heart attack or something!"
"I may be old, but I'm not dying," said the Third Hokage as he landed on the ground in the clearing. Ian turned to the Old Hokage, who was now wearing his hat and robe, regalia of office. The young man grinned at the old man.
"Oh good," Ian said. "I was worried you wouldn't make it."
"You must be Toshiro's friend," Hiruzen said with a nod. "It's a pleasure to meet you. From Toshiro's words, I am under the impression that you are some kind of sealing wizard."
Ian glanced over at Toshiro, who looked right back. Finding no answer there, Ian turned back to the Hokage and shrugged. "I don't know about that, but I do know I can create explosive tags that pack ten times the power as a normal tag does now, at the same cost of production."
"I find that hard to believe," Hiruzen said. "The sealing arts can improve the explosive yield of a standard explosive tag, true. But to increase it to such a degree would require nearly as much time crafting the seal itself, to contain the power and make sure it doesn't accidentally go off."
"That would be where my own brand of sealing comes into play," Ian said. "But first, I would be foolish not to introduce myself. My name is Ian. Before you ask, I don't have a family name. I want to thank you for this opportunity."
Hiruzen nodded and walked forward. There were several shifts in the trees that sounded like the wind blowing and rustling the leaves. With a genial smile, the Hokage held his hand out and Ian shook it. "It's nice to meet you, Ian, as you no doubt have deduced by now, I'm the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen. Now let's see about these tags. I have a hot meal waiting for me and I'd like to get to it as soon as possible."
"Of course," Ian said with a grin. He pulled out three slips of paper and handed them to the Hokage. "These are the three variants of explosive notes I've developed. I was tasked by that old coot to use some scroll he gave me to learn to make explosive notes using kanji. Unfortunately, I couldn't work with kanji, so I made my own sealing language up. It works much better."
"You made up your own language?" Hiruzen asked incredulously as he inspected each of the seals. He couldn't make heads of tails of the marks on the slips of paper, but he did recognize the general ordering of symbols and lines. Each appeared to be the same kind of explosive note, though each one had something extra added to the core seal. "I assume that the difference in the core of each seal is what differentiates the yield size?"
"That would be correct," Ian said with a happy smile. "If you want to do the honors, you can see for yourself."
"Mmm," Hiruzen hummed in agreement. He selected the tag with the least amount of writing in the core and charged the paper with chakra. The paper immediately straightened to the point that it could be used as a kunai itself. "It has the standard five second delay, correct?"
"So far, that's all I've managed to perfect," Ian said. "Countdown will begin as soon as you cut your chakra off."
Hiruzen nodded and flicked his wrist. The tag sailed through the air with a sharp whistle and embedded itself into the ground with enough force to dig halfway into the ground. Five seconds after release, the tag exploded, sending chunks of the ground into the air. It was comparable to the explosive yield of the standard tags they currently used, which was acceptable. Hiruzen nodded and pulled the second biggest core seal to throw.
"That's about five times as powerful as the one you just threw," Ian said as the Hokage charged the slip of paper and flicked his wrist, this time sending the tag farther away. The explosion that followed created a crater a meter deep and created a sharp gust of wind. The Hokage studied the affect with interest and nodded.
"You were right, Toshiro," Hiruzen said. "It's hard to believe without seeing first." The Hokage took the last tag and charged it with chakra. He was about to throw it when he noticed Ian quickly walking back to the tree line and hiding behind one of the trees. Toshiro wasn't far behind.
"Lord Hokage, the Big Bada Boom is… big," Toshiro said. "If you don't wish to find cover, then I suggest rooting yourself to the ground before you set it off. From experience."
"I'll keep that in mind," Hiruzen said with a wry smirk. It couldn't be that bad. With a flick of his wrist the third tag went sailing into the clearing. Five seconds passed and then…
Ian stood, his head lowered toward the ground, next to Toshiro, who also stood with his head down. Before them, behind the Hokage's desk, sat Hiruzen with bandages covering almost his entire body. Everything except his face, which was grim as death.
"I'll have you know that if the doctors in Konoha weren't the best physicians in the world, then I would be dead," Hiruzen said, his voice hard as stone, biting as a razor blade. "Frankly, the potential of this new sealing method is as frightening as it is intriguing. That such an explosive tag could be created from such simple markings boggles the mind, but only goes on to prove the point that the sealing arts are not static, let alone fully explored. However, explosive tags are not the only thing that can be created with the sealing arts, and as such I believe your talents would go to waste if you were to restrict your efforts. Therefore, I'm not going to contract you, Ian, as a seal maker for explosive tags. Instead, I'm going to grant you a civilian position in the Konoha Sealing Corps."
"I… Wait." Ian looked up at the Hokage and blinked as he tried to take in everything that the old man had just said. "So… just like that? I nearly get you killed and you can… not hold it against me and let me stay in Konoha just like that?"
"Believe me," Hiruzen said evenly, his voice gravely. "If you showed any less talent at sealing than you do, I would have kicked you out. Your efforts to improve the explosive tag were simplistic in design, but dangerously unrestrained. By your own admission, you only started studying the art of sealing four months ago. Anyone, let alone a civilian, who could, in such a short time, not only develop their own sealing language, simplify a known seal design, and strengthen a basic explosive tag to such a degree without over burdening the seal itself, is worth holding onto. No, beyond that."
"I uh…" Ian coughed into his hand and straightened a little. "Thank you."
"That doesn't mean I'm letting you off the hook," Hiruzen said. "This contract with the Sealing Corps is non-negotiable. You will serve with the corpse for a minimum of three years. You will learn how to control your seals and further develop your new language. After that time, you will not only be developing safer exploding tags for Konoha shinobi at a discount for the next ten years, you will also forfeit the rights to any new seals you produce in that time to Konoha. Breaking this contract is ground for incarceration or marking for assassination."
Ian coughed. Made a small choking sound. Then struggled to get out the words, "Th-thank you… Lord… Hokage."
Hiruzen smiled. How he loved his job sometimes. He turned his attention to the chunin standing next to Ian. "Toshiro, I'm assigning you a month long D-rank mission that will run whenever you are in the village. The mission is to assist Ian here in assimilating into the village. He'll be staying here for quite a while now."
"Of course, Lord Hokage," Toshiro said quickly. The relief that he wasn't being punished as severely for nearly getting the Hokage killed was evident in his voice.
"Also," Hiruzen said slowly, enjoying the way Toshiro shivered and cringed of his shoulders at the drawn out syllables. Wow, he was in a sadistic mood today. It might have something to do with an explosion so large it blew him, and the ground his feet were stuck on, into the forest and through several trees. "After that mission is complete, I'm making you the go to man for testing any new seals that Ian here comes up with."
Toshiro whimpered, but remained silent. The Hokage smiled. His work was done here. "Very well, you're both dismissed. And congratulations on becoming an official citizen of Konoha, Ian."
Ian quickly went from contrite to grinning like a loon. For a moment, a split second in time, Hiruzen wondered if he'd just made the biggest mistake of his entire life. Bigger than letting Orochimaru get away, even. But that moment passed when Ian gave the Hokage a thumbs-up and left the office.
"You must be Ian," said a young woman with her pale purple hair curled up into a bun on her head, kept there by some sort of set up involving her Leaf Forehead Protector. She glanced up from the folder in her hands and cast her green eyes at the brown haired man in front of her. "My name is Tamasake Michiko."
Ian blinked a couple times before he did his best to smile. "My name is Mich-Ian. Sorry. Wait. You already know that. I- uh…"
Michiko watched Ian splutter for several more seconds before a small smirk grew on the corner of her lips. Reaching out she placed a hand on Ian's shoulder and waited for him to calm down as she stared into his eyes. When he finally was calm, she smiled.
"See, that wasn't too hard, was it?"
"I… don't know what you're… talking about," Ian haltingly said, straining very hard to keep his composure.
Michiko didn't stop smiling as she turned and motioned for Ian to follow her. She led him back out of the Hokage Tower, where they'd met up, and started down the road toward the Hokage Mountain. It wasn't that long of a trip, since the mountain was almost directly adjacent to the tower.
Once they arrived, she led Ian through a door set into the rock at the base the mountain. Inside the door was a long hallway cut into the rock with electric lights over head. As they continued down the corridor deeper into the earth, Michiko cleared her throat.
"I hear the only reason you weren't executed for what you did is because you impressed Lord Hokage with your little demonstration," she said glancing back over her shoulders. This time, Ian could do nothing to stop his face from turning red as he pressed his lips together. When she noticed this, Michiko giggled. "You must have really pissed him off to get sent to the Sealing Corps. Even for a civilian, this is pretty much a dead end. I feel sorry for you, almost."
"Uh… I… Thanks? I think?" The two fell into an easy silence as they continued to walk down the hallway. "So, uh… are you my bo- I mean, are you in this… Sealing Corps too?"
"Oh, no, sorry," Michiko said. "I'm just an admin who runs around the village, delivering reports, processing paper work, and so on." She laughed lightly, though Ian detected a very slight undercurrent of bitterness. "I'm not that important when it comes to the big pictures. You'll probably only see me again if we run into each other when I'm picking up or delivering a report to the Sealing Corps."
"I see…" Ian said. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "That's too bad, then."
"What was that?" Michiko asked.
"Oh, uh… nothing," Ian said quickly.
The two eventually reached the end of the long hallway and found only one door there. Michiko didn't hesitate to open the door and enter the next chamber with Ian close behind. He paused as Michiko moved off to the side to converse with the blond secretary behind the desk there. While he waited, he studied the room, which wasn't that much more than a large room with several rows of chairs, much like one would find in a waiting room at a doctor's office. At the far end of the room was a closed door with a small pad mounted on the wall next to it.
"Ian?" Ian turned to Michiko. She gave a slight bow and smiled at him. "I hope you have a pleasant stay here. Maybe we'll see each other again."
"Oh, sure, yeah," Ian said. "I'd like that."
Michiko smiled at him as she turned and left. This left Ian alone in the waiting room with the secretary, who was ignoring him easily enough. Ian spun around once on the spot, and then froze as he noticed the high window on the wall. He could see through the wall, which was only about a foot thick, to the outside.
"How in the hell?" Ian muttered. "It nearly took a whole five minutes to walk through that hallway!"
The door on the other side of the room opened at that moment. Ian turned around and was confronted by a elderly gentleman with graying hair, a small beard, and a leaf forehead protector. The man's piercing stone cold blue eyes studied Ian for several seconds before he motioned toward Ian to follow. As soon as Ian entered the next room, the door closed by itself.
"This is the Seal Corps R&D laboratory," the old man explained. They both stood on a long catwalk that ran above a very spacious cavern that had been carved out of the bedrock. Below them were several sections that were walled off by large, thick walls made of solid rock. In each section were several devices or arrays, likely being tested, but the whole place wasn't teeming with scientists. In fact, after counting, Ian only found five, besides the old man and himself. "My name is Tanaka Hataka. Yes, I know it sound funny, and yes, I've punished my parents thoroughly. I'm the Seal Corps Chief of Operations, chunin rank, and I report directly to the Hokage. Any requests he makes come through me and any issues you have go through me. Got that?"
"Yeah, sure," Ian said distracted as he continually looked over the side of the railing to down below.
"Normally, civilians aren't allowed in here," Hataka said testily, "however an exception was made in your case due to your… aptitude. I've asked our best seal adept, Senan Chihiro, to assist you in developing your talents as fast as possible. Please appreciate the fact that this is taking time away from her own, very important projects."
Attention drawn back to Hataka by the man's patronizing tone of voice. With narrowed eyes, Ian remained silent as the two of them reached the end of the walkway and descended down the stairs cut into the wall there. Once they reached the bottom, Hataka motioned for Ian to stop while he walked off into the huge room and disappeared behind one of the huge, couple story tall stone walls.
Moments later a disgruntled looking woman, who couldn't have been older than her mid twenties, walked out from the same place that Hataka walked in. Her eyes were half lidded and it was clear from her slouch and the scowl on her soft looking pink lips she was irritated. The irritation was made all the clearer by how she had her fists clenched.
Despite these clear warning signs, Ian only noticed three things about the woman. Her eyes were the purest sapphire he'd ever seen. Her long hair was a bright, attention attracting pink, though not as bright as Sakura nor as dark as Kazashi. And finally, she was blessed with the largest pair of 'girls' Ian had ever laid eyes on. These girls, despite being held in check by a rather tight looking body suit, were more than obvious.
The woman stopped in front of Ian and let out a disgusted grunt. "Men, I swear. You're all pigs!"
Ian, realizing his situation, quickly looked up into the stormy blue eyes glaring daggers at him. A sheepish grin spread across his face as he coughed in a failed attempt to cover for his actions. The woman was having none of it, though.
"You?!" she shouted. "You are the one who almost got Lord Hokage blown up?! YOU!"
"I… take it that you're, Chihiro," Ian said, forcing himself to focus on her face.
"Hmph," Chihiro snorted contemptuously. "If there's one thing I hate more than anything else in this world, it's perverts! Let's get one thing straight, Mr. Hokage-killer! I don't like you! The only reason that I'm even lowering myself to help a civilian, let alone a perverted civilian pig like you is because I was ordered to, by the Hokage himself! Got that?!"
Ian blinked once. Twice. Then said, "Did you know your eyes light up really pretty when you express your anger?"
Chihiro took a step back, as if struck. Her shock turned into anger and her fist curled up just as fast. Before Ian knew what hit him, her fist was buried in his face.
A/N: Wow… when I wrote this chapter, from what I can remember, I just kept going, and going, and going. Over eleven thousand words! The inspiration behind this character was someone who couldn't be a shinobi, literally, but was still able to affect the world at large, because one, he knew a future, and two, he had Fuinjutsu.
Let me know what you guys think of this idea in a review!
~I.K.A. Valian