Ninko Chapter 11: Of Growth and Order, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto Universe.

Author's Note at the end of the chapter.

Ninko, Chapter 11: Of Growth and Order.

…drip…

All was silent, except the endless prattle of water. Drop after drop, moment after moment. For all It's time in It's host, the sound was the only constant.

…drip…

The sound echoed in the vastness, suffused every corner, even where the light had surrendered to the consuming shadow.

And yet It stirs, and red vulpine eyes survey the darkness. Nine tails twitch, and the silence is disturbed as they dance across the water.

White teeth - sharp and pointed, those of a predator - spread into a sick parody of a grin.

'Ah, how these apes grow. From helpless kits to helpless youths in heartbeats…'

…drip…

'The haste…how quaint. Shall this ape grow in time to meet the Dawn?'

…drip…

'Eh, I suppose that will suffice. Don't want to break the kiddies too much.'

"Alright, that's enough!"

As though on cue, a chorus of pops and puffs of smoke filled the clearing. Mitokado Hiyori dropped down from her perch in the trees, her scroll omnipresent scroll strapped against her back and her fingers covered in cuts and dried blood. Her breathing was labored, and her clothing was torn; small branches and leaves came out of her hair as she descended. Her landing was less than graceful, and she showed all the symptoms of mild chakra exhaustion.

Hyuuga Miyuki also responded to her sensei's call promptly. Like her teammate, she looked haggard; sweat covered her brow and she looked unnaturally pale. The girl had thrown herself into her chakra conditioning with gusto. Elemental training has often been unofficially limited to chuunin and above, primarily due to it's chakra intensive nature. Both of the kunoichi of team four possessed above average chakra control (well above average for Miyuki, due to her training with the Hyuuga clan's techniques), however they were lacking in reserves. If the jounin were to even consider teaching the two elemental ninjutsu, they'd have to improve their chakra capacity.

The best way to do so was to put as much of a drain on one's reserves as possible. Akane had paired up Hiyori with Naruto, having the blond-haired boy throw kunai at his teammate forcing her to leap from tree to tree in order to avoid them. She worked personally with another Naruto (the original, as the bruising could attest to) on his taijutsu.

The boy was certainly improving his technique, yet his growth wasn't nearly as pronounced as his teammates. It was simply a matter of body mass. While shinobi were able to enhance their physical abilities with chakra, it still depended upon muscle mass. In addition, putting too much strain on such a young body would be dangerous, so she wasn't inclined to improve her male genin's strength through chakra enhancement.

Hoisting Naruto up to his feet, Akane resisted the urge to grin at the boy's wince. Giving the boy a shove towards his teammates, the jounin chuckled. "You've done well this week..." the raven-haired jounin admitted.

'They've grown a great deal. Beyond mere shinobi techniques, they've learned to work together, to rely on one another. Kinship is more than referring to one another by their first names, and they've learned that, it seems...'

'...perhaps Hokage-sama was right. Perhaps they can be ready in time.' The blade-wielding jounin chuckled to herself. 'Not that I'd ever tell the brats that.'

",,,well, you did well for genin. You have tomorrow off, so enjoy it. And no training, can't have my baby genin working at half capacity on our second mission outside of Konoha, now can I?"

Akane noted the looks of disdain that spread upon her genin's face. "Already? I swear, how many farms are there?!" Naruto grumbled. "I swear, if I have to shovel horse crap again..."

"No farming this time Naruto-kun! I expect to see you here Monday morning, bright and early and packed for travel!"

"Wait," Naruto exclaimed, regarding his sensei with a cautious grin. "Does that mean we're finally getting a C-rank?"

"Nope! This farm's just really far away, Naru-chan. See 'ya Monday!"

Grinning mischievously, Namiashi Akane disappeared amongst falling leaves.

"Gah, ouch!"

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto gingerly sucked on his finger, his face contorted into a frown all the while.

"Be quit, brat! You're ruining my concentration!" Hiyori growled in response, balling up a piece of parchment and tossing it into the waste basket irritably. A calligraphy brush was nestled in her fingers, an inkwell open and filling to room with a bitter odor.

"Sorry Hiyori-chan," Naruto replied honestly, watching with a slight wince as she began transcribing seals once more. The burn in his hand was forgotten as he watched her hand dance across the parchment.

"Just don't..." she paused, brushing out a circle with various symbols before filling it in with the kanji for "water", "...do it again, 'kay?"

Nodding, Naruto watched as she drew a few more symbols around the circle, referencing a small notebook next to her on the table. When Hiyori paused to wipe some sweat from her brow, Naruto cleared his throat.

"So...what exactly is that for, anyway?"

"Well, it's a capture seal, I use it gather water, which I the transfer into smaller "release" seals. Y'see, these ones here," the girl point to a column of seals next to the "water" kanji, "let me move it into the pseudo storage scrolls."

"Pseudo storage scrolls?" Naruto echoed, his tone clearly confused.

"Well, they're sorta like the storage scrolls for kunai and weapons and stuff, but they're designed specifically for water. Hot water. They take the heat and use that to push the water out when they're 'opened'," Hiyori explained calmly, waving her hand over the ink in a futile effort to hasten the drying process.

"So...when you unseal it, it the water should be cold, but moving fast? Sorta like a suiton jutsu, right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. Except since the seals do all the work, it doesn't require me to use any chakra, and it doesn't make a chakra flare. It's an undetectable suiton jutsu, all it takes is preparation time."

Nodding, Naruto smiled. "How long did it take you to make that bad boy?"

Hiyori looked at her teammate as though he had grown a second head. "I didn't make this, are you kidding? I copied it from there," the brunette gestured over to the book lying on the table. "It was written by Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin."

"Wow! Where'd you find that?"

"Well...it was a gift from my grandfather. I told him about my trouble with ninjutsu - cause my chakra reserves are so small, I couldn't even hold up a henge for long in he academy - and he gave me that book."

"Oh...who's your grandfather?"

"Mitokado Homura."

'"So this is Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" a gray-haired, bespectacled man questioned. His face was hard-set, and his eyes were cold. Nonetheless, his lips were spread into a smile.

"My name's Mitokado Homura, I'm an old teammate of Hokage-sama's. I've heard a lot about you, boy."'

"Oh..." Naruto replied, trailing off uncomfortably. Fortunately, his teammate had long since turned her attention to her scroll. She was currently rolling it up and stuffing it in her keikogi. Pulling a smaller scroll out, she unfurled it, bit her finger to draw some blood and unsealed a massive roll of parchment.

"So, Naruto-kun," Hiyori began, unrolling the scroll with practiced ease. "What were you doing anyway?"

"...watching you make your seals..." Naruto replied, confusion clear in his tone.

Hiyori sighed, rolling her eyes. "Before that, or did you manage to burn yourself by standing around?"

The blond glanced down at his hand with a frown noting the angry red burn on his hand.

"Ah, that! Well, just something stupid I was trying out," the boy responded evasively, chuckling slightly.

"Well, what's it supposed to do?" Hiyori responded, either unaware or unbothered by Naruto's hesitance.

"Uh...well, after dueling with Miyuki-chan, I realized that dodging her wouldn't really work for very long." Naruto mumbled, "and blocking doesn't really work, because that just ends up hurting my hands. So, what if I just...covered my hands in chakra when I did block. Sorta like the tree walking exercise, except instead of grabbing something, I'm trying to push it away."

"Huh, haven't heard of that being tried before," Hiyori admitted, "it does make sense though."

"Yeah, well people probably don't try it because it doesn't...work!" Naruto replied exasperated. "If there's too little, she can just wave her hand and it goes right through. If there's to much, it burns me and damage my tenketsu anyway!"

"Well, why do you have it touching your skin in the first place?" Hiyori replied, confused.

"Well, it makes it a lot easier to keep the chakra together. As is, it keeps on leaking all over the place, and if I don't keep it against my hand, it leaks even more, since it has more free space around it," the whiskered youth replied, nodding sagely.

Hiyori paused, digesting her teammates words before sighing. "You sound like you haven't a clue what you're talking about," the girl replied bluntly.

"Aheh, well, that's because I don't," Naruto admitted. "I'm sorta making it up as I go along."

"At least your honest about it," the girl replied, beginning to scribe some seals on the scroll. These one's were different from the first, in that they were all identical. The parameters for the pseudo-storage array sat within a circle.

"How about you try it again, the technique you're working on."

Naruto ablidged, and the palm of his hand began to glow blue. Unlike the uniform aura that the juuken created, though, it looked like 'sheets' of chakra flowing out from the blond's hand, varying in thickness. The further from the hand they became, the lighter the blue until it completely fizzled out. lancing up from his hand, he regarded his teammate for a split second, yet that was long enough to disturb his concentration.

"Ouch! Crap!" The flow of chakra stilled immediately, and the boy cradled his hand to his chest.

Wincing in sympathy, Hiyori frowned. "If your technique turns on you while you're using it, it's not much use in a fight, Naruto-kun..."

"I know that! Give me time though, I'll figure it out!"

Smiling at the boy's enthusiasm, the girl turned her attention back to her scroll. "Whatever you say, kouhai."

"Hello, Akane-san. Have you made your decision yet?"

"...decision? But I thought..."

"You believed I'd send them without your consent?" Sarutobi queried, a ghost of a smile upon his age-worn lips. "You wound me, Akane-san. I will do what I must, yet if you believe they are not prepared, then I will trust your judgement."

"Very well," Akane replied with a nod. "They're not prepared, and they won't be."

"You're lying."

A weary sigh left the jounin's lips. "Yeah."

"It's a risk, Akane-san, I don't necessarily ask, or expect that they succeed. I simply want them to survive."

"They won't give up," Akane replied grimly. "They're driven, for children. They don't know discretion, they don't know to chose the path of least resistance. I fear they won't learn until it is too late."

"They must learn it eventually," Sarutobi replied grimly. "Sooner, rather than later, for either path leads them into the lion's den. Be it in Iwa or Suna..."

"I know, Hokage-sama," the jounin replied. Her usual upbeat attitude was absent. "You were right. It is a necessary risk."

"You've told them already, have you not?"

"I've told them enough. They'll be ready Monday morning."

"Then hopefully their mission will be a suitable introduction," Sarutobi stated, lighting his pipe with a flicker of chakra. "When you return, I'll assign you fewer D-ranks to give you time to prepare."

"Thank-you, Hokage-sama."

The delicate sound of water filled the air, it's gentle warble as it danced between stones the only sound that could be heard in the quiet garden. The Hyuuga Clan's compound was styled to embody all the virtues the clansmen themselves held dear. Nowhere was this more obvious than the gardens.

An artificial river flowed through the center of the gardens, flowing upon palm-sized stones. Concrete walkways formed a symetrical lattice around the river, dividing sections devoted to grass as well as a sakura tree, all immaculately trimmed. Everything was governed by order, not even a single sakura petal could be found sovereign from it's kin, forming a halo fo pink and white around the tree trunks. Along the sides were concrete squares, and upon one of those squares Hyuuga Miyuki sat, dwelling in the tranquility of nature.

'No, not nature,' the girl reminded herself with a frown on her lips. 'This is merely a parody of it. A sick doppleganger of it, stripped of life. For what is life without chaos? Without disorder, and the quest to correct it?'

Miyuki's hitai-ate lay on the ground beside her, and she could feel the wind on her forehead. Feel it upon her skin. The brand. The mark. The seal. The Hyuuga Clan's greatest instrument of order.

It was tradition in the Hyuuga Clan to teach it's branch members the effects of the Hyuuga Souke no Juinjutsu. The Caged Bird Seal. To teach them the price of disorder.

She was born a Hyuuga, and she'd die a Hyuuga, it was the way of things. From birth she'd learned the proper way to speak and to act. From her first steps onward she'd learn to carry herself with a Hyuuga's pose. And by the time she'd open her eyes, and truly seen...they were no longer hers.

They were the Hyuuga's eyes. The Byakugan. The seal upon her forehead was proof, that those eyes belonged to the clan.

It was the way of things, she had been told. It was a matter of tradition, of custom. Order demanded that the children of the Hyuuga Clan be brought screaming and kicking under the brush. Order demanded they learn to walk, talk and fight as a Hyuuga must.

It was the way of things. Miyuki was born a Hyuuga, and she'd die a Hyuuga...

...but she'd not live as one. Order be damned.

'I will find what is mine, not theirs. I will be Miyuki, a kunoichi, for as long as my body will obey.'

Japanese Term/Jutsu List:

Hyuuga Souke no Jutsu: Literally, Hyuuga Main Family's Cursed Seal Technique.

A/N: Another short chapter, and interlude if you will. I might finish Chapter 12 by Sunday, but it not, I'm not going to be able to write again until October 5th, due to various obligations coming up. Either way, this is the last chapter of this little "Team Four" mini-arc, next chapter marks the first C-rank mission, as well as a gradual path towards 'the big event'. I'm sure you folks can guess what it is by now, but if not...well, it'll become clearer soon.

Next chapter also promises more travel, more dirt, and more action! Once again, I'm sorry for how brief this chapter was, I've been having a major case of writers block now that school's started and my creative energies are being channeled elsewhere, heh.

Seals are going to play a major part in this story, as the first few chapters should have indicated. This is but one of many chapters that will discuss seals, because I intend to venture forth into new territory in regards to sealing!

As an aside, I've make my descion on what Naruto's elemental affinities will be, so I'm closing that poll. A warning to those who voted, it's not going to be Wind/Earth, however the poll did give me a few ideas!

Anyway, I have a question for you all: was the description of the seals detailed enough? I don't want to drown you folks in it, but if it's still unclear, I'll try to be a bit more description next time.

Until next time!