I felt unbalanced, being so determined and focused one moment, only to be confronted with the fact that nothing had really changed. I had hardly scratched the surface of sealing. And really, I doubted I could work on anything so complex and still understand it in the end.

When I got home it was empty. Mom was probably out doing something or the other. Maybe even getting one of Shika or Kako's favorite foods for dinner. It was the perfect opportunity to relax and draw. So I took out my supplies to the porch, it really was a beautiful day.

Usually I had an idea of what I wanted to draw, but I couldn't think of anything particular at the moment. So I went through a few practice doodles, there were more or less exercises. A lot like the brain exercises that dad had taught. The thing was, I couldn't remember when and where I had learned these drawing exercises. It must've been from before, but I suppose its not important.

"Okaeri," Shikamaru drawled as he came home.

I thought about replying, but I didn't want to lose my train of thought. I suppose I mumbled something as I tried to shade the antlers properly. The deer were my default when it came to doodling. Their dark eyes were filled with emotion and intelligence. I was never able to replicate it though.

"I asked," Shikamaru said sounding a little irritated as my drawing pad was pulled from my hands, "Where's mom?"

"Hey!" I snapped around and climbed to my feet. "I don't know, she's just out-give it back Shika!"

The jerk then held it over his head, looking down at me with an eyebrow raised. Then I noticed for the first time, Shikako wasn't home. I scowled at him, sending out my senses as if perhaps she had gone up stairs to shower or something.

"Where's Kako?" I asked my heart speeding up in pace.

"She's…" Shikamaru met my eyes, "She's fine. I'm tired, I'm going to bed-so don't bother me."

He handed back my drawings and dragged himself upstairs. I stared after him, before dropping my notebook to the ground. I knew better than to follow upstairs to pester him, not when I'd seen that frustrated look in his eyes. Something bad had happened, I knew that much.

All this waiting was driving me mad. I wasn't going to wait around for this, I could at least find out what had happened. This needing to know, this constant worry… it was really eating me up. How did people manage this? How did mom carrying on so well?

"Where are you off to?" Mom called out stopping me on the street, "Come help me with these."

"I can't, I gotta do this," I called and hurried a little faster when she called after me again.

It was sort of nice knowing more than enough of my siblings friends. I figured my best option was Ino, but Choji would know too. Well I could always track down Naruto or Sasuke, but… I was a coward. I was afraid to face them, especially if they took on that same dark expression Shikamaru had gotten…

"Hey, Masa, what brings you here?" Inoichi greeted me just as he was closing up shop.

"Hi Inoichi-oji," I returned and his smile widened, "Um is Ino-nee around?"

"She just got back," He answered and tousled my hair, "I think she's in the shower now, do you want me to pass her a message?"

I puffed out my cheeks. "I want to talk to her though…"

Amusement flashed in his eyes. There was also something else that I didn't quite catch, hidden before my mind could compare it to anything. And I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. Some kid of his friend, a younger sibling of his own child's friend.

"Alright, will you help me make some tea?"

I shrugged, "Okay…but I don't think I can stay long. Mom wants my help for dinner."

I was no stranger to the Yamanaka household, though honestly I was more familiar in Chouji's home. I think gender plays a role in it as much as personality. Though I haven't hung out at either place since Shikako and Shikamaru graduated. Fun and friendships were just things that put on the back burner.

I admit part of my obsession with making sure Shika and Kako were safe was because… they're the closest I had to friends. Which gave me a bubbly feeling to think about, I had a brother and sister and they were my friend. Well they probably thought me nothing more than an annoying little kid, but that was fine.

"What's on your mind?" The man asked as he put the kettle on.

I grimaced, I did not want to have one of those conversations with Inoichi Yamanaka. It was almost as bad as Dad setting up the shogi board. I felt my fate lock in, if I tried to dodge out of this it would only make things worse.

"How come you didn't have another kid?"

Inoichi looked at me over his shoulder, turned back to the stove, then turned completely and took a seat at the kitchen table. It was admittedly amusing to see him a little flabbergasted. Or maybe he was just choosing his words carefully.

"Well, Noriko and I decided that…" He paused and I don't think I've ever witnessed a speechless Yamanaka before.

"I was thinking," I deided to save him the trouble, "-I was thinking I would've liked to have a friend like Ino-nee and Choji-nii, and we could be a team."

"Ah, well Shikako is good friends with Sasuke and Naruto, they make a good team too right?" I caught relief in his gaze, his lips twitched towards a smile. A less awkward smile.

I sighed and slumped into my seat, "I guess…"

"Are you having problems at school?"

My throat involuntarily made a noise. The best sound would be a complaint, or maybe offense. I doing fine in school, though maybe less so since the chunin exams started, but I was still… probably doing far better than half of my class.

"No, why would you ask that?" My voice was a little whiny, I inwardly grimaced at the sound of it.

I did not come here for this. I just wanted to know what happened to Kako and why she wasn't home…. Maybe I should've gone over to Choji's the worst that would've happened was getting fed before dinner. Or better yet I should've risked Shika's irritation and pestered him.

"No reason," His response was light, yet I could just feel him analyzing me, "Do you hang out with anyone at or after school?"

I folded my arms and felt my face heat up. His eyebrows rose just slightly. I turned away from his gaze and considered bolting. Maybe this wasn't even worth it, I was just working myself up anyway. I knew I was. Every time I worried it would just end up as everything being perfectly fine.

"Mr. Cranberry and Chiya are alright… Hanabi is fun to spar with…"

But I didn't spend much time with them, I certainly wouldn't consider it hanging out.

"I should get going," I decided, "Mom needs help with dinner."

"Okay," Inoichi sounded as if he were about to sigh, "Tell her I said hi."

I grunted before leaving. Then I ran a hand over my face. Really? What was my luck? Mild at best… it could've been worse. I don't know how, or rather I didn't want to consider how much worse it could be.

I sighed and took my time heading back home. It was starting to get dark out.

Shit. I realized far too late that I had just left my drawing notebook out in the open. Yeah I sure did have some back luck. It might not have been the worst of luck, but it was certainly bad. If I had awesome luck then I wouldn't have been born in a world where everything revolved around ninjas.

"Did you draw this?" Mom asked sitting at the dinning room table. She had water behind her that was just starting to boil.

My first reaction was to lie, but seriously… it was more surprising I had kept it a secret from my family this long.

I groaned, "Those aren't for sharing…"

"Then you shouldn't have left it out." She chided with a warm smile. She pulled me to her side, an arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head. "They're beautiful."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, I honestly felt like I had extended my social interactions for the day. Which was a little funny, because I'm pretty sure I avoided more conversations than usual today.

"Now go and wash up, I need help chopping up the celery."

I wish I could say that I slept soundly, but once I was in my bed all the events of the day disappeared. I remembered the morning clear and bright, remembered the dream that had shaken me. Eventually exhaustion took over, it was a restless sleep but sleep all the same.

Morning came as a relief.

At breakfast I found out that Shikako would be coming home from the hospital today. My stomach soured and the food tasted bland and completely couldn't understand why Shikamaru couldn't just tell me that she was in the hospital. Shikamaru also mentioned that he was also moving on to the third exam.

I was forced to act like it was any other day. I went to the academy, found out that next week we were going to do a survival camp so we needed to tell our parents, and was more or less bored out of my mind.

Well I guess it was like any other day. I worried uselessly over my siblings yet had to trudge through like I was a normal eight year old training to become a deadly weapon.

After school I was heading home but then I swivled around and changed routes. Why? Because I felt Naruto's chakra fluctuate. I followed it to a small training area adjacent to the academy, where I found Naruto getting fed up with Ebisu. Naruto was begrudgingly listening to Ebisu as the man ranted on about chakra control.

I probably should've announced myself.

Yet I remembered the promise I made with Naruto. And I couldn't help but entertain the idea of hitting him in the face. So I spent half a breath on focusing my chakra and then went in for the attack.

Naruto was fast, part of his reaction was pure instinct. I just jumped in the air, leg moving in a chakra powered kick, and Naruto used a replacement jutsu. He used a replacement jutsu on Ebisu. So suddenly blond switched out with the blue of Ebisu's headband. The man's eyes widened just at the same moment my foot met his head. His body immediately slumped down on the ground.

I was going to be in so much trouble.

"What the-oh its you Shika-chibi," Naruto looked me over and the became solemn. The expression didn't suit Naruto at all, he was supposed to be sunny and bright. "I'm sorry… I was the one that ended up getting protected. I won't dodge this time, I made a promise and I'm going to keep it."

My heart was in my throat, I couldn't form words. I was freaking out and we needed to get out of here. I silently screamed and started pushing Naruto away, he instantly became confused but let me push him.

"Huh? What're you doing?" He asked looking over his shoulder at me.

"We've gotta get out of here!" I managed to squeak out. I just couldn't consider it boding well for me for people -people like say my mom- finding out that I just knocked out a special jounin. Actually any and all my teachers wouldn't hold back from punishing a student who put that much chakra into an attack.

"Ne, Shika-chibi what's going on?" Naruto asked as he steopped, and my pushing at him wasn't doing anything. He didn't even budge. Naruto was strong, sure I knew this but I didn't think he was that strong.

"Naru-nii, I just hit Ebisu-sensei!"

Why didn't he understand the urgency in this?

"I wouldn't worry about that closet pervert," Naruto said and turned so he could pat my head. Then his blue eyes had a touch of sorry, "Shikako is alright, ya know? She should be home by now."

I opened my mouth to answer but before I could form a sound a chuckle interrupted me. It wasn't loud but it was so unfitting to the situation. The laughter was the disgusting giggle one might make when they were doing something they weren't supposed to.

Naruto and I both looked.

"Isn't that the bathhouse?" I asked and stopped pushing into Naruto, finally realizing that I was still trying to escape. There was a man crouching by the fence. He shouldn't be able to see anything in the bathhouse… unless he was looking through a hole that had been cut out.

"What the hell, that guy is peeping!" Naruto exclaimed in complete and utter disbelief. He recovered quickly enough to confont the guy.

I gaped as the man introduced himself as one of the legendary sennin, Jiraiya. Also the writer of the Icha-Icha series. The kind that Kakashi was known to read out in public. Sure I had read the series, but it was a serious shock to find out that the characters were accurately portrayed.

"You're supposed to be some amazing seal master?" I asked in complete disbelief.

Were all the strong people in the world absolute bat shit crazy? Was it just a side effect of throwing yourself in one razy situation after another? Was this something I was heading towards?

Jiraiya looked down at me and smirked. I flinched, because I would've rather his attention stay on Naruto.

"You look like a smart kid," The man said with a small laugh.

"You know it, Shika-chibi is really smart," Naruto boasted proudly, almost forgetting that they had caught Jiraiya peeping on the women inside the bathhouse.

I almost forgot as I stepped behind Jiraiya to get a look at the large scroll slung across his back. It hardly seemed something that could be carried so carelessly. The rope holding it had to be digging into his shoulder or something like that. Or maybe he had some weightless seal on it making it light. I reached out to it to touch it, but then my senses prickled.

I paused and looked back out at the street. Ebisu was storming his way down, charing in our direction. I squeaked and now I was more or less hiding behind the toad sage. Jiraiya instantly noticed and was looking down at me.

"What're you doing kid?"

"Bah!" Naruto spat out, unfolding his arms, "I told you already Shika-chibi you don't worry about him. Here I'll show you how to properly deal with him."

In a burst of chakra Naruto put his fingers together then suddenly much like a henge jutsu there was a female Naruto. She was a little older and nude. The chakra smoke circled around her hardly covered up anything.

"Th-that genius!" Jiraiya said wiggling his fingers. His expression was very lewd and I'd hate to be anyone under that gaze. I shuddered and took a step away from the man.

"That's really gross," I stated far from impressed.

Yet it proved effective on Ebisu. Maybe because he had a concussion, he fell victim to Naruto's jutsu and fainted. Naruto instantly dropped it and gave me a sheepish smile. Then his expression fell.

"Oh shit! That perv was supposed to be training me!"

"I'll train you," Jiraiya said and Naruto flinched. Sure I might've called him strong, but he was a perverted there was no way Naruto wanted to be trained by a creep like him. At least until he himself figured out how strong Jiraiya was. Then he'd be clawing at the chance. "But under one condition, you have to use that jutsu the whole time."

"Forget it! Who'd want to be trained by a pervert like you?" Naruto sneered and pulled at my arm, "Come on Shika-chibi lets go."

"Now hold on there," The toad sage grabbed my other arm and made it so Naruto couldn't drag me away. I suddenly had this horrible image of my arms being torn off. "If you don't want my training, I'll train this kid."

I tried tugging my arm from his hold, but while it wasn't tight his grip was unyielding. The same with Naruto's grip. I was caught. I almost panicked at the feeling. I swallowed down the fear.

Sure I knew he wasn't actually offering to train me, but maybe I could get him to teach me something. I seriously doubted it though, I was too young and hardly had enough chakra to do a proper jutsu.

"You can teach me about seals?"

"I don't know kid, that stuffs out of your league." Still he was looking me over, eyes accessing.

"I'm learning the basics, you know?" I was glad that Naruto let go of my arm, then Jiraiya let me go. "Kako knows more but she's always busy…"

Naruto paled, "No-Wait! Okay, alright, I'll let you train me!" Now it was almost as if he were the one doing the favor, "But you can forget about the sexy jutsu!"

Jiraiya snorted, "Alright brat, lets go get started."

"Sorry Shika-chibi, we'll hang out later kay?" Naruto sent me an apologetic look. He patted me on the head again. He seemed a little older, I could almost envision the Naruto that had become Hokage.

"Its fine, you got the final exam to train for," I lifted a shoulder in a shrug.

The two left and I was forced to remember Ebisu, more because he groaned and was coming to.

Oh shit.

I fled.

AN: I probably repeat myself a lot. I should probably actually go over my stuff and at least try to remember what i've said or not lol well forgive me if i repeat myself a little in this chapter... i was going to delve a little into how Masa's art will relate to sealing but he's not ready for that yet. he still has a lot to learn before i can get into that. Which i hope you guys like it when i do. also since i have been rewriting chapters and changing quite a bit. all the chapters i wrote ahead of time are complete rubbish. so i'm not so far ahead anymore lol.

Thank you all so much for reading!