A/N: The alphabetizing is in English because I don't know shit about Japanese alphabets (all I know in Japanese are a few curses and that it's highly complicated, especially in written).
CHAPTER 3: OF LEARNING AND PLAYING
Iruka sat behind his desk, tired and wondered how he got roped into this… unfortunate position. Naruto stood a few feet in front of him, looking like he would drop dead any minute. He was exhausted and bedraggled. Stubbornly, he shook himself and then straightened himself, his hands forming the Dog seal, followed by Boar and then Ram.
White smoke appeared with a 'poof' and in Naruto's place stood… Iruka. At least, it was supposed to be Iruka. This time Naruto only managed to get the clothes correct. It was worse than his last attempt. And would be slightly better than his next attempt. The boy was ready to pass out for twenty-four hours straight. Iruka would prefer if he does. He really doesn't want to see his image getting any more abused.
He walked up to Naruto and held his shoulders to stop him from trying again, "That's enough for today, Naruto. Let's have some ramen and then you can rest for the night."
"No, Iruka-sensei, I can still go on," Naruto protested faintly, but no less determinedly and tried to shake of the hands from his shoulders. All he managed was to fall on his butt weakly.
"That's enough, Naruto. I am going. Come, we'll continue tomorrow," Iruka said sternly and offered his hand to Naruto, who looked he was still going to protest. Iruka gave him a warning look and Naruto thought better and took his hand.
It took the two of them much longer than usual to reach the Ichiraku's ramen stand due to Naruto's worn-out state. Teuchi gave them their usual without a word. Naruto's energy came back just a little bit.
He had come to Iruka four days ago abruptly and asked to him to teach him the Transformation Jutsu early. Iruka refused but Naruto pestered him for three hours straight before he caved in. But not before making a deal that no one will know about it until there are at least two students in his class who had mastered it.
Naruto looked hurt by it and Iruka quickly explained that it is because if people saw it, they would take it the wrong way and accuse him of favouritism. While it wouldn't bother him personally, it could result in him being transferred to another class. Naruto understood, and even though he clearly wasn't happy with it, he agreed.
So, for four days they have been meeting at the Academy at five in evening – and hour after it is completely deserted. Naruto practices until he is ready to pass out while Iruka give him tips and pointers to improve.
The first two days were the hardest. But after that Naruto started getting the hang of it and Iruka only had to point out the mistakes. He can do clothes nicely by now and hands and legs decently. Face is still very hard to recognize.
By the progress Naruto had shown already, Iruka would guess it would be at least a week more till he gets it decent as a whole and three till he perfects it.
Knowing him, Naruto would manage to get it down earlier than Iruka's expectations. Or he would just take so long that Iruka would rather not think about it, lest he jinx it.
Sparing a smiling glance at Naruto, and another nervous one at the pile of bowls already forming beside him, Iruka finished his second bowl and called for his last one, wishing Naruto would learn the jutsu fast; his wallet was hurting. Once he gets an acceptable transformation down, Naruto wouldn't need him for supervision anymore.
After they finished, Naruto went on the way to his apartment and Iruka reminded him to go straight to bed or else.
Iruka stood looking at Naruto's fading silhouette for some time before making way to his own home. For a while he wondered what was so important that Naruto was pushing himself so much to learn the jutsu so fast. He was always stubborn and determined like this but this time it felt like he had a genuine reason to the learn the jutsu other than just showing off, which, harsh as it might sound, was true more often than not.
Meh, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know and anyway, if Naruto wanted him to know then he would know even if he didn't want to.
Naruto learned the jutsu in five more days and perfected it in ten more after that.
He showed it off in the school after Sasuke mastered it in two weeks. Iruka could just sigh.
…
Naruto smirked as he entered the building and passed by the desk where the Librarian was sitting. She looked up once at him and he tensed slightly but didn't give any hint of stopping. After half a second, she looked down and continued whatever it was she was doing.
How convenient that she was just a civilian.
Naruto continued on and stopped when he was out of her sight. He looked around himself in awe, seeing so many books in one place for the first time. He looked faintly green when he thought about how he was going to find the book he wanted among so many.
Gulping, he went to one end of the library and started flipping through the titles in the first aisle. By the time he was at the middle, he realized that the books were arranged alphabetically. His relief was almost palpable. He hurried to the end of the aisle; the titles were at I's. He noticed there were many books with the same name, Icha-Icha, though they had different coloured covers. He just shrugged and went down the next aisle, straight to the end. It ended at Q's. Naruto never imagined there were so many words that started with Q.
At next aisle, he hovered over all the books at the front and quickly went to the U's. None of the books had Uzumaki anywhere in their titles. Naruto frowned and checked them all again. There wasn't one book with Uzumaki written on them.
He huffed and folded his hands, leaning on the shelf behind him. Does this mean he really would have to go through each and every book? Even the thought was making him faint. But he couldn't think of anything else. And he was sure there is at least one book on Uzumaki clan in the library. Jiji never really lies to him, and this kind of joke was cruel for anyone, anyways.
He spent a good five minutes standing there, thinking of reasons to avoid checking all the books.
He only managed to waste four minutes and fifty seconds. It was clear to him in ten seconds that there were none.
With a resigned sigh, he got up and went through the aisles again.
He was starting the second aisle, and his mind was feeling like jelly when he remembered that there were many more aisles in the library than these three. He turned around and entered the fourth one and groaned when he saw some book whose name was staring with A.
What the hell is wrong with this place?
With an irritated pout, he walked out of the aisle and paced down the rows, checking a book in each one. After every few rows, A would reappear again. It was irregular – sometimes it was just after one row, sometimes two and sometimes even four or five.
He wanted to shout and pull his hair with frustration but one of the few things he knew about libraries was that you should be silent like a statue in there. He looked up and fisted his hands to refrain himself, taking a deep breath, and saw a plate bolted on the top of a shelf between two aisles.
There was something written on it, so Naruto backed up a bit till he could read it properly. Philosophy/Psychology was written there. He frowned in confusion walked up to the next shelf. It, too, had a similar plate. Philosophy/Ethics and Morals.
Very slowly Naruto realized that these were the categories. Once again, he ran to the first shelf and read Literature on it. Happy to have figured it out, he skipped down the rows again, this time reading all the headings. He was almost at the end of the library – there were only four more rows left – and he was getting antsy when he finally saw the one labelled General/Ninja Clans.
He resisted the urge to jump and shout and darted down towards the end, quickly finding a book named The Uzumaki Clan: Compilation. This time he couldn't resist and let out a small "Yes!" which came out like a squeak because trying to be quiet.
Swiftly, he took it out and went to the nearest table and sat down. He opened it excitedly and at first, he just stared at it giddily, and then started reading it.
It took Naruto more than an hour to read the first half page and to realize – and one and half more to read the other half and to admit – that he doesn't know to read. He can read small, basic, daily use words and some big words with some effort, but he wasn't the best in reading. And this book looked like it was full of big, complicated and difficult words that he had heard the higher ups in Hyuga Police use – at least those which he can read.
Should've listened to Iruka-sensei in the class.
He shut the book in frustration and got up to leave with a scowl on his face. Just as he was about to pass by the desk, the Librarian spoke and stopped him.
"Excuse me, mister."
Naruto stood still for a moment, not actually believing the old hag can be so polite – especially to him – before he remembered that he was still in his transformation impersonating Iruka-sensei.
So, he turned around and asked innocently, "Yes?"
"I think you forgot to return the book you were reading," she told him politely.
It took him a few seconds to understand what she was saying. She sounded so sweet it was unbelievable. Then he remembered that you are supposed to keep the books back in their places after you read them.
"Oh, yes. I apologize, I was in a hurry. It slipped my mind. I will do it now," Naruto said, trying hard not to let out his verbal tic, and bowed suddenly when he remembered Iruka-sensei doing it when he apologizes.
He went back to his table, picked up the book and entered the aisle in which it was kept. He quickly found its place and put it back in there.
He felt a pang of jealousy when he saw a book The Uchiha Clan right next to the Uzumaki book. There were easily six or seven volumes of it – all as thick as the single Uzumaki one.
Now curious, he looked at other books and read their names. On the other side, there was one named The Wagarashi Family and next to it, The Wasabi Family. Beside that were three of The Yamanaka Clan. After that were some more. So, Naruto went backwards and looked at other clans, reading those he could – Tsuchigumo, Shirogane, Shimura, Shiin, Senju, Sarutobi, Ryu, Ootsutsuki, Nara, Kurama. It looked like the clans who were living in the village had more than two volumes to them. Makes sense.
Does that mean Uzumaki clan did not live in Konoha?
Naruto walked out of the library thoughtfully and thoughtlessly and into a nearby alleyway. He became aware only when he undid the Transformation Jutsu. He knew where he was going now.
With renewed determination, he made his way out of the alleyway and towards Iruka-sensei's house.
He didn't notice it was almost dinnertime until his stomach grumbled when Iruka-sensei opened his door and smell of shrimp ramen filled his lungs.
…
It took Naruto two whole months to learn to read excellently. By that time, his vocabulary was better than most fifteen years olds – not that he actually made use of it anywhere.
He went to the library again – transformedas Iruka-sensei – after only ten or so days of his reading extra classes. That time he finished the first page in just over half an hour. One week later he had completed the whole book. Two days later he came again and read the whole book second time – it took him four days this time.
He was right. Uzumaki clan was not from Konoha. It was the prominent clan in Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools. As Jiji told him, they were known for their sealing prowess and longevity. So much so that they were all killed in the Second Shinobi World War for that. Really, who the hell kills a whole village just because it is full of super awesome badass ninja? It's so stupid. They could just have made them allies and won the war. Idiots. Anyways, they were also known for having red hair.
That means one of them was a red head while other was blond. He thought that maybe his father was Uzumaki, since he himself was named Uzumaki, but he had a weird feeling that it wasn't so.
The village was also called 'The Village of Longevity' because of Uzumaki clan. It had many high-rise buildings and bridges over the river that flowed through it, before it's destruction, and was covered by steep hills. The Uzumaki clan was also closely related with the Senju clan for generations. Their most recent relation being the wedlock between the First Hokage and Mito Uzumaki.
There wasn't much else in the book about it, some accomplished shinobi from Uzumaki clan, descriptions of places in Uzushiogakure, some of their formidable seals and their exploits and other historic things.
The second time he read it, he noticed Mito Uzumaki wasn't in the list of Uzumaki clan's noted shinobi. This spiked his curiosity – surely the one who good enough to be married to the First Hokage would be good enough to be included in notable shinobi of Uzumaki clan, too.
For that, he picked out another book from the same shelf – The Senju Clan: Distinguished Members. (He now actually listened to some of Iruka-sensei's boring lectures and remembered other historic people other than the Fourth Hokage.) The book was a bit thinner than the Uzumaki clan book but, hey, it included only the notable shinobis of Senju clan. The one listing their jutsu prowess was actually double than this one.
There was only one line written below the name Mito Uzumaki Senju – Wife of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
There were twenty-five whole pages about Hashirama Senju!
If Naruto wasn't barely eight-year-old, he would have found it suspicious. As it was, he just shrugged and forgot.
It was after that second time that he went back to Jiji to ask for that scroll of chakra control exercises. He was glad he waited till then, because when he started studying it, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to do at least two of those seven exercises – or at least not very easily – because he didn't think he knew the meaning of one third of those words one month back.
He perfected those exercises within four months – one week before his birthday. That week was spent planning a big prank for the Kyuubi Festival, especially because he didn't do anything during the Foundation Festival this time.
The door banged loudly on the wall as the blond ball of sunshine and headaches entered Sarutobi's office, increasing his already present headache tenfold just by the sheer volume of "Hey, Jiji!"
Paperwork and Naruto sure makes up for all the hangovers he evaded after giving up drinking when he passed on the hat to another blond ball of sunshine and fewer headaches.
"Hello, Naruto-kun," he said, smiling through his pounding head. "It's been long since you have come to meet me. I see you have been busy."
Because busy he was. The piles of paperwork caused by his last prank during the Kyuubi Festival more than made up for all the relief he had for almost six months when he had concentrated on the Uzumaki clan and chakra control exercises. It's only been one week since the festival.
Honestly, Sarutobi was a bit scared. It usually took much longer to unravel all that Naruto does in pranks this big.
Seriously, how did he even set up a plan let alone played it for a whole day when he was already banned from all the festivals since he was five. He even has an 'apprehend at sight' order on him after all the ruckus he caused to the Uchiha clan months back.
First civilian to get the honour. He doesn't even want to think what would happen when he graduates. The Hokage handles the ninjas, after all.
Meh, I'll just let the ANBU deal with him. He would definitely meet their mission standards by then.
But the Hyuga police has never been so desperate.
No one even knows what the extent of his prank his. Some people got painted, some got itched, some were laughing uncontrollably, some sneezing, some were found unconscious under benches (how did they get there anyway?), some people got a bad stomach, some shoes disappeared and there were some small craters here and there. This much is reported. God knows what else happened.
They don't even how much of that is directly because of Naruto. If any of that even is.
Hey, it's possible. He wasn't seen even once in the festival (he wasn't seen anywhere else either, but that's not the point).
He was apprehended next day in front of the Academy, and was released after three hours without any repercussions.
He knows exactly how to play the police.
"Yeah, nearly four months. I almost missed you," Naruto laughed while scratching his head.
His happiness was so contagious Third Hokage had to at least chuckle, his headache (very) gradually easing.
"Almost?"
"Well, yeah. I have been busy," who knows that better than me… okay, maybe the Hyuga Police and me, "with all those chakra control exercises you gave me, and reading stuff in the library and academy and training and…" pranking, "y'know what not. I didn't really think about anything else much."
"So, what brings you to this old coot today?" the Hokage asked curiously.
"I wanted to ask you if it's okay for me to start studying seals now, y'know. You said first I had to master those chakra control exercises. I have mastered them, all of them, and I have mastered the Transformation Jutsu and I have read everything on Uzumaki clan three times. There's only one book after all. Can I please start seals now? Please?"
"You completed all those exercises?" Sarutobi asked, and Naruto nodded vigorously.
"Then you wouldn't mind showing them to me, would you?" Sarutobi absolutely believed in Naruto – the kid never lied unless it was for his pranks – but he wanted to see how good he was. He did train alone after all.
"Of course not. Tell me what you wanna see," Naruto yelled confidently.
"Let's go with the leaf sticking exercise first," Sarutobi told Naruto.
"Really, that's so boring. Even other Academy students can do that, y'know," Naruto whined but sat down in a comfortable position nonetheless.
He sat there for a second and then remembered, "Oh, I don't have a leaf, Jiji," he said, smiling sheepishly.
"Don't worry. Here," Hiruzen beckoned him to come closer and tore a small piece of paper for him, about the size of his palm. He gave it to Naruto to use it as a substitute for a leaf.
Taking it, Naruto once again sat down cross-legged on the floor. He raised his head upward, looking at the ceiling, and then kept the paper on his forehead. His eyes closed and three seconds later his head came down, facing in front of him. The paper didn't fall off. A few seconds later he opened his eyes and grinned smugly.
He sat there like that for a whole minute before Sarutobi told him to stop.
"Okay, Naruto-kun, you did good," Naruto beamed at the praise, "Now, I think you should show me the shuriken flying exercise."
Hiruzen threw a shuriken at him – slow enough that he could catch it without injuring himself. Naruto caught it and kept it on his palm horizontally. After about five seconds, he suddenly flipped his hand down and the shuriken fell down – an inch. Then it hovered just there, moving the way Naruto's hand did but staying an inch away from it always. Naruto was grinning widely the whole time.
"That's impressive, Naruto-kun, but that's not how it's done. Though I suppose it satisfies the point either way…"
"Yeah, I know. I just like to do it like this. It's so cool, isn't it?" Naruto's blinding smile could really rival the sun. "I can show you the other way, too, if you want."
Not giving the Hokage the chance to say anything, he squatted down and the shuriken clinked as it fell down. One of his hands hovered over it, moving up and down slightly. After just about four seconds, the shuriken started moving, too, and slowly Naruto straightened, shuriken once again attached to his hand one inch away.
"Well done, Naruto-kun, but how did you practice it? You aren't allowed to use shuriken in the Academy yet. Wooden shuriken won't help much," Sarutobi pondered out loud.
"Yeah, I didn't have any shuriken. So, I just used pebbles and small rocks. Ingenious, right?" Naruto gave a smug smile, showing off the results of his reading.
"Ingenious?" Hiruzen asked, and Naruto's smile widened. "Sure, it is. You are learning fast, Naruto-kun. Keep it up."
"Anything else you wanna see?" Naruto asked smugly, yet impatiently.
"Hm… well, you can show me tree walking," Sarutobi said, knowing what the blond was getting at.
Naruto grinned and turned sideways to face the wall of the Hokage Office. There was an excited jump in his demeanour. He stood there, concentrating to mould his chakra, his hands forming the Ram seal. It took him almost ten seconds before his eyes opened and he ran towards the wall.
In moments he was standing from the ceiling, grinning like a madman. Sarutobi supposed it was impressive, and enough, that it took him only ten seconds to do that. This was, after all, an exercise he was supposed to do after four more years, when he would become a genin.
"Hm. Looks like you really did master all those exercises I gave you. I guess only the Transformation Jutsu is left now," Hiruzen said after Naruto flipped down from the ceiling and landed in a crouch.
He straightened and made the hand sign for the jutsu, "Oh, that! I had it mastered long before, Jiji."
He then hesitated, but before Hiruzen could think of it and frown, Naruto resolved himself and a mischievous smile – that smile – came to his face.
Poor Hiruzen, not having been at the butt of the blond's pranks enough times didn't give it a second thought. But his personal ANBU who were hidden around the office had all at some point of time been given the bodyguard duty over the said blond, and they all felt a shiver run down their spines and thanked whatever deity they knew that they weren't down there in front of the brat.
Naruto released the moulded chakra and a 'poof' was heard and a cloud of smoke covered Naruto.
Hiruzen, who had expected a copy of himself or just some made up image, felt a drop of blood trickle down his nose when the smoke slowly cleared. Two sunny blonde pigtails were the first thing he saw, followed by long, smooth, creamy legs.
Some of the smoke dissipated some more and a small, creamy waist filled his vision. As more and more smoke cleared, blood rushed faster out of his nose. A big, full ass, a bushy patch of blonde hiding Lady Jane with little help from those heavy thighs pressing together, two big, soft, fleshy mounds being futilely covered by petite arms, a small, cutest pout on the pink, plump lips, long, blonde eye lashes lidding blue sparkling eyes that looked so innocent.
Blood spurted of his nose and the Third Hokage was knocked out within four seconds.
All the hidden ANBU silently wiped their noses and upper lips, conflicted if they should be relieved or disappointed that they didn't get the full view of the transformation.
Sarutobi had no idea how long he was passed out but when he came to, Naruto was still rolling on the ground, laughing so hard that only wheezes were coming out of his mouth.
He deftly cleaned the blood from his burning face and cleared his throat to regain some of his dignity. It only made Naruto laugh even harder.
Naruto kept laughing for a few minutes and Sarutobi couldn't help the small smile that forced itself on his lips. Naruto's emotions are so contagious.
When he finally quieted down and climbed on his feet, still snickering sporadically, Hiruzen voiced what was on his mind since the moment he gained consciousness (even though he wasn't sure if he wanted to know), "Naruto-kun, how did you… refine your jutsu so much?"
Because it wasn't that hard to figure out how he invented it.
"Oh, it was easy –" and he knew that he really didn't want to know. It can never be easy, even for eight-year-olds.
"Never mind, it's fine. Let's not go on other tangents.Ahem. I suppose that's good enough," Sarutobi said with a small grin despite himself, teasing the blond who was clearly expecting something along the likes of a grand celebration – or maybe just a small (big) ramen date, who knows – for his accomplishments.
"Congratulations, I grant you the permission to start practicing seals, Naruto-kun."
Naruto jumped in his place in excitement, "For real, Jiji?"
Sarutobi laughed at Naruto's cheerfulness, "Yes, your chakra control is satisfactory now." As long as he doesn't try to make more complex seals, but it would take him at least eight more years to even start trying them… right?
Naruto, oblivious to the Hokage's… jitters jumped in the air and did a victory dance, practically overflowing with exhilaration.
The old man sat there with a light-hearted smile on his face, basking in Naruto's contagious feelings till he stopped dancing.
When he finally came down from his high, he scratched his head and sheepishly admitted, "Yeah, I just remembered. That's why I came to you today. I wanted to ask you how am I supposed to even start learning them, y'know?"
Hiruzen's face blanked. He didn't read the theory of the seals already?
"What do you mean, Naruto-kun? Didn't you study the books about seals in the library?"
Naruto's face cleared as if he just remembered that, "Oh! I totally forgot you told me to read those books, too. But where can I find them?"
"Huh?" …in the library?
"I mean, there are so many rows and shelves and how will I find one or two books on seals. You know it took me more than two hours to find the book on Uzumaki clan? Two hours! And there was only one there. I mean, yeah, I get that they were not from our village, but still! Anyways, I don't know how to find a book on seals. I only managed to find that one book on Uzumaki clan 'cause the shelf was marked with 'Ninja Clans'. So…"
It took Hiruzen a few more seconds to understand what Naruto was trying to ask for after his rambling, "You mean the sections in the library?"
Naruto nodded, so he continued, "You will find books on seals in the Arts section. On the shelf marked with Fuinjutsu. And don't worry, there won't be just one or two books on seals there."
The Third Hokage gave a smile at his last sentence that Naruto would almost call wicked if he didn't know better.
"Okay. I will remember that. Thanks, Jiji," Naruto said with a glazed look, trying to make sure he wouldn't forget the categories.
"Oh, and Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen's voice snapped him out of his musings.
"Yeah?"
"I think it would be helpful if you try calligraphy, too before you start drawing seals. They require great penmanship."
"Calligraphy? Is that necessary?" Naruto whined.
"Not necessary, per se, but you will find it a lot harder to draw seals with your chicken scratch," Sarutobi said with a chuckle at the end.
"Hey! It's not chicken scratch, y'know," Naruto argued, ready to throw a temper tantrum – all with hands folded and chin high in the air and a scowl (pout) on the face.
"Alright, alright," Sarutobi conceded with a small laugh. "But I still suggest practicing calligraphy. You can find them in the Arts section, too."
"Okay, I'll try," Naruto accepted with a huff.
Sarutobi laughed at the blond's near-sulking expression.
"How about I treat you to some ramen after I get my work done for the day? You did well these last couple of months," he offered as a reward for Naruto's training (for reducing his paperwork by letting up on pranks for those few months).
Naruto yelled out a loud "YES! RAMEN!" and did a small victory dance again.
"Then I'll see you at Ichiraku's later, Jiji. Bye!" and with that the yellow ball of energy vanished just as soon as he came.
It suddenly felt like the temperature around him dropped by half a degree, but Hiruzen's smile didn't falter.
…
Naruto went for the library the moment he was out of Hokage Tower. He stopped near an alley few meters away from the building and did his Transformation before entering the library and walking past the Librarian's desk. It was like a ritual for him to Transformation before entering the old hag's range of vision.
It didn't take him more than five minutes to find the shelf marked Arts/Kekkei Ninjutsu and Arts/Fuinjutsu. The first one third of the shelf was filled with barrier techniques. The rest had books on seals.
Naruto just stood there blankly for several minutes. There were more than a couple hundred books, and not small or thin ones either. Now he knew the Old Man's smile really was wicked.
Guess it's better than just one.
Just for the sake of curiosity (escapade), he retracked to find the shelf for calligraphy. There were two whole aisles full of it.
He obediently went back to the seals.
…
It took him an hour to realize there were a few introductory books, then there was a series of guidebooks – all the way from level 1 seals to level 7 seals – and another series up to nine levels, and many other such series with different number of levels, then there were some books on notable seals used since the Warring States Era. There were other solo books, too.
There was one largest series, up to fifteen levels and all of them were some of the thickest books in the shelf. They were a bit battered and yellowed. But they all had one thing different than all the other series available – they had the Uzumaki clan symbol at the bottom of their spines.
Naruto knew they were the ones he would be studying from. Fifteen was a much more appealing number than a hundred, anyways. And he knew these fifteen books had more about seals in them than all the other books together.
Fortunately, the first two volumes were of calligraphy – not complete courses, just enough to learn to draw seals. It seemed as if bibliophobia was a common trait among the Uzumakis, ironic considering most of them were supposed to be seal masters. Even then there were fifteen of the thickest books on seals by the Uzumaki clan. It was scary to think how many they would have made if even half of them actually liked reading and studying.
Naruto decided to start from volume 3, he would practice calligraphy when he would get sick of reading – 'cause there was a lot of reading to do.
Thankfully, they were written in ways quite easy to understand but it was still a great pain to learn everything in them. There were almost seventy different basic symbols that were used for drawing seals and their fundamentals. Then there were over thousands of their combinations and their functions. But if you really understood the basic symbols and their fundamentals, you won't have to bother about learning about the combinations and their functions – you can just derive them.
It took Naruto fifteen weeks to complete volume 3 – and one fourth of volume one – and by the end he was proficient in at least sixty symbols and their combinations. He would crosscheck combinations from the books after deriving them – he doesn't think he can remain sane if the even tried to learn all of them. He didn't even try.
Then he pulled out volume 4. This one was all about how and which of the symbols and their combinations you can put together in an array to get certain results, and which ones you should avoid putting together, and which ones you should absolutely not put together. There wasn't as much weight on the latter as there should be – maybe because they knew any other Uzumaki would try them regardless (and any non-Uzumaki would listen with just one warning). It was more… practical to decrease word count and useless effort.
Naruto wouldn't realize it anytime soon, but there were two such arrays already on his body – one over another. See what I said about useless effort?
He completed volume 4 in next twelve weeks, though most of that time was spent on practicing basics and fundamentals and practicing calligraphy. Volume 1 was almost done. Naruto felt it was much easier to complete because he had spent most of his time mastering the basics. So, he already had a good understanding of how to put them together to form arrays, volume 4 just confirmed most of his theories.
Volume 5 finally started on drawing and practicing seals. Draw the most compact and clear you can. Release the least amount of chakra it requires to work the seal. This volume started on small storage seals and finished on weak explosive seals. Maybe they knew an Uzumaki would still find a way to make it hazardous.
Naruto managed to break all of his windows in his house the first time he practiced a really weak – at least he thought so – explosive seal. He then vowed never to test them inside the apartment – the neighbours were already grumpy enough without any explosions.
Fourteen weeks later he had completed half of volume 2 and started volume 6, the largest volume after volume 13. Naruto was almost afraid of those two monsters of books.
Volume 6 had bigger and more durable storage seals, more powerful explosive tags, triggers – time, weight, heat, water, pressure, surroundings, chakra signature, specific materials and many others – and modifications – making them smaller, bigger, using different inks, drawing on different surfaces, repeated releases, limiting the effects, limiting to certain areas and other things.
It took him next six weeks to finish volume 2 and thirty-four more to do volume 6. There was a lot of hands-on experience (pranks) for this one.
By the end, he was practically in love with timed seals and repeated releases – even though his current limit was just ten minutes and six repeats. It was so great for his pranks. For the first five months, he never once got caught. But inevitably, the police did catch on his increasing mastery of seals.
And he couldn't do a thing – his seals were glaring evidence against him. Even refusing the notion that he made those seals was rebuffed. There were less than few seal users in Konoha – none except him interested in pranks (their criminal records were negligible in front of Naruto's, despite all of them being at least thrice his age).
This led him to his next obstacle. Invisible seals. He has to find some way to make his seal invisible or he won't be able to prank anymore without being caught – at least using seals. He can still go the traditional ways. But where's the fun in that when you can use seals?
There was one modification in volume 6 for that. It had the instructions to camouflage your seal so it looks invisible. But that's not what he needed. Those seals were visible once they were released. It wasn't what he wanted. His seals were rarely discovered before it's too late. He needed to make them invisible after they were released.
He used all his free time trying to come up with an idea – he had an AWESOME prank to set if he could just figure out how to make his seals one-time-use. Because if he got caught for this one, he is really gonna get it from the police this time.
But he didn't get much ideas for that until months later.
…
During that first one and a half year since Naruto started studying seals, Iruka-sensei had his fair share of moments, too.
Some days Naruto would come to school just to sleep all day, and while that itself was a very frequent occurrence, now those days concerned Iruka. Normally, Naruto would sleep because he was bored. Hardly ever would he sleep like he had not slept in days. Those days were always followed by some big prank. But that year, Naruto would sleep like that every three days. Of course, there were no large-scale pranks every three days.
Some days Naruto's answers would be written so beautifully that Iruka would have to squint his eyes to even read them – even if his name was always written in the same chicken scratch as always. At the beginning, Iruka thought Naruto had someone else do it for him. But the kid didn't have any friends, and he wouldn't (couldn't, either) have made anyone do it for him. His thoughts were confirmed when he saw Naruto write in that handwriting one day in class. He was concentrating acutely on his work. But it was only sporadic, most of his work was still submitted in chicken scratch. Iruka often wondered why.
Then there were days when he was in his own world, scribbling illegible things on a paper, but thinking something else. Those days he would not even sass Sasuke.
Then there were some pranks which everyone knew who did but no one knew how he did. Like the time desks would suddenly vanish for a second and then reappear. Or when green paint suddenly rained in the corridor. Or when there were sudden explosions in different rooms minutes after lunch break when Naruto was innocently sitting right in front of him.
Even the pranks were more irregular than ever. Sometimes there won't be a prank for a whole month – even the smallest one – and sometimes there would be more than ten in a single month.
Iruka learned a little too late that he was studying seals. And suddenly everything started making sense. He also stopped waking him up during classes – well, half the times at least. He was, after all, still learning something and still had to learn other things too.
…
When Naruto finally started on volume 7, he finally got the idea he was searching for – three weeks after he started the book.
This book was about diversionary seals and concealment seals. How to make the seal with multiple functions. How to make them look like another seal. How to overlap seals but still make only one of them work. How to use seals as decoys. How to conceal your smell. How to hide your chakra. How to hide someone else's chakra. And all kinds of tricks to mask the seal and what it is supposed to do.
It gave Naruto the inspiration he was looking for.
He completed volume 7 in twenty-nine weeks. The seals he learned from them weren't used much in his pranks. He used them very rarely, and only on school kids. He wouldn't want to attract attention to those seals before he could use them for his legendary prank.
He started volume 8. It had barriers. And these were the toughest seals he had studied yet. Nevertheless, he knew these would be some of more useful seals for him in the future. It astonished him that there would be so many types of barriers, and each one completely different from others. And he knew these were only the most basic of barriers. You have to give your seals your own personal touch to make them better. It goes even more for barriers.
But a couple weeks into volume 8, by when he had barely scratched the idea of barriers, his attention was caught by his best prank ever.
And so, he started spending more of his time planning for his one legendary prank – one which he was sure would be remembered for years to come. And the best thing would be – there won't be a single smallest thing to trace it back to him.
It was during this prank when he was once again hiding in his favourite hideout, Hideout #3 that he noticed something he had never before did – there was a pattern on the ceiling.
It was a seal.
Naruto was nowhere near being the master of seals yet, but he could still tell at least a couple things about a seal by looking at it. This one was related to vision. Maybe that's the reason the police can never find him in there.
He copied the seal in a much smaller scale for personal reference.
So, it took him seven more months to complete volume 8. By the time he had reached the end of the book, he was already eleven years old. Reaching his last year in Academy in a few months. It was time to finally start looking at what the hell he was being taught in the school.