Sakura stared down at the rather full and detailed training and nutrition plan Atsuko presented her with. She'd even splurged and presented it in a pale blue journal where she'd be able to record her progress.
"The Uzumichi may have taken the Uzumaki's Strength of a Hundred seal and made it easier and less dangerous to gain. Do you remember what that is?"
"It's a seal that stores chakra that's been accumulated over time. Yin release opens the seal and allows the user access to that stored chakra," she said slowly.
"Quite right. Our seal was six solid circles in the form of a five petal flower and its centre. Each petal represents one of the five elements with the centre representing natural chakra."
"So does that mean each petal has a store of chakra behind it?" Atsuko's eyes twinkled at the question.
"You still need to save up and store the chakra, but combining it with a family kinjutsu it is a shortcut, each element of the seal can be formed over the space of a month rather than several years."
Sakura turned greedy eyes on the seal. Atsuko had kept the five petal flower theme, but had drawn up a cherry blossom within the Haruno circle. It didn't look like a seal at all, and it could be taken as a simple indication of her clan.
"The kinjutsu increases the depth of your chakra reserves by a full quarter every time you use it, but it places a lot of strain on your chakra network to suddenly generate that much new chakra in your system. If you're not careful you can overload your pathways and lose the ability to mould chakra forever."
Sakura startled at that and looked at the seal with a bit more caution and wariness.
"This is why it is a hidden technique. It is also why you should never perform the generation without being sufficiently low on chakra in the first place. You also need to be careful to ensure that the new chakra completely circulates your system before you send it into one of the petals otherwise when you release each seal it will flood your body with what it would consider 'foreign' chakra and your body will reject it. Violently. You will need to meditate on your tenketsu and only once you have managed to light up each point in order will I allow you to place this seal and teach you the kinjutsu. Learning to light up each tenketsu will be excellent chakra control practice in any case."
Sakura peeled her gaze from the seal and looked up at her. "How will I know which tenketsu point is the first one?" Atsuko smiled.
"Meditation. Lift that box down and pick out a set of training weights."
"Aren't training weights bulky and expensive?"
"They are, but they're also very effective. My uncle managed to create a seal that would infuse metal with chakra allowing it to regulate weight. He got the idea from chakra infused weapons. He died before he could start producing and selling them. He did manage to make a few prototype sets for his niece and nephew."
Sakura opened the box to reveal two sets of four metal bands. They were round, like a rod had been bent and curved. Each band had two clasps that were released by channelling a small amount of chakra into the mechanism to allow it to release the catch. Sakura mused on the reason for those type of catches and figured that hinges and flimsier clasps just wouldn't stand up to the infused extra weight.
The bands were narrow, barely half an inch thick. The metal was shiny and smooth in between the seals etched over their entire surface.
"What metal is this?"
"Tungsten. It doesn't conduct heat or electricity well so they wont react to any fire or lightning jutsu."
Sakura snapped them together around each ankle and wrist before channelling a small amount of chakra into one of the bands.
"The weight increases on all of them," she announced surprised.
"That's right. You can push your chakra into or pull it from any band. They're all connected."
Kakashi kept an eye on his sole female charge when he could. She turned up to training sessions, and participated in missions, but she was quieter than she had been. She seemed to be taking herself more seriously. He did catch her at times staring at Sasuke but she no longer made a nuisance of herself interrupting his and Naruto's training. Of course she didn't interrupt their fights as regularly either.
"Kakashi-sensei, can you teach me some genjutsu?" she asked during one of their water breaks.
"You need to have deep chakra reserves for genjutsu Sakura. Civilians and civilian-born just don't have the capacity for it. I'm afraid you will have trouble with ninjutsu as well for the same reason. You'll be able to perform a number of smaller D-rank or C-rank jutsu, or maybe single B-rank jutsu, but after that your reserves will be pretty much gone."
"So what do you suggest I concentrate on?" she asked.
"Taijutsu. Work on your stamina and strength. A friend of mine has a student who can only use his chakra for basic things like tree and water walking. He's well on his way to becoming a taijutsu master even at his young age." They could hear Naruto yelling louder and louder from across the field and there was a bellow of flame erupting from Sasuke. Kakashi cursed under his breath. "Just continue as you are and you'll get there," he called back to her over his shoulder as he rushed to pull the two boys apart and get them back on track.
Sakura sighed and returned to running laps. She could feel herself getting better even after the short amount of time she been at it. She wasn't as out of breath as she had been when she started and she felt more balanced as she ran even with the weights dragging her down.
She'd also started picking up some solo D-rank missions. Laundry and grocery runs, and gardening mostly, but she was pushing all of her money into the things she needed. Things like a new whetstone, one that would put an edge on even her parent's old kunai and shuriken. Sturdier weapons pouches and a better first aid kit.
Sealing paper. Ink. Brushes. Empty scrolls.
She had never given sealing much thought, but it played to her talents and put her prodigious brain to use in a way that taijutsu didn't. Even Granny Atsuko was surprised by how quickly she picked it up and how well she excelled at it.
"These are the three hundred and eighty-two symbols that are commonly used in seals. There are two hundred and five basic symbols, ninety-five intermediate symbols and eighty-two advanced symbols," her grandmother lectured. "They're all based on the five elements, but also on yin and yang. There are standard seals, involving common groupings, laid out in logical and predictable patterns. If a seal is balanced then it is stable. An unbalanced seal has the tendency to unravel and you'll be lucky if it just falls apart. There's a reason that there are very few sealing masters. Sealing experimentations can get violent unexpectedly quick."
Sakura gulped at how serious the old woman was and at the consequences should she mess up.
"Before you even start to think about making seals of your own using those common groupings, you will prove to me that your calligraphy is at the level it needs to be. That's why you will be copying out this text- all of it, onto this scroll first in Kaisho. You'll get a second scroll to copy the text again in Gyosho, and then finally a third scroll to copy the text in Sosho. You need to be fluid in your writing, confident with your brushstrokes. I need to be confident that you won't blow yourself up because a misspelled word or incorrect formulation can add different elements to a seal that could be disastrous."
"Hai Bāchan."
At the same time she was made to learn about the different materials that were used in the brushes, the differences in the different weights of paper, how scrolls were constructed, how the ink was made, and once she'd learned all that, she was taught which products did better when chakra was channelled through them.
She had handed over her third scroll of Sosho text to Granny Atsuko the night before and was rewarded with the knowledge that she would start learning how to layer seals so that they would be balanced and wouldn't unravel.
If you're enjoying this so far- or not, please review. I'd love to know what you think either way.
~G