Sakura quickly but carefully transcribed the five individual seals that made up her exploding tag. She had done so many of them over the last few days, she could practically do them in her sleep. She gently pinned the last seal to the wall rack to dry and took in her work with no small amount of pride.
By her count there were eight hundred tags on the wall racks that she'd made by herself. She would have paid seven thousand ryō for a pack of ten from the store. She knew the cost because she bought a pack to test her own in comparison.
She paid a thousand for the supplies to make the eight hundred she'd just finished, and she had enough left over to make a few more.
Hers were better.
She made them half the size of the ones from the store after having to go to the hospital for third degree burns because she hadn't cleared the area quick enough, and they still were just as effective than the ones others purchased and maybe a little more so.
Then she learned that she could regulate how big or how small an explosion could be- and how long the fuse time could be.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had Uzumichi blood girl," Atsuko said when she looked over Sakura's work. "These are very well done."
"Thank you Bāchan," Sakura beamed over at her hard work.
"But what on earth are you going to do with all these exploding tags?"
"Five ten-packs were commissioned by the chūnin who helped me to the hospital when testing went wrong. He watched the second time to make sure testing went right. He's expecting them by Friday, but I'll drop them around to him at the T&I building before our mission today."
"How much are you charging for them?"
"Five thousand for Tatami-san. Anyone else can have them for the same as Good on Paper. I don't want to be stuck making seals all the time, but I don't mind a commission here or there to pad out my pay."
"You could easily start stockpiling them. I can show you a good seal for storage."
"I'd like that," she said starting to gather the ones that were already dry and ready to be packaged up. She stacked ten tags together and slipped them inside a pocket envelope that fitted them perfectly. The envelope was plain white and the only thing on it were the words '10 medium explosive tags' then underneath that 'Variable fuse time'. Her Strength of Five Thousand seal, or at least the image of it was on the other side.
She felt it was as good as signing her work. The Haruno circle, the Sakura flower. Only an idiot would miss the obvious.
Atsuko nodded impressed.
"Very nice Sakura. Clean. Simple. Elegant branding." Sakura smiled and put together another pack.
She made sure that she had everything she needed, adding a pack of tags to her own supplies-not that she'd need them in village, and headed directly to the T&I building which was in the opposite direction of Team 7's bridge.
The front desk was unmanned and Sakura decided to call back after her team mission instead. She turned and narrowly avoided bumping into the tall intimidating man who had come up to stand directly behind her.
"What are you doing here brat?" the man growled and she flicked a wary glance over her shoulder.
"Haruno-chan!" this time it was Iwashi Tatami, the man she'd been looking for in the first place.
"Tatami-san," she smiled with relief rushing back to the front desk. "I've completed the tags you wanted."
"Already? That's excellent timing, I'm heading out on a mission this afternoon. When can I collect them?"
"I've actually got them here now," she replied pulling six envelopes out of her pouch and casually slipping the extra one back in.
"Let me go get my wallet. Five thousand a pack right?" he confirmed and Sakura nodded.
"You're a seal maker?" the intimidating man asked.
"I'm learning," she confirmed. "Hey!" he'd snatched a packet from her hands and had pulled out a tag. He looked it over with critical eyes quietly examining the tag in detail, comparing it to another he had that was twice the size.
"They're smaller than normal. How effective are they?"
"Better than the ones you can get at Good on Paper," she returned grumpily. He may have been intimidating but he was an arse as well.
"Why did you use thicker paper for your tags?"
"Thinner paper doesn't handle the heavy layers of ink very well, especially for the smaller format."
"And the reason for the smaller format?"
"A smaller tag can be overlooked." He looked intrigued.
Sakura was grateful when Iwashi returned. She took Tatami Iwashi's money when he came back in exchange for the other four packets, she gestured to the other guy.
"Good luck getting them back."
He saw the packet in the other man's hand. "You going into business Haruno-chan?" he asked with a smile. "Once people see these, you'll be swamped with orders."
"I don't have time to be going into business Tatami-san. I'm too busy trying to learn genjutsu."
"Oh, who's your teacher?"
"I don't have one- not for genjutsu. My sensei won't teach me because he says my reserves are too small, so I'm reading everything I can at the library but I'm only a genin so there's not much I can access."
"Well, I don't know much about genjutsu, but I've heard you need to have an imaginative and flexible mind to be good at it. The genjutsu users I know read a lot of novels to gain inspiration." Sakura pulled a face.
"If you're trying to tell me that the reason Kakashi-sensei reads porn in public is because he's gaining inspiration for genjutsu's. That's just ew."
Iwashi gave a choked laugh. "No, not at all, but I know some who are going to laugh themselves silly over that remark. No the novels they read are horrors, or thrillers, but I guess genjutsu's that utilise romance and yes porn would be appropriate in more clandestine missions that a young genin would never be sent out on."
It was good advice. "Thanks Tatami-san, that's a good idea. I'll make sure to visit the book store."
"Reading up on the body and how the brain processes the senses will also help," the other man said from where he was still examining the tag.
"Thank you shinobi-san. I will."
"You have an extra pack of these, I'll buy it," he said digging in his pocket.
"That will be seven thousand."
"You sold him his for five," he growled, his eyes narrowed. Sakura shrugged, trying not to let it show that he scared her.
"You didn't rush me to the hospital with third degree burns during the testing stages."
The tall shinobi eyed the tag and glanced at Iwashi who gave a solemn nod. Sakura quickly pocketed the full seven thousand and tossed her extra packet to Iwashi.
"I need to go meet up with my team. Thank you for your advice on genjutsu. I look forward to seeing you when you're back Tatami-san," she added not wanting to jinx the outcome of his mission. He smiled as he thanked her and waved her off.
The intimidating man from T&I found her in the book store later that afternoon.
"Haruno-san," he growled from behind her and she nearly threw her basket at him.
"What!? Jeeze, don't do that," she screeched.
"What other seals can you make?" Sakura sighed and looked at the two books that she'd been trying to decide between and placed them both in the basket already holding with half a dozen others.
"I'm still learning. I can make smoke bombs, knock-out bombs, and seals, containment seals, perimeter seals, and privacy seals though I've got a few ideas to make them all better. I'm about to learn to make sealing scrolls too."
"What about chakra suppression?" Sakura shook her head.
"Not really. I've read a few things about it, but I don't have anything to work off of as a starting point. Most of what I've learned is by reverse engineering seals that I've been able to get a hold of." She didn't lie. Atsuko made her break down a seal first and then work her way up. Said it was good practice in determining an unknown seal.
"T&I's getting an upgrade. Our current seals are old and are slowly wearing down. The sealing team is good, but they're not improving on any of the known seals. Your explosive tag is an improvement over the ones we have. I've spoken with the Hokage and he's reluctant to let you take a look at what we currently have, but the ones we had before were different again and I can show you those. If you're able to reverse engineer them and make improvements I'd like to see your results."
"No expectations or deadlines, just take a look?" Sakura clarified, and he gave a single slow nod.
"Okay."
"I want to see examples of your other seals too. In exchange I'll teach you a few basic genjutsu." Sakura nodded, eyes wide. Genjutsu was hard, and everything stated that you needed a teacher in it otherwise you were liable to get trapped in your own creations.
"Yes please, thank you shinobi-san. Uh, what do I call you?"
"My name is Ibiki Morino. Don't call me sensei. Morino-san will do."
"Hai Morino-san. I can bring in some examples Monday after lunch."
"I look forward to it." He reached for a medical text that sat high above her head and headed to the counter.
When she arrived with a full basket a few minutes later, the owner handed her the medical book that had a note stuck to the cover on the pages he wanted her to read before they met on Monday.
"It's already been paid for," the owner assured her. "He just asked me to pass it on." Sakura squealed at the gift and couldn't wait to dive into it.
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~G