I blocked a fist with my Tanto in its sheath before using the sheathed blade to disarm the wooden kunai in his other hand. 'Running.' I called for my favorite skill once more. This time going on the offensive I made a slash motion downwards and Naruto recoiled back back before throwing his kunai at me which hit my forehead. 'Ouch.' I then felt a kick where my left Kidney was and felt myself go flying.

Quickly I unsheathed my Tanto and stuck it into the ground, Spinning on its handle and kicked a rushing Naruto away. I quickly resheathed my Tanto. 'Complete bullshit but I'll take it.' One thing I had discovered in my time here was that moves that were impossible to pull off in my world were completely possible here. I raised my gaurd as Naruto came rushing back at me and blocked another hit.

Suddenly Naruto tried to sweep my legs out so I jumped and then tried to kick Naruto. Grabbing my legs, Naruto flung me west over by Tenten. I quickly landed on a tree and used chakra to numb the impact. 'It amazes me how much better I am with a Tanto than with my fists.'

The spar was a lot more even than one would think. Naruto was wearing weight Seals I conned Tenten into making yesterday. I had my Tanto and Running was activated. So we were relatively even at the moment.

I began running at Naruto once more.

Naruto blocked a horizontal shalsh with a kunai but then he missed the vertical one. Naruto ducked back of another slash and grabbed my Tanto's sheath. "Got you now!" He pulled and the sheath came off and the blade was pulled out of my hands and sent into the tree nearby that I had already decimated with my tree walking.

'Shit.' I blocked a strike from Naruto with my arms and regretfuly not the second one after that. As it turns out the trade off for speed is strength. I grit my teeth as I jumped back and threw three wooden Shuriken at Naruto. 'Knee's and then one at the neck.' The goal was to incapacitate Naruto. If these were real Shuriken that'd be great but we agreed we wanted this fight to be bloodless.

Naruto deflcted the first shuriken going for his neck but winced once the other two hti their target. "Ouch that hurt!" I grinned. Perfect. I dived toward my Tanto but felt a kick to the back, sending me to the ground and then a leg pinning me to it. "I win!" Naruto's voice waas really annoying at the moment.

Oh well. That makes thirteen wins for him and one win for me. "Can you get off of me Naruto?" Whilst we all weren't working on Fuinjutsu we were working on different things. Sparring, Kenjutsu, Elemental training, Ninjutsu training that I couldn't partake in since I had a fire affinity and not wind. Tenten wasn't here today so we were sparring.

The works.

Naruto obliged my request quickly and he took his foot off of my back, "Man that was fun. I can't wait until you finish your seals Kukui then we're gonna have a real good spar and then you can show dogbreath your better than him!" Now that Naruto had beaten Kiba in everywhere but intelligence he had elected to try and get me to beat him. By now I had beaten him in the track race but spars were a no go at the moment.

I grinned. Someone believed in me a bit. Tenten did but it wasn't really wholehearted belief. But Naruto? He thought I'd kick Kiba's ass in no time, "Yeah right. I'll beat him before then," I was starting to get a bit more confident in my abilities. Taijutsu was sitting at a comfortable level...

[Basic Hummingbird fist lvl 12:

Taijutsu style that revolves around speed and kicks. Skill increases with level]

Twelve. Yeah a comfortable level twelve. I was confident that was close to Kiba's level of Taijutsu. And I've heard Iruka praise his Taijutsu as being as good as an upper level genin's. I had to be genin level at least. If I could use Kenjutsu I'd be confident in my victory because Kenjutsu was my highest non maxed skill. Yes I had maxed Physical conditioning. No not meditation and running yet. Those had gotten slow to level.

Naruto grinned back, "Thats the spirit!" Naruto's stomach then growled, "Oh hey its lunchtime! Wanna go get some ramen?" Naruto had already introduced us to the fabled Ichiraku Ramen. Yes it was as good as he said it was. Yes I nearly went broke paying for my own food because I was hungry that day and I have a near bottomless stomach when it comes to food I like.

I chuckled, "Sure why not but I'm not paying for yours again," That may be part of the reason why I nearly went broke, "Good spar. You really got me at the end there," I stood up and went to grab my tanto to resheath it. It had taken a beating but it was holding up extremely well. I also deactivated running. 'Naruto's still faster huh. I need to improve more.' I'd likely never be as fast as him but thats okay. As long as I can hold my own and win fights against him and others then I'll take it.

I was rising through the ranks of the academy because of these spars making me stronger. I beat Chouji again yesterday and today I beat Hinata. Although the Gentle fist style is a pain to deal with. My constitution helped me tank it. 'Speaking of stats... Stats.'

[Name: Kukui Tanku

Title: Gamer of Konoha

Chakra: 320/320

Energy points: 320/320

Dexterity: 17

Strength: 16

Constitution: 16

Chakra: 16

Chakra control D+]

I was almost as fast as Sasuke now. With running I definitely could beat him since it gave that much of a boost now. But I wanted to beat him normally... I wondered if there was any quest for beating him. That'd be great.

Naruto chuckled, "Okay okay. Now C'mon lets go We need to get there before everyone else does!" Naruto grabbed my arm.

Yeah this was gonna end well. For my wallet? Likely not.

'Almost done.' Unsurprisingly the output seal was almost done before the elemental one. It had been a tough few weeks of practicing and wasting copious amounts of chakra. But I had mastered both the Connector seal which connected me to seals and the control seal which was made for the express purpose of being paired with the connector seal to stop it from immediately activating a seal. No it didn't control humans. It just kept the seal from being controlled by someone else. Although I had a feeling it was used in Juinjutsu. I'd look into later. For now I had other things to do involving the Connector and Control seals.

I just needed to layer them together to create the output seal. A seal which had its basic components in level two but in reality was a level five seal. Easy right?

Nope! Nothing I did was easy! Layering Fuinjutsu was hard. A level five Fuinjutsu requirement. I was around level two and the elemental seal will allow me to get into level three. Tenten and Naruto were also at level two but Naruto was looking like he'd be the first one at Level three. But I had to do this. I needed to do this anyways and I wasn't going to wait until Level five fuinjutsu seals... I didn't even know how to get the book.

So I had to do this on my own. It had always been the plan to layer the seals as soon as possible. To layer a seal you basically had to overlap seals with each other. I drew the seals out in the shape of a circle normally. Drawing the Kanji that way was far harder but it looked a lot better. Plus it'd fit into my plans better.

I took a deep breath as I looked at the first seal. The reverse storage seal. A stretched out reversed seal which did nothing on its own. But the Connector seal and the Control seal made it become the Output seal.

The Connector seal was the first seal that had to be used. With each stroke of my brush the shape of a circle took shape on the paper I decided to use. No mistakes were made. None could be made. My calligraphy is as good as it could be.

Eventually I looked on in pride as I looked at the Kanji. It was a stretched-out seal with the Kanji for Connect on it inside of the reverse storage seal. It was a tough thing to do but it looked like the image I had gotten so far. I then took another deep breath.

It was time to finish this.

I dipped my brush in ink again and began drawing the next seal. The control seal was much harder to do but after entire days of no sleep I managed to get it down and max it out. Yes I grinded my seals. They maxed out at level five.

[Connector seal lvl max:

Allows user to connect themselves to other seals via chakra connection.

Cost: 30 chakra points per seal]

[Control seal lvl max

Allows user to keep control of connector or other seals from Enemy ninja and prevents activation of connector seal without users input.

Cost: 25 chakra points per seal]

I looked away from the screens and then looked at the finished result of my creation.

[New Skill Unlocked: Output Seal lvl 1]

[Output seal lvl 1:

Allows user to use seals remotely whilst keeping usage of seals materials in check allowing user to use seals anywhere and without wasting materials

Cost: Five chakra points per second]

I grinned. Now I just had to grind it to get the cost down. Five chakra points a second was a lot when you thought about it a bit. But oh well. I expected more. So I'd take this. I looked over to the notes on the next seal I had to work on. Would I get this seal done before the elemental one? Who knows.

I looked at the seal I had in hand. First I had to test it. I already had a storage seal prepared above me. More specifically above my table a foot infront of me with a fruitbowl inside. I felt the seal lock on to the storage seal.

I then channeled chakra into it for a second. 'Release!' A fruitbowl fell onto my table.

I did it... I DID A LEVEL FIVE SEAL! "HAHAHA I DID IT!" This was the hardest seal I had to do. Or it should have been. But I was still fucking with the ratios on my elemental seals. But this was just incredible! All I needed to do was finish the elemental seal and then start and finish the stabilizer seal. A seal commonly used to stabilize someones chakra when they were at deaths door. But I'd need to use this to make my chakra in the elemental seal bend and shape easier.

The stabilizer seal was my next project.

But first I feel like I should celebrate this. It wasn't every day someone did level five Fuinjutsu. I still had to research level four which contained seals used in training. Like the Weight seal which Tenten could make. But I had made a seal a level above that. From the third hardest level of Fuinjutsu.

I wish I could invite Naruto and Tenten to celebrate this with me. Without their help, I wouldn't be here... But they were at Naruto's apartment today. They told me they were going to be studying together... It hurt I wasn't invited but I had other things to focus on.

My grin faltered a bit but it was still there, "Why does that hurt? They're friends. They should be able to hang out." I decided to ignore my bad feelings for the good ones. I only had a few months more research and practice at minimum before I could finish my combat seal.

I also needed to buy gloves.

Actually, I could do that now... Nah. Maybe I should continue with the leaf exercise? I had wanted to finish it before the seal so I'd have a good grasp on fire chakra. Yeah that Sounded like a good idea. I was so far the furthest along in class with my element. Mainly because I was one of two people who started early. Sasuke was close but he didn't have the Sharingan yet. I assumed thats how he learned Lightning in a month anyways.

I looked down at a leaf I had. I always carried a few leaves for when I wanted to train. I then channeled some chakra into it It burned around seven tenths of the way. As expected from it at this point. I assumed that it'd be done burning at level 10. Then I'd have to do the second exercise for fire manipulation to continue to level up. Either it'd max out then or I had to find ways to level it up.

Might as well try to get as far as I can today to prove that theory.

"So we need to pick a seal to learn huh..." Naruto was now next to me in Fuinjutsu class. And as we left it. He either switched a class or favoritism for the win. Either way there was now someone who was able to compete with me in Fuinjutsu class. Naruto then looked at me, "What are ya picking Kukui? I'm picking traps!" What a surprise

Currently we were supposed to pick an avenue of Fuinjutsu to learn. We were given multiple choices. But one stood out to me. Barriers. They are a rare ability in the world and in anime with only two anime I can think of using barriers. Maybe I'd rip the other one off. Well maybe. It might be too difficult. But still Barriers would be infinitely useful to learn. I could possibly make a version of my current combat seal but for barriers.

"Barriers." Naruto looked at me as if he was asking me to explain but he didn't want to ask, "They'd be so useful in a fight. And I'm already making my own combat seal so I gotta branch out and try things." Also the idea of using barriers offensively interested me.

"I guess that makes sense but Still I thought you'd go for something less boring," If he knew how cool barriers could be he wouldn't be saying they were boring. From what little I knew about barriers they were the most difficult to learn but also the most broken area of Fuinjutsu.

I rolled my eyes, "I've already got something cool thats soon going to be under my arsenal and I'm gonna use it to its fullest. Barriers would help immensely with that. Imagine being able to hit any target without missing," The ideal barrier, "That would be cool right?"

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah I guess," He then perked up as we walked in the direction of the last thing we had to do today in the academy. Outside. It was my second favorite part. But Naruto? He loved it. Although Fuinjutsu class was starting to become his favorite. Gee, I wonder why, "At least now I get to enjoy making Kiba eat my dust again and you get to kick his ass today. Dattebayo!" He said it!

As we reached outside we saw Iruka looking oddly serious waiting for us. I wondered why he was already here. He usually gave us five minutes to talk to each other and get excitement out of our systems. "Must be something important today."

Naruto groaned, "That usually means something really boring though Kukui! Maybe we should just go late," Yeah no. I wasn't gonna go late. If it was something important than it might be a change from canon that I'd love to know about.

I punched the top of Naruto's shoulder lightly, "No." He rubbed his shoulder, "Since it might be important I don't wanna miss it."

"Fine." With that we walked over to Iruka who saw us and smiled. He gestured for us to sit down whilst he apparently waited for everyone to get here. Soon enough everyone arrived and Iruka smiled at everyone.

"Alright everyone I'm sure your wondering why I'm here this early today." At everyones nods Iruka opened his mouth to continue, "Well there is an important announcement I need to share. End of term Tests are coming up soon. Exactly a Two months and three weeks from today. This is a very important end of term test. Moreso than ever other year." Okay this wasn't mentioned in canon. Another AU thing. Oh joy! I'd have to do tests... I might get a reward for this... But what was the test exactly?

Sakura raised her hand, "Why is that exactly Sensei?"

Iruka rubbed the back of his head, "Well its complicated. But I'll do my best to explain it. This year is a rather important year. A lot of people are going to be watching. Mainly Jonin. Five people this year are going to be selected to either graduate early or become apprentices to jonin." Murmurs broke out across the crowd of academy students, "I know there hasn't been an early graduation since well... him." Itachi Uchiha went unsaid. " But a lot of important people are looking at this year specifically."

I raised my hand, "Why this year specifically? Why not next year or the year before?" I knew this wasn't something I caused. I hadn't really done a whole lot yet... It had to be an AU aspect of this universe, "Is it because how many clan heirs are in this year?" That was the only thing I could think of. Along with Naruto's improvement.

Iruka nodded, "Smart as ever, Kukui. Well that and the talent in this year in general. A lot of you have shown plenty of talent in different aspects of the Shinobi arts which earned this year the attention of a few jonin and some of your clansmen for the clan members. This means that over the next three months you are all going to be put through some tougher training than usual to prepare you,"

Sasuke rose his hand this time, "How much tougher will our training be?" He seemed particularly eager to know this.

Iruka's smile soured a little bit, "Well we are going to be doubling your usual training. Days at the academy will be longer too. Your electives are also going to get a focus so you can finish your studies in them quicker. This training is going to be reminiscent of war time training." Sasuke nodded at that. "That is all I have for today. Your training will begin tomorrow." Iruka left us all alone by shunning away.

I looked at Naruto who had a grin on his face, "Kukui we gotta try graduating early!" We? I wanted to say no... But the look in his eyes told me that I wasn't going to be able to back out of this.

Great.

I sighed, "Well then. If we're going to be graduatiing in three months we're going to show those damn jonin who we are, aren't we?"

Naruto's grin only grew.

It was finally time to attempt to make the stabilizer seal. The theory over it was difficult and this was a level four seal. It'd be difficult to explain but I'd try. Pretty much a stabilizer seal was to seal chakra within a targets chakra system. Keeping it from trying to escape whilst a user was at deaths door.

It also might allow someone better control of their chakra. Might. It wasn't confirmed but it was a theory me and Tenten had.

How it worked was that it used the chakra in the seal to reinforce the targets chakra network from the outside. Keeping the targets chakra in and stabilized. Once again it was far more complex but I didn't want to get into it. It also allowed the target to continue to mold chakra even if they were at deaths door and it kept them thinking clearly. Even with copius amounts of bloodloss. So it was really fucking useful.

I had learned the theory behind it and now I was attempting to recreate it.

I looked at the seals picture in the volume three section of a book I had barely convinced Aki-Sensei to give me the book. It didn't have the level four seal itself inside it but it described it enough to where I could recreate it. I had the description of the seal written down.

It was a mix of the Kanji for Stable and system. I wrote it with my brush without fuinjutsu ink on another piece of paper. I had it next to me and I memorized it a bit ago... And god was that tough. Its a really complex looking seal.

I didn't have much faith today. I had managed to get down the output seal two weeks ago but this was something different. If this failed one of three things could happen. A) It blows up. B) It does nothing. C) It blows up and the ensuing explosion destroys my chakra network.

Out of the three B was my favored option.

I took a deep breath as I looked down at the seals Kanji and put my brush in the chakra ink. I then grabbed a blank piece of paper and began drawing the seal. A stroke here and there. Ink covered the paper.

I looked between the previously drawn not-seal and the one I was drawing on now. Minute details couldn't be missed. I wanted to be two for two. I needed that ego boost. I looked down at the seal as soon as it was done.

I looked down at my work.

It looked beautiful. I think I did it... But I didn't get a skill... A failure. 'Not even gonna try to channel chakra into that. Thats tantamount to suicide.' Or nothing. Who knew... Okay how does one safely dispose of a seal again?

I didn't know... Oh well I'll just throw that into the trash. I grabbed the seal and threw it out. 'Okay I'll try again later...' Now to train fire manipulation. After Fuinjutsu I always trained my fire Manipulation. Kaori-sensei had been helping me with it in class. It had progressed faster with the help of a Jonin. Yes she was a Jonin.

Also sensing abilities help tremendously... I had a whole theory for why but that would be for another time.

I grabbed a leaf and channeled fire chakra into the leaf. 'Wild. Let your chakra flow wildly. ' The leaf of course began to burn into ash in my hand. I sat still for a few minutes. Nothing else happened. 'Damnit I'm starting to run empty... Might as well channel the rest into the leaf...'

I poured the rest of my chakra into the leaf.

[Fire Manipulation has leveled up]

'Yay... Now I can sleep...'

Honestly one of my favorite chapters. Not my favorite but I always enjoy writing small fights and Fuinjutsu(technically also Jutsu-Shiki) theory. I'm a bit weird when it comes to that. I'm really excited for Kukui to finish this seal. Also I keep calling Fire manipulation Flame Manipulation. Idk why but I keep calling it that. Also Kukui is getting stronger. I'm trying to show it in spars since writing him beating the shit out of the log isn't that entertaining. Both to me and I imagine you.

Anyways I've been rethinking the idea I had last chapter. It shows this chapter but I plan on changing it a bit. Or completely. So it may still be a Mika-Kukui-Tenten team or it may not be. I don't really know yet. I'm still only like half way through the arc. And the plans for next chapter are only for next chapter. I do have other plans but I've mostly been winging this.

Also this is the last chapter I write before I upload! So yeah we're at a seven chapter stockpile. Anyways I gotta write the chapter of my other fic soon. I'm trying to keep the stockpile at five and well it went down to four a few days ago and yesterday I wrote the fifth chapter. Now i need to write chapter six. Or rather 25.

Bye for now and see you all in a few hours. or rather weeks for this chapter!

- Tobi