Soon, I fell into a rhythm. I would begin my day in classroom five-hundred and twenty before returning to Yoshiro-sensei's care. I couldn't replicate my feat of learning jutsu on my first attempt with any of the other elements. After earth came, to my delight, water (apparently, the second element you were supposed to learn in Affinity Discovery was the one your first was strong against).

To my immeasurable disappointment, it became immediately clear that my prayers were left unanswered. I did not have an affinity for water. Where Doton chakra felt like a part of me, Suiton was…not foreign, exactly. It was there, but almost like a muscle I could technically flex on command, but never actually felt the need to.

Additionally, I had the bright idea to examine my Gate of Pain whilst performing Doton: Dojō no Jutsu. When I used it, the amount of chakra in the gate did, in fact, dip. Not much—less than one Hikari—but to my finely-honed senses it was noticeable. However, it replenished itself almost instantaneously.

It took me several days to manage Suiton: Hamon no Jutsu (Water Style: Ripple), which created a similar (but much more temporary) effect to my earth technique. My issue was that, even with the final Dog seal, which changed its nature to Suiton, my chakra was sluggish to respond. Drawing out the faintest traces of Suiton chakra from my reserves was like gathering strands of spiderweb without breaking them. It was strangely taxing on my brain, and on my canals as well.

That didn't stop me from succeeding eventually, and not after a great deal of time either. Maki-sensei was certainly impressed. Once I could successfully cast the jutsu, I found that, after using it, the decrease in the amount of chakra present in my Gate of Pain was much slighter than it had been when I used Doton. So much so that it was barely noticeable, even though I was looking for it.

So, I had proven that, when using jutsu of the nature you had an affinity for, extra chakra is drawn out of the Gate of Pain to increase the power of the jutsu. In doing so, you also use less of the chakra that isn't kept in your gate, giving the illusion that the techniques weren't as costly.

What I didn't understand was why. No other gate surrendered chakra upon demand in any fashion, no matter what. That was in order to maintain the functionality of the organs; vital systems that couldn't be compromised. What was the gate protecting, by allowing its chakra to be used in jutsu of all things?

After a great deal of rumination, I realized that I was thinking about it all wrong. Bodies evolved in specific ways for a purpose, and it didn't matter if said purposes were no longer relevant. The Gate of Pain's behavior surely had no relation to jutsu; there was some other, likely outdated, purpose. I couldn't hazard a guess as to what that was, and I wouldn't be surprised if that knowledge was lost to humanity entirely. Maybe some of the older summoning clans knew; if I ran into any, I would have to ask.

Whatever the reason, it was clear that only metaphorical water ran through my canals. Suiton ninjutsu would never come as easily to me as Doton. That wouldn't keep me from mastering plenty, make no mistake, but I should probably focus on my affinity first. Especially since there were so few water sources.

I hadn't been able to visit Lake Magatta in such a long time, since my academy classes conflicted with Ayumu-sensei's practice blocks. If I wasn't so busy, I would surely be showing withdrawal symptoms. Once I got in Yoshiro-sensei's good books, I would do my damndest to get actual permission to use the lake on the weekends. Or during the week, really; at this point, I'd even take a night or early morning swim, despite my exhaustion at both of those times.

That would be a long way off, however, because it seems as though Yoshiro-sensei has decided that he hates me. Maybe I'm being dramatic, but it certainly feels that way.

It all started on an innocent Monday, the week after I first began my affinity discovery training. During our sparring period, I was put up against my first great challenge. I knew it was coming before the announcement was made because Yoshiro-sensei always saved my fights for last, and there was only one person left that hadn't fought yet.

"Imai Kasaiki, versus Doi Hayato," he announced, and I mechanically rose out of my final stretch. This would be my first real taijutsu challenge; Hayato had the skill and the training to be a real threat. He wouldn't telegraph, he wouldn't posture, and he wouldn't waste movement.

I let him quickly claim the middle of the ring, settling on the edge. I was difficult to force out of the ring, and my opponent was fast and nimble. If I didn't limit the avenues he could attack me from, then there was a good chance he'd find a way to come at me from a direction I couldn't predict or defend against.

Knowing I wouldn't attack first, Hayato didn't waste time. He blitzed towards me, and I stepped forward to rob him of his punch's full extension, rooting myself to the ground.

Pain erupted in my abdomen as he read my intentions, retracting his fist back into his guard as he chose to lengthen his lunge into a flying knee.

I wheezed but didn't move, bracing my forearm against his thigh to keep him off balanced. But he was much stronger, and there was nothing to stick myself to to keep myself upright. When he pulled his leg down, my chakra only served to bring the rest of me with him.

An elbow crashed onto my prone back, slamming me into the ground. I cut off all my chakra, rolling desperately away from the edge of the ring. As I did, mostly to buy myself time to rise, I grappled with his leg, sticking my chakra to him and pulling with my entire body.

It almost worked. Until there was a sting of heat, and my hold was…gone.

A foot came down on my back, pressing me into the hard floor, and Yoshiro-sensei called the match.

"Winner, Doi Hayato. And congratulations for being the first to break out of Imai-san's hold. See me after calisthenics for your reward."

It was a bit difficult to hear him, because a good portion of the class had broken into cheers at the sight of my downfall.

"Quiet," Yoshiro-sensei called, and the cries of excitement died down rather quickly. I could still see the pleased looks on their faces as I rolled to my feet. Hayato had kindly let me up the moment he was declared the victor.

I ignored them, forcing a smile onto my face as well, even though I truly felt like screaming. I knew there were people in this class far better than me at Taijutsu; honestly, over half the class probably fit into that category. I had just never been made to fight them yet, for some reason.

"Good fight," I said to Hayato, extending a fist to him. My opponent nodded at the words, but looked confused at the offered greeting. I pulled it back and bumped both of my fists to show him, before offering it back. He did, hesitantly, and a good chunk of my rage left. Trained killer or not, he was a cute kid.

"Why was Doi-san the victor?"

The class, at this point, had learned not to say anything snide, even though they clearly wanted to. I could still hear some comments made in hushed whispers on the side I was closest to.

"His reaction time outclassed Imai-san's," Asa Hifume stated as she was called, and wow, this was the first time I was well and truly humiliated during a fight review. Damn, this must have been so damaging to some of the students' self-esteem. "When he saw Imai form a defense, he switched to another move that targeted a point that was unguarded."

"Apt," Yoshiro-sensei allowed, calling on me as I raised my hand.

"I should have been more mobile," I said, formulating my response very carefully so as not to be seen as someone who blames their loss on circumstance. "I didn't think of Doi-san using that flying knee, even though I should have. I didn't take into account our height difference, and Doi-san did, to great effect. Dodging would have been a much better move than attempting to block. And, of course, I didn't anticipate him breaking my hold."

"Yes, and how did you manage to do that, Doi-san?"

I fought to keep the horror off my face. Chakra sticking was my only real advantage in taijutsu—Yoshiro-sensei wanted Hayato to reveal the secret of how to break it to the whole class?

Hayato put that together as well, clearly. He looked at me, visibly torn between obeying the order of sensei, and maintaining my secrecy. A shinobi, especially a clan shinobi, knew the importance of discretion. Exposing the techniques of a comrade probably went against everything he was taught.

That didn't matter here, though. Refusing to answer Yoshiro-sensei wasn't a good move, so I nodded reluctantly, giving my former opponent my blessing.

"She used chakra sticking," he said slowly. "It's an application of a chakra control exercise that I had never thought of before. Typically, it is used against objects that can't mold chakra. But I can; I disrupted the chakra grasping onto my skin with my own. That was all it took; a pulse of my own chakra."

"Any real shinobi would be able to break that hold with a mere thought," Yoshiro-sensei said, and oh my god, that was so mean. What if I was an actual four-year-old? "It holds no utility against anyone who can mold chakra. It should only be used against non living objects, or sometimes trees, in order to gain mobility."

"I am aware, sensei," I said, trying to loosen my jaw. "It was never meant to be a permanent element of my taijutsu style. As soon as my body grows sufficiently, I will abandon it."

"Yes, that would be wise," he responded. "Now, what did Doi-san do poorly?"

There wasn't anything substantial.

"What did Imai-san do well?"

Not really anything.

"And what did she do poorly?"

I had already said my piece on the matter.

"Good. Now, everyone, get ready for Calisthenics. Meet me at the field in fifteen minutes."

He left the room, and almost immediately, pandemonium erupted.

"Oi, oi, Imai!" Ban Rio yelled. "Ugghhaa!" he pantomimed what he thought I looked like when Hayato kneed me in the stomach, dramatically falling to the ground and clutching his stomach. Everybody laughed, and I noticed a pleased glint in Iwao's eye especially.

"Are you reenacting our first fight, Ban-san?" I asked, and the kid flushed. Maybe he had repressed the memory of me doing the exact same thing on the first day of class.

"You think you're so great, show off. But it looks like you're not as good at taijutsu as you say you are!" he sneered.

"I never claimed to be good at taijutsu," I said coolly. "Actually, on the first day, I'm pretty sure I said the exact opposite. Take a look at the paper, if you want." A copy of our introductions were still hanging on the wall, and they would remain there for the rest of the year. "If I seemed uncommonly skilled in that area, it was only because you all made me look good."

Well, I certainly wouldn't be gaining any favors in my class. But I think that ship had sailed long ago, unfortunately.

"You think you're so clever," Tengan Nao spat. "But once we all learn chakra, you won't stand a chance."

I brushed past them, easily stepping over someone's foot as they tried to trip me. "Ganbare."

As I stole down the stairs, practicing square breathing to reign in my fury, I felt someone fall into step behind me.

"Yes, Doi-san?"

"I'm sorry for telling everyone your secret," he said hurriedly. "I didn't think I could disobey Yoshiro-sensei."

"It's fine, Doi-san," I said. "You're right, you couldn't disobey him. And it's not that big a deal, now that I think about it. Anyone with the skill to use chakra would have figured out how to break my hold anyway. And the people who weren't able to see how I did it still won't be able to do anything with that information for a while yet. I haven't really lost any advantage. And, like I told sensei, I was going to abandon the strategy well before I graduated the academy anyway. It was only a stop-gap solution."

"...right," he said. We walked in silence a little longer. "I don't approve of most of our batchmates' comments against you. Their behavior is juvenile."

I chuckled. "They are juvenile. I can't really blame them. They're jealous, and kids. They think I'm a showoff, but I'm merely performing at my full capability. I'm not going to inhibit myself just to spare their feelings."

"We're kids too," he said.

"Yes," I allowed. "But we're not kids like them. We grew up on our own schedule, and they will too, eventually. Iwa might try to rush it, but the academy can only go so far. However, like sensei says, they'll be valued comrades one day. We just have to wait patiently until they get there."

"Even when they make fun of you, and speak ill of you behind your back?"

I grinned. "Lions don't care for the opinions of mice."

I think my stolen idiom impressed him. Though we didn't eat lunch together in the coming weeks, and we rarely exchanged more than a couple sentences a week, I think I had, almost, made a real friend.

- - - { ワナビー } - - -

"I heard you got your ass beat yesterday."

I sighed heavily, turning towards Hanabi.

"For the last fucking time. I am average at taijutsu! My skill is above average, but this body, and the fucking Stone Fist, doesn't let me use it to its full potential. The only reason I had a win streak until yesterday was that I was put up against even worse opponents!"

Hanabi cocked an eyebrow, a touch of confusion in her usual smirk. "Wow, two swears? You must be pressed."

"Yeah, I kinda am. Not because I lost and I'm embarrassed about it. But because everyone else thinks I should care, when I really don't give a shit. Everybody who hates me is like oooh you thought you were an unbeatable taijutsu prodigy and you got put in your place, when, in reality, I never thought I was a taijutsu prodigy. Everyone else did!"

I took a deep breath. "I can't say that to my class, because they're too stupid to understand it. So, sorry, I guess you get to hear my venting."

Hanabi looked at me consideringly. "Take this as a lesson from your senpai. People love to put people like us on pedestals, but they love it even more when we fall off of them. They'll think you smell like weakness now; you have to prove them wrong. Train harder, and don't lose again."

"I train twelve times harder than anyone else I know. Unfortunately, I can't train my body to grow up faster," I pointed out.

"…that sucks." She turned back to the rest of her class, who was pretending not to eavesdrop on us. "I got nothing for that. Oi, Aki! Give my kouhai some advice."

My grumble of "I don't need advice, and I'm not your kouhai," went ignored.

Me, Hanabi and Tomori Aki were the only people in the class that had managed to learn two of the elemental jutsu. It was encouraged to move from your highest chance affinity to the element weak to your highest chance affinity. It was also encouraged to end with the element strong to your most likely affinity. But from there, it didn't matter. After I learned water, I chose Fire, and to my irritation, Hanabi had as well. Aki had chosen wind.

The boy in question sighed. He was basically Sauske, if the dude's color palate was inverted. He had light yellow, almost white, hair, tied up kinda like Shikamaru's, and he wore light colored clothes as well.

Aside from Sasuke's vengeance craze, their personalities were similar as well. The girls were obsessed with him, and he didn't give them the time of day. I couldn't blame him—it looked exhausting, and I had a sneaking suspicion that he was about as straight as I was.

"How's your chakra control?" He asked.

"What facet?"

"Internal."

A feral grin slipped onto my face. "You will not meet anyone in your life with better internal chakra control than me."

"If you say so. Learn chakra enhancement. Though I suggest you develop a firm grasp of anatomy beforehand. Unless you want to be like Ichikawa-san and end up in the hospital."

"I actually already have a decent understanding of anatomy, but I will definitely research it further. Because I am, in fact, nothing like Hanabi."

"That's a relief."

"Oi!"

"But thank you for the advice, Tomori-san."

"Just call me Aki. Everyone else does, whether I want them to or not."

Chakra enhancement. I had heard mention of the term in my medical texts, but I didn't know much more about it. Just that the technique was hard, and very, very dangerous. But if Hanabi could do it, I should have no problem, right?

For now though, I would return to my fire jutsu. I'll confess, I didn't try very hard when I learned Katon: Chōchin no Jutsu (Fire Style: Paper Lantern) yesterday; my mind was elsewhere, even before the sparring fiasco.

Suiton was barely present in my canals, but Katon? Even more scarce. Performing the jutsu was like turning a faucet all the way and only getting a trickle. Only fire-natured chakra would be able to be used for the jutsu, and so little of it was drawn out that the product ended up so underpowered that the technique failed entirely.

Monkey, Ram, Tiger. I turned my awareness inwards, trying to figure out exactly what was holding up the transformation.

Three times I followed my chakra through the jutsu, paying attention to the last seal which I knew to be tied to the fire element.

Wait a second. What the actual fuck?

I looked again, paying close attention to my canals. I was so taken aback that I forgot to give a shit about fire transformation.

Taking a notebook out of my bag, I hurriedly sketched a diagram of my coils whilst forming the Tora sign. I had to form it again several times to make the drawing accurate, and to add my other hand. I even included the major tributaries.

I looked at the finished product, my heart pounding. Then, with wonder, I tore through my bag looking for a little torn slip of paper I found crumpled at the bottom. Opening it up, I rubbed the back against the edge of my desk to flatten it.

The sketch of my chakra pathways while forming the Tora sign looked exactly the same as the image I had copied from Atsuchi's scroll. The image of the stylized fuinjutsu kanji.

"Kami," I breathed. Hand seals weren't called "hand seals" arbitrarily. They formed actual fucking seals out of a person's chakra network!

That meant ninjutsu and fuinjutsu were kinda the exact same thing. I could barely even piece together what that meant. Had other people figured this out? They had to have, right? Unless each discipline was created independently of one another. Holy shit!

Ninjutsu were fuinjutsu. And fuinjutsu were—could be—ninjutsu?

But then I remembered the giant diagrams in Atsuchi's scrolls. Seals that big and complex couldn't be formed inside someone's chakra network; there wasn't enough space, and the body could only be contorted so much.

So, all ninjutsu could probably be fuinjutsu. And some fuinjutsu—the most basic fuinjutsu—could be cast as ninjutsu, maybe. It probably varied on a case to case basis. Anything with an incredibly difficult matrix would need to be written out. It was almost like a language, with ninjutsu being like the spoken version, and fuinjutsu being the written word. Except, in this language, some written words were too complicated to be spoken.

So what did all this mean for me? Something, I'm sure, but I wasn't positive what. Maybe I'd be able to understand some of Atsuchi's scrolls—I'd definitely spend the next couple of nights, possibly the entire weekend, doing so. Maybe I could learn to make fuinjutsu versions of my jutsu? And perhaps, looking at it from the opposite direction, I could make new jutsu based on seals?

I had no idea yet. But by god, I would find out, and I would find out soon.

"What's with that creepy look on your face?" Hanabi asked.

"Plotting my enemies' downfall," I answered.

"Ah, I love doing that."

Soon. So fucking soon.

- - - { ワナビー } - - -

Maichi Aimi felt like her life was spiraling out of control. Ever since she joined the academy, she returned home every day sore all over, with bruises and scrapes pockmarking her skin. Her father would fret over her every day, and she had to fight with him not to complain to her sensei.

It wouldn't do any good. Bruises and scrapes were the least of what she would be expected to deal with, not that her father understood that. Or really cared, except in a superficial manner. Bruises and scrapes weren't feminine, and they would scare away any of the boys that would become his future heir.

Her father was a nice man, but he wasn't kind. Even before she learned to be perceptive at the academy, she could plainly see that he never wanted a daughter. Unfortunately for him, Aimi's mother seemed to be unable to become pregnant a second time, and he did love her enough not to find a different solution.

Or perhaps it's because her mother's family supplied his store with green tea, and at a discount.

It was irrelevant. Aimi remained his only child. In a couple years, he might not have any at all.

"Ai-chan?" the man called, and she sighed, much too exhausted to do whatever he was about to ask of her. But as she left her room to see what he wanted, she was surprised to find him nervous and a touch pale.

"Yes, tou-san?" she asked hesitantly.

"Your…classmate. The girl. She dropped something off for you."

Imai Kasaiki? She was the only one of her classmates that he had met, and certainly the only one who would make her father react like that. Aimi had no idea what to think of the little girl. She was…intense. Everything about her was serious, and after their singular conversation, Aimi could tell why.

She was far smarter than anyone Aimi had ever met, and vicious. It was the reason so many of her classmates disliked her, even before Iwao-kun revealed they had a bad history.

But the person she saw in class, who ruthlessly dismantled nearly all of her opponents in sparring, who knew more about mathematics than possibly even their sensei, and who already knew how to use chakra (a concept Aimi hadn't so much as heard mention of until her first day at the academy) wouldn't have comforted her the way she had at the shinobi outfitters.

They wouldn't have spoken at all, not when she hadn't been asked to ensure Aimi had the proper supplies like the girl had claimed (Aimi had mentioned it to their sensei, who made it clear he'd tasked their class' youngest member with nothing of the sort).

She wanted to ask the girl why she'd lied. Why she helped Aimi at all. But she was nervous, and Kasaiki-chan made it clear she didn't want her to bring it up. She'd said that associating with her would only make her life harder, and she partially understood why now (Aimi felt like a bad person for not speaking out against the bullying, but she already faced enough ridicule herself, and Kasaiki-chan didn't need or want her help).

"What did she say?" Aimi asked, a bit taken aback.

"She told—asked—me to give to you," he said, holding out a disposable paper bag, like one she'd buy at the market, ten for forty yen.

Aimi took it, and found inside a book. Introduction to Calligraphy. There were also brushes, and a bit of ink.

When she opened the cover, a small note fell out.

Your first step to a safer future.

Despite everything, Aimi's heart felt a touch lighter.

- - - { ワナビー } - - -

AN: Sorry for the late chapter, y'all. I genuinely forgot that yesterday was Sunday. Working irregular hours for a change instead of Monday through Friday is fucking with me.

I had an interesting review, in which a guest wondered why the Red Ogres aren't more curious about Kasaiki intellect, and how she's so educated in matters that a four-year-old had no business knowing. It goes against my instincts to answer questions like this in an author's note instead of on the page, but there isn't really a way for me to address this in the fic itself.

The reason is that the people in this world, especially ninja, don't particularly value the information that Kasaiki has advanced knowledge on (that she has displayed, at least). They don't really care about math at all—Basic algebra is the most advanced thing they teach their students on the subject (and though I haven't mentioned the scoring metric yet, I'll let slip that it is entirely possible for a student not to answer a single math-related question on the final correctly and still pass)—so Kasaiki's talent in the field is a curiosity, but not something they care to make her pass on to others.

What they do care about is chakra and combat proficiency. Kasaiki has displayed beyond impressive chakra control, something they actually value, but I believe that people in this world would have a different mindset when it comes to talents like these than someone from our world would possess. Ninja look at the world around them and see people with bloodline limits and family techniques, whose talents can't be passed onto those around them no matter how hard they try. So I think they would see Kasaiki's talent and automatically assume that it was something innate about her, and not a skill that can be learned by or taught to just anyone. And they're kinda right in thinking that. If not for Kasaiki's awareness at the ripe old age of two months, and for her unique perspective as a transmigrant, she wouldn't have developed the same level of internal chakra control either.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews! Keep 'em coming.