[Kukui Tanku]

Over the last year or so of my life, I hadn't made a lot of mistakes. Most of my life's mistakes stemmed from something involving Fuinjutsu or failure to do a menial task that got me an earful from Hayate-sensei. I hadn't really done a whole lot else that'd stand out as a major mistake or failure on my end. I had a relatively clean track record when it came to major mistakes. I knew it wouldn't last forever but at least for now, I had a good record. One I hoped to keep.

Until now at least.

I looked at the literal chunks of dirt being kicked up off the ground and ducked as one sailed over my head. "This was a bad idea!" I shouted to the other person with us, Tenten. She had a shield and was blocking a lot of the dirt from hitting her as two blurs that I could barely see were fighting. One spamming the Shunshin and the other is just stupidly physically powerful. It was like a terrifying game of Cat and Mouse. Except that the mouse was as big as the cat.

Mika and Fuu meeting was probably the biggest travesty to come out of this mission. And it was my bad. Introducing Fuu to Mika and Tenten started off well. Tenten clicked with Fuu's personality well and so did Mika. They were becoming friends and Fuu was happy and smiling which made me happy.

Things went south quick though when Mika asked Fuu to fight her. A very Mika thing to do. Fuu agreed. "It's been a while since I've had some fun in a fight!" Those were her exact words. From there it was like watching two Rock Lee's try and fight each other.

"IT WAS AND THIS IS YOUR FAULT KUKUI!" Tenten shouted back as a large chunk of earth hit her shield and sent her back. "WHY DID YOU BRING TWO BATTLE MANIAC'S TOGETHER?!" Glancing at the two, one could see them exchanging fists at this point.

"I DIDN'T KNOW FUU WAS A BATTLE MANIAC TENTEN!" I rolled out of the way of another large chunk of earth before throwing another one up to block another. "IF I KNEW THEN WOULD HAVE DONE IT ANYWAY THOUGH!" It was a mistake, yes. But one I would make again. Did I just want my friends to be friends? Yes. Yes, I did. I grabbed a chunk of earth that would have probably knocked me out. "CAN I PLEASE GET A SHIELD?"

"NO!" Was the quick reply I got before Mika hit Tenten's shield laughing and Tenten skidded back further away... "Ow..." Tenten pushed the now-dented shield off of her with Mika still imprinted on it as Fuu pounced onto where Mika once was. Mika then got up and prepared to strike Fuu. Meanwhile, Tenten jumped next to where I was sitting. "God I hope this ends soon..." I nodded in agreement.

"This is fun!" The green haired terror announced as she grabbed a fist from Mika. "Let's keep doing this all day!" The fact I believed that they could do this all day was terrifying. "Nobodies ever kept up with me before!" She punched Mika in the face before the pale girl jumped back and spat out a tooth.

This was starting to go too far.

"You think this is fun? Well, prepare for this!" Mika grinned and began going through hand seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Mika spat out a large Fireball which destroyed more greenery and blazed toward Fuu who dug her hands into the ground and threw up a large earth chunk which blocked the fireball. "You're really good at this!"

'God I'm glad they chose to do this in a secluded place... Nobody should find us... Maybe Hayate but hopefully he'll just be amused.' I looked at the torn-up area.

It literally looked like a tornado had run through the place and spat on it whilst saying "Fuck You" To Mother Nature.

"You too!" Fuu punched Mika who blocked. It was then I noticed that Mika was breathing heavily and Fuu was showing signs of slowing down. Thank sweet merciful Poseidon.

I looked at Tenten. "It's finally almost over." Tenten had a look of relief on her face. "We need to get out of here as quickly as we can." I nodded. It wouldn't look good on Konoha if it was found out that a Ninja from there was helping destroy a part of nature inside Takigakure.

Mika swept Fuu's legs and punched Fuu in the jaw. Fuu, unfazed by the attack kicked Mika who groaned. "I yield..." Oh, thank everything holy. Especially sweet merciful Poseidon. Mika sat up and looked at Fuu. "That was really fun! We need to do that again. Tomorrow maybe?"

Fuu nodded excitedly. "Yeah Yeah Yeah!" Fuu shook Mika. "Then we can do it the next day and the day after that!" Mika's grin was growing larger the more Fuu spoke. They'd be best friends within a week... Takigakure might not survive.

"I'm adopting you. You are now my sister." Mika suddenly blurted out. She pulled Fuu into a hug. "I will fight you every day of the week for the rest of my life happily. That was some of the most fun I've ever had in a fight ever!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Both I and Tenten said at once.

Fuu hugged Mika back. "Yes! I'll fight you every day of the week for the rest of my life too! I haven't even gotten to reveal any of my Jutsu yet!" Fuu then looked to us. "Actually, I kinda wanna show some stuff off. Mika's fireball was really cool!" Mika's grin grew. "But I wanna see how you fight Kukui! Your fire stuff looked really cool and I wanna see how you fight!"

Out of all the possible things that could come to mind, only one thing did.

'Curse you sweet merciful Poseidon!'

[Hayate Gekko]

It was another day. That meant two things. 1: Hayate was a day closer to going home and hugging Yugao after meeting the Rubber Man again a few days prior which brought back past traumas. 2: Another day of the trade deal Hayate needed to complete before going home. It was going to be a long day. One Hayate wished he didn't need to deal with.

The man sitting in front of him knew it was going to be a long day as well. For completely different reasons of course. Some small talk earlier revealed that an area outside of the populated area of the village was destroyed. Not from an explosion but from a spar. The damage was too widespread and someone would have heard an explosion. Probably by some stupid genin. And Shibuki had to deal with the paperwork of getting it fixed which of course soured the man's mood.

Today would probably not be fun.

Glancing at his genin, Hayate could see they probably had the same opinion. They looked tired, a bit dirty, and like they didn't want to be here. Also, Hayate was sure he saw a bruise on Mika's face... Hayate almost facepalmed. He knew what had happened to that training ground now at least. God have mercy on whomever Mika sought out to fight earlier.

"Alright let's just get this over with. Okay, Hayate-san?" Shibuki looked at Hayate pleadingly. "I'd like to get some sleep tonight." The man's eyelids were beginning to droop. Whilst Hayate understood his pain, internally he grinned because he could use this. Maybe his genin's antics would not turn out to be a headache for him after all!

"Fair enough. I'd like to get this out of the way too. Preferably we could wrap this up today but we both know that's not gonna happen." Hayate commented as he nodded. Unfortunately, nothing was ever simple. Hayate wished that the mission would end soon though.

Hayate's gut was telling him something was off. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Unfortunately." Shibuki sighed and rubbed his temples. "Alright let's discuss the first matter of today. The elders have agreed to shipping more water and wood to Konoha but the elders would like to receive 1.5 times the amount of Ryo that is sent for the original deal we have for 1.25x the amount of material."

Hayate did the math in his head. Fairly simple. Konoha could afford 1.5x the amount of Ryo for the material but Hayate knew that the Hokage wouldn't be too pleased. "Lower the price to 1.4x. Konoha can afford that more easily. If only just barely." Hayate watched as Shibuki's eyes narrowed but ultimately he nodded.

"The elders and I will discuss that tomorrow morning," Shibuki stated before leaning back in his chair. "Since we're talking about lowered prices how about we discuss lowering the prices of the metals and woods that Konoha sends? Or would you be willing to discuss trade of the fruit first?"

'Now time to play ball I suppose.' Hayate sighed mentally. Discussing prices of different traded goods was something special. "Let's talk about potentially lowering the prices of the goods Konoha sends lord Shibuki. I believe now is a good time for that since we were discussing lowered prices earlier."

Shibuki nodded. "That is acceptable Hayate-san." Shibuki then pulled out a long piece of paper. "The elders feel as if Konoha is ripping us off when it comes to the prices for the metal specifically. But for such a slight to them, they feel as if the wood should be cheaper." Shibuki rolled his eyes. "But since I'm not losing my mind I see that only the metal should be lowered as we aren't really getting that much of it."

'Old people...' Hayate nodded. "I see. What price do you think would be acceptable for the metal, Lord Shibuki?" Hayate figured it would be a good idea to just let the other man decide and haggle up or down from there.

Meanwhile, he saw Mika looking anywhere but at them. Presumably trying to think of an escape route. Hayate knew that she'd never find one. He tried. He failed. And he cursed sweet merciful Amaterasu.

Shibuki hummed. " Perhaps instead of 200,000 Ryo, we could get the shipments for 170,000 Ryo?" He wanted a 15% decrease in price... The Hokage would probably not like it much but he'd accept it. And Hayate really just wanted to go back to the hotel at this point.

Hayate glanced at his genin. Mika's eyes were still darting around, Kukui was listening and spaced out at the same time somehow, and Tenten was resigned. 'Yeah that tracks...' Hayate looked back at Shibuki and nodded. "That part is acceptable Lord Shibuki." Hayate watched the man's eyes light up. 'Good. He'll be more willing to bend to the request for the fruits.

Shibuki grinned. Likely thinking that he'd won the deal. " That sounds more than acceptable Hayate-san. Now would you like to discuss more of the deal today or not? You seem like you are pretty tired as of now and I know I am."

After around thirty seconds of thinking, Hayate shook his head. "I do think it would be a good idea to continue this tomorrow Lord Shibuki." Hayate heard sighs from two of his three genin. The other was probably thinking of making a potential explosive.

Shibuki nodded, "Alright then. You all can come back here around the same time. Dismissed."

Then there came the third sigh. No it was not from his other genin.

[Kukui Tanku]

It was time. After weeks of hard work and getting nowhere, I was going to make some progress on the Yin Seal. Ideally, I'd complete it. But I never advocated for significant drug use of any kind and I certainly didn't use any. So I wouldn't hold out hope for that. But I was going to do something tonight. It'd take hours. But I'd do it.

I looked at what I had so far. So, I was practically looking at nothing. But it was still a teeny bit of progress. The last seal I had made failed. But it wasn't completely useless. I was going to use it to do something incredibly stupid and potentially life-threatening.

I was going to draw up an original seal.

I wasn't a level six seal master which was when seal masters were usually cleared to draw their own seals. Mainly using Jutsu Shiki... but it was still called Fuinjutsu. I was currently on the level of a level five seal master with some knowledge on level six seals. But being below the recommended level never stopped me from doing something until it worked out for me. So I'd do it again. I was going to make this Yin Seal one way or another. And if I couldn't chimera other seals together then I'd just make my own.

I looked at the fresh piece of paper I had in front of me. Then the Yin chakra-infused ink I also had. It wasn't fresh but it wasn't that old either. Only a day old. So it still had plenty of life ahead of it. And I was going to exploit that life until I couldn't anymore.

I then looked at the Stabilizer seal I had made a few hours ago. This was pretty much going to be my base for the seal's idea. It was obviously a circular one since I was still going for the whole presentable thing. But if I needed to I'd make the standard version.

I took a deep breath. I looked around. The Silencing seals I had laid around my makeshift workbench were working perfectly. So if something exploded nobody would be alerted about it. Good. I smiled and dabbed my brush in the ink. It was time to do this.

There was only a general idea of what I was going to do. No actual plan. Anything could or couldn't work. Fuinjutsu was a bit finicky like that. But it was ultimately something I could work with. It was why I was here actually.

'It's time to get this show on the road.' There were three things I needed for this seal to work. A stabilizer, a container, and a binder. Making a seal was essentially finding the right words and their Kanji and combining them. That'd make a seal should you use Chakra ink. Since this seal was meant to be specialized I was using the specialized ink. There was much more that went into seal crafting like details and such but that was the general gist of it. There was also stuff like the order of Kanji that I had to take into account.

In short: Words were used as the foundation for Fuinjutsu/Jutsu Shiki, the better the word, the better the result.

I needed three of the strongest words I could find that'd work well together. My first thoughts were long words. So that was what I was going to be trying now. The three words I selected were the longest synonyms for Stabilize, Container, and Binding that I could think of off the top of my head.

The first thing I needed to worry about, was the container. Or the Receptacle which was the longest word for container I could think of. It should be pretty strong. I began drawing the Kanji for Receptacle. The detail was important. With each stroke, I made sure to include some level of depth. Within a few seconds, I looked at my work so far. A tiny circular seal was drawn right in the middle of the paper.

It would obviously not work on its own. There was a reason why storage was the usual word used for storage seals. it needed the other components to work. Speaking of the other components, the next one I was going to work on would be the Stabilize replacement. So, equilibrated. A word I only found out existed recently.

I began working on the circular seal outside of the Receptacle seal. It was roughly 3 inches away from the center of the paper, aka where the Receptacle part of the seal was located. I did the same thing I did with the Receptacle seal with the Equilibrated seal. Once again, within a few seconds I was done.

'Man, I wish it'd be this easy to get it to work first try...' I looked at my half finished seal and at the roof. It kinda sucked knowing that whatever you worked on wouldn't be completed first try and that it'd require many weeks of hard work to even hope to get close to done... My heart went out to Tobirama who probably spent year's worth of time making the Flying Raijin. From what I knew about seals now it probably had thousands of little seals ingrained inside of the main kanji for it to work.

I sighed and took another deep breath. The final word I had to draw was the replacement for Binding. Said replacement was the strongest word in my opinion. Indissoluble. I quickly went to work on it. Making it form a triangle an inch away from both seals in the middle and drawing three lines inside and out to connect the seals.

I was done within the minute.

I looked at the seal. Now would be the moment of truth. I poured a bit of Yin sided chakra into it. I then slapped the seal onto me. I had to test it on myself. This was the moment of truth. Either I blew up or I became a fuinjutsu legend.

I activated the seal.

Nothing happened.

'Fuck...' I sighed again and looked to see what was wrong. I could feel chakra was still in there... 'What could have went wrong?' I tried to just let the chakra out. But nothing came out. It was like it was jus- 'Oh... fuck it was the binder.'

Indissoluable. It literally meant: Unable to be destroyed; lasting.

Well, I suppose I was right about it being the strongest word for binding I suppose... I just needed to find the right word for that and hopefully, I'd be good as gold.

At least the seal didn't blow up on me.

I then saw the seal begin to smoke...

'Shit.'

Not gonna lie, it feels kinda shitty of me to end the chapter there. Originally there was more I was gonna do but I'm going to be 100% honest with you all here. Writing Ryuji's PoV(which was gonna end the chapter) sucked. So around 200 words in I just decided to not write it. I have space in one of the next few chapters for it and it'd fit better there instead. I tried to think of something to replace it. But nothing I could really think of would have fit. It'd probably just be something I already thought of or more training.

Anyways, let me talk about the chapter itself instead of what I didn't include. The first part was pretty fun to write. Originally I was scared of writing is since I kinda didn't know how to write it. Then it came to me. Make Fuu and Mika fight and have the scene set after the fight begins. To me it was genius as it solved all my problems and I had a blast writing it. Then the trade part. I admit it was a bit more painful to write. But it's kinda the thing this arc is hinging on.

Then the part I'm least sure about to be honest, Kukui making a seal. It's chapter 22. So we aren't exactly near the mid game of the fic. Or close to the Chuunin exams yet even. He's not gonna have the seal ready for a long while but him even dabbling in making his own seals now is kinda big. If he succeeded it'd open up so many more doors I want to stay closed for now. But I like the theory I put behind the section. So it stays.

Anyways, I have to go finish school for the day now. So farewell everyone. Also, this is gonna be seen in 2024! Can you believe it? I can't really. But it's incredible!

-Tobi