Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. It belongs to Kishimoto. The only Naruto thing I own is a key chain I bought in a store. I just like to play in the sandbox a bit.

Story Title: LEARNING CURVE

Series: The Way of Shadows, The Way of Shinobi (1/3)

Warnings: Canon compliant (more or less) up to December 27th & the Hyūga Affair. I like honorifics (I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea) but it does show someone's personality (or at least their politeness and or [dis]respect) a bit? I use the word shinobi and ninja interchangeably.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Chapter One: Inception

Agony greeted the man upon awaking providing evidence that despite all odds he had indeed survived the trip. It could have been days, hours, or even mere minutes later before he could crack an eyelid open, each feeling as if they were weighted down by anvils. The rest of Shiro's body refused to move and even just lifting his eyelids caused intense pain to radiate through the nerves connected to his eyes. Each lungful of air that caused his chest to move caused a searing fire within his expanding and contracting muscles and organs. His mind was still sluggish trying to compensate with all the signals his body was sending to his brain while trying to prioritize his thoughts.

It took all the strength and will he had to turn onto his side as uncoordinated and weak as a toddler working out how to lift themselves. Dry heaving didn't help his condition only making him feel exhausted with spikes of pain from his abdominal muscles straight up to his the back of his throat feeling as if he'd swallowed a burning ember with needles hidden within.

There was no denying that he would have to take it easy despite how impatient he was to get to Konoha and hand over the scroll his Kage had given him. Shiro was not only physically exhausted but drained of almost all his chakra as well. Who would have thought he'd get himself to this point again? While he had gotten used to having low chakra and being on the brink of collapse, he knew that if even the slightest bit more had been pulled from him, he would have died. A selfish part of himself wished that he had died. It would have been a quick despite being painful rather then the one that awaited him. If he had died from chakra depletion his mission would have ended in failure though which wasn't something that ever set right with him. As it stood there was no telling if this mission would yield any result other than a futile attempt to an inevitable outcome. Any action he took would have to depend on how far back he was sent, only by learning that would he be able to even make a hazy outline of a plan on how to proceed.

First thing that was an absolute must was for him to regain his strength. It would be rather pathetic to have come this far just to die for nothing. It was agonizingly slow to recoup his chakra, strength, and health. Time seemed to crawl mocking him and his impatience and irritation that his recovery wasn't going as swiftly as he would like nor to the expectations he held for himself. It took a week and a half to be able to replenish a quarter of his chakra allowing him to get to a point that he wouldn't collapse if he pushed himself a bit more than one should when recovering. It wouldn't do for him to have a relapse to delay him even longer. It was enough for him to forage for plants both to eat as well as to make a basic ointment and salve to boost his healing. Meat came from snares set for rabbits and small game. It sustained him and helped his recovery so that once his reserves were halfway, it was another ten days but he was itching to move.

Shiro was able to easily work out his muscles ignoring the burning at first as they protested movement but as the days past and his health improved so did his muscles and joints stop screaming at him. There would be no conditioning his body until he was able to do so in a safer place as it was, he'd lingered where he was too long. He prepared to leave for Konoha being sure to erase any evidence of his stay at the cave in the southeast of Fire Country. He hadn't taken much notice of the cold weather before more focused on surviving and his mission. Now that he would finally be on route, he paused as he blinked at what he saw taking a moment to admire it. When was the last time he'd seen snow untouched or even for the air to be calm enough without constant jutsus charging the air? The last snowfall he had been witness to wasn't as pristine as this fresh and gleaming without the barest tint of dirt or blood to taint it. The sharpness of the air caused a slight aches in his lungs as he breathed deeply before letting the air escape as a mist from his mouth. Shaking his head, he turned back toward his destination pushing all other thoughts aside.

Careful to avoid the patrols and the usual traveled routes, he paused a day's journey by shinobi standards from the village he had grown up in. It helped that snow didn't fall very heavily or stay that long in this country. It made it easier to erase evidence of his presence. Crouched on a tree branch the man's eyes narrowed in thought on how best to enter the village without being tagged by the ANBU or any other passing patrols especially if they were Genin on their first C-Rank border patrol, before he was able to deliver his missive to the Hokage. All the gates were guarded and while he could easily pass through them, he did not wish to encounter anyone before he knew the current state of the village.

Biting his thumb he called some of his summons -he then had to explain what was going on- and sent them to the village telling them he needed them to do some reconnaissance and bring him the information. While they headed off, he took stock of what he had on him in order to disguise himself as best he could without resorting to a henge or genjutsu. They reported back that there was four heads carved on the Hokage Monument, which meant that it was anywhere from just before the Yondaime died to fifteen years later while Tsunade was in office. Something had occurred in the village recently within the past week or so -village gossip would have moved on to something else within that time frame- didn't help narrow it down any aside from it had to do with one of the clans. Shiro thanked his summons and dismissed them. He'd only had a vague idea that he would still be able to summon at all. Back in the Hokage office he'd listened (mostly) when told that it was very likely to still hold his summons contract due to dimensional difference. All he needed to know was that it was possible and he'd been grateful not wanting to have to sign and earn the respect and privilege to summon them once more. It was one headache and hassle that he was free of. Now that he'd confirmed it, it was time to actually enter the village himself and find more concretely when he was.

The man had done well to hide his disquiet as he entered the village and saw it whole and with so many people walking about. He had to take to the roofs to find his way since the roads he knew no longer existed. The village had been destroyed and rebuilt and added to a few times since he was a child within it's walls. A street he'd expected to go all the way through ended abruptly or led a different direction then he recalled. Shop owners were younger or had a stranger in place of whom was expected causing Shiro to let out a sound of irritation. He felt a smile tug at his lips recalling when he was younger he was upset he wasn't allowed to travel via the rooftops even though he had the skill to do so. The rooftops where the quickest route for shinobi to get around hence its nickname: The Shinobi Highway. Only Genin and above were allowed to use it. Civilians, academy students, and those lucky enough to retire from the shinobi life used the roads.

An emblem caught his attention causing him to nearly miss the next roof but he was able to recover by throwing himself into a roll. Crouching on the roof he leaned forward towards the edge as he focused on the shoulder patch of the shinobi's clothing that had first caused him to do a double take. The uchiwa fan in the center of the fuma shuriken meant only one thing: the Konoha Military Police Force. He hadn't seen that symbol in a very long time. In the future when the Police Force were built back up, the symbol on the shoulders had changed since the Uchiha were no longer the driving power of the group. As he glanced around and took more notice of the clothing the populace were wearing, he caught sight of the Uchiha crest on the back of more then one person.

A shadow clone was made and had go linger into the crowd to pick up the gossip and see what clans had been involved in whatever had occurred. Continuing his own indirect meandering across the roofs, he paused when he came nearer the Academy and the Hokage Tower. It was only after he had body flickered to a tree branch that his clone had dispelled flooding his mind with its memories. Blinking, he went through the information with a slight frown. Now he knew exactly when he was. The failed treaty between Konoha and Kumo when the latter had used it as a farce to try and get their hands on a Hyūga. When he'd learned of the event the first time around, he had wondered before it went FUBAR if the Raikage had planned on trying to breed the heiress for her Byakugan bloodline. Had Hizashi been revenge compensation? With the kidnapping and the fallout from the failed treaty and the upset he was sure was happening in the Hyūga compound, it was no wonder the police were out in large numbers.

While Shiro lamented that he hadn't arrived before the Kyūbi attack, he was somewhat relieved that the Uchiha massacre hadn't happened yet. That event had weakened their village significantly in more ways than one. It was one thing he'd been resigned about but as it hadn't happened, he could still intervene if he was smart about it and planned ahead and possibly had help. Maybe. Shoving those unwanted and useless thoughts aside he focused his attention onto the present as he paused for a moment in thought. A bite to his thumb and a summons later, he handed over the scroll he'd been entrusted with, for insurance if something should happen before he was able to hand it directly to the Sandaime.

Shiro's eyes strayed as they blindly passed over the crowd of children and the handful of instructors before his gaze was drawn back to a certain individual. Narrowing his eyes in consideration he felt his body tense with want of attacking the child. While he was 'innocent' at the moment, he still caused the man's skin to crawl and the urge to permanently divest the boy's heart and head from his body. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he reeled back when he realized that he was caught staring like an amateur. In his surprise and anger, he'd allowed some of his darker feelings and intentions leak out causing a bit of an upset with those that were sensitive to such fluctuations such as Sensors, before he pulled it back. "Damn." This was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid!

While not exactly visible to those he was watching those that had caught on to his presence due to his slip, were now actively looking in his direction. One of the instructors had left and Shiro had no doubt that they were headed not that far away to the Jōnin Standby Station. Which meant he had precious few seconds before he was hunted. Using the time to create another shadow clone he sent if off towards the Hokage Tower while he fled the area in quick bursts using the body flicker technique.

"Tch." He paused when he knew that he couldn't get away just yet and allowed the Jōnin to catch up to him. Thankfully, it was one he didn't recognize. Plastering on an unassuming smile he greeted the other. "Is there a problem, Jōnin-san?"

"That depends," he stated. "Can I see your papers?"

"Papers? Hmmm, let me see. Where did I put them?" Patting himself down he was actually curious if he kept those on his person or if he'd placed them in the sealing scroll he'd sent away. He couldn't recall if they had been sealed up along with his bloodstained battle gear he'd arrived in and other such items that could be considered incriminating evidence. The shinobi to his credit watched him sharply while not appearing to do so.

"Ah!" Pulling out the purposely battered passport, he opened it briefly and gave a satisfactory nod and proffered it towards the nin. Shiro had been relatively sure that the only identity he had on him were the forged papers having not needed his actual ones for years due to the war. As the nin took his time looking the information over, the time traveler asked, "Was there a reason you were following me?"

"Why were you at the academy?"

"Nostalgia," he quipped.

"Nostalgia?" the other man repeated disbelievingly while Shiro gave him a shrug considering that was likely the only reason his feet had taken him in that direction while his mind was otherwise occupied. "And the killer intent?"

Making a nervous sound and putting his hand behind his head he replied, "Well, I thought I saw a snake and I don't like them very much. I didn't want to move and attract its attention more then I already had. I thought I could frighten it away."

The man stared at him for a full minute as if debating if Shiro was serious or not. Konoha did have its eccentric residents so the traveler could be entirely truthful if he wasn't completely lying through his teeth. The nin looked at the papers again before asking if he'd come with him.

"I haven't done anything wrong, have I?" Shiro guilelessly asked the other annoyed with himself over this whole encounter but not allowing it to show upon his face or in his tone.

"Just come with me, please."

Shrugging as if he didn't suspect anything, Shiro ambled along with the nin who conversationally asked him the standard questions visitors got since his papers stated he'd been out of the village for some time but was a citizen of the village. How long was his visit for? Why did he decide to move back since his time away? Where was he thinking of staying? Just as Shiro had told him about his traveling around, "I wanted to see what life was like outside of Konoha, you know?" The duo had arrived at the administrative building where Shiro blinked when he was given forms of intent as well as empty properties that were renting and forms to be used for looking for a possible job. "Huh," he stated never having thought about that before. He had forgotten that most jobs were either hereditary or made D-Ranks for the Genin to fill.

This wasn't something that Shiro had thought about nor had his Kage, he was sure. His mission once he was in the past was to ascertain when he was and act from there. It would all depend on what his Kage had written in the scroll he was to deliver to his predecessor whoever that might be. A job, housing, etc hadn't been pertinent to his mission so it was never discussed. He was honestly a bit flummoxed because truthfully his plans didn't revolve around staying in the village for very long. Sighing, he shifted through the papers and looking up asked, "Can I get back to you on this?"

The nin showed Shiro to the library where he was allowed to go over the forms in more detail and it hadn't escaped his notice that he now had another guard subtly watching him. Along the way though the traveler made sure to 'trip' and cause enough of a distraction -he might have 'accidentally' caused a basket or two of cabbages from the vegetable cart to tilt over when used it to help himself up- to create a shadow clone to accompany the nin while he himself went to find a more direct route to getting his mission over with. This time he was more careful when he made his way to the Hokage tower and waited to see what happened with his clone he'd sent earlier.

Back going ramrod straight as the memories filtered into his consciousness, he felt himself smirking. Finally! It seemed that Sarutobi had room in his schedule to see him. He retrieved his scroll from his summons and pocketed it as he went to hand it over. He made quick work of donning his ANBU gear and mask as he took a breath. "Stay frosty," he told himself. At the door he gave the password that stated he'd just returned from a long term assignment out of the village. Once inside the office, Shiro did his best to avoid allowing his emotions to override his control as he knelt holding out the scroll while greeting the old man sitting behind the desk. "Sandaime."

After taking a moment to look over the unfamiliar shinobi whose mask was not currently in circulation, the Hokage took the scroll. Seeing that it was bound with more than a wax seal, Hiruzen once more glanced at the kneeling figure before returning his gaze to the scroll. After going through the security seals, the Hokage opened it and began to read. As he read through the writing, Shiro was observing him through the slits in his mask, mind going over what could possibly be in the scroll. While his Kage had constructed his backstory for possible use, there was more information that was being passed on that he wasn't privy to. He trusted his Kage which was the reason he hadn't opened the scroll, but that didn't mean that he wasn't nervous.

"Shiro. Castle?" Hiruzen mused after he'd thoroughly read through the report twice.

"Yes, Sandaime." That was the name that the Godaime came up with to call him.

"Stand and remove your mask." The command to an ANBU to remove his mask was one only the Hokake could give. The old man wanted to confirm what was said in the scroll while not wanting to believe it. He could demand for the stranger to allow himself to be subjected to a blood test and chakra probe, but didn't think he would voluntarily. It would leave a trail as well which could prove problematic if the wrong set of eyes were to see them.

The traveler did as he was instructed holding the mask loosely in his left hand as he awaited the other's assessment of him. Shiro did his own scrutinizing as he gazed at the Kage the others called 'soft' and had deemed to be ultimately deemed partially responsible for the hellish future that the man came from. He saw how the old man seemed to come to some kind of conclusion and didn't like it as his body language changed to indicate grief, regret, and something else that flickered to quickly and vanished before Shiro could catch and catalog it.

The Hokage didn't want to believe what was written down by his future successors. The gaze of the man standing before him and his bearing bore no lie or the slightest hints of subterfuge. One couldn't fake the look of a war veteran. It was in the gaze and expression that let you know of the horrors they had seen and hid away in the recesses of their minds. Too often the eyes of such people became cold as their hearts died the more violence they had to both inflict on others as well as received themselves. He had seen it too often from the three Shinobi World Wars. If that wasn't enough, there would be another for the current generation of children to fight in, along with minor altercations and skirmishes that would lead up to the war, if what the scroll stated was true.

There was no mistaking who was standing before him either which gave the scroll's contents even more weight. The old man sighed as he stated, "The papers your Hokage included are a service record as well as your cover story."

"I was briefed on those," Shiro confirmed. He only hesitated for a moment before stating, "What will you do with the information?"

Sarutobi's gaze was pensive as he picked up the unfurled scroll and then set it back down. "I'll have to take time to consider and verify this, you realize?"

Eyes narrowed, the younger man's anger flared before he could taper it down. "Does that include sharing this information with other parties?"

They both knew whom he hadn't named but it was a worry to both of them as Sarutobi conceded the point. It wouldn't due to alert certain individuals know about what was contained in the scroll. "What would you suggest?"

"We both know that you want to bring in a specialist." Hiruzen couldn't just accept that Shiro might not be an infiltrator that had come upon the scroll by nefarious purposes. Or it could be a fake. While his gut might tell him to believe the traveler, he couldn't just accept him at face value. An interrogation was out of the question because of leaks. It only left the one thing that Shiro didn't want: someone delving into his mind. Scowling, he stated, "Which Yamanaka are you thinking of?"

When Shiro saw which Yamanaka was to delve into his memories, he wasn't sure if he was relieved or not to see that it was not Inoichi. Once they had confirmed the time traveler's story, the Sandaime looked as if he had aged a decade. What followed was a heated discussion about what should be done or avoided at all costs. Not much was resolved but they agreed to adjourn before it got too messy. What they had been able settle was that Shiro's file would say he was on temporary leave to adjust and acclimate after his prolonged mission. Mandatory meetings with the Yamanaka had caused the traveler to glare and resolved to find a way to make the others as miserable as long as he was subjected to the sessions.

"I knew I forgot something," Shiro muttered causing the other two to give him puzzled looks. He filled them in about his clone's presence in the library which had been diligently filling out the paperwork it had been given. An argument from a pair of arguing Genin had caused some stray books to impact the clone dispersing it. The Hokage found it amusing while Shiro was a bit annoyed.

"On that note, I could show him some empty apartments?"

The old man hummed but then after a glance to the traveler refuted the suggestion and gave one of his own. "I think a house would be more appropriate."

The house that Shiro had been shown looked very shabby and would take quite a bit of time to restore. It came with a bit of land which he could cultivate if he so wanted. With nothing but time on his hands, the traveler thought it would keep him busy if nothing else. The man used the months that he was under probation to clear out the broken rotted screens and tatami mats. The structure was solid so he didn't have to worry about replacing any beams but he did have to strip some of the tiles and patch the roof before affixing new ones. Parts of the floor had to be replaced as well before he could polish it.

The physical activity kept him from becoming too anxious and twitchy with the lack of being constantly on alert and fighting. This was supposed to help him adjust to living in peace while he awaited whatever his fate would now be. However, while his body was thankful for the manual labor that exercised his muscles but didn't cause them to tear and be put under constant strain that didn't stop his mind from being consumed and dwelling on matters it shouldn't. It didn't help that he had that blasted Yamanaka coming over every other week to see how he was progressing and wanting to talk. What that mostly ended up as was a contest of wills while they sat and had tea and barely spoke.

Spotting that blond hair from his position where he was placing a clay tile, Shiro sighed. It seemed it was that day again. At least the ANBU tasked with watching the traveler would retreat further and allow the two relative privacy for their 'talks'. As he made his way from the roof, Shiro wondered what the blond got out of these visits. It wasn't as if he would be able to freely tell him about his past or any of his previous missions. There was a reason that shinobi didn't have therapists despite having to be evaluated every so often.

"You've made quite a lot of progress," the Yamanaka stated as he gazed around at the nearly completed house. He could see inside as Shiro hadn't shut the sliding doors. The house was now properly dressed and didn't look as if it had been abandoned and near collapsed for years. There didn't seem to be much left to do as far as he could tell.

"Hn." Was the uttered reply though because it seemed as if there had been need of a verbal answer. Traipsing past the blond, Shiro went and set the kettle on to get the tea ready for their usual bout of avoidance and silence.

When the tea was done, Shiro brought it out and set the tray down along with himself on the outer corridor gazing out towards the area he had been contemplating putting an herb garden. The Yamanaka joined him sipping at his tea as if this was a friendly get together rather than what it actually was. Shiro was beginning to think that the blond would actually leave without saying another word but was sorely disappointed.

"Have you decided upon what you are going to do?"

"About what?"

"You will shortly be ready to be placed back on the active list. You know that you will be put into rotation?"

The traveler was silent as he knew it was true and the Hokage had said as much. That didn't change that Shiro was trying to decide if he would be following that order or if he could make the Sandaime see that the Rokudaime's order superseded any command given by Sarutobi. While the old man might be content to wait, the Godaime and Rokudaime's wishes and orders had been explicit which were in direct contrast to the wait and allow history to repeat.

-To Be Continued-

AN – What Hiruzen is commenting about is that instead of the character for white, the character (城) is used for Shiro's name which reads as castle.