Shiori woke up early in the morning to Tsunade, who gently shook her shoulder. She got up quietly. They had to go somewhere before dawn, but it was unnecessary to wake Shizune up.
Shiori changed, and they were ready to go. They would eat after they were done. They headed out of the city at high speed. They ran for an hour and reached a secluded area in the forest.
"OK, are you ready, gaki?" Tsunade asked as she set down her bag to prepare for the upcoming event.
Shiori nodded and started pulling out necessary items from her scroll.
Shiori's first memories were of pain. Everything was just too much for her. Both physically and mentally. Due to the immense pain she was in, she doesn't remember much of those first days, but she remembers the things she was told about it once she was more stable.
Apparently, her chakra had gone haywire. She was a strong sensor. Her sensing was exceptional in the sense that she could feel the slightest things about her target. She could feel their chakra level, affinities, emotions, whether they were lying if they were injured, and so much more. She felt them so strongly, as if she was the one experiencing them, as if there was no distinction between her and her target.
But this ability was passive, and she had no control over it. So, from what she was told, something must have triggered her abilities. It could have been her accessing her chakra for the first time or a similar event.
It was similar to the first time someone accessed their kekkei genkai. Whatever it was, it caused her to feel all of these for every living thing around her. With so many people living in the village, she must have run away to get away from it.
Her first memories were from running aimlessly in a forest. Her arms and legs were littered with scars from grabbing into fallen branches and sharp stones. She wore a ragged shirt and pants resembling threads more than clothing.
She had no sense of what was happening, only an instinctual feeling guiding her through the woods. That was how she met her sensei. Their first encounter was an interesting story, and he took her in. After he got an idea of her condition, he did his best to help her. He decided to take her to Uzushio. They avoided any civilization in the meantime.
While Uzushio was raided many times after its destruction, some buildings remained safe. These were protected by incarnate seals that only allowed Uzumaki in. Even a person's intention was important. So, anyone with malicious intent could never get in.
They got to the ancient village, and it wasn't hard to locate where they needed to go. They found the grand library. Shiori felt much better ever since they stepped foot on the island. She took the initiative. She managed to get inside the library and allow the access for her sensei to enter as well. From there, they both got to work. They searched for anything that could help her.
When they found the material they were looking for, it was time for her to learn. Her sensei knew little about fuinjutsu beyond a basic Jonin level to get by. While she was learning, he went through the ninjutsu section with her permission.
Luckily for both of them, Fuinjutsu was so natural for her that it almost seemed impossible for someone to be this good. It was as if fuinjutsu was just another language, and somehow, it was her mother tongue. She could look at a seal and immediately know what the seal would do and how it worked. It only took her a little while to learn how to tweak them and make her own.
While she could understand them, it didn't mean she was an expert on how to make them. She needed to learn the order in which elements had to be drawn, how each stroke of brush should be angled, and why some elements would or would not work together.
It was like how toddlers could speak a language without knowing what grammar is or why it's the way it is. They just know how to speak and when something is right or wrong but not the reason. It was the same for her. She could read them fluently, so she put all her energy into learning the proper grammar. It took her a month to gather all she needed to implement the plan.
She made a seal to suppress her abilities and keep her sensing to a minimum. It was similar to suppression seals but allowed her to use her chakra freely. After applying the seal, they spent the rest of their time on the island training.
She spent her days doing physical training under her sensei, and when she was done for the day, she would consume all she could about fuinjutsu. Those were easier days.
A little after leaving the island, her sensei left her with Tsunade, and the rest was history.
What they were doing today was something of a ritual. The seals she applied to her body were only a temporary solution. She had two years at maximum before they would wear off, and her chakra system would be too developed to handle reapplication of it safely.
The seals were currently holding her chakra tightly inside of her unless she was actively forming it outside. For a more developed chakra system, such a seal would mean permanent damage to the coils.
The chakra system worked in a complicated way. The chakra was constantly moving along the pathways of the body. Chakra coils were the places where they would diverge into different paths or narrower or wider ones.
When the transition happened in the coils, some chakra would be exerted from them. This was the chakra that could be felt from people. It was like a leak. While shinobi trained to suppress their chakra by reducing this output to a minimum, it was impossible to hold it at very low levels for a long period of time since it would strain the coils by not enabling them to function as they should.
Of course, some things could be done, such as forcefully making the chakra that would have been naturally exerted, moving along the pathways, and being used in some form, such as a jutsu. It would still be impossible to do so with a hundred percent efficiency. Still, many used these techniques to bring their natural chakra presence at a lower level.
For sensors, the excess chakra had another function: It was an extension of themselves. It would reach out to people around them and help them navigate the world around them.
It was like an extra limb, like a rope with one end attached to the owner and the other free to explore. In Shiori's case, there was an additional step further. After her chakra reached a person, since she felt that person was an extension of herself, they would become a network.
The excess chakra of that person would be an extra limb to her, making her reach further and reach more people. Soon, every person she reached would be a part of her, and she would not have any control over what and how she felt since the control of the network would depend on the control each person in the network had on their own chakra.
Sensing so many people simultaneously is overwhelming for her and doesn't give her a chance to take control of her abilities. The only way to stop the cycle was for her to use enough chakra so that her excess would be used and not be able to reach others.
After she first applied the seal, she started training herself to sense things actively so she could learn control over sensing. She would also have such sessions if it was possible.
Right now, she was sitting in the middle of a seal she had just finished drawing on the ground. They were far enough from the village that there would be few people.
She was going to release her seal. If she lost control, Tsunade would activate the barrier she was sitting in, and her senses would be limited to the barrier, allowing her to reactivate her seal.
But it wasn't a usual occurrence. Most of the time, she was aware of her own limits and respected them. Pushing beyond them was no use when there was no gain to be had.
These exercises were to help her regulate herself and her abilities, not to test her pain endurance.
So she took a few calming breaths and deactivated her seal with a small surge of charka.
Their training session went well. Shiori felt Tsunade, who was doing her best to be calm, but Shiori could detect the nervousness underneath. She also felt a few people in the forest.
There were also animals, but she had learned to pull away from them long ago. The emotions of animals were easy enough to ignore. They were usually simple and instinctual.
The people were a different matter. Shiori spent the session doing their usual routine. Connecting to the few people on her radar and then pulling back on command.
Then she reactivated her seal, and they got closer to the village. Doing the same, this time, she could feel people living at the edge of the village, so there were more people.
It was still early hours, so most of them were sleeping. This time, it was harder, but she managed to do the same thing: connect and disconnect different people from her network.
It always amazed her how people can have so many emotions in their sleep as well. Right now, she could tell who was having a pleasant dream and who was having a nightmare. She was always curious if there was a way to see into people's dreams. It would be so interesting to see into other people's minds. Seeing what their brains can come up with and how they view the world.
They repeated the same activity until they were near the village, and it became too much. She couldn't handle this many people at once, so they stopped. Luckily, she managed to stop herself, and there was no need for Tsunade to intervene.
By now, she had a killer headache, so it was time to go. They still had a few more days together, so she had more time to practice.
When they reached their room, Shizune was awake and waiting for them with breakfast. After breakfast, Shiori took a nap to regain her energy.
The next few days were much the same. Now that they knew her limit distance, they would go directly there. She would take off the seal and go for as long as possible.
It seemed like her training was paying off since she could hold for half a day at the longest, but it was not nearly enough.
Finally, they got a message from Orochimaru saying that he had accepted the deal. With a last exchange, it was time for everyone to be on their way.
Before departing, Tsunade gave her a slip of paper and a sealed letter. They were standing a little distance away from the city gate.
"Listen gaki. It is time you solve this problem. We've already delayed it as much as possible. While we didn't waste the time per se, since you learned the control and basis necessary for the next step, it is time to take that next step."
"I'm sending you to an acquaintance of mine. He owes me a big favor, so he will help you out. I know it's hard and painful, but there is no other way. So the next time I see you, you better not have that seal on you," Tsunade said as she reached out and embraced Shiori.
"Be good, OK?" Shizune said as she bent to give her a hug as well.
"Don't worry; I will send you both plenty of letters," Shiori said. Saying goodbye was always the most challenging part since they never knew when they would meet again, but it was time to go once again.
Shiori adjusted her backpack and waved one last time before running towards her next destination.