Retrace and Fix

Sway in the breeze

Naruto POV


Naruto hummed from his perch in the tree, crouched and rested against a crook and hidden by the arms of green around him. Below there was a kid with sun red hair and cloud-grey eyes, surrounded by scrolls and birds. 

Literally. Freaking birds, because apparently the Senju liked those things. And seriously, this was getting weird. Like all the clans must  have some kind of mascot breed to represent them. Monkeys and cats and foxes and dogs, it was becoming a bit overwhelming at this point. 

But besides the fact it was a little funny, it was slightly adorable to watch Tazūki mess around with the animals, even if the results majorly ended with him getting chewed on the nose or smacked in the face as a warning. The kid was brave, Naruto's seen brats older than him traumatized because of chickens. 

(a certain incident Naruto will gleefully remember for the rest of his life was when he was a kid and Kiba decided he wanted to have his own dinner, so he and Akamaru snuck into a chicken coop. their attempt was unsuccessful and instead they ran out with their tails between their legs, with a horde of angry chickens running on their asses with a fury from hell)

'Though I prefer frogs, rather than foxes.'

'Am I supposed to be offended?'

'I dunno. Depends.'

'Shouldn't be surprising I suppose. Minato was rather fond of using his frogs whenever he needed something.'

'So you're saying it's genetic?'

'. . . Yes. Yes I am.'

Naruto allowed himself a small laugh before glancing down at little Tazūki again, noting his progress with the seals. The mistakes were obvious, but the chakra containments and trigger functions were more decent than they had been a day ago. Mito's probably been giving the kid some tips. 

But the kid really  needed to work on his handwriting. It was almost painful watching him, with his unsteady hand smearing the kanji or tripping onto a really  important line, and then exploding in his face when he activated it and having to keep his mouth shut when the kid look so damn confused and saying why did that go wrong? 

The kid would be a great fūinjutsu master. Definitely.

Grinning to himself, Naruto leaned back and took another quick check on the surrounding area for any approaching presence, which there was none, and then let his hair bleed red and whiskers fade away. He shrugged on his cloak and then swung down, hanging by his knees and craning his neck back to see the frozen face of Tazūki, tensed where he was sitting on the ground, and snickered. 

Twisting and landing lightly on his feet, Naruto grinned down at the small Uzumaki, "Hehe, you're sure taking your time with those seals, ya know."

Tazūki flushed in embarrassment and looked down at the burning papers around him, crisped and crippling slowly, while another sat drying with a half pieced seal painted on it a few inches away from his leg. 

Folding his knees and picking his brush back up, Tazūki mumbled something that only with Naruto's hearing could he hear, "I'm still tryna figure it out. 'Not my fault, ya know."

Naruto's grin widened and he squatted down, leaning forward interestingly, "Hmm, but you're doing better with some parts. Like with the trigger instructions and chakra storing parts! Better than they were a day ago."

Grey eyes narrow suspiciously, "How do you know that?"

"I can just tell."