My Little Problems

Chapter 2

chap. 2

Naruto is a true enigma. He does seem to be happy, but, at the same time, never truly is. Unless it is possible for one to lie to themselves, one would have to think him to be anything but joyful. However, this is not something I can accept. There is something going on. Uzumaki Naruto, prepare yourself. I will discover your secrets. Every single one of them.

It was a cold, wet day in Konoha; contrasting perfectly with their normal hot and sunny days. Everybody's mood was dampened by the dreary weather. Well, everyone's but Naruto's, that is. Naruto was planning his next big prank within his mind. It would be the prank of all pranks. It would annoy people till the point they exploded. It would-

The moment a strong energy appeared in his field of 'sight'. It was most definitely a figure he recognised.

... darn distractions.

"Jiji!" Naruto shouted, running to his grandparent figure. "Guess what I did today!" He was bouncing up and down, an action that had become so normal for him when the old Sarutobi was around. His Jiji - used to such treatment - chuckled and waited for the hyperactive boy to explain what was going on, on his own.

He didn't wait long.

"I made a seal! It was REALLY awesome! Well, I think it was..." Naruto grew solemn for a moment before remembering how excited he was. "Sensei said it was a level four or something. Is that good?" Hiruzen was silent for just a second, thinking over the possibilities of Naruto's seal.

"Could you show it to me?" Naruto quickly pulled out the paper from one of his various pockets and handed it to his Hokage. Hiruzen, in turn, studied the sheet with eyes only the Professor possessed. He continued his normal study of the paper for a moment before lifting his other hand to trace the lines. Naruto watched with his hazy cloud of chakra, jumping when Hiruzen did something to the paper. Automatically curious of what the old man could have done, Naruto walked to Sarutobi's other side, standing next to him and looking up expectantly.

Hiruzen noticed a few seconds later and began to explain everything to Naruto.

"The first thing I'm sure you want to know is that the pattern is swirling around itself. It's showing images as I think of them. This type of seal is meant to appease the viewer. Of course, it can also be used as a type torture, something our own Ibiki figured out. Well, besides that, many villagers keep them in their homes. By using this, they don't have to worry about not liking the wall paper they have up. However, they seem to forget that there are drawbacks for such a seal. If they've had a bad day, they will see what happened through the seal. Ninja tend not to keep such a thing close to them, let alone in their own homes." Hiruzen glanced at Naruto, expecting him to have lost interest not long into the explanation. To his delight, however, Naruto was trying to observe the seal. Hiruzen grinned. When Naruto got like this, things were figured out and discovered. If only he could put his hard work into school, he could get good, if not average, grades.

Of course, such mundane work did not interest him enough (is there a reason why you put enough in because it kind of sounds awkward), to the annoyance of his teachers.

"Hey, Jiji, do you think I could do more stuff with seals? I mean, I've worked this hard to be able to write and everything..." Hiruzen smiled.

"Yes, Naruto. I think you could." He paused for a moment, thinking over the different possibilities for Naruto to create seals. "What if you try to trace the seal with your finger while it's covered in chakra?" Naruto tilted his head before trying. His eyes narrowed in concentration and he stuck his tongue out. After a few minutes of fierce concentration, Naruto sighed.

"It's not working. I can feel something, but it's really fuzzy and little. It feels like the lines are really thick, but I know they couldn't be..." Naruto trailed off in thought. Then, without any form of warning whatsoever, his entire body language brightened up and sprinted off somewhere with the paper. Hiruzen just watched with a low chuckle escaping from his breath.

"Good luck!" He called out, though Naruto was already out of hearing range. Still chuckling, he walked off.

Now where's he going? Shino thought. One of his male tracking bugs had just returned from off of Naruto, saying he was headed to one of the training grounds. Shino couldn't understand what, exactly, Naruto could be doing at a training ground. At their age, they weren't supposed to practice without parental or teacher supervision seeing how many ninja wannabes got injured like that and could never have a ninja career afterwards. Shino knew this didn't stop everyone, but most people listened after hearing about the bloody deaths a few children had come across in the past such as exploding when using seals that they didn't know what one was for or messing up when practicing with a kunai and hitting themselves in the forehead.

Of course, there were fewer villagers in class after this lesson.

Even if the students from ninja families didn't quit, they were still cautious of such a thing. Be as it is, Shino was unable to leave Naruto alone after knowing where he was going. He surrounded himself with bugs and used a jutsu known only to his family.

He teleported.

This was the soul jutsu behind the Aburame's elusive ways. It was the reason few people would ever see them on the streets, and why so many villagers never saw them in a lifetime. This would also be the reason they can show up without a person's notice. The bugs used to teleport - even now, four generations later, they don't know exactly how this bug's teleportation works - are completely silent when they fly, allowing them to enter any place without disturbing the occupants of any room.

The bug who was leading the rest of the swarm to the training ground was the same bug that alerted him of Naruto's whereabouts. With that bug's prior knowledge of the area, Shino was able to land successfully on a branch high up in one of the closest trees that helped to hide his presence from Naruto.

Shino looked through the branches and leaves to see what Naruto was doing, and what he saw scared him. There, no more than twenty feet below him, Naruto was messing with the seal he had created in the classroom. Shino flashed back to the time in class where they learned about the child whose head exploded when messing with a seal, and Shino couldn't hold himself back.

He jumped from the branch he was situated on and reached for the paper. To his shock, Naruto pulled away even before he was in the blond's area of sight.

His action reminded Shino of a Hyuuga's 360° vision. Shino unconsciously told himself to be cautious when dealing with the boy.

"Shino?" Naruto questioned. "What are you doing here?" He waited for an answer.

"I had been coming out to train. Though, I saw you were about to use a seal. Do you know what it does? I didn't know if you did, so I stopped you from having the possibility of exploding. Why? Because you are my classmate." Shino answered, trying to put in as few lies as he could.

"Oh, are you talking about that story? Well, you should know that the seal that kid was using was an explosive tag. He was just being an idiot. What I have is just a picture thingy. There's nothing harmful that can come of this! I promise!" Naruto explained. Shino, though still suspicious, accepted his answer and didn't ask any more questions.

A few seconds passed in silence, something Naruto didn't like. So, deciding to go about breaking the calm quiet, he asked Shino if he would like to stay and watch Naruto's experiments with the seal. Shino said yes, though he still didn't know what experiments Naruto would be doing.

If he could stop the intriguing boy from blowing himself to bits, he would do his best.