Chapter 2
It's been 8 months since that day.
Saeko goes to the library every day to read any book she can put her hand on. She knows she is at a disadvantage compared to the clan's kids so she studies everything.
She starts with history, she learns everything about the Leaf and its clans as well as the other Nations' history and their known clans. If she has to fight in the war, she has to know her enemies, no ?
Next is anatomy. Because of her age and height, she will be at a disadvantage against an adult. Knowing where to hit will give her more chance of surviving, even more if she is hiding and attacking from afar.
Thanks to the books, she knows where to hit to have a clean death, a quick death, a painful one or an extended one. She also knows the position of the pressure points too, she can make someone pass out without bleeding to death or poison them. She can make their limbs useless for interrogations or as a hostage. Who knew what you could do with only basic anatomy knowledge ?
Between that, she learns about chakra and she unlocks her chakra pathways with a book for beginners. It takes her a few months and lots of hours of meditation but she does it. She also learns about the different affinities, Suiton, Doton, Raiton, Fûton and Katon and with a better understanding of the difference between them, she determines that each color is a different affinity. Blue is Suiton, red is Katon, brown is Doton, green is Futon and purple is Raiton.
Now, nearly 4 years old, she is almost ready to start at the Academy.
She still has to work on her sensing, her chakra control and her chakra reserves. And her physical condition.
Sadly or thankfully, she won't be a frontline fighter. It's too dangerous to train her body to be one, she could die or stunt her growth so instead, she works on her flexibility, speed and endurance. It can only help her if she is in an ambush and has to flee.
When she is not at the library or training, she observes the training grounds.
She sees a lot of different people, Genins, Chûnins and on rare occasions Jônins. It's thanks to that that she learns how to climb trees with chakra and walk on water, do a Henge, a Kawarimi and a Shunshin. She learns to be silent too because the first few times, she was too loud and was shooed out of the training grounds. So she trained herself to walk silently, breathe as low as possible and stay as still as possible for long periods of time.
She hasn't tried to do elemental jutsu however. She read that it could be dangerous without supervision and because she doesn't have anyone to teach her, she has to wait until she enters the Academy.
She spends a lot of time listening to the villagers and Shinobi out of duty as well. Knowledge is power after all.
From what she heard, Iwa is slowly pushing at the border of Grass, Kiri is staying low and it's bothering the Council because they don't know what they are up to, Suna is our ally once more and Kumo is gaining ground against our forces.
All in all, Konoha is not doing so bad despite losing more than half its ninjas in the Kyuubi attack. It's a miracle that we were able to defend ourselves for this long at less than half capacity.
Today, she is determined to find the Nara guy from all those months ago. She still has his chakra signature memorized so she'll find him easily.
When she unlocked her chakra pathways, her range went from 329 feet to 2 kilometers without even trying. She nearly passed out because of it, too many signatures at once.
Since then, every day for a few hours, she tries to extend her range to 2 kilometers. She adds 100 meters every time she reaches her goal. She began at 330 feet and in a few months, she was at 2.5 kilometers without passing out. Under 1 kilometer, she can maintain it for an entire day with little to no chakra consummation. At 1.5 kilometers, she can maintain it for 12 hours before her reserves begin to dip too low. At 2 kilometers, she can do it for 9 hours. And at 2.5 kilometers, she can do it for 6 hours before she has to stop and restore her reserves. It's a good start if you ask her.
She carefully expands her range but she can't find him. It's not a surprise, Konoha is very big after all. He must be either in his clan compound, the Hokage's office or in the field. Let's try the compound first. She jumps from roof to roof towards the Nara compound and bingo ! He's here. She jumps down and makes her way to the Nara clansmen at the door.
"hello, my name is Haruno Saeko. Is Nara Shikaku here ? I have to talk to him, please"
"a brat ? Troublesome... Nara-sama is indeed here, yes, do you have an appointment ?"
"no, he told me to come find him some time ago. Tell him I'm here and he'll understand"
"very well" one of them disappears in a Shunshin. He comes back a few minutes later "Nara-sama said to let you in. I'll guide you to the clan head's house, follow me"
She nods and follows after him. 'I didn't know Nara-san was the clan head. Should I call him Nara-sama ?' She ponders silently. The clan's houses are beautiful. They are traditional, with Shoji doors and all in wood. It's like she's fifty years in the past. She likes it a lot. While she was looking at the houses, she didn't realise they reached the house of the clan head.
"we're here" he said that before vanishing
She knocks on the door. A few minutes later, the door is opened by a woman, probably Nara-sama wife.
"hello dear, how can I help you ?"
"hello, Nara-sama" she bows "My name is Haruno Saeko, I'm here to talk with your husband, Nara Shikaku-sama"
"call me Yoshino dear, Nara-sama makes me feel old" Saeko nods "Come on in then, I'll call him"
"thank you Yoshino-sama " she bows
"Yoshino is fine"
"Yoshino-san then. Sorry for the intrusion" she removes her shoes and follows her to a waiting room
"good enough" she shakes her head slightly "Wait here Saeko-chan"
She leaves the room. Saeko looks around the room. There are tatami mats on the floor and the sliding doors are open, she has an amazing view of the forest and the deers.
"hello kiddo" Shikaku says making her turn to him