CHAPTER ONE

FROM A LETTER, WRITER UNKNOWN

To the one who has crossed death once more,

By the time you read this letter, you will have questions that need answers and I will do my best to explain them all. I believe I have found the solution, I believe I am not wrong, this time. Needless to say you will have all the time you need to understand and hopefully accept my decisions and reasoning. Mistake will be made and pain will repeat, however in the end I perish in the thought of a time of peace and rest.

Hope is not far from those who need it most.

Everything started on a night the brightest stars began to fall …

XXX

The Third Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen had – to the surprise of many – a simple life. Of course, it could be debated that simplicity is somewhat relative and one really should not consider the leadership of a hidden military base as just simple; but after years of war, betrayal and deaths of loved ones, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt this year so far, had been relatively a dull one. Meaning he enjoyed every minute of it.

There were no foreign invaders trying to throw bombs into the Hokage tower, no kidnapping attemptsof Bloodline babies, and certainly no large chakra monsters trampling his beloved village into a pile of broken wood pieces. All Sarutobi did every day was handling some troublesome affairs – such as mitigating agitated clans and civilian matters – and some more troublesome stuff – like putting his old teammate Danzo in his place; something Sarutobi was aware he was failing, but he did it anyway – and some more important and meaningless things as placating the Daimyo's whims and woes.

This day, it was not different. Sarutobi had finished his annual budget reports to the High Court of Fire Country and was just about to start to give out lucrative missions to Konoha's finest. But life as always, was as volatile as a popping flower, and thus lead to events that nobody had expected.

Sarutobi observed the girl obediently sitting in front of him with a pensive gaze. She had white hair that came to her shoulders with some red string braids and had bright amber eyes. Her Kimono was by no means expensive or from high quality; but it was clean enough to suggest that she didn't sleep on streets. The girl was carrying a worn shamisen, a three-stringed lute that once must have been pure white – Sarutobi noticed the girl's hands, the round and well-trimmed finger tips hardened, but fingers long and delicate. They were not the killing hands of a shinobi, but an experienced musician.

The girl who seemed to be oblivious of the old man's silent observations, let out a small sigh after tasting the tea he had offered. He didn't brew it himself, of course, it had been always his late wife Biwako who made the tea and now it was a part of his life that had been numbed after her death. However, from the light blush of happiness he could see on the girl's face, it seemed his secretary had done an adequate job.

She was seventeen, she had said, old enough to be considered an adult in most countries and certainly older than Genin kunoichis, who received their first Hitai-ate at the age of twelve to thirteen, still Sarutobi couldn't help but think of her as a girl instead of a woman; she somehow reminded him of his eldest, now gone, daughter. It also could be because she was a civilian, weak and fragile in ways a life-long shinobi like him could never comprehend.

Not to mention she stood in strong contrast to her younger brother who was nothing but shinobi.

"Rengyou and Kimimaro, you said?" He asked and it was the girl who answered. The boy, who could not be more than thirteen, was staring at him with red-rimmed emerald eyes, his body language taut and alert.

"Hai, Hokage-sama and please call me Ren. Our parents died in Asatsuyu no Kuni. They were victims of the civil war."

The Hokage had received reports and wild messages when it happened; the Land of Morning Dew had been a strong country that had recently gained a lot of land and spoils of war after they came out victorious from years long violent hostility between neighboring countries. Civil war that practically eradicated the royal family and left the country in ashes and dust was certainly not something anyone could have predicted. The girl continued with a sad, but resigned expression on her face.

"Our mother was a descendant of the Kaguya clan and Kimimaro was taught the art of our Bloodline Limit; since I was not suited for the life of a warrior, I honed my skills in instruments. Although I have to admit, people usually prefer to listen to stories I've gathered all around the countries instead of love songs and poems."

Sarutobi thought about it. Three years of travelling and a story-teller no less. It was something Jiraiya would do although he doubted the girl would be as efficient in collecting information as his insufferable student. It did intrigue him though, and his mind silently contemplated all the uses the girl could be for the village.

If he decided to grant the white haired siblings asylum, that was.

Because the reason why the Hokage had this meeting with two foreign teenagers in the first place was the fact they had come to Konoha for permanent stay. If they had been civilians he would not have bothered. Civilian in the hidden village came and went; mostly they were led by the caravan to make trades and visits. Although Konoha had by no means loose policies regarding foreign visitors, having Doujutsu users and well-bred trackers did have its advantages. Enemies and spies disguised as simple civilians rarely made it through the front gate, and civilians who applied for citizenship were dealt by the civil administration.

No, if it had been just the girl with her shamisen, Sarutobi certainly would not have bothered with meeting her. The problem that rose to demand caution was solely the fault of the younger brother.

He did, after all, alert the ANBU with his burst of hostile chakra and proceeded to fight them off – both sides without actual injuries, the Hokage added in his mind. Even with his strong Bloodline Limit that the child had managed to stand his ground with full trained assassins was remarkable if not worrisome; Had it been any other shinobi he would have sent the boy to the T&I department without a second thought. But the potential the young one had, not to mention his actual readiness to join the Konoha shinobi forces …

Sarutobi was inclined to forget the small struggle they had, considering Kimimaro had only fought back when an ANBU member had approached his sister. Inoichi who had been called to verify the new comer's statement, did not find any other reasons that could lead to other troubles. Kimimaro certainly reminded the old Kage of another prodigy, just as bright and loyal but chosen to live a horrible fate …

The Hokage closed his eyes to push his thoughts of the tragedy that had occurred 1 year ago and looked straight into the white haired shinobi's eyes.

"Why not Cloud? If I remember correctly, Kumogakure had formed an alliance with your country didn't they? They would have welcomed you with opened arms." It was obvious that with their Bloodline Limit they would not have been able to go to Water Country, Kaguya was after all one of the clan that had been wiped out in the mess of the Bloodline purge in Kiri. However, it was also a known fact that Kumo held no such prejudice – in fact, they had no shame in admitting they would go as far as stealing children to gain more Kekkai Genkai users. Sarutobi held no illusions when objectifying the situation; there were no advantages to choose Konoha over Kumo. Not for foreigners anyway.

It was once again the girl who answered his question.

"The thought did cross us, Hokage-sama, I won't lie. However, I have no acquaintance in Kumo and couldn't be sure how they would treat us…", Ren ended with hesitation. Then, she met the old Kage's eyes and said with a firmer tone, "I know that Kimimaro is very strong for his twelve years of age and I do realize he will be regarded as a valuable asset if not for his Bloodline Limit then for his skills alone, but I had hoped … My shishou was an Uzumaki, one of the last survivors of Whirlpool and he told me Konoha would not treat my brother nor me like simple breeding stock."

If Sarutobi was surprised of the girl's blunt words he did not show it. Instead he raised an eyebrow, showing interest in his wrinkled eyes.

"An Uzumaki? Are you certain?"

The girl seemed to be expecting this question as she handed him a talisman without further explanation.

For what is was worth, Sarutobi immediately realized it as something the Uzumaki main branch used for identification, he had seen it in the hands of Mito-sama, the wife of the Shodaime, and later Tsunade who had buried it within the grave of her younger brother Nawaki. The intricate pattern that formed the chakra path was unmistakable. He wondered who the man could be but neither the girl nor the boy seemed to know his first name, and was informed he had already died two years ago. It was a shame really, what had become of one of the first alliances of Konoha. Sarutobi decided to grief over it later and asked instead the more relevant question.

"What did he teach you, child?"

"He taught me a lot of things," the girl answered with a humble bow, "But he did teach me the Uzumaki sealing, if that's what you are asking. I can't create full seals that involves enormous chakra movement because my body is simply not made to push out much chakra, but I know enough of the theories. If you want, I am ready to share it … if my knowledge can be of any help, that is."

Sarutobi was silent. With his pipe in his hand he took a long drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs. He was aware of the gift he was being presented and couldn't help but being inclined to take it. After the Uchiha Massacre Konoha had suffered, not only morally but literally in its forces and a prodigy with Bloodline Limit was certainly a welcomed plus. The girl, too, with her soft spoken voice and her loyalty to her brother seemed to be a good addition to Konoha. He was certain she would do well with his people. Knowledge of sealing, of course, was also something he could not neglect.

The old Kage regarded the two children in front of him with apprehensive eyes. He felt he was missing something but couldn't point it out. It was more an instinct he had developed over the years than precise deduction. It also told him these two were not a threat.

There was only one thing he could do in such situation, ignoring the whisper that he could not let other villages get their hands on these two.

"I will grant you temporary stay. You can apply for citizenship after 6 months; I understand you never had alliance to any other Hidden Villages?" He asked directed to the boy and got an affirmative answer. Shinobi with power who had no alliance at all was rare, but given the circumstances understandable. The Hokage continued with a nod.

"Then, you will need to attend the academy for a minimum of 6 months before you will be able to join the forces. I will provide you a temporary stay in one of the shinobi apartment, but I cannot promise you that you will receive living support, at least not immediately. Orphan allowances are only meant for citizen under fifteen…"

"Oh," Ren said with wide eyes as if surprised, then gave the old man a smile, "We don't need financial support, Hokage-sama. When I failed to make seals, my shishou taught me the art of chakra carving instead. I make mostly small things like good-luck charms or protection ohuda, and they rather sell well. I thought, that maybe I could open a shop? If you could connect me to a realtor that would be enough. I can certainly support myself and my little brother, Hokage-sama, you don't need to worry."

A chakra carver? The old shinobi thought with interest. Someone like that was rare, especially nowadays, when most art of chakra carving was forgotten. The last true one he'd seen had died fifty years ago, an old monk who had never left his temple. Although Ren had said it like it was nothing of importance - and she could be right as she was certainly too young to be very skilled- the Hokage couldn't help but watch her in new light.

The sister of a Kekkai Genkai user, a bard, a fortune seller, a chakra carver.

Only seventeen and the girl was more interesting than many the old Hokage had met. That was an astounding feat itself, indeed.

They discussed more details of their now arranged stay and the two siblings ended up with someone from the Genin Corps to show them around the village. After they filled the necessary paper work – which would be thoroughly combed through – the village of Leaf gained two permanent members: Harutori Rengyou and her younger brother Harutori Kimimaro.

"Well then," the old Hokage said with a soft smile, "welcome to Konoha."

Harutori Ren beamed and even the stoic brother let a shimmer of relief shine through his eyes.

When Sarutobi Hiruzen met with their gold and green, he knew that his choice would mean something one day, but right now he felt sated and more importantly –

He felt no remorse.

XXX

A brilliant morning had followed the night and I opened the window to let the fragrant breeze flow in. I breathed in deep, it was so different to what I was used to, it smelled like moist trees and herbs so fresh and alive.

"Ohayou!" I greeted my neighbors who were already leaving the house to work. A little girl waved back while her father gave me a polite nod with a smile. I beamed right back, so happy I had neighbors and a house. Oh, what a beautiful house it was.

After the Hokage gave us permission to stay, Kimimaro and I were escorted by a ninja-san, who not only gave us a tour of the village – making sure we knew the location of hospital, market and at my request the academy – but also she happened to be married to a civilian realtor, who was happy to introduce us to a small workshop in the main street. Belonged to an old couple who decided to leave the village to join their daughter's family, he said, and the price they offered was fairly reasonable. Not that I would have minded to pay a little more, but I wanted to save up for our house – and we needed to live in a house, just us two, alone.

Kimimaro insisted he could live in a shinobi apartment, which for him meant he absolutely abhorred the idea. Shinobi apartments were, well, cheap and we could technically apply for one if Kimimaro made Genin, but I knew my little brother would be constantly on edge having so many ninjas moving and sleeping around him. Understandable really, the last time he went visiting a Hidden Village he ended up killing every one with forehead protector after he spent years in captivity by his own clan. It was not something we liked to talk about.

So, we decided to buy a house. I realized that Konoha real estate was nothing I'd seen before; it had laws about shinobi status, clan politics, military plants, diverse insurances and such. I understood we wouldn't get a house in the clan districts or near military bases or the shinobi area (where mostly relatives of clanless ninjas lived in protection); and even an insurance in case of collateral damage by Fire Jutsu made sense;

But why was there insurance for damage by reincarnated dead people?

Did something like that truly happen around here?

Watanabe-san, our realtor ensured us it was just standard procedure and told us to simply ignore it, but somehow I got nightmares about zombies eating my herb garden – which I didn't even have yet– and in the end I ended up for two additional insurances: zombie terror and crushed by giant summons. Kimimaro thought it was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.

The house Watanabe-san found us was not great but passable state; it was an ordinary second-floor house with three bedrooms and a small yard outside. We decided to make the extra bedroom our combined study, mostly because our bedrooms were so small we couldn't really fit anything else but beds in there. I had the feeling that it used to be a bigger house, but now we were sharing it with another family just walls separating us. They were civilians though and Kimimaro didn't feel threatened, so everything was fine. I already went and said my hellos and now I had neighbors to greet whenever we met outside.

Kimimaro already went and bought some paints and we spent the second and third day of our arrival with renovating. Watanabe-san and his wife gave us some pointers and I ended up paying for two additional Genin who could help us; members of Genin corps in Konoha apparently were well-versed in diverse chores and were regarded as a mixture of ninja and laborers with many skills.

They helped with the renovation of my workshop as well – and did it with proficiency and perfection I could have only hoped for - so at Day 4, I felt gleeful to wake up to my life in Konoha.

My brother would start the ninja academy next week, so we could have an extra weekend just the two of us. I wanted to buy him new sandals and some pointy stuff I'd seen other ninja-wannabes flaunt about, but Kimimaro made a bone dagger right on the spot and I somehow knew I'd lost an argument without the chance to debate. He let me buy him the sandals though and I felt much better.

"You need to save up, Aneue," said my ever polite brother, wiggling his toes in his brand new Konoha style ninja sandals, "We already spent everything you won at Tanzaku on the house and shop."

When I told the Hokage he didn't have to worry about our finances, I meant it.

The last town we visited before Konoha was none other than the infamous Tanzaku-gai and I had somehow managed to wipe the floor with hard-core players.

After collecting our winnings Kimimaro dragged me away from gambling again so I never got to find out whether it was beginner's luck or my destined vocation, but we left the town richer than ever. I also wasn't lying when I told the Hokage my good-luck charms sold really well, after that stint in Tanzaku people practically cornered me to buy my products.

While it didn't cost me to make those chakra-infused accessories, because mostly I used sea-shells, stones or sometimes wood, it did strain my chakra muscles –or the chakra path in my body to be precise- so I was limited to 10 or so pieces a day.

Kimimaro had offered to help, of course. But although he could make most of the normal seals, he never managed to carve the charms right. It didn't even give the faint chakra vibration my talismans always had.

Chakra carving didn't take a lot of chakra to make, but you needed perfect chakra control and the adequate chakra nature. My shishou told me because of my illness, my chakra had a very calm flow, making it much easier for me to carve chakra lines on objects and infuse them with the usually volatile energy.

Fuinjutsu was like its name; it sealed the chakra into objects, holding the maker's chakra in alternate dimensional space until activated with another chakra burst. Chakra carving was more like needle and string, my chakra the needle and the chakra in the surrounding the string and followed the path my needle already carved in. When my chakra vanished and the very miniscule amount of foreign chakra stayed of the surface of the object, my job was done. Different from sealing, my chakra carved things didn't need additional chakra to work so civilians could use it too. On the other hand, there was no way I could ever make a huge explosive thing out of my skills, foreign chakra was just too wild for that and would break the object before even attaching itself.

And there was the problem of me having very limited chakra and therefore not able to make more than a dozen a day, by bigger things it sometimes took me days.

"Well, if we need more money I could always work part-time at restaurants," I said in a thought, but was met with a hard stare from my brother. For a twelve-year-old he was certainly much too serious.

"Aneue, you are as weak as a sea-monkey. Stop overworking yourself."

"Hey!" I cried out indignantly, "That's not fair!"

I got that in Kimimaro's eyes, who had seen many power hungry, savage bastards who could do horrible things with their power, I, with my skinny figure and small chakra defect must rank extra low … but a sea-monkey? A sea-monkey? That was when I drew a line.

"You may be right that I'm not very strong and I will never be a ninja, but I am certainly as strong as any average civilian woman and I most certainly am capable of doing part-time jobs – "

"Just a day ago you tripped and broke a finger," my brother said in his deadpan voice.

I huffed loudly crossed my arms. "Yes, maybe, but it mended right back, Kimimaro. You are not the only one who profits from our Bloodline Limit."

"You tripped over your own foot and broke a finger."

… Well, I really didn't want to say anything to that.

I looked away and met with the stares of some ninja-sans shamelessly eavesdropping and obviously laughing at my expense. I blushed furiously and grabbed my brother's hand.

"Come on, let's find our new favorite take-out place or I'll make you dance the next time I play my shamisen."

"…"

Kimimaro followed without a sound. He was a wonderful dancer and he resented that he knew it too. Ah, manly pride. Kimimaro could be so adorably weird sometimes.

Our new favorite take-out place was what I named the ramen stand on the Second Market Street. The owner, Teuchi-san, was a very gentle man and made one of the best noodles I'd ever tasted. His daughter Ayame-san was only a year or two older than me, so we hit it right off. Not to mention she helped to get an update on Konoha's general gossips.

Gossips were important even if they were not always true; after all, there was always a reason why some stories were told from mouth to mouth faster and nastier than others. Ayame-san had actually invited me to come by and I wanted to introduce them to Kimimaro. Kimimaro, whose social skill was tilting to negative, always needed a little push, but I knew he didn't mind human interaction in general. He just wasn't used to it.

"Ayame-san!" I called out lifting the noren of Ichiraku-ramen, and the brown haired woman who had been serving raised her head. "Oh, Ren-san! Welcome! Sit, sit, I'll be right there!"

Kimimaro and I took a sit in front of Teuchi-san, who greeted me with a warm smile. Kimimaro bowed back and I introduced them both to each other, not holding back on the I'm-big-sister-pride. I knew when I made my baby brother blush in embarrassment I did something right.

There were two others in the ramen stand, the man just next to me had a long scar over his nose, the other was wearing a dark colored bandana over his pale blue hair. Shinobi, my chakra sensing guts told me, which didn't mean anything since my eyes could see the Hitai-ate on their foreheads just fine. I wondered what rank they were, though. The green vest with the Uzumaki symbol was given when the ninja reached chuunin rank, I was told. So obviously those two were somewhere between chuunin and jounin … Was shinobi system truly that simple? How did they know who held seniority? By counting scars?

I must have stared more intently than I'd wanted, the man with the scar scratched his cheek with a pleasant smile. He didn't want to scare me off, I had noticed, the comforting chakra he was emitting was rather telling. First I felt confused, since I didn't quite understand why the man was trying to look harmless as possible. Most people of his profession did the exact opposite as if their life depended upon it and I was used to big men using awful intimidation techniques. Then, something clicked in my mind. Friendly Konoha-nin, trying to look friendly to delicate-civilian-girl. Were civilian residents of Konoha rather resentful to their more lethal neighbors? But why? The Konoha-nin were there to protect them, weren't they?

But then, of course, Uchiha Itachi and the massacre. Even I'd heard of it, something so horrible and unbelievable gossipers just wished it'd be true. Considering that, the boy had killed not only the ninja of his clan but also the civilians who shared blood, it made sense that people were more prone to being cautious.

"You're not from around here, are you? Haven't seen you before." The man with the scar started a conversation and I gave him a nod with a smile.

"My brother and I, we just moved here. It's our fourth day."

At that the man widened his eyes. "Well, that's really recent. Where are you from?"

"Asatsuyu," I answered truthfully and added to avoid further interrogations, "Hokage-sama was very kind and offered us asylum."

"Oh, that's…that's good," the man nodded, and I could see how much faith the man had in his Hokage as I felt his chakra spike of suspicion virtually fade at the mention of the old, wise, shinobi. He unconsciously rubbed his neck and asked in a more cheerful tone, "So? How do you like Konoha so far?"

I told him about the Genin corps who helped us so much and Watanabe-san – apparently also handling a majority of shinobi apartments as well – and the fact I still wasn't sure how to address the huge Hokage face mountains, I'd rather be not rude.

"We call them Hokage-rocks, I think," Iruka, that was the man's name, contemplated out loud, although Ayame came by and added, "Well, I call them Hokage-mountain, and I've heard Hokage-stone-faces somewhere before. And I'm sure some kids just call them the-Big-Stony-Heads."

Iruka seemed to be torn from being troubled and resigned by that last remark.

"Kids and their big mouths, really," the other man, who had introduced himself as Mizuki, scoffed with a 'what-can-you-do' gesture. "The younger they are the rowdier. I can't wait until my batch of brats graduate."

I thought about the comment for a second confused, then came the light-bulb moment. He was too young to have a 'batch of children' ready to graduate and judging by his choice of words he was spending a lot of his time with young kids…

"Oh! You both are teachers at ninja academy, aren't you?", I exclaimed and folded my hands on my knees and bowed to the surprise of the two shinobi, "Kimimaro will attend your school too, starting next week! Please take care of him!"

"… He will?" asked Iruka bewildered, even Mizuki looked somewhat baffled. "Uhm, may I ask what grade? I'm in charge of the younger students, but I didn't get any notifications about a new transfer student …"

"Neither did I," added the pale haired man, now looking pensive. I was more distracted absorbing all the information the men had given me. Well, it wasn't much, but still.

"The Hokage-sama has decided to put him in the graduating year. He said Kimimaro is quite gifted, you see," I said giving them the impression of oblivious-civilian-family-member. It wasn't very far from the truth either, since I would probably be the last person to know average from good ninja-ness. My very distorted and defect chakra system could pick up hints of chakra people used to show emotions; it was more like reading the body language only I sensed their chakra. It didn't mean I could actually gauge their fighting capacity or even be aware of their whereabouts meters apart.

Nope, it was more like a lie detector, something that worked only if you were close enough. The only reason why I knew Kimimaro was very good at the shinobi-stuff was because people who fought him were sending out chakra-emotions in massive waves telling me they were afraid of him. He did beat them up black and blue before, so there was a possibility their opinion was biased. Also it could be his Bloodline Limit, which could look quite disturbing I'd admit, but then I had it too, only much, much slower and therefore not battle-adequate.

I wondered if I should warn the both ninja teachers about my brother's and my chakra infused body disfigurement. One look at my brother, I decided to keep silent for now. They would find out soon enough.

"Iruka-san, may I ask about the subjects Kimimaro will be learning? I asked around, but most of them told me it varies time to time."

Iruka seemed to think about it for a moment, probably reminiscing about his own pre-graduation, and stuff he must have picked up from spending time at teacher's lounge. "Well, if I remember correctly the only class with space for a new student in that year would be class C … Honda Shouichi-sensei, I think. He teaches Advanced Tactics and Basic Trap Setting. The Fundamental Three are Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, though. You won't be able to pass the graduation exam, if you fail in any of these three." The last sentence was more likely directed to my brother instead of me, which Kimimaro had noticed. But he didn't answer – I wondered briefly if I had deprived him of a chance of small-talk so many times that he basically didn't feel the need to talk to strangers at all or if this was simply a sign of his trust in my better judgement – and Iruka seemed to take it as an indication to continue. "I guess you will need to take classes in History of Fire Country, or you can take a test to make up for it. There is also geography, statistics and the matter of Basic Hand Sign, Konoha-nin are known for their extensive use of silent communication after all …"

It didn't take us long to realize Iruka was made for his profession. He didn't just stop at giving us the basics, but actually went through all the curriculum the academy offered, and why they were important in educational point of view; I had the feeling not many actually took the whys as serious as him. For most it would be the matter of just do it already, nothing to break brain cells for. I liked Iruka-sensei's passion, though. He taught children so they could survive to adulthood, not only because it was his job. He reminded me of my shishou. I wondered if I would ever see him again.

"Aneue, it's getting late."

We already had finished our bowl of delicious ramen – mine was miso with pork, Kimimaro's light shio – and indeed, it was getting late. The streets were lit by bright paper lanterns, flickering shadows dancing around people's feet. Ayame-san would have work to do and the ninja-men somewhere to go to. I gave a quiet nod to my brother and reached for my purse. "Before I forget, I brought a gift for you, Ayame-san," I said holding a blue, round stone in my hand. My brown haired friend took it with a surprised expression on her face. "It's a kaiun omamori. It's supposed to bring you good luck."

"Wow. Did you make it yourself?" Ayame asked, now admiring the carved lines on the flat surface. It had specific kanjis, runes and lines to connect them all. Iruka and Mizuki, too, seemed intrigued, although their skepticism was obvious. They had enough manners not to show it though.

"Some charms work better when sold, some however work only when gifted. This is for the kindness you showed to a stranger, Ayame-san. I'm grateful for your friendship." I bowed slightly, surprised but also pleased, when the brown haired woman bowed back. She gave me a happy smile. "I will cherish your gift, Ren-san. I'll hang it right here so every guest who visits us can share the good fortune."

I beamed at her, delight and satisfaction bubbling inside my chest. It felt good to be taken seriously, people usually thought I was scamming them. …Well, people outside Tanzaku-gai at least.

Ayame used the leather string I had weaved through the charm stone and hung it with a nail on the wall. It was quite the eye-catcher, to be frank.

"Wait a sec, did you use chakra to make this?" Mizuki, who had been watching the whole process with ill hidden doubt, suddenly asked, eyes filled with unreadable emotions. Iruka seemed to be surprised at his friend's abrupt outburst, then proceeded to inspect my work up close. He, too, must have sensed the weak chakra pulse through the stone as his eyes grew wider. I opened my mouth feeling obligated to explain when I felt the stares.

"I was taught the art of chakra carving by a seal master," I said fully aware my protective brother was lurking behind me with a defensive stance, "It's a quite useful skill to have. Mostly they were used for shrines and temples or to write protection ohuda for houses, but I've already seen some charm work around Konoha, too. Uzumaki Mito-sama's work, I think?."

"What? Sorry, but no way," Mizuki shook his head with a condescending smile, "the Shodaime's wife certainly did not do voodoo-stuff – "

Whatever the pale haired shinobi wanted to say was cut off, as a small bundle of energetic blonde came tackling into the ramen place.

"Ojisan! Quick, quick! Gimme miso ramen dattebayo!"

The little boy's face was covered in green and blue goo and his hand was holdinganother can full of orange paint. Like a baby Kappa, I unconsciously thought and tried hard not to giggle, but apparently Iruka didn't share my amusement. He was all red and bursting out impressive, crackling angry-waves.

"Naruto! What have you done again, you little – "

"I-Iruka-sensei?!" the blond baby Kappa exclaimed loudly and unconsciously took some steps back – which was anything but a smart move. "ARGH!"

"…Oh my God."

We all watched in horror as the orange paint can was cut loose. It flew across the bar drawing a perfect arc, right on route to the boiling soup pot; we all stood in petrified stupor, absolutely convinced of the impending disaster –

Only it didn't happen.

The orange paint-can was miraculously stopped by the string of the fortune stone, serving as some kind of hook, the same one Ayame-san had hung up just two minutes ago.

Long silence followed, until some of us actually regained a working brain.

"… …"

"…What the…"

"I-Iruka-san! Grab it! Put it down! Quick!"

"Ah shit!"

The scarred ninja acted swiftly, carefully pulling the paint can off the fortune stone. When he got down and placed the metal can full of orange paint on the table, everybody at Ichiraku kept staring at me, the still bubbling soup pot and the fortune stone, in that order.

After a long silence, it was Iruka, who eventually spoke up.

"Uhm, Ren-san, where did you say your store was again …?"

A/N: About Sealing(Fuinjutsu) and Chakra Carving

The main difference is with sealing you need to use chakra to activate it (the ON and OFF button so to say), but charms made through chakra carving are always working (Like those cheap electronics without a Power Button). Ren cannot make big seals because in this verse you need the required chakra to write the seals in the first place (so it can't be simply multiplied by a printing machine) and Ren's condition disables her to pour out a lot of chakra from her body. Chakra carving on the other hand, doesn't take a lot of her own chakra as it works with the outside chakra in harmony, but because it works in harmony it can't make a lot of changes. They simply don't have enough power to blast through their original design. People in this verse have used it mostly for shrines, good luck charms, and protection wards.

I actually thought of the concept after reading Harry Potter books; I wondered if you could write Runes on a thing, pour your magic and use it without saying spells any more. That's kind of my fantasy kink I guess:-)

There were lots of technological things in Naruto-verse that wasn't explained and Naruto never bothered to delve into Fuinjutsu so…why not.

* Ohuda (お札) are those rectangle charm papers with Chinese characters you see in Asian culture.