So I've finally come back to my fanfiction, and enjoying getting back into writing. I started out by just adding a single scene to get the ball rolling, but I have now added a bit more that felt like it belonged in the same chapter. If you read this chapter earlier when there was no Authors note, you might want to check the second scene that has been added.

"So, who can tell me how sealing works?"

Kakashi looked expectantly around the camp site, on the edge of the desert. They'd opted to stop for the night a little earlier than the halfway point to make sure that they could use the last remaining shelters of the forest before well and truly heading into the open desert.

Predictably, Naruto was the first to reply. Also predictably, the answer left a bit to be desired.

"You use chakra to write stuff, and then it does cool stuff like blowing up! Ooooh, oooh you can teleport with it too, like the fourth!"

Kakshi inwardly smirked at the hint to Naruto's abilities he unwittingly was giving his team mates - although they would probably think that Naruto was just badly explaining that the ink used in sealing was infused with chakra.

"You idiot, the only thing you really said there that differs from jutsu is that you have to write stuff. Sealing is much more complicated than that. The sealing script allows conversion of chakra from one form to another, as well as providing links to alternate dimensions."

"Wow, Sakura, you're really smart. I'm still better at it than you, though!"

"That you might be, Naruto, but Sakura still did a better job of explaining it than you. Listen to her and you might learn something. Anyway, she's correct in mentioning linking to alternate dimensions, and that is the basis of storage seals."

Sasuke, being ever logical, frowned at this. "Linking to alternate dimensions sounds like something that should be very difficult, and you are suggesting storage seals as an easy starting point. Wouldn't something like an explosive tag actually be simpler?"

"It's true that conceptually, linking dimensions is a much more difficult thing. However, most of that has been taken care of in the script used, which was developed over many generations by seal masters. Following their patterns to correctly make a kunai sealing scroll or a shuriken sealing scroll becomes relatively simple - you just need to be able to specify what needs to be able to be sealed, and how many you can seal. It's much like how the hand seals we use for jutsu have been honed over many generations to allow specific chakra conversions, like using a tiger sign to help convert the chakra in your body to fire chakra to make a fireball."

"But that still doesn't explain why an explosive tag is more complicated" Sakura interjected.

"Well, an explosive tag isn't too much more complicated in principle, but there are still a few more variables involved, like how large the explosion will be, how it will be triggered, how to stop it from triggering, whether ther are any time delays, and any other number of modifications that you can make to it. However, the biggest problem with explosive seals is what can go wrong when you are learning to make them. A failed storage seal, at worst, will not let you reclaim what you have tried to store in it. A failed explosive tag will blow up in your face."

Sakura gulped, glad that that was not where they would be starting out.

Sasuke, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes as he examined how Naruto was handling this conversation. Naruto had obviously jumped straight to explosive seals, and he didn't seem like the sort of person to get such a complicated thing as writing seals right on his first try. How did he manage to learn to make them without killing himself in the process?

Naruto still didn't seem fully convinced of the value of storage seals yet, and from what Sasuke knew about him that seemed consistent with his personality. Naruto was definitely the sort to want big flashy techniques over simple, useful ones. However, there definitely had to be some extreme resilience in the short blonde. Thinking about their spars, Sasuke noted that Naruto would keep fighting even though he would be continually receiving a beating. There was certainly a lot of stamina evident, maybe there was some innate healing ability present as well?

Sasuke's reverie was disrupted by the ever obnoxiously loud subject of his consternation. "I still don't know why storage seals are that important, Kakashi sensei. Why do I need to carry a scroll full of kunei when i can replicate them with shadow clones anyway?"

"Well, aside from the obvious benefits of storage seals while travelling, you can only clone what you are carrying on you, whereas a storage seal can be hidden in advance on the battle field for one. And a clever sealmaster can modify the storage seal to store all kinds of interesting traps. But I think this is the thing that might interest you the most..."

Kakashi paused, checking that he had his student's attention.

"They're the starting point for all space/time seals, and the fourth's signature technique was a space/time sealing technique."

Nartuo's eyes lit up at that, before Kakashi continued.

"Right, let's get started."

Kakashi glanced around at his students, carefully observing their efforts. Sakura's handwriting was immaculate, and she seemed to have very quickly learned the necessary script for the simple shuriken storage seal, but was struggling to feed it enough chakra for its initial activation. Sasuke, on the other hand, was providing plenty of chakra to activate a correctly made seal, but was being let down by small errors in the script that were increasing the chakra requirement at least tenfold.

Once the sharingan was activated Sasuke would probably be able to learn to accurately draw seals accurately just by watching Sakura, but in the meantime Kakashi could sense his mounting frustration - and the sideways glances toward Naruto demonstrated where part of that frustration lay. Sasuke was definitely struggling with the idea that he might not be the strongest genin on the team, even if he was definitely the most well rounded, skill-wise.

Naruto's efforts were the most fascinating. His script was awful. Truly awful. In fact, it looked like he could barely hold his brush properly. It certainly wasn't what you expected to see from potentially the greatest sealing prodigy since the fourth Hokage. There was a clear tension on Naruto's face, and Kakashi could tell that he wanted to throw the brush away and try to make the seal without it.

However, whenever Naruto looked like he was about to throw away the brush, he would notice a glance from Sasuke, and redouble his efforts.

The messy script on this particular seal might not actually stop Naruto from succeeding. Messier script mostly just increased the chakra required to activate the seal, and even if the required chakra increased by a factor of a thousand, Naruto would probably be able to provide it. He just needed to get his script a little bit tidier to get the efficiency to a more manageable level.

Ironically, Naruto probably was in fact better off attempting to use his own chakra to make the seal without ink. Once again, the ink was there to increase the efficiency of the seal by providing a chakra conduit, but it was still possible to make a chakra conduit out of chakra itself. Naruto's poor penmanship probably meant that he could make a more accurate chakra conduit in the shape of the script by pure chakra manipulation.

Strictly speaking, all that was actually required to make a seal was chakra and intent. The stronger the intent, the less chakra required, and the greater the understanding of the seal, the stronger the intent of the sealmaker. The ink and script was simply a catalyst that allowed seals to be made with much less chakra.

One of the major reasons why so few shinobi specialised in seals was the sizeable chakra requirement, particularly when first learning to make seals. Until a shinobi had a decent amount of practice making a seal to increase the strength and direction of their intent, they needed a significant amount of chakra to provide the initial activation. No doubt, this had been part of why the Uzumaki clan had managed to become revered in their sealing capabilities - the strength of the clan's chakra allowed their shinobi to easily overcome that starting hurdle.

Their were exceptions of course. Kakashi's own jounin sensei, the renowned fourth Hokage, had achieved great things in sealing through his own brand of intuitive genius. His understanding and intent was so strong that he had managed chakra efficiency that was unheard of prior to his rise to fame. That wasn't to say he had small chakra reserves, but he was definitely more successful with sealing than was the norm for a shinobi of his chakra levels. Of course, it helped that he was able to develop sealing scripts far beyond what previous seal masters had done to further improve his chakra efficiency.

Kakashi noted to himself that he needed to spend some one on one time examining Naruto's usage of explosive seals. In their trial battle after he got out of hospital Kakashi had (discreetly) used his sharingan to examine Naruto's methods, and there definitely was the formation of a chakra conduit. Naruto wasn't simply relying on intent and his immense chakra reserves, which made sense. While seals were technically possible with just chakra and intent, the chakra required for such a feat started to dwarf even Naruto's reserves.

That said, one of Naruto's greatest strengths seemed to be his will and determination. That probably went a long way toward providing strength of intent needed for making seals - at least for explosive tags. He didn't seem quite as convinced with storage seals.

Sasuke and Sakura probably both had a fair way to go to develop their sealing intent. For Sakura this was an intellectual curiousity, but not really something she had any passion for. The intellectual grasp was there, but not the understanding born through practice. Sasuke had a bit more drive thanks to his need to compare himself to Naruto, but didn't quite have the same intellectual understanding of the storage seal as Sakura.

Oh well, it's not like people could learn sealing overnight. Even Naruto - who managed to learn the shadow clone technique in mere hours - had taken several weeks to get his one explosive seal down. At least, based on what Iruka had reported, that is.

It was becoming clear that none of the three would be succeeding at making their swtorage seals tonight, and the genin were all becoming increasingly exhausted. It was time to stop their training for the evening and let them get some rest for the travel they still had ahead of them. Entering another hidden village, even one in an alliance with your own, was definitely something you wanted to be rested and ready for.