Disclaimer: Nao is mine! Nothing else in this story is, though.

Warning: Rawr.

Beta: Kalafina94

Beta: silverseed

Edit: 1/1/18

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Dizzily, I opened my eyes and found Kakashi sitting next to me. I was changed into my regular clothes, happy to find that there were no IVs plunged into me at all. Instead, Kakashi sat perfectly content next to my bed and read his book.

I also noted that there were many bouquets of flowers surrounding me. I felt a small smile tug at my lips at how thoughtful my visitors must have been. I slowly sat up and Kakashi looked up at the action.

"How do you feel?" Kakashi inquired.

"Dizzy," I murmured. "And—"

I closed my eyes and concentrated.

My body was repaired, the physical form at least.

But. But my mark was still there.

I felt a strong stab of bitter disappointment through my heart. I knew it wasn't going to work fully; however, I couldn't help but hold onto childish belief that it would. It hadn't, of course. The Curse Mark was still there and while the pain was gone, the temptation was not.

I could not decide which was worse.

At least the pain was a constant reminder to why I shouldn't give in to it. And while I was by no means a masochist, I would much rather take the physical pain it brought me than the horrible temptation it currently gave me.

I didn't want to lose myself.

"I still feel it," I whispered, my voice thick.

"I'm sorry."

My eyes opened and I looked down at my hands.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "You passed the preliminaries and you'll be moving onto the Final Round. You'll fight either Sasuke or Gaara; you have a bye, so whoever wins that round, you'll be facing. When you're able to move again, I'll take you and Sasuke a little ways out of the village to train."

"What about Naruto?" I asked, my brow furrowed.

"Don't worry, he has a teacher," Kakashi assured me.

I nodded my head slowly.

"Goodbye. I should probably tell the others you're awake."

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"Man, so Kakashi is training you, too?" Naruto asked, slurping some of his ramen noodles. I blinked up at him, shifting in my hospital bed and twirling my chopsticks.

"Yeah," I murmured.

"Damn," Naruto grumbled. "First Sasuke and now you. He actually tried to get me stuck with some basic instructor! How come he chose you two?"

I shrugged, motioning towards my neck. "He chose me to keep an eye on my mark. He chose Sasuke probably because Sasuke is his favorite."

"Favorite!" Naruto screeched. "I don't think so! I'll show him that I should be his favorite."

"Why can't it be me?" I asked curiously.

"'Cause you're everyone's favorite," Naruto said dismissively. "Besides, Sasuke and I won't share you."

I chortled. "Is that so? What about Sister and Chō-kun?"

"Okay, we can share you, but only with them."

"What about Papa and Momma?"

"Fine them, too."

"What about—"

"Okay, okay, I get it, but we still won't share you with Kakashi."

I felt a small smile of amusement tug at my lips at Naruto's childish declaration, but it did not reach fully. I was unable to reach a good mood. The Curse Mark.

"So who do you have teaching you now?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Oh well, I dumped the loser guy and tried to find another teacher. I found this really old pervert instead, but he's supposed to be good."

"Who is he?"

"Mmm. Jiraiya, but I call him Pervy-Sage."

I stiffened. "Jiraiya? Jiraiya as in Jiraiya the Toad Sage of the Sannin?"

Naruto frowned. "I guess."

"Can you take me to him?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"What? Why?"

"He's a seal master," I said quickly. "If he could. if I could get him to just. take a look at my Curse Mark, then I won't have to."

"I thought Kakashi sealed that thing away," Naruto said, his eyes narrowing.

"He's not a seal master," I whispered.

Naruto gave a firm nod. "Then yeah. I'll bust you out of here and you can talk to Pervy-Sage, but if you ask me, don't expect too much. I don't think he's very impressive."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," I whispered, gratitude along with hope filling me.

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"Who's this?" The man, who I assumed to be Jiraiya, asked upon seeing me. Naruto held my hand as he guided me through the pathway and towards the small clearing he would train with Jiraiya at.

"This is one of my precious people," Naruto declared. "She has a problem."

Jiraiya looked at me as I released Naruto's hand. My shyness took hold of me and I couldn't resist the urge to look down, a blush forming across my cheeks. His eyes continued to watch me, sharp and calculating and his expression was coolly neutral. Although his posture and stance read relaxed, I couldn't help but notice the underlying tension in it.

"I'm Nao," I whispered, clenching my fists. In a burst of bravery, I dropped to my knees and bowed. "Will you please help me?"

Naruto stiffened immediately at my position and much to Jiraiya's credit, he only frowned. Naruto looked down at me, worry creasing his brow as he knelt beside me, placing a hand on my back.

"What's wrong?" Jiraiya asked.

"Some weirdo bit her," Naruto explained for me. "Now she has a Curse Mark and no one can seal it. She thinks you can help her."

"Weirdo. Curse Mark," Jiraiya echoed, his brow furrowed.

"If you can help her, you have to," Naruto said. "Please, Pervy-Sage."

"What's she to you?" Jiraiya asked skeptically.

"She's my first friend," Naruto said, his head lifting up and a challenge lighting his eyes. I knew that look. It was the same look he had when he was out to prove a point to Sasuke, or the teachers in the academy. It was also the same look that said he would not take no for an answer.

Naruto went on,"That's why you have to help her because if you don't, I'll kick your ass."

I almost snorted in amusement at Naruto's confidence. Almost.

Jiraiya, however, did snort in amusement and held up his hands in surrender. "Calm down, kid. I will. Girl, sit up."

I straightened and looked down shyly.

"Let me see," Jiraiya said, moving to squat down in front of me. I brushed back my hair and tilted my neck. Jiraiya frowned even more, before his fingers brushed across my neck, chakra pouring out of them. I winced inwardly at his prodding towards the sensitive spot, but held my tongue.

A moment passed and he pulled back, his eyes darkened.

"It's Sage energy," Jiraiya muttered under his breath.

"What?" Naruto asked, his face blank.

"Don't worry about it," Jiraiya said absently. "Yes, I can seal it, but it won't be permanent."

I must have looked crestfallen, because he was quick to continue. "It's only because it'll adapt to each seal placed on it. There is no way to properly seal it, especially at this stage. If I didn't know any better I would say it was incomplete, but. it's almost like it is incomplete, unstable. Because it lacks stability, there can be no definite seal to hold it, it's too volatile." Jiraiya shook his head. "The seal I place on it now will suppress it completely, but over time it will dwindle down and the Curse Mark will be able to break free. When that happens, you have to place a new seal over it, something completely different."

I hesitated. "How will I do that?"

Jiraiya stared at me straight in the eye. "I'm not going to beat around the bush. There are very few who can properly seal that thing away, and even fewer who can design a new seal each time. I won't be around each time it breaks loose, either. If you don't want this thing to take you over, then you better become a seal master, or at the very least, proficient enough."

I froze at his words, my brow furrowed and I felt a keen sense of horror.

"Piece of cake," Naruto said for me.

Jiraiya snorted.

No. Not a piece of cake. The art of sealing was something so complicated only master shinobi even attempted to advance their skill. Normally, only even elite shinobi were able to create their own paper bombs and storage scrolls. Anything more advanced than that was rare and difficult to obtain. Not to mention all the past seal masters had been well older than me. More knowledgeable of the world and how it worked.

I was only nine. I couldn't become a seal master so easily. I doubted I could ever reach that goal, truly.

But I didn't have a choice.

Either I worked my ass off on the most difficult shinobi art, or I allowed myself to be taken over by the Curse Mark.

And I doubted, I truly and utterly doubted, I would be able to pull it off even if I did pursue the art.

It was a lose-lose scenario.

"I see," I said quietly.

"I'll seal it this time, but I'd say you have... five? Six? Maybe seven months before you have to seal it again," Jiraiya said. "Because it's still fresh in your body, you won't need a complicated seal for it, but as time goes on, you will need more complex seals for it."

I nodded my head, resigned and a little less than happy at my results. "Thank you. Really, thank you very much."

Jiraiya shifted, almost sheepishly, at my gratitude.

Naruto gave me an encouraging grin.

"Well," Jiraiya said, "let's get started then, shall we?"

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I giggled.

The Curse Mark was no longer noticeable and for that, I felt incredibly joyful. It was daunting that I would have to study sealing, but it was better than the alternative. After Jiraiya had sealed my mark, Kakashi had found me along with Sasuke and the three of us were on our way to our training ground.

The reason I was giggling?

I got to piggy back.

It was childish, I know, but it was also amusing. The moment I felt free of that mark, I felt this dawning sense of liberation. It was like for so long I had been kept in the dark, then all of a sudden I was introduced to warm light. I was feeling so uncharacteristically giddy from the joy of no longer feeling the mark that I hopped onto Sasuke's back and demanded to be piggy backed there. It was something I had normally only done with my sister when I was very little (still at the hospital little), I found it very comforting to do, so naturally when I felt that giddy I jumped at the chance. Sasuke was about to drop me on my butt, but Naruto taunted him saying he couldn't do it.

Being an Uchiha and not one to back down from a challenge initiated by Naruto, I got a free piggy back ride straight to the grounds.

Which, by the way, were incredibly far out and very. dry.

The landscape was a barren rocky cliff. Sasuke stopped and I hopped off him at Kakashi's signal.

"This is where we'll be training and camping," Kakashi said.

"What will we be training for?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi cocked his head. "Speed. Definitely speed. I have two sets of weights you two can wear around your ankles for the training period. They're yours to keep, I suppose. Not like I can get a refund for them, anyway."

"What else?" I asked curiously.

"Well. I'll be training Sasuke for the Chidori."

A gleam took to Sasuke's eyes. We all knew what the Chidori was, what it could do. I wasn't so high headed that I wouldn't admit I was a bit jealous, but my jealousy didn't last long, as it never did when it concerned Naruto, Sasuke or Ino (and occasionally Tenten, Shikamaru and Chōji). It almost seemed as though that whenever they were praised or had done well, that I was praised and had done well. I suppose you could say I was living through them in that manner, or perhaps I was proud of them. Either reason worked for me.

"What about Nao?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi hesitated. "I'm not sure. I don't have a lot of jutsu in my arsenal that don't require heavy chakra and even though Jiraiya-sama sealed the mark."

I bit my lip. "Kakashi-sensei, you made the Chidori, right?"

"That's right. Chidori is completely original," Kakashi said.

"Then," I said slowly, "can you help me make my own jutsu?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled and Sasuke gave me a smirk.

"I don't see why not," Kakashi said.

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"Each village has their own specialty," Kakashi began, "The Village of the Sand specializes in poisons and puppeteering, Mist specializes in kenjutsu and assassinations, Cloud specializes in lightning jutsus and speed, Rock specializes in explosives and earth jutsus while the Village Hidden in the Leaves specializes in-"

"Dōjutsu," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi snorted.

Sasuke shrugged. "We might as well. Or kekkei genkais."

Kakashi gave a slow nod. "I suppose you could look at it in that manner. The point I was trying to make, however, is that each village has a certain style to it and excels in different areas. It's why you don't ever see puppeteers in the Leaf, or kenjutsu users in Iwagakure. It's not unheard of for a few special shinobi to go ahead and specialize in areas their village aren't known for —as we have our own kenjutsu users, though they aren't renowned like the Seven Swordsmen— but it's rare. When you create a jutsu, you have to keep in mind in where it would fit. It would be best if you created a jutsu to compliment your village's style, as not only would that increase the chances you could pass it on to your own student, but you could also have assistance in creating it from your fellow shinobi."

"Pass it on?" Sasuke echoed.

"The Will of Fire," I murmured, realization dawning on me.

"Exactly. I took a risk in creating the Chidori, as I did not (at the moment) excel in lightning based attacks, nor was I trained in assassination techniques. It would have been entirely impossible, had I not received the Sharingan. I lucked out in that area, and that's why you need to be sure to base your move in something that you know you can do. Don't try and make the impossible possible. That only rarely happens, and usually when it does, it happens in a way you don't want it to," Kakashi finished quietly.

"I see," was all I said, contemplating his information. "The majority of my clan is either lightning natured, or water natured, and there are a fair few who share both affinities. More than likely, one or both of those are my natures as well."

"It would make sense, yes," Kakashi agreed.

"I." I hesitated. "I am quite proficient with a katana, scythe and dual daggers. At least, that's what Tenten-sempai informs me. I am not a rising prodigy in either, but I seem more comfortable using them, so I believe I would like my jutsu to take one of those shapes."

I fell into silence, thinking carefully.

Chakra natures were a funny thing.

Chakra, in all actuality, didn't have a nature. What we would refer to as 'earth-natured chakra' wasn't really chakra made from earth. The same applied for all of the elements. It was why lightning dominated earth, even if actual lightning would be grounded by actual earth (and thus prove useless). It wasn't earth and lightning in the chakra. It was how the molecules were formed and reacted with one another.

Take earth type, for example. It wasn't actual dirt or earth, but rather chakra that was highly dense and closely packed together; sluggish almost. The reason earth-natured chakra users could influence the actual earth itself, was because of the similarities in their molecular structures. That was it. Lightning, on the other hand was sharp and fast. It pierced through everything in one single, fluid motion. When earth and lightning met, it was immovable object meeting unstoppable force, the force actually winning, though. The lightning-natured chakra pierces through the 'earth', shattering its form and completely changing it.

The reason we conceived earth-natured chakra as dirt and ground, was because mentally, dirt and ground were the closest things we could use to describe them. More on the mental limitations, though, later.

Chakra didn't even have set properties (the only thing set for each nature was the molecular structure, but that was it). It didn't have a set temperature, it didn't have a set reaction to every single thing. In theory, you could make hot ice with chakra. Something completely impossible in the natural world, but as chakra did not follow the laws of it, completely possible with it.

Granted, it would be more difficult. While chakra did not have laws to it, the human mind did (this is why earth-natured chakra was dirt and ground). Chakra could, potentially, be formed into anything. However, it could only do so, so long as the user perceived it to be that way. To be able to manipulate chakra fully, not only did you need an innate ability, but every inch of your mind must agree with what you were creating. It was one of the reasons why creating new jutsus was so difficult; what you wanted to happen, you may not believe would happen and thus you could not make it happen. It was that reason that you didn't see a lot of hot ice users, or cold lava users.

The human mind perceives things as either this way or that way. Normally, that was created by what we saw in nature, and so when an ice-user creates ice, they knew that natural ice was cold and thus their own ice was cold.

It was an interesting bias.

And I wanted to—and intended to—abuse it.

I knew, consciously, I knew I could do something different. Subconsciously, however. Even if I could block away what I perceived to be a natural occurrence (and thus forcing my chakra to mold in that manner), I would still reject it to some extent.

What I wanted, and what I had in mind.

Well.

I knew Kakashi said to never try and make the impossible possible, but—

I'll be damned if I didn't at least try.

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I breathed out a small sigh, flexing my numb hand and staring at the pile of rubble.

I smiled.

Kakashi gave a chuckle from behind me, placing a hand on top of my head. "Well done, Nao-chan. It certainly is powerful, but you definitely lack control."

My smile took a more sheepish edge as I stared at the numerous craters and piles of rubble in the clearing. "Yeah."

"It'll be interesting to see how far you can go with that," Kakashi murmured.

I flexed my hand again, holding it up before my face in a fist.

I had a feeling I would go pretty far.

I clenched my fist tightly.

After all, never before had I felt so strong.

(Maybe I was strong enough, now?)

(No, no, who was I kidding?)

(You can never be strong enough)

(But I will never stop trying)

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And that's my take on chakra. I grew up with Pokemon, so it always felt weird that lightning kicked ground's ass in this manner.

Answer: Live action? Bones. Animated? Teen Titans will forever hold a spot in my heart. A choice between the two? Teen Titans. :3 I would choose Doctor Who over Bones, but then they got rid of David Tennant, so. D: I'm sure I'll start picking up on the series when I finish Bones, but until then.

Question: Biggest plot-hole in Naruto that you can think of? Or at least that one plot-hole that bugs you the most.

Reviews are love!