One Lonely Girl

It had been another day in Hana's uncertain life of uncertainty and loneliness. Nonetheless, she woke up smiling as always, even if it just so hapoened to be sometime in the afternoon. Hana kmew nobody could be proud of her if she kept being late to everything, however she just couldn't seem to fix her mental clock. With her bright, red hair almost impossible to fix, the young Uzumaki would throw it up into a ponytail leaving a few strands of hair framing her face and her bangs across her forehead. She would decide to wear a long sleeved shirt with the Uzumkai symbol plastered in the middle of her back. Of course, she would wear her shorts and nornal shinobi sandals leaving Hana ready to go with her headband right on top of her head. With a few deep breaths, the door to her home would open leaving her red faced and nervous. Nonetheless, Hana didn't plan on speaking to anyone else that day.

Even still, the red head girl would find herself sitting on a tree branch as some children circled the base of the tree below her. "Did you think you could really hide?""Yeah, Have you seen your hair? It's like a flashing sign." The children would continue circling the three spitting out sarcastic questions and insults about her hair. However, they were still in the academy but would be graduating soon just as she had done, so maybe they wouldn't be able to scale the tree as well as she. What if they could? Hana would sigh as they threw around words that would describe her hair and she frankly didn't like it much, but they were still just kids to her she couldn't hurt them. "I-Isn't there someone more your age to mess with?" Hana would call out to the kids a bit nervously before they would freeze and look at eachother. "I'm sorry. What was that?""Did you just call us kids?!" they would then begin spitting profanities at her, while attempting to reach her. "Aww look what you've done now," the Uzumaki would mumble to herself.

It had been yet another boring day around Konoha for a certain jounin. Sayuri had spent most of the morning working away on her next big breakthrough! Unfortunately, considering it had blown up in her face she had decided to clear her mind and go for a walk! Cleaning herself up, the young jounin would end up donning her rather pretty kimono before setting her rather stunning red hair in a slightly messy bun. Finishing up the look with a large bow around her waist with her headband tied firmly around her left thigh. One look would tell anyone she wasn't the average jounin, or shinobi really, but she couldn't care less what anyone else might think of her looks.

The walk itself wasn't particularly exciting, nothing would really pop up as interesting until she caught a flash of red hiding away in a tree. She recognized the girl as Hana, who she knew as a shy young girl. It was only when she heard the taunting children that a slight scowl would flash across her features. With one swift motion, should would draw a few shuriken from a seal tattooed across her wrist, throwing them with startling speed to bury themselves in the tree just above where the bullies were trying to climb to give them a nice scare, letting them fall to the ground to see the fiery redheaded jounin staring them down "That's weird, how did I sneak up on you? Didn't you see the hair?" They would probably recognize her, and may have heard the rumors of her rather short temper "Well?" They had two choices at this stage, double down and try to bully a jounin or run off. Icy blue eyes would stare them down, demanding an explanation without the need for words. There wasn't any explanation they could give her really, because she had heard every single nasty word they had said.

Hanah would become more and more relieved with every attempt the other kids made to get her. They could only get so far and then they would fail prompting the girl to sit around and listen hoping they would tire out soon. However, then Hana would feel two thudding sounds against the tree below her. They were hard and the tree's trunk certainly wasn't hollow. Hana would look down to see a woman in such a pretty outfit scolding the kids in her own scary sort of way, which reminded Hana of her own mother. Wait, Hana knew this woman. Hana had seen her before in the village. She had the Uzumaki hair just as she did, so obviously she had to be one right? Is that why she was coming the the small Uzumaki's rescue?

Hana would stare with admiration in her eyes as the children seemed to stumble with one falling onto his rear. Their faces were full of terror for they never saw anyone else approach. However, they still did have much to learn. The children would turn pale as the woman used their own lines against them. "T-that's not fair!
Y-You're stronger than us! You can't hurt us!" One of the children would say before scrambling to his feet and running off with the other right behind. Hana would shake her head full of red locks before lookibg down at the woman. Her face would turn a shade of pink in an attempt to talk to the scary woman, "Y-You're.. uhm.. an Uzumaki.. like me right? T-The one that everyone calls lazy and has.. a.. bad temper?" The girl would blush more realizing that she only knew insulting descriptions of the woman. "I-I uhm.. Thank You. I just.. don't like.. being mean to kids, ya know?" The brown eyed girl would smile at the woman below hoping she wasn't about to get an earful too.

"Well, you could always put that to the test. Because I bet I could hurt you" Sayuri would smirk as the little bullies would scramble to get to their feet. Drawing a kunai from apparently nowhere to spin it idly on her finger, just to seem a little more threatening than she really was. Clearly happy to see them finally run away in fear. If questioned, she would claim it was simply discipline! Despite how much she enjoyed it. She would move to join the genin with ease, taking a seat on a nearby branch.

“Huh, is that what people say about me?”  She seemed to be a little incredulous, though now she thought about it, maaaybe they were right, something she might need to work on in the future. “Of course! You’re Hana right? Pretty sure I’ve seen you around. I’m Sayuri”  She offered a hand to shake. “You shouldn’t have to worry about them anymore. They’ll be too scared I’ll sneak up on them if they try it again!”  The jounin certainly seemed pleased with herself. “You should stick up for yourself though, don’t let anyone pick on you for having such pretty hair! I wish mine was that nice”  She smiles  warmly, hoping that she could help the younger Uzumaki feel a little better about herself, and maybe get a little stronger after the whole ordeal.

The woman seemed to question if what Hana said was really, although she wasn't sure why the woman would think any different. Perhaps, she was simply oblivious to the other people of the world, nonetheless she would nod her head a bit embarrassed that the woman had just so bluntly sat beside her. Then, the older Uzumaki would introduce herself causing the smaller Uzumaki to blush and hesitantly reach for Sayuri's hand.

Then, a small smile would spread across her face as the woman spoke about protecting her from the mean kids. However she would sigh a littoe as she thought about her family, she didn't have parents, she didn't have siblings, and she didn't even know if she had anyone else in this world. She was never taught how to handle bullies, boys, other kids, or relationships in general. Most of the time, she simply guessed and went about her day by winging it. She was a lost child.

Just as she was starting to make herself feel down, Sayuri would say someyhing that nobody had ever said to Hana before. Tears would instantly well up in the girl's eyes almost in a sort of instinctful manner, since she couldn't seem to hold them back. "N-Nobody..
Ever said.. my h-hair was pretty before," the tears would stream down her cheeks as her voice would shake between words. The small girl would hide her face in her hands trying to hide the reddness of her features.

Sayuri was almost the polar opposite of the younger Uzumaki from the looks of things, even when confronted with being a bad tempered slacker she seemed to brush it off without a thought. There was no use in dwelling on what others thought of her and she seemed to be that much happier for it! She would firmly shake the girl's hand before moving to ruffle her pretty red hair "Well, they'll come around! I bet you'll be real popular when you're older" Though she wasn't sure how she had caused these tears to fall, the Jounin wanted to do something to make her feel a little better.

"Say, hold out your arm, I want to give you something" Should the girl do as she asked, Sayuri would turn her arm to expose her wrist "Now hold still" The tip of the jouinin's index finger would begin to glow and she would begin to inscribe a dark black mark across her skin. It only took a matter of moments, but by the time Sayuri was done she had given the seal and nice ornate flare to circle her arm. It wouldn't hurt at all, maybe give a slight tingling sensation, but it at least looked pretty once it was all finished.

"There we go! That there is a special seal I made, go ahead, just touch the center and use a little bit of chakra on it" While Hana was given a moment to inspect and test out this new seal, Sayuri would loosen the kimono she was wearing and slip her arms out, wearing little more than a bandage wrap and a darker red vest underneath, her entire left arm covered with a similar black marking in what seemed to be a very complicated pattern of sealing formula. Should Hana give the seal a go however, she would notice the dull red glow from the jounin's right shoulder, as if they were connected somehow.

The girl would continue to cry, even though she was trying to force herself to stop. Then, the jounin would rustle her hair causing the young Uzumaki to flail and refix it in a sort of panick mode. Nonetheless, it had ceased her crying before the girl would look to the older Uzumaki tilting her head, "When I'm.. older? So, I havw to wait a long time?" The child would sigh knowing that it would be quite the journey to get people to like her, but she didn't know she would habe to wait until she grew up. What could she possibly do to get people to like her between now and then? How could she possibly even start to get people to like her? Would they ever get over her bright hair? Just as Hana was about ti start panicking, the older Uzumaki would ask Hana to hold out her little arm, which Hana would do hesitantly.

Blue eyes would stare at the woman's finger as it traveled along her own skin creating dark marks of some sort. Perhaps, she was drawing something for Hana to admire. Maybe, it was a sort of seal considering that's what their clan specialized in, however Hana didn't know much about the seals. The girl would giggle as she felt an odd sensation upon her arm, yet she hadn't questioned what kind of seal it was and instead did just as Sayuri had told her. Blue eyes would widen as she loiked from her own wrist to that of Sayuri's shoulder. It was glowing? Why was it glowing? What was that? Hana would sit for a moment in pure awe and amazment before taking a deep breath, "What is this?! This is amazing! I want to learn seals too!" Hana would yell at the woman before turning towards her stradling her legs across the branch of the tree. "What does it mean?!" The girl would lean forward waiting to her what Sayuri was about to tell her.

Sayuri would just giggle at the reaction to the hair ruffling, letting the girl fix it. It had stopped the crying, which was sort of the idea. "Well not that long! Trust me!" It would be hard to ignore something said so confidently. Hana would feel that Sayuri truly believed in her. After all, it looked like the jounin had been doing something right this whole time to make it as far as she had. Maybe it was because she didn't care so much about what people thought of her, but that was a lesson the young Uzumaki could learn from too.

The jounin would smile at how amazed Hana was getting over the seal "Well it's not really anything special. I made this one myself" She nods, it seemed to be a talent of hers really, most of her sealing techniques were of her own design. "I call it the Intervention Alarm, if you ever get in trouble just press the seal. It'll tell me where you are so I can come help!" A pretty handy little seal for an aspiring jounin sensei, she planned on giving this seal to all of her students to help them feel just that little bit safer. It was good though that she had taken an interest in fuinjutsu just from seeing that seal. It was good she hadn't taken notice of her other arm though, that one would be a little bit more difficult to explain. "Oh, well I can teach you! It won't be easy though. These seals can get pretty complicated. You'll be great at it though!" It was all second nature to the jounin at this point really, which was why she had branched out into her own creations rather than mastering what others had done.

Hana would lightly smile at the woman who believed that she would find the friends she needed soon enough. Although, Hana questioned why Sayuri believed in her so much. Was it because Sayuri had been the same way? Did she have friends now? Was Sayuri even right? Would Hana grow up to be like Sayuri being able to use Uzumaki jutsu? She wanted to grow up being able to use all the cool clan jutsu that Sayuri knew, but Hana didn't think she'd be any good. So far, she had shown talent in the medical field of jutsu, but she hadn't showed much promise with anything else. She had seen the way the other kids did their ninjutsu without fail, however she wasn't quite as skilled. Maybe combat just wasnt her style. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be an Uzumaki. Maybe she wasn't like others. Maybe she was just some red haired girl born into a clan with no purpose left to give her. Was that true?

Hana would shake her head before getting back to the thought of the seal. "You really made this?
That's so cool! I-I don't know if I'd ever be this skilled though," Hana would say before touching the seal on her wrist. Hana didn't believe she had any sort of skill, or intelligence, or strength. She was afraid to go home, afraid to wake up, afraid of the dark, afraid of her dreams, afraid of the future, afraid of the life she had, and afraid of the life she wished she wanted. Hana was full of fear and anxieties while everyone else was so well put together. How could she compete with the other kids? How could she learn anything? How did she even get through the academy? Where was she going to go now? "I don't know if I have what it takes. I mean.. I've tried before, but it didn't really work well. Then again, I was teaching myself, so maybe that's where it went wrong."

"Yup! I've had that one for a while now, I just didn't have anyone to use it for" she nodded, it wasn't something she would want to give out to just anyone, it was reserved for the people most important to her. "And you will be! You can't just start out an expect to know everything. Give yourself some time, no need to rush" It wasn't hard to tell that Hana had a lot of self-doubt, something Sayuri wanted to help her get rid of. She hadn't been assigned a team at this stage, but she had half a mind to request the girl be put on it so she could help her out just a little bit more. Even if the older Uzumaki knew that she owed Hana a whole lot more than that.

"And sealing is a lot harder than it looks, I still have them blow up in my face sometimes. I'm surprised I've got any eyebrows left." She would giggle slightly, brushing a few loose strands of hair out of her face "I've got a few you might like, though we'll probably start with paper seals before you start drawing them on yourself" With her arms exposed, Hana would see that there was a reasonably small amount of skin that wasn't marked in some way, particularly the left arm, rather complex patterns running up and down with an ANBU tattoo framed nicely on her shoulder. "We can start whenever you want, anytime you're in the mood to learn"

Hana would stare at the seal on her body as she thought about why Sayuri had never used it on anyone before. Had she never had anyone to protect? Had she never wanted to save people close to her? Sayuri was such an interesting jounin, yet she didn't have anybody she wanted to keep in touch with just in case. What about her parents, or siblings, or friends? Hana found it a bit weird, but maybe Sayuri didn't have those things. Maybe, she was just like Hana. However, Hana wnjoyed Sayuri and how she made the small Uzumaki feel better about herself. Hana hadn't been this happy before, at least that she could remember. Hana wished she had her family back.

Before Hana could begin to think about the saddness, Sayuri would talk about learning Fuinjutsu. She made a comment about being lucky to have eyebrows causing Hana to giggle at the thought of this woman without eyebrows. "I think I would be like that too," her small voice would say with a bit of a giggle coming out as she did. Then, the woman would speak about teaching Hana seals forcing the girl into a standing position on the tree's branch. "Really?!
You'd teach me?! I want to be like you some day! I want to have seals all over me! I want to have lots of seals and lot's of scrolls! I'll be the best jounin!" Hana would say bouncing a bit on the branch. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle with joy as she stared at Sayuri. "I'm always ready to learn!" Hana would smile a great big smile before plopping back down again.

Truth be told, Sayuri had been rather lonely for a long time. The ANBU were a secretive bunch, even from eachother, so they didn't even know each others real names. The time spent in that group had caused the jounin to become quite a bit more isolated than she might have thought. What she had really been keeping this seal for was her students, which she knew would be assigned to her soon. Sayuri wanted them to feel safe after all, and having a panic button would certainly do that!

"Well I hope you'd be a little more careful than I am" There had been a few close calls really, but generally Sayuri would have her little experiments under control. Hana's reaction to the possibility of a teacher however was adorable, and made Sayuri even more keen to teach her. "Oh yeah? All over? I haven't even manged to do that yet" she chuckles, after all she had most of her torso, legs and right arm. "Okay! How about this, I'll teach you one of the Uzumaki specials!" She proceeds to draw the kunai right back out from the seal in her wrist, proceeding to bury it in the tree. "Alrighty, pay attention to these handseals, just follow what I do" Sayuri would slowly perform the required seals, repeating them a few times so the younger girl could copy them.

"Alright, once you've got that down, you put your hands on the ground... aaaand" she would slam her palms against the bark of the tree, where a sealing formula would appear under the kunai and with a bright flash of light it was drawn into the center, leaving nothing but the formula remaining. "There we go! Basically, you can use it on smaller things and store them away. Lots of useful things you can do it!" She unsealed the kunai in a flash and put it back in the tree. "Now you try!"

Hana would listen to Sayuri comment about her own spoken words; nonetheless, it didn't bother her, instead it made her more excited. Sayuri had yet to finish drawing seals upon her body meaning that, if Hana so desired, she could beat Sayuri to the punch. Blue eyes began to sparkle more and more until it seemed that they may explode into a beam of light at any moment. Then, Sayuru would offer to teach Hana Uzumaki special seals leaving the child squesling with joy, but only until she realized that she was making a scene. This would leave Hana with a face as red as her hair as she pretended she simply didn't exist and hoped people would ignore her childish impulses. However, her worries wouldn't last long as Hana became focused on the hand seals that Sayuri was showing to her. The young Uzumaki would blink a few times as she watched before copying the woman a few times after.

Blue eyes would stare at the very spot the Kunai was placed before beholding what the seal could really do. Her eyes would seem to go blank as her excited ways had seemed to hault all together. She had stopped speaking, thinking, moving, and comprehending all together. Nonetheless, this would only last as long the Kunai was sealed and replaced leavibg Sayuri to speak the words, "Now you try!" Hana would gasp before closing her eyes and breathing a few deep breaths. The young Uzumaki would perform the handseals flawless, at least in her own mind, then she would place her hands upon the tree. The girl would stare blankly as the Kunai was still in place, "What?!" The young girl would repeat it again, this time watchibg a few etchings appear, but would soon vanish. Blue eyes would begin to become discouraged, but Hana refused to give up. Three. Four. Five tries had occurred before the small girl realized that she hadn't even been able to complete the full sealing circle. "What am I doing wrong? Is it not enough chakra? Is it too much? Am I not trying hard enough? Do I need to know something else?!" The small child would place her face in her hands as she breated through her fingers. Her small body showing nothing but signs of disappointment and embarrassment.

Sayuri watched eagerly as the young girl would begin to copy her movements, she certainly had her handeseals down, as much as a genin would at least. Perfection would come with practice after all. Regardless, it was looking good to her, at least until she failed the first time. The training was promptly sent off the rails as she began to panic, trying to repeat the handseals over and over again. It was getting a little better with each try but it seemed like she was a little too frazzled from the initial failure. Sayuri would place a hand on Hana's shoulder and give it a squeeze "Take a moment, calm yourself a little bit" She made note to look into the girl's eyes "It was your first few tries, you'll get it" She gave a reassuring smile before releasing the grip on the girl's arm. The jounin would give Hana a little while to gather her thoughts before her next few attempts, all the while repeating the hand-seals just to give her a point of reference.

"Now you can't just overuse your chakra, it takes nice delicate control. Just like when you draw the formula of a regular seal, you have to be nicely controlled. Now go again, and just be careful. I know you can do it Hana" Sayuri would smile once more, hopefully giving the girl a little more confidence so she could pull through. Unfortunately, the Uzumaki seal was a little more of an intuition thing than most sealing jutsu, but it was a good way to start learning for more advanced things.

The girl would continue to run over the problem in her mind, while also running over the thoughts of failure and saddness. Hana wanted to do good, she wanted to be the best she could be, b8t most of all, she wanted to make her parents proud. She new they always believed in her, even from the moment they found out about the pregnancy. The elderly woman from across the way from Hana would aways tell her stories about her parents: how silly they were, how skilled they were, how bright they were, and how they always cared for their children, which honestly confused the Uzumaki a bit. However, she had always blown that part off consiering the woman was old and probably slightly delusional. Anyway the thought of having failed using a clan jutsu was a heart wrenching experience for Hana desperately at least wannted to fit in with the ones most like herself, even if there weren't many around her area. For a moment, Hana thought about maybe giving up, until Sayuri squeezed her shoulder. At this point, Hana would peek between her fingers at the older Uzumaki with bue eyes of confusion and nervousness. The woman would tell her to stay calm for getting all riled up wouldn't improve her case any more than it already had. THe jounin would reassure Hana that she would soon get it causing the young girl to smile shyly. For once, the girl was starting to believe that someon else actually cared for her rather than just her future abilities as an Uzumaki. Perhaps, it was simply because they were from the same clan, but perhaps it was genuine.

THe young girl had taken the time to fill her head with nothing but determination and logic to assist in her endeavor of creating a working seal. So, Hana would take a deep breath and begin to repeat the hand signs, however she wouldn't put any chakra into them just yet. The child felt how her hands formed the seal before taking into account the object being sealed and the making of the seal itself. Her tiny mind began to turn and run a mile a minute. Then, she would try it for real. At first, the kunai would fnd itself stuck halfway in the tree. Then, it would find itself launched out by the sheer force of chakra put into it. Finally, slowly but surely, the kunai would delve its way into the seal before finally being conumed by it. The Uzumaki would smile haviing taken a bit of a toll of her chakra and energy. Her heart was fulfilled, but her body was a bit worn out. Having been chassed up a tree, made fun of, and spent quite a bit of time learning a small seal had really worked its way into her system. "I did it Sayuri. I finally did it. Do you think I can do it more now? Would I be able to use it on my own? If I seal it somewhere, will I have to go back there to get it, or can I take it out somewhere else? Where did it go? Did it go somewhere else or is it like just floating around in space?" The small Uzumaki would stare around as if she would see an invisible kunai floating in the atmosphere.