Anything's a Lesson If You Squint Hard Enough [NK]

Natsume frowned as she stood in front of the library's doors, books cradled protectively to her chest. While she'd agreed to eventually see Ryuka again to go over the possibilities of their newfound skill (and to possibly suck out more information from him), she'd never gotten the chance to actually find out how to contact him. It had been a few days since her graduation, however, and she'd wanted to see if he'd found out anything interesting. Without a way to contact him or knowing any particular details about him, Natsume was stuck going back to the places they had been in the hope that he would stop by there once more.

She nudged the library door open with a shoulder. "At least it's cozy in here," she thought to herself, beelining for a table to settle down at. "If not a bit loud." She had brought her own notebook and pen this time, long since having copied over her notes, from their previous study session, into it. Her main focus today sat primly on the table: an inactive explosive seal. She'd lucked out in finding one at the store that had been mistakenly put on display without being charged. While it had sucked that the explosive seal hadn't worked when she tried to use it, it now made for a great study reference, and wasn't that what counted in the end? A less resourceful ninja might've gone back to the store to get their money's worth. Natsume, however, was above that. She would learn everything she could from it first and THEN go back and demand a refund.

Natsume flattened the book in front of her and loaded her pen with ink. Starting from the kanji in the center, she copied every line of the seal into her book, trying to keep track of how the lines curved and twisted around themselves. When her copy was complete, Natsume started to jot down the interesting details she noted, circling them on her copy and then drawing a line out to the next page, where she would then write down whatever observation she had. "Interesting!" The intricacy of sealing was mind-boggling, even with something as common place as an explosive tag.

With her mind fully occupied with sealing and the finer aspects of it, tuning out the room was easy enough. It did mean, however, she would be caught completely unawares by any newcomers that had decided to check up on the muttering girl.

She did not notice Zyxis at first, even as he greeted her and pulled out the chair across from her to sit down. It was only well into his second sentence that she realized somebody was talking to her, causing her to look up in surprise. "Oh! Zyxis-senp—!" She pouted as he tapped her nose and cleared her throat to start over. "Hello, Zyxis-senpai. I did actually take the exams." She stood up and gestured to the band wrapped around her upper right thigh, which could just barely be seen over the table. "I'm a Genin now too."

As she spoke, she noticed a familiar shade of purple had wandered just into sight from the corner of her eye. She knew he would eventually come by here again! She smiled as he called out to them. "Ryūka-senpai!" She bowed her head in his direction and then gestured to the pile of books she had unsealed on to the table. "I've gotten the infusion down and I've been able to bring up some small animals for a short while, but nothing very concrete. For now, I'm building up supplies." She gestured to the sealing tag that lay on the table. At the exchange between the two boys, she cocked her head to one side and looked between them. "Do you two know ea—?" It was frustrating to be interrupted.

She looked over her shoulder to the source of the interruption and was pleasantly surprised to see Hoshi. Except, he also seemed to know Ryūka. She blinked. "You... all know each other?" she guessed. Perhaps it was not too strange for similar-ranked ninja to know their fellow ninja. But the village sometimes felt so big, and Natsume so small, that meeting the three Genin that had helped her on her road to graduating in this library at this moment felt almost eerie. As per usual, Hoshi manhandled the conversation and steered it straight into whatever direction he desired. She smiled awkwardly. "Ah, me? I guess... anything I can learn from? Every book has their benefits." She tilted her head and looked at the others. "What about you two... actually, no, you can't distract me!" She blinked. "How do you three know each other? Is this actually coincidence?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Or is this a hazing?" Papa had warned her about hazings, but he'd said that was more of an issue for him when he'd gotten to Chuunin level.

She looked between the group, brows raised at the hostility between Hoshi and Zyxis. She'd seen the rivalry, yes, but the full extent of hostility between them was genuinely surprising to her. Had something happened between them?

At Zyxis' suggestion to move to the training grounds, Natsume would shake her head. "I'm sorry, I won't by joining you. I actually did come to the library for a reason." She gestured to the books on the table, her notes scattered about. "But do enjoy yourselves." She waved as they left.

Because of her staying behind, the conversation would've never occurred. Instead of answering the barrage of questions that she would never hear, Natsume would spend most of the rest of the day focusing on those explosive tags, studying them and recreating them on various blank papers that she would conjure with her chakra. Although she would get some fearful looks from the librarian and others in the library, she was always quick to reassure them that they were duds or had yet to receive any charge, so everybody and everything was safe. She was a responsible ninja.

Well, responsible-ish. She probably should have gotten a fuinjutsu practitioner to watch over her when she went to test her new seals at the training grounds, but nothing had gone too wrong in her tests. There may be a new pond at one of the training grounds–it turns out layering explosive tags upon each other made for a surprisingly powerful result–but nobody had gotten hurt. That was a good thing, right?

She smiled down at the tags she'd made. A new tool in her arsenal.