{Training Room #07, Konoha Library, Konohagakure}

{8:11 PM, 27th May 12 Yrs ANB}

{3rd Person POV}

...

'''...There are many different components of a sealing matrix that are used and combined to form a fuinjutsu seal. There is just one thing that is necessary for any seal to function, all its core components need a small amount of chakra stored, normally in the trigger seal, for the seal to remain active...'''

'''...So from the above statement, you can understand that a live source of chakra is needed to effectively let a seal function. That's why any seal has two stages, an armed stage, and an unarmed stage. Chakra is kinetic in nature, it flows naturally which is one of the fundamental reasons for seals to work, but this also means that chakra could leak. As anyone who has used ninjutsu before knows, you could effectively only control a part of the chakra that you mold...'''

'''...whether it is a medic-nin who has exceptional control on their chakra, no one has ever been able to perfectly control their chakra because it is theoretically impossible to perfectly control the kinetic properties of chakra. Similarly, seals also have a chakra loss ratio depending on how well the seal was made the seal would slowly leak chakra from its core components making it into the dud seal...'''

...

Ren was reading through another scroll on fuinjutsu, through the past week he had learned a lot about fuinjutsu and its various sub-seals. Today he was reading about the armed and unarmed seals and what causes this phenomenon.

A blue box suddenly appeared in front of Ren informing him of the fact that his {basic fuinjutsu} skill gained another level. His {basic fuinjutsu} was already at level 4 from reading through the fuinjutsu scrolls and gaining knowledge. He had to thank Rinko-san for her guidance, she normally left him alone and only answered questions that interested her.

Ren looked up and found her fiddling with a seal on her table, tempted as he was he didn't want to peak at her work as he closed the scroll.

'It's time to leave anyway, let's pick this up tomorrow I should focus more on the different categories of seals tomorrow Rinko-san did mention a couple of interesting options to choose from...'

"Good night Rinko-san," Ren greeted on his way getting no reply as always from the obsessed chunin. He walked out of the library and paused at seeing a familiar shade of blond waiting for him outside.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What are you doing here Ino?" Ren asked, he looked into her eyes but then avoided her gaze at the accusatory gaze.

"Waiting for you," she replied not giving anything away, Ren looked at her apprehensively once again before he sighed and walked towards her.

"You already done with clan training?" Ren asked as he started walking towards the Yamanaka clan compound, Ino swiftly arrived beside him and kept pace.

"Don't try to change the subject Ren, you know why I'm here you have been irregular during our training time after the academy, you are distant before with your emo shit and I had to break through the thick skull of yours..." Ino accused as she stared at Ren.

"Look at me," she finally pleaded causing Ren to turn towards her. He could see he had upset her and truthfully he hadn't realized how much he had changed his schedule and actions because of that night.

He had a problem with nightmares after the incident that made focusing a little harder for a few weeks so he started compartmentalizing and focused on learning fuinjutsu as his way of doing so. He stared at the upset blond and put both his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Ino-chan, I was just focused on learning fuijutsu, do you know that there are so many different ways to use sea-" Ren continued but immediately Ino shouted, "...bullshit."

"You have been sleeping a lot more in classes, you always looked tired there are bags under your eyes for Kami's sake..." Ino spoke frustrated, she was hoping Ren would come to her for help, she had been waiting as the boy kept retreating in a shell.

"It wasn't this bad at first, but lately you are more absentminded and sometimes even ignore a lot of things that are going around you..." She finished her rant and huffed.

Ren looked upwards at the night sky, his thoughts were jumbled a little as he stared at the hyper blond, his heart softened for a moment but he immediately backtracked and spoke, "Ino-chan, I just had to do a couple more jobs to make ends meet that's all. I'm good now so don't worry about it."

"What do you-" Ino froze and Ren felt a little guilty at making her think his condition was her fault for forcing him to go to Choji's birthday party, but throughout his life, he had realized that when people felt guilty they tend to help him cover up any gaps that he had left in his stories.

"I said don't worry your pretty little head about it," Ren smiled at the blond and bumped her shoulders softly, ignoring the sensation on his skin he urged the blond to move forward as they started walking once again to the Yamanaka compound.

...

...

The two walked in silence for a bit before Ino asked, "Why did we take the long route, we could have easily cut down the time if we went through the commercial district,"

Ren's thoughts flashed back to the feeling of warm blood splashing on his hand, and how heavy his body was when he kicked him away...

Ren focused hard on controlling his right hand, he didn't want the tremor to become a common thing so he moved his hand slowly to not let it shudder. Ino stared at Ren, he went unfocused once again, and the same stoic expression that somehow was different from his indifferent expression appeared on his face.

"Ren?" Ino asked softly, her right hand hovering above his shoulder as Ren was startled out of his daze. He looked at Ino in alarm smiled sheepishly and spoke, "Yeah I just wanted to take my time walking you home but I'm a little tired I guess..." he laughed it off this was the reason he avoided Ino in the past month, it seems like she was able to see through his facade like no one else.

"Okay, here we are," Ren spoke as they arrived at the Yamanaka clan compound, "I'll see you tomorrow in class." Ren waved as a doubtful Ino left after a couple of glances. He took a deep breath and focused, this thing was getting a little out of hand.

'I need to go back there and overcome this nightmare.'