"Huh."

"How do your spells work? You can use a limited number per day?"

"- Basically, I memorize a spell. It burns into my mind. When I cast the spell, it's erased from my mind. The one exception is I can use a bonded item for a single spell a day, which can be any one I know - the item stores the information, kind of. I keep spells day-to-day by writing them down and memorizing them from the writing. There's only so much - space in my brain. It's possible to instead burn specially prepared words on a page, which is costly, or if I felt like being stupid to burn non-spell knowledge and overchannel. Right now, I'm at the first level of spells. Cantrips, zeroth level, are spells that are so basic you can reconstruct them right away. First level spells need specific memorization. Spells get exponentially harder and take up more mental space at higher levels, but capacity tends to expand with practice. I'd gotten up to sixth level spells in my prior life; the highest I've ever heard of was a ninth level spell. There's a - thing - channeled, arcane energy, which would mostly be a problem if I was trying to read off a spell of a higher level than I can normally cast, and which is only really dangerous at high levels. It's not like chakra; it's external."

"I see. Did the, uh, prior-you's family leave behind any useful information about the sharingan?"

"No."

"No, things are never that easy... So the sharingan is the Uchiha Clan's bloodline limit. It's commonly acknowledged as the strongest doujutsu. It has the power of insight. With it, you can instantly understand and analyze information, which is how I earned my nickname, by watching the techniques of others and duplicating them. It can also help cast or cut through genjutsu, by seeing where the illusion mismatches with reality."

" - You'd probably need to know how to read magical writing, but that sounds like it'd let you learn spells without the years of study first." He drags a hand down his face. "I think - True Strike and Expeditious Retreat are going to be most useful to you. First is - very limited combat precog. It's what I used to hit you during the bell test. Second increases base speed, and should stack well with using chakra to increase speed..."

"Yes, that would be useful. However... I'm not an Uchiha. This," he taps his forehead protector over where it covers his eye, "was a gift from a very dear friend, before he died in the last war. I can't use it perfectly, which is why I collapsed of chakra exhaustion. I want to try to avoid using it before Zabuza returns, so I can be ready."

"Sensible." He shrugs. "I can try teaching you once we're clear. For the next week - what's useful to me is speed and reaction time."

"A week isn't a lot of time to work on that. Well, for now, try practicing augmenting your entire leg with with chakra like you did your feet for the tree climbing. Somewhere open you won't run into anything. Tomorrow I should have enough chakra to be a little more helpful."

He nods. "...Thanks."

Kakashi flaps a hand feebly.

"Don't mention it."

He eyes Kakashi a bit warily. He's kind of... Intellectually aware of shinobi paranoia. He's also very certain Inanna won't let him get permanently killed - she tends to protect her toys - but that doesn't mean he can't be hindered a lot.

He's thoroughly exhausted, but... That's kind of air that needs to be cleared. "Will I be in trouble, when we return?"

"Hard to say, really. It depends on the sort of report Chihiro makes to the people who set her watching you."

"You're not her commanding officer?"

"Yes and no. As you may have noticed, she's not exactly an ordinary genin. She's a member of a program called ROOT, a division of Anbu, and she was sent to keep an eye on you. I'm not very happy about everything Chihiro implies about ROOT, but there's not a lot I can do about it. The man who runs ROOT, Shimura Danzo, has a... different way of doing things than the rest of the village. But he's one of the Hokage's old teammates and the old man's given him considerable slack to run his program however he wants."

" - Children should not be soldiers and especially not Black Ops." He shakes his head. "I'm bad at both politics and lying." The most political thing he ever did was tell the Empress to go fuck herself. "Danzo doesn't sound helpful."

"Fortunately, he hasn't taken a direct interest in you yet. What you need is for her to tell him only that you performed well for a genin, and leave out the specifics of how and why."

"...Right." How does he even get her to keep the techniques a secret.

"She doesn't know any other life. Try making friends."

His relationship with his wife literally started via divine intervention. Sugira's social skills sometimes extend as far as being charmingly dense.

"I'll try harder," he says, grouchily.

"Or maybe have Naruto help."

He nods. Siccing the boy who could befriend a rabid badger on Chihiro does, in fact, sound easier.

"Good luck."

"Thanks." A pause, and, "Anything else?"

He's tired and, apparently, needs to figure out a strategy for speed befriending Chihiro.

"Not right now, I don't think."