CHAPTER 13

Chapter Summary: Suzuki Hiroshi introduces his summons to Team Minato. He thinks up on a new signature jutsu. He starts working on his chunin duties. His skill in fuinjutsu starts to take shape. He invites another person to the Vault.

Although I wasn't to start on my responsibilities while on my recuperating period, I wasn't going to waste two weeks of time.

The next three days after meeting with Team Minato was filled with paperwork for my chunin assignment. There wasn't many but the early work on them gave me more time for my training with the Cranes.

"[Summoning Jutsu]!"

From the smoke created, a figure dashed towards the sky. The figure spun around until he reached a reasonable height and spread his wings beautifully. He then proceeded to glide through the air as he descended. What a showoff.

Tsurutatsu landed on the ground and gave a gentleman's bow to Team Minato. Everyone clapped at his showmanship.

Tatsu greeted them. "Good day to you. I am Tsurutatsu of the Crane Summoning Clan. I am very pleased to meet you, Team Minato."

The others exchanged their own names.

Minato-sensei nodded with satisfaction. "Congratulations, Hiro-kun. It seems your summons are very good. I heard from the toads that the cranes are very supportive of their summoners, however reclusive they may seem."

Tsurutatsu thanked Minato-sensei for the compliment.

Then the same antics happened as is. Obito talked about wanting cool summons while Kakashi boasted about his dogs. Rin-chan was balancing them.

It looked very nice to look at. I turned my head only to see Minato-sensei looking at them fondly while smiling gently.

I looked to the sky and relished at how peaceful the village seemed despite the war on the border.

This is nice. Let's make sure this continues on to the future.

Because I was still recuperating, my day routine only consisted of walking through the village, light training, providing advice and help to the training of Team Minato, and studying other shinobi arts.

Team Minato was away on another C-rank mission that brought them to the border. I hoped they were going to be fine but, I don't think they would need good luck this time seeing as how much they clearly improved.

I, in the meantime, was alone in Training Grounds 57 lying down on the ground and doing some cloud watching. I was thinking about how ineffective my Leaf Manipulation Jutsu is on stronger enemies. I would have improved upon it further but that course of action seemed futile since there's clearly limits to what a chakra-enhanced leaf can do.

So, I resorted to looking through my past life's memories to see anything about water. Any anime, show, or game that could possibly give me an idea to base on.

Thankfully, I had found something. There was a game called 'Genshin Impact' in my past life and there was this particular antagonistic character that dealt with water in a very unique way.

He willed water to form his weapons and he could switch between them mid-battle. I was thinking how it could be used to prevent the enemy from predicting my moves. I could switch through weapons to strategically suit my situation and adjust to my needs.

I had the idea and immediately went into creating it into a proper jutsu and after three days, my [Water Release: Torrent Arsenal] was created. The problem was that it was very hard to do. It had twenty-one hand signs and weaving these hand signs were needed to change the form of the water. Meaning, I had to weave through the signs which would probably take a couple of seconds just to change my weapon during a battle. It wasn't as efficient as I thought it would be. So, I sought advice from Tsurutatsu.

"You actually have two problems with this jutsu of yours.", he started.

"Two? I only thought of one and that was how I was going to switch between weapons mid-battle."

"Oh, really? Make that three then.

"What?!"

"The first problem is as you said, you'd need to weave through signs and that's detrimental in battle. But you could work that out just fine as long as you find a solution unique to you since you have amazing affinity towards water and you have perfect chakra control. The second problem is these blades are too dull; they wouldn't be able to cut your enemy. You literally just formed the weapons out of water and I doubt you'd find a solution to this very soon. The third problem is that it's made out of water. You'd need to find a way to reinforce it so that it would be sturdier than most things since it could just be evaporated in front of a fire jutsu, collapse against a wind jutsu, and just be ineffective when faced with an earth jutsu."

I stared at the void as I thought of hitting myself in the head for ignoring such glaring problems. This mistake is very unbefitting of my genius.

I chose to shelf the jutsu creation and proceeded to move on with life.

I will perfect that jutsu, though. I never give up on jutsu.

The days passed by and I finally was permitted to continue back to my rigorous training. I was also able to work now!

Because my abilities were highly coveted, the three divisions that extended an invitation to me literally fought. They were actually already at odds with each other but, my arrival became the fuse for an all-out conflict with them.

Konoha R&D wasn't actually just about creation of jutsu like what I thought they would be. They were just the originator of some of what's new in the village. They acted more like a chokepoint in everything that was developed, allowing them to regulate the products and services offered by anyone dealing in merchantry, business, and shinobi.

Their strategy in the conflict was profusely refusing and majorly delaying anything that the two other divisions needed. The hospital's supplies were being completely depleted before they get in another batch which greatly reduced efficiency and productivity within the hospital. While the sensory division's research approval requests and service execution was dented on, which postponed most of their work for the next few months.

The Sensory Division was also not about just village security. They mostly were called for out-of-village missions, mostly involving tracking. Their primary work was with the Konoha Military Police as they are the first ones to alert them on any disturbances within the village. But, they were also heavily requested on any work that was chakra-related which were a deep part of the Konoha Hospital and Konoha R&D.

Their strategy on the conflict was refusing and delaying their services to both divisions. The Hospital's research suffered while their patients overflowed as those that needed meticulous treatment required sensors. Meanwhile, all of Konoha R&D's work was either postponed for later or suspended indefinitely.

The Konoha Hospital had everything related to medicine and healing so their strategy was quite simple – refuse providing out any medicinal items to the two divisions. The Sensory Division had to dig deep into their pockets to provide themselves with medicinal items by buying it themselves from outside sources while Konoha R&D suffered burns and bruises during some of the experiments that they conducted without the supervision of a medic-nin.

The whole village was thrown into disarray as the three divisions refused to work together properly. The Hokage noticed this and was enraged.

The Heads of each division was called to his office to straighten out any problem they may have with each other.

They were then forced to work out a schedule together to accommodate my request of working in all of their divisions. I worked for six days which were divided between those three while I was to be training for my apprenticeship on the remaining day.

The heads grumbled but they worked out their grievances in one way or another.

All's well that ends well.

It has been six months since the start of my work as chunin.

I was nominally assigned to the Jutsu Research and Creation Department but I actually work where I'm needed. The Regulatory Division needed most help as they had a lot of work so I pitch in when they ask me to. I actually work alone in the Jutsu Research and Creation Department but it wasn't like I was bullied; I was just too brilliant. There were three teams on the department and I made my rounds in all of them only to immediately find solutions on my first day with them. They then dedicated a whole team's worth of resources for me to use, their only condition being to help when any of the teams asked.

My first focus while in R&D was stretching the limits of low-rank ninjutsu. I was currently working on the Transformation Jutsu and Substitution Jutsu.

I was trying to see if I could make the Transformation Jutsu affect the actual body rather than cover it in a genjutsu. My end goal at that was to be able to transform my whole body into that of an animal. It would be good for stealth and travelling.

With the Substitution Jutsu, I was trying to find out if it was a minor space-time technique. I wanted to be able to create it into a major space-time technique like the [Flying Thunder God Jutsu].

My work with the hospital was very minimal. And that was because I was mostly training. Before starting, I told them of my intentions to only receive training as an on-field, emergency medic that dealt with first-aid and trauma treatment. They were reluctant at first but eventually accepted. They made me promise to help them from time to time, though. They also made it clear that any medical ninjutsu that I will develop in the future have to be unconditionally shared with the hospital. They were activating Chakra Scalpels on their hands when they made me promise so I didn't have the chance to even just mock-think about it.

Oh Kami, medic-nin are very scary.

The work with the Sensory Division was much more engaging as I had to go out of the village for them. It was natural to get assigned to missions when working in the sensory division but the problem was that I wasn't just a sensor. Due to my reputation (which I did not know I had), I was highly requested on higher-level missions that reach A-rank. The pay was great and the teams I worked with were actually quite pleasant and competent.

It was through my work here that I not only trained but also formed bonds with every other shinobi within the village.

At the pace I'm currently at, I'm sure to have made my name known throughout the village as an upcoming elite.

I was slowly reaching my dreams.

My apprenticeship with Kushina-shishou was the most interesting of them all. Fuinjutsu was a very complicated subject but it was also the most bountiful. It could possibly stand-in for most of the shinobi arts at how expansive and versatile the art is.

Every fuinjutsu master has a field they specialize in just like how Minato-sensei specialized in Space-Time Fuinjutsu. Kushina-shishou's path was Barrier Fuinjutsu which I was slightly modifying to create my unique direction.

Her barriers were usually protective in nature and she worked closely with the Barrier Division of Konoha. I didn't like how passive her fuinjutsu style was so I was planning on going for a passive-aggressive style. And I had a past life's memories that was full of ideas.

My fuinjutsu was going to be based on the 'Kido' of the Shinigami in an anime called 'Bleach'. I wasn't really interested in the 'Way of Destruction' but rather the 'Way of Binding' branch of Kido. I didn't dream of fully recreating everything but I was going to do my best.

I slapped a seal unto an unknowing tree, "[Fuin: Sajo Sabaku (Winding Binding Chains)]!"

Chains made out of golden light came out of the seal to bind the tree.

This isn't exactly what I was going for but it's still something.

Kushina-shishou clapped her hands. "Wow, Minato was right! Not only do you have the talent, you also have the creativity for fuinjutsu. I'm quite proud of what I have taught you in these short six months."

I frowned, "I'm not quite satisfied, though."

She was surprised at how I was feeling, "Why do you say that? You should be proud, though. No one but the Uzumaki could learn at this pace, 'ttebanne!"

"I'm looking for something that didn't need me to slap papers on people."

"You mean like the [Flying Thunder God Jutsu]. You're very ambitious."

"I admit that the [Flying Thunder God Jutsu] is cool but that's not what I'm looking for as well."

"Then what is it? As long as I could provide it I'll teach it to you.", Kushina-shishou was scrambling in her head what I wanted. I think she wants to see my pleased face.

"Is there any way to write seals into the air? Or your hands?", I asked.

Kushina-shishou thought for a while. "Hmmm. Actually, there is." My face brightened.

She saw my bright face but gave out a sad expression. "It's an ancient Uzumaki style of fuinjutsu but it has been lost even before Uzushiogakure was destroyed. I'm afraid it's a lost art. Sorry, Hiro-kun."

Despite her terrible news, my face showed I was happy. "It really exists?! So we just need to rediscover it, right?!"

Kushina-shishou had a sad smile on her lips. "I'm afraid we can't even do that. The fuinjutsu art of 'Air Scrawling' took decades to create and that by powerful ancient Uzumaki Seal Masters working together. We have less Seal Masters today and even less Uzumaki."

I stood up excitedly. "No! You have to trust me! We can find it again!"

I grabbed her by the hand and dragged her to the Hokage's Office.

HOKAGE's OFFICE

The Hokage activated his privacy seals to the highest level.

"You want to tell Kushina-san, here, who you really are? I don't mind and Kushina is one that is loyal to her friends first and foremost but, are you sure?", the Hokage asked consecutively but I had already made up my mind.

I nodded and asked, "Can you spare some time, Hokage-sama? It would be nice if you would be there as well."

The Hokage smiled. "Of course, Hiro-kun. I also need to take a break from the paperwork and it would be nice to go back there. It was a really nice place."

I readied us while Kushina-nee-san was very confused. "What do you mean? Where are we going? And what do you mean 'who you really are'? Wait-"

It was too late already to wait like she said as I poured in chakra to the seal.

A vortex appeared to suck us in and out.

VAULT OF SCROLLS

The next moment, we were already in the Vault of Scrolls.

The Hokage and I were fine while Kushina-nee-san was slightly, no, so disoriented. Actually, so disoriented that she was panicking.

"Oh Kami! That was a space-time technique! What did you do, Hiro-chan?! Where are we?!"

"Relax, Kushina-nee-san. Let's go the Lounge first. C'mon, let's walk." I guided her and the Hokage to the Lounge.

As the Keeper of the Vault, I was able to learn how to control the whole place. Since I did not want Kushina-nee-san to know about Danzo and his atrocities, I sealed off the hallway leading to the makeshift lab.

When we arrived, Kushina-nee-san can't help but be excited at how stylish the Lounge was. She looked around everywhere.

"Would you guys like tea? Tsurutatsu recently got some delicious tea leaves from the Cranes' Summoning Realm.", I offered.

"I would love some, Hiro-kun", the Hokage said.

I brewed us some tea and we all started talking.

"This place is called the Vault of Scrolls, Kushina-nee-san. It is a seal-based time-space technique that allows the user to access a pocket dimension. This seal was made by the ancient Uzumaki way back during the Warring States Period. They primarily used it to store important and powerful summoning scrolls but later it was used to store all and any knowledge that the Keeper of the Vault gets their hands on. It was later given to the Senju to solidify the Uzumaki-Senju Alliance."

At what I narrated, Kushina-nee-san seemed stunned. Before she could recover her bearings though, I continued on.

"The seal that grants access to this place is special though. It takes parts of a type of blood seal and only the Uzumaki and Senju could use it properly."

Her eyes widened. "You can't be an Uzumaki, you don't feel like one. So that just leaves…"

"Yes. I am a Senju by blood. I guess I could be called Senju Hiroshi. But, I'm keeping it secret for now. Enemies could target me to demoralize our forces. I'm still not strong enough to defend myself from high-level enemies and even live up to the Senju name so I until I am, I'll be Suzuki Hiroshi. I hope you keep this secret for me, Kushina-nee-san."

Her face brightened. "Of course, 'ttebanne!", she then proceeded to hug me while talking about how cute I am.

When she got over it, she finally asked. "But, why are we here, exactly? It can't be just because to tell me you're the one of the few left of your clan."

"Don't you remember, Kushina-nee-san? I explained that the Keeper of the Vault hoarded knowledge and stored them inside here. Before the Senju became the line of Keepers, the Uzumaki held the title and so they should have stored everything they knew of here."

Kushina-nee-san finally understood why I brought her here. "All of the knowledge of the Uzumaki…"

I smiled. "Yeah! They're not lost just yet. They're all here and I bet we could find the Air Scrawling that the ancient Uzumaki created."

Kushina-nee-san was looking at the second-floor main library when her tears fell out of her face which later turned to full-on crying and sobbing.

"I've felt very regretful about everything that was lost when Uzushiogakure fell. Centuries of history and techniques just burned to the ground. But, you brought it back in one day, Hiro-chan. Thank you so much for bringing it back."

I hugged her tight to console her. The Hokage had a gentle smile right now. He had a sad face as he watched Kushina break down a while ago. He must have felt regretful about Uzushio's destruction as well.

Kushina-nee-san ceased her crying, wiping the tears from her face. She was now ecstatically smiling. "Shall we go find the Air Scrawling technique now?"

We climbed up the stairs to the treasure trove of a library of the Vault of Scrolls.