It was nice just being able to relax in Kushina's living room with Mito held in my arms but the Hokage was right about growing stronger quickly. Something about this had to change. I cleared my throat and spoke up. "Sensei do you think it would be a good idea to start on my fuinjutsu training?"
Kushina slowed her dishwashing and turned to face me. "What makes you want to start learning fuinjutsu now? It's a very useful art admittedly, but it takes a long time to fully master."
I considered that for a moment. "I believe it would be best to start early then, wouldn't you say? I was also told by the Hokage that I had to grow stronger."
She stopped washing completely and gave me a searching look. "Does this have anything to do with the fact that you showed up with twice your original amount of chakra or the fact that your sensei taught you chakra dampening?" She pauses. "No, it's probably something you did like that pocket space of yours."
She acts so goofy all the time it's hard to remember that she wouldn't have made it to her age if she was dumb. Now how to dance around this without saying anything that could get me executed. A lightbulb goes off.
"I can't and won't comment on that I'm just passing along what the Hokage told me to do." As I say this I look at her stomach the entire time.
I see her hand twitch towards it and then fall back to her side. "Ah, one of those kinds of secrets." She takes a moment to steady herself. "Try not to be so blatant about it though. It's fine because my house is sealed up tight but you never know in this world." Message received sensei.
She gave a big sigh and then placed the dish back in the sink. "I'll go get my beginners scroll that my mentor gave me. Once you see it you'll probably regret asking to learn fuinjutsu." She left the kitchen and I could hear her go upstairs and start rummaging around. Mito started to gurgle at me and I let her play with my fingers. She seemed happy enough to do so.
Kushina came back and my eyes widened at it. The thing was as tall as I was and thicker than my waist. She just laughed at my expression and I let my face fall blank. Stupid trolling sensei.
"I had that same expression when I first saw this thing." She pats it fondly. "This is the complete heritage of my clan. The complete 10,000 variations of brush strokes and how they interact together." A sad look over comes her face for a moment before it is banished.
I don't want to prod at a wound but, "You're part of a clan sensei?"
She sighs heavily and motions for me to give her Mito. I trade the baby for the scroll and Kushina sits down on the couch across from me. "They were a powerful clan that remained close allies of Konoha since its founding. Shortly after I moved to Konoha for that the clan was destroyed by a coalition of Kiri, Iwa and Kumo forces. There may be other clan members out there but we've been scattered to the winds." How powerful must they have been if three villages gathered together to destroy them?
"I'm sorry to hear that sensei." She gave me a sad smile and then started rocking Mito.
"It's fine. It happened long ago and now I have my own family right here. This could even be the start of the resurgence of the Uzumaki clan right here." Tickling Mito's foot sent her into a fit of giggles. "I can't change the past but the future is still open."
"That's a great mentality to have." I received a thumbs up from her.
"I know, only the best for me because I'm the best." I couldn't help the snort that came out.
"Oi, are you mocking your sensei. Just for that I'm making you memorize all 10,000 variants before you start on any seals."
"You were going to have me memorize them anyways." I pointed out the obvious to her.
"Yeah so. Now get to reading." She turned deadly serious. "Before you do you must promise me to never try to create any seals without myself, Minato or,' she grimaces, 'Jiraiya around. Seals can be completely unpredictable sometimes if you don't have the exact variation completely right it can cause unfortunate accidents."
Her eyes go blank as though remembering something horrible. "I remember back before I left for Konoha one of the older apprentices was playing around with a seal. They must have done a miss stroke and instead of a sealing array to store things he opened some kind of hell dimension. There were so many teeth and far too many eyes." She shivered and pulled Mito closer. "The abomination pulled him through before anyone could do anything and it took 3 master sealers to close the rift."
Her eyes focused back on me. "So no sealing unless I'm there." I nodded frantically and swore never to do it. I unfurled the scroll and started reading. My eyes were scanning the words and brush strokes but my mind was elsewhere.
I had never really given much thought to a simple sealing scroll because I had something that I thought was better. Now that I actually thought about it sealing scrolls and my inventory worked on the same principles of a pocket dimension. If that were true then it was no wonder the Uzumaki clan were destroyed. If messing with dimensions was the easy part of fuinjutsu then I could see how others would fear them. Brushing off my thoughts I gave my full attention to the scroll. Luckily I had a photographic memory right before I started learning fuinjutsu. It's almost like it was planned… Nah.
It had been several hours after I started reading through the scroll when I heard the front door opening. I looked up briefly from my reading to see Minato and Kakashi walk through the door. I gave them a nod in greeting and Minato gave me a wide smile when he saw the scroll.
"I remember that scroll. How's memorizing the entire thing going?" I don't really get stiff but it felt nice to stretch.
"It's going pretty well. Most of the brush strokes are very similar but they change the thickness or angle of the stroke. You've read this before?" He sits down across from me as Kakashi starts puttering around in the kitchen.
"Oh definitely. Jiraiya was always interested in fuinjutsu and his enthusiasm for it infected me. I didn't have this to start out though so it was mostly copying known seals from Jiraiya and I went from there." He gets a far off look.
"It wasn't until after I saved Kushina from getting kidnapped by Kumo that my fuinjutsu really took off." He gets a wide smile. "That's when we really got together although she sometimes insists that she didn't need the help. I only found her because I followed her beautiful red hair that she left behind."
I heard a snort behind me. "I really didn't need your help and yes it is beautiful isn't it." Kushina walked around the couch and plopped down into his lap. "Reminiscing about being a dashing hero?"
"You know it." He gave her a kiss. "Where's Mito?"
"She went to sleep and I put her in her crib upstairs." He hummed at that and turned to me.
"While I do hate to ruin the mood I do want to talk to you about Obito's funeral." I heard a clatter from behind me and then Kakashi's muttered 'Sorry,' before I heard him leave the room.
Both Minato and Kushina were giving him sad looks as he left. "Kakashi is taking his death pretty hard right now and the Uchiha making all sorts of noise about his implanted sharingan isn't helping at all."
"Really?" Kushina inquired. "Do you want me to talk to Mikoto about it?"
"If you could that would be great. It was Obito's final gift to him and I think losing it would break him." It was quiet for a few moments before he turned back to me.
"Anyways Obito's funeral is in a few days and while you didn't really know him I would appreciate it if you would come."
"Of course I will. When and where will the funeral take place?"
"We don't have a body to bury so the ceremony will take place at the memorial stone as his name is carved into it and it is two days from now at 10." I nod and start to go back to my reading before I pause.
"Would it be possible to stay at your house tonight so I can continue reading through this scroll?" Kushina and Minato look at each other and shrug.
"Sure if you can convince your sensei to let you stay we have no problem with it. Are you really memorizing it or are you just reading it through right now?" Kushina inquired.
"Memorizing."
"Really?" She sounds doubtful. Fool, you doubt my power? "What stroke are you on?"
Without looking down I reply. "Stroke #1824."
"Recite stroke #356 and its uses." I take a second to recall it and then recite it line for line as well as its common uses. Both of them are looking at me funnily now. Kushina continues on her impromptu exam and time after time I recite everything perfectly. Finally she admits defeat and admits that I might actually be memorizing it.
"Do you have perfect memory recall?" Sensing an opportunity to troll them I adopt my most innocent façade.
"Yes, doesn't everyone?" Both of their eyes are dull as though recalling the difficulty in memorizing the entire scroll.
"No, no they do not." Minato's voice is so deadpan. "Honey your apprentice just keeps surprising us."
She briefly preens and then slumps. "I know, I told him he'd drive me to drink if he kept it up. My stance on that still stands especially after his latest stunt that I can't know anything about." He briefly glances at me curiously before shrugging as though it doesn't concern him.
I was going to continue to troll them a bit more but I felt Saiko's chakra flare outside the house. "Excuse me but my sensei is here and I'm going to go try to convince her to let me stay the night." I slipped out of the house and ran over to Saiko.
"Sensei, can I stay here for the night?" I put on my puppy eyes for extra effect.
She snorted at that. "Those things don't work on me brat. Why do you want to stay the night?"
I shrugged and let the puppy eyes fade. "Kushina started letting me learn fuinjutsu. Right now I'm memorizing all 10,000 variants of brush strokes that make up the basics of fuinjutsu from the Uzumaki clan scroll."
"The clan scroll? Did you thank her for the honor of that?" I was supposed to do that? I thought back and yes my lessons on clan etiquette were very specific on that.
"I didn't know it was a clan until she explained what happened to them and by then I was too engrossed in memorizing the scroll to pay her the proper respect for granting me the opportunity." She lightly cuffed me on the back of the head.
"That's not an excuse and you're lucky that she didn't take offense to it. Go back in there and apologize. Then since she's letting you in on clan secrets you can definitely stay the night." I bowed and ran back inside.
Kushina and Minato were conversing quietly on the couch but they stopped when I stood before then and formally bowed. "It was brought to my attention that I may have offended you when I did not pay the proper respect due to you revealing clan secrets to an outsider. I deeply apologize for my slight against you and your clan."
"Shiro you don't have to do this. My clan is gone and it was my choice to give you access to the scroll."
I spoke up while still in my bow. "You have a child who could continue the legacy of your clan and therefore they are clan secrets so yes I do have to do this."
She sighed deeply. "Shiro I meant it when I said you were a big brother to Mito. If I wasn't sure you would start your own clan one day I would allow you to take my last name and be my son in all but blood." Ah, I didn't know that. A warm feeling bubbled up inside me before it was replaced by calm. I straightened from my bow.
"Thank you." She frowned at me and stood up from the couch to make her way over to me. Wrapping me in a hug she spoke again.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry." I'm crying? Reaching up and feeling my cheeks I found that yes I was.
"I don't know where it came from." She continued her hug for a while before she released me.
"Idiot, you were happy." Before she could continue Mito's cries came from upstairs. Letting out a sigh of a new mother she started for the stairs. Before she left she did leave me with one last piece of information. "Don't ever feel like you're alone Shiro. You have people who care for you."
I looked over to Minato and he just gave me a smile. Wiping away any leftover wetness on my cheeks I sat back down on the couch. I sat there and just kind of absorbed everything that had just happened. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a hand ruffle my hair. Looking up I saw Minato leaving the room and continuing up the stairs. How long was I sitting here? I couldn't hear anything coming from upstairs so Mito must have gone back to bed.
Looking back at the clan scroll I picked it up and began to read once more. The hours flew by as the amount remaining continued to diminish under my voracious reading. By the time I had finished reading the final passage I could hear people stirring upstairs. Letting everything I had just read settle I looked over the pop up that had appeared after I finished reading.
Ding!
Gained +2 INT
Learned Fuinjutsu Foundations (Passive) LVL 20 – 0%
Some call fuinjutsu writing in the language of the Gods. Now you begin your journey on the path of a fuinjutsu master.
Increased accuracy when writing seals 20%
Increased speed when writing seals 30%
My eyes widened at seeing that I had gained 19 levels in a skill overnight as well as 2 points in INT. Are all clan scrolls this useful? I suppose it's the knowledge of a multitude of generations distilled down into one scroll but still. This is kind of insane. Carefully I rolled the scroll back up making sure not to damage it at all.
I was just finishing rolling it up when Kushina walked into the kitchen with Mito. "Did you finish it?" I look over and nod. "I'll give you a test on your knowledge of it later just to be sure." She gave me a smile as she walked over and gave me a hug. "Sorry about not coming back down last night. Mito kept on getting fussy if I left her and I ended up sleeping next to her."
"That's fine sensei. It was enough just knowing you wanted to adopt me into your clan." She gave me another squeeze before moving over to the kitchen to start cooking. As the morning progressed Minato and Kakashi stopped in briefly for breakfast before they left for their team meeting leaving me alone with Kushina and Mito.
I helped clean up from breakfast and then Kushina sat me down on the couch. "Alright let's go over everything you read and make sure you have it down before we start." What followed was a 4 hour long test that exhausted me mentally recalling all of the various variants of brush strokes and their uses. At the end of it Kushina did pronounce me proficient enough to actually start try to write seals.
"Now the ink that we use to make seals is special. It is 80% ink and 20% blood of the user. It's another thing that makes learning seals take so long. Don't want the student to bleed to death now do we." She gave me a wink.
"Before we begin let me remind you that you will not push any chakra into a seal until I say it is okay. Let's start with something relatively harmless." She whipped out a piece of paper and with quick strokes a seal was sitting on the table between us.
"This,' she tapped the seal, 'will produce a bright light when chakra is pumped into it. It is the precursor to more explosive seals that we will get to later and is relatively easy to produce using only 16 brush strokes. Now tell me the strokes used and then try reproducing it." I named the strokes and with her approval I got right to it.
It was surprisingly difficult to reproduce. I knew each stroke down to the last detail yet I kept on getting caught up in the placement and size of my brush strokes. Seal after seal was tossed aside and burned so no one would activate it accidently. Some were a success and Kushina set those to the side. By the time I ran out of ink there was a small stack of seals sitting on the table and a large pile of ash off to the side.
"That's pretty good for a complete beginner Shiro. 1 in 5 was a lot better than what I did for my first seal." Kushina tried to cheer me up after seeing how down I was. It was strange how I both hated fuinjutsu and loved it. I hated it because I failed so much and it was frustrating seeing Kushina burn the rejects. At the same time I loved it because ever since I've gained this power everything seemed so easy to learn. There was no challenge to learn only the grind that followed after I performed it for the first time. It was too bad I'd promised not to perform fuinjutsu without an instructor nearby.
I understood the danger of it but my power let me know every time I succeeded or failed. Pausing for a moment I considered the fact that the pop ups didn't tell me if I succeeded in creating the seal I wanted or just a seal that worked. Thinking back I saw that yes it did tell me several times that I had succeeded when Kushina said I had failed. Deciding to err on the side of caution I took her word for it.
"What now sensei?"
"Now Minato should be back soon and he'll go teach you something." I looked at her quizzically. "I asked him to after he came upstairs last night. He said he needed to get some supplies first." Speaking of supplies.
"Do you need me to pay for any of this? It can't be inexpensive to have me go through so many sheets of paper and ink." She tried to wave it off.
"Don't worry about it Shiro. I'm getting quite a nice salary being your mentor and Minato was talking about getting a windfall soon. We don't need it." Shrugging it off I looked over as the door opened and Minato came in.
"Hey guys I'm back. Shiro did Kushina tell you about me training you?" I nod and he motions me to follow him. We both say our goodbyes to Kushina and flicker through the village to training ground 10. Once we arrive Minato turns to me.
"Alright can you keep a secret?" I raise my eyebrow at that and nod.
"Good. It doesn't really matter if it gets out but as there's going to be an announcement at the end of the week. I was recently called to the Hokage's office where he told me I was going to be the Fourth Hokage." My sensei's husband is going to be the Hokage? Holy crap. That's amazing.
"Congratulations." I didn't know what else to say besides that. What else do you say to the man about to be in control of an army of trained killers that obey him completely?
"That being said I was let in on some of the secrets of the office so I know what happened to knock you out." Ah, so that was where he was going with this. "After hearing that I completely agree with Lord Hokage and your need to become strong as quickly as possible. That is why I'm going to teach you this technique if you promise me to never use it on any loyal Konoha ninja."
"I swear I will never use the technique you are willing to teach me on any loyal Konoha ninja." He looked at me for a bit as though testing my sincerity. He would find that I was being 100% truthful. I had no desire to become a traitor to the village and being hunted down like those genin. Which come to think of it was probably a warning to me to stay loyal. It was brutal yet effective which was why they probably did it.
"Good. Now watch my hand." I focused on his hand as I felt his chakra start to whirl in every which way as it formed a ball in his hand. The glowing blue ball felt like a maelstrom of chakra and I watched as he slammed his hand into the ground creating a large crater with a whirling pattern within.
"That was an A rank technique called the Rasengan. It doesn't require any hand signs at all because it a pure shape manipulation technique. I broke it down into three steps." He tossed me a balloon filled with water. "The first part is bursting this balloon using your chakra like so." He took out a balloon and I felt his chakra swirling in multiple directions making the balloon burst apart. "Now you try. Don't be discouraged if you don't get it on the first try."
We'll see about that. I focused on the balloon in my hand and started swirling my chakra in one direction. It bulged but didn't burst. Next I added another direction and another until the balloon burst apart. "I did it." Looking up I saw him standing there slack jawed at my display. He noticed me looking at him and composed himself.
"Oh, uh, can you do it again please." He tossed me another balloon and with an application of chakra it burst once more. "Right, wait right while I go get the stuff for the next step." He flickered out of the clearing leaving me standing there. Ha, that'll teach him to underestimate me. Minato reappeared and he tossed me a rubber balloon. "The next step is to burst the rubber ball like so." I could feel him rotate his chakra in multiple directions and then it became denser. It proved too much for the ball and it exploded.
Alright I can do that. I focused on the ball and sent my chakra within. Doing the same thing that I did with the balloon caused the ball to bulge and stretch. Frowning in concentration I pumped more and more chakra into it suddenly causing the ball to burst. Cool I did it. I saw that Minato's eye seemed to have developed a twitch.
"Try it again." He tossed me another ball and I sent my chakra into it again bursting it. The twitch became more pronounced. "The final step goes like this." He blew up a balloon and holding it in his hand formed a full rasengan within it. The balloon didn't so much as twitch as the technique swirled within it. "The final step is the hardest and makes you contain the technique within a balloon without it bursting or moving. Try it now." He handed me over the balloon.
It burst apart almost immediately. Minato's twitch stopped. "See the last part is control and it's the hardest to master. Why don't you try once more?" He handed me over another balloon and I concentrated even more before I started.
Ding!
Learned Rasengan (A Rank Active(1000(812.5))) LVL 1 – 0%
The highest form of shape transformation it requires no hand signs and is extremely quick to form if you master it. The creator considers the technique incomplete without an elemental component to it.
Decreases forming time by 5%
Cool my first A rank technique and not complete? It seems powerful enough already. Would it be an S rank technique if it had an elemental component? Oh, Minato twitch had come back and seemed to be increasing.
"That's great Shiro. Why don't you test it out? While I go cry on my wife's shoulder." The last part was a whisper and I barely heard it before he flickered out of the clearing leaving me alone with my new technique. I felt bad for about half a second before I was testing out my shiny new technique. Got to level it up after all. Happily humming I slammed the newly formed rasengan into the ground creating a huge swirly crater.
Hours later Saiko found me surrounded by craters as I meditated to restore my chakra. "Brat what happened here? I thought you were learning about fuinjutsu?"
"Oh, hey Saiko. Yeah Kushina gave me this huge scroll with 10,000 variations of brush strokes and she made me memorize all of them. I did that overnight and then we spent the day practicing my actual penmanship until we ran out of paper. Then Minato came and taught me this A rank jutsu." The rasengan burst into life in my hand and I slammed it down into the ground. "He ran off after I completed it though."
By then end of my speech she was rubbing her forehead. "You didn't have a perfect memory before. When did you get it?"
"When I screamed in pain next to your bed." I replied matter of factly. Her rubbing seemed to get stronger.
"Is there anything else that changed about your body?" I thought for a moment.
"The world doesn't blur when I used body flicker anymore."
"Your eyes can perceive the world when you're going that fast?" Her voice was extremely deadpan.
"Yep, everything is as clear as though I'm standing still." It's kind of fun seeing Saiko and other people react to my abilities like they're impossible. The thought hit me like a bolt of lightning. I'm becoming like other high level ninja and showing off to cause a reaction from others. The thought of becoming as… quirky as some of the other high level ninjas scared me for a moment before I discarded it as unimportant.
"Just, just go back to base. I'll be along as soon as I go to Kushina's house and have a nice long drink with them." She flickered out of the clearing and I was left alone to clean up the field. Using the very basic earth technique I learned from Kushina to bury bodies I filled in the numerous craters until the ground wasn't torn apart anymore. After that I left and made why way back to base to await Saiko.
She showed up 3 hours later with the smell of alcohol on her breath. "Alright brat. Let's get this show on the road. I'm going to teach you how to do the wind leaf exercise. It's not something I'm great at but it'll do. Now watch." She took out a leaf and I watched as it was cut in half. "Here's enough leafs for the night. Have fun. I'm going back to drinking." She dumped a small hill of leaves on the ground and then flickered out.
Weird. I picked up the first leaf.
Ding!
Learned Wind Manipulation (Passive) LVL 1 – 0%
Allows for easier transitions between neutral chakra and wind chakra as well as the manipulation of wind.
Decreases cost of all wind techniques by 0.25%
Increases control of wind by 1%
Increases total chakra capacity by 0.1%
*Wind Leaf exercise (Active 30(25.5)/min) LVL 1 – 0%
Decreases time spent changing from neutral to wind chakra and back again by 5%.
My night was sent cutting leaves with wind chakra and in the morning I knew I would attend my first funeral on this world. Somehow I didn't think it would be the last.
Name: Shiro
Age: 4 year - 0 months
Title: Rookie Root Shinobi
LVL: 14 - 4% to next LVL
HP: 690/690
Chakra: 22,995/22,995
Elemental Affinity: Water
STR: 79(86.9)
VIT: 69
END: 75
DEX: 92(101.2)
INT: 102(106)
WIS: 80(83.2)
LCK: 15
Points: 8
Money: 74,540
Skills gained or changed.
Wind Manipulation (Passive) LVL 3 – 52%
Allows for easier transitions between neutral chakra and wind chakra as well as the manipulation of wind.
Decreases cost of all wind techniques by .75%
Increases control of wind by 3%
Increases total chakra capacity by 0.3%
*Wind Leaf exercise (Active 30(24.1)/min) LVL 6 – 10%
Decreases time spent changing from neutral to wind chakra and back again by 30%.
Chakra Manipulation (Passive) LVL 78 – 3%: Chakra is what you and others will live and die by. By controlling it you stand above others.
Decreases the cost of active techniques by 19.5%
Increases Chakra control by 78%
Increases Chakra Capacity by 39%
Rasengan (A Rank Active(1000(805))) LVL 2 – 98%
The highest form of shape transformation it requires no hand signs and is extremely quick to form if you master it. The creator considers the technique incomplete without an elemental component to it.
Decreases forming time by 10%
Chakra Emissions Dampening (Active 10(8.05)/min) LVL 3 – 13%
Decreases the amount of chakra that your body naturally emits by 30%.
Fuinjutsu Foundations (Passive) LVL 22 – 5%
Some call fuinjutsu writing in the language of the Gods. Now you begin your journey on the path of a fuinjutsu master.
Increased accuracy when writing seals 22%
Increased speed when writing seals 30%