Uzumaki Shigure pitited Maiha no Miya, though he would never shame her by ever revealing he felt so. His student worked hard, and remained dedicated in her own solemn way, even when her thimbleful of talent was made even more trivial by her twin's glorious promise. He didn't understand why Maiha no Miya had such difficulty with her birthright, but Shigure couldn't help but wonder if this was a product of their failure on the princesses' behalf.
It was frustrating to know that despite his efforts to teach a willing pupil the ways of Uzumaki fuinjutsu, Maiha no Miya would never succeed. He could already tell Maiha no Miya would never master Uzumaki fuinjutsu, since while she eventually could recreate any seal he set down in perfect working order, mastery demanded she be able to create and modify seals. Maiha no Miya utterly failed in both qualifications for mastery, despite her intelligence.
Shigure had no idea how he was supposed to tell Kaien-sama that his eight year old sister had more talent in any shinobi art than she possessed in Uzumaki fuinjutsu. He felt justifiably worried that he might not survive the experience.
After Kaien-sama returned to them after his final battle, he had called a clan meeting in lieu of his father and older brother's absence. The clan hadn't had such a meeting in years, since all men of the ruling line had refrained from remaining in the compound any longer than strictly needed. There had been much speculation over what Kaien-sama had decided was worth calling such a meeting over, since he had ordered everyone that was considered to be of age to attend unless health or duty demanded otherwise, but in the end Kaien-sama had remained tight-lipped until the meeting itself. In hindsight, the reason had been blindingly obvious.
Once everyone had gathered in the hall, Kaien-sama had ordered the hall closed and sealed shut. They had done so, and then Kaien-sama began calling people to stand for questioning. While that had been fairly damning in and of itself, Kaien-sama had activated the old seals inscribed into the floor that would inform the activator if the affected lied to them. The questioning following the seals' activation was exacting, rigorous, and brutal, with Kaien-sama displaying his displeasure at being lied to in a very informative matter. Samuru did not try to lie again, and neither did anyone else.
Kaien-sama first dragged out every detail regarding his sisters' upbringing, and how everyone had played their part in carefully refraining from having to do with them. Then he asked for the details of every malicious, neglectful, or potentially harmful action they had committed. The stories some of his clansmen had revealed horrified him, because while no one had ever dared to physically harm the princesses, their little cruelties built on each other until suddenly it wasn't so little after all.
Each action that went without punishment or comment from the ruling line encouraged the next to be a little bit crueler, a little bit more daring. Tales of how education was obstructed, medical care was reluctant, and other cruelties brought his opinion of himself and his clan to the lowest they had ever been. And then Kaien-sama had asked why.
Everyone gave an answer, usually one relating back to Saya-sama somehow, but the seals revealed none of them really mean the answer they gave. Further investigation from Kaien-sama revealed no one really had a legitimate reason. It had started from someone's petty grudge against Saya-sama that carried over to her babies, and when they hadn't faced any punishment, it had grown from there until they had ended up here.
But Kaien-sama had then revealed that wasn't what he had been asking.
"I was asking, why did no one step in and stop this? As Uzumaki, we pride ourselves on our devotion to our family, comrades, and allies above anything else. When it was obvious that my father, my brothers, and I were unable or unwilling to take care of Mito and Maiha, someone should have stepped in, but no one did. There are procedures in place in case something like this happens, and there are several options to take. But none of you men and women close to my family stepped in. None of our comrades stepped in. None of our medics, vassals, or even acquaintances stepped in. Instead, a young woman gave up her dream to do what all of you should have. And we've all heard how you reacted to Uzumaki Ryoko's actions-"
And that was where Samuru spoke up, and Shigure started repressing the incident. Kaien-sama had proved to the entire clan that despite losing a leg, he was viciousness was fifty magnitudes greater than anyone else's and was still as terrifying as ever. Shigure shivered as he started tamping back down the memory.
Shigure was drawn away from his terrible memories when Maiha no Miya asked him something.
"Shigure-sensei, I believe it is obvious to the both of us my talents do not lie in this direction. But I would like to try something."
Shigure felt a sense of dread as Maiha no Miya's eyes lit with a flame he remembered Kaien-sama having when he- Shigure shuddered and redoubled his efforts in suppressing that event.
"Hidenka-sama?"
"I want to try a different method of sealing. With a different…script."
"And what seal will you be attempting to make with this script Hidenka-sama?"
"The basic explosion."
"…I see. Very well Hidenka-sama, let's go the Testing Grounds and see what happens."
Shigure watched Maiha no Miya craft her seal in mingled interest and dread. The script she had asked to use seemed to be of her own making, comprised of glyphs composed of straight lines that go over dots, concentric circles that have dots as their center, and horizontal lines and vertical lines around the dots. It looked nothing like any written language or sealing script he had seen, and Shigure had no idea how Maiha no Miya can conceived of such an alien thing. He would have to report this development, that Maiha no Miya had secretly created an entire language or script.
Painstakingly she wrote a paragraph in her script, brows furrowed in concentration. Once she was finished, Maiha no Miya made her way to the center of the desert island the clan used as their seal experimentation area. The island was fifteen minutes of hard running across the ocean surface from the compound, and after seeing generations of Uzumaki failures and successes, the desert island was covered in glass craters and pockmarks.
Shigure watched from his spot in the bunker as Maiha no Miya returned from placing the seal, and as she entered the bunker he asked, "Did you prime it?"
She nodded, quickly checking her ear protection and placing her eye protection on. "Thirty seconds until detonation Shigure-sensei."
"What was the activation command?"
"Dople. Rrha ki ra ruinie."
Shigure was about to demand she tell him what it was in their language, and not in her invention, when the world shook. Even with their ear and eye protections, Shigure was nearly blinded and deafened. The explosion kept occurring for nearly two minutes, and Shigure was ready to strangle his student for not telling him she had attempted something of this magnitude. Basic explosive seal his ass!
After the explosions hit the two minute mark, they suddenly ceased. It took five minutes before he felt safe enough to remove his protection, and another five until Shigure's sight and hearing returned to normal. Once he could see, he saw that Maiha no Miya had written another seal in her alien script on the wall of the bunker, but it had been used already and was quickly fading.
"I didn't expect that Shigure-sensei."
"Explain Maiha no Miya."
"The script is designed to draw power from the outside energy source, and apparently this makes self-perpetuating explosions for as long as the script I designed my explosive seal from lasted. The script would last upwards of six minutes, and I wasn't sure if we'd survive that, so I blind scripted to spontaneously create a cancelation seal to forcefully end the explosion seal."
Shigure wanted to weep. Maiha no Miya had designed her script to draw on natural energy and it had worked.
How was he supposed to explain this to Kaien-sama?!
A/N: Maiha utilized a ConLang designed to draw power from a outside power source to execute the desired effect, and it works perfectly well in Naruto-verse because there's a limitless power source to be used; natural energy. The problem is that it works TOO well, and the script was made for what amounts to demigods of varying power. So... Maiha's fuinjustu issues aren't going away just because she found a script she can work with.