Ch. 34
Playful Superpowers
The next couple days in the clearing were spent in a mix of leisure and work as the three either did their own thing hung out or sparred. Moriko had locked down the clearing so no one could see their abilities since they were practicing in a public place. Someone would go hunting once a day for game and they would have delicious stew for dinner.
The shadow was moving at rapid speed before Moriko did a move that sent it flying across the field. The shadow resolved into a man and let out an excited huff. His eyes were shining with excitement as the hint of chakra curled around his opponent's hands and feet. No one had ever figured out how to counter his shadow form enough to affect it physically before, not even Shikaku-sama and Ryusuke could feel his excitement for his opponent rise.
In a flash he was shadows once more, zipping towards her with startling speed before leaping into the air, a section whipping out. As she tried to block him, the shadow moved around the arm raised to block the strike, giving the illusion of phasing through her arm as the shadowy whip hardened right before impacting her face. It bounced off the face barrier that activated and Moriko grabbed it using Yin chakra to yank her opponent closer. As she yanked it towards her it rematerialized into a man that was flying at her with speed, lightning already crackling around his form to enhance his speed as his blade flashed through the air. Moriko's ninjato flashed out to meet his blade, and the two of them were locked in a test of strength and wills; they grinned fiercely at one another across their sparking blades before engaging in a deadly dance. Lightning danced over his blade and lightning flashed across hers as she used lightning nature chakra to counter the numbing and shocking properties of his attacks. He spat a water bullet at short range but to his consternation she moved her arm, redirecting it back at him. He barely dodged as he backflipped to avoid the strike, partially turning into shadows in the spin, sword still solid as the shadowy figure lashed forward, the blade seemingly being used by the amorphous shadow. The shadow seemed to fight at all levels to attempt to wound his opponent, trying to cut off feet as it swiped at ankles and calves. She dodged nimbly before the shadow lunged, shooting up with the blade to try to impale the rib cage. His opponent backflipped out of the way before seeming to land in the air above him, looking no worse for ware as she put a hand on her hip and stared down at him, a light smirk on her lips. Ryusuke resolved into a man once more, his eyes wide as he stared up at the floating woman who chuckled at his expression.
"No one's ever made me use this before. You're good," she praised as he continued to gape up at her.
"How?" he breathed. She chuckled, holding out a foot he could see. The sole of her shoe lit subtly with a barrier and his jaw dropped again in awe.
"I mean, that's one way of doing it," she said breezily before backflipping, the motion going from normal to somehow smoother, slower, and more graceful as she seemed to float to the ground. Ryusuke hadn't picked up his jaw yet and she laughed as she seemed to float back up into the air, hovering as her hair floated around her like she was under water. At this point the spar had ended as Itachi rose from the sidelines to study the young woman curiously, Ryusuke doing the same.
"Jiraiya created the original version of this seal years ago to keep my little brother amused and out of his hair. We have improved upon it since," said Moriko to explain how she was able to float, the woman relaxing in the air, the two men still too stunned to speak.
"That is amazing. Is it the anti-gravity seal?" asked Itachi and the young woman nodded.
"Yes. The new one lets you adjust the level of gravity you are at, letting you go up or down to a certain point of equilibrium. Every level of air has a particular density, so by decreasing the gravity you rise till you reach the equilibrium of density in the air around you. AKA increase gravity, you sink through the air, decrease gravity you rise since you are lighter than the air around you, to float you have to reach equilibrium of the air around you," she said as she demonstrated each in turn. The young man nodded before humming in though, brow creasing.
"I don't understand how the barriers on your feet work. They are connected to nothing and yet you can stand on them," said Itachi as he tried to puzzle out the answer. Moriko smirked as she moved lazily through the air, hair flowing like it was in water as she seemed to swim through the air, drawing closer to them.
"Want me to tell you or do you want to try a few theories first?" she asked. Itachi's frown deepened before he shook his head.
"I want to mull this over on my own first," he said. She nodded, creating a few clones in case he needed to aske any questions as she floated closer. The clones moved to Itachi's side to begin quizzing him over his thought process as Moriko gave Itachi's hair a gently if playful tug. She floated past Itachi and towards Ryusuke who still looked a little shellshocked. Itachi had known for years what seals were capable of but the other man was just finding out.
Ryusuke held a hand out to her, captivated and she grinned taking his offered hand. He began pulling her around in the air, fascinated with the way her light blonde hair flowed behind her like through water, the motion mesmerizing. She giggled as she was pulled around like a child in the pool. He boosted her suddenly, palm sticking to her delicate abdomen with chakra to keep her from floating away as he held her up overhead with one hand, causing her to yelp and giggle in her surprise. He yelped as he was suddenly lifted off his feet still sticking to her as she suddenly grew lighter and he looked up to find lilac eyes twinkling with mischief as she grinned, clearly teasing him. He suddenly smirked as he turned into shadows and flowed onto her back causing her to shoot up without his weight keeping her down anymore. She yelped as she shot up but the shadow on her back kept her from slamming into the top of the barrier as it cushioned her collision with the roof of the barrier. She suddenly dropped towards the ground as she released the antigravity seal, panicking the shadow on her back as she smirked. In a moment she slowed right before impact as the shadow swiftly moved to her stomach to cushion her fall, a tendril wrapped around her waist to keep the shadow from falling off. She chuckled at her trick before she yelp as the man reformed, his arm around her waist, his weight making them hit the ground as he smirked, pastel green eyes twinkling with mischief and challenge. She smirked and touched his chest, a seal blooming there before they began to float off the ground. His eyes widened at the feeling of weightlessness as she pushed him off of her gently , her bright lilac purple eyes twinkling as he began flailing, not used to the sensation of floating and unable to grab something. She landed gracefully on the ground before kicking off, now floating for him as he flailed his form going in and out of shadow form as he tried to orientate himself. She grabbed him and he latched onto her, a bit panicked as she laughed. He glared as she chuckled.
"Sorry, sorry," she placated as she removed the seal, supporting his back as she held him to her and gently lowered them to the ground. She smirked at Ryusuke's sulking as she worked to coax him into a better mood and to apologize for going too far with her teasing. Placated, they began to experiment with him using the adjustable gravity seal and how he could use it in his shadow form. Itachi would look up on occasion as he watched their interactions, getting distracted from the conversation he had been having with a couple of Moriko's clones. The two clones shot each other a frown as they puzzled over the young man's reactions. Itachi had seemed a bit more reserved then normal over the past few couple days they had been out there, seeming to take a step back and let Ryusuke take point in their interactions with Moriko. It was a bit odd since Itachi tended to interject himself regularly into Moriko's dealings with other people. How odd. After a moment, Itachi's distracted expression took on a look of determination as he went over to see what the other two were working on and the clones smiled, seeing him back to his normal self once more.
"If my Theory is correct, the barriers on your feet are connected to another seal, an anchor if you will. By activating the seal on your feet, you create a locked point between the two seals, allowing you to generate a barrier that's in midair without it moving after you generate it," said Itachi as Moriko beamed at him, abandoning Ryusuke's experiment to tug Itachi's bangs playfully.
"Hell yeah! You did good, figuring that out so quickly. You're so smart Itachi, I knew Fugaku made a wise decision by choosing you to be the one to learn seals from the Uchiha Clan," she said as she praised him. A proud smile quirked his lips as he gazed into those sparkling teal eyes as he thanked her quietly. She had always been like that, willing to acknowledge his efforts and accomplishments, as well as his mistakes.
"Spar me next?" he asked, and she nodded with a grin as Ryusuke went to the other side of the barrier and got behind a small shield barrier to protect him from the coming spar, knowing that Itachi favored fire. Sure enough, the flight was explosive, a flurry of ninja wires, fire, mind bending genjutsu, and sparks flying off their clashing blades as Itachi's eyes glowed red with Sharingan. Soon seals got added to the mix and Ryusuke grinned, thrilled to watch his companions as Itachi was forced to dodge the flurry of shuriken as they seemed to hit something that sent them flying at random but swift angles. There was a pattern to it, Ryusuke noted as a few Shuriken seemed to bounce off one another despite the nearly impossible mathematical probability, changing their trajectories so swiftly that he was certain he wouldn't have been able to dodge as Itachi had been able, a section of hair getting cut off by the spinning stars, their blades hissing through the air. Itachi slammed a seal on Moriko's clone before substituting out of the way as all the shuriken were suddenly dragged into the clone. Magnetism, Ryusuke realized as his cheeks began hurting from the force of his grin. Itachi and Moriko were moving at insane speed that exceeded Ryusuke's own as they threw blade after blade at one another while dashing around, trying to one up each other, fire and lightning flashing between them. Itachi created a magnificent fireball that hurtled towards Moriko. With a smirk she hit the flames with a wind Jutsu and the fire seemed to explode in size as it turned back towards Itachi. The young man, anticipating that move had already shunshined behind Moriko. Moriko suddenly crackled as she turned into lightning, almost shocking Itachi as he leapt back sensing the coming attack. They continued their highspeed but controlled battle for a time before they seemed to stop in tandem, both straightening into relaxed stances by some unspoken signal between them. Ryusuke shook his head, a bit awed and highly pleased at his companion's skills. It was clear to see that they were both familiar with one another's fighting style and fought accordingly. He could also tell the young woman was holding back her full range of abilities still, the thought exciting the Nara.
The Hokage had been creating a titan, Ryusuke had realized at some point as he had looked into Moriko's history, starting with the investigation of the Hyuga incident and looking for further information on the woman. She had been a civilian only eight years ago, and after that time the 25-year-old woman had been taken on by Jiraiya of the Sannin as his apprentice, supposedly because Jiraiya and the Leaf owed her father a great debt that had cost the man his life, the man's dying wish that Jiraiya would look after his daughter and son. She had been training for the past eight years, an abnormally long time to study strictly the ninja arts, only returning to the village now that her brother had made genin supposedly to start training her younger brother. However, with the oncoming invasion, instead of Jiraiya leaving again to return to his intelligence gathering through the elemental nations, he had stayed in the leaf, actively helping his teacher the Hokage and Moriko as they prepared for the coming storm, all while keeping their preparations secret. Seeing the way she fought, and seeing hints of her many skills, Ryusuke suspected that Moriko was the Hokage's secret weapon. She wasn't allowed to show her natural hair color outside the village that gave away her illustrious if dangerous heritage. In the second shinobi war, it took three nations to wipe Uzugakure out, a tiny island of seal masters. Between destroying Konoha and destroying Uzu, those three nations had picked Uzu, seeing them as the larger threat. The hospital project and the fortifications of the village weren't too surprising considering most nations still remembered what the Uzumaki had been like, and there was a chance that the village would be attacked at some point if only to wipe out a major threat.
Ryusuke shook himself out of his thought as the barriers around them were released, Itachi and Moriko talking about their fight as they moved to join him. This… felt right, he noted to himself. Maybe it was a mixture of the energy of the land or the pleasant company, but Ryusuke felt more content then he had ever felt in a long time. They turned to him and smiled and he found himself smiling back feeling like whatever came, this was were he was meant to be.
AN: Mwahahahaha!
Ahem. Seals are broken. And highly underutilized.
Extremely. Underutilized.
So I get some people might scoff and put on a snotty accent to say, "That never happened in canon."
Yeah, no shit. They NEVER used seals unless they needed to break the world and pull something out of their ass.
Like literally, how did they defeat the tailed beasts? Seals. The Shinigami, god of death used what? Seals. Orochimaru revived? Seals. Kill the fourth Hokage? Seals. Defeat Kaguya? Seals. Defeat the ten tails? Sealed in the moon. Need I go on?
Teleport? Time space ninjutsu? Create Hammer space? Create barriers? Store stuff in hammerspace? Yup, you got it.
Seals are the most underutilized thing in Naruto, able to defeat godlike beings.
So why wouldn't you be able to float using them, and do other stuff?
And what's nice is you can pre-prep them for use. You could build a city with seals, and then utilize those seals to boost your capabilities further.
A tiny island of sealing masters required 3 nations to band together to defeat, at the cost of letting Konoha survive the second ninja war.
Hiruzen knows that there's a chance that the world is going to come baying for Moriko's blood very soon which was why preparations for the hospital were already in the works before they found out about the invasion. He just thought he would have more time.