The fourth safe house was situated deep within the Hokage monument—a secret entrance at the base of the monument led to a labyrinth of rooms and corridors chiseled out of stone. As Naruto, Sasuke, and Mito approached the entrance, a brief message crackled over the radio of an ANBU stationed outside, alerting those within of their arrival.

Inside, Anko Mitarashi waited, pacing back and forth. The news of the imminent arrival of a reanimated shinobi accompanying two genin -two strategically important genin, she might add, had reached her ears just moments ago. The brief description of the technique Orochimaru had used to reanimate the past Hokages and the wife of the First had shocked her. She knew that Orochimaru reveled in learning forbidden jutsu and performing sick experiments. But she did not realize that even reviving the dead was possible with such techniques. She wondered how far he had reached in his pursuit for immortality if he could perform such a horrifying jutsu.

Her thoughts shifted to the shinobi that was supposedly accompanying the genin. Mito Uzumaki was a name she vaguely recalled from her history lessons, but everyone knew of her husband, the godlike existence known as the First Hokage. She wondered what kind of a kunoichi his wife was, and if the Uzumaki clan from the legends truly lived up to the tall tales. She had been amused by Naruto Uzumaki's performance in the first two stages of the exam. However, rumors of his performance in the finals and his recent tussle with a tailed beast had shaken her dismissive opinion of the brat.

As the door slid open, Anko straightened, her usual smirk faltering slightly under the weight of the moment. The Uzumaki boy bounded in first, his usual energetic self, followed by a more cautious Uchiha. Behind them entered someone she presumed to be Mito Uzumaki.

"Welcome to the fourth safe house," Anko greeted, her voice firm yet carrying a hint of reverence. "I'm Anko Mitarashi, Special Jounin in charge of this safe house. It's an honor, Lady Mito. Thank you for taking the ANBU advice to travel here under a Transformation jutsu." She could no hint that told her that she was a reanimated shinobi. Lady Mito had chosen to disguise herself as a young kunoichi with distinctive red hair.

Naruto furrowed his brow, confused. "Transformation jutsu? What Transformation jutsu? I don't see any…"

Sasuke's lip twitched in amusement, finding confirmation for his dojutsu theory. Most dojutsu could see through simple illusions easily. His Sharingan showed him that the woman was under a Henge when she arrived to confine the Tailed Beast. It showed her disguised form overlaid with the true form. He wondered what Naruto saw. Did he only see the true form?

"This isn't my real appearance, Naruto. I used a Transformation Jutsu to blend in when I came from the stadium." Mito smiled, thinking Naruto had mistaken her for the nondescript red-haired woman, a younger version of herself she had modeled her disguise after. Naruto nodded slowly, squinting his eyes in a cute attempt to see through the Transformation jutsu. His face cleared, his brows arching slightly as he nodded.

Mito nodded to Anko, who was similarly amused by the blonde's antics. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Has the Hokage indicated any task for me, now that I have escorted them here?"

Anko shook her head. "The Hokage has informed us that you may stay here for now, and he would only bother you if there is a pressing issue that needs your attention. He doesn't want the news of your resurrection to spread."

"Of course," Mito replied understandingly.

Anko turned her attention to the genin. "Find chuunin Iruka Umino inside. He's coordinating the defense preparations in the unlikely event that this base is attacked. Your teammate is also being treated here."

"Sakura!" Naruto said, concern evident in his tone. "She's here? How is she doing?"

"She's woken up, just a bit of shock. You can go and have a look."

"Thanks, lady," Naruto nodded quickly and he said as he hurried inside. Sasuke and Mito followed him at a more measured pace. They passed through a narrow tunnel, which ended in a wide room. A few chuunin looked up as they entered but quickly resumed their work.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" A familiar voice called. Naruto sported a wide grin as he turned to the owner of the voice.

"Iruka sensei! Glad you're in one piece!"

"I should be telling you that, you brat!" Iruka shook his head, both proud and exasperated. "I heard you two helped contain the tailed beast?" He asked incredulously.

"Mainly Naruto," Sasuke muttered, his wounded pride surfacing a little. He needed some time to process the day's events. He had faced three different opponents. He had left Kankuro to Naruto and pursued after Temari. Naruto had defeated Kankuro handily and helped end the fight with Temari with a well-timed sneak attack. He couldn't do anything against Gaara once he transformed. If it wasn't for the life-or-death situation, he would have been furious that Naruto didn't trust him to deal with Temari at least. But strategically, he couldn't fault Naruto for acting.

"We kicked the One Tail's ass!" Naruto declared, grinning.

"And you must be the member of the sealing corps that helped suppress it. I don't think I know your name, miss…" Iruka asked the woman trailing behind them. For some reason, Naruto snickered while Sasuke suppressed a smirk.

"Call me Tomi," Mito said, bowing. Iruka hurriedly imitated her, flustered at his lack of respect for the powerful shinobi who probably outranked him.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you help have a look at the barrier seals of this safe house? We haven't used it in a while and the last inspection was a few months ago, so…"

"Of course!" Mito nodded, eager to settle into something familiar in this changed world.

"So, Iruka Sensei, where's Sakura? How's she doing?" Naruto interrupted. He made a mental note to ask Mito about sealing jutsu since Uzumaki were supposed to be very good at it according to Kabuto.

Iruka frowned. "She's fine physically, as the medics have healed her, but the surprise attack came as quite a shock. You can go see her in the third room to the left." He pointed to another corridor at the end of the room.

As Mito followed Iruka to inspect the barrier seals, Naruto and Sasuke made their way toward Sakura's room.

"Hey! Sakura!" Naruto burst into the room, his voice echoing with a mix of concern and relief. He stopped abruptly at the threshold, taking in Sakura's appearance. She was sitting up in bed, looking pale but alert.

Sakura turned her head at the sound of her name, a small smile forming as she saw her teammates. "Sasuke, Naruto," she greeted, her voice weak but filled with warmth.

"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked, his tone softer than usual.

"A lot better, thanks to the medics here," Sakura replied, trying to reassure him. "I was just startled by the attack, that's all. Guess Kakashi sensei saved me, huh?"

Sasuke watched Naruto's hesitant nod and wondered what part Naruto played in capturing the ANBU operative. It seemed ridiculous to even think about, but no more ridiculous than taking on a crazed tailed beast.

"Kakashi and Naruto had already arrived by the time I reached there. The ANBU operative was a spy and is dead." Sasuke reassured her.

Sakura turned to Naruto, her eyes questioning. Sasuke hadn't given her a straight answer.

"Haha, yeah, sensei's awesome. It was all over before I could blink…" He trailed off, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. Sasuke watched him carefully but opted not to say anything.

"We've had a rough day," Sasuke said, subtly changing the topic. Naruto was visibly relieved.

"What happened out there?" she asked, curiosity piqued by their expressions. She decided to press them for details on her capture later since both of them were uncomfortable with discussing it for some reason. Had sensei forbidden them from talking about it?

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look, debating how much to tell her about the events, including the appearance of Mito Uzumaki and the battle with Shukaku.

"Soo…. You know how Gaara was always a bit loopy? Turns out he had a tailed beast sealed inside him!" Naruto began.

"A tailed beast?" Sakura frowned at the unfamiliar word.

"It's a sentient being made of chakra, like the Nine-Tails that attacked our village. Gaara had the One-Tail sealed inside him. It is known as Shukaku the sand spirit." Sasuke elaborated.

"They sealed something like that inside him?" Sakura looked horrified. "No wonder he was acting like that. Do you think it was posessing him?"

"I don't think so," Naruto said, somehow uncomfortable with this topic as well. "I heard from pervy sage that the Sand treated him like shit." He was proud of the plausible excuse for knowing something about Gaara. "They tried to assasinate him many times to make him stronger or something messed up like that. So he ended up not trusting anyone and thought everyone was out to get him."

Sakura's eyes widened. "That's terrible!"

"It explains a lot about his behavior," Sasuke spoke after remaining silent for a moment. "If his own village turned against him, it's no surprise he lashed out."

"So… What happened to him?" Sakura prompted.

"I kicked his ass, that's what!" Naruto exclaimed, eager to look good in front of Sakura. "This bastard helped too, and Mi- I mean Tomi suppressed it in the end."

Sakura frowned disapprovingly at the way Naruto addressed Sasuke, but let it go since she was curious about who this new character was.

"Tomi…?"

"She's a kunoichi from the sealing corps," Sasuke said, eyeing Naruto and hoping he wouldn't spill anything. This information was probably on a need-to-know basis only, and Sakura didn't strictly need to know.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, Gaara kind of transformed into Shukaku by using a jutsu that made him fall asleep. At least, that's how it seemed. The moment he nodded off, the sand around him went wild and came alive. Shukaku was so huge, it could have been half the height of the Hokage Monument! And it was batshit crazy, too!"

Sakura listened incredulously and looked at Sasuke, sure that Naruto was exaggerating. But Sasuke merely nodded, confirming what Naruto said.

"I tried this cool summoning jutsu Jiraiya taught me, but I messed it up the first time. The second try, though, I summoned this incredible swordsman toad! It really took it to Shukaku, believe it!"

Sakura nodded slowly, still trying to wrap her head around the enormity of Naruto's story. With Sasuke's silent nod of agreement, the tale, as unbelievable as it sounded, must be true. She remembered vividly the jutsu Naruto displayed at the stadium, yet the idea that he could summon giant toads like Jiraiya of the Sannin was almost too much to believe. Jiraiya was a legendary figure who even mentored the Fourth Hokage, but it was difficult to grasp that Naruto had grown so much in a month!

"How did you learn all this in a month?!" She asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Well," Naruto hesitated, "the Shadow clone jutsu can transfer the memory of the clone to the user. So it was dead useful to train!"

Sasuke froze, realizing the implications. He could see that Sakura understood the implications as well, given her gobsmacked look.

"You learn everything your clones learn?" Sasuke asked, unable to contain his disbelief. "That's… too convenient. Why doesn't everyone do it, then?"

"Well, I have a lot of chakra. Like, more than even the old man! It's a genetic thing," he elaborated, noticing Sakura's questioning look. "That's why I can form so many shadow clones without breaking a sweat."

"How many could I form?" Sasuke asked.

"Umm… three? Maybe four if you stretched it…"

"What about Kakashi Sensei?"

"Well, he's tricky. He has enough chakra to make twenty or more, but his Sharingan would drain twenty times as much chakra. Because of that, he'd make four or five at best."

"How many can you make?" Sakura asked curiously. "I've seen you make more than twenty!"

"I can make around twenty-four normal shadow clones at best, but more than a hundred using the multi-shadow clone technique! But they're way less durable and not very useful for learning jutsu. And from my training, I can't really learn well if there are more than ten clones. It really messes up and confuses the brain."

"Do you learn everything the clones learn?" Sasuke asked, still disappointed that he could only make three at best. But he intended to master this jutsu once the invasion was over.

"Sort of," Naruto replied. "It's hard to explain. With ninjutsu, if a clone practices, it needs to train twice as long as I would. But I can learn things in half the time if I do it myself. With taijutsu, a clone needs to train three times longer, or I need three clones learning at once. Pervy Sage told me the feedback is a bit inefficient, which is why not many people train like this."

Sasuke's initial excitement died down, but he vowed to increase his chakra capacity to be able to make good use of the technique.

"Um… how many clones could I make?" Sakura asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

Naruto winced. "You'll need to triple your chakra capacity to make one… But you have awesome control, Sakura! None of us can control chakra as well as you! Remember the tree climbing exercise?"

Sakura was disappointed at the answer, but she knew she had sub-par reserves. It was unfair, but genetics played a key role in determining your chakra capacity.

"So, how can you tell how much chakra we have, Naruto?" Sakura asked curiously. She was wondering why Sasuke asked Naruto this.

"Ah… I kind of have a sensing-like skill now…" Naruto trailed off, repeating the same lie he told Sasuke.

"Okaaay…" Sakura wasn't very convinced. But she didn't want to press Naruto for an answer. Naruto had improved unimaginably over a month, so much so that it was disorienting. Sasuke's progress was also amazing, but it was more or less expected of him. She was bitterly reminded of the fact that she was already lagging behind by a huge margin, even if she didn't compare herself to Naruto or Sasuke. It was through sheer willpower that she was able to shake off Ino during the chuunin exams, and she was probably the weakest of the genin in her batch. Her recent harrowing experience at the hands of the rogue ANBU agent really hammered in the need to at least be able to defend herself. She was kidnapped and almost killed just to act as a hostage against Kakashi sensei, from what she gathered.

A gentle knock sounded, and Sakura was jolted out of her thoughts. "Come in!" She said.

The door opened to reveal Iruka sensei. A red-haired kunoichi followed behind him.

"Sakura, I see you're doing better already!" Iruka said cheerily.

"I am, thank you sensei." She smiled. Iruka had been a huge help in easing her out of the kidnapping and the near-death experience. She was unconscious through most of the harrowing ordeal, but it was terrifying to think that she would have died before even realizing it if the rogue shinobi had his way.

"Sakura, meet Miss Tomi, who helped the village in a big way in the war today. She came here to escort Naruto and Sasuke to safety after their mission."

Sakura bowed to the unfamiliar kunoichi with respect. "It's an honor to meet you, ma'am. Thank you for saving my teammates!"

Tomi smiled. "The pleasure is mine, Sakura."

"Um… Tomi nee-chan," Naruto cringed inwardly as he addressed the much older shinobi so familiarly, but he couldn't very well call her 'granny' while she maintained her youthful disguise, "could you check something for Sasuke?"

"What?" Sasuke snapped, caught off guard before realizing Naruto was likely referring to his cursed seal. "It's under control; Kakashi handled it," he added quickly, his tone dismissive as he sought to minimize the issue.

Mito's expression shifted to concern. "What's the problem?"

Naruto hesitated, then said, "That snake freak Orochimaru bit him and placed a seal on his shoulder…" His voice trailed off as he noted Mito's sharp intake of breath.

"Let me see it," Mito insisted, her tone leaving no room for argument.

Sasuke, though reluctant, turned and pulled aside his collar to expose the dark, pulsating seal.

Mito inhaled sharply. "That wicked snake…" she muttered under her breath, her hands moving swiftly through a series of hand seals. She touched four points around the seal, her fingers pausing slightly at each contact, creating a geometric pattern. "Art of containment: Five elements shackling seal! Art of revelation: Cursed seal decipher!"

Sakura watched, awestruck, as the four points Tomi touched glowed in golden color and joined together to form a square shape. When she performed the second jutsu, the cursed seal unraveled, forming a writhing and shifting mass of illegible characters that she could make no sense of. However, watching Tomi's rapidly darkening face, the meaning of the seal seemed clear to the older kunoichi.

Mito examined the seal intently, her focus unbroken for several minutes. The room fell silent, heavy with tension. Sakura bit her lip, yearning to ask about Sasuke's condition and whether the seal could be removed, yet the stern look on Tomi's face suggested the situation was serious but not immediately fatal.

Finally, Mito broke her concentration, her face set with determination. She launched into a new series of hand seals, her hands radiating golden chakra. As she moved, her long red hair seemed to lift and wave as if stirred by an invisible wind. Even Sakura, lacking sensory abilities, could sense the formidable energy emanating from her.

"Uzumaki style- Art of deconstruction: Reverse heaven elemental purification seal!" she exclaimed, pressing three fingers over the pitch-black tomoe patterns of the original cursed seal. She moved the fingers counterclockwise, tracing a complete circle.

"Uzumaki style?" Iruka muttered in shock and realization, seeing Tomi in a new light. He never imagined that a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, other than perhaps Naruto, still lived in Konoha. Perhaps she was an ANBU operative or one of the secret assets of the village? No wonder she assessed and repaired the barrier seals of the safe house as if it were child's play.

Mito removed her hands from Sasuke's shoulder and watched her seal devour Orochimaru's cursed seal with satisfaction. Somehow, Orochimaru had gained access to some of the Uzumaki clan's darker sealing techniques. He had joined two Uzumaki forbidden sealing techniques.

The first forbidden Uzumaki seal studied by Orochimaru was straightforward -it filtered nature chakra and injected it into the host's body. Although it significantly strengthened the host, it also drove them mad for power. Hence the reason for it being forbidden.

The second technique was an even more nefarious technique that sealed a part of someone's existence inside someone else by transferring their life chakra and taking over the body of the possessed. It was a technique for immortality and was supposedly created at one of the darkest points of Uzumaki history when they were once on the brink of annihilation.

Orochimaru had stolen the techniques, tweaked and combined them into the monstrosity that she saw today. Once he takes over the host body, Orochimaru will have access to not only the abilities of that body but also the ability to wield nature chakra.

"Lady Tomi…" Sakura's hesitant voice snapped Mito out of her reverie. "Will Sasuke be alright?"

"Yes." She nodded confidently. She faced Sasuke with a serious expression. "The cursed seal imparted by Orochimaru will be neutralized by the seal I've applied within a few weeks. However, it's crucial that you avoid exerting yourself during this period." Her lips curved into a slight smile as she added, "And by that, I mean adhere to normal human limits, not those of an Uchiha."

Sasuke was a little put-out but nodded thankfully. "What was the seal intended to do? He said something about a gift to increase my power. But what's the catch?"

"It would slowly erode your consciousness to replace your soul with Orochimaru's."

Sasuke paled at the blunt description. "I am indebted to you then," he said, bowing deeply. He knew there were no free meals, and Orochimaru would gain much more than him with any gift that he gave.

"Just don't strain yourself." Mito reminded, waving off the thanks.

"Lady Tomi," Iruka bowed, newfound respect in his voice, "I may be out of line here, but perhaps you could also have a look at a similar seal Orochimaru placed on one of our Jounin? He placed it a long time ago, from what I understand."

"He placed more?!" Mito was startled to hear this, and extremely worried. This meant that Orochimaru would not truly be dead until all of such seals were dealt with. "Take me to her." She said, her voice commanding once more.

Iruka complied hurriedly, leading her out of the room after a nod of farewell to team seven.

"She's a relative of yours?!" Sakura asked, her tone bursting with curiosity. She had been startled when she heard Naruto's surname being associated with one of the jutsu Tomi used. She faintly recalled her first-year history lessons at the academy about the Uzumaki clan from Uzushiogakure, renowned for their sealing techniques and charecteristic red hair.

"Yeah, she said we're related, but I don't know the specifics," Naruto confirmed.

"I don't think I've ever seen her before. Her hair is very… distinctive." Sakura said thoughtfully.

"She was not in Konoha for an extended period," Sasuke said vaguely, saving Naruto from an explanation.

"Oh, I see… Naruto, do you think she'd be willing to give me some tips?" Sakura asked hopefully. "She seems like a powerful kunoichi, in fact, she may be the strongest I've seen so far. To think she was able to destroy the seal made by one of the Sannin!"

Naruto pondered that. "That's a great idea, Sakura! I was hoping to learn something from her too! But I don't know for how long she will stay or if she'll have time for us..." he trailed off, feeling depressed as he was unsure of the duration of a reanimation jutsu.

"Oh… I guess she'll have important missions to go on." Sakura nodded. She hoped the older kunoichi could stay longer, both for Naruto's sake as well as hers.

Sasuke took advantage of the lull in the conversation. "Can you show me the shadow clone jutsu? I want to learn it." He said, activating his Sharingan.

"Didn't Tomi tell you not to overexert yourself?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"I won't. You told me I could make four. I'll just make one or two. I just want to learn it as quickly as possible, to increase the speed of my training."

"Well… only if you say the magic word!" Naruto said smugly. Sakura frowned in disapproval.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Please."

"Wow, you must really wanna learn it then." Naruto was surprised. He had never seen the bastard not act high and mighty before. Maybe the episode with the Shukaku humbled him. He wasn't against teaching Sasuke the shadow clone, since he knew what kind of a monster his brother was. He hadn't realized it, but Sasuke had been living with a sword pointed at his throat.

"Blink and you'll miss it!" Naruto grinned. "Shadow clone jusu!" He yelled, and his identical copy manifested beside him. A second later, the clone performed the same jutsu, creating another clone, who performed the jutsu again.

"That's enough. I got it." Sasuke studied the technique with his Sharingan and nodded confidently. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

Another copy of Sasuke manifested beside him. Sasuke winced as he felt half of his chakra vanish.

"That's not fair!" Naruto yelled. "How come you can copy it so easily? It took me an entire evening to learn it."

"You have no right to complain," Both Sasuke and his clone said at the same time. "And it's not a particularly difficult jutsu." He finished.

"Ah! The number of bastards has doubled!" Naruto wailed dramatically. Sakura giggled, relaxing as she watched their interaction.

"I thought I told you to take it easy?" Tomi asked from the door, eyeing Sasuke with disapproval.

"I'm not exhausted." Sasuke protested. Seeing Tomi's dangerous look, he hurriedly corrected, "I'll stop now." He dismissed the shadow clone and felt the sensation of his clone's memories merging with his. He noted that he recovered about seventy percent of the chakra he expended to create the clone.

"How did it go? Did you destroy the snake lady's seal?" Naruto asked, curious.

"It went well. She is recovering." Mito replied, her expression thoughtful as she wondered how Naruto had come to know about Anko's seal.

"Sakura was hoping you could give her some tips to improve... And, uh, I was hoping you could teach me a bit about sealing. I know that's a lot to ask…" Naruto added hesitantly.

Tomi was taken aback by the request. Sakura, standing slightly behind Naruto, looked both embarrassed and grateful that he had spoken up for her.

"Lady Tomi, forgive me for being so forward. I would be very grateful for any help you could give me, even if you don't have the time to teach me directly." Sakura bowed deeply, still sitting up in her bed.

"I foresee that I will be quite busy in the upcoming days, but I will try to see what I can do for the both of you. Naruto, I was planning to talk to you about the Uzumaki clan and our sealing techniques, and help you if you would like it." She faced Sakura and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Can you tell me your strengths, Sakura, so that I may be able to assist you better?"

"Uh… I have good chakra control." Sakura cringed. "That's about it. I haven't learned any jutsu yet other than those from the academy."

"She's plenty smart, though." Naruto defended his teammate. "She had the best marks in our class. Believe it!"

Mito nodded. "Could you demonstrate your chakra control?" She took out a small needle from her pouch and handed it to her. "Place this in your thumb. Using only chakra, make it stand upright." She instructed.

Sakura took the needle curiously and placed it flat on her thumb. She tried to channel a little chakra into it. It immediately flipped away from her thumb and landed on the ground.

"This is tricky." Sakura took the needle and placed it on her thumb again. This time, she was extremely careful with the amount of chakra she used. Slowly, the needle rose and stayed upright.

Mito gave a small smile. "Now, rotate the tip of the needle clockwise and make it trace a circle."

Sakura frowned, concentrating harder, and did as she was told.

"Good." Mito balanced another needle on top of the first one. Sakura quickly reached out using her chakra so that the second needle wouldn't fall. "Now rotate the first needle clockwise and the second one counterclockwise. "

Sakura struggled as she tried to move the two needles that were now precariously stuck together using chakra. After two failed attempts, she formed a wide circle with both the pins sticking together and rotating clockwise. She then tried to move the second needle independently of the first. The pins fell once again.

Determined, Sakura took the pins again. For the next few minutes, Naruto and Sasuke watched silently as Sakura tried and failed to get the strange exercise to work. After about ten tries, she was finally able to do what Mito wanted.

"That's enough," Mito said, much to Sakura's relief. "I can see that you are quite good with control, and it can improve with time. With such precise control, learning medical ninjutsu would be the best path forward for you. Once the invasion is over, I will recommend you to the medical corps. I can also teach you the basics of sealing jutsu along with Naruto. You can choose a path between these two depending on your aptitude. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to teach you the specific techniques of my clan."

"Of course, I understand." Sakura bowed deeply. "Thank you very much, Lady Tomi!"

Mito smiled. "In the meantime, increase the number of pins as much as you can."

"Will do," Sakura said determinedly. "How many do you think is possible, Tomi-sensei?"

Mito hummed thoughtfully. "The possibilities are endless. This is based on one of the guiding principles for the puppet jutsu of Sunagakure. There are shinobi who could control hundreds of puppets, each with many moving parts. But they do have several secret techniques and training that allow them to do so. The person who invented this particular training method, Tsunade, could form a chain of up to a hundred pins with independent movements before she moved on from this exercise. According to her standards, any shinobi capable of balancing five or more pins are to be recruited into the medical corps without question. I believe you will be able to reach this level in a week at most, given how quickly you adapted to this."

"A hundred…" Sakura said, awestruck. "Lady Tsunade truly is incredible. Do you know her personally, Lady Tomi?"

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, and Mito hid a smile. "Yes, she and I are related. If she ever returns to Konoha, I will introduce you to her."

"I will try my best to master this exercise, sensei!" Sakura bowed deeply once again. Mito nodded in approval.

"Regarding sealing jutsu…" Sasuke began hesitantly. "Could you include me as well when you're teaching them the basics, your ladyship?"

"I don't see why not." Mito smiled at Sasuke's overly formal request. "Anyone with an aptitude for the art is a blessing for Konoha. Although I will warn you, it's not for everyone."

"Thank you." Sasuke said honestly. He completely understood the need for secrecy when it came to clan techniques. Even teaching them the basics was a big thing, since the Uzumaki clan was likely to have an incredible insight into the basics.

Meanwhile, Naruto had picked up a needle and was trying to see how far he could go with the exercise. He had to struggle a lot to balance even a single needle on his thumb. Although his chakra control was good, it was usually for a large quantity of chakra. To be able to manipulate a minuscule quantity of chakra to such a level required a huge amount of control. He recalled that Kabuto trained using the same exercise and had achieved a chain with a whopping forty needles! If he could make a chain of at least ten needles, he would have enough control to perform basic first aid. With his level of reserves, however, it was going to be an enormous task.

Mito watched curiously as Naruto struggled with the needle. For someone with as much chakra as Naruto, this was going to be the hardest thing to do. If one developed their control along with their expanding chakra reserves, it wouldn't be a problem. However, Naruto was only starting to learn precise control when his chakra levels had reached such vast levels. She was interested to see if he could pull it off.

"Naruto, do you have a moment? We can speak now if you have the time." Mito's voice cut through the chatter, drawing his immediate attention. With an enthusiastic nod and a grin spreading across his face, Naruto excused himself from his friends. "I'll catch up with you guys later," he promised, his voice tinged with excitement as he followed Mito out of the room. As they walked, the questions that had been swirling in his mind bubbled to the surface. He was eager to understand more about his connection to the Uzumaki clan and Mito in particular.