Chapter 27: The Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques
Upon Onoki's return to the village, the two advisors who had accompanied him went off to handle arrangements for the Uzumaki people they had brought back. Meanwhile, Onoki personally summoned all Barrier Division members capable of performing B-rank sealing techniques or above.
Naturally, Ishiro was included. In one of the meeting rooms at the Tsuchikage's building, he saw an enormous heap of A- and B-rank fūinjutsu scrolls casually strewn across a table. Seeing so many high-level scrolls piled up so carelessly, he stood in shock. He realized that his supposed "foreknowledge" was nothing – the difference in scale far exceeded anything he had imagined.
There were hundreds—perhaps several hundred—A- and B-rank techniques. At the far end of the table lay more than ten scrolls of S-rank fūinjutsu. It was practically "getting rich overnight."
Dumbfounded, Ishiro asked Onoki, "Tsuchikage-sama…did you empty out the Uzumaki clan's stock of sealing techniques?"
Everyone else looked questioningly at Onoki as well. Plainly, they were wondering the same thing.
Onoki shook his head. "We only took a fraction of the Uzumaki clan's fūinjutsu. The clan's archives were far more extensive than we'd expected. If we'd been too greedy, it would've drawn retaliation from the other nations. Also, we know the Uzumaki must have had plenty of unrecorded fūinjutsu solely passed down through memory. We didn't harm or loot corpses, so any such unrecorded techniques likely ended up in the hands of the other three nations."
Ishiro and the other "country bumpkins" could only nod, speechless. They had never imagined how vast Uzumaki knowledge might be.
This divergence from the original storyline was noticeable. In canon, when Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri attacked the Land of Whirlpools, the Uzumaki—foreseeing defeat—destroyed most of their archives. As a result, the three attacker nations had to rely on combing the corpses for knowledge, finding only a partial trove. But here, during Onoki's stealthy intrusion into the Uzumaki stronghold, the Uzumaki were too busy helping Konoha fend off the Mist and Cloud forces to destroy their records. Onoki thus reaped an unexpected windfall.
Once the initial excitement subsided, they began sorting the scrolls. Per Onoki's instructions, they first separated them into two broad categories: combat-oriented and non-combat. Surprisingly, among these hundreds of scrolls, more than 70% were for combat use.
After the initial classification, they filtered out techniques that had relatively lower chakra requirements. This step was sobering; over 90% demanded colossal chakra reserves far beyond a normal ninja's, leaving only a few dozen that seemed more reasonable. Even so, Ishiro and the rest discovered that even these "manageable" techniques were hardly suitable for someone like him, whose chakra pool was his biggest weakness. Ishiro felt disappointed; his hopes of dramatically boosting his combat power with Uzumaki fūinjutsu vanished.
He wasn't alone – plenty of others were dismayed as well. Though they had bigger pools than Ishiro, most found only two or three jutsu they might possibly cast.
Onoki sighed. "Two or three is plenty. The true worth of these scrolls lies in research – they'll guide us in developing new sealing arts suited to our Iwagakure shinobi."
The crowd grasped the logic. There was no urgent crisis demanding these techniques, so they had time to study them at leisure.
Next, Onoki announced how many scrolls each person was allowed to examine, based on their level. For example, four Jōnin who were A-rank or borderline A-rank sealing experts could select one S-rank scroll, five A-rank, and fifty B-rank techniques to study. Those at the B-rank level could choose two A-rank plus ten B-rank sealing techniques. Ishiro received special permission from Onoki to learn one S-rank, three A-rank, and 15 B-rank techniques.
No one objected to this arrangement; Ishiro's contributions were obvious. Everyone had witnessed his achievements. In their eyes, he was essentially on par with the A-rank Jōnin in terms of fūinjutsu importance.
Ishiro was delighted. Up to now, beyond having helped create the Five-Elements Seal, he'd never actually seen a complete A-rank technique. Seeing these resources now, he was thrilled.
What excited him most was that this permission came free – no need to spend precious contribution points. On the contrary, if anyone gleaned useful insights from their studies, the village would reward them further.
Straight away, Ishiro saw the path to finally affording that sensory ninjutsu.
During the next half-year, Ishiro devoted himself entirely to analyzing these Uzumaki clan scrolls. Apart from daily practice with Earth Spear Gun and minimal physical training, he even scaled back his shuriken and kunai drills. That half-year fully immersed him in the world of advanced sealing.
The Uzumaki clan's fūinjutsu formed a unique system, quite different from the approach used in Iwagakure. It was tricky at first but extremely enlightening once he got used to it, opening a "new door" for Ishiro.
Over those six months, Ishiro completely dissected 15 B-rank seals and 3 A-rank ones. Among the A-rank, one was the Five-Elements Seal itself. Comparing the Uzumaki original to the Iwa-developed version offered him invaluable cross-referencing; from that alone he gained more than from the other two A-rank seals combined.
Thus, Ishiro's fūinjutsu advanced by leaps and bounds. He could clearly sense that as long as he had enough chakra, he could cast an A-rank sealing technique. Meanwhile, he had already successfully cast one B-rank seal – Chakra Obfuscation – using soldier pills to boost his modest 6.2C chakra supply. (The exact function of soldier pills in later combat can be explained another time.)
However, Chakra Obfuscation wasn't particularly combat-oriented. It simply shielded a ninja's chakra signature, enabling stealth against sensory ninjutsu – a valuable infiltration tool, but still a niche technique.
Yet the greatest benefit, from Ishiro's perspective, lay in his deepened theoretical grasp of sealing. Before, he hadn't understood why fūinjutsu worked. Now, he had a hunch that these seals harnessed natural energy, forming a new type of chakra akin to sage chakra. That heightened chakra "quality" explained how sealing arts could suppress beasts with massive chakra, like tailed beasts.
He came to this conclusion after analyzing three A-rank techniques. "Analyzing" might be too strong a word – he had no direct proof. Rather, his sharpened perception sensed faint clues. If he wanted to confirm it, he suspected the key lay in S-rank fūinjutsu. He used his special permission to study one S-rank seal, fully expecting he couldn't cast it anyway but hoping to glean new insights.
His priority was no longer about utility, but to figure out how these seals seemed to tap natural energy. So instead of picking something that might yield a derivative technique, Ishiro specifically looked for a sealing technique that appeared to generate chakra out of thin air.
That led him to the "Fire Domain Seal." Its effect was quite peculiar – seemingly irrelevant to combat. In short, once cast, it produced a huge pseudo-independent space where flames spawned randomly. The flames were of modest temperature—painful but not lethal if you layered up protective stone or something similar.
Yet the seal's chakra cost far exceeded typical S-rank ninjutsu. If the user didn't deliberately cancel the domain, the flames would keep proliferating until the space was crammed full—finally exploding with a "boom."
Under normal logic, generating so much fire for a prolonged period should burn tremendous chakra, far more than the initial cost of the seal. That was bizarre. Thus, the "Fire Domain" scroll was the only S-rank technique that explicitly said it could "create chakra from nothing."
Ishiro chose that technique and began studying. By the rules, he couldn't copy or remove the original. He was allowed only to read it on-site as many times as needed.
"Fire Domain" was massive. The text was riddled with advanced fūinjutsu theory, far beyond even A-rank arts – Ishiro felt like the difference between A-rank and S-rank was as profound as "technique" vs. "Dao." The scroll contained many cryptic concepts that weren't explained. Possibly the recorder assumed no one would attempt to learn such a worthless art. Or maybe the notes had been partly omitted. Regardless, Ishiro understood only fragments.
He refused to quit, recalling that with prior A-rank fūinjutsu, he'd also faced confusing terms but had muddled through by logic. Here, however, the confusion was on a different level. Finally, Ishiro decided to assemble a collaborative project.
He returned to the Barrier Division and summoned coworkers who, like him, had been studying these advanced sealing arts. Although some grumbled at the interruption, Ishiro's influence in the Division was strong enough that everyone came.
Without delay, he explained the reason for this gathering:
"Sorry to disturb you all. Over the past half-year, I've encountered certain references in Uzumaki clan scrolls that I can't interpret. I suspect many of you have faced similar puzzles. So I propose sharing our notes on these unusual terms – it might help all of us."
He distributed sheets listing the odd terms he'd encountered, along with his attempted translations. The group's reactions were immediate: some lit up with epiphany, others wore deep frowns as they recognized possible leads for problems they hadn't solved.
Ishiro didn't disturb those who seemed lost in thought. To the rest, he said, "Many of the Uzumaki texts assume knowledge we don't have. If each of us compiles our best translations for these new words, we'll save a lot of time collectively."
Everyone promptly began writing down their own interpretations. One by one, the deep-thinking holdouts finished musing and joined in, scribbling out all the specialized phrases they'd deciphered. Afterward, they swapped notes. Some found discrepancies; some discovered breakthroughs.
Ishiro suggested they go home and digest everyone else's translations, then reconvene in two days to discuss correctness. Everyone agreed, dispersing right away.