Contract Seal

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Not long after, the twisting spatial spiral appeared again without warning.

Covered in wounds, Shinichi Uchiha was thrown out of the spiral. He hit the ground hard with a thud, half his face buried in the dirt, looking utterly miserable.

The masked man then stepped leisurely out of the spiral, his tone as calm as ever. "Can you not even stand anymore?"

Shinichi Uchiha forced himself to raise his head and glared at the masked man, his eyes filled with stubbornness and hatred.

The masked man folded his arms and smiled faintly. "That is a good look in your eyes."

Shinichi Uchiha coughed lightly, then asked in a hoarse voice, "Who... who are you? What kind of ninjutsu was that?"

"I already told you. Who I am does not matter." After a pause, the masked man smiled. "What matters is that I can give you what you want."

Shinichi Uchiha looked briefly lost. "What I want..."

The masked man glanced around and shrugged. "Why are you training here?"

Shinichi Uchiha spat out one name. "Naoki Hyuga."

The masked man froze for a moment, then smiled. "Is he that strong?"

Although he hated admitting it, Shinichi Uchiha reluctantly nodded.

"An Uchiha lost to a Hyuga." With a soft laugh, the masked man continued his temptation. "With your talent, defeating that man named Naoki Hyuga would not be difficult."

Shinichi Uchiha watched the masked man warily. He opened his mouth but said nothing, hesitation written across his face.

Seeing that Shinichi was tempted, the masked man did not press too hard. Instead, he spread his hands. "If you make up your mind, come here and find me."

With that, the masked man vanished cleanly into the spiral.

Shinichi Uchiha barely managed to stand. He looked around in confusion, then dragged his wounded body toward the village, stumbling with every step.

Before long, the masked man returned to the tree from earlier.

Zetsu, half-emerged from the trunk, looked toward Shinichi Uchiha's departing back and said, "Was it necessary to go that far? He may report you to Konoha."

The masked man shook his head. "He will not."

"Why?"

"Because he craves power." The masked man sat cross-legged and continued, "He has more potential than I expected. If he receives the right push, he may awaken those eyes."

At Naoki's home.

After returning home, Naoki gathered his focus and began studying the Four Symbols Seal seriously again.

Perhaps because he had carefully experienced the nature of a Truth-Seeking Ball, he now had a deeper understanding of chakra nature transformation. When he opened the Four Symbols Seal scroll this time, the parts he had not understood before suddenly became clear.

Chakra nature transformation was both the foundation and the core of the Four Symbols Seal.

Once he fully integrated the nature transformations inside the Four Symbols Seal, he would not be far from mastering it completely.

After studying for a while, Naoki picked up his teacup, took a sip, and thought, 'At this pace, I can fully digest the Four Symbols Seal in three days at most.'

Thinking again of the Third's earlier promise to Team Eleven, he suddenly felt that mastering the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts might not be so far out of reach.

Suddenly, Naoki seemed to notice something. His brows drew together, and he activated his Byakugan.

In his Byakugan's field of vision, a chakra reaction was barely hidden behind a large tree outside his courtyard. Judging by the amount of chakra, the person was at least special jonin level.

"Hmph. So they are monitoring me openly at my own doorstep now?"

Clearly, the Root operative responsible for watching Naoki knew he possessed the Byakugan. Since no disguise could escape the Byakugan's detection, they had simply placed the surveillance out in the open.

'I am an ANBU under the Hokage's direct command. Without the Third's tacit approval, Danzo would not handle this so crudely.' After spacing out for a moment, Naoki continued thinking, 'Now is not the time to fall out with them. I should wait until I have learned all the sealing arts first.'

Having made up his mind, Naoki went nowhere. He stayed home and devoted himself entirely to studying the Four Symbols Seal.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Just as Naoki had expected, once he grasped the key, he quickly understood the crucial parts of the Four Symbols Seal. There were still a few details he had not fully worked out, but those were details that required slow, careful refinement. There was no point rushing them.

Carrying the Four Symbols Seal scroll, Naoki went to the Hokage's office.

After returning the scroll, he once again asked the Third for permission to learn sealing arts. Considering that this might be his last official and public learning opportunity, he did not hide his goal. He told the Third openly that he wanted to study the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts.

The Third had some doubts about Naoki's request.

In the Third's view, however, asking to learn sealing arts was better than asking to learn forbidden techniques. Sealing arts were more defensive in nature. Even if Naoki mastered the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts, he would not pose a great threat to the village.

Moreover, aside from the Reaper Death Seal, a forbidden technique that killed both user and target, the Uzumaki Clan's other powerful sealing arts often required Uzumaki blood to be fully effective.

After thinking it over, the Third finally retrieved a scroll from the confidential archives. The sealing art recorded on it was called Contract Seal. He handed it to Naoki and ordered him to return the scroll within one month.

After obtaining the Contract Seal, Naoki stayed home again. He did not go out and devoted all his attention to studying it.

Compared with the wide range of uses offered by the Four Symbols Seal, the Contract Seal had a much narrower application. It was mainly used to sever the contractual relationship between an enemy and their summoned creature.

But that did not mean the Contract Seal was inferior to the Four Symbols Seal. On the contrary, Naoki suspected that the sealing technique the Fourth Hokage had used on the Dragon Vein almost certainly contained elements of the Contract Seal.

When Naoki first obtained the Contract Seal scroll, he discovered that its isolating power was extremely strong.

And between the Dragon Vein and the bloodline of the Queen of Roran, there was a relationship no one could properly explain. Whether some kind of contractual bond existed between them was something no one could say for sure.

So if Naoki had been in the Fourth Hokage's position, he would also have included elements of the Contract Seal in the Dragon Vein seal, preventing anyone who coveted the Dragon Vein from attacking the Queen of Roran's bloodline as a way to break the seal.

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