Chapter 83: Contract Seal

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Contract Seal

It wasn’t long before the distorted spatial vortex abruptly appeared once again.

The battered and bruised Uchiha Shinichi was tossed out of the vortex. With a heavy thud, he slammed into the ground, half his face buried in the dirt. He looked utterly miserable.

At that moment, the masked man leisurely stepped out of the distorted vortex, his tone as calm and indifferent as ever.

"You can’t even stand anymore?"

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

The masked man crossed his arms and smiled faintly.

"Those are some pretty good eyes!"

Uchiha Shinichi coughed lightly before asking in a hoarse voice, "You... Just who the hell are you? And what was that technique just now?"

"I already told you. Who I am isn’t important." After a brief pause, the masked man smiled. "What matters is that I can give you what you want!"

Uchiha Shinichi was momentarily confused.

"What I want...?"

The masked man glanced around before shrugging.

"Why are you training out here?"

Uchiha Shinichi spat out a name.

"Hyuga Kagami!"

The masked man froze for a moment before chuckling. "Is he really that strong?"

Although he was extremely reluctant to admit it, Uchiha Shinichi still nodded helplessly.

"An Uchiha actually lost to a Hyuga." The masked man chuckled softly before continuing to tempt him. "With your talent, defeating that Hyuga Kagami shouldn’t be difficult."

Uchiha Shinichi stared warily at the masked man. He opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, hesitation written all over his face.

Seeing that Uchiha Shinichi was already somewhat tempted, the masked man didn’t push him too hard. Instead, he spread his hands and said, "Once you’ve made up your mind, you can come find me here."

With that, the masked man simply vanished into the vortex.

Uchiha Shinichi struggled to his feet and looked around uncertainly. Then, dragging his battered body along, he staggered back toward the village one unsteady step at a time.

Not long afterward, the masked man returned to the tree from before.

Zetsu, with half his body protruding from the trunk, glanced at Uchiha Shinichi’s retreating figure and asked, "Was it really necessary to go this far? There’s a good chance he’ll report you to Konoha."

The masked man shook his head.

"He won’t!"

"Why?"

"Because he craves power!" The masked man sat down cross-legged and continued, "He’s more talented than I expected. With the right amount of stimulation, he might even awaken those eyes."

At Hyuga Kagami’s home.

After returning home, Kagami composed himself and once again immersed himself in studying the Four Symbols Seal.

Perhaps because he had personally experienced the Truth-Seeking Balls in such detail, his understanding of chakra nature transformation had deepened considerably. As a result, when he opened the scroll of the Four Symbols Seal this time, many of the parts he had previously been unable to understand suddenly became crystal clear.

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

Once he fully grasped the chakra nature transformations involved in the Four Symbols Seal, he wouldn’t be far from mastering the technique completely.

After studying for a while, Kagami picked up his teacup and took a sip while thinking to himself, "At this rate, three days at most should be enough for me to completely master the Four Symbols Seal."

Remembering the promise the Third Hokage had previously made to Team Eleven, he suddenly felt that mastering the Uzumaki Clan’s sealing techniques might not be such a distant goal after all.

Suddenly, Kagami seemed to sense something. His brows furrowed slightly as he activated his Byakugan.

Within his Byakugan’s field of vision, he detected a faint chakra signature hiding behind a large tree outside his courtyard. Judging by the amount of chakra, the person was at least at the level of a Special Jonin.

"Hmph. They’re openly monitoring me right outside my own house now?"

Clearly, the Root operatives responsible for monitoring Kagami knew that he possessed the Byakugan. They understood that no matter how well they disguised themselves, they wouldn’t be able to escape the Byakugan’s detection.

So they had simply stopped bothering to hide the fact that they were watching him.

"I’m an Anbu directly under the Hokage. Without the Third’s tacit approval, Danzo wouldn’t be handling this so crudely..."

Kagami fell into thought for a moment before continuing inwardly, "Now isn’t the time to fall out with them. I’ll wait until I’ve learned all the sealing techniques I can first!"

The Third Hokage was different from Danzo. As the Hokage of an entire village, the Third still cared greatly about keeping up appearances. Since he had personally promised every member of Team Eleven another opportunity to learn a high-level technique, as long as Kagami didn’t do anything reckless, the Third would undoubtedly honor that promise.

Having made up his mind, Kagami stopped going anywhere and devoted himself entirely to studying the Four Symbols Seal at home.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Just as Kagami had expected, once he grasped the trick behind it, he quickly understood the crucial aspects of the Four Symbols Seal. Although there were still a few details he hadn’t completely figured out, those were things that could only be understood through painstaking practice and gradual refinement. There was no use rushing them.

Taking the scroll of the Four Symbols Seal with him, Kagami headed to the Hokage’s office.

After returning the scroll, he once again asked the Third Hokage for permission to learn another sealing technique.

Considering that this might very well be his last opportunity to officially and openly learn one, Kagami didn’t bother concealing his intentions. He directly told the Third that he wanted to learn one of the Uzumaki Clan’s sealing techniques.

The Third Hokage had some reservations about Kagami’s request.

But from the Third’s perspective, Kagami asking to learn a sealing technique was still far preferable to him asking to learn a forbidden technique. After all, sealing techniques were generally more defensive in nature.

Even if Kagami mastered one of the Uzumaki Clan’s sealing techniques, it wouldn’t pose much of a threat to the village.

Moreover, aside from the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, a forbidden technique that killed the caster along with the target, most of the Uzumaki Clan’s other powerful sealing techniques required the Uzumaki bloodline to bring out their full potential.

After considering it for a while, the Third Hokage eventually retrieved a sealing technique scroll called the Contract Seal from the village’s confidential archives and handed it to Kagami, instructing him to return the scroll within one month.

After obtaining the Contract Seal, Kagami continued to hole himself up at home. He didn’t even step outside, devoting all of his attention to studying the Contract Seal.

Compared to the Four Symbols Seal and its wide range of applications, the Contract Seal had a much narrower scope. Its primary purpose was to sever the contractual connection between an enemy and their summoned creature.

But that didn’t mean the Contract Seal was inferior to the Four Symbols Seal.

On the contrary, Kagami had a strong suspicion that the sealing technique the Fourth Hokage had used to seal the Dragon Vein most likely incorporated elements of the Contract Seal.

That was because the moment Kagami first received the Contract Seal scroll, he discovered that its ability to isolate and sever connections was exceptionally powerful.

And there was an inexplicable relationship between the Dragon Vein and the bloodline of Roran’s queens. Whether some form of contract actually existed between the two was something no one could say for certain.

So if Kagami had been in the Fourth Hokage’s position back then, he too would have incorporated the Contract Seal into the Dragon Vein’s seal.

That way, anyone who coveted the Dragon Vein in the future wouldn’t be able to exploit the bloodline of Roran’s queens to break through the Dragon Vein’s seal...