Uzumaki Clan's Book of Sealing

Only Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Minato remained in the room.

Tsunade swirled her wineglass, seeming to hesitate over something.

"Minato, do you know that Kushina is..."

Jiraiya cut Tsunade off without hesitation before she could finish. "Tsunade! Put Kushina's matter aside for now. Don't you care who was spying on you?"

There was a hint of reproach in Jiraiya's eyes. Tsunade was being too reckless. Even if Minato was mature for his age, how could he be allowed to know about something like the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki at this point?

The Nine-Tails was a burden Minato could not bear yet. Even if Minato was a genius, it was still too soon for him to get involved in this matter.

He knew Kushina was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki because he was among the village's strongest fighters.

The village had prepared multiple contingency plans for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. If the Nine-Tails went berserk, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, White Fang, and the others would have to step in and suppress it.

Tsunade knew Kushina was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki because she had personally reinforced Kushina's seal.

As the current head of both the Senju Clan and Uzumaki Clan, Tsunade naturally had the right to know who the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was.

The village had prepared many safeguards for Kushina. What Minato did not know was that when he and Kushina had gone to the Uchiha Clan grounds, Jiraiya had been outside them.

If not for the many Hokage informants within the Uchiha Clan, the ANBU would have stormed in long ago.

As far as Jiraiya knew, at least five Three-Tomoe Uchiha served his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Uchiha Clan had long since been infiltrated like a sieve.

That night, Jiraiya had argued with his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, in the Hokage Office for quite some time. He said Minato had not known Kushina was so special, so of course he had not been on guard.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had wanted to tell Minato the truth, but Jiraiya stopped him. He still wanted his disciple to treat the friends around him with an ordinary heart.

Jiraiya had worried himself sick over this disciple.

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya's reproachful gaze in surprise. Jiraiya was actually looking at her like that over this child.

That was truly rare.

Tsunade said, "Minato, Kushina is an Uzumaki Orphan. How close are you two? May I tell you Kushina's secret?"

Seeing Jiraiya tense up instantly, Tsunade took a sip of wine and secretly found it amusing.

Even carefree Jiraiya could get this nervous.

"Lady Tsunade, Kushina is my friend, my very best friend. Um... she's also my girlfriend." Minato's voice was exceptionally firm. "You can entrust any of her secrets to me. I will protect them with my life."

Jiraiya set down his wineglass rather heavily and stared at Tsunade. "Tsunade, don't mess around!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes at Jiraiya and continued on her own. "Minato, what I want to tell you is..."

She deliberately teased Jiraiya, waiting until he grew more and more anxious before she finally said, "What I want to tell you is that Kushina is connected to something that several major ninja villages value immensely: the Uzumaki Clan's Book of Sealing."

Jiraiya had been ready to make a move, but then he suddenly let out a breath of relief. So it was not about the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. That had frightened him.

Jiraiya rubbed his chin. "The Uzumaki Clan's Book of Sealing? That really is quite important."

Tsunade's expression turned desolate.

"The Uzumaki Clan was exterminated because of the powerful Sealing Techniques they possessed.

"My grandfather distributed the major Tailed Beasts among the other ninja villages. His original intention was to maintain a balance between the villages while preventing Konoha Village from being destroyed by too many Tailed Beasts.

"A single village could not possess more than three Tailed Beasts. The Tailed Beasts hated one another. Two Tailed Beasts were already a ninja village's limit; otherwise, the village simply could not suppress them.

"Yet in the end, that decision harmed both the Uzumaki Clan and the Senju Clan.

"After the other ninja villages obtained Tailed Beasts, they lacked sufficiently powerful Sealing Techniques and had to face the problem of Tailed Beast rampages every year.

"Once a Tailed Beast went berserk within a village, it could destroy at least a third of it.

"Minato, you are still young and have never seen a Tailed Beast. You can think of one as a Summoning Beast a hundred times stronger than the giant toad of Mount Myōboku.

"A single Tailed Beast Ball could kill hundreds of ninja.

"Thus, the Uzumaki Clan, which possessed powerful Sealing Techniques, became the object of every major ninja village's covetousness.

"That covetousness was nothing at first, but after my second grandfather, Lord Tobirama, sacrificed himself, it turned into devouring greed.

"The Cloud Hidden Village and Mist Hidden Village joined forces to slaughter the Uzumaki Clan.

"They obtained the corpses of many Uzumaki Clan ninja and gleaned much intelligence about Sealing Techniques from those bodies.

"The Uzumaki Clan and Senju Clan joined forces against the Cloud Hidden Village and Mist Hidden Village, paying a terrible price. The Book of Sealing, which recorded every Sealing Technique of the Uzumaki Clan, did not fall into the hands of those two villages and vanished without a trace.

"I do not know where that Book of Sealing is, and neither does Kushina.

"However, some people do not believe that. Kushina, the Uzumaki Clan's last orphan, escaped into Konoha Village.

"Some believe the Book of Sealing is in my hands, while others believe it is in Kushina's.

"I am not much of a concern, but as for Kushina, Minato, you should help protect her."

Minato's expression became solemn. He had not expected Kushina to be connected to clues about the Book of Sealing.

The Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques were extremely powerful. However, they did not possess a Tailed Beast and thus could not bring those techniques to their greatest potential.

If a Tailed Beast had been given to the Uzumaki Clan earlier, they would not have been left without the ability to protect themselves.

Hashirama Senju had been too powerful—so powerful that he could not think about certain matters in ordinary terms. He had also been too selfless, so selfless that he had been somewhat ruthless toward the Senju Clan and Uzumaki Clan.

Minato said, "Please rest assured, Lady Tsunade. As an Uzumaki Orphan, Kushina cannot easily leave the village. If she does leave, I will definitely stay by her side and protect her."

Tsunade nodded. She knew the village had been secretly protecting Kushina all along.

In the entire village, only Kushina's physique could make her the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. If it were anyone else, the Nine-Tails would have gone berserk who knew how many times by now.

"With your promise, I am at ease." Tsunade said, "Though Jiraiya is unreliable and has poor character, his luck is quite good. He actually managed to find a disciple like you."

"Hey, hey! Tsunade!" Jiraiya said unhappily. "Am I just someone with poor character in your eyes? Isn't that going too far?"

As usual, Tsunade ignored Jiraiya and instead asked Minato, "Minato, what do you think? What kind of person is your teacher?"

Minato hurriedly said,

"Teacher Jiraiya is someone who does not fuss over trivialities. He is still far from having poor character.

"However...

"I think Teacher Jiraiya is a pessimistic person. Beneath everything, he carries a kind of pessimism and disappointment that I cannot understand."

Jiraiya and Tsunade froze at the same time, their wineglasses suspended in midair.

Tsunade suddenly laughed. "Interesting, truly interesting. You actually think the laughing, carefree Jiraiya is a pessimistic person?"