Anytime, anywhere, when you encounter a powerful, difficult-to-handle enemy with a strange ability, just seal them away.
—Uzumaki Mito
History of Warring States Sealing was a collection of sealing records from the Senju, the Uzumaki, and the other clans that joined Konoha, compiled by Uzumaki Mito shortly after the village was founded.
Uchiha Chen had initially sought out the book simply to find the origin of the ocular jutsu engraved in his prosthetic eye: Uchiha Hikari, the strongest weapon of the Uchiha, sealed away a hundred years ago.
But he found that simply opening the book proved rewarding. Once he started reading, he was hooked.
History of Warring States Sealing didn't give detailed explanations of any particular Sealing Technique, but even the brief remarks revealed by Uzumaki Mito, a master of sealing arts with an expert's broad perspective, proved immensely useful to Uchiha Chen.
The book also recorded many fascinating anecdotes about sealing techniques.
For instance, several centuries ago, someone in the Land of Grass controlled monsters and threw the world into chaos, eventually forcing the Senju and Uchiha to join forces.
And the First's Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands had apparently incorporated some ninjutsu from the Fire Temple.
At any rate, Uchiha Chen found it a fascinating read.
Of course, he also found what he was looking for:
[Eighty-three years before the founding of the village, Uchiha Higashi attacked the Uzumaki. The Senju came to their aid. At Dayu Mountain, west of the Island of Whirlpools, the Uchiha's ultimate weapon was suppressed with the Yellow Springs Corridor Reincarnation Technique.]
"So it was in the Land of Whirlpools?"
Uchiha Chen compared the passage with a map and quickly located Dayu Mountain.
Dayu Mountain was only about three hundred li from the main front, where Konoha and Kirigakure were currently locked in a struggle of infiltration and counterinfiltration.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Water faced each other across a vast stretch of ocean, with no direct land border between them.
Although ninjas could move freely over water by using Chakra, doing so consumed Chakra. Neither village could gather a hundred ninjas with enough Chakra to cross the water on foot and attack the enemy.
What's more, war required supplies: rations, Explosive Tags, Shuriken, and all manner of other equipment.
So the war between the Mist Ninja and Konoha still followed the traditional pattern of land warfare:
The Mist Ninja would sail in and launch a surprise attack on a harbor in the Land of Fire, using it as a base and supply-transfer point as they infiltrated the country's long coastline and inland areas.
Once Konoha determined the enemy's main direction of attack, it would gather its forces, encircle the Mist Ninja, squeeze their area of control, and wipe out their active fighting strength.
Both sides had committed several thousand troops to an area of more than a thousand square kilometers around the ports on the eastern coast of the Land of Fire, where they had begun a war of infiltration and counterinfiltration using ninja squads.
Boom!
The deafening blast of an Explosive Tag sent a flock of birds scattering from the mountain forest.
"Retreat! Abandon Outpost 707! The enemy is an elite Mist Ninja squad!"
The veins bulged across the face of the panting, white-eyed middle-aged man as he flung another Kunai with an Explosive Tag attached. He swept his palm through the air, sending a gust of wind that propelled the Kunai toward the enemy.
This was a standard Konoha squad on the eastern front: a Special Jōnin from the Hyuga Branch Family leading three expendable Chunin from civilian backgrounds.
But they had already lost one member, despite only just engaging the enemy.
The other side also had a four-man squad. But judging by the Chakra reactions the white-eyed man saw, it was a "hunting squad," with one Jōnin leading three elite ninjas.
They had no chance of winning!
The middle-aged man had already fallen into despair. The enemy had expertly avoided the various traps, and he realized they probably had a sensor ninja among them.
"We can't get away! They have a sensor ninja!"
The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and glanced at the two young subordinates beside him, who were panicking. Then his gaze suddenly hardened.
They were only sixteen or seventeen. They hadn't even been in love yet; they still had so many wonderful things ahead of them.
"Taro, Koji, head northeast to Outpost 3. There are several Jōnin stationed there!"
The middle-aged man stopped and stuck the Explosive Tags from his ninja pouch onto his body. A flush spread across his pale face.
"I'll hold them off! This is my time to run toward freedom through death!"
"You're not getting away!"
One of the pursuers suddenly surged forward. In an instant, he burned through a large amount of Chakra using the Body Flicker Technique several times in succession, landing on a tall tree beside the group.
"Too bad you're only from the Branch Family. Otherwise, I could've had a Byakugan just like Ao!"
The pursuer gave the middle-aged man a regretful look and drew a long, slender Ninja Blade from his back.
"Captain!"
Just as the Kirigakure Jōnin was about to attack, he heard a terrified cry from the sensor ninja behind him.
"Enemy attack!"
A ghostly shadow raced through the forest, hurling several Shuriken as it rapidly closed in on the three of them.
After the Shuriken clinked together, two Mist Ninja fell, clutching the bloody lines across their throats. The lone surviving sensor ninja had been protected in the center and was the only one to escape death.
"It's an Uchiha! Don't look into his eyes!"
The sensor ninja spoke his last words before Uchiha Chen casually slit his throat.
Still,
his sacrifice had served a purpose.
The moment he heard his comrade's cry, the Kirigakure Jōnin had averted his gaze from Uchiha Chen's eyes and begun forming hand seals at once.
Ox—Snake—Ram.
Hidden Mist Technique!
It could severely restrict the vision of those with ocular bloodline abilities, making it an essential opening technique when fighting a ninja with ocular jutsu.
Dense mist instantly blanketed the forest, reducing visibility until they couldn't see their own hands in front of them.
"Same old trick. It would've been a little troublesome before, but I'm completely different now!"
Uchiha Chen sighed, a little disappointed, and formed the Tiger hand seal.
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire!
This was originally a Fire Style technique requiring three hand seals, but Uchiha Chen had mastered it well enough to simplify it to a single Tiger seal.
After refining a large amount of Chakra and transforming it into Fire Style Chakra, Uchiha Chen spewed forth a torrent of blazing flames as fierce as a raging river.
At the same time, a Mangekyō pattern suddenly appeared in his eyes as he activated an ocular jutsu.
Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi!
"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"
Seeing Uchiha Chen use the Great Dragon Fire Technique, the experienced Kirigakure Jōnin immediately tried to counter it with Water Style. He opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of water as huge as a waterfall.
Unfortunately, his experience led him astray.
The fire dragon surged into the air, then suddenly burst apart into hundreds, even thousands, of tiny fire serpents. As if sentient, they wound around the Water Colliding Wave and slithered toward the Mist Ninja from all directions.
Kagutsuchi represented the ultimate control over the shape of Fire Style, making flames move like an extension of one's own body.
The rampant fire serpents formed a cage that steadily tightened, leaving the Mist Ninja nowhere to escape. Some even sent tiny tongues of flame burrowing into the Mist Ninja's mouths and nostrils.
Soon, the mist dispersed, leaving only a charred corpse behind.
"Number seven!"
Uchiha Chen picked up the enemy Jōnin's Forehead Protector as a trophy, smiled at the relieved Hyuga, and vanished into the depths of the forest.
This thousand-square-kilometer battlefield was a vast hunting ground, and he—the one honing his ocular jutsu—was its only hunter.
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