Reverse Four Symbols Seal!

Green grass stretched beside a rippling stream.

The morning sun shone over the riverbank, glinting off the stones on the ground. Jiuming sat bare-chested on a rock by the river, while a Concealed Shadow Clone behind him carefully cleaned the wounds on his back with warm water.

At Jiuming's feet sat a pot of boiling water, now clouded with blood.

"Ugh..." The pain in his back cleared Jiuming's head a little. Two days had passed since the ambush, and after traveling nonstop for those two days, he'd finally had to stop and tend to his wounds. Since he'd left them untreated for so long, they were already showing signs of infection.

Jiuming could feel himself growing a little dizzy, as if he were starting to develop a fever. Fortunately, he was in good shape, so it hadn't become serious enough to leave him bedridden.

"I'm not far from my destination now. If I push myself, I should get there in a day."

"I don't know whether there are ambushes along this last stretch. I'd better rest for a day before moving on."

As the Concealed Shadow Clone carefully treated his wound, Jiuming's real body stared blankly at the flowing stream. Over the past two days, he'd seen just how cruel the Shinobi World could be. Before this, his understanding of it had been limited to manga and anime, and through the eyes of the fated protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki. He'd never had many chances to witness its cruelty firsthand.

But after experiencing it all himself, he finally understood.

Even with a sound mind, he'd been shaken by those brutal scenes. He'd never understood why the young Kakashi had become so withdrawn, or why Itachi had slaughtered his own clan for the so-called stability of the village.

Now, he thought he could understand how they must have felt. Whether Kakashi or Uchiha Itachi, they'd both been sent to the battlefield at the age of six. With their young minds, they must have been traumatized by what they saw there. It wasn't hard to understand how those experiences had driven Kakashi into isolation and made Itachi so determined to pursue

"The techniques I have now aren't suited for fighting powerful ninja."

"If I make it back alive this time, I'll definitely expand my arsenal of jutsu."

Jiuming thought back to his fight with Lord Earth. He'd exposed far too many weaknesses. He knew too few jutsu, and even his powerful shuriken were wildly inaccurate. He'd mastered Strength of a Hundred, but with his young body, it wasn't much use.

He was like a soldier with endless bullets but no gun to fire them with.

There was no doubt that the Yin Seal and Strength of a Hundred were advanced techniques, and Concealed Shadow Clone was very practical. The sealing techniques passed down through the Uzumaki Clan were no useless gimmicks, either. But in the hands of a young child, none of it seemed to amount to much.

Uzumaki Jiuming had an enormous amount of Chakra, but far too few ways to use it. He'd seen the jutsu in the Scroll of Sealing from a young age and had looked down on ordinary C-rank jutsu. He hadn't even been interested in learning Shurikenjutsu or how to use a Kunai.

He couldn't exactly blast the Deva Path with a Great Fireball or stab Susanoo with a shuriken, could he?

From the start, he'd set his sights on the S-rank jutsu in the Scroll of Sealing, thinking only they could help him survive the age of giant battle suits that would come later.

But the fights he'd faced over the past two days had taught Jiuming one thing: if he kept thinking the way he had before, he'd die long before that age of giant battle suits ever arrived.

"Poof!"

Just as Jiuming was still thinking, the Concealed Shadow Clone behind him suddenly vanished. Its memories returned to his mind, and he knew his wound had been treated.

Once he'd finished tending to the wound, Jiuming decided to rest by the river for a day. He'd already decided to travel at night and rest during the day.

Thanks to his Mind's Eye of the Kagura, he could navigate even in the pitch-black night. He wouldn't be at a disadvantage in a fight, either. Besides, Jiuming thought the darkness might serve as a shield, reducing the range at which potential enemies could detect him.

He'd also sent out several Concealed Shadow Clones to widen the range of his Mind's Eye of the Kagura, and set up a barrier around himself as a warning system. With all these precautions, he could finally get a good night's sleep. The long journey had taken a heavy toll on his mind and spirit.

As time passed, night slowly fell.

After sleeping through the day and eating a Military Ration Pill, Jiuming set off for his destination. That night, he didn't run into any trouble.

When the first rays of sunlight reached the earth, Jiuming arrived at the destination of his assessment after traveling all night: Genmyoji.

"This should be the place."

"But something feels off."

The temple gates were firmly shut. It was supposed to be the final destination of the assessment, yet there wasn't a single guard outside. Several days had passed since Jiuming had encountered enemies from another village. Even if the village's communications were poor, they should have received the news by now.

Besides, Konoha sent messages by Ninja Hawk. There was no way the village had received the news while the people at the assessment site remained unaware.

"There's no one within my sensory range."

"Should I go in?"

After traveling so long, he'd finally reached his destination, but Jiuming hesitated. The unusual circumstances suggested that there might be danger inside the temple. Still, he'd come all this way, and he couldn't bear to leave without even setting foot inside.

"I'll prepare a sealing technique and have a Shadow Clone scout ahead. If anything seems wrong, I'll leave at once."

Having made up his mind, Jiuming hid in a patch of bushes. He quickly formed Hand Seals and created a Shadow Clone to keep watch. Then his real body pulled a blank scroll from the tool pouch on his back, bit his finger, and began drawing symbols on the scroll.

"Reverse Four Symbols Seal!"

After quickly drawing the symbols, Jiuming formed Hand Seals and pressed one hand to the scroll, channeling Chakra into it. The blood on the scroll quickly congealed, then darkened as the technique was set in place.

The principle of the Reverse Four Symbols Seal was similar to that of the Four Symbols Seal, but it was much easier to use. The Four Symbols Seal was an outward-facing sealing technique; in other words, it could actively seek out a target to seal.

The Reverse Four Symbols Seal was different. It was a fixed seal. When activated, it centered on its vessel and sealed everything within a hundred meters. It couldn't seek out a target on its own. Moreover, the seal expanded very slowly, making it far less practical than the Four Symbols Seal.

Though it had plenty of flaws, it was very useful as a retreat technique for a Concealed Shadow Clone sent to scout ahead as bait. If everyone in the temple turned out to be an enemy, the moment the Shadow Clone activated the seal, they'd scramble to escape and wouldn't have time to search for Jiuming.

Once the sealing technique was ready, Jiuming rolled up the scroll and tossed it to the Shadow Clone. The clone took it and quickly darted out of the woods. Rather than use the temple gate, it vaulted over the high wall at the side.

"What's going on? I can't sense the Shadow Clone's Chakra anymore?"

"It shouldn't have left my range this quickly!"

Hidden in the bushes, Jiuming lost all sense of the Shadow Clone the instant it cleared the temple wall. Shocked and uneasy, he crouched low and backed away carefully. Once he was sure no one was nearby, he quickly put more distance between himself and the temple.

"A barrier? No wonder I couldn't sense what was inside from out here."

"My real body didn't even notice the barrier. Looks like I still need to improve my Fuinjutsu."

"They must have noticed me by now!"

As soon as Jiuming's Shadow Clone vaulted over Genmyoji's wall, it sensed several sources of Chakra inside the temple. A few were so powerful that merely sensing them brought a crushing pressure.