Sealing Jutsu and Training

Fugaku, standing in the training hall, felt that something was very wrong.

He had sensed someone watching him, but just as he was about to look for them, the feeling suddenly vanished.

Following the strange disturbance from a moment ago, Fugaku made his way to a corner. Suddenly, his eyes widened.

"Kikaichū..."

The insects on the ground made Fugaku furrow his brow. The Aburame Clan?

Was this because of the Third Hokage's actions, or... Danzo?

His thoughts stopped there. What he was more curious about now was who had dealt with the Kikaichū in that instant.

After all, he had been standing nearby the whole time. If someone had appeared and dealt with the insects, he should have noticed.

Then Fugaku thought of another possibility. He raised a hand, and a member of the Uchiha Clan appeared behind him.

"Go. Search every corner of the compound and see if there are any Kikaichū."

"Yes, Clan Head!"

Hayato didn't look into what was happening in the Uchiha Compound. He was reading through the scrolls his father had left behind, which contained his notes on Sealing Jutsu.

It had been one of his father's few interests. His mother had often told him as much when she was alive.

"Sealing Jutsu really is complicated." Hayato rubbed the space between his brows. His family only had a couple of basic texts on Sealing Jutsu, so using them to study his father's notes was no simple matter.

Setting the scroll down, Hayato went over what he had read in his mind and thought, I wonder if Shisui has any of these materials.

After all, Kagami Uchiha had once been the Uchiha closest to the center of power within the village. He should have had some resources at his disposal.

Konoha placed great importance on Sealing Jutsu. Having inherited the legacy of the Land of Whirlpools, Konoha was now the village with the strongest Sealing Jutsu in the entire Ninja World. The seals each village used on its Tailed Beasts alone made that clear.

Hayato wanted to learn about Sealing Jutsu to prepare for practicing Senjutsu in the future.

Even someone as powerful as Orochimaru had been unable to practice Senjutsu because of the side effects of Living Corpse Reincarnation. He could only develop the Heaven Cursed Seal to create a pseudo-Senjutsu state.

Although the Sound Four and Sasuke stopped looking human after entering the second stage in the original story, that didn't mean it wasn't effective. At the very least, it boosted their abilities across the board.

Hayato had only gained the foundation of a Sage Body at the very beginning. It merely let him recover quickly after being injured; it wasn't a true Sage Body.

Most importantly, Hayato wanted to see what kind of sparks Senjutsu and the Sharingan could create when combined.

Of the Three Great Sage Lands, Mount Myoboku was already out of the question. With its talk of the Child of Prophecy, Mount Myoboku would most likely never let a member of the Uchiha Clan practice its Senjutsu.

As for forcing his way in, Hayato had no plans to do that for now. He had only awakened the Mangekyo, not the Rinnegan.

If he went there now, Mount Myoboku could easily use Senjutsu to suppress him.

Hayato let out a breath and banished those thoughts, then returned to studying the scroll before him.

Even if he couldn't use what he learned, it would still broaden his knowledge.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking,

Hayato was washing up when he heard someone knock at the door.

He opened it and saw Shisui standing outside, already ready to go.

"Good morning, Hayato!" Shisui greeted him with a smile.

"Yeah, good morning, Shisui." Hayato nodded, then headed with Shisui toward the Naka River in the southern part of the compound.

"How should we train?" Shisui asked when they reached the riverbank.

"What do you usually practice?" Hayato asked in turn. Talented people always had their own methods, and he wanted to find out what Shisui's were.

"I usually practice Taijutsu and swordsmanship. After that, I work on Ninjutsu and Genjutsu," Shisui recalled.

Straightforward.

Hayato shook his head. Shisui's training focused more on improving his technique, which was different from his own approach.

"What is it?" Shisui asked, puzzled.

"I was thinking we should focus on ordinary running, but do a lot of it," Hayato explained. "You know Might Guy, the jōnin in the village, right?"

Shisui nodded. "Yeah, I remember him. I think he was promoted to jōnin last year."

"Right. I heard his daily physical training consists of running and other basic exercises."

"Running?" Shisui had rarely heard of that. Jōnin didn't train in public—or rather, all shinobi avoided training where others could see them unless they were close.

"Yeah. High-intensity running can improve your basic stamina and endurance. I heard that when Might Guy was a child, he already ran five thousand laps around the training ground every day."

Shisui's jaw dropped.

That number wasn't frightening to him now, but Hayato had said Guy had done it as a child.

"Of course, that's because Might Guy specializes in Taijutsu. But we can learn from him and at least try to push past our limits." Hayato waved a hand. Guy's inhuman training regimen wasn't for him.

Even so, they could use it as a goal and try to improve their speed and explosive power. This kind of training had benefits too. Improving their stamina and endurance would be useful to them now that they had awakened the Mangekyo.

"Okay! I'll do what you say!"

With determined expressions, the two set off, one following the other, running along the Naka River by the compound.

At first, Shisui could keep up with Hayato, but as time passed and his strength rapidly drained, he gradually slowed down.

"Hey, giving up already?"

Hayato ran ahead and glanced back at Shisui.

"I'm not stopping here!" Shisui said, speeding up to catch Hayato and run alongside him.

Seeing this, Hayato smiled, then picked up the pace again.

At that moment, Shisui truly admired Hayato's seemingly endless energy. It wasn't a difference in strength, but in their physical stamina.

I can do it too!

He silently encouraged himself and stubbornly caught up once more.

Three hours later, the two stopped where they had started. Shisui was drenched in sweat. He had managed to keep up, but he was in rough shape.

Just as he was about to straighten up, the whole world seemed to spin around him.

Smack!

Hayato caught Shisui and said gently, "You doing okay?"

"I don't think I can keep going much longer." Shisui smiled wryly. He truly felt exhausted, and this was completely different from his previous training.

"Then let's take a break." Hayato helped Shisui over to a nearby tree.

While Shisui recovered, Hayato didn't waste any time. He sat cross-legged and began to refine his chakra.

The endurance run had gone pretty well today. Refining chakra now should produce good results.

So this is Hayato's willpower...

As he rested nearby, Shisui kept watching what Hayato was doing.