The Sealing Jutsu Scroll

The moonlight was so beautiful tonight!

Hyuga Gen was in high spirits. He hadn't expected Karin's mother to leave him such a wonderful surprise.

At first, Hyuga Gen had assumed she'd left Karin something valuable or sentimental. But he hadn't expected it to be a scroll—a scroll recording the sealing jutsu of the Uzumaki Clan.

Hyuga Gen took a quick look and spotted several sealing jutsu that had appeared in Shippuden, including Adamantine Sealing Chains, Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Four Symbols Seal, Eight Trigrams Seal, and Contract Seal.

Of course, there were also other sealing jutsu that hadn't appeared in Shippuden. Hyuga Gen hadn't even heard of some of their names.

Hyuga Gen counted them. The scroll contained thirty-six different sealing jutsu, and he could tell that none of them were ordinary. They were all high-level techniques.

Hyuga Gen couldn't understand why Karin's mother had a scroll like this. It was more than worthy of being the Uzumaki Clan's most treasured heirloom.

Hyuga Gen wouldn't have been too surprised if Uzumaki Kushina had owned a scroll like this. After all, she was a princess of the Uzumaki Clan.

But it was astonishing that Karin's mother had one. Did she have some special status? The more Hyuga Gen thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

In Hyuga Gen's view, abilities like Adamantine Sealing Chains were probably tied to bloodline. In all of Shippuden, only Uzumaki Kushina and Karin Uzumaki had been shown using them. Perhaps Karin's mother had been as high-born as Uzumaki Kushina.

Of course, no amount of speculation would lead to any answers. No one could say whether she'd been high-born or not now. What mattered was that he had high-level sealing jutsu to learn—even if he had Karin to thank for it.

"Isn't what belongs to Karin mine, too?" Hyuga Gen thought shamelessly.

He admired that Karin's mother had managed to keep something this powerful hidden all this time. She could have traded the scroll for a chance to stay in the Land of Grass, but she had chosen to keep it secret.

As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, she clearly understood how important the scroll was, so she'd kept it hidden. That alone showed how much she treasured it—more than her own life. Otherwise, she would have handed it over to the Grass Ninja long ago.

What Hyuga Gen didn't know was that Karin's mother would never have thought of giving the scroll to Karin if not for him. She might have left it buried forever, because she knew Karin couldn't protect it.

It was because of him and the promise he'd made that she knew he would protect Karin. She also didn't want the Uzumaki Clan's legacy to die out, so after much deliberation, she'd made her decision.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that? Aren't you afraid of me anymore?" Hyuga Gen teased when he noticed Karin watching him.

"Mm." Karin's little face flushed, and the sound seemed to come from the back of her throat.

That afternoon, to make Karin less afraid of him, Hyuga Gen had talked and talked, telling her about the Byakugan and Kekkei Genkai, among other things. Most importantly, he'd told her about her mother.

"You don't have to be afraid. I won't come any closer. I'll leave the barbecue here, and you can come over and get it yourself." Hyuga Gen had wanted to bring the food right to her, but when Karin backed away in fear, he stopped.

"Eat. If I wanted to kill you, I'd just do it. I wouldn't go to the trouble of poisoning your food."

Karin knew he was right, and she seemed to understand her situation. Without saying anything, she took a bite.

After that first bite, she couldn't stop. The barbecue was just too delicious.

"My name is Hyuga Gen. The Byakugan is the Kekkei Genkai unique to the Hyuga Clan, just like the special constitution of your Uzumaki Clan."

"This is my companion, Xiaojin. It won't eat people either, so don't worry." Hyuga Gen pointed to the giant bird nearby.

"Eat slowly. No one's going to take it from you. There's plenty more." As he spoke, Hyuga Gen held out another piece of meat to her. This time, she wasn't afraid.

"You're here because I saved you. Your mother has passed away, so they wanted to capture you and send you to the battlefield in her place." Hyuga Gen looked at the little girl with concern as he said this.

To his surprise, she merely grew somber and slowed down as she ate. She seemed to have expected her mother's death.

Even so, as she ate, she couldn't hold back her tears. They soon began to stream down her face.

Hyuga Gen hurriedly drew her into his arms and gently patted her back. Before long, she fell asleep in his embrace.

She woke up not long after, and seemed to be feeling much better. Then Hyuga Gen started talking again.

"Before she died, your mother entrusted you to me. From now on, you'll stay with me."

"Your mother left you something. It's where you used to live. Do you remember the place? Shall we go take a look?" Hyuga Gen asked Karin.

Karin nodded slightly.

By dusk, following Karin's directions, they finally reached their destination. But all that lay before them was a pile of ruins.

It wasn't hard to tell from the rubble that there had once been a small wooden house here. Karin's mother had hidden what she'd left her beneath the ground at the house's northwest corner.

Finding it in these ruins might have been difficult for someone else, but Hyuga Gen barely had to do any work. He just activated his Byakugan and looked in that direction.

Before long, Hyuga Gen found something: an iron box with something inside. He knew it had to be what Karin's mother had left her.

Hyuga Gen ran over and dug up the iron box. Once he'd checked that there was nothing else nearby, they left.

After they found a place to rest, Hyuga Gen handed the box straight to Karin and started preparing dinner.

At first, he hadn't paid much attention. But when Karin picked up a scroll to read, he grew interested. The moment he saw the words "Dead Demon," he could hardly sit still.

"Can I take a look?" Hyuga Gen asked, restraining his excitement.

Karin glanced at him, hesitating for a moment, but then handed him the scroll.

When Hyuga Gen saw what was written inside, his excitement unexpectedly gave way to calm. Before long, he handed the scroll back to Karin.

"This scroll is very important. Don't lose it, and whatever you do, don't let anyone else see it." Hyuga Gen spoke sternly. The scroll was comparable to Konoha's Scroll of Seals. If word got out, it could bring a storm of bloodshed.

"Then I'll let you keep it safe for me."

"That works. I'll give it back to you when we get home." With that, Hyuga Gen put the box into his scroll space.

He'd left without telling anyone and gone off to the Land of Grass on his own. He'd been gone for several days, and he had no idea what might have happened in Konoha.

"Maybe everyone thinks I'm dead."

Thinking of Hyuga Natsu and his grandfather, Hyuga Gen felt uneasy. He decided he would head back to Konoha that very night.