Sealing Technique

After Duanmu returned home, he immediately took out the sealing-jutsu texts he had copied from the Hokage Building, spread them across his desk, and studied them carefully.

The runes that had seemed obscure and difficult to understand during the day now, when viewed together with the basic theory, faintly revealed a pattern—every turn and angle of each symbol corresponded to a node in the flow of chakra, while the order of the rune combinations was like building the framework of an energy cycle.

He tried following the description in the text, tracing the simplest "lock" seal in the air with his fingertip. The chakra at his fingertip flowed along with each stroke, and to his surprise, it truly left behind a faint blue trail of light in the air.

Early the next morning, Duanmu and Sasuke arrived at the training ground ahead of time.

Kakashi was already waiting there. Beside him were even more rock targets than yesterday, along with a moving target device that rotated faster.

"Today's training difficulty is doubled," Kakashi said, pointing at the hourglass. "Duanmu, your Lightning Style Shuriken must pierce through thirty C-rank rocks, and each rock must be left with a hole that goes cleanly through from front to back. Sasuke, your moving target's speed has been raised to chunin level, and your accuracy cannot be lower than yesterday's."

Duanmu no longer hesitated and directly condensed Lightning Style chakra. This time, he did not rush to throw. Instead, he first let the electric light stabilize and coil in his palm until that power seemed to transform into an invisible fine needle. Only then did he suddenly shoot the Shuriken out.

Hiss— The sound of the Shuriken piercing through the rock was crisper than yesterday. The charred hole completely penetrated the target, and the arc of flying debris was also more concentrated.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan, his scarlet pupils tightly locking onto the high-speed moving targets. Shuriken flew out like a string of beads, and every hit was accompanied by an explosion of wood chips from the bull's-eye. A few Shuriken even embedded precisely into the tail ends of the previous ones, forming a perfectly straight chain.

Training continued until noon. When the last grain of sand fell, all thirty of Duanmu's rock targets had been pierced through, but fine beads of blood had seeped from his palm because he had condensed chakra too intensely. On Sasuke's moving target, densely packed Shuriken formed a perfect circle, and the bull's-eye at the center had almost been completely shattered.

Kakashi put away the hourglass and, rarely, nodded. "We'll begin sparring this afternoon. Use Shuriken without chakra attached for offensive and defensive drills. Duanmu will attack, Sasuke will defend. I'll correct the flaws in your movements in real time."

During the break, Duanmu was still thinking about sealing jutsu. He thought of how skilled Minato had been in sealing jutsu, so as Minato's disciple, Kakashi should have some understanding of sealing jutsu too, right?

"Kakashi-sensei," Duanmu said, standing up and walking over to Kakashi. He considered his words before speaking. "Regarding sealing jutsu, I've recently encountered some bottlenecks in my training. I happened to obtain some scattered sealing-jutsu scrolls before, but the runes inside are too obscure. I still can't understand the hand-seal logic or chakra-guidance methods within them. I heard that you once studied under the Fourth Hokage, and Lord Fourth Hokage had extremely high attainments in sealing jutsu. I wonder if you could give me some guidance on the basic theory of sealing jutsu?"

"Sealing jutsu?" Kakashi closed the Icha Icha Paradise in his hand. He raised his head, his gaze falling on Duanmu through the gap in his forehead protector, carrying a hint of scrutiny that was hard to notice.

"My teacher was indeed proficient in sealing jutsu, especially in combining Flying Thunder God with contract seals, but he never systematically taught me knowledge in that area. My specialties are Lightning Style and the use of the Sharingan. To me, sealing jutsu is only a supplementary skill."

He paused, then took a diamond-shaped Kunai from his ninja-tool pouch. A simple sealing rune was carved on the surface of the Kunai. "However, I can still teach you basic rune analysis. This 'halt' seal was the first sealing jutsu my teacher taught me. It's used to temporarily block an enemy's chakra flow. Try activating it with chakra first."

As he spoke, he handed the Kunai to Duanmu and lightly tapped the center of the rune with his fingertip. The originally dim pattern actually glowed with a faint golden light.

Duanmu took the Kunai, his fingertip lightly brushing over the pattern of the "halt" seal. He could clearly sense the chakra-guidance path contained within it.

He took a deep breath, mobilized the chakra in his body, and, following Kakashi's instructions from just now, carefully injected it into the center of the rune. At first, the chakra seemed to crash into an invisible barrier, running wild within the rune, and the golden light on the surface of the Kunai flickered on and off.

Duanmu did not grow impatient. Recalling the description of "chakra nodes" in the texts, he tried adjusting the angle of the chakra's flow, letting it slowly travel along the strokes of the rune.

A moment later, the "halt" seal suddenly lit up with a stable golden glow. A faint binding force came from the Kunai, as if even the air had frozen for an instant.

Interesting, Duanmu thought to himself. It seemed his understanding of sealing jutsu had indeed taken its first step.

Kakashi watched this scene, and a trace of approval flashed through the eye beneath his forehead protector. "You're teachable. The key to sealing jutsu lies in 'guidance,' not 'forceful infusion.' It's like controlling water—diverting is better than blocking. The 'halt' seal on this Kunai is only the lowest-level seal. Once you can activate it proficiently, I'll teach you more complex applications."

Although Sasuke, off to the side, was focused on adjusting his breathing in preparation for the afternoon sparring, he also noticed the interaction between Duanmu and Kakashi. He glanced at the glowing Kunai, and the tomoe in his Sharingan turned slightly, as if analyzing the structure of the rune.

To him, any knowledge that could improve his strength was worth paying attention to, even sealing jutsu that seemed not to have much connection to combat.

Sasuke did not immediately go forward to ask. He merely silently put the spare Shuriken in his hand back into his ninja-tool pouch.

He walked to the shade at the edge of the training ground and sat down, then took a clean strip of cloth from his scroll pouch and carefully wiped the Shuriken stained with sweat.

Sunlight fell through the gaps between the leaves onto the side of his face. The scarlet of his Sharingan faded, revealing his usual cold black pupils, yet that stubborn refusal to fall behind anyone could still be seen.

He thought of how Duanmu had asked Kakashi for guidance on sealing jutsu just now, then lowered his head and looked at the reddened skin of his own palm from repeatedly condensing chakra. His fingertips unconsciously rubbed the edge of a Shuriken—his Lightning Style training had not yet reached its limit, and there was still room to improve in his use of the Sharingan. Now was not the time to split his focus and touch other techniques, but that did not mean he would keep watching from the sidelines forever.

"All right," Kakashi said, interrupting Duanmu while he was still thinking. "Continue sparring. Duanmu, you attack first. Sasuke, while defending, pay attention to the trajectory of his attacks. Remember, the angle and timing of a Shuriken throw are more important than speed."

Duanmu nodded, tightened his grip on the Kunai in his hand, and fixed his gaze on Sasuke's upper body—this was the area ninjas attacked most often, and also the focus of defense.

He did not throw directly. Instead, he stepped half a pace forward with his left foot, tilted his body slightly sideways, and put on a feinting posture, while the Kunai in his right hand quietly gathered a faint electric light in the shadow of his elbow.

Sasuke immediately grew alert. His hands rapidly formed seals, his feet lightly tapped the ground, and his body slid half a meter to the left like a cheetah, avoiding the possible straight-line attack from Duanmu.

The instant he moved, Duanmu flicked his wrist. Three Shuriken without chakra attached flew out in a fan shape, respectively attacking Sasuke's left shoulder, right leg, and the tree trunk behind him—he was trying to seal off Sasuke's retreat.

Sasuke snorted coldly. His left hand accurately caught the middle Shuriken, while his body suddenly leaned backward, avoiding the other two. His right hand smoothly drew two Kunai from his ninja-tool pouch and threw them backhanded toward Duanmu's lower body.

Duanmu had already prepared for this. He pushed off the ground with the tips of his toes, his body spinning like a top. While avoiding the Kunai, the Lightning Style Kunai in his right hand finally left his grip, stabbing straight toward Sasuke's chest with a sharp sound of tearing air.

This strike was extremely fast, even leaving behind a faint blue afterimage in the air.

Sasuke's Sharingan activated instantly, the black tomoe spinning rapidly. The trajectory of Duanmu's Kunai became incomparably clear in his eyes.

He suddenly raised the Shuriken he had caught and blocked forward. With a crisp clang, the two weapons collided in midair, scattering a string of sparks.

Duanmu used the momentum to land and flung out two more Shuriken with his left hand, while Sasuke borrowed the force to leap backward and widen the distance. At the same time, his hands formed seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" A huge mass of flames sprayed from his mouth and swept toward Duanmu.

Duanmu's pupils shrank slightly. He had not expected Sasuke to use ninjutsu during sparring. He quickly formed seals. "Water Style: Water Wave!" A stream of water sprayed from his mouth and collided with the great fireball in midair, sending up a large cloud of white steam.

Within the steam, the two figures moved again. The sound of Shuriken slicing through the air, the clash of ninja tools, and the hum of flowing chakra intertwined, and the training ground instantly turned into a fierce battlefield.