Chapter 31

He thought that if he thoroughly mastered all this, transcending mortality and achieving immortality would not be far off. By then, the bottlenecks of the chakra system would not be able to stop him at all.

The Nine-Tails within the seal suddenly shuddered.

It had the distinct feeling that something bad was about to happen to it.

Its instincts told it that the source was that Uchiha brat outside.

No, I need to hide!

The Nine-Tails retreated deep into the seal, not daring to leak even a trace of chakra.

"Hm?"

Kushina was the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, so it could not hide such a disturbance from her.

She wondered, "What's wrong with the Nine-Tails today? It's being this well-behaved? It's like it's afraid of something. How strange."

Still, this was a good thing to her. So long as the Nine-Tails did not make trouble, her life was much easier.

Kushina glanced at Uchiha Yan, then turned to Tsunade. "All right, leave the sealing techniques to me. I guarantee I'll teach him until he learns them."

She patted her chest, brimming with confidence.

"Hehe, then I'll be counting on you."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes with a smile. She could already imagine Kushina being crushed by Xuan's monstrous learning speed.

It would definitely be interesting.

That day, Xuan stayed at Kushina's house and began learning sealing techniques.

Tsunade went straight back to the hospital to slack off.

Two minutes later.

[You have learned the sealing technique: One-Line Lantern Technique. Through practical application and mental rehearsal, you have fully mastered it.]

Ten minutes later.

[You have learned the sealing technique: Fire-Sealing Seal. Through practical application and mental rehearsal, you have fully mastered it.]

Half an hour later.

[You have learned the Five Elements Seal. Through practical application and mental rehearsal, you have fully mastered it.]

"How is this possible? You learned it so quickly, and mastered it so well?"

Kushina had taught him more than a dozen sealing techniques in one go. Xuan learned every single one the moment she taught it, and mastered each one just as quickly.

Moreover, he used every one of them more skillfully than she did.

She was starting to question her entire life.

"You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"You must have learned these sealing techniques a long time ago, right?"

Kushina glared at Uchiha Yan, her cheeks puffed up in anger.

What else could it be? Who could possibly be this absurd, learning something after one look and practicing it to this level?

Uchiha Yan shrugged helplessly and pinched his fingers close together. "My talent is really only a tiny bit better than an ordinary person's. If I'd already learned them, why would I come all the way here and ask you to teach me? Because you're pretty?"

Kushina's cheeks immediately flushed red. She raised her hand and tapped him on the head. "Don't talk nonsense. You're only three! Pretty or whatever... even if you say that, I still don't believe you. You really hadn't learned them before?"

"I really hadn't!" Uchiha Yan shook his head vigorously. "I figured it all out myself."

Kushina narrowed her eyes. "I'm starting to suspect that Sister Tsunade knew about this all along and deliberately sent you here to crush me."

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. "No wonder she was so enthusiastic earlier, and that expression she had when she left looked a little smug. So she was waiting to laugh at me? That's too much!"

That woman was really devious.

The more Kushina thought about it, the more convinced she became that Tsunade had suffered a setback at Uchiha Yan's hands and been crushed by him, so now she wanted to drag Kushina down with her.

"Just you wait!"

She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, silently swearing that she would make Tsunade pay later.

After coughing twice and noticing Uchiha Yan was still beside her, Kushina quickly lowered her fists and put on a serious expression. "Since you're so talented, keep learning from me. I want to see just how far you can go."

System notifications continued to appear.

The Chakra Seal was completely mastered.

The Contract Seal was fully comprehended.

The Four Symbols Seal was perfected, and from it, he derived an entirely new Eight Trigrams Seal.

Uchiha Yan explained his insights to Kushina. The more she listened, the more stunned she became. "You're incredible! You actually derived the Eight Trigrams Seal from the Four Symbols Seal? It's so much stronger than simply using two Four Symbols Seals together. It's more complete and more powerful!"

In fact, Mito Uzumaki had mentioned the concept of the Eight Trigrams Seal to her before.

But even the Eight Trigrams Seal Mito Uzumaki used was, bluntly speaking, merely two Four Symbols Seals layered together.

At its core, it was still the same old Four Symbols Seal.

But the Eight Trigrams Seal Uchiha Yan had just explained was completely different.

It was a truly complete version.

It was countless times stronger than that crude imitation pieced together from two Four Symbols Seals.

Uchiha Yan smiled. "It's all right, I guess. Want to learn it?"

"Once you master this new seal, you can completely replace that unreliable imitation Eight Trigrams Seal on your body. Then, you'll be able to keep that thing inside you completely under control."

Uchiha Yan grinned at Kushina, his eyes carrying a hint of pride.

The moment Kushina heard that, her face went pale. Her eyes widened as she stared at him. "Y-you know?"

"What else would it be?" Uchiha Yan spread his hands, looking utterly unconcerned. "There's such a huge mass of special chakra sitting there. It's not like I'm blind. Besides, after studying so many sealing techniques, I can clearly sense the traces of the seal on you."

Kushina lowered her head and tightly gripped the hem of her clothes, her voice muffled. "Then... do you think I'm a monster too?"

"Huh?" Uchiha Yan rolled his eyes, speechless. "What is going through that head of yours? It's just a little thing sealed inside you. Is that really worth it? Why would I think you're a monster?"

There was absolutely no logic to it.

(Nine-Tails: **! Who are you calling a little thing, brat? Your whole family is little things!)

Sensing Kushina's intense emotional fluctuations from within the seal, the Nine-Tails could not help extending a sliver of its consciousness outside for a look, only to catch Uchiha Yan talking so boldly.

It instantly bristled.

If Uchiha Yan did not give it a bizarre, bone-deep sense of danger, it really wanted to slap him and let the boy see what a real size difference looked like.

"Uh..." Kushina froze. Before her mood could sink, he had already left her both amused and exasperated. "Do you even know what's sealed inside me? Does the Nine-Tails really have so little presence in your eyes?"

"I know." Uchiha Yan shrugged, his tone as casual as if they were discussing what to eat that day. "It's just a tailed beast. What's so special about it? Just think of it as keeping a little pet in a cage. This Eight Trigrams Seal I came up with is simply a sturdier cage. Afraid it'll get out? Just replace the cage with a new one."

Kushina could not help bursting into laughter. "A pet? Hehehe..."

Put that way, the Nine-Tails suddenly did not seem so terrifying. It even seemed a little pitiful.

What exactly did Xuan think tailed beasts were?

(Nine-Tails: I'd like to know what this brat thinks I am too!)

The Nine-Tails roared in fury, intending to forcefully break through the seal and send out some chakra to properly teach Uchiha Yan a lesson.

But the moment it poked its head out—

"Hm?"

It met Uchiha Yan's icy eyes head-on. A terrifying pressure of spiritual power and golden-red ocular power washed over it like a bucket of ice water.

The Nine-Tails trembled all over.

Can't afford to provoke him. Time to run.

It decisively retreated deep into the seal.

A wise man did not fight when the odds were against him. So what if the brat insulted it a few times?

"It's fine. That thing has thick skin. A few hits won't matter."

"If it really came down to a head-on clash, it's hard to say who would be the one suffering."

"Hm?"

This time, Kushina noticed the abnormality as well. She sensed that the Nine-Tails inside her seemed somewhat off. Raising her eyes to Uchiha Yan, she asked in surprise, "Can you see the Nine-Tails? What did you do just now? Why do I feel like it's a little afraid of you?"

She increasingly felt that this Uchiha boy was hiding quite a few secrets.

"Nothing."

Uchiha Yan smiled and shook his head, his tone relaxed. "Just a small trick on the spiritual level. You don't need to feel burdened by being a jinchuriki. To me, it's no big deal. Let's hurry up and learn the Eight Trigrams Seal."

"All right!"