Chapter 36

Uchiha Yan could not help laughing when he saw her like this. "You're way too nervous. I said it'll be fine, so it'll be fine."

Kushina rolled her eyes. "You think I want to be? Those Anbu people are such a pain!"

"Oh, right—"

Uchiha Yan suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, "Haven't you graduated from the Ninja Academy yet? Why haven't I seen you going to class lately?"

Kushina was only a little over eleven, still quite a ways from twelve.

"I haven't graduated."

Kushina nodded, then shook her head. "But there's no need to go anymore. The village would never assign me to a genin team to carry out missions anyway."

A trace of disappointment flashed through her eyes as she said this.

She knew perfectly well that ever since the day she became the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, Konoha's higher-ups had treated her like a weapon. They had never seen her as an ordinary person.

Uchiha Yan saw her mood and reached out to pat her head. "Don't be sad. To put it bluntly, you're being controlled because you aren't strong enough."

"From now on, train properly with me. Try to raise your strength to the point where even the Third and the others won't dare underestimate you."

"By then, even if they don't like it, they'll have to do things our way. What do you think?"

He felt a little sorry for the girl.

After thinking it over, he felt he should give her more in return.

After all, she gave him whatever he asked for, and her heart had long since been set on him.

Being too charming really is troublesome.

Uchiha Yan narcissistically muttered to himself.

"You're right!"

Kushina's eyes lit up, and she quickly regained her spirit. "Then let's work hard together! Once we're strong enough, we'll flip the old Third's table, smash up the Hokage Office to vent some frustration, and force them to give me my freedom while we're at it!"

As she spoke, she clenched her fists and waved them with adorable ferocity.

At that moment, the desire to grow stronger burned wildly in her heart.

Seeing her pull herself together again, Uchiha Yan's lips curved slightly. "You finally have your spirit back. I'll give you a method for training your spiritual power. It'll help your strength grow faster, and it'll also help suppress the Nine-Tails. I'll also teach you a set of basic body-tempering movements."

The moment he finished speaking, he reached out, pulled Kushina before him, and pressed his forehead directly against hers.

Kushina was still dazed, her face flushing, when a huge amount of information flooded into her mind—two complete cultivation methods.

He had also added a special seal that prevented Kushina from revealing the contents of the two techniques to anyone.

He had devised this seal himself while studying various barrier techniques, and he had not even taught it to Kushina. With it in place, not only could she not speak of it, but others could not steal it through genjutsu or mental intrusion either.

After finishing, Uchiha Yan released her and sat back down.

Kushina froze for a long while as she slowly processed what was in her mind. Her eyes widened more and more. "This... this is incredible, isn't it? There are actually cultivation methods like this in the world?"

She turned to stare at Uchiha Yan. "Did you come up with all of this yourself?"

It was no wonder she was shocked—these techniques were completely different from any method circulating in the Ninja World. Spiritual power could actually increase steadily this way, while the methods for strengthening one's body were absurdly simple. It hardly seemed real.

"Mm." Uchiha Yan smiled and nodded. "I made them all. Don't tell anyone."

"I'd like to, but didn't you already put a seal on me? Hmph!" Kushina puffed out her cheeks and glared at him unhappily. "You actually had another Sealing Jutsu hidden away and didn't teach me? That's too much!"

But before he could explain, her anger faded on its own, replaced by an understanding expression. "Still, this is good. I was worried I might accidentally let it slip. Having this safeguard is reassuring."

She understood it very clearly.

The Sealing Jutsu Uchiha Yan had taught her was already no less extensive than what she knew herself, and every single one was stronger than the techniques in her possession.

Besides, even if he had not taught her, he could have researched them thoroughly himself using the scrolls Tsunade had given him.

And now there were two more heaven-defying techniques.

Looking at it that way, she was the one benefiting from everything.

Her heart was filled with warmth.

She knew that Xuan did all this to help her grow faster and gain her freedom sooner.

Meeting Xuan was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to her.

"Xuan, thank you so much!"

Kushina called out to Uchiha Yan, suddenly stood up, leaned over, and quickly kissed him on the cheek.

After kissing him, she immediately shrank back into her seat in embarrassment. Lowering her head, she held up a book on sealing to block her face, not daring to look at him at all.

"This girl."

Uchiha Yan could not help shaking his head with a smile at her reaction.

"Oh, right, this is for you too. Body-Tempering Pills. Use them together with the Basic Body-Tempering Technique, and the results will double."

As he spoke, he took out another Sealing Scroll and handed it to Kushina.

"Use this whole bottle for now. Come find me when you run out."

"Mm, thank you."

That day, Uchiha Yan gave it some thought, found an opening, and used mental transmission to pass the Soul Refinement Art and Basic Body-Tempering Technique to Tsunade as well.

Naturally, he added the same seal so she could not divulge them.

He had always remembered kindness shown to him.

Tsunade had taught him all her most treasured ninjutsu and secret techniques, and she had always protected him. He was not the kind of ungrateful wretch who forgot favors.

He had to repay what he had received.

Besides, Tsunade becoming stronger would not be bad for him either.

Half a day later.

Still inside Kushina's house.

[You deeply studied the Sealing Jutsu: Adamantine Sealing Chains, gained considerable insight from it, made sweeping improvements, and ultimately created Adamantine Sealing Chains: Modified.]

[Adamantine Sealing Chains: Modified]: No longer restricted by Uzumaki Clan bloodline. Anyone can learn and use it, but its attack power is only half that of the original.

"Still not enough?"

Uchiha Yan stared at the result, his brows furrowing slightly. Looking down at the short section of golden chakra chain emerging from his palm, he muttered, "As expected, only the Uzumaki Clan's powerful life force can fully bring out this technique's suppressive power against Tailed Beasts."

"Huh?"

Kushina leaned over curiously. Looking at the golden chain in his palm, she wore a surprised expression. "Didn't you succeed? Its power is weaker than the original? That can't be right. When I saw you use it just now, it didn't seem any weaker than mine at all!"

Uchiha Yan withdrew the chain and explained with a smile, "That's because my own life force is strong enough. When I use it, it naturally reaches the original's level, so it doesn't look weaker."

"But if someone else uses it, without Uzumaki bloodline or life force as abundant as mine, its power will be greatly reduced."

Still, he had at least broken through the deadlock that one could not cultivate it without Uzumaki bloodline.

"It's already amazing!"

Kushina shook her head speechlessly. "Nobody else could create Adamantine Sealing Chains that anyone can use!"

"Your life force is too outrageous. It's practically on par with mine. Are you sure you really aren't from the Uzumaki Clan or Senju Clan?"

Uchiha Yan gave Kushina the impression that there was not the slightest trace of an Uchiha about him.

How should she put it? She knew quite a few Uchiha.

There had been plenty of them back at the Ninja Academy.

Most of them had their noses in the air and were hard to deal with.

So far, Xuan and Mikoto were the only two Uchiha she had encountered with decent personalities.

Uchiha Yan waved a hand. Kushina was not the first person to ask him that.

"My situation is special. I'll explain it later. I'm really not an Uzumaki or a Senju."

"Still, once I thoroughly figure out the secrets in your blood, it might not be impossible to cultivate an Uzumaki Sage Body through acquired means. Hehe!"

Uchiha Yan smiled brilliantly.

"Then wouldn't that make you half an Uzumaki clansman? I'm looking forward to seeing it! Hehe!"

Kushina's eyes sparkled.

The Uzumaki Clan had long since vanished, but if she could work with Xuan to build a new Uzumaki clan from scratch, she thought that would be pretty exciting.