The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Hokage Advisors, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, stayed awake all night. They racked their brains but could not think of anyone capable of doing something like this.
Neji, on the other hand, slept soundly that night. A huge weight had lifted from his heart, and for once, he enjoyed a good night's sleep.
Early the next morning, Neji took out the Sealing Jutsu he had acquired from Root the previous night and began trying to learn them.
After looking over the least difficult one, the Five Elements Seal, Neji involuntarily frowned. "Without the prerequisite knowledge, this really is hard to understand."
For the first time, Neji, who had always been a genius when it came to ninjutsu, found himself unable to understand what he was reading.
Naturally, the Five Elements Seal was no simple technique if Root had deemed it worth collecting. Though it fell short when used to seal a tailed beast, it was still a powerful Sealing Jutsu. Learning it without a solid foundation would certainly be difficult.
Neji put away the Five Elements Seal scroll, then opened the Yin Seal scroll. This time, he understood the section on Medical Ninjutsu, but the portion concerning Sealing Jutsu remained a blur, like flowers glimpsed through fog.
He shook his head and reluctantly put the scroll away. As for the other ninjutsu scrolls, it was not yet time to study them. Once he solved the main problem, everything else would be manageable.
Learning Sealing Jutsu is strictly forbidden by the Main Family. I'll have to get some through Sasuke, Neji thought.
Activating his Byakugan, Neji looked toward the Uchiha Clan's compound. Sure enough, Sasuke was skipping class again and training alone at home.
Putting the scrolls away, Neji headed toward the Uchiha Clan's compound.
As for the Main Family's warning, Neji no longer paid it much mind. His attitude was simple: he would listen to what they said, but he would not change.
The Hyuga Clan would soon be heading to Kirigakure to visit the Kaguya Clan, so Neji had to hurry and master Sealing Jutsu.
He did not have much time left. At the very least, Neji wanted to master the Five Elements Seal.
The Five Elements Seal would already be useful. It was not enough to seal an entire tailed beast, but sealing a portion of a tailed beast's chakra would pose no problem.
Just as Neji approached the Uchiha Clan's training ground, Sasuke sensed someone coming.
When he saw Neji, a flash of delight crossed Sasuke's face before vanishing. He stopped training and asked, "Did you get what you wanted?"
There had been a huge commotion the previous night. Even somewhere as remote as the Uchiha Clan's compound had been searched by Konoha ninja.
Sasuke hardly needed to think to guess that something major had happened in the village.
Neji nodded. "I did. It fits my needs perfectly, and I even got a few extras."
Seeing the delight on Neji's face, Sasuke could not help asking, "What extras?"
"A few extremely powerful ninjutsu. Use any one of them well, and you could become truly formidable," Neji said.
"Then you got pretty lucky!" Sasuke did not ask what the techniques were, much less request them. Neji had risked his life to obtain them, and Sasuke knew where to draw the line.
Neji nodded. "I did get pretty lucky. Everything went smoothly last night."
Neji continued, "I don't know whether you'll be able to learn the ninjutsu I got last night, but I'll make you a copy in a bit."
After a moment of silence, Sasuke said, "Forget it. You risked your life to get those. I can't take them."
"You might not realize how much you've helped me, but I do. Just accept these techniques, and don't feel guilty about it," Neji said.
Sasuke still hesitated and refused to accept them. He felt that Neji's help had already repaid everything he had invested in him. Neji owed him nothing.
Neji urged him again. "I'll need your help with plenty of things in the future. The stronger you are, the better it is for me. When the time comes, I won't be able to manage without you."
"You still need my help with something?" Sasuke asked, puzzled.
Neji was already far stronger than him. He had infiltrated the Root Base alone without suffering a single injury. Sasuke thought Neji might be no weaker than the brother who had massacred his clan.
Neji nodded. "Of course. In fact, I need your help right now."
"All right, then. I'll accept them for now. Whenever you need help, just ask." After plenty of persuasion, Sasuke finally agreed.
"Get me a few Sealing Jutsu. They don't need to be high-ranking. Anything will do," Neji said.
Sasuke looked at him. "Don't you already have better ones?"
Neji looked a little embarrassed. "This morning, I looked over the two Sealing Jutsu I got last night and realized I couldn't really understand them."
After hearing Neji's explanation, Sasuke understood. At the same time, he felt secretly pleased. So even you have days when you can't understand a ninjutsu!
"So that's how it is..." Sasuke deliberately drew out his words.
"Heh." Neji gave Sasuke a sidelong glance. "Look how smug you are. You're acting like you could understand them yourself."
"Maybe I could," Sasuke said casually.
He certainly was not going to mention that the ninjutsu he had copied during that period included several Sealing Jutsu.
"You copied Sealing Jutsu with your Sharingan?" One look at Sasuke's smug expression told Neji what he was thinking.
With his thoughts exposed, Sasuke could no longer keep up the act. "You even guessed that!"
Neji gave a dry chuckle. "It would be stranger if I hadn't. It's written all over your face. If you had a tail, it'd be sticking straight up into the sky."
Sasuke was speechless. The Byakugan really was sharp. Apparently, there was some truth to the claim that it could see through people's thoughts.
He could only attribute this to Neji's Byakugan.
Watching Sasuke pretend nothing had happened, Neji said, "Enough chitchat. Let's head back first."
Without bothering with the kunai, shuriken, and other ninja tools scattered across the ground, Sasuke turned and headed straight home.
Once they returned to the Uchiha Clan's Clan Head's Residence, Sasuke rummaged through the cabinets and drawers and took out several blank scrolls.
Neji was already very familiar with the place. After spreading out a blank scroll, he took a brush straight from the holder on the desk and began writing.
For people like them, who possessed special dōjutsu bloodline abilities, remembering something after seeing it once was merely a basic skill.
Sasuke did not remain idle either. He picked up another brush and began writing on a separate blank scroll.
Sasuke had copied only a few Sealing Jutsu with his Sharingan—just four. Their ranks were fairly low, too, with the highest being only C-Rank.
Binding Formation, Cloth Binding Seal, Four-Corner Seal, and Six Directions Barrier. Neji stole a moment to glance at the Sealing Jutsu Sasuke had written down.
They're fairly basic, but they're suitable enough for me, Neji thought.
Compared with Sasuke's, what he was writing was far more complicated. Sasuke had already finished all four Sealing Jutsu, while Neji had yet to finish the first technique, the Spirit Transformation Technique.
"Spirit Transformation Technique?!" Reading what Neji was writing, Sasuke involuntarily frowned. "Is this an S-rank ninjutsu? It's so complicated!"
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