By the time the boy was carried into the medical room, the seal on his wrist had already crept up to his elbow.
Every black line contracted with his heartbeat.
The medical ninja first established an isolation ring at his shoulder to keep the technique from spreading farther toward his torso.
He did not sever the seal outright.
An unknown technique might interpret forced removal as a breach of contract and trigger a further eruption of chakra.
"Name?"
"Takumi."
"Age?"
"Eleven."
"When did the seal appear?"
"On my third day after enrollment."
Takumi had to catch his breath several times before he could finish speaking.
The Training Facility called it a Performance Seal.
The teachers said students could easily lose their way in the woods, and the seal could mark their location while preventing outsiders from stealing the training material.
When Takumi had the seal applied, he knew that crossing the training area's boundaries would trigger a warning.
No one told him the warning would be pain.
The first time he missed a class, his wrist felt as though a needle had stabbed it.
The first time he refused a nighttime mountain run, the black lines kept tightening until he finished the training.
This time, when he climbed over the outer stone wall, the seal crept straight up his arm.
"Why did you leave?" Gen asked.
"They changed tomorrow's assignment to live combat."
"What kind of live combat?"
"The teacher didn't say. He just told us to sign a form accepting responsibility for any injuries."
Takumi refused to sign, and his training debt increased by three hundred thousand ryo on the spot.
Only when he realized he would never be able to pay it off did he escape during a shift change.
The medical ninja divided the seal into three