The Flying Thunder God Cursed Seal

When the Hokage spoke with his subordinates, it was only natural for Anbu to stand guard.

But if the Hokage spoke with a subordinate in a private capacity-for instance, as a teacher, or as the teacher of his own student-

Under such a change in roles, the Anbu members would all choose to leave, giving the Hokage sufficient privacy.

Xia Yan had once had a subordinate who served in the Hokage's office. Almost every time Shimura Danzō, Utatane Koharu, or Mitokado Homura arrived, the Anbu had to leave.

Yet now, not only had these Anbu stayed, they were "guarding" the office even more attentively.

On top of that, the Fourth Hokage's voice was rarely heard within the Anbu. Almost everything was decided unilaterally by the Third Hokage.

With such thought-provoking circumstances, Xia Yan was hardly worried that Minato Namikaze might have no other ideas.

After all, Xia Yan had already quietly dropped a few hints through Kakashi.

Add to that the friendly relationship he had shown with Kakashi, his five years of service in the Anbu, and his current position as an Anbu squad leader.

Every one of these was a necessary condition for attracting Minato Namikaze's attention.

As long as Minato Namikaze genuinely wanted to obtain the Hokage's authority and genuinely wanted to change Konoha through that position, his conflict with the Third Hokage could never stop.

Even setting everything else aside, the Uchiha alone were enough to cause considerable friction between him and the Third Hokage's faction.

Carrying on Jiraiya's will and ideas, Minato Namikaze wanted the Uchiha to reintegrate into Konoha.

However, to the Third Hokage's interest group, which had inherited the Second Hokage's will-especially the likes of Danzo-the Uchiha were an existence that had to be dealt with.

Two ideologies, old and new; a clash between reality and ideals. Xia Yan was rather looking forward to it.

It was just a bit of a shame...

Xia Yan sighed silently, then slowly walked out of the Hokage Building.

The weather was fine that day. Sunlight from above fell on Xia Yan, making him frown slightly despite himself.

He did not know whether it was because he had spent too long in the Anbu, but whenever he put on his mask, he found it somewhat uncomfortable to walk beneath Konoha's sunlight.

That strange, inexplicable feeling made Xia Yan smile wryly to himself. The Anbu really was no place for a person.

"Still, this meeting could count as a perfect one."

Touching the scroll in his pocket, Xia Yan quickly composed himself, then swiftly concealed himself in the darkness.

In fact, the scroll Minato Namikaze had given him was simply an introductory text on Sealing Jutsu. Xia Yan already had things like that himself.

He was, after all, a member of the Senju Clan. Even if they had declined to the utmost, to the point that even they themselves were somewhat unclear about their identity, they still had a little of their heritage left.

Mito Uzumaki had, after all, been a princess of the Uzumaki Clan. Although some of the Sealing Jutsu she left behind had been handed over to Konoha, a great deal had never been given away.

Some of what had not been handed over remained in the Senju Clan, now under that elder's care.

As for the rest, no one knew where it was. Many guessed that those Sealing Jutsu had vanished entirely into the river of history along with the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan.

But Xia Yan did not think so. Although he had yet to find an opportunity to investigate the old Uzumaki residence on Konoha's outskirts, which was practically half-abandoned, he felt that quite a few things were definitely hidden inside.

The reason he had not investigated was that there was still a member of the Uzumaki Clan in Konoha.

Although Kushina Uzumaki had married Minato Namikaze, Xia Yan did not believe she would never go over there to take a look.

It was probably also because she was still alive that Konoha had not touched the place yet.

"But when Konoha did make its move, they actually left the Reaper mask there. That really was unbelievable."

Of course, that was merely something to say. Konoha did not know how to undo the Reaper Death Seal, so naturally, they would not know the importance of the Reaper mask either.

The Reaper mask did not matter. It was enough that Xia Yan knew roughly where another portion of the Sealing Jutsu was.

He had even decided that, whatever choice he made in the future, he would visit that place at certain specific times.

Especially now that he had an immense need for Sealing Jutsu, whether or not he needed to master it, he had no intention of letting those Sealing Jutsu fall into anyone else's hands.

With such a vast "fortune," Xia Yan naturally had little interest in the "introductory textbook" Minato Namikaze had given him.

Likewise, Xia Yan believed that Minato Namikaze could not possibly be unaware that learning the basics of Sealing Jutsu was best done with hands-on instruction.

"If someone could get started just by reading a textbook, what would they need a teacher for?"

Walking slowly forward, Xia Yan kept his body hidden in the shadows, thinking things over as he went.

Minato Namikaze's actual purpose in giving him this scroll was not to have Xia Yan read it at all. He was merely using this method to conceal his true move.

Those who did not practice Sealing Jutsu would not know much about this. Likewise, even to those who did practice it, there was nothing wrong with giving Xia Yan a textbook to read beforehand.

It had to be said that his position as Hokage was rather uncomfortable. He actually had to use a method like this to truly meet with Xia Yan.

But this approach also made Xia Yan understand something: Minato Namikaze now seemed to have some ideas concerning the Anbu and such.

The scroll was indeed an ordinary scroll, but the moment Xia Yan received it, he had already used his sensory abilities to examine it thoroughly.

Naturally, he had discovered the little secret hidden within the scroll. There was also a very special Cursed Seal inside.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the Flying Thunder God Cursed Seal."

Indeed, Minato Namikaze had left just such a Cursed Seal inside the scroll-a Flying Thunder God Cursed Seal.

If they could not speak properly in the office, then naturally, they could only do so somewhere without anyone else around, outside the Anbu's "protective range."

Xia Yan did not know when Minato Namikaze intended to come looking for him, but he did not mind either, because he himself had already read the Flying Thunder God scroll.

"Rather than wait for him to come to me, I might as well activate the Cursed Seal directly. It would be better for me to take the initiative and contact him."

To gain someone's trust, one first had to be sufficiently candid oneself.

This time, Xia Yan intended to be a little more candid and tell Minato Namikaze clearly that he knew about Flying Thunder God.

He could even tell Minato Namikaze that his name was not Fukami Natsuhiko at all. It should be Senju Natsuhiko.

He believed that Minato Namikaze actually knew this information as well.

After all, even without any real power, he was still the Hokage...