The morning sun spilled across the Uchiha compound, catching on lacquered armor, burnished steel, and the faint shimmer of training fires. Keiji walked past them all, ignoring the shouts of sparring youths and the grunts of soldiers at the practice dummies. His path was not toward the yard or the dueling ground.
No, today he went deeper. Into the elder's wing. Where silence lay heavier than iron.
His father's words still echoed in his mind.
"Strength is nothing without versatility. Fire alone will not win the Youth Competition. Go to Elder Senzō. Learn what most of this clan has forgotten."
Keiji had blinked when he first heard. "Sealing arts? But… isn't that an Uzumaki specialty?"
Madara's eyes had narrowed, hard as obsidian. "True. But power belongs to those who grasp it, not those who hoard it. Our clan once dabbled in many paths—fūinjutsu among them. Most abandoned it for fire and blade. But Senzō never let it go."
And so Keiji came to a door unlike the others. It bore not the Uchiha fan, but spirals of faded ink, brush strokes curling into symbols that made the air feel strange.
Keiji slid it open.
---
The Sealing Elder
The chamber was dim, lit by oil lamps that sputtered with the faint scent of smoke. Scrolls lay stacked in high piles, their edges frayed with age. The air was thick with incense and ink.
At the center sat a silver-haired elder, brush in hand, painting with strokes that seemed to pull the air inward. His half-lidded eyes glowed faintly, the Sharingan hidden but never gone.
Without looking up, the man spoke. "Come closer."
Keiji bowed. "You must be Elder Senzō."
The elder's lips curved faintly. "Rare for one so young to know my name. Yes. I am Senzō Uchiha. Keeper of what this clan calls useless… and what the wise know is priceless."
Keiji knelt across from him.
"Tell me, boy," Senzō said, dipping his brush into the inkstone, "what is fūinjutsu?"
Keiji thought. "The art of sealing? To trap, preserve, suppress chakra?"
"Too shallow." The brush slid, drawing a spiral that seemed alive. "Fūinjutsu is the art of control. To bind chakra is to bind fate. To preserve power is to defy death. To seal is to declare: this, and only this, shall be."
His eyes, suddenly sharp, fixed on Keiji. "Remember that."
---
Lessons in Ink
Senzō rolled out a blank scroll and handed Keiji a brush.
"Ink is your weapon now. Begin with the containment circle. Smooth. Unbroken. Even a single flaw, and the seal becomes a curse upon you."
Keiji dipped the brush, his hand steady but unsure. The spiral he drew bled too quickly, blotting the paper. Behind him, Gengar chuckled darkly.
"Focus," Senzō snapped. "Ink is yin made visible. It carries intent. Falter in your stroke, falter in your will. Again."
Keiji exhaled, dipped again, and tried slower. The spiral took shape, cleaner, but lifeless.
"Not enough," Senzō said, tone sharp but not unkind. "A seal is not just ink. It is chakra made manifest. Pour yourself into the brush. Command the line."
Keiji inhaled deeply, focusing his chakra. He guided yin through his arm, into the brush, into the ink. This time, as he drew, the spiral gleamed faintly. The strokes felt alive, as if pulsing with intent.
Senzō's lips curved slightly. "Better. You learn quickly."
---
Knowledge Passed Down
Hours slipped into dusk as Keiji practiced. Senzō's dry voice wove knowledge with every stroke.
Storage Seal – a pocket of space folded within ink, holding tools or weapons.
Binding Script – a restraint to paralyze chakra for a heartbeat.
Barrier Lines – simple wards to repel chakra or physical blows.
"These," Senzō admitted, "are child's play to Uzumaki. But for an Uchiha, they are a foundation most never touch. Our people hunger for flames and steel, not patience."
Keiji paused. "Then why do you?"
For a moment, the old man's brush stilled.
"Because genjutsu bends the mind, and fire devours the flesh. But sealing… sealing defies time itself." His voice dropped, quiet as ash. "I have preserved memories of the dead. Held essence in ink when bodies were gone. That is a power greater than flame."
His eyes, for the briefest instant, softened. "Perhaps you will not forget this, even if others do."
---
First Trial
At last, Senzō produced a clay jar. With a flick of his fingers, a blue fire bloomed inside it, licking the rim without consuming it.
"Seal this flame."
Keiji unfurled parchment, painting quickly. His hand trembled at first, but steadied. He pressed the scroll against the jar, pushing chakra into the ink.
The spiral glowed. The fire bent, shrank, then vanished with a hiss, drawn into the parchment. The scroll pulsed warm in his hand, faint as a heartbeat.
"Acceptable," Senzō said. "Now unseal it."
Keiji pressed his palm to the ink. "Release!"
The flame burst out wildly, nearly searing his sleeve. He yelped, slapping at it as Gengar howled with laughter.
Senzō's eyes glimmered faintly with amusement, though his face remained stone. "Control, boy. Sealing is easy. Releasing without disaster—that is the true art."
---
The Forbidden Scroll
Night had fallen when Senzō returned with an ancient scroll, its parchment yellowed, ink faded but intricate. The symbols curved like chains, spirals interlocked.
"This," he said gravely, "is a relic. An Uchiha attempt to bind Tailed Beasts. It was abandoned; too unstable, too dangerous. But perhaps… with your strange aura, you might awaken it."
Keiji stiffened. "My aura?"
"Do not feign ignorance. Yesterday, your genjutsu carried something more than Uchiha yin. Whatever clings to you—it may bend ink as it bends shadow. Show me."
Gengar floated forward, grin stretching impossibly wide. Its spectral aura leaked like mist, curling around the scroll. The parchment trembled.
Keiji's heartbeat quickened. Still, he obeyed. He pressed his palm to the scroll, focusing yin, tracing the patterns. Gengar's aura seeped into his chakra, and the Eidolon within stirred, shadow overlapping flesh.
The seal glowed. Symbols shimmered. The spiral lines bled outward like veins.
"It's responding," Keiji whispered.
Senzō's eyes widened. "Impossible. That seal has been dead for generations."
---
Chains of Shadow
The parchment pulsed, a heartbeat of ink and chakra. Whispers filled the chamber, low and layered, countless voices speaking at once. The scroll's markings shifted, stretching beyond the parchment, crawling across the floor.
Ink lines writhed like chains. They reached for Keiji's wrist, curling around his skin, burning cold and hot at once.
"Stop!" Senzō barked, his Sharingan flaring. "Release your chakra—now!"
But Keiji's arm was already ensnared. The black chains crawled higher, glowing with ghostly light. His veins lit beneath his skin, as if the seal sought to bind him—or merge with him.
Gengar leaned close, eyes red, grin sharper than a blade. For the first time, Keiji felt not companionship, but hunger. Predatory. Urging him to accept.
Senzō's voice shook, thin with fear. "Keiji—if you do not break free, that seal will consume you!"
The chamber walls erupted with ink, seals spreading like wildfire. The air grew suffocating, heavy, unnatural.
Keiji gasped, struggling to move, but his body would not obey. The whispers grew louder, drowning his thoughts.
Then the parchment burst, and darkness swallowed the room whole.
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End of the Chapter
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