Chapter 97: Yin Seal and Shikkotsu Forest
In the deep, dark corridor, Tsunade felt countless eyes on her.
"I've always said," Dana said as he walked, "that a laboratory doesn't have to be so gloomy. But it seems ninja believe that this is the only way to make it look secret. This is not some dark place for human experiments. It's just... traditional."
Tsunade was silent, her thoughts a mystery.
They came to a room filled with精密instruments. Two figures were operating something. Behind a large glass wall was a hospital bed. Though she couldn't see the face, she knew, instinctively, who it was.
"Dan!" she cried, pressing her face against the glass.
"Long time no see, Grandpa Yoshitoki, Jonin Anzai," Dana said to the old man in the corner. "What are you doing here?"
There was only one person Dana would address with such respect: the old man who had cured his "bloodline disease," Yoshitoki.
He had grown even older in the past few years, but with better care, he was not as slow as he had been in that small mountain village. He had thrown himself into his research and medical work, and it had given him a new vigor.
And Mamoru Anzai, after the incident years ago, had, with his long-held passion for medical ninjutsu, given up the life of a conventional ninja, despite his Jonin rank, and had become one of Yoshitoki's disciples. He now looked more like a doctor than a ninja, always in a white coat.
"Oh, it's little Dana," Yoshitoki said. "This patient's condition is very interesting. I come by every now and then to record the data."
Dana looked at Tsunade, who was now biting her lip. "Well then," he said, "since you're here, you must know more than anyone. Grandpa Yoshitoki, would you be so kind as to explain the patient's condition to this lady?"
Tsunade turned to look at the incredibly old man. She had a faint memory of him.
"This patient suffered a massive blood loss from an external wound," he explained. "He was in a state of extreme hypovolemia, which led to a lack of oxygen to the brain, causing damage. Even after using a Healing Talisman to infuse him with life force and restore his hematopoietic function, it was no use. I have used various medical ninjutsu to completely heal his injuries, including the brain damage, which I treated with the 'Life Return Jutsu,' but he will not wake up. I heard that this ninja possessed a strange jutsu that allowed his soul to leave his body. I believe this case will be very useful in studying the relationship between the brain and the soul."
"You are a medical-nin yourself," Dana said to Tsunade. "You should be able to tell if he's telling the truth."
"I need to examine him myself."
"Impossible."
"I came all this way," she said, her fists clenched, "and you're just going to let me see him through a piece of glass?"
"I suggest you calm down," he said calmly, sensing her agitation. "A deal is a deal. I told you at the time, you could have refused. I don't owe you anything. In fact, I still haven't received what you promised. You weren't just trading for Dan Kato's life, but your own. If the Ashen Bandits hadn't held back, you would have all died there. The fact that you're even here, yelling at me, is something you should be grateful for."
"If you want to try and take him and run, go ahead. I have more than enough countermeasures in place. You won't leave here alive. And it would be a shame for your teammate. Do you even know where he's being held?"
She bit her lip so hard that blood trickled down her chin. "What do you want me to do?" she said, her voice filled with a desolate emptiness.
The name "Kokuto" was the last straw. She should have known, from the day she had chosen to make a deal with the enemy, that she had, in effect, betrayed her village.
Dana nodded to Mamoru, who stepped forward and placed a hand on her. He then formed a one-handed seal.
"Ninja Art: Acupoint Sealing Technique."
A reddish chakra erupted from her body, and a strange, metallic smell filled the air. She felt several of her acupoints being sealed, and she could no longer access a single drop of her chakra.
"It will hold for two days at most," Mamoru said to Dana. "Maybe even less."
"I'm not a monster," Dana said to Tsunade. "You will report to Jonin Anzai every day to have the seal reinforced. You can, without the use of chakra, research a way to treat Dan Kato. But you will also cooperate with the other researchers. You are both a researcher and a research subject. From this day forward, you have no further connection to Konoha. Do you understand?"
"I... understand," she said with difficulty.
"Then, hand it over."
That night, Dana returned to the Yotsuki compound and sat cross-legged in the training grounds. To his left was a normal-sized scroll. To his right was a massive, barrel-shaped scroll, over a meter tall.
He calmed himself and then opened the smaller scroll.
"As complex as I thought."
The Strength of a Hundred Seal, or the Yin Seal, was a sealing jutsu of the Uzumaki clan. The earliest known user was Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the First Hokage. But she was likely not its creator. In the original story, it seemed that only women could learn it, as all its users had been female. And the "Yin" in its name.
But from the contents of the scroll, he judged that it was not exclusive to women. It just required a very fine control of chakra and a great deal of patience, which female ninja were more likely to possess.
It was an incredibly complex jutsu. It required the user to circulate their chakra in a special way, guiding it drop by drop. It was as intricate as painting with gunpowder. A single mistake could result in failure and injury, which was why it was recommended that the user also be a medical-nin, so they could heal themselves.
"But I'm not going to learn it the normal way."
The conventional Yin Seal stored non-elemental chakra because it was the most stable and gentle. But for him, the most stable and gentle was lightning. And he could control it at will.
He decided to just do it. He could always stop. It was almost impossible for him to be harmed by his own lightning.
He gathered a small amount of lightning-natured chakra and began to circulate it according to the method in the scroll. It was a long process. Sometimes he would feel a stinging sensation, as if a blocked gate had been opened. Sometimes he would hit a dead end and would have to change course.
The final step was to seal it. This part was not so difficult. After all, neither Tsunade nor Sakura had been sealing jutsu masters. With his half-assed sealing skills, he could manage. After three failed attempts, he finally succeeded.
"It seems I can choose the location of the seal."
He hesitated for a moment, then decided against the rather feminine location on the forehead.
A faint light flashed, and a diamond-shaped mark appeared in the center of his collarbone. Unlike a normal Yin Seal, this one, made of lightning, was a deep, ocean blue. The size of the mark was not related to the amount of chakra stored. Otherwise, it would grow into a birthmark with prolonged use.
At present, there was not much chakra in the seal. It would have to be accumulated over time. A single Yin Seal could store an amount of chakra equal to ten to thirty times the user's normal reserves, depending on the individual. The more chakra you had, the more beneficial it was.
He touched the mark. He felt nothing. The only difference was the color.
"Thirty times is good, but I wish I could have more. Like, ten of them. A 300x Kaio-ken. A necklace of them would be nice."
He then looked at the massive scroll. He unrolled it. A list of names was written inside. The second to last name was "Hashirama Senju."
This was the other thing he had gotten from Tsunade. It was probably the most expensive Healing Talisman in the history of the ninja world. Unfortunately, she had said she couldn't steal the legendary Scroll of Seals. He wasn't sure if she couldn't, or just didn't want to.
Compared to the Ryuchi Cave contract he had seen from Orochimaru, the Shikkotsu Forest scroll had very few names. The name before Hashirama's was so old it was almost faded, and it was not "Senju."
I don't know if this is the scroll the God of Shinobi used to carry on his back, but it's definitely the summoning contract of the great sage region, Shikkotsu Forest.
This scroll was of a special significance to him, and to the Cloud. This wasn't just a single spot on a contract, like with Ryuchi Cave. This could become a legacy. And Katsuyu's abilities would be of great help to the village.
He decided to try it himself. He had heard that the three sage regions were mutually exclusive, but it didn't cost anything to try. What was there to lose? If it didn't work, he could just give it to his father to find a suitable contractor in the village.
He bit his finger and, using his blood as a medium, performed the contract jutsu, then tried to write his name on the scroll.
"It actually worked? I thought the three sage regions were mutually exclusive."
He was a bit confused.
"Well then, let's try summoning Katsuyu. A small one."
Shikkotsu Forest had only one inhabitant: the great slug sage, Katsuyu. All contractors summoned a part of her body.
He formed the summoning seal and offered a small amount of chakra. Based on his experience with the little snakes, he expected to summon a slug about the size of his palm.
"Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram."
Poof.
The slug did not appear. But Dana had disappeared from the spot where he had been standing.
A gust of wind blew, adding to the awkward silence.