Chapter 32: The Bet
Upon seeing Hyuga Mirai, Tsunade curled her lips and said, "I didn't expect you, kid, to actually succeed, even if it's a semi-finished product."
In Tsunade's opinion, the method of creating these Healing Tags was not only unskillful but also very crude; only the research idea was novel. Yet, this simple thing was something only a boy under ten in the entire Konoha Village could think of.
"Thank you for the praise, Lady Tsunade."
Hyuga Mirai didn't know what to say, so he could only offer a vague, all-purpose reply.
Vice Director Kimura, who was standing nearby, said to him, "Mirai-kun, the Hokage's order to us is to perfect the Healing Tag in the shortest possible time. At the same time, he also asked me to bring you some Sealing Jutsu scrolls. I will give them to you later."
Hyuga Mirai was delighted to hear this, but his expression remained unchanged as he said, "Vice Director, perfecting the Healing Tag is simple. It only requires a ninja proficient in Sealing Jutsu and Medical Ninjutsu to improve it. If such a person cannot be found, I will need ten days to learn Sealing Jutsu."
"Heh, kid, do you think Sealing Jutsu is some C-rank Ninjutsu that you can learn in ten days? If you can do that…"
Kimura suddenly interrupted, quietly reminding her, "Lady Tsunade, Mirai-kun learned Mystical Palm Technique in less than ten days."
Learned Mystical Palm Technique in ten days.
The expression on Tsunade's face froze. This brat had always communicated with her using an adult tone, sometimes even with a hint of disdain, which made Tsunade feel very annoyed, so she had been a bit sharp in her words. However, she had forgotten that standing before her was a genius.
"So what if he's a genius? Sealing Jutsu and Medical Ninjutsu are not the same."
Tsunade said, lacking confidence, her voice growing softer and softer. However, she then caught sight of Hyuga Mirai's gaze, and a spark ignited within her. Annoyed, she slammed the table and said, "Kid, don't be unconvinced. How about we make a bet? If you can't learn the Sealing Jutsu to improve the Healing Tag within ten days, you'll run errands for me for half a month. If you do learn it, you can come to me for any questions about Sealing Jutsu from now on."
Forget it, Lady Tsunade, if you want to win, you'll have to sacrifice a family member!
Of course, Hyuga Mirai only thought this to himself. He wasn't particularly averse to this bet. Hyuga Mirai had great confidence in himself; his goal was to perfect the sealing method of the Healing Tag within seven days.
Moreover, being able to consult Tsunade on Sealing Jutsu was also a good option. Within Konoha Village, there should be fewer than five people who could surpass Tsunade in Sealing Jutsu.
After a moment of thought, Hyuga Mirai bowed slightly to Tsunade and said, "Then I thank Lady Tsunade for her guidance."
"Ha, do you think you've already won!?"
Seeing Hyuga Mirai's calm and composed expression, Tsunade couldn't help but grind her teeth in anger.
"You annoying brat, if you lose, I'll make you run to Konoha Izakaya fifty times a day!"
Hyuga Mirai did not reply or provoke Tsunade further. If he hadn't been confident, he wouldn't have accepted this bet.
Afterward, Hyuga Mirai received a box of Sealing Jutsu-related knowledge scrolls from Kimura and went to his own office. This was specially arranged for him by Vice Director Kimura. Once Hyuga Mirai perfected the Healing Tag, the merits he earned would allow him to be directly promoted to Medical Jonin.
The assessment for Medical Jonin was completely different; it was tested by the Director and Vice Director of Konoha Hospital. After passing, a report would be given to the Third Hokage, and promotion would basically be granted.
However, although they were both Jonin, Medical Jonin might have less influence in the village than other Jonin. After all, Konoha placed great importance on mission experience, unless one could achieve achievements on the battlefield that were significant enough to draw attention, like Tsunade.
Hyuga Mirai returned to his office, closed the door, and began to study Sealing Jutsu.
"Shadow Clone Technique."
Because of the bet with Tsunade, he directly split into three Shadow Clones, plus his main body, which was four times his usual learning speed.
There were dozens of scrolls in total. Hyuga Mirai divided them equally into four portions, then the main body and the Shadow Clones began to read them together.
If they didn't read them in order, the slightly more advanced Sealing Jutsu knowledge later on might be difficult to understand. However, Hyuga Mirai's plan was to memorize all of them in the shortest possible time, then dispel the clones, and then create new Shadow Clones to practice Sealing Jutsu.
The Sealing Jutsu knowledge recorded on a single scroll was not very extensive, roughly equivalent to one book. However, Vice Director Kimura knew that Hyuga Mirai's Sealing Jutsu was not strong, so he directly emptied out the Sealing Squad's scrolls, from introductory to intermediate and advanced Sealing Jutsu rune applications.
There were also many annotations from Sealing Squad members, which were a great help for new learners.
With Hyuga Mirai's memory, saying he could memorize something after just one glance might be an exaggeration, but if he read a scroll carefully, he could memorize all of it after two or three times.
It only took Hyuga Mirai a little over a day to memorize all the Sealing Jutsu scrolls brought by Vice Director Kimura.
"Release!"
As the Shadow Clones dispelled, a massive amount of memories flooded into Hyuga Mirai's mind. It was his first time receiving the memories of three Shadow Clones, and for a moment, his head felt swollen and painful.
However, after a while, he sorted out the Shadow Clones' memories.
"So that's how it is. Sealing Jutsu runes are based on odd and even numbers for superposition, and for different Chakra natures, there are different odd and even sealing superpositions…"
After Hyuga Mirai absorbed the memories of the three Shadow Clones, he reviewed them in his mind and began to understand the principles of Sealing Jutsu.
Now that he thought about it, the seal on his semi-finished Healing Tag was truly ugly.
"Stability, precision, and one-shot completion. Moreover, the more advanced the Sealing Jutsu, the more demanding it is on drawing speed. If the first sealing rune is about to dissipate before the last sealing rune is drawn, then the Sealing Jutsu might fail."
Hyuga Mirai mused to himself. It seemed he would need to experiment many more times to perfect the Yang Release Chakra on the Healing Tag to its most stable state.
"Let's try it first."
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang!
Hyuga Mirai directly created a Shadow Clone, then slapped his palm on the ground.
"Four-Layer Sealing Barrier."
From Hyuga Mirai's palm, sixteen sealing runes spread out, instantly forming a formation on the ground that directly covered the Shadow Clone.
"Oh, as expected of the main body, to instantly think of improving the Sealing Barrier. I can feel it, the Chakra throughout my body…"
Before the Shadow Clone could finish speaking, the formation on the ground disappeared with a bang.
Hyuga Mirai shook his head and concluded, "I still thought too simply. My Chakra control ability can meet the requirements of Sealing Jutsu, but I need to think more about stability."
"It's also a problem that you know too few Sealing Jutsu. These are just applications of sealing runes; there are fewer than five Sealing Jutsu in total."
The Shadow Clone suggested, "Refer to the sealing runes of Exploding Tags, or try to apply for more Sealing Jutsu."
"That would probably require showing results first. Those higher-ups won't take action until they see something concrete."
Hyuga Mirai finished speaking, thought for a moment, and decided to perfect the Healing Tag as soon as possible, and then use it to make more demands on Konoha Village.
Also, the research report on gene cells could be released now. If Orochimaru had already started researching, he should come looking for him.
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