"Alright, over here..."
After combing through the memories once more, Hii Kōri located the hidden compartment in the living quarters. Following the remembered instructions, he opened the mechanism and retrieved several booklets.
These were the ninjutsu notes left by the original parents, along with secret techniques of the Uzumaki clan. The latter weren't extensive—just a few sealing techniques and Yang Release secret arts with instructions for practice. But that only emphasized their value.
Things worth preserving as a clan's core heritage always had their unique qualities.
Leaning against the wall, he quickly flipped through them—not seeking deep understanding, just memorizing everything.
Fortunately, these booklets, deliberately prepared for a "child," weren't written obscurely. With his considerable experience in "techniques" and "barriers," Hii Kōri could easily grasp the concepts and extrapolate from them.
There were fewer than five ninja like Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, who could simply clap their hands and manifest whatever they wanted. In contrast, ordinary ninja needed hand seals to perform ninjutsu, and the twelve seals used in conventional techniques were clearly derived from the Nine Syllable Seals.
In Hii Kōri's original world, jujutsu sorcerers frequently used various hand seals and incantations when employing their techniques.
That bastard Gojō Satoru, for instance, used a variation of the Indra Seal when activating his Domain Expansion. Hii Kōri's own techniques and Domain Expansion utilized the Īśāna Seal.
As for barrier techniques, they were essential prerequisites for Domain Expansion. He'd also frequently used them to disperse unrelated people or conceal troublesome cursed objects.
In these areas, Hii Kōri could never be lacking in knowledge.
The only thing he'd never applied before was "Yang Release." For now, he could only cram it through rote memorization.
After all, it was a system primarily utilizing physical energy—not exactly in line with Hii Kōri's specialty. In fact, they were completely unrelated. Though he'd used the pendant to heal his injuries earlier, he couldn't understand this system so quickly.
Using techniques certainly required imagination, but research couldn't be so frivolous. These were things he'd be applying to himself; caution was always better. And even if he wanted to "unleash the power of imagination," there wasn't enough time right now.
Having committed the contents to memory, Hii Kōri didn't hesitate to burn the booklets he'd read.
Regular nature transformation notes aside, things like Uzumaki clan secret techniques—a defenseless "child" like him couldn't possibly keep physical copies on his person.
As bargaining chips, the difference between "possessing" and "having memorized" was enormous when one couldn't defend oneself.
"Really suspicious... so they had some connection with Sunagakure, huh..."
After disposing of the Uzumaki technique notes and flipping through the nature transformation manuals, Hii Kōri grew increasingly confident in his inferences.
When organizing the original owner's memories, he'd vaguely noticed clues from various details.
Since the original owner could remember, their family had occasionally received commissions to manufacture strange small parts. To his trained eye, these were clearly components for certain mechanisms—or more specifically, for puppets.
As everyone knew, the Puppet Technique was Sunagakure's signature skill. Even relatively unimportant parts probably wouldn't be entrusted to "unaffiliated persons" to manufacture.
Combined with that box of custom kunai, it was easy to conclude the original family had connections with Sunagakure.
After all, the Country of Rivers had no hidden village of its own. If anyone were commissioning finely crafted kunai, it would logically be people from either the Country of Fire or the Country of Wind.
And in those nature transformation notes, Wind Release accounts for an overwhelming proportion, with fresher handwriting—clearly added "recently."
For Hii Kōri, the word "chakra" more readily evoked the Indian philosophical concept of "cakra," but he did have some recollection of Naruto's energy system.
Chakra natures typically referred to the five regular elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth. And "nature transformations" meant imbuing ninjutsu with these elemental properties.
While nature transformation could indeed be learned, each person's constitution predisposed them toward certain elements from birth.
He vaguely recalled there being some tentacle monster in the original work who acquired different natures by stealing hearts—further evidence that chakra nature was a physical gift.
The Uzumaki clan were characterised by their robust life force and possessed 'yang' outside the five regular elements.
This emphasised physical energy. The formidable vitality of the Senju and Uzumaki clans was its most intuitive manifestation. Many secret techniques that altered body structure were typically extensions of Yang Release.
Therefore, in mixed-blood Uzumaki, the elemental tendencies of the non-Uzumaki parent would be further emphasised. Pure-blood Uzumaki, however, rarely displayed extreme tendencies towards any of the five regular chakra natures.
Uzumaki possessing Yang Release chakra generally experienced no obvious difficulty in transitioning between the five conventional natures.
They either specialized purely in Yang Release and sealing techniques, or if they pursued all five elemental transformations to broaden their tactical options, they wouldn't choose just one.
So unless this couple suddenly discovered latent Wind Release talent and rapidly advanced to compile these notes, they'd likely acquired them through trade elsewhere.
And as everyone knew, Sunagakure in the Country of Wind was practically all Wind Release users.
The answer spoke for itself.
Of course, there was also the possibility that, given their residence near the Country of Wind, Konoha had deliberately supplied large quantities of Wind Release materials to help conceal their traces—some kind of "I predicted your prediction" nesting doll scenario.
But let's not forget—this couple were originally "deserters" from Konoha.
If discovered, they'd be lucky not to be immediately executed for defection. There was no room for negotiation.
As for other, more distant villages, they weren't worth considering.
"Recruitment? Or some other reason... Oh, they probably needed sealing techniques..."
Though Hii Kōri wasn't entirely certain about this, considering the Uzumaki clan's most notable asset was precisely this area, what other reason could there be?
If so, the value of his Uzumaki identity and techniques as bargaining chips had just jumped several notches.
Even if, as a six-year-old child, he wasn't qualified to sit at the negotiating table, he still needed to make himself valuable enough to be worth keeping around.
Ninja, in essence, were mercenaries. And weren't mercenaries just another kind of businessperson?
Well... more or less?