Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 19: Sealing Techniques

Although every nation suffered heavy losses, it might appear that no one truly "won." Yet in reality, Konoha emerged victorious. This Second Shinobi World War was essentially instigated by the Four Great Nations seeking to seize resources from Konoha. Even though Konoha lost many shinobi, they ultimately defended their territory, fulfilling their strategic objective and thereby winning in the broader sense.

Still, despite their "victory," Konoha had remained largely on the defensive and lacked the capacity to launch a counterattack. Consequently, the four opposing nations, though defeated, never signed any harsh, one-sided treaties.

Although the war had not yet ended and many shinobi remained on the front lines, the conflict was clearly winding down. As a result, village life was gradually reviving and becoming livelier again. For Ishiro—who had lived in a wartime society ever since his arrival four years ago—this abrupt shift back to something resembling peacetime felt alien.

None of that, however, truly occupied Ishiro's thoughts. His focus these days was squarely on mastering sealing techniques. As he grew older, his body developed quickly, and his chakra reserves rose sharply. He now had roughly 15D of chakra. Since 10D of chakra is typically enough to cast C-rank ninjutsu, one could say Ishiro's reserves were around 1.5C.

To date, Ishiro still hadn't learned any C-rank ninjutsu—he simply didn't have time. Half his day was spent on physical training and taijutsu, while the rest went into studying sealing. So not only did he not have time to learn a C-rank jutsu, but his chakra was constantly drained by his sealing practice.

Over the course of his studies, Ishiro had managed to learn about half the sealing techniques in the Barrier Division's archive. This wasn't because he'd become a sealing master—rather, Iwagakure's sealing techniques simply weren't very extensive and most were relatively low-level.

Because of his exceptional chakra control, Ishiro enjoyed favorable treatment in the Barrier Division—crucially, he had authorization to study sealing techniques. In the library's dozens of bookshelves, several were locked behind specialized seals, requiring clearance to read. Most contained speculation and hypotheses about foreign sealing arts, with a good portion detailing insights on Iwagakure's own sealing techniques, while the remainder provided detailed instructions and data on a handful of actual seals.

Ishiro counted 17 C-rank seals and 6 B-rank seals in total. There were no A-rank seals in the archive; it was said that Iwagakure only possessed two such advanced seals, both stored in the Tsuchikage's personal archive.

Ishiro had learned the majority of the C-rank seals and could cast them. The few he hadn't mastered were primarily those mismatched with his attributes. As for B-rank seals, he had studied two in detail. His current chakra level wasn't high enough to cast B-rank seals outright, so he'd devised a clever workaround—splitting the seals into three discrete parts, practicing each section separately. Though he couldn't combine them yet, other shinobi had used his "three-step method" to master the entire B-rank seals.

Because of this accomplishment, Ishiro was approved to learn all remaining B-rank seals. After all, his approach had allowed Iwagakure to suddenly produce seven or eight new B-rank seal experts. While that might not mean much in Konoha, it was significant for Iwagakure, which only had three A-rank sealing specialists—one of whom was Onoki himself.

As a result, Ishiro's contribution was recorded as an A-rank mission, and he was granted access to all sealing techniques in the library. For Ishiro, this was an enormous step. Until now, even though he had mastered all the C-rank seals, he hadn't been permitted to learn the B-rank ones. It was only by repeatedly petitioning Lord Onoki that he'd been granted special permission to study a single B-rank seal.

Even so, it had cost him nearly all his contribution points from a year of work. Over that year, Ishiro had produced numerous storage scrolls and occasionally staffed the Barrier Core as a sensory ninja. His monthly income was around 600 contribution points. After expenses, he'd saved a little over 6,000 points total.

The payoff was worth it, though. In Iwagakure's system, C-rank non-combat missions yield a minimum of 10 points, B-rank yield at least 100, and A-rank at least 1,000. Combat missions typically pay double. Ishiro received the minimum bracket of 1,000 points for completing an "A-rank mission," giving him just enough to cover the 5 B-rank seals. He also earned additional perks—like 1 million ryo in cash. (For reference, D-rank missions typically pay 5,000 to 50,000 ryo; C-rank pay 50,000 to 200,000; B-rank 200,000 to 1 million; and A-rank 1 to 3 million ryo.) Ishiro got the bottom A-rank bracket reward of 1 million, so he was by no means dissatisfied.

Throughout this year, Ishiro spent most of his money on training. Each month, he invested hundreds of contribution points and tens of thousands of ryo into supplies (the village had curtailed monetary rewards for non-combat missions due to budget constraints from the lengthy war). He recognized the value of contribution points, so he bought everything that cost ryo with ryo, spending his points only when absolutely necessary. Thus, although he'd managed to save over 6,000 points, he had very little money to spare. Acquiring 1 million ryo in a lump sum left him feeling slightly overwhelmed.

It was worth noting that the pension Ishiro received because of his parents' sacrifice had ended a year prior—and he wasn't the only one affected. As the war dragged on, the village suspended all pensions for children who were capable of becoming ninjas, promising that once they qualified, they would be able to learn a C-rank jutsu free of charge, guided by a Chunin for one hour. For Ishiro, who already had a stable income through the Barrier Division, this arrangement was acceptable. But for many other kids, losing the monthly stipend abruptly increased their financial burdens, hindering their ability to train and slowing their overall growth as ninjas.

Currently, Ishiro had just finished studying five B-rank seals that he was nowhere near able to cast. So he pivoted to summarizing and improving the seals he had already mastered. Ishiro also possessed knowledge from his past life that, even though vague, granted him a broader perspective. For example, the library mentioned the Four Symbols Seal, but there was no record of the Five Elements Seal, something he recalled Orochimaru and Jiraiya both using. Nor was there any mention of Fire Sealing Method. These gaps helped point him in new research directions, setting him apart from those limited to the village's archived texts.

Because of this, Bunji (the Jounin Captain overseeing sealing in the Barrier Division) and Ishiro had spent considerable time exploring the concept of the "Five Elements Seal." Typically, performing it would demand a single person proficient in all five chakra natures, a feat generally limited to Kage-level shinobi. Naturally, Bunji felt a bit discouraged at first. Then Ishiro proposed the idea of having five Jounin, each aligned with one chakra nature, cast separate parts of a seal and combine them into one Five Elements Seal. The main question was how to ensure stability when five different shinobi created five different elemental jutsu and merged them without mutual interference.

Eventually, Meisha—who had spent his life crafting scrolls—suggested prearranging five scrolls, each with specialized runes. In theory, these runes would reinforce the points where the five sections would converge, preventing elemental backlash. So once the war began winding down, the Sealing Division freed up manpower to research these combined-runic Five Elements Seals. Under Meisha's guidance, and utilizing some new materials, they succeeded in producing a theoretical design for a brand-new type of scroll.

At that point, they thought the matter was concluded. No one expected to deploy such a technique anytime soon, so no actual Five Elements scroll had been manufactured.

But circumstances changed far more quickly—and far more dramatically—than anyone anticipated.

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The conflict was tapering off, so many front-line ninjas were returning home. One returning group, however, ran into trouble, thanks to a special ninja named Keimu. An experienced Jounin of Iwagakure, Keimu's peculiarity lay in the fact that he was the Jinchuriki of Kokuo, the Five-Tails.

Like others of his era, Keimu was no perfect Jinchuriki. He and his tailed beast never cooperated, and he was forced to keep it sealed at all times. Ordinarily, that was manageable, but during the war, the village had twice asked him to harness the Five-Tails' power. Doing so weakened his already-inferior seal.

Consequently, Keimu was among the first wave to be sent back home, with urgent orders to stabilize his beast's seal. Yet not long before he reached the village, the beast went berserk.

Perhaps the Five-Tails sensed a rare opportunity, giving it everything to break free.

Ishiro learned about this crisis while he was at home, practicing as usual. The Ninja Academy was on break, and with several free days, he was focusing on honing his Water-nature chakra transformation—an art he'd acquired over the past year. Unlike his Earth-nature, which he grasped in a single epiphany, Water-nature had come through steady progress. Though he had learned it, Ishiro still wasn't proficient enough to cast Water Release jutsu.

Abruptly, an Anbu squad arrived and informed Ishiro that he was needed outside the village, immediately, for a mission.

In a daze, Ishiro found himself being carried on an Anbu's back. The sight that greeted him upon arrival was astonishing:

Keimu's partial transformation into the Five-Tails—though incomplete—had already given him a gigantic form. He was rampaging, but the destruction remained minimal because Onoki was holding him in check with a powerful Earth Release. Even to Ishiro's novice eyes, the solution was only temporary. Keimu's stamina was flagging fast, and the seal containing the beast was visibly weakening. Soon enough, the Five-Tails would break free.