25 Soul power

As the afternoon sun began to set, Kirito knew that Mito would soon awaken from her rest. He decided to pay her a visit, anticipating her company and the possibility of continuing his training.

When he arrived at Mito's house, he noticed that Momoka was guarding her room, as usual.

To avoid disturbing her, Kirito wandered around the yard and spotted a girl with long red hair nearby. She looked at him with disdain and covered her nose, clearly repulsed by his presence.

"Hey, Kushina, how have you been lately? If you have any questions about sealing techniques, feel free to ask me, your big brother," Kirito greeted the red-haired girl with a warm smile.

Uzumaki Kushina, also eight years old, had recently been brought to Konoha by ninja. She was Kirito's younger junior sister, and they had met only a few times, the last being a week ago during Kirito's visit to Mito.

Kushina had a strong aversion to Konoha and was resentful of her impending role as the host for the Nine-Tails.

Kirito understood her feelings and didn't take her attitude personally.

"Go away, don't come near me!" Kushina exclaimed, taking a step back and covering her mouth.

Stinky kirito, talking to her before taking a bath

She then glanced nervously at Mito's room, aware that Momoka was keeping an eye on her.

"Shh, let's not be too loud," Kirito whispered, placing his index finger to his lips. He then continued, "I'm sorry about before. I just finished my taijutsu training and need to take a bath. Mito-sensei might wake up soon. If you have any sealing technique questions, you can ask me later."

With that, Kirito executed a quick hand seal, causing a complex and massive sealing circle to appear on the ground—a four layer seal. He then left Kushina behind and headed for the bath.

While Kirito bathed, Kushina remained captivated by the intricate sealing circle on the ground. Her eyes widened with astonishment as she realized that Kirito's sealing expertise was far more advanced than she had initially thought.

Just as she was lost in thought, Mito appeared at her room's doorway with a smile, silently observing Kushina's reaction to Kirito's display.

----

After his shower, Kirito changed into fresh clothes and returned to the living room, where he found a dozen of Nawaki clones gathered. They all wore looks of confusion and frustration, hunched over a complex sealing technique they couldn't decipher.

Although Nawaki wasn't particularly fond of sealing techniques, he had been diligently practicing them every day. His hard work was starting to pay off.

Over the past two years, Nawaki had divided himself into more than ten shadow clones to study and practice, resulting in significant improvements in his understanding of sealing techniques. He had now mastered the one layer seal and developed a thorough grasp of many sealing techniques.

At least this time, he won't be stepping on an explosive tag

"Kirito, you're just in time. Please help me with this; it's driving me insane."

"I've finally made some progress, but the formula you taught me last time doesn't seem to match."

"Argh, I can't take it anymore..."

The moment Kirito entered the room, more than a dozen Nawaki turned to him in unison, their expressions desperate for assistance.

Kirito effortlessly evaded the sneak attacks launched by the Nawaki with his agility and swiftly made his way to the yard. As he entered the yard, Nawaki hesitated and chose not to pursue him further, returning to his study of the sealing formula with a forlorn expression.

Walking through the yard, Kirito approached the house where Mito usually rested. The door to the room was already open, revealing Mito engaged in teaching Kushina the intricacies of sealing techniques.

Two years had brought noticeable changes to Mito's appearance. While she was no longer the young and stunning woman Kirito had first met, she now possessed the dignified aura befitting her age. Her once-beautiful long red hair had transitioned into an elegant silver hue, but the Yin Seal on her forehead remained unchanged.

Under Kirito's keen perception, he could detect that Mito's chakra had not diminished but, rather, had grown stronger. However, the once-sunny and benevolent chakra had taken on a colder and more malevolent quality.

It was an unmistakable sign that the Nine-Tails' chakra was beginning to seep out.

"Mito-sensei, I'm here," Kirito greeted Mito with respect as he stood at the door, offering a warm smile.

"Come on, sit down and have a look," Mito invited Kirito with a warm smile as she handed him a scroll.

Kirito entered the room, accepting the scroll with reverence. He playfully winked at Kushina, who was curiously peering over, and then carefully unrolled the scroll. Upon perusing its contents, his countenance grew serious.

The scroll contained a sealing technique unfamiliar to him, known as the Ghoul Sealing. It was an exceptionally potent S-rank sealing technique, categorized as an attack-type sealing jutsu. The practitioner summoned the God of Death, and at the cost of their own soul, sealed the enemy's soul into the body of the God of Death, resulting in the mutual destruction of both.

Given Kirito's proficiency in sealing techniques, it was entirely feasible for him to learn this technique, given some time. However, even if he learned it, he wouldn't be able to use it yet due to insufficient chakra.

The release conditions for this sealing technique not only required the sacrifice of one's own soul but also necessitated a ninja's level of chakra at the very least.

"How do you find it?" Mito inquired, noticing Kirito's expression.

"I understand it. I estimate it'll take about a week to learn," Kirito replied honestly.

"Great. As your homework, develop a soul-summoning ninjutsu based on this sealing technique. I'll give you until dinner," Mito stated with satisfaction, assigning Kirito a task he hadn't encountered in a while.

"Sure," Kirito replied enthusiastically, understanding Mito's intentions.

This Ghoul Seal technique possessed its own incantations for soul sacrifice. Kirito merely needed to extract these incantations and combine them with some common spells to swiftly create a simple ninjutsu for summoning his own soul. It wasn't too challenging for him.

As for why Mito had assigned him this task, it was evident that she was already aware of the prerequisites for him to learn the Soul spiritualization technique from the Third Hokage, and Mito had a method to evaluate his aptitude for it. Kirito harbored no doubts about this. 

After all, the Uzumaki clan had even developed an S-rank soul-sealing technique like the Ghoul Seal, and it was implausible that they hadn't conducted extensive research on the soul.

Tobirama probably inspired himself from their work when creating the edo tensei jutsu.

Now he needed only to complete the soul-summoning ninjutsu, and then he could ask Mito to assess his soul aptitude.

Without further ado, Kirito swiftly retrieved a summoning scroll and employed the Release technique to produce a blank scroll, pen, and ink. He proceeded to inscribe various spell formulas onto the paper with haste.

Kushina, who stood nearby, couldn't help but sneak a peek. She observed that Kirito was jotting down the spells on the paper without consulting the ones in the scroll. She couldn't resist muttering in disbelief, "You think you're so capable, not even bothering to reference the scroll. I don't believe you can create a new ninjutsu successfully without consulting the techniques written there."

Sealing techniques were exceptionally precise ninjutsu. If a single detail was incorrect, it would be impossible to activate the technique successfully.

A scroll was suddenly thrown at Kushina's head, making her yelp and grab her head in pain. She immediately diverted her gaze from Kirito and shifted her focus back to listening intently to Mito's explanation of the sealing technique.

Kirito's presence was highly pronounced, and with him being the sole occupant of the room, the curious Kushina couldn't help but occasionally sneak a glance to ascertain if Kirito had succeeded.

To her astonishment, a mere ten minutes later, Kirito declared, "It's done, Mito-sensei, please take a look."

Kushina immediately looked towards Kirito, just in time to see Kirito using his hand to follow the center of a spell array formed by many spells on the paper. With the injection of chakra, the entire spell array suddenly lit up. stand up.

The next moment, she saw a pure white Kirito floating out of Kirito's body.

"Is this successful?"

Kushina looked at the pure white Kirito and was extremely shocked.

She saw it right, that pure white Kirito was undoubtedly Kirito's soul.

"Is this the feeling of the soul coming out of the body? The vision is normal, and the perception has become sharper than usual, but it feels a little cold."

Kirito looked at his own body lying motionless on the ground, then looked at his current appearance, closed his eyes, and carefully experienced the changes in his current soul state.

At the same time, Mito carefully looked at Kirito's soul.

Soon, surprise appeared in her eyes, because she saw Kirito in the soul state walking around in the room, and the soul showed no sign of collapse, and was still extremely solid.

"It's such an amazing soul power, my disciple is really a monster."

The Uzumaki Clan's research on the soul is indeed very deep, because in the long time ago, there were many demons and ghosts in the world.

Among them, the mysterious and unpredictable ghosts are very difficult to deal with and difficult to eliminate.

Later, people discovered that these ghosts could be sealed by sealing techniques, and then wiped out through time.

The sealing technique for the soul was developed from this.

The Uzumaki Clan's research on souls developed during that time. The highest masterpiece is the Ghoul Seal, an S-level soul sealing technique that even half Nine Tails can be take away and sealed in the belly of Death.

Uzumaki Mito, as the princess of the Uzumaki clan, is also the strongest seal ninja today. Of course, she has inherited the legacy of the Uzumaki clan, and has a deep understanding of the soul and even the pure land.

Therefore, she is very aware of the fragility of souls undergoing out-of-body experiences for the first time.

Not to mention moving, it is estimated that there may be signs of collapse when a gust of wind blows.

And the Kirito soul in front of her is so special, she never thought that its soul is so powerful, and it is so solid that it can move as soon as it comes out of the body. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she might not be able to believe that everything in front of her is real .

After Kirito moved around the room for a while, he felt a little tired and had a tingling sensation.

He found that something was wrong, and under the surprised eyes of Mito and Kushina, he returned to his body smoothly.

Ten seconds later, Kirito opened his eyes again, and immediately found himself feeling as if his body had been hollowed out, and his spirit was very exhausted. He wished he could lie down on the ground immediately and have a good sleep.

He wanted to stand up and move his body, but he almost fell down. Fortunately, Kushina, who had sharp eyesight, pulled him quickly, so that no one fell to the ground.

"Thank you, Kushina."

Kirito thanked.

When Kushina heard this, her smiling face blushed slightly, and she quickly let go of the hand that was holding Kirito's shoulder.

As soon as she let go, Kirito fell on top of her kneeling legs.

"what!!!"

Kushina screamed immediately and pushed Kirito away forcefully.

Although Kushina looked small and thin, but his strength was not small, Kirito flew out of the whole body, hit his head on the wall fiercely, and then inserted it inside.

"You, are you alright?"

As soon as Kushina pushed Kirito away, she realized that she had done something wrong, and said with some fear.

Kirito's physical fitness was robust, so he managed to stick his head out of the wall with some effort. Blood streamed from his forehead, but he smiled at Kushina and said, "I'm fine."

However, his smile was short-lived, as he suddenly rolled his eyes and lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground and drifting into a deep slumber.

Kushina thought Kirito had succumbed, her face draining of color as she trembled in fear, gazing at Mito for help.

Seeing Kushina's alarmed expression, Mito couldn't help but suppress a smile. Upon noticing Kushina on the brink of tears, she consoled her, "Don't worry, this kid is resilient. He won't die. But when he wakes up, make sure to apologize to him. Now, take him to the guest room to rest."

Kushina immediately nodded obediently, gingerly picking up Kirito and quickly exiting the room.

As Kushina left, Mito's smile faded, and her expression grew serious. She addressed Momoka Senjou, who had knelt before her, "Momoka."

"Mito-sama, please give your orders."

Momoka knelt before Mito, demonstrating utmost respect.

"Go and summon the Third Hokage and that boy, Danzo. Tell them both to watch what happens to Kirito closely. If anything happens to him, they'll be in trouble," Mito instructed with a stern countenance.

Momoka Senju accepted the orders and vanished from the room using the Body Flicker Technique.

Mito couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Why did that fool Tobirama entrust the village to that imbecile Hiruzen? As for that Danzo, he's becoming increasingly reckless in his pursuit of his goals. He even learned the Will of Fire from a dog. I shouldn't have made that guy an advisor in the first place..."

Once Momoka left, Mito's expression grew somber, and she sighed with fatigue and irritation, "Hashirama, I can no longer comprehend the village you left behind. I hope Konoha's new generation continues to flourish, and everything returns to normal..."