Chapter 39: Shiki Fujin

Masahiko's house.

Masahiko held the Shinigami mask in his hand and carefully examined it for nearly half an hour.

"Sensei! What are you looking at, even though it looks scary, it's just a mask."

The two students kept waiting impatiently for the whole time, Yuriko seemed okay, but Nanako was about to reveal her other personality.

"I'm afraid there's something in this mask…" Masahiko muttered.

After a careful examination, Mashiko's perception ability finally found something.

"It's a soul! Whose soul is this?" Masahiko muttered to himself again.

In this era, the soul is something unfamiliar to people. At least Masahiko never heard of any ninjutsu that deals with the soul until now. In this world, the soul can be manifested, some people can see it, and even manipulate the soul of the dead at will.

Masahiko took a deeper look at the Mask, and suddenly his expression changed and become serious.

"It's a terrible seal. I never expected the Uzumaki have such a powerful predecessor."

After observing the Mask for a while, Masahiko could finally guess where it came from.

This Mask is probably a catalyst for a certain technique. Around one hundred years ago, the Uzumaki's ancestor faced an invading enemy, the Uzumaki then use a powerful technique to fend the invaders. The technique managed to destroy all of the enemies and also sealed their souls inside the Mask. And for one hundred years, the soul kept fighting one another. The invaders' soul has already reached its limit, thus its knowledge, wisdom, and lost its will to fight, then became a death god that feeds only by absorbing the souls of others…

Masahiko Fuinjutsu is already level 6, but he thinks that it's still not enough to apply a sealing technique as powerful as the one on the Mask. He estimates that the ancestor who used this seal is probably around level 8 of Fuinjutsu. And so does the enemies who he needed to seal at the cost of his life.

The identity of the enemy's soul, which was trapped inside this Mask, is still unclear. Although in the warring states period, a conflict between two forces does frequently happens, only sometimes either side becomes committed to exterminate the other or launch a full-force assault.

Because they always fear, whoever loses will be left vulnerable for the other Clan to attack. So generally, when one side has felt like they already have driven into the corner, they will try to negotiate a cease-fire or peace, they'll even pay for tributes. But it seems that the Uzumaki's ancestors would rather die than compromise with this enemy, indicating that the enemy is probably a foreign force!

From the plot of the anime that Masahiko has seen in his previous life, he estimates that the enemies are probably the ancestors of the Gold and Silver Brothers from Kumogakure.

"The Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers are quite interesting. They could devour the nine-tails flesh and blood, and control Rikudo Sennin's Six Treasures… Damn Kishimoto, how many brain cells have you fried to come out with this plot!"

"Sensei, who are these brothers? And who is Kishimoto?" Nanako asked.

Masahiko's face turned stiff, then he looked at her, "Did I said something just now?"

When she nodded, Masahiko helplessly slapped his forehead.

"Oh, boy… Nothing, it's just… you know sometimes Sensei likes to mumble to himself something that doesn't make sense, you don't have to think about it." Masahiko simply didn't want to explain.

"Ah Nanako, could you catch a chicken for me?"

Nanako looked confused, but she was still willing to catch the chicken.

"Sensei, what do you want to do with the chicken?" Yuriko asked Masahiko while Both of them looked confused.

"Sensei will show you how to kill a chicken."

Yuriko seemed a little bit confused but still excited nonetheless. A child is just a child.

After a while, Nanako came back, holding the struggling chicken by the feet.

"Hold the chicken steady, snake – boar – ram – hare – dog, Fuinjutsu – Release!" After he performed a series of hand seals, the Mask somehow changed its facial expression, showing a creepy smile, "Fuinjutsu – Chicken Sealing Technique!"

The chicken's soul is escaping from its body. The chicken which was moving before now stopped its struggling. Nanako, who was holding the chicken, felt dizzy, then she suddenly collapsed.

Seeing this, Masahiko quickly put a seal on the mask "Four Symbols Seal!" He re-sealed the Mask, then he held Nanako using the other hand, and the spiritual manifestation from the previous fell back into the Mask.

"Did I just witness the rebirth of the Shinigami! But because of its hunger, it's still fragile. It can only seal a chicken soul. But it can make Nanako dizzy. Well, for a high practitioner like me, the Shinigami doesn't have any effect on me."

"Sensei… What are you doing…?" Nanako gradually regained her energy. The moment she saw the lifeless chicken in her hands, she quickly threw it away, then she stared at Masahiko.

"Nothing, nothing, you're okay." Masahiko shook his head, again and again, feeling a little guilty.

"Give me my mask!" Nanako grabbed the Mask then pointed at Mask in Masahiko, but he didn't respond at all.

"Did you just kill the poor chicken?" Nanako shouted.

"Eh… Yeah…" Masahiko smiled helplessly.

"Nanako, Sensei has sealed the Mask back, you don't need to worry…" Yuriko beside him tried to help.

Nanako's face turns red, and she was about to explode.

Half an hour passed by. Masahiko comforted Nanako, and now she looks calm.

"Nanako, you must keep this Mask safe. When it's time, I will reinforce the seal, the Clan might end up using it." Masahiko explained.

Then Masahiko explained the origin of the Mask to the two girls, and both of them listened carefully.

"So this Mask contains the souls of the enemies? Why not destroy it?" Nanako asked after she understood the story behind it, and began to wonder.

Masahiko got stunned since he knew that this Mask is the Shiki Fujin, he never thought about destroying it. It's a critical Ninjutsu that various Characters will use in the future, and he didn't want to change the plot…

Hesitating, again and again, Masahiko's finally made his mind, "This ninjutsu should just be lost in time."

He's still afraid of the consequences. However, with a Rasengan, he destroyed the Mask completely, at that moment, he felt a sigh of relief. When he finally made his mind about this matter, a voice interrupted him.

"Ah, Sensei, no my mask…" Nanako was about to explode again.

"This is what you've asked me to do…" Masahiko said to Nanako upon seeing her, but she didn't seem happy about it. Therefore, Masahiko quickly ran out, "I want to check on Kenichiro's practice, you two can go to the mask festival and have fun. You don't need to practice today!"

Masahiko went to the third training ground muttering to himself: "These kids have no respect for their Sensei…"

He looked at Kenichiro practicing from a distance, and felt some comfort in his heart, at least, one of his students is reliable.

"1493, 1494, 1495… 2000. If you can't do that, you will do sidekicks, two thousand times" the moment he saw Masahiko coming over, Kenichiro bounced upright, "OOH! Battle Time!"

Mashiko's face turned black…

"No way! Forget it, I'm going home…"

when masahiko came back at home, a familiar Chinese sentence suddenly flashed in Masahiko's mind, comforting his heart that was broken by his students.

"Witness and Change a Major event in the story of this World: Shiki Fujin. Reward: 2 (*10) Witness Point."