10 *Sniff, Sniff* He Only Wanted Me For My Fuinjutsu

     Sozen had pushed his Body Flicker Jutsu to its limits, trying to get to the Uzushiogakure hospital. It wasn't like he was critically injured or anything but internal injuries were always serious and best if treated right away.

     After checking himself in and being treated by the attendant Medical Nin, he was told he needed one day of bed rest before going back to work. This, of course, caught the attention of the Uzushiokage Shenron, who appeared in Sozen's treatment room, as soon as the Medical Nins departed.

     "So, Sozen, my Anbu inform me that your here because a Genin kicked your ass. Is that right?" Shenron looked at Sozen, with an amused smile.

     "Well, as much as I hate to admit it, it's more or less true." Sozen responded feeling a bit ashamed.

     "What do you mean, 'more or less?' Either he did or didn't, which one isn't?"

     "Well, I was basically just trying to save some face but it was mostly due to me having severely underestimated his abilities. Then again that's not really something a shinobi should ever do and so it's not really all that face saving, I suppose."

     Shenron stared at Sozen blankly for a moment.

     "Buahahahahahaha! You really did get your ass kicked by a Genin! Ahhhhahahahahaha! Ohhh, I have to thank you, Sozen, that really made my day! Ahhhhahahahahaha!"

     Sozen sat there in silence for several minutes, cursing that damned Uzushiokage in his mind, before Shenron finally composed himself and asked, "So, about this Genin? Even if you did underestimate him, he must have been decently powerful to be able to put you in here. Is there anything specific I should know about him?"

     "That's actually something I wanted to talk to you about. The kid, Yusuke, said that he had developed some type of nearly unbeatable Fuinjutsu that could protect him from almost any attack. He basically taunted me saying I wouldn't be able to land a single hit on him if I tried.

     "At first I thought he was just bluffing and trash talking but then…" Sozen paused, unsure of how to continue. The Uzushiokage, however, wasn't in a very patient mood.

     "And then, what?"

     "And then all of the clothes he was wearing fell off of his body and into a liquid puddle on the ground. I can only assume this was supposed to be some type of demonstration but, as it turns out, all of the clothes he wears are actually just ink that he controls to take whatever shape he wishes.

     "From the very start, I had assumed he was bluffing about that Fuinjutsu he had supposedly created but, even if its effects turn out to be exaggerated, he does seem to have created some kind of seriously impressive Fuinjutsu that I'm pretty sure you would be interested in.

     "Aside from that, the kid basically confessed to having been hiding his abilities and the reason I'm like this is because of that Fuinjutsu. After reshaping his 'clothes' onto his body there was a bunch of ink left over. I think he can somehow compress that ink and make it seem like it's less than what it is. 

     "Anyways, with that leftover ink, he shaped two black ink clones that he can apparently manipulate with his Puppet Master Jutsu. It was those clones I was fighting. I tried to roundhouse kick one of them and my kick seemed to have sliced the thing right in two but, whenever I had turned around to use my jutsu on the other clone, I suddenly felt an immense pressure on my side and got sent flying.

     "Those damned clones apparently can't be damaged, which is basically what Yusuke had told me beforehand. So, whatever that Fuinjutsu is, if it can make clones like that and also store projectiles and Ninjutsu that's definitely something to look into, right?" Sozen finished.

     "Hmmm...yes, that is extremely interesting. A Fuinjutsu of that level, it sounds like it would be S-Ranked, at least. That, however, is only considering its danger and potency.

     "Even if the kid is a genius, surely he can't perform S-Ranked difficulty Fuinjutsu, at his age. If this Fuinjutsu is S-Ranked and can be performed by someone who isn't even a master, that would be a massive breakthrough for our village. 

     "You say he mentioned hiding his abilities. Yusuke? Yes, I remember Yusuke. One of my adorable little nephews. If I remember correctly, he accompanied us on a trip to Konohagakure a while back. 

     "Yes, it was just after the war ended and I had gone to offer my condolences, among other things, to Lord Hokage over the deaths of the Lords First and Second. The little brat ran off, as soon as we got there, and the Hokage had to send an Anbu to babysit him.

     "If I'm not mistaken both his parents died in the war and he still lives in his parents house, by himself. There are a couple of my siblings that are always fussing over him. 

     "I'm sure that house, of his, has plenty of barrier Fuinjutsus on it and he gets plenty of privacy in there. Hmph! Seems like the perfect place for a crafty little shinobi to get up to all kinds of mischief! Haha! Yes, it seems, Sozen, that you might have a little schemer on your hands and you're right about me being interested in that Fuinjutsu.

     "Schedule another sparring session, with Yusuke, the first chance you get. This time I'll be there, with a couple of Uzumaki Fuinjutsu Grandmasters, to watch and we'll find out all about this new Fuinjutsu. Until then, rest up and stay healthy." Shenron said, as he tossed an apple to Sozen, who plucked it out of the air.

     "You know what they say? An apple a day keeps the Genin away! Ahhhhahahahahaha!" Shenron continued laughing hysterically at his own joke all the way down the hall.

[===== Two Days Later =====]

     Yusuke had to spend a few minutes explaining to his teammates everything that was going on but, once they understood, they quickly returned to their old selves and went their separate ways.

     It was two days later, and Yusuke was in a fairly large indoor arena. He had never been here before and had no idea such a thing existed under the Academy.

     His Sensei had told him to meet him here, by himself, and they would have another, more thorough, spar to find out the extent of his abilities. He was even more excited about getting to go all out this time than last time, because he knew that his Sensei would be going all out, as well, right from the beginning.

     There would be no taking it easy or putting on a show for the others. This was going to be the real deal.

     Yusuke had been walked into the center of the arena, where Sozen Sensei told him that the Uzushiokage and a few of his friends would be watching their match. He wasn't that much surprised by this revelation and just pretended they weren't there. It didn't change anything. This fight was what was important right now.

     Yusuke excreted two large balls of ink from his back which quickly formed into Nij Clones. His five Death Sphere Puppets appeared soon afterwards and he switched into his Sealing Fist stance, as he nodded at his Sensei.

     After witnessing Yusuke's nod, Sozen also shifted into a ready position. Then from the stands, where the Uzushiokage and his friends were sitting, they heard the Uzushiokage say, "Begin!"

     This time Yusuke immediately Flickered towards Sozen, who happened to have had the same idea, and they both met in a powerful clash that neither of them was prepared for.

     Both of their arms were feeling the strain of that impact but Yusuke was feeling it even more. Even so, Yusuke ran Lightning Chakra through both his body and his Kunai and then activated his Nij's Solidify Mode, as he gave way a bit, allowing Sozen's kunai to impact with his ink.

     This was the moment he chose to utilize his Body Flicker Jutsu once more. After losing the battle of strength against Sozen, he was no longer directly facing him but was turned slightly so that, when he activated his Flicker, he impacted quite forcefully with Sozen's shoulder, tearing a nasty gash into it for the first clean hit of their match.

     But Yusuke didn't stop there, Substituting himself with one of his Nij Clones and immediately performing another Flicker from his new position towards Sozen.

     During their initial clash, Yusuke had maneuvered all five of his puppets and all three of his Nij Clones into a circle around the two of them. Using this set up, he continued to Substitute himself at various points around the circle and following up with a quick Flicker.

     This was almost like a poor man's Flying Thunder God Technique, only much less awesome much less instantaneous. It was, however, fast enough to cause Sozen quite a bit of trouble, since his clones and puppets didn't just stop attacking him, whenever Yusuke Flickered. Sozen not only had to constantly dodge Yusuke's Substitution Flickers but also all of the projectiles and Ninjutsus being thrown at him, from the surrounding clones and puppets.

     Sozen wanted to find a second to escape this encirclement but could barely spare a second to think about the multitude of attacks coming his way, much having time to perform jutsus.

     Upon seeing Sozen having so much trouble with this young Genin, Shenron stood up and said, "Halt!"

     Shenron then Flicked into the middle of the arena and told Sozen to go sit in the stands. Sozen seemed quite reluctant but did so any ways. Shenron then cast off his Uzushiokage cloak and revealed the battle armor that was concealed beneath it. It was black and blue and looked quite similar in fashion to that worn by the First Hokage.

     "Alright, Yusuke! I think you've made your point! Now, let's get down to business." He said, as he made the Seal of Confrontation and six clones appeared beside him, three on each side. The three clones of some variety, Yusuke suspected Water, immediately began running towards him while both perfectly dodging the attacks from his Nij Clones and puppets and rapiy forming hand seals.

     The six clones let loose a variety of Ninjutsu all at once and all flying directly at Yusuke's real body. 'I see now. They truly aren't interested in anything but my glorious Fuinjutsu. Even if I pull off the most masterful moves ever seen and beat the Uzushiokage into the ground, these people are going to keep probing me, until they find out all of my secrets.

     'Well, if they want to see the power of my Nij so badly, then perhaps I should indulge them a little.'

     After thinking these thoughts, Yusuke activated his Nij's Enclosing Mode, recalled his clones, reshaped his appearance to that of the grown shadow person he had first created that he called Nijimon, and just sat down in the middle of the arena.

     All of the Uzushiokage's various Ninjutsus arrived at Yusuke's position but none of them really made much of an impact, since they were all absorbed by Yusuke's Nij.

     The Uzushiokage then looked curiously at Yusuke simply sitting in the middle of the arena and smiled. Once that smile reached his ears, he immediately produced twelve more clones, before rushing towards Yusuke's position spewing forth an endless stream of Ninjutsus.

     Of course, the result was the same as last time. Once the dust stirred up by all the commotion cleared up, Yusuke could still be seen sitting calmly in the Lotus position. For all intents and purposes, he seemed to be a black statue that someone had misplaced.

     Yusuke was currently surrounded by the Uzushiokage and his many clones, but he didn't have a care in the world. His Nij was damn near perfect and there was very little it couldn't handle. Of all of the defenses throughout the Naruto-verse described as perfect, this is the only thing that even comes close to the only real perfect defense, which is a three hundred sixty degree always active space-time barrier. Basically, being in another dimension.

     Shenron spread all of his dozen plus clones out in a circle around Sozen. He then had each one assault him with projectiles. As the clones sent wave after wave of senbon, shuriken, and kunai towards him, Yusuke just sat there calmly watching, as they all disappeared into his Nij.

     Shenron then switched some of his clones to perform Ninjutsu and renewed his assault on the Genin. The result was the same, nothing affected Yusuke or his Nij. It was all absorbed and stored for Yusuke's later use. If anything, this was a smorgasbord for Yusuke. While the Uzushiokage hadn't yet used any super high ranked jutsus, he was still essentially handing him a free arsenal of both Ninjutsu and Projectiles.

     "I see. That really is impressive! I mean it's actually pretty basic, since if I'm not mistaken it's simply the Enclosing Seal and the Storage Seal that is somehow being applied to this Chakra Infused Ink. Am I right?" Shenron analyzed.

     "Mnnhmm. That's right. There are obviously a few other tricks mixed in there, as well, but that's just about the gist of it."

     "Alright then, if it's the Enclosing Seal and Storage Seal, then how about this?" Says Shenron, as he weaves a few hand seals.

     "Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

     Shenron then intakes a deep breath and spews forth a dozen fist sized fast moving fireballs, traveling in a column towards Yusuke.

     Yusuke, unfortunately, didn't realize until too late that there were kunai hidden among those flames. "Shit!" He immediately disengaged the Enclosing Mode and engaged his Solidify Mode.

     The Kunai had already impacted his Nij, by the time it Solidified, and so they were deflected but they were all tinged with ink as they landed on the ground.

     Yusuke could immediately tell that that ink was no longer part of his Nij. As a matter of fact, he noticed the disturbance as soon as the kunai tried to force their way into his Enclosing Nij. Whenever he disengaged the Enclosing Mode and Solidified his Nij, he knew that those bits of ink were ruined.

     While the Enclosing Seal could store most things including human bodies,it wasn't an absolute storage seal. There was a limit to the complexity of what it could seal. Normally, a shuriken could be sealed but the Enclosing seal was a bit overkill for something that simple. Something like a Ninjutsu, depending on its complexity, could also be sealed but, if you put the two together, the resultant combination would be rejected because the Enclosing Seal wasn't sophisticated enough to deal with an inanimate object surrounded by a mass of molded and shaped elemental chakra.

     "Hmm...so it seems your little trick isn't quite as infallible as you thought." Shenron goaded.

     "No. I knew it had this weakness. It's just not easy detecting objects hidden inside jutsus. I guess I was a little too relaxed and didn't react in time, otherwise, this wouldn't have happened.

     "I don't know how strong exactly my Solid State Nij is but why don't you help me test it out. Especially since you all seem to be so interested in it. I won't use the Storage or Enclosing Modes this time.  I'll just stick to the Solid State and that's it."

     "Hahaha! Sure kid! That is what we came here for, after all."

     As Yusuke reformed his Nij into a single adult sized clone with a Solidified Ink Sword in hand, Shenron pulled his own sword from his back. The two immediately dashed towards each other and clashed their swords together at full power.

      The two continued performing wild careless slashes clearly designed only to clash with their opponent's sword. This went on for several minutes, until Shenron finally called a stop to the spar.

     "Alright, Yusuke! I think it's safe to say that your Nij, as you call it, is plenty strong. If it can withstand all of those blows no doubt it can withstand a bit more and that's pretty damned impressive. So, Grand Masters, what do you think?" Shenron addressed the people watching from the stands.

      All of those present in the stands, except Sozen, had either stunned or contemplative looks upon their faces. "Hmmm...I must say," One of the Elders who looked contemplative, spoke. "I'm quite impressed by this Fuinjutsu of yours young man. Would you mind telling us what your achievements in Fuinjutsu? Or rather, what is the highest level Fuinjutsu you can perform?"

     "At the moment, if we disregard the formula for my Nij, the best I can do is the Five Elements Seal. I'm currently working on learning the Blocking Technique: Absorption Seal."

     All of the Elders looked puzzled by this, when the same Grand Master spoke up. "Are you saying that the Five Elements Seal was easier for you to learn than the Absorption Seal?"

     "Haha! Yeah, It's much easier! The only really difficult thing about it was the Chakra control requirement and, well, Chakra control is kind of my specialty. While I won't claim to have the best Chakra control, I can use twenty five simultaneous chakra threads and simultaneous chakra threads are what I train the most, aside from Fuinjutsu. It shouldn't be too long before I'm at twenty six or seven."

     At this point, all of the attendant Elders began speaking softly amongst themselves. This boy may just be a Fuinjutsu prodigy. In fact, just with his current accomplishments he could already be labeled as such. How they proceeded from here on out needed to be considered carefully. 

*****

*Copy Paste Of Update Information*

     What's up everybody? I just wanted to let you guys know that I've started a Pat reon account and, if you'd like to support me and get early chapters, you can do so at https://www.pat reon.com/paraditties starting on Oct. 1st.

     Although, I'll say that I don't really expect a whole lot of people to join at the moment, due to the slow updates. The main reason I set it up was to get some experience using pat reon for whenever I get my original novel going and, of course, to get a few extra dollars if I can. So, be warned, if you do sign up now, both the tiers and rewards will probably change, whenever I start my original work. 

     I know I said I'd be focusing on my original novel a while back but, if you've followed some of my other works, then you'll know that the only reason I'm writing these fanfics is to practice for my original work. That being said, I obviously want my original work to be as good as it can be and, maybe it's just me, but I feel like my writing in my witcher fic has been a notch above my other works. As such, I want to keep writing it for a dozen or more chapters so that way I can get used to that flow.

     I've also recently written ten chapters of a Naruto fic, (Reincarnated into Naruto Universe) yes that's what I've been doing, and it'll be posted to my pat reon tomorrow and it'll be available here in a week from now. This is an attempt to see if I can carry over the same quality as my witcher fic into another story. No, I don't expect people to pay for a story they know nothing about. I'm just getting used to the functions that I haven't used before. Also, my pat reon gives access to any chapters I post, not just one fic. The next chapter of my witcher fic should be up on pat reon sometime in the next couple days.

     I should probably add that this is the last fanfic that I will start before I switch focus to Reincarnated as Mort Flesh, my original work. 

     So, if you want to support me, you can can get early access to chapters and possibly even a few spoilers in the form of my list of ideas for each fic. Assuming that you're into spoilers. Alright, that's about it. Thanks for reading and, if you are only on webnovel just give it a week and a day or two for the next chapters arrive.