Chap 21 - The Red Devils' Seal.

In one of the Hokage office's meeting rooms, Hiruzen was having an argument with the patriarchs of Konoha's main clans and his two remaining elders.

The patriarch of the Nara Clan, who leads the longtime 'Ino-Shika-Cho' alliance and has a great influence in Konoha, questioned the Hokage after reading the data contained in the documents in front of him.

" Hokage-sama, are you sure you intend to clash with Uzushiogakure even after all this information is confirmed? "

Hiruzen blew out a puff of smoke and replied:

" It's not a question of being sure or not. Uzushiogakure and Ryuuji Uzumaki started this conflict with Konoha and if we just accept it, our shinobis' morale will be drastically damaged, as will our Village's reputation with the potential customers. "

Seeing that the patriarchs frowned, Hiruzen continued speaking:

" Ryuuji Uzumaki not only dishonored the agreement between our villages, he also killed several Konoha shinobis, turned an important Konoha elder into a vegetable, kidnapped our dear First Hokage's wife along with a member of the Uchiha Clan, stole our military warehouse and stole the Kyuubi from us, which brought three other Great Villages to our borders. Tell me, do we have a choice but to retaliate? "

All the patriarchs knew that Hiruzen's speech was incomplete and out of context, but they all knew that was useless to question the man. He's still the Hokage and had the last word.

Especially the patriarch of the Uchiha Clan, who just kept silent with his eyes closed and showed no concern for the alleged kidnapped member of his clan.

This time, the one who answered the Hokage was the patriarch of the Aburame Clan:

" Hokage-sama, it's a matter of logic. We've already lost a lot when dealing with Uzushiogakure and Ryuuji Uzumaki, who was already much stronger than a Kage-level powerhouse a year ago. Can we really generate satisfying profits through this conflict and not just lose even more? With a war on our doorstep... "

Supporting the Clan Aburame patriarch's logical analysis, all the other patriarchs nodded.

Hiruzen felt a little angry at how the clan patriarchs were not considering Konoha's reputation and the weight of his own words as Third Hokage.

The old Hokage coughed to calm his heart and get the attention of those present before speaking again:

" To bring this issue to light, I sure have already started thinking about how to deal with Ryuuji Uzumaki. "

When Hiruzen finished his words, the door to the meeting room opened and Orochimaru slowly entered the place.

" You all know about my student's talent for learning and perfecting different types of ninja arts. Over the last year, Orochimaru has worked alongside Jounin Dan Kato to perfect a forbidden technique called Spirit Transformation. "

The patriarchs' eyes widened when they heard the name of the forbidden technique. The Hyuuga Clan patriarch was the first to support the Hokage actions to show the value of the Hyuuga Clan to Konoha:

" Hokage-sama, if your student is sure he can neutralize Ryuuji Uzumaki by attacking his spirit, then there's no reason why we shouldn't seek great compensation for Uzushiogakure's actions against Konoha. We must make them pay for they actions against Konoha. "

Hiruzen smiled slightly, but before he could confirm the start of preparations for war, the Nara Clan patriarch again brought things to a realistic level:

" Hokage-sama, Orochimaru-san…what information do you have access to that makes you sure that a spiritual attack will be effective against Ryuuji Uzumaki? It's not too risky to start a conflict against a very strong enemy on the basis of conjecture alone. "

Orochimaru's face got a little ugly, but Hiruzen didn't let him speak and answered the Nara Clan patriarch:

" Don't worry about it. Our conjectures are based on logical things. Ryuuji Uzumaki possesses an extremely strong body and very exotic abilities, but there is no indication that he has any way of protecting his spirit. In fact, there is no way for Ryuuji protect himself against a spirit-directed attack."

Seeing that some patriarchs weren't too convinced, Hiruzen knocked again while the iron was hot:

" Even though Spirit Transformation Technique isn't effective, I gave to Orochimaru another secret technique which I am sure will not fail. The only reason it's the second option is because the price of using it's way too high, but it's all for Konoha. "

Some patriarchs were still not convinced, but unfortunately, the final word is Hiruzen's and he was already decided to include Uzushiogakure in the Second Shinobi World War.

" Very well, Hokage-sama. But before starting this conflict against Uzushiogakure, we need to stabilize the skirmishes on the borders, especially in the Land of Rain, where the conflict seems to intensify with each passing day. "

" Very good. "

With a smile on his face, Hiruzen continued the meeting, already imagining the moment when Konoha would make Uzushio pay for the humiliation he felt a year ago.

What no one inside the meeting room noticed was the small beetle standing in one of the trees near the Hokage office, which turned into a cloud of smoke, transmitting all the information to the Original Ryuuji.

…

While Hiruzen and the upper echelons of Konoha were starting preparations for war, Ryuuji was already finishing his most ambitious project and which led to the System breaking the level 80 bottleneck of the Fuuinjutsu skill.

Looking at the large scroll open on one of the tables in his workshop, Ryuuji sent out a pulse of chakra, causing the various Fuuinjutsu formulas and matrices to converge into a single point, creating a small shape of the Uzumaki Clan's symbol.

Ryuuji smiled and looked at his uncle and his grandfather, who were standing beside him with expectations in their eyes.

Arashi had a big smile on his face, thinking about how this new Fuuinjutsu masterpiece can simply fully strengthen the Uzumaki Clan and Uzushiogakure.

" Brat, I can't believe you did that. "

Ashina Uzumaki stroked his beard, finally realizing why Ryuuji devoted nearly all of his training time to completing the creation of this set of seal. This thing would increase the productivity of shinobi training by several times.

" Uncle, would you like to test? "

Arashi nodded quickly and approached the table where the Seal was.

He placed his palm on the Uzumaki Clan symbol on the scroll and Ryuuji sent a pulse of chakra into the seal, causing the dark ink to integrate into his uncle's chakra pathway system.

Arashi looked at the small vortex in his palm and eagerly sent the chakra in a certain sequence to the seal.

In the next moment, the chakra sent into the seal coursed through his entire body before returning to the seal again and joining the rest of the chakra in his chakra reserves..

" Was that the scan? "

" That's right, uncle. You can now use the seal training functions as well as the emergency withdrawal function. "

Arashi nodded and sent his chakra into the seal at a different frequency than the first. The seal quickly converted the chakra into electricity through Lightning Release, this electricity coursed through Arashi's body and began causing micro-injuries to the man's musculature.

Arashi groaned in pain, but as he was a trained and experienced shinobi, he kept sending chakra into the seal.

Ryuuji and Ashina just watched as Arashi self-mutilated using the electrotherapy generated automatically by the seal.

Fifteen minutes later, Arashi finally ran out of chakra and fell on his butt on the floor of Ryuuji's workshop.

The red-haired boy smiled and extended his hand towards his uncle.

A strong golden glow appeared on Ryuuji's hand as he healed the micro injuries on his uncle's body and regained his chakra. After pushing his Uzumaki Physiology almost to the limit, he can finally use his body's medicinal characteristics without needing to be bitten.

Ashina's eyes widened as he noticed that Arashi's chakra reserves were slightly increased, as well as his muscles had a slight strengthening.

"My son won't look like a Raikage, right? "

Ryuuji chuckled and helped his uncle to his feet.

" No, grandpa. Uncle Arashi just needs to balance his diet and that way his muscles won't get as big as the Raikage. Most importantly, Uncle Arashi, try the Seal's second function. "

Arashi nodded and again sent his chakra into the Seal, this time in another movement sequence.

In the next instant, the ground beneath Arashi cracked and he dropped to his knees and instinctively began to circulate chakra through his body, increasing his physical strength.

" Looks like the gravitational increase function is working correctly, try using the third function. "

Arashi did as Ryuuji asked and soon his body began to slowly float.

" Gravity reduction also works. Grandfather, to test one of the next functions you will also need to place the Seal on your body. "

Ashina placed the Seal in the palm of his hand and the three continued testing the seal's other functions, which are storing chakra for later use and the function of communicating with others users of the seal.

A simple seal to store and compress sound waves used in conjunction with a storage scroll altered by Ryuuji so that the pocket dimension corresponding to the storage could be accessed by multiple scrolls, that way everyone equipped with the seal set could receive voice messages independently of distance.

" Now let's test the most important function. Uncle, can you run out of the Village and use the Seal's sixth function? "

Arashi did as Ryuuji asked and jumped out the window before starting to walk away.

Ryuuji took another scroll from one of the shelves in his workshop and opened it, taking a three-pronged Kunai out of it.

Ashina raised an eyebrow.

"Is this Tobirama Senju's jutsu? "

" We can say yes, but I made some changes to make it easier to use by adding some limitations, like the activation delay and the fact that the teleport destination will always be locked in the same coordinate. "

Putting the kunai on the ground, Ryuuji walked away and went back to explaining to his grandfather:

" This Seal function was done to ensure the safety of village members in an emergency. By sending chakra to the seal in a certain sequence, the Seal activates the Flying Thunder God Technique, sending the user to the marking that will be inside the Village.

This function will also be useful for our shinobi to send reports and other important materials without having to return to the Village during a quest. "

In the next moment, Arashi appeared in the place where the kunai was, after a red glow.

The red-haired man staggered and nearly vomited, but managed to hold back his will so as not to feel the wrath of his nephew, who sure as hell wouldn't be happy to have his uncle soil his workshop.

" It seems that all functions are working correctly. "

Ashina smiled happily.

" The future of the Uzumaki Clan really is in your hands, Ryuuji. It's a shame that only shinobi with a very high level of chakra control can really make good use of this Fuuinjutsu masterpiece. "

Ryuuji was a little embarrassed by his grandfather's praise.

" Don't worry, grandpa. As it's only a matter of time until the war against Konoha, I have already prepared a training schedule for all shinobis in the Village. I believe that within a year, at least 60% of the village's shinobis will be able to fully enjoy the Seal. Even though we're only known for having a lot of chakra, our clan's talent for controlling that energy shouldn't be underestimated either. "

Ashina nodded and left the place while leaving a few words for Ryuuji:

" I will experience the Seal to the fullest, so that I can help you train our people. Oh, I was already forgetting. What is the name of this Seal? "

Ryuuji agreed and thanked his grandfather before answer him:

" I haven't thought of a name yet, but I think we can call it something simple, like Red Devils' Seal. "

After Ryuuji's grandfather left, the red-haired boy looked at Arashi and let out a sigh before using his special chakra to bring the man to peak state again.

After Arashi left to train with the Seal, Ryuuji returned to his work, happy to have completed the main part of his plans to strengthen Uzushiogakure and his loved ones.

The name "Red Devils" will definitely make more sense after this general training and Ryuuji can't wait to show the world that.