Chapter 76: Sealing Technique

"It seems that although you have been away from home, you are still very knowledgeable about the history of the Uzumaki clan," Mito said with a smile. She knew that her name, Kushina, could not have been found in the textbooks of the Ninja Academy, so the only remaining way for Kushina to know about her was through her interactions with the other members of the Uzumaki clan.

The look of shock on Kushina's young face did not fade away, for seeing Mito was like seeing a legend of the Uzumaki clan. Stories of Mito's strength were not only because she was the wife of the First Hokage.

It was said that before she married the First Hokage, she was already the strongest female ninja in the Uzumaki clan, with exceptional abilities. Kushina thought Mito had already passed away, and she had just asked Mito how many years she had been in Konoha.

This Konoha ninja village was the one Mito had helped establish with the First Hokage!

"Yes, it was Aunt Yuki who taught me," Kushina answered, her expression turning somewhat gloomy.

Hearing this, Mito did not continue the topic. She had heard that when Kushina was brought back to Konoha, she was tightly hugging a wooden name tablet, which had the name "Uzumaki Yuki" engraved on it.

The Land of Whirlpools was destroyed, and the members of the Uzumaki clan were scattered around the world. Most of them possessed the abilities of the Uzumaki clan, but they did not know how to use them, so they were only slightly stronger physically than ordinary people.

Like Kushina, if she had not been brought to Konoha, despite her innate superb physical abilities, she would have been just a bit more energetic than children her age, and she would not have had the strength to defeat even a lower-ranked ninja at this age.

This was the significance of the Ninja Academy established by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. Even children from civilian families could learn relevant knowledge and become ninja if they had the potential, without having to go through the harsh experiences of the Warring States Period.

"In fact, I have been keeping an eye on you since the day you entered Konoha," Mito said.

Hearing this, Kushina still had some lingering questions, so she said, "Lady Mito, what makes me different?"

She did not know how to express her doubts properly, but she believed Mito would understand.

After a brief silence, Mito said, "Do you know that we, the Uzumaki clan, are born with chakra that is different from ordinary people?"

"I don't know, but I can roughly understand," Kushina replied. Although she was aware of the history of the Uzumaki clan, for some reason, she was unaware of some more basic information about the clan.

Even though she did not know, Kushina was not stupid. She had not been in the Academy for long, but she could already mold more chakra than Minato, Mikoto, and others. She did not think it was because she had better ninja abilities than them.

Compared to them, her advantage was her extraordinary stamina and recovery rate. Chakra was a combination of physical and spiritual energy, and her exceptional abilities in these aspects meant that her chakra was different from ordinary people.

"Is it just because of this difference in chakra?" Kushina murmured to herself, not entirely convinced by this explanation.

"Of course, it's not just that," Mito said, her expression becoming more serious. "But as I said earlier, there are some things I cannot tell you yet. However, you will know the answer soon, so don't be in a hurry."

Although Kushina had doubts, she trusted Mito and did not ask further.

After that, Mito's gaze softened, and she placed her hands on Kushina's hands, saying, "Now, I will give you the reward for passing your Ninja Registration Test."

Although Kushina did not care much about the reward, her curiosity was piqued.

"Apart from your innate exceptional chakra, do you know what other special abilities the Uzumaki clan possesses?" Mito asked.

Kushina shook her head. She only knew about her origins and some history of the clan from Aunt Yuki, but she did not know anything about the Uzumaki clan's innate abilities related to their unique chakra.

Mito smiled softly. It seemed that the Uzumaki clansman had not told Kushina about the core information of the clan, probably thinking they did not have the ability to protect this information and Kushina's powers.

Or perhaps even that clansman did not know what the Uzumaki clan was most skilled at.

With that, Mito took her hands off Kushina's and began forming hand seals.

It was just a few simple hand seals, but Kushina could not understand them at all.

Then, Mito gently placed her palm on Kushina's left chest.

"Thump!"

At that moment, Kushina felt her heart suddenly skip a beat, and then her body returned to normal.

"No way!"

Just as Kushina was puzzled, she suddenly felt her physical strength rapidly decreasing.

It was not that her physical strength was decreasing, but rather that the chakra she had cultivated for a year seemed to be locked within her body, unresponsive to her attempts to control it, like a still pond without any ripples.

She immediately looked at Mito, realizing that this change was caused by Mito placing her hand on her chest.

Was Mito trying to harm her?

Then she looked down and saw dense black patterns extending from where Mito's hand had been on her left chest.

It looked familiar.

Weren't these the same seal patterns that she had been studying repeatedly?

Kushina's reaction was within Mito's expectations. Mito removed her palm from Kushina's chest, and the black patterns disappeared without a trace.

At the same time, Kushina's suppressed chakra was restored to normal.

"What kind of technique is this? It's so powerful!" Kushina exclaimed in amazement after a moment.

This kind of technique that could seal away someone's chakra would be incredibly useful in battle. No matter how powerful a ninja was, once they lost control over their chakra, their combat abilities would be drastically reduced, like a ferocious tiger losing its fangs.

In response to Kushina's astonishment, Mito smiled and said, "This is the unique ability of our Uzumaki clan, the Sealing Technique."

"Sealing Technique?" Kushina had never heard of this term before. She only knew about ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.

"Sealing Technique is also a type of ninjutsu. As the name suggests, it allows the formation of sealing effects, like what you just experienced when I temporarily sealed your chakra. Even for someone like you who is not very good at theoretical knowledge, you can probably understand its significance now, right?" Mito explained.

She already knew that Kushina had some weaknesses, so she wanted Kushina to have a general understanding of the Sealing Technique before teaching her.

Nothing could be more effective than personal experience.

Kushina nodded, understanding Mito's good intentions.

"Why didn't Aunt Yuki ever tell me about this before?" Kushina murmured.

"She might not have told you because she didn't know herself. But my guess is that the more likely reason was to protect you and the clan's secrets," Mito said, her expression becoming serious.

"What do you mean?" Kushina asked, puzzled.

But Mito's next words made her eyes widen in shock.

"It was because of this ability that the Land of Whirlpools and the Uzumaki clan were destroyed."

(End of Chapter)