24. Testing the Seal

Aiko gathered chakra on the soles of his feet and pushed against the ground as he closed the distance between him and Kakashi punching Kakashi with his right hand.

'He is faster than before.' thought Kakashi, his eyes widening a little as he raised his arm to block the punch which was coming straight at his face.

Aiko's eyes flashed seeing Kakashi's action and he changed his punch into a palm strike and poured his chakra into the mark on his palm.

"Bang", Kakashi took a step back, losing his balance, surprised by the boy's strength. Aiko not letting the chance go used his left leg as pivot and kicked aiming at Kakashi's temples.

Kakashi sensing the attack moved his forearm again to block the kick, but was shocked when he felt his arms and legs become heavy reducing his speed.

Realising he wouldn't make it in time he bent his body backward escaping from the range of the attack.

Aiko seeing that the seal was having the intended effect increased his attack speed, cornering Kakashi.

Kakashi was also feeling his stamina reducing faster than normal and due to the sudden increase in weight his judgement was also affected making him get hit a few times, but Aiko always reduced the power behind the attacks as it hit him not causing any real damage.

Kakashi realising he would be defeated at this rate, let himself get kicked in the stomach and used the force to put some distance between them.

"That was clever," said Kakashi, rarely his voice containing a bit of admiration, 'But it is not enough to stop me' he thought quickly making a hand seal moulding chakra.

Aiko also observed Kakashi's actions waiting to see how he would come out of this situation. The only method he(Aiko) could think of was analysing the seal and breaking it, but as they were in the middle of battle diverting attention would prove fatal.

But Kakashi did not try to analyse it as chakra spiked from his body breaking the seal, 'he broke it by overwhelming it' thought Aiko as he moved forward to attack Kakashi.

'Tch, used more than 20% of my chakra to break the seal' thought Kakashi, blocking Aiko's attack, but was stunned again as one more seal was placed on him, the mark on Aiko's left palm also vanished along with it.

Kakashi this time quickly took some distance and broke the seal, but his breathing had already become rough, something which had not happened during their previous spars.

Aiko, noticing that both the seals he had prepared were broken, took some distance and decided to stop the fight.

"Kakashi-san, what do you think?" he asked as they both sat on the ground getting their breath under control.

"How much chakra did you use for formation of the seal?" asked Kakashi, looking at the boy.

"About 15%" replied the boy as it consumed about 3 stamina points to form the seals.

"If we had fought purely using taijutsu, and if you had managed to place two more seals on me then you could have exhausted my chakra reserve" said Kakashi as he looked at the boy.

'He is a genius to come up with such a method at such a young age' thought Kakashi, "Did you get this idea from Guy's training?" he asked already knowing the answer.

Aiko nodded his head, thinking about the shortcomings of the seal and ways to improve it.

"It is a good method and if you can catch an opponent off guard with it, you can turn tables against them even if they are stronger," praised Kakashi.

Aiko thanked Kakashi for training with him and returned home while checking his status.

Status:

Name: Aiko

Level: 8->9

Strength: 10->11

Agility: 15->16

Stamina: 12->13

Vitality: 16->17

Intelligence: 13->14

Charm: 11->12

Skills: calm mind [innate], Chakra assimilation [innate] mapping [lvl 5], Instinct manipulation [lvl 3], chakra molding[lvl 6], Seal creation [lvl 5], Chakra control [lvl 5], Presence concealment [lvl 4]

.......

"Aiko-kun, you need to let your chakra resonate and pass through the chains" said Kushina who was teaching Aiko a sealing jutsu which used Adamantine chains as a medium.

Even though Aiko could not produce the chains using his own chakra , he could do that when he assimilated Kushina's chakra.

"Like this?" muttered the boy as a transparent dome formed around him using the chains as the medium.

"You must allow the chakra to spread evenly, so that you can avoid weak spots" , pointed out Kushina, making Aiko nod his head.

This Jutsu consumed more chakra than the Adamantine attacking chains, but he could feel the power of the barrier, making it worth learning.

Soon Aiko was sitting on the ground taking a break, as his chakra was almost consumed from the training and the time limit for his skill was also reaching an end.

"Aiko-kun do you sense any change in Kyubi's chakra?" asked Kushina suddenly in a low voice.

"The Chakra feels different?, the emotions are not as intense as before." said Aiko after focusing on her for a bit. The anger, sorrow and hatred, he had sensed from the beast had reduced a little bit.

"Hmmm," said Kushina with a smile on her face thinking, 'Talking to it daily was the right decision after all.'

"What happened, Kushina-san?" asked Aiko curiously as it had only been two weeks since he knew she was the host of Kyubi.

"Nothing, I just spoke to it" said Kushina, smiling.

"It can speak?" asked Aiko, a bit astonished as he hadn't seen animals that could speak yet.

"Yeah, it could, ya know" she said as she was also surprised when it had spoken to her the second day.

'More like you kept nagging me' thought Kyubi who was listening in on their conversation.

It had more freedom inside the seal now as Kushina had removed the sealing chains she had subconsciously used to keep it bound. The atmosphere in the seal was also a lot brighter as it was nothing but the host's mindscape.

"What did you speak about?" asked Aiko a bit curious as the skill time ended and his body reverted back to normal.

"Well, many things actually." said Kushina looking into the distance. "The life of a Jinchūriki is hard, ya know, many people are scared of us and even hate us thinking we are demons, I don't know how many people have called me a monster behind my back, sometimes it made me question myself whether I am really a monster" she continued her voice low.

Even though not the whole village knew about it, but the important people in major clans of Konoha did and not all of them were without prejudice as many had explicitly told their children not to have contact with her.

"But well, it does come with its perks, ya know, there were many times I was saved by the Kyubi's chakra, and I also met Minato." said Kushina as the smile returned to her face.

"Met Minato-san?" Asked Aiko his interest piqued.