Chapter 22 : Fuinjutsu

The third year started after the vacation. This year, Genki focused on other crucial aspects of a ninja apart from fighting capabilities. 

Fujin was a bit surprised that he didn't push for anymore advanced jutsu, but on thinking for a bit, he understood 'More than half of the class isn't able to keep up. Considering that he asked me to learn wind nature, I'm guessing he gave similar advice to others who could keep up. This way, the struggling ones would catch up and the students who are performing well can reach the next level. I guess they want to ensure that every single kid from this class becomes a capable ninja to fill up the void left by the dead.

Still, from his speech, it seems like everything will be taught in this year itself.'

After the lectures were over, Fujin went to the library. He went in section E and picked up the scroll named 'Introduction to Fuinjutsu'. 

He recalled reading it a couple of years back. He read it once again, this time properly. On reading, he analysed, 'Fuinjutsu contains 2 parts. The first is the writing part. However, this has 2 parts as well. 

First, the language. Fuinjutsu has special symbols which I have to understand before attempting to make seals. I will need to learn to draw each symbol properly as well as infuse my chakra in the mentioned manner. Any mistakes would make the seal fail and could cause unintended complexities if the seal did something else. This is actually very similar to hand signs, just that the number of symbols is much higher. The symbols serve various functions. The main function I can see is its ability to produce an element. There are symbols for each of the 5 elements, and symbols which can suppress or enhance them. There are also symbols to control time and space. A simple storage seal has a lot of space symbols, whereas a complex one will not only have space symbols, but also time symbols to ensure that time slows down in that storage seal. 

The second, was the logic part. This part is very similar to coding on Earth. Since I know coding, this part is easier for me. However, it ain't much of an advantage. Coding is pretty easy to learn, I'm sure the brighter kids from my class could pick it up within a week or two. 

After the writing part, the next part was to mold my chakra to create what the seal is used for. For a simple sealing scroll, I would have to create that storage space with the help of the symbols and also set up the conditions for activating the seal. Sigh, this is pretty complicated. 

Anyways, let's start. I should start with the symbols, but there are hundreds of them. It'll take months if I try to learn them all. So I'll just pick a seal and learn it's symbols. That way I could monitor my progress.'

After analysing all the seals in the scroll, he decided to learn the most used seal, the storage seal. It used 16 types of symbols. Majority of it were different types of space symbols. A few increased the amount of space in the seal, some restricted the space in order to maintain the boundaries, some ensured that the space stayed stable and so on. 

He drew the required symbols perfectly on a spare scroll and also took down notes related to it. He had seen a few others do the same in the library, so he wasn't worried about getting into trouble, though he was very surprised at Konoha's magnanimity. Once that was done, he left the library. 

He went to the market and transformed in an alleyway. After searching for a bit, he found the shop he was looking for. There he bought the special ink required for Fuinjutsu as well as special scrolls for the same. 

The scrolls were made of a special material. It was much sturdier and could apparently last for centuries if not damaged by external force. It could easily bear the chakra applied to it while seals were inscribed on it. 

The special ink, on the other hand, would make infusing chakra much easier. Trying to make the symbols with normal ink was a lot harder to do. However, there was another substitute for this special ink. That was the blood of a ninja. 

These items were quite expensive though. The scrolls cost 60 Ryo each and a small bottle of ink cost 100 Ryo. He bought 5 bottles of ink and 5 scrolls to practice. He sighed thinking, 'I hope these last a few months at least. I only have 4,370 Ryo left with me.'

He then went home and on reaching there, he made a shadow clone. A couple of months of crazy physical training, high amount of meditation and constant Ninjutsu training till he dropped due to lack of chakra had resulted in a high rate of growth of his chakra. It had increased by around 25%. It implied that he could now make 2 shadow clones if he wanted to. However both will barely have any chakra to do anything. If he made one shadow clone with exactly 50% chakra, then that shadow clone could last till his chakra dropped to 32% of Fujin's max chakra. So effectively, it had more than doubled the Shadow Clone's usable chakra. 

Fujin and his clone started the work on the first symbol. After trying it for half an hour, Fujin confirmed, 'As I thought, the amount of chakra needed to practice this is quite low. This is good news for me as my shadow clone will last a lot longer. Calculating from my clone's remaining Chakra, I'd say he'll be able to last four hours while practicing these symbols.' 

After an hour's practice, he dispelled his clone. On dispelling it, he got all the memories from the clone, along with a minor headache. 

He created another Shadow Clone. This time the clone practiced the symbol for 2 hours, took a break of 2 hour, then practiced it again for 1 hour, and then took another 1 hour break followed by 1 hour practice. Fujin went out to practice shuriken throwing on a wind clone and increasing the radius of his chakra field. He didn't practice any ninjutsu as practicing it with only half his chakra wouldn't last very long. 

After 7 hours, he dispelled his clone. This time the headache was a bit worse, but still bearable. However, recalling Hiruzen's instructions, he decided to sleep. 

He was very happy with what he had done today. After waking up early the next morning, he thought, 'Excellent, the experiment was successful. Now that my shadow clone can last 7 hours and practice these symbols for 4 hours, I can leave my shadow clone at home and it can keep practicing Fuinjutsu while I'm at the academy. I guess my chakra needs to increase by another 20-25% so that my clone could practice for 7 hours straight. Still, I need to decide what the clone should do in the spare 3 hours.'

He thought for a bit and then it clicked him, 'Yeah, why not. I should buy a few cooking books for the clone to learn. In the past 2 years I have learnt to make various breakfasts, but I didn't learn to make a proper lunch or dinner as I didn't have much spare time. This seems the perfect opportunity to learn it! Alright, today, after the academy, I'll buy the books.' 

Happy at the possibility of finally being able to eat delicious meals, he decided to analyse his daily routine, 'So with this sorted, I will continue to do my physical training in the morning, during lectures my clone can practice Fuinjutsu while my main body pays attention for important lectures and work on my chakra field in the remaining time. After the lecture is over, I'll have to return home, dispel the clone and take a short, probably an hour's sleep. Then I can practice my Ninjutsu and shuriken throwing.' 

And the year continued in this manner. Genki taught a lot of practical knowledge that was needed for ninjas. And Fujin continued his hard training. Fujin did note that the class was a bit more serious this year. He thought, 'I guess his one-on-one talks had a good effect.'

After 6 months, Fujin was able to do the rank E wind release jutsus with no hand signs, only the wind clone needed a single hand sign. Among rank D, he could do Wind Propelling jutsu without hand signs, however the rest required one or two hand signs. 23 days before the exams for the 3rd year were up, he managed to do all but two without hand signs. Only Dust Cloud Jutsu still required a couple of hand signs and wind clones still required one hand sign. Similarly, Shadow Clone too had dropped to just one hand sign, the clone seal, which he wasn't able to do without hand signs. His Breakthrough jutsu and Wind Explosion jutsu now were able to do much higher damage and all the other wind release jutsus had been mastered to a certain extent. 

It took his clone 3 months to master those 16 symbols and another month, to successfully make a storage seal. It took another month of practice to be able to do it comfortably without any mistakes. He had spent 4000 ryo on the materials till then, leaving him only with a little over 2000 ryo with him. He had created 5 proper sealing scrolls. 

Each time when he bought the materials, he had bought it from different shops under different disguises. Of the 5 shopkeepers he met, he had observed that one of them seemed greedy and with loose morals. He thought, 'I can't continue the expenditure on Fuinjutsu. Probably another 4 months before I'm totally broke. So I'll have to sell my scrolls. Trouble is, whom to sell. I can't give out my identity and I'm not sure if any shopkeeper will agree to buy without knowing the seller. Sigh, I'll have to approach the one with low morals and greedy nature. Luckily, one of the shopkeepers fits the bill. Unless he has put up a facade, so I should take some precautions. Preferably, I should send a clone under Transformation jutsu.'

Chapter end