Chapter 9 - Forbidden scroll of seals

The next day, I woke up at around 6:00, since It would allow me to do some light training before eating breakfast and going to the academy. I knew from the twins, that the Hyuga clan had training time around an hour after the academy would end, thus that was the optimal time to come by. Therefore, the first thing I did after reaching the classroom, was seek them out and make an appointment, which they gladly agreed with.

Using the class time to review my plan for the night I went over all the points of interest, in addition to the spots I had to go to. For now, the only points of interest would be the Namikaze clan compound, which I had to go to in order to deceive Hiruzen, the jonin section at the library, which was rather low on the priorities, the ANBU jutsu vault, despite having no idea where it was, it was still an interesting point, and finally the forbidden scroll of seals, which was located in the hokage residence. Since the Namikaze compound was rather close to the center of the village, it should only be a minor detour.

While I was contemplating some scenarios during a break, I was snapped back to reality by Minato, as I noticed some suicidal boys walking over to bother Kana and Kushina. They started grabbing their hair while saying they looked like tomatoes. At first, I was puzzled as to why they didn't beat those boys up, but from the look of it, Mito should have given them the "fill yourselves with love not hatred" speech, making them hold back, even if only a little.

Just as I was standing up, pulling Minato with me, Kana was unable to endure any longer, and started throwing the boys through the classroom with a little help from Kushina. After beating them up, they looked grudgingly our way…

"WHAT ARE YOU SMILING AT!?" – Kana and Kushina

Well, that could have gone better, but then again, it was close to what happened in the original, so I guess I would work out? It might be a little more awkward this time around, since we were closer to them, than Minato was with Kushina in the original. This should also be the start of the incident with the chunin, so I guess I will have to look out for them from now on.

After classes ended, I went home to make sure I had everything ready for the night raid, also making a copy of the presence suppression absolute stealth seal mark three, before going to the Hyuga clan with the copy. After arriving and stating my purpose to the guards, I was brought to a classroom, where, conveniently enough, Hizashi was teaching some of the younger branch members how to activate the byakugan. I came in mid lesson, and was led towards Hiashi and his father Hokori, who was listening in together with some of the elders, probably because it was Hizashi's first lesson. I quietly bowed towards Hokori and the elders earning a slight nod, after which I waited besides Hisashi.

The elders didn't seem to mind my presence, since from their perspective this lesson wouldn't be of use to a non-Hyuga. I attentively memorized the rest of the lesson, which even though I missed a lot, would still be of great use in unlocking my byakugan. As the lesson ended, I saw some of the elders nod slightly before leaving, which brought a smile to Hizashi's face, as he walked towards us. After greeting his father, the twins and I followed Hokori to a private room, in order to get business done.

"You must be the Yoshio-san, my boys had mentioned would come over to test a… seal was it?" – Hokori

"That is indeed the case, Hokori-sama, I'm currently working on a stealth seal together with my teacher and fellow students under the first hokage's wife; Mito-sama, in order to increase the survival rate for our ANBU operators" – Me

"A noble goal, though I didn't know the honorable Mito had taken any students… that being the case, why did you seek our help?" - Hokori

"Well you see, we have included parts of a byakugan blocking seal, and would like to see if it kept its function. Because none of us are Hyuga, thus not giving us access to a byakugan, I made a visit here to seek help" – Me

"I see… then, can you bring out the seal? I ȧssume you brought it" – Hokori

As per Hokori's request, I brought out the seal I copied earlier, and applied it to myself. Hiashi and Hizashi both opened their byakugan, amazed that they were unable to see me without direct line of sight. The most surprised was Hokori. He slightly raised his right eyebrow, which looked really weird together with the veins from his byakugan and seemed to be thinking about something.

"Since you are a seal user, you should know that the byakugan blocking seal functions by making the byakugan unable to see through whatever it is applied upon, but this seal of yours does the opposite, making you transparent" – Hokori

"I see, that should mean that it is a success. There wasn't really anything else, so unless you have something to talk about, I will be going now" – Me

"There is indeed an issue with you seal… Since your seal makes the wearer transparent, it poses a security issue to the Hyuga clan, as anyone possessing such a seal, would be able to sneak into the compound… The byakugan blocking seal on the other hand, only block vision behind the wearer, thus it is impossible to sneak into the compound with it… This leads me to be unable to authorize the use of this seal, as it makes the clan vulnerable" – Hokori

Shit! I didn't think of that, I knew the clan elders in the original care much about the safety of the Hyuga bloodline, and Hokori being the previous clan head, was probably the leader among them…

"Uhm, I can see how that would be a problem… Hmm, I think, if we tinker the seal a little, we can make integrate a beacon, that would deactivate the seal when entering a barrier. If we then place that barrier around the Hyuga compound, the security risk would be eliminated as long as the beacon can't be removed, which shouldn't be a problem, since irremovable seals are part of the Uzumaki specialty, and we have one of their best helping design the seal" - Me

"If you are able to do that, I have no problem authorizing it, but only after it has been approved by me and the other Hyuga elders" – Hokori

"Alright, I can promise you that will be included in the final version" – Me

After discussing the details with Hokori, I went home to do a final check before the night mission. Having done so, I decided to put the knowledge I gained from Hizashi's lesson to use, beginning my training towards unlocking my byakugan. Even though some parts were missing, combined with my already existing notes, I was able to deduce a large part of the missing information. Thus, when I had practiced for some hours and eaten my dinner afterwards. With the sky darkening, it was finally time to get the plan rolling.

I changed into some black ninja gear, and applied the stealth seal to it, grabbed the copying scroll quickly, before I sneakily exited my apartment, in order to make sure Minato didn't notice. The distance to my first stop, the Namikaze clan, wasn't long, so I reached it after only a few minutes. I had made sure heighten my sensing, but I didn't meet any ninja along the way.

Seeing the gate before me, I was excited, and looked forward to see what was on the inside, but as luck would have it, I was only able to enter the courtyard, which was beautifully arranged to look like the clan symbol, not being able to enter any of the buildings… I left slightly saddened, as I had hoped to gain something from my clan, but I had accomplished my primary goal in coming, so I moved quicker towards the hokage residence with even more anticipation towards the forbidden scroll of seals.

Around the hokage residence, there were a few ANBU guards, but it seams they were only around chunin level, so it was relatively easy to sneak through with the help of the stealth seal. Biwako, Hiruzen's wife, had already gone to sleep, I could tell since there were no light in the house. Sneaking my way inside, it was quite easy to locate the scroll, since the chamber it was in was literally just the scroll room…

The scroll was placed on top of a pedestal, which had seal symbols running down the side. I should have anticipated this… spending some time decoding the seals, I got more and more nervous, since the more time I spent here, the more dangerous it got. I couldn't decode the seal, but I was able to decode enough to deduce that the seals main purpose was the alert anyone with an ANBU tattoo, as well as the hokage, whenever the scroll was removed from the room… huh, the more you know, guess those tattoos had a function after all.

Since the seal wouldn't become a problem, I started the copying process, after soundproofing the room. Despite the scroll being so large, surprisingly little was written inside. I only recognized the multiple shadow clone jutsu and the impure world resurrection amongst the techniques inside, but I didn't have time to read them, so I would have to save that for later.

When the scroll was fully copied, I made my way out of the house, making sure to leave everything as it was when I entered. I was relieved to see that I hadn't alerted anyone, and quickly made my way home. I only met a few ANBU along the way. Our forces must be spread pretty thinly across the battlefields for there to only be this few ANBU around.

After entering my apartment, I instantly hid the scroll and began to change to normal bed clothing. I waited an hour before going to sleep, in order to make sure there was no commotion. I was really excited for tomorrow, as I would finally be able to read the scroll and learn some great techniques, I couldn't wait!