The Wonders of Sealing and Blacksmiths
Chapter 4 – The Wonders of Sealing and Blacksmiths
The next day they had once again taken the boat, except this time they were carrying enough things to spend a week there. After telling Kaiza to pick them up at sunset of the 7th day they had been there, they headed into the island.
“Muramasa, C and I will set up camp here. Can you help Naruto find the library, I would like him to read about the history of his clans.” A asked Muramasa with a look that said it was not really a question.
“Alright, it will be good to familiarize him with the library, it is quite unique.” He said with a sigh. “Come along Naruto” he said looking at him and they walked away.
“Jiji, what is the library like? Naruto asked, his face full of curiosity. Muramasa chuckled, “That Naruto, even I do not know, the wards on the library are more than 200 years old. And they will only allow blood members of a family inside. I only know what I do from when others told me. They said to imagine 2 buildings connected by a hallway, one building is the Uzumaki only library, the other building is Namikaze only, the hallway is a section that is accessible by both clans which is the fuinjutsu section. One thing I do know is that it is underground, that is why it was never found when Uzu was invaded.” He said while Naruto was trying to imagine what he was being told.
His wonderings came to an end when they stopped in front of a building that looked like the kage tower in Kumo. Although this one was far more damaged. “Naruto, put your hand on this seal and channel chakra into it, this building has a repair seal on it, we cannot access the library while the building is in this state.” He explained while pointing at a small ink marking in the form of the Uzumaki crest.
“Alright.” said Naruto, “But what’s a repair seal?” He asked while walking over to the seal and inspecting it, but he could not make heads or tails of it.
“Repair seals are a very high-level seal, I am not sure, but it is likely around level 17, as it marks the entire building it is placed on and reverts the building back to how it was when the seal was first placed on it.” Muramasa replied with a thoughtful look on his face.
Naruto stood with shock on his face, “No wonder I couldn’t understand it!” he exclaimed. “Wait, do all the buildings have that then?” he asked, hoping that he would rebuild the village once again.
Muramasa sighed “I’m sorry Naruto but the fact is, such a seal cannot be placed on the entire village, every small bit of construction would have to be accounted for, and when this was done for the kage tower after it was built, they had to empty all possessions from the tower so it did not become part of the tower, we could not do that to a village. The amount of chakra needed to fix the entire village would be far too much, hell I doubt even the kyuubi has enough.” He said with a sad look on his face imagining how great it would be if Uzu was rebuilt.
Naruto’s face fell, before he suddenly got up and said, “Well then, we will just have to rebuild it the regular way!” he exclaimed, making a fist and throwing it above his head.
Muramasa smiled at his exclamation “Well I would hope I live to see the day, but for now, we must fix this building, only important structures have these seals, like the T&I department, the training grounds & academy, maybe you can come fix them when you have more chakra.”
“Alright, I swear I will rebuild Uzu.” Naruto said once again before moving his palm onto the seal and channeling chakra into it. He staggered and almost fell until Muramasa steadied him, he did not expect such a large drain for such small repairs, but then again, he was still just 4 years old.
It was a wonder to once again see an Uzumaki seal in action, that seal was truly wondrous, he watched as the nearby debris shook until small chunks of cement and paint flew back into place until the building was repaired. “It’s shocking that you were able to do the entire building and yet not fall unconscious, I thought I would have to help you.” Muramasa said with a shocked look on his face.
Suddenly A dashed into the area stopping right in front of them kunai in hand with his lightning armor active looking around as though trying to find a threat. “What happened A-nii?” asked Naruto.
“Are both of you alright?” he asked urgently without looking at them. “Yes, what happened?” replied Muramasa with a confused look on their face.
“C senses Naruto’s chakra signature dropping down to half and I ran over worried about what happened.” A explained, looking much more relaxed now having turned off his armor and put his kunai back. “Well, what the hell happened?” He asked, still looking worriedly at Naruto.
“Ah, you see we activated a seal that was placed on the Kage tower that repairs it to the way it was when the seal was first placed, I asked Naruto to channel his chakra into it, because it would respond better to him as an Uzumaki, I just don’t have enough chakra to do it anymore.” Muramasa explained with a sheepish look on his face. “I did not expect him to do it in one go, I was planning on letting him drain most of his chakra so he could get used to channeling and we would have been back tomorrow to repair the building again.” He spoke.
“But the question is, why were you repairing the tower in the first place?” A asked, still not satisfied with their explanation.
“That’s because the only access to the library is through the tower.” Muramasa explained.
“Alright then, just tell us if you intend to drain his chakra that rapidly, C was just passing through and felt Naruto’s chakra being drained from the edge of his range.” A said now stated by the explanation. “Is it done? Or do you want me to help?” he asked.
“It is done now; I will take him to the library and leave a clone to watch over him in there. Are there any subjects you want him to study?” Muramasa questioned, Naruto still sitting on the ground catching his breath.
“Yes, Naruto read on chakra theory, human anatomy, fuinjutsu, kekkai genkai and basic subjects such as math and science.” A said.
“Alright! No more boring politics.” Naruto exclaimed looking slightly happier.
“Yeah, yeah foreign relations weren’t much use to you anyways, you know how to be around important people so that’s the best we can do.” He spoke.
“Alright Naruto, let’s go I will show you how to open the library, but I cannot enter, you will need to find the books A wants you to read yourself.”
“Ok let's go,” Naruto said excited to see how big the library was.
“Alright follow me.” He replied and then walked into the tower, and down a set of hidden stairs that Naruto needed to smear his blood against to open.
“The library is massive, and had it been a normal one, it would be at least 30 floors tall, but the Uzumaki use special seals to compress everything.
You must go to the seventh floor of the library which is the clan head’s study for both Uzumaki and Namikaze clans and claim headship of both. This will provide you with 2 rings that give you master access to everything in the library and skip the regular process that would usually be followed.” Muramasa explained.
“How to claim headship?” Naruto questioned. “Also, what is the regular process that I am skipping?”
“The normal process is how to gain access to different parts of the library, the civilian parts are accessible to anyone at any age, however the shinobi part is divided using special barrier seals that can be accessed with seals that are placed on you based on your rank. An academy student will have a seal placed on them, that is the access key to gain entry to the academy student level stuff, a genin will have access to the academy student part and the genin part which is after that, a chunin will have access to the previous 2 parts and the chunin part, and so on, the final part of the library containing all village secrets and important things for the clan head is only accessible by the them and the next in line for the headship.” Muramasa explained.
“Oh wow, so the ring will let me read anything from the library even if I am not on that level?” Naruto asked, looking on in amazement as they finally reached the library. As they entered, Naruto looked around and finally understood what he meant by the library being compressed. There were shelves for each subject that civilians could read, including a shelf on fuinjutsu until the first 10 levels. But the thing was each topic was divided by the shelves with the bottommost shelf being the basics of each topic and upwards, but there were no books, only storage scrolls that contained the books. Each shelf had one massive storage scroll with the titles for each book on them.
“How do I get to the ring?” Naruto asked, looking far too excited to start reading all these books.
“Alright, come the stairs are to the left, but I can only enter the study after taking permission from you, and I cannot go into the library further than this section as that is shinobi only. This section is only for civilians and contains only fuinjutsu and chakra control books since that is something all Uzumaki must know no matter what. The dragon contract is also in the study. But you cannot sign it now.” He explained in a serious voice.
“Yes, I know that let’s just get the ring. Also does every clan have a ring like this?” he asked looking genuinely curious.
“This is probably something you will find out later when reading about clans, but the amount of prestige and power along with the title a clan receives is based on how far back they can trace their history, for example the Namikaze clan holds barely any power, but your father helped raise its prestige quite a bit from his reputation. He explained.
“The Uzumaki, Senju, and Uchiha clan are the only 3 clans that can trace their history over 2,000 years, which is the oldest there is. This is what made Konoha so feared as they had 2 Ancient clans and the support of a third.” He then paused “I haven’t answered your original question, however, have I?” he said with a smile.
“No but this is all very inter-inter… I don’t know what the word is!” Naruto exclaimed looking annoyed.
Muramasa just chuckled. “Don’t worry Naruto, you are just four, you already have a better vocabulary than most. In fact, if you want to improve it so badly then we can get some dictionaries and other such books as well.”
“Yay! but, what’s a dictionary.” Asked Naruto with confusion on how it could expand his vocabulary.
“A dictionary is a book with a list of words and what they mean, by reading even one you can learn hundreds of words.” He explained with a smile as he reminisced from a time his own children were this innocent and small.
“Oh, ok. Let’s go then!” Naruto said looking even more excited.
“Alright we are going off topic, so to answer your question, no not all clans have these rings, they were specially crafted for a few specific clans by my clan, during the warring clan’s eras. A particularly brilliant blacksmith was contracted by a few Daimyos of different countries to prepare these as gifts for the day, they all gained the title of ‘Ancient Clan’, with the Uzumaki being the oldest, followed by the Senju, & then finally the Uchiha.” He explained looking proud.
“But they are not ordinary rings as you can tell, these rings are used to decide who becomes the clan head after they die, it ignores everything about you except your soul, it judges the soul, and if it finds it worthy, it will latch onto it, making it impossible to remove for anyone but yourself, it leaves an imprint of you, in the ring itself, by absorbing all your memories in an ongoing process until you die, this has happened for every clan head for a 1,000 years now, which means the ring contains an imprint of all the clan heads since then, and they judge your soul to determine if you truly can be the clan head.” He continued saying.
“And that is not even the best part, the Uzumaki clan was asked to create a seal that monitors the life force of the person wearing the ring and make a teleportation sequence that sends it to a specific location as soon as the life force of the wearer ran out, to make sure it was never lost.”
“You will also have all the clan heads inside the ring to guide you and train you in the way of the Uzumaki clan and pass on all their knowledge to them. They have all their memories and experiences from their birth to their death.” He said before he put on a proud face, “Another thing is that even in the case someone is the last of their clan the ring will not choose them if they are not worthy, it will go to their children instead. So you won’t get a freebie with this.”
“Whoa, that’s awesome, but does that mean I can meet my parents inside the ring.” Asked Naruto a hopeful look on his face.
Muramasa looked on with a guilty face “I don’t know, the fact that your mother said that the contract is in the back of the library suggests that she knew the standard lie told to everyone, only the clan heads such as myself, your grandfather Ashina the Uzumaki head and the Namikaze head, Genshiro, knew it was actually in the study” He continued looking guilty.
“If that is the case then they both never took the rings, because if your mother had the ring, she would have known, if your father had the ring, then he would have told your mother.”
Naruto looked crushed, “Well, I can’t say I am not sad, but it’s fine, I did not expect to be able to meet them. But I do have a question, how does the Namikaze clan have a ring then, I thought it is only 200 years old now?” he questioned.
Hearing his question brought a bright smile and a chuckle to Muramasa’s face, the Namikaze were a smart bunch, they used a loophole in the contract we signed, which said we would only make the rings for people that could present 2000 years of their own history. But they challenged this by presenting the Uchiha clan history once again saying that they were a part of the Uchiha clan and had blood ties to them, even if they did not use the same name anymore. By their own logic we were forced to make them the ring.”
However even though the loophole was fixed after that, the other clans were not deterred and now wanted one of the rings more than ever and even started attacking us for it. The Namikaze clan were now feeling guilty for what they did, and spoke to the Uzumaki clan since they were the only clan they could approach without being called traitors or spies, and asked them to house us while letting the world think we are dead. It’s why the Namikaze clan holds less respect and power than the other Ancient clans, because they technically are not one.” He said while looking at Naruto who looked on with an expression that showed just how amazed he was.
As they finally stopped in front of the door, Muramasa said “Alright now, time for history is later, we have reached the entrance to the study, take this kunai, and put your blood over the imprints. The rings will then appear, wear them and if they accept you, you will be able to move your hand away with the ring, if not they will go back and leave you unable to go to that part of the study.” He said with a cautious look on his face.
“Alright,” Naruto said, his face showing resignation at having to cut his finger again. It really burned.
He took the kunai and made a cut, then moved his finger over the imprint to the left, letting the blood drip over the imprint until a signet ring with a thunder-steel band shimmered into existence. He slipped it onto his middle finger, and suddenly a brilliant blue chakra came pouring out of the ring and surrounded him. Naruto could tell he was being judged, and nothing he did would turn the scales his way. Then the chakra slowly retreated into the ring.
“Try pulling it away now.” Muramasa intoned softly, watching the display with silence.
As he did so the signet ring came with him, needing absolutely no effort to do so at all. He looked at the coat of arms on the signet ring, seeing the symbol of the Namikaze, which was the staff of a traveler that sat in the center going across horizontally, with a shield on top of it, and an owl engraved onto the shield. Perfectly conveying their nomadic nature and their thirst for knowledge.
He then repeated the same process with the imprint on the right, the only difference being that the chakra that came out of the Uzumaki ring was much denser, and in far greater amounts. Until it finally settled, and he pulled it away, showing a band made of Adamantium with the Uzumaki swirl on top of it.
“Perfect, now Naruto looks carefully at the metal that the band is made of. It is a metal called Adamantium only available to the people of Uzu, it is coincidentally also what your sword is going to be made of. This metal is only found in Uzu, formed over thousands of years of absorption of the natural energy that surrounds us.” Muramasa explained as he inspected the metal, it had been a while since he had seen it. It was one of the most expensive materials in the world, and only metals found on Uzu could hold the chakra and imprints that were part of the signet ring.
“Woah, I’ve never heard of it, bee-nii san uses chakra metal as well, but his is not like this.” Said Naruto as he looked on in amazement.
“Well, these metals are what made Uzu richer than most Daimyos, After All they all got the metal for their bands from Uzu itself all three metals.” Said Muramasa going into another long explanation.
“The natural energy that is required to keep the whirlpools constantly flowing makes this one of the best islands to train to become a sage, part of why the Uzumaki have such high life force and chakra levels, over thousands of years living on this island, their bodies have grown more resilient and just more enhanced when compared to others outside of this island.” He continued.
It is also infused with the five metals found in Uzu with each metal favoring a certain element. For example, weapons made of Adamantium are favored towards wind natured people, while Thunderstrike-steel is for people with lightning nature chakra, while Solarite is better suited to fire natured people, Abbysium for water and geomancers copper for earth natured people.” He finished speaking while looking at Naruto, who listened with rapt attention.
“Guess which clan chose which metal, it is understandable if you cannot pronounce it?” questioned Muramasa.
“Uhm, so Uzumaki chose the wind metal, Namikaze chose the thunder one, I think the Uchiha chose the fire one, and the Senju chose the water one? Said Naruto with a questioning look on his face as though he was asking ‘am I correct’.
“Almost Naruto, you got the first 3, but the Senju chose the geomancers copper, it fit well with their Senju bodies, which like the Uzumaki were known for their inherently inhuman strength and durability that allowed them to face the Uchiha as equals for years even with no bloodline.” Lectured Muramasa.
“Oh yeah that makes more sense.” Said Naruto.
“Now one more important thing is that the ring has a lot of important knowledge to pass on to you, such as the location of all Uzumaki and Namikaze properties, making you the master of all the wards and seals to the point that you can remotely give anyone entry in Uzu, tell you when people enter and everything.” Muramasa said with an urgent voice.
“At your age you are not nearly mature enough to be in command of these things, as such the spirits in the ring will be what deems you ready to handle such things. Even your access to certain parts of the library, or confidential information in the study, can be blocked by them until you are deemed ready to understand it. Another thing is that this knowledge must never go beyond your family, only other Ancient clans know such things, and it is kept secret for the safety of their clan head.” Said Muramasa, his voice taking on a commanding tone as he said this.
“But you said I could read anything I wanted.” Questioned Naruto, his childish excitement replaced by a more disappointed tone.
“I said that, yes but you have to understand, what will happen if you in an over excited state go straight to the personal notes of the previous kages of Uzu, and start attempting their techniques, you are likely to be very badly hurt, so even though you have more access to the library than you should have, this is still needed so that the more experienced ninja can make sure you do not injure yourself attempting anything outside of your capacity.” Lectured Muramasa with a stern face.
“Ok, ok, I get it, but are the Uzumaki clan any good at pranks?” Questioned Naruto with a smirk on his face that looked completely innocent to others but failed to fool the 60-year-old Muramasa who had seen that same smirk on countless Uzumaki which was always followed by chaos.
He sighed in resignation, the least he could do was warn A. “Unfortunately, yes the Uzumaki were all good at pranks and creating chaos, to the point that there is a section dedicated to it in both the civilian half and shinobi half of the library, so shinobi could elevate their pranks, while civilians could still do some themselves.”
He then jumped to the ground spouting off a waterfall of tears in anime style “Please, Please I beg of you, I suffered from these pranks from a village full of Uzumaki for almost 20 years, I beg of you, do not start it again, I do not think I could bear it. He begged looking helplessly at Naruto who tried to look innocent with a large sweat drop at the back of his head.
“Don’t worry Mura-jiji, I won’t prank you that hard, you are so old now, your heart could stop from it.” Said Naruto with a smirk on his face.
“YOU DAMN BRAT! WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLD! I’M ONLY A YEAR ELDER THAN YOUR GRANDFATHER.” Yelled Muramasa while whacking Naruto on the top of his head.
“OW, that hurt you old man. But does having the ring mean I can talk to my grandparents?” questioned Naruto.
Muramasa said yes. “This will allow you to talk to your grandparents on both sides, from the past thousand years.”
He then added on “They will contact you while you are sleeping and help you with everything. It is up to them of course, but this is how it is done usually. I do not know how exactly they contact you and all considering that the contract stops me from making one for another 1000 years. We only became a clan after we were awarded the title for making those rings.”
“Ok, I can’t wait to meet them. I want to know more Uzumaki and Namikaze people.” Naruto said looking excited at the prospect of meeting more of his family.
“We are getting off topic now, do you remember all the topics A wanted you to study?” Questioned Muramasa.
As though reading from a list, Naruto nodded and listened. “Chakra theory, human body, fuinjutsu, kekkai genkai and civilian things like math, oh and you also said dictior-dictinary…” Naruto trailed off having forgotten how to pronounce the word.
“You mean dictionaries.” Chuckled out Muramasa. “Very well, first we will go to the civilian section and start reading dictionaries, they can help you learn more words, so you understand things like human anatomy and fuinjutsu better. You will have to read history books as well.”
“Oh, while I am doing this can you get the things you need for when you will make my sword?” questioned an excited Naruto, having remembered it suddenly.
Muramasa chuckled out a reply “Well It won’t hurt to leave a clone with you while I go get the materials.” He said while considering it. “Oh, very well, do you know what your chakra natures are?” He questioned.
“Raizen Tou-san had said to keep it a secret…” he trailed off looking unsure of what to do. “If you need to know then I have all five elemental natures, A-niisan said it was because of me being a Namikaze.” He said nonchalantly, not knowing just what that meant.
Muramasa on the other hand understood the implications of this and it caused him to go near catatonic. “Are you sure about this Naruto, did they check again to make sure?” he questioned, looking serious once again.
“Yes, but what’s the big deal, I can’t use them as of now anyways.” He said looking at Muramasa as though he may be crazy.
Muramasa on the other hand was over the moon at the implications. Usually, Uzumaki children had their natures tested on their 5th birthday, when they went to see a blacksmith for their sword. If they had more than one nature without any training, their swords would be an alloy using the 2 metals that matched their natures. Up until now the max they had to do was a mix of 3 metals, that itself had been a very difficult task to do.
To make a sword using all 5 metals, that was never even considered. But just the thought of a sword like that made him excited like a child on a sugar high. He could imagine it, the greatest sword ever made, a sword like no other. It would be his crowning achievement, and his final sword before retirement. He had not thought he would be the one making Naruto’s sword before this, but now, he had no other choice, a sword like this could not be crafted by someone with no experience in ever making or even using these materials, only he could do it.
While he daydreamed, Naruto was getting impatient. “Oi, jiji I don’t know what the big deal is but let’s get started already, Dattebayo!” exclaimed Naruto, before wondering just what the hell was Dattebayo and why was he saying it.
Hearing the infamous verbal tic of the Uzumaki brought him out of his dreams and to immediate laughter. “Nothing Naruto, your sword is just going to be more special than I thought, but that’s not for now, let’s go down to the library, I want you to start with the dictionary books for today, while my clone watches over you.”
“Hey jiji, why only one thing, I can make a lot of shadow clones to learn more at once.” Questioned Naruto.
“You already know that jutsu?” questioned Muramasa, while most Uzumaki could do it at his age, it was very exhausting for them both physically and mentally.
“Very well but you are only allowed to make 9. 6 of them will go to the history section and read the books from oldest to newest, while the other 4 will read 4 different dictionaries, and none can dispel without informing me. I will tell you which books to read since both subjects are in the civilian section.” Said Muramasa.