Chapter 4: Uzumaki Suishitsu
Evening seven o'clock—the sun had already set, and night was slowly descending over Konoha.
Knock knock knock
Standing outside a grand residence, Ling Yu rapped on the gate and called inside:
"Granny! I'm here to visit!"
Click
The door opened. A woman in her thirties or forties stood there, offering Ling Yu a warm smile.
"Young Master, Lady Uzumaki is waiting for you in her room."
The woman was Senju Junko, an ordinary member of the Senju clan. After Konoha's founding, the family assigned her here to care for Hashirama Senju and his wife. Over thirty years had passed—she had practically watched Tsunade grow up—so she was very familiar and close with Ling Yu.
After speaking, Junko bowed slightly and stepped aside to let him in. Ling Yu returned the courtesy politely.
"Thank you, Aunt Junko. I'll head in now!"
He slipped off his outdoor shoes at the genkan, changed into indoor slippers with practiced ease, and walked inside.
Passing through the corridor and courtyard, he arrived at an open room.
"Ling Yu's here. Come, sit down."
The moment he stepped in, a kind elderly woman in her sixties or seventies—with long red hair—patted the cushion in front of her and beckoned him over.
"Okay, Granny Suishitsu!"
Ling Yu responded obediently and sat cross-legged on the cushion.
Even after six years in the Naruto world, he still couldn't get used to formal seiza, so he always sat cross-legged.
The gentle old woman before him was Uzumaki Suishitsu. She was once the daughter of an Uzumaki clan elder. At the founding of Konoha, she married Hashirama Senju and became his wife.
Though she held no official power in the village, even the Third Hokage treated her with great respect—because she was the wife of the "God of Shinobi," Hashirama Senju, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
The Uzumaki clan possessed immense vitality and vast chakra reserves, along with unparalleled sealing techniques capable of binding tailed beasts. So when the time came for an alliance marriage, Suishitsu was the natural choice.
Tsunade had once told him that originally, the Uzumaki clan's eldest princess—Mito Uzumaki—was supposed to marry Hashirama. Mito had been renowned in her era as the most beautiful woman of the Uzumaki clan.
For some unknown reason, Mito vanished suddenly, so Hashirama ended up marrying Suishitsu instead.
The two shared a loving, respectful marriage until Hashirama's passing. After that, Suishitsu lived alone.
Ding! Mission Chest detected. Would you like to activate the mission?
The system chimed the instant he drew near Suishitsu.
So proximity to key characters triggers chests?
Ling Yu paused briefly, then mentally selected "Yes."
Ding! Mission: Absorb the chakra of all nine tailed beasts. Rewards: Rinnegan Upgrade, Precious Chest ×9, Exchange Points ×9000. Current progress: 0/9.
Three Precious Chests plus a direct Rinnegan upgrade—the rewards were insanely generous. Ling Yu stared for a moment in disbelief.
This is way too good… but there's no way I can complete this anytime soon!
Studying the mission details, he realized it was impossible in the short term.
The Nine-Tails seal was still stable; tampering now would be detected immediately. The best window would be during a transfer when the seal was weakest. Besides, his current strength was far too low—he might not even break the seal, let alone extract the chakra.
After a moment of thought, he dismissed the system interface. The task could wait.
"Little Tsunade went on a mission today? She didn't come with you?"
Suishitsu hadn't noticed his brief distraction. She smiled warmly and asked about her granddaughter.
She adored Tsunade deeply. After Hashirama's death, Tsunade and Ling Yu had visited her often, keeping her from loneliness and grief. Her mood had gradually improved thanks to them.
But today, Tsunade—who was usually inseparable from Ling Yu—was absent. Suishitsu guessed it was a mission.
"Yeah, Sis left on a mission. She departed with Jiraiya and the others to the Land of Whirlpools to pick someone up. She won't be back for a week."
Ling Yu relayed everything Tsunade had told him without holding back.
"The Land of Whirlpools… It's been so long since I've been back."
Mention of her homeland brought a nostalgic look to Suishitsu's eyes.
As the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, she was forbidden from leaving the village. She hadn't visited the Uzumaki clan in thirty or forty years and had no idea what had become of it.
The "protection" excuse for keeping jinchuriki confined sounded nice, but the reality was harsher: they were treated as living weapons—sealed away until the village needed them, while constantly monitored to prevent rampage or defection.
"Ah, right—what ninjutsu would you like to learn today?"
Snapping out of her memories, Suishitsu remembered the lesson and smiled at him.
"I want to learn a sealing technique specifically for tailed beasts."
Ling Yu looked up at her seriously. He was preparing for the future—absorbing tailed beast chakra—so a specialized seal would be invaluable.
"Excellent! Today I'll teach you the Uzumaki clan's tailed beast sealing arts!"
Suishitsu's demeanor shifted to focused instructor mode. Without hesitation, she produced a massive scroll containing the clan's secret techniques.
"Release!"
She formed a hand seal. White smoke rose as the seals around the scroll dissolved. She unfurled it across the floor, revealing rows of sealed ninjutsu.
"Our clan has many techniques for dealing with tailed beasts, but the strongest are Adamantine Sealing Chains, Four Symbols Seal, Reaper Death Seal, and Eight Trigrams Seal."
As she spread the scroll, Suishitsu explained patiently.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains is unique to the Uzumaki bloodline—it would be difficult for you to learn."
"The Reaper Death Seal is far too cruel, sacrificing the user's life—not suitable for you."
"So focus on mastering the Four Symbols Seal and Eight Trigrams Seal."
She separated the relevant sections of the scroll and began teaching slowly and thoroughly.
Ling Yu absorbed it all with intense concentration. Mastering tailed beast seals would make extracting their chakra much easier later.
His serious attitude drew frequent nods and pleased glances from Suishitsu.
Time passed quietly. By the time Ling Yu finished the lesson, night had fully fallen. At Suishitsu's invitation, he stayed over.
The clones refining chakra back home must be at their limit by now. Time to release them.
Back in his room, after washing up, Ling Yu dispelled the shadow clones.
A rush of chakra flooded in—doubling his reserves—but it came with full-body soreness and crushing fatigue.
Chakra was extracted from the 130 trillion cells in the body; overdoing it was like squeezing the life out of them. Too much could cause collapse or lasting damage.
Most people would be bedridden for a week after pushing ten clones to refine chakra nonstop. Only his 60% awakened Sage Body let him get away with it.
"Enough for today. I'll rest now. Tomorrow's ninja academy."
Exhausted and sleepy, Ling Yu ended his training, lay down, and drifted off.
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