AN: Sorry for the delay, I was making the part 2 for this chapter since i wrote about 5k words so it took a while. I will be releasing the Auxiliary chapter along with part 2 of Chapter 16.
Chapter 16 part 1: Heritage and Uzumaki seals
Antares had learned one thing about fuinjutsu.
Storage scrolls were evil, like really damn annoying. Like soul devouring sense.
They were evil in a quiet, humiliating way.
They were evil because they looked simple.
Just a paper that rolls into a scroll.
A few lines of ink.
A few characters to add basic commands.
Something so common that genin carried them in pouches, merchants bought them in bulk, and shinobi supply offices stacked them on shelves like they were nothing more than empty notebooks.
And yet, after nearly an hour of work, Antares had begun to believe the scroll in front of him hated him personally.
He sat at a low table inside one of the quieter rooms of the Kaminari estate. A brush rested between his small fingers. Black ink stained the side of his hand. A row of smooth training stones sat beside the scroll, each one no bigger than his thumb.
Across from him, Misaki watched with the calm expression of a woman who had seen a thousand failures and expected a thousand more before lunch.
Her red hair was tied back. Her sleeves were folded neatly. Her posture was straight. Ink stained her fingers in thin lines, not because she had been careless, but because she had handled brushes long enough that the marks seemed to belong there.
Antares stared down at the half-finished formula.
Anchor.
Space.
Index.
Release.
Four foundations making an X shape with a circle in the middle.
The anchor line at the edge of the scroll was too thick. The space formula in the center was too narrow. The index marks looked clean at first glance, but he could already tell three of them were uneven. The release command at the bottom had not even been written yet.
He slowly raised his eyes to his mother.
"Mother."
"Yes?" Misaki raised a red eyebrow
"This scroll is defective right?." Antares asks retorically
Misaki did not blink.
He looked back down at the scroll with the grim resignation of a man facing execution.
In his old life, he had imagined fuinjutsu as something mysterious and terrifying. Old scrolls hidden in forbidden rooms. Blood-red formulas. Storage seals. Explosive tags. Barriers that could hold building sized creatures. Space-time techniques that could turn a battlefield into a death trap.
He had expected secrets.
Danger and power.
Instead, his first real assignment was to make a basic storage scroll.
A standard storage scroll.
Not even a good one.
Misaki had been very clear about that.
"This will be a low-grade item storage scroll," she had said. "Nothing advanced, nothing worth bragging about."
Naturally, Antares had taken that personally.
Because if it was not worth bragging about, that meant failing it would be even more humiliating.
Misaki tapped the table once, she gave the scroll he made and said.
"Continue." She said it casually and calm a small smirk on her pink lips
Antares exhaled through his nose and dipped the brush into ink.
He returned to the formula.
The storage seal required four pieces.
The anchor bound the seal to the scroll and gave the formula a stable body.
The space command folded a small storage pocket into the formula where you can store inanimate objects.
🏁
The index separated what was stored so the contents did not overlap.
The release command returned the selected item to the physical world.
Simple.
In theory.
In practice, every line wanted to betray him.
If the anchor was too weak, the seal would collapse.
If the space formula was crooked, the contents could be damaged.
If the index was sloppy, retrieval could lag or return the wrong item.
If the release command was unstable, the item could remain sealed until someone better came along to retrieve it.
That last part still annoyed him.
He did not like making things that could trap his own supplies away from him.
He drew the next index mark slowly. The brush touched the paper with light pressure. A thin thread of chakra followed the ink. Not too much and not too little. Enough to let the mark remember its place in the formula.
The paper tugged.
Antares froze at his mothers words and the reaction from the scroll on the floor from his potent chakra.
Misaki's eyes narrowed. "Less chakra."
"I am barely doing anything." said Antares with visible question marks over his head
"For you, barely is still too much I will need to teach you more chakra control." said Misaki amused at her son's attempts at his first semi successful storage scroll
The paper trembled.
Antares immediately pulled back.
The ink settled into the paper.
Nothing exploded this time.
The table remained.
Small progress.
Misaki studied the formula. "What did you almost do?" she questioned him trying to see if he understands his mistakes.
Antares stared at the index marks thinking of his mistake.
"I fed the index too much before finishing the release command."
"And?" she questioned him again with leaning forwards a bit.
"It started trying to define what was inside before the seal knew how to return it."
"Correct." she confirmed
"So if I forced it?" he questioned his mother curiously
"You would create a storage seal that accepts objects and refuses to release them." she added on.
Antares frowned. "That sounds like theft with some extra steps."
"It is also a common beginner mistake." His mother said trying to downplay his mistake so he doesn't feel as bad.
"That does not make me feel better." Antares complained to his mother.
"It was not meant to." Misaki chuckled a bit.
Of course it was not.
Misaki placed one finger near the bottom of the scroll and tapped it.
"Finish the release command."
Antares looked at the empty space.
The character was simple.
封.
Seal.
He had written it so many times that morning that his wrist ached and his fingers had begun to hurt.
The first few attempts had looked decent.
The next dozen had looked worse.
The next hundred had looked like someone had thrown a spider into ink and let it crawl across the paper while drunk.
But now, this character had to do more than look correct.
It had to hold command.
Antares lowered the brush.
Ink touched paper.
The first stroke landed firm but not heavy.
The second followed.
Then the third.
He breathed out a thin thread of chakra through his hand.
Not a flood.
A thread this time around.
The seal matrix accepted it.
For one tiny instant, the scroll felt as if it had listened.
Antares finished the final stroke.
封.
The formula warmed a bit.
And this time It did not try to eat the table.
A grin began to spread across his face.
Misaki saw it.
"Do not celebrate yet."
Too late.
He was already celebrating internally.
Misaki picked up one of the smooth stones and placed it on the center of the formula.
"Activate it."
Antares placed two fingers on the edge of the scroll.
He guided his chakra into the anchor first.
Slowly.
Then into the space formula.
The ink warmed under his fingers.
The seal tugged.
The stone vanished.
Antares's eyes widened.
His grin grew.
Misaki placed a second stone down.
"Again."
The second stone vanished.
Then the third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
The scroll held.
Antares's grin widened until he felt it becoming dangerous.
Misaki placed more stones beside him.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
By the time the twenty fourth stone vanished, the scroll began to tremble.
Antares clenched his jaw.
"Stabilize the anchor," Misaki said.
He wanted to argue.
He could not.
Mostly because the scroll was still trembling.
Antares inhaled slowly and forced his chakra thinner.
Not weaker.
Just a bit more thinner.
That was the hard part.
His chakra wanted to move like a storm pushing through a door. The seal did not need a storm. It needed a thread. A steady one. Something narrow enough to pass through the formula without breaking the shape.
The scroll steadied.
Twenty five.
Twenty six.
Twenty seven.
The index marks flickered.
Antares felt the strain immediately. The seal was not rejecting the stones, but it was complaining. Loudly. Like an old merchant being asked to work for free.
Twenty eight.
Twenty nine.
Thirty.
The final stone vanished.
The scroll held.
Antares pulled his hand back.
His fingers tingled.
For one second, nobody spoke.
Then Antares looked at his mother and threw his dirty stained hands up in the air and screamed.
"I did it."
Misaki looked at the scroll.
"Congratulations son, you made your first storage scroll."
He waited.
She did not continue.
Antares lifted his chin slightly.
"A working storage scroll."
"Yes."
"At six years old, that seals thirty items." Misaki slowly answered
"And you are not impressed?" Antares questioned her.
Misaki picked up the scroll and examined the formula. "I am pleased."
"It is progress." she added
Antares almost smiled.
Then Misaki continued.
"But do not mistake progress for mastery."
Misaki did not want to over inflate his ego, and wanted him to strive for bigger success so she kept her praises to herself. She wants her son to be strong as she suspects that the world will not be peaceful for long.
The blade hidden inside the praise.
Misaki placed the scroll back in front of him.
"The anchor is too heavy. You used chakra to force stability instead of letting the structure carry the weight. The space formula is narrow, which limits capacity. The index works, but it is uneven. If those stones were weapons, retrieval would lag. The release command is stable, but slow."
Antares frowned.
"How slow?" Antares questioned his mother
"Half a second." she said after testing
"That is nothing."
"In combat, half a second is enough to get killed."
He hated that she was right.
He looked down at the scroll again.
Thirty stones.
Below what he wanted.
Still real.
Made by him..
Misaki seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.
"Before you become arrogant, you need to understand where this places you." his mother stated
Antares narrowed his eyes.
"Placement, like a rank?" Antares questioned
She took a clean sheet of paper and placed it beside the storage scroll.
"There are two standards of fuinjutsu in this world." she started explaining
Antares straightened despite himself.
That caught his attention.
"Two?"
"Yes. The first is the customary standard. The one most villages, armies, and shinobi forces recognize. It is broad, practical, and universal. It measures common uses and applications of fuinjutsu."
Misaki lifted one finger.
"Level One. Novice. Most shinobi fall here. They either know nothing about fuinjutsu or only know enough to activate pre-made tags and scrolls without killing themselves."
AN: I'm going to add the sealing ranks so you guys can understand better in the new auxiliary chapter i will release tomorrow with part 2.
Antares nodded. That made sense.
Most ninjas used seals. Very few understood them.
Misaki lifted a second finger.
"Level Two. Tyro. A step above novice. A Tyro understands basic seals and can make simple ones. Storage scrolls, minor activation tags, light seals, warmth seals, simple binding marks, and other beginner formulas."
"So the level where someone actually begins making useful things."
"Yes."
She lifted a third finger.
"Level Three. Intermediate. A practitioner who can create more stable seals, combine simple commands, read common formulas, and adapt basic work to new situations."
A fourth finger rose.
"Level Four. Advanced. These practitioners can layer formulas, build defensive or restrictive arrays, modify seals in the field, and work with higher-risk applications."
Then the fifth.
"Level Five. Master. Under the customary standard, this is where most of the world stops. A seal master is recognized with a red cord."
Antares's eyes sharpened.
"A red cord?"
Misaki nodded.
"It marks status. A warning and an honor. It tells people that the person wearing it is not merely someone who uses fuinjutsu. They understand it and can kill you with it."
Antares looked down at his storage scroll.
"So where would this be?"
"Low Tyro work," Misaki said. "Functional, but below the expected quality of a competent beginner."
His face twitched.
"Below?"
"A market-grade beginner storage scroll made by a competent Tyro should hold around fifty small items of similar size without problems."
Antares stared at her, impressed. "Fifty?"
"Yes." she confirmed
"I am six and I made a seal that can hold 30 small items" Antares mentioned his age and his recent accomplishment.
"I am grading the seal, not your age." she smacked him on the head lightly so he pays attention and stpps bragging.
He opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
That was unfair.
It was also exactly how Misaki taught.
She continued before he could complain properly.
"A proper teacher can praise the child and still judge the work honestly. You did well for your age, but the scroll is still weak." she told him seriously
Antares looked away shyly at her praise. "That is better."
"It was not meant to comfort you." Misaki a bit exasperated with her sons antics just continued
Misaki placed another sheet beside the first.
"Now, the second standard is ours."
The room felt quieter after that.
"The Uzumaki standard."
Antares's gaze shifted toward the wooden box sitting near Misaki's side.
Old papers wrapped in red cloth rested inside it.
He could feel their chakra from where he sat.
Old.
Alive in a way paper should not be.
Misaki's voice became heavier.
"The Uzumaki did not judge fuinjutsu by the same ladder as the rest of the world. What other villages call mastery, our records often treat as the beginning of true discipline."
Antares felt a smile tug at his mouth. "That sounds very arrogant."
"It was earned." she corrected slightly
That shut him up.
Misaki tapped the clean sheet.
"Under the Uzumaki standard, Levels One and Two are Abecedarian."
Antares blinked stupidly. "That sounds worse than Novice."
"It is more honest." Misaki told him shifting her legs slightly to get comfortable.
"What does it mean?" he questioned tilting his head to the side
"A beginner. Someone learning the alphabet of the art. At this stage, a student studies calligraphy, brush control, ninja art theory, seal concepts, structure, intent, and application. They are not expected to be impressive. They are expected to build hands that do not ruin the future."
Antares looked at the brush in his hand.
"So that is me technically."
"Yes." His mother nodded
Misaki continued.
"Level Three is Catechumen. A basic trainee of the sealing arts. At that stage, a student begins applying theory, calligraphy, and chakra control into real fuinjutsu. They learn different types of seals and how to create them safely."
Antares glanced at the storage scroll.
"So making this scroll would usually be Catechumen work?"
"Under the Uzumaki standard, yes. Barely."
That stung.
Misaki did not care and continued.
"Level Four is Junior Apprentice. A Junior Apprentice can draw and create seals from E rank to A rank difficulty. They begin studying layers, matrices, added commands, and deciphering."
"A rank at Level Four?" Antares asked.
"Under our standard, the rank of a seal does not equal mastery. A person can copy a dangerous formula and still be a complete fool."
That was a good point.
A child could hold a sword.
That did not make him a swordsman.
Misaki continued.
"Level Five is Senior Apprentice. At that level, a user can write seals on almost any surface, add seals to objects and bodies, and begin manifesting chakra outside the body to support seal work."
Her eyes moved toward the old Uzumaki records.
"For some bloodlines, that includes adamantine chakra chains."
Antares went still.
"So the chains are considered part of sealing progression?"
"For us, yes," Misaki said. "Not because every Uzumaki can awaken them. They cannot. But because the chains are living fuinjutsu. Body, blood, chakra, and command moving together."
Antares repeated the phrase in his mind.
Living fuinjutsu.
That fit too well.
Misaki continued.
"Levels Six and Seven are Alumni. Practitioners at that level can read and sense seal signatures, disable or deconstruct seals, create cancellation formulas, redesign existing structures, and reconstruct damaged seals. They are skilled enough to take part in tailed beast sealing."
Antares felt the weight of that.
Not just storage scrolls.
Not just tags.
Tailed beasts.
"Levels Eight and Nine are Scholar and Disciplinary. They are certified to teach others. They understand theory, application, styles, layers, matrices, and combination techniques. They can use fuinjutsu in combat, read seals under pressure, imprint seals using chakra, and create mental graphics of a seal layout."
Antares narrowed his eyes.
"Mental graphics?"
"A seal drawn in the mind before it is drawn in the world," Misaki said and continued after taking a breath. "If you cannot see the full structure before you write, you are only copying lines."
Misaki's gaze stayed on him.
"Level Ten is Master. An Uzumaki Master can use A to SS rank seals, create formulas on the spot, write seals through the air, place seals with chakra alone, combine fuinjutsu with other ninja arts, and fight with seals as naturally as another shinobi throws a kunai."
Antares exhaled slowly.
That was insane but beautiful.
But insane.
"And the cord?" Antares questioned the first thing she told him that seal masters wear on them to distinguish themselves.
Misaki's expression became solemn.
"Dark red."
Antares looked at the old red cloth around the records.
A dark red cord.
Not just status.
Inheritance.
Misaki was not done.
"Above that is not part of the normal student ranking. Those are levels of mastery." she added wanting to provide her son with all the knowledge about the ranks
Antares leaned forward again, interested.
"There is more?" he asked, wondering about the higher ranks.
"There is always more." she said amusedly.
Of course there was.
Misaki's voice became formal.
"Neophyte. Level One through Three of mastery. These seal masters are skilled enough to create space-time seals, summoning frameworks, and complex seals with multiple layers and matrices."
Antares nearly choked and blurred out."Space-time seals are Neophyte?"
"Under the Uzumaki mastery standard, yes."
"That is our history." she continued off while nodding at his bafflement.
He stared at her.
She continued.
"Intermediary Disciple. Level Four through Seven of mastery. These practitioners can perform highly advanced and life endangering seals. Portal formulas. Forbidden summoning frameworks. Seals that touch places ordinary contracts should never reach."
That sounded like forbidden territory.
Misaki's eyes confirmed it.
"Savant. Level Eight through Ten of mastery. These masters can perform seals in the air without paper and sometimes without ink. They can manipulate chakra to alter, adjust, or redefine existing seals almost instantly."
Antares's mouth went dry.
Instantly changing existing seals.
That was not just fuinjutsu, it was some next level hacks.
"And Grandmaster?" he asked quietly.
Misaki held his gaze.
"Level Eleven. Grandmasters are skilled in all arts and areas of fuinjutsu. They can perform nearly any seal with ease, combine fuinjutsu with other ninja arts, create seals with chakra alone, and master juinjutsu."
Antares noticed the shift in her tone.
"Forbidden seals." he probed trying to her some more info.
"Yes," Misaki said. "Juinjutsu is not a toy. It is a forbidden branch of fuinjutsu that controls, curses, restricts, brands, or binds living beings. A Grandmaster can use it, and a wise Grandmaster knows when not to."
Antares thought of cursed seals.
Of control.
Of bodies marked against their will.
Of villages that would absolutely abuse something like that.
"What marks a Grandmaster?" he asked.
"A gold cord." Misaki started looking at her son who was really intrigued by the markings.
Gold.
Above red.
Above dark red.
He imagined an Uzumaki elder walking through a battlefield with a gold cord at the waist and seals forming in the air without paper, brush, or a warning.
For the first time, Antares truly understood why the world had feared Uzushiogakure.
It was not just because they knew sealing.
It was because their definition of sealing was higher than everyone else's.
Misaki let the silence sit for a moment.
Then she tapped his storage scroll.
"Now do you understand why this matters?" she questioned her small son.
Antares looked down.
The scroll suddenly felt smaller, embarrassingly so.
"For the common world, successfully creating a low grade storage scroll places someone around Tyro. They can make a basic seal. That is enough for most shinobi to be useful."
She pointed at him.
"For the Uzumaki, you are still Abecedarian. You are learning letters. Brush pressure. Concept. Command. Chakra flow. Intent. You are not yet a true trainee."
Antares stared at her.
"That is harsh." he pouted
"That is honest." she shrugged
He winced dramatically.
That one hurt.
Misaki tapped the weak storage scroll again.
"This is why the Uzumaki standard exists. The world praises function and we respect it, but we do not worship it. A seal that cannot survive fear, blood, rain, exhaustion, or battle is not enough."
Antares looked at her.
Misaki's eyes were steady and passionate .
"The customary standard creates useful practitioners. The Uzumaki standard creates seal masters."
Useful practitioners.
Seal masters.
There was a gap between those two things.
A wide one.
Antares looked at the scroll again.
Thirty stones.
Below common standard.
Barely acknowledged by Uzumaki standard.
Still real.
Still his.
His pride wanted to argue but his mind knew better.
Then a thought crossed his mind.
"What about Tobirama Senju?" Antares questioned his mother.
Misaki's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The Second Hokage?"
Antares realized his mistake a breath too late.
He was not even in the academy yet, should he even know this knowledge?
A six year old should not casually bring up the Second Hokage in the middle of a fuinjutsu lesson unless someone had given him a reason to know the name.
He recovered quickly.
"Father mentioned him before." He tried to come up with recent memories and blurted that one out.
Misaki studied him carefully.
Antares kept his face as innocent as possible.
It failed a bit.
As usual.
"What did your father say?" she asked.
Antares looked down at the storage scroll for a moment.
"He said Tobirama Senju was one of the hardest men he ever fought."
The room grew quieter.
Misaki did not interrupt.
Antares continued, repeating what Ay had once told him in the blunt, irritated way only his father could manage.
"He said fighting the Second Hokage was like trying to kill a shadow that could think faster than most men could breathe. Water came from nowhere. Clones moved like real men. Traps were hidden inside traps. And whenever Father thought he finally had him, the man was already somewhere else."
Misaki's expression became unreadable.
"Flying Thunder God," she said.
Antares nodded slowly. "That was the name Father used."
Misaki looked toward the window, where the clouds that crawled across Kumogakure's peaks.
"Tobirama Senju was not an Uzumaki," she said. "But he understood enough of sealing, space time theory, and battlefield application to make even monsters cautious. Under the customary standard, he would be called a master without question."
Antares thought of his father.
Ay was not a man who praised enemies easily.
If anything, his father usually described opponents in three categories.
Weak.
Annoying.
Dead.
For him to admit that Tobirama Senju had been hard to kill meant something.
Misaki looked back at him.
"But remember this. The customary standard measures function. Can the seal work? Can the user apply it? Can they survive using it? Can they weaponize it?"
She touched the old Uzumaki record beside her.
"The Uzumaki standard asks harsher questions. Can the seal endure fear? Can it endure pain? Can it endure blood, rain, exhaustion, battle, and interference? Can the user rebuild it if it fails? Can they alter it while dying? Can they make the command obey when the world itself is trying to break their concentration?"
Antares went quiet.
That was the difference.
Tobirama Senju had been a monster under the world's standard.
But the Uzumaki had built a standard where even monsters were still measured carefully.
Misaki reached for the wooden box beside her.
"Now that you have made something weak, you are ready to understand something dangerous."
Antares looked at the box.
His childish irritation faded.
'Finally, something Intresting.' Antares thought and felt anticipatory.
AN: I want to shout out, Issac Buckman for being the first Patreon member. I also want to appologize for not providing with extra chapters just yet. Ive been busy with life so i havent gotten to releasing them. But hopefully this week i will start working on that for you guys.
I hope you guys enjoyed, see ya later :D