Kapitel 278: 277-If you are powerful enough then you are old enough

Renjiro's gaze stayed locked on the scroll in his hands, his mind racing he held it like something precious and forbidden, her fingers grazing the edges in a way that told him this was no ordinary technique.

It was one of the final jutsu that Minato, as the fourth Hokage, used to deal with the threat of the Nine Tails. A sacrifice that he was forced to make with Obito who was masquerading as Obito.

"Hmm… the Reaper Death Seal," he muttered, letting the words roll over his tongue like an incantation.

"It sounds like a dangerous technique."

Kushina's expression shifted, a seriousness settling over her features that Renjiro didn't often see. She carefully took the scroll from his hands, her touch soft but firm, as though she were handling something alive.

"Yes," she said quietly, "it's one of the most dangerous Fūinjutsu techniques the Uzumaki clan ever created."

Renjiro of course knew all of this, but if he voiced his thoughts on the jutsu which originated from the Uzumaki, Kushina would pester him with questions on how he came across knowledge on the jutsu. So Renjiro feigned arrogance.

"So," he began, trying to sound as casual as he could, "what exactly does it do?"

Kushina hesitated, and for a moment, Renjiro wondered if she would even tell him. But after a beat, she sighed, her shoulders softening slightly.

"It's… a sealing jutsu that summons the Shinigami, the Death God itself. This jutsu binds the target's soul—at the cost of the user's own life."

The room fell silent. A seal that bound the soul, but at the cost of the user's life? Most couldn't fathom the sheer resolve and sacrifice it would take to use such a technique.

Renjiro's voice was barely a whisper when he spoke. "Teach it to me."

Kushina's answer came immediately, her voice firm and absolute. "No."

He blinked, his mouth hanging open as he processed her blunt refusal.

"Why not?" he demanded, frustration creeping into his tone. He wasn't used to Kushina denying him when it came to learning fuinjutsu—especially not ones that intrigued him as much as this.

At least this would be Renjiro's failsafe if he ever got into a solution where he did not see any way out of it. Renjiro did not hope that this day would come but it would be better if he could prepare for it.

"The jutsu is too dangerous, Renjiro," she replied, her tone gentler but still resolute.

"Especially for a child like you."

It took him a moment to realize what she'd said, and when he did, the shock was clear on his face.

"What do you mean, a child?" he spluttered, unable to keep the indignation out of his voice.

"Both you and Minato are only five years older than me!"

Kushina raised an eyebrow, unperturbed by his outburst. "Yes… and?"

He struggled to articulate his frustration, his mind racing to find something that would convince her.

"I'm also a Jōnin," he pointed out, his tone edged with irritation. "That should at least mean something."

She crossed her arms, her face showing both amusement and affection. "While that's commendable," she said, barely holding back a smirk, "it still doesn't mean you're not a child."

Renjiro gritted his teeth, fighting back the urge to argue further. "Kushina, in the shinobi world, power matters more than age. Just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm not capable. If you are powerful enough then you are old enough."

Kushina's expression softened as she met his gaze, her voice tinged with the weight of experience. "A sealing technique like the Reaper Death Seal isn't about capability, Renjiro. It's about the willingness to give everything, to lay down your life for a single cause. It demands a sacrifice that… I don't think you're ready for it. Even if you think you are I do not want you to ever think of using such a jutsu."

Her words, though gentle, struck him deeply, forcing him to confront something he hadn't considered. Could he truly be ready to face death head-on, to sacrifice his very soul? He'd never shied away from danger, even in his second life, which was more dangerous than the first, but this was different.

'Well,' he thought with a rueful smile, 'it was worth a try. Looks like I need to find another place to learn it. Maybe Minato when he is done. No, he would probably say the same thing as Kushina.'

Only Kushina and Miwa, ever looked at him like this, as if he were still young and in need of protection. Even now, he could see the traces of concern in Kushina's eyes, the way she held herself as if to shield him from something he couldn't fully understand.

To them, he was still a child, someone to be nurtured and protected, no matter how capable he proved himself. Yet, among his peers and even some senior shinobi, he was respected and feared for his abilities.

To them, he was Renjiro Uzumaki, the prodigious young Jōnin of Konoha, powerful beyond his years. But to Kushina and Miwa, he was still… Renjiro, a boy with so much yet to learn.

She must have noticed the shift in his mood, for she chuckled softly, breaking the silence.

"Anyway," she said, leaning forward with a smile, "what brings you here, Renjiro?"

He leaned back, grinning as he met her gaze with a mischievous glint. "What, I need a reason to visit you?"

"Yes," she replied with a smirk, her arms crossing again as she raised an eyebrow at him. "In fact, you do."

He chuckled, surrendering to her teasing. "Alright, alright," he admitted, letting his guard down a bit. "I came here for something."

She nodded, her expression growing curious. "And what is that?"

"I wanted your help with a jutsu I've been working on modifying," he began, excitement creeping into his voice. "It's the Rashomon Gates."

Her eyes lit up with interest, a knowing smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "The Rashomon Gates? Now that's an ambitious project. How are you thinking of modifying it?"

Renjiro took a deep breath, mentally organizing his thoughts before diving into his ideas. "I've got a few modifications in mind," he said, raising his fingers to count them off. "First, changing the gate formation. The standard setup is linear, but I think arranging it in circular or staggered formations could provide a more versatile defence.

Next, I'm considering integrating chakra-draining seals to reinforce the gates' durability, and finally," he looked up, his eyes gleaming with excitement, "I was thinking of adding explosive tags to create a more offensive defence."

Kushina's brow furrowed as she considered his ideas, her fingers tapping thoughtfully on the table. "Those are certainly ambitious modifications," she mused, her tone both impressed and slightly cautious.

"But why do you feel the need to change the Rashomon Gates? The First Hokage perfected that technique for a reason."

Renjiro met her gaze, his voice steady and resolute. "Because it can always be better," he said simply.

She let out a small sigh, shaking her head with an amused smile. "I guess the stubbornness of our clan has finally caught up to you…" she muttered, a trace of exasperation colouring her tone.

But there was no real reprimand in her words; instead, there was a sense of admiration. She could see the drive and determination that defined him, the relentless pursuit of improvement that made him who he was.

"Alright," she said finally, a note of excitement creeping into her voice. "So, where do you want to start?"

Renjiro's eyes lit up with enthusiasm. "I think we should begin with integrating chakra absorption into the gates. That would give them more staying power and could potentially turn them into a more sustainable defence."

Kushina chuckled, standing up as she stretched her arms. "Well, if that's what you want," she said, smiling down at him with a look of approval, "then it'll be easy. Let's get to work."

=====

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Kapitel 279: 278-How to make a Jutsu

"What do you mean that it will be easy?" Renjiro questioned, staring at her as if she'd just suggested a casual walk through a rainstorm would make the sunshine. His voice was tinged with a mixture of confusion and concern, a stark contrast to Kushina's calm confidence.

Kushina leaned back, folding her arms with a slight smile. "We just need to alter the jutsu-shiki," she said as if this was the simplest solution in the world.

Renjiro's eyebrows shot up even higher, and he crossed his arms defensively. "Wait, you can do that to ninjutsu too?"

Ever since he'd begun his lessons in fuinjutsu under Kushina's strict guidance, he'd believed the jutsu-shiki—the seal formula—was limited to sealing techniques alone.

They had delved into the intricacies of designing seals, and how each stroke, angle, and brushstroke could dictate the flow of chakra in astonishingly precise ways. Renjiro had come to respect jutsu-shiki as the core of fuinjutsu, a sacred aspect of their craft. And now, Kushina was casually suggesting it could apply to other forms of jutsu?

Kushina raised an eyebrow, leaning in with an intent look. "Renjiro," she began in a slow, measured tone, "what is jutsu?"

The question threw him off guard. He blinked. "Why?" Renjiro wondered why she would ask such an elementary question, yet her eyes were expectant, urging him to answer. He hesitated before responding,

"Jutsu is the mystical arts or techniques that shinobi use."

"Correct," Kushina acknowledged with a nod.

"And the main types of jutsu are…?"

"Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu," he replied confidently. It was the most common sense in the shinobi world.

Kushina gave him an amused look. "You've already been to Mount Myoboku, haven't you? So why did you forget Senjutsu?"

Renjiro inwardly cursed. 'Darn it, Minato. So much for being a shinobi who can keep our mission details private. This is exactly why I hate couples.'

He muttered under his breath, "Yes, there's also Senjutsu."

Kushina smirked, her tone growing more playful. "Exactly. Now tell me, what is jutsu-shiki?"

Renjiro sighed, looking off to the side as he considered his answer. "It's… the sealing formula."

Kushina raised her hand and began waving her index finger at him in gentle admonishment.

"No, that's where you're wrong, Renjiro."

"What—" Renjiro started, but she cut him off.

"It's in the name, Renjiro," she said, leaning forward as if imparting a great secret.

"Jutsu-shiki! It's not called Fuinjutsu-shiki."

Renjiro's eyes widened in realization. The word choice was deliberate, wasn't it? Jutsu-Shiki wasn't bound solely to fuinjutsu; it could apply to any jutsu—ninjutsu, genjutsu, even senjutsu. His mind spun with the implications.

'Wait, if this is possible… could I modify the jutsu-shiki of senjutsu to make it accessible to me?'

He made a mental note to experiment with this idea, excitement bubbling up inside him. It was a loophole he hadn't considered, a crack in the wall that had seemed impenetrable.

Kushina observed him with a satisfied smile, her face glowing with the warmth of someone who had just passed on a valuable piece of wisdom.

Passing knowledge to someone, especially someone she saw as family, filled her with a unique sense of joy and fulfilment. She saw Renjiro not just as a student, but as one of the last Uzumaki, at least she thought he was, a part of her extended clan line, and it gave her a deep sense of purpose to guide him.

Renjiro broke the silence with a furrowed brow, his mind still churning. "But… if what you're saying is possible, then how can you translate that to other forms of jutsu? For instance, ninjutsu?"

Kushina inclined her head, pleased with his curiosity. "Renjiro, how do you make a jutsu?"

It wasn't like her previous questions. This one caught him off guard, for he'd never really thought about the process in such detail. His intention had been to try modifying a few ninjutsu here and there—an experiment to test the waters before he took on the challenge of creating something entirely his own. Yet here he was, forced to confront the question.

He took a breath and answered, half-confident and half unsure. "By moulding your chakra in a particular way."

Kushina gave a small nod but held up her hand. "That's partly true," she said, her tone carrying a note of encouragement.

"You also need to consider the nature and properties your chakra will adopt for the jutsu. The amount of chakra, the paths it takes through your body, all contribute to the final result. It's a complex and often convoluted process. Of course," she added with a slight smile, "this only applies when someone is creating a jutsu from scratch. When someone is simply learning a jutsu, things are much simpler. I'm sure you know how."

Renjiro nodded slowly, sensing her hint. "Through hand signs. We learn to use hand signs to master jutsu… I suppose they're a simplified version of the whole process?"

Kushina smiled approvingly. "Exactly. For ninjutsu, genjutsu, and sometimes even taijutsu, the hand signs serve as the jutsu-shiki, a shorthand that channels chakra in pre-determined patterns to achieve a desired effect. By changing the hand signs, you're essentially modifying the jutsu-shiki."

Renjiro's mouth quirked up as he thought. 'What a roundabout way to say I just need to change the hand signs to modify a jutsu,' he mused inwardly, but he kept that observation to himself.

Kushina continued, her tone more serious now. "But there's more to it than that. A jutsu-shiki is like an equation, a formula that captures everything a jutsu is meant to do. Changing it isn't as simple as just switching hand signs randomly." Her gaze became thoughtful, and she leaned back, looking off into the distance as if searching her memory.

"You can alter the nature of a jutsu by adjusting the equation—the jutsu-shiki—behind it. But if you're not careful, even small changes can have… unpredictable effects."

Renjiro absorbed her words, feeling both awed and daunted by the challenge. "So… in essence, it's a mathematical problem?"

Kushina nodded, smiling. "Exactly, Renjiro. Think of it like that. You want to find a new equation, or at least modify the one you have, to yield a specific result. You're just using chakra and hand signs instead of numbers and symbols."

Renjiro took a deep breath. This was starting to make sense, though the idea of jutsu as a kind of equation was still new and required him to reframe everything he knew. It made him wonder how much more potential was hidden in the jutsu he already knew, waiting for him to unlock it by tweaking the jutsu-shiki.

"Jutsu-shiki can be seen as the framework that holds a jutsu together, yes?" Kushina clarified, her tone warm and patient. "For fuinjutsu, we use written seals; for ninjutsu and genjutsu, we rely on hand signs. The end goal, however, is the same."

Renjiro nodded, mentally piecing her explanation together with his own experiences. He remembered times when he'd accidentally altered hand signs in training, and the resulting jutsu was either weaker, more volatile, or did something entirely unexpected. Back then, he'd chalked it up to mistakes. Now, he realized they were changes to the jutsu-shiki, albeit unintended ones.

Kushina tilted her head, watching his face shift as he considered this revelation. "It's like speaking different dialects of the same language, isn't it?" she offered, as if reading his thoughts.

"Yeah…" Renjiro replied, his voice distant as he lost himself in thought. "I suppose that's a good way to put it. One little change, one slip in pronunciation, and suddenly you're saying something entirely different."

Kushina chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Exactly! Which is why you need to experiment with caution. You never know what kind of disaster a poorly formed jutsu-shiki could create."

Renjiro shifted, leaning forward with a small grin. "So, let me get this straight: I just need to experiment with the hand signs to get the effect I want?"

Kushina shook her head, an amused smile playing on her lips. "Not quite. While hand signs are the jutsu-shiki for ninjutsu and genjutsu, they're not what we need to focus on in this case. Think of jutsu-shiki as an equation to a specific jutsu. If we want to create—or in your case, modify—an equation for a jutsu, we need to simplify it." Her eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint.