"When the training period comes to an end, I'll surprise Mito-sama with the results!" The boy had confidently declared to his mistress.
Mito, incredibly amused by this sudden bout of childishness that was much more in tune with how young Shiki actually was, directly agreed.
The boy taking such an interest in the art she was most dedicated to was obviously pleasing for the redhead and considering his talent, she genuinely looked forward to the surprise to come.
And though he would not go so far as to call it an incident, the Uzumaki matriarch's reaction to his achievements was most entertaining. Though Shiki himself did not emerge unscathed.
*
Shiki was happily heading towards Mito's study with spring in his step from happiness of creating his own seal that he was very much looking forward to showing off.
He arrived and politely knocked on the door.
Even if he tried to be impolite, the study was heavily secured by seals so he would just get the pain of backlash in return.
A small interval passed, now having the knowledge that his mistress was studying forbidden techniques, the boy figured she was hiding the evidence before unlocking the seals so he could enter the study.
"You may enter Shiki." Mito gave the signal and the boy opened the door and stepped into his mistress' study before closing it behind him.
"How rare for you to visit during your training hours. Finally encountered some difficulty and need help perhaps?" The Uzumaki matriarch inquired but, upon seeing her ward's seemingly happy and mischievous expression, quickly revised her words.
"Or perhaps you just came to show off?" She questioned with an eyebrow raise, making Shiki blush with a bit of embarrassment.
Being read by Mito wouldn't do so normally, it happened all the time but because this time, it was his childish intentions being exposed, the boy's feelings on the matter were somewhat different.
"How cute!" The redhead ruffled Shiki's white locks with a head pat, embarrassing him further but it felt quite nice so he elected not to resist.
"Alright then, enough teasing. Show me what you got." Mito stopped patting him and declared.
Shiki pouted, his inner child having been showing increasingly more around his mistress lately and pulled out a scroll containing the fruits of his studies.
Basically, it recorded the seals he learned along with his explanations of their nature and functions along with how they were created along with his method for linking multiple similar seals for an exponential increase in power and effectiveness.
Shiki called it the Dragon Gate Sealing Style scroll. The beginnings of his original sealing style named after his surname Ryumon (Dragon Gate).
Mito took the scroll and began to read through it, her expression becoming increasingly blank, making Shiki tilt his head, wondering what exactly were her thoughts.
Seconds turned into minutes of silence and, after a while, Mito finally spoke, her eyes still not leaving the scroll.
"You studied fuinjutsu from the Whirlpool Sealing Style Scrolls, correct?" She asked for confirmation.
"Yes. I have completely studied the basic scroll and went through a part of the advanced scroll as well." Shiki replied, confused by the question.
'Mito-sama should easily be able to tell my fuinjutsu is based on the Whirlpool Sealing Style due to her mastery of it.So why the question?' The boy wondered.
The Uzumaki matriarch turned scroll towards him and pointed to the part detailing the Linked Sealing Technique he developed.
Shiki was unsure of his mistress' point.
"Is there any problem with the Linked Sealing Technique?" He asked.
"Did you come up with it?" She continued to inquire.
"Yes?" Shiki was more and more doubtful of what was going on.
'Why would Mito-sama be surprised at me coming up with new stuff? The Linked Sealing Technique is not even that impressive with its current limitations.
But Mito solved his doubts when she spoke next.
"This technique, while rough around the edges and limited in the sense that it only works when using similar seals and only those of not too high a level, is basically a crude imitation of an Uzumaki technique." The redhead revealed.
"After the advanced scroll, which is available to all qualified clan members and even a limited number of outsiders, there is the hidden scroll which only trusted members of the clan's inner circle are allowed to learn. The Linked Sealing Technique is one of the basic skills there."
'Ahh!' Shiki had a look of realization on his face.
'Basic it may be when compared to the other stuff on the hidden scroll, but it is still a secret hidden technique of the clan. Inadvertently recreating it would certainly merit Mito-sama's reaction.' The boy thought.
'But still. In the original future, Mito definitely knew of all those secret techniques in the hidden scroll and whether he or Kushina "contributed" them to Konoha since the Third Hokage would learn something as critical as the Reaper Death Seal.'
'After Uzushio was destroyed, based on the fuinjutsu skills shown by the other hidden villages, they could not have successfully gathered the core secrets of the Uzumaki which the clan elite likely destroyed to prevent it.'
'Meanwhile, good ole' Konoha had a ripe young Uzumaki that had been taught all those skills by Mito who was naive enough to hand them all over.'
'A legacy good enough to rebuild the Uzumaki clan by gathering survivors and integrating talented and trustworthy outsiders . . . All given away for absolutely nothing or some trifling reward.'
Shaking off his wandering thoughts, Shiki focused back on the present.
"You're really something else . . ." Mito shook her head.
"So are the Uzumaki secret techniques so basic that others can figure them out without even seeing them in action?" She rhetorically questioned.
"Or maybe I'm just better." Shiki smirked with a self satisfied upwards tilt of his head.
With his childish features and diminutive height of a bit over a meter however, it just looked cute.
He was quite tall for a four year old but a four year old he still was.
So Mito just pushed him against her chest and started roughly ruffling his white hair against his will.
"Don't be getting all cocky now little brat. You still have a long way to go." The redhead said with a grin as she felt him accept his fate and stopped struggling.
In truth though, Shiki had simply decided suffering the ruffling was acceptable in exchange for enjoying the warmth and softness of his mistress' boy pressed against him.
After that little pause, Mito unhesitantly praised Shiki's rediscovery of the technique as well as his application in the Scroll Bomb and Flaming Breakthrough Tag.
"But this Assault Storage of yours is a true gem. Not yet complete it seems?" The Uzumaki matriarch commented.
"Mito-sama's insight is truly extraordinary. Yes, there are still several more functions I wish to include." Shiki replied with some praise mixed in.
After all, nobody disliked when people praised the skills they practiced hard to perfect and Mito was no exception, her insight into seals, even those she had never seen, came from years of dedicated fuinjutsu practice.
The Uzumaki matriarch once again patted Shiki's head, this time gently and with soft affection in her gaze.
"Once you have mastered the advanced scroll, I'll let you read the advanced one." She declared.
"Is that okay?" Shiki was delighted but he did not want Mito to break clan rules again, especially not because of him.
"Of course it is. You're mine so the Uzumaki's skills can of course be passed down to you." Mito declared.
Shiki found his mistress' words a bit ambiguous and thankfully, he did not see her expression become a little "off" when she said he was hers but nonetheless, he was happy and relieved with her words. He did not intend on ever betraying that trust either.
And before anyone misunderstands, while the redhead's possessive attitude towards the boy was there, as was a seed of obsession, there is nothing remotely romantic or sexual about it.
Anyone that might be observing or say . . . reading, about these events, can take their mind out of the gutter.
*
This little interlude aside, the only things left to mention of Shiki's training was his progress on his Nirvana Hidden Jutsu and the progress of his stats.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
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Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -