Chapter 15: The Development of Seal-less Ninjutsu (Part 4)
The blue lightning crackled and danced in Hagoromo's palm, pulsing like a living creature. His fingers twitched, struggling to contain the volatile chakra. Danger and destruction seemed ready to erupt at any moment.
Kakashi and the others instinctively leaned back, their bodies subconsciously trying to distance themselves from the chakra. It was an immediate, primal reaction—their instincts screamed at them just how deadly this technique was.
And yet, here was Hagoromo, boldly performing the original creator's jutsu right in front of him—without a shred of guilt.
"What power… This is on par with an S-rank technique!" Unlike the others, who were awed or intimidated, Minato's eyes gleamed with interest. The strength of the jutsu was certainly impressive, but that wasn't what truly captured his attention.
He'd noticed something far more intriguing—this was a Sealless jutsu. A transformation of chakra nature, formed without any hand signs, and producing a massive amount of chakra. That kind of execution required extraordinary skill. That was what truly excited him.
"Incredible... I didn't expect your student to develop such a powerful Sealless technique," Minato said with deep admiration.
At the time, Minato had just begun exploring Sealless ninjutsu himself, inspired by the Tailed Beast Ball. He was still in the early conceptual phase of the Rasengan, and hadn't even begun adding chakra nature transformations to it.
Sealless ninjutsu held an overwhelming advantage in combat—it could be executed instantly, unlike traditional jutsu that required dozens of seals.
"Well, obviously! I've always said I'm a naturally talented teacher," Kushina boasted shamelessly, clearly proud of her protégé.
Hagoromo considered mentioning that he'd actually developed this technique before ever meeting Kushina… but after a few seconds of thought, he wisely kept that detail to himself. He had no desire to see how Kushina might react to the truth.
That said, Minato seemed to have misunderstood the technique, so Hagoromo quickly clarified.
"Actually, Minato-senpai, this jutsu doesn't really count as a Sealless ninjutsu."
"Huh? But you didn't form any seals just now…" Minato asked, clearly confused. He'd been watching carefully—if Hagoromo had used hand signs, there was no way he'd have missed them.
"I didn't use any seals, that's true. But that's only because my body is naturally attuned to lightning chakra. I can release it without seals, but the jutsu itself does require hand signs."
Hagoromo dispelled the Chidori in his hand, then immediately demonstrated the actual hand seals: Ox — Hare — Monkey.
After the three quick seals, lightning burst once again into his palm.
This was mostly for Kakashi's benefit—Hagoromo didn't want to completely steal the technique from its original creator. He might be a shameless pirate, but at least he had some ethics. With the hand signs revealed, Kakashi should now be able to learn and refine his own jutsu—Raikiri—from here.
"So it's talent after all…" Minato muttered, his interest clearly waning a little. A technique born from natural affinity was impressive, but it wasn't the kind of universal, teachable power he was chasing.
Even so, Minato couldn't deny that Hagoromo was a prodigy. Regardless of the Chidori, the fact that such a young ninja could manipulate lightning release so fluently was a rare talent in itself.
At the moment, Hagoromo could already use Lightning Release and Fire Release—his two natural chakra affinities. Of the two, he clearly favored lightning. While fire techniques tended to have wider destructive range, lightning offered higher concentrated power.
Not that he had anything against Fire Release per se—he just didn't have access to any A-rank fire techniques.
Unfortunately, neither did Kushina. And according to her, Konoha didn't have any A-rank Fire Release jutsu at all.
A truly tragic tale.
Aside from those two natures, Hagoromo was also studying other chakra types under Kushina's guidance, but he hadn't made much progress yet.
Still, regardless of anyone else's experience, Hagoromo enjoyed the meal immensely. Over the next few days, he didn't see much of Kushina—until Minato finally left the village.
Only then did she return to her usual self, diving into her fūinjutsu project with fierce determination.
And within a week, after overcoming several major hurdles, she finally completed her forbidden technique.
---
One early morning, in the remote northwest corner of Konoha's barrier zone—a quiet, rarely-visited stretch of forest.
Two figures moved stealthily through the misty light of dawn: one tall, one short—a woman and a boy.
Of course, it was Kushina and Hagoromo.
Kushina carried an enormous sealing scroll over her shoulder. When she reached a safe distance from Konoha's barrier, she stopped.
She couldn't go any further. If she crossed the threshold, the barrier would trigger an alert—and that would send ANBU agents swarming, which would ruin their plans to test the forbidden jutsu.
"Hagoromo, come here. Place the scroll right at the edge of the barrier. I can't get any closer than this," Kushina instructed.
Hagoromo nodded and accepted the scroll—which was taller than he was—and carefully stepped toward the edge of the barrier.
He understood why Kushina couldn't approach. She'd once tried sneaking off to the front lines and got caught by the Hokage himself. Since then, Konoha's barrier had been modified with a sensor attuned to Nine-Tails chakra.
If Kushina, as the jinchūriki, even got close to the boundary, the Hokage would know immediately.
So for her, Konoha's barrier was both a protective wall and a prison.
Hagoromo carefully set the scroll at the border and unrolled it as instructed.
Inside the scroll, lines upon lines of intricate symbols merged into patterns, and patterns formed a complex sealing array.
It was far more intricate than the standard Four Symbols Seal, and also completely different from the Reverse Four Symbols Seal that appeared later in the original timeline.
Once the scroll was laid out, Hagoromo quickly scampered back to Kushina's side.
Not because he was scared, of course—he just didn't want to stand next to a potential death trap.
"Reporting in, Squad Leader! Our artillery is in place and ready to fire!" he said, mock-saluting.
Kushina didn't understand the reference, but somehow got the message anyway.
She nodded solemnly. At that moment, she was completely different from her usual self—her expression was focused and deadly serious.
"Alright. First, we fall back—then we fall back even more. We still don't fully understand the range of this technique. We need to make sure we're safe."