"Why did you ask me to learn those seals? I didn’t have to make a single one during the entire process," Kaida asked.

  "Are you really asking me such a silly question? I thought you had some smartness, maybe the pain from the procedure was too much," Mitsuru said, pg her hand on her as if p some deep theory.

  "I’m sorry to disappoint you, Sensei. Your disciple is not that smart. Now, you please tell me the reason?" Kaida said. Dealing with Shisui had trained him enough to handle such sarios, but ohought crossed his mind: 'Sensei is unusually pyful today.' Si wasn't a bad thing, he didn't point it out.

  "Simple. When I was making seals on your body, did you know which type of seal I was making?" Mitsuru asked.

  "Yes, Sensei. It was a slightly advanced version of the Healing Seal I had learned," Kaida replied.

  "And when those two were making seals?" Mitsuru tinued.

  "They made some type of array that bined a ste seal with a chakra suppression seal and a chakra absorption seal. But it wasn’t a normal one. He must have modified it to absorb chakra from me rather than from the enviro, and..." Kaida went silent, stopping mid-sentence.

  "Yeah, you know every single seal that was inscribed on your body. Only a fool would get a seal inscribed on their body without knowing anything about it. Also, you'll have to maintain those seals iure. What would happen if you messed up some strokes because you didn’t know the seals? Everything would go to waste, and you'd either have tet about this jutsu or do everything ain," Mitsuru expined.

  Kaida shuddered at the thought of such a future.

  "I uand, Sensei," Kaida said.

  "Good. Now, you go bad take some rest for today. DON’T even think about using the seal. Let your body get aced to them first, and only start filling the seal with your chakra tomorrow," Mitsuru gave a strict warning.

  "Okay, Sensei," Kaida said with a smile. He once again thanked Mitsuru for her help and then headed back to his home.

  ---

  "Oh! You’re back. How did the procedure go?" Shisui asked as soon as he saw Kaida entering the house.

  "It went well, brother," Kaida replied as he ehe house, a silly grin on his face. "I now have an S-rank jutsu—and one of the best o that."

  "Great, show it to me!" Shisui replied with the same energy.

  "Umm... I’m currently very low on chakra because of the procedure, but I at least show you a nerfed demonstration," Kaida said, his grin still intact. But then he remembered Mitsuru’s advice to let his body get aced to the seal first before using it. Though it mainly applied to adding more chakra into the seal, he decided to hold off activating the seal for now as well.

  "Brother, Seold me not to use the seal today. I’ll show it to you tomorrow," Kaida said.

  "No problem. What matters is that you finally achieved yoal," Shisui responded.

  ---

  While Kaida was having aalk with his brother, the higher-ups of Konoha were having a different type of versation.

  "So, he’s learhe Mitotic Regeion Jutsu," Hiruzen said, puffing out a thick cloud of smoke from his pipe.

  "Yes, Lord Third. As per your orders, Lord Kiyoshi and Lord Tatsuo themselves made the process as perfect as possible. Both of them are resting at the moment because of the fatigue, but acc to them, the process went seamlessly and the results were perfect too. Though it’s not at the same level as Lady Tsuhat boy now has the sed-best healing jutsu in Konoha," the Anbu reported.

  "Do you think it was a good idea to teach that boy something so precious, and without even asking Tsunade, sihis is her jutsu?" Homura asked, adjusting his gsses.

  "There’s no need for me to ask permission from my student. As for that boy’s qualifications... his talent is his qualification. Having a 3-tomoe Sharingan, going toe-to-toe with Itachi isu, and possessing specialist-level medical jutsu capabilities—not to mention his progress isu and fuinjutsu—he might be the most versatile ninja among the younger geiht now. So, if he wao learn something, what reason did I have not to let him?" Hiruzen asked, releasing more smoke from his pipe.

  "Because he’s an Uchiha," Koharu added with a tinge of annoyan her voice.

  "And? I’m still waiting for the reason," Hiruzen said.

  "Don’t py games, Hiruzen. You know the power bance will be shattered if the Uchiha get their hands on this jutsu," Koharu argued.

  "And how will they get this jutsu? Will they dissect that boy and break through the cealment seals made by two of Konoha’s best fuinjutsu grandmasters? And that too, when I’ve given him my prote?" Hiruzen asked, as if he had just heard some kind of joke.

  "We don’t know. They might try. Don’t you remember just a few months ago they were showing rebellious tendencies? Who knows—maybe their Curse of Hatred is awakening again," Koharu warned.

  "We both know the reason for that, Koharu. Danzo forced them into that position, killing so many Uchiha and giving them all life-threatening missions under my name. How do you expect them to behave?" Hiruzen asked.

  "Why are you taking their side so much, Hiruzen?" Homura chimed in. It was unusual for Hiruzen to support the Uchiha sly.

  "I’m not supp them. You two are just trying to portray one of the most important s in our vilge as vilins. Just imagine if the Uchiha weren’t part of Konoha. Our vilge would lose a quarter of its strength," Hiruzen stated. It was a bold cim, as paring a to a quarter of the vilge’s strength meant Konoha depended on them.

  Even though Koharu and Homura wao deny it, deep down, they k was true. The Uchiha, with their high number of jonin and their dojutsu, were a crucial part of Konoha’s strength. But that was also the problem—everyone was unfortable with how powerful they were. This resulted in the ambiguous situation where everyone khe Uchiha were important for Konoha, but they didn’t want them to grow any stronger.

  "That boy will also join the Anbu iure. He’s not only an Uchiha but also a Senju, so don’t worry too much," Hiruzen said, uanding what the two elders really wao express.

  "Fine," Koharu said simply. Even if they had more to say, Hiruzen’s tone in his st sentence left no room for further discussion.

  After they left, Hiruzen turo the er of his office.

  "What do you think?"

  "It’s good for the vilge that we now have a pseudo S-rank ninja," Shikaku finally spoke, having been silent throughout the discussion because there was no need for his input.

  "Pseudo S-rank... quite a erm there," Hiruzen ented.

  "He’s not really Kage-level at the moment, but if he activates the Mitotic Regeion seal along with his 3-tomoe Sharingan, he may reach that level for a short period of time. But that’s it. It’s not perma, and sidering the side effects, he won’t be able to use it ofteher. So, he’s not truly a Kage-level ninja, not even low Kage-level. But he could reach that stage... that’s why I call him a pseudo Kage-level ninja," Shikaku expined iail.

  "Fine, but you know I wasn’t asking about that," Hiruzen said.

  "The in Exam?"