Rise of the Dragon - Chapter 007 (Patreon)

[A/N: I greatly enjoyed writing that chapter, though I am still not sure what to include in this story and what not at this point, as the Narutoverse has so much to offer power- and plotwise.

Anyway, enjoy!]

Chapter 007 – Resistance Seal

[Year 69 – March – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]

Beneath the Senju Libraby there was an underground stone chamber, which was currently lit with a few candles and lanterns, though the room was mostly empty except a small table with a small bowl of dark ink and an empty rectangular plate right next to it.

Currently though there was a small silver-haired child sitting before the table in a lotus position, the cold stone ground beneath his legs seemingly not bothering him. His top was bare while a deep frown was etched into his normally flawless features.

It was a frown of concentration though, as Ryuma sat there with his eyes closed and controlled a small brush that had little more than a few dozen hairs in it to draw symbol after symbol on his back with the prepared ink.

The ink itself was a special concoction Ryuma had crafted himself after an Uzumaki recipe he had found in the textbook for Fuinjutsu. It contained normal ink for the most part, though one third of the tinkture was also his own blood and a ground-up rare mineral that was especially chakra-conductive.

The last procedure for finishing the ink had been to saturate it with chakre for nearly a week, which he had left for his Shadow Clones to take care of.

It was through his Mind's Eye that Ryuma could acurately direct the small brush with his chakra strings, thanks to the fact that the ink contained large amounts of chakra and he could sense his own body near flawlessly with his sensory abilities.

Someone with a Byakugan would probably have it easier, but Ryuma was careful and incredibly focused as he slowly completed the incredibly complex seal structure of what the Uzumaki called the Resistance Seal.

He had been drawing the seal for more than four hours already and was slowly reaching the limits of his concentration, but seeing as it was almost finished, Ryuma soldiered on and made a last few strokes.

Levitating the brush back on the table on a small dish, Ryuma heaved a sigh of relief as he opened his eyes, exhaustion visible inside of them.

The next step though while comparatively less complex, would be the true test of his mental fortitude, as he had to acitvate the seal by flooding it with a huge amount of chakra, equivalent to the full capacity a mid-level Chunin possessed.

As a Senju and distant relative of the Uzumaki, Ryuma had been born with a chakra of that level which was considered monstrous even for a member of the clan, but through constant training over the last few years his reserves had grown equal to that of a high-level Jonin, nearly reaching the low-level Elite-level.

So it was no problem to summon this rather meager amount of chakra, the real problem laid in the fact that as soon as the Resistance Seal was activated, it would burrow into his body and attach itself to his bones and muscles, effectively fusing with his flesh.

And as one could imagine something like that was by no means a painless process.

The descriptions Ryuma had read in the library about this process had been rather vivid, as most records stated that it felt as if being branded by a hot iron throughout his entire body – repeatedly.

Being no stranger to pain thanks to Paku's harsh lessons and his own exagerated physical conditioning, Ryuma still took a moment to steel his resolve before directing a great amount of chakra into the freshly-drawn seal, which covered practically his entire back.

“Ughk-!!”

The next moment though, a strangled gasp escaped his normally shut lips as searing pain shot through his body.

Forcefully closing his mouth, Ryuma tried to contain the anguish he felt, but as the ink sank beneath his skin and suffused into his flesh, it felt as if liquid fire had found itself trapped inside his body.

Needing an outlet to somehow vent the overbearing agony he currently felt, he instinctively roared out in pain mentally, as a shockwave of spiritual pressure swept through his surroundings, overturning the small table directly, while ink splashed everywhere.

“ROAR!”, aking to a dragon's cry, Ryuma's shout echoed unheard through the Senju Library, the seal formations of the building stopping his mental power from leaving the confines of its walls, before he managed to rein in his spiritual energy and cut off his Spiritual Speech a moment later.

Ryuma fought hard to maintain his focus and sanity, while lines and symbols were branded into his bones, organs and muscles.

And as he endured the baptism of the Fuinjutsu, Ryuma began to understand why the records stated that only very few of the Uzumaki truly used this specific seal, even though there were many sealmasters amongst them with sufficient proficiency and chakra that should have been able to use it.

The pain was so intense that Ryuma wanted nothing more than to rip open his own torso and tear out his organs one by one, just to be free of this agony, and it was only because he was sure that his own survival required him to obtain mountain-crushing and world-shattering strength that he could endure what many could not.

He of course didn't have an iron will capable of withstanding even the most brutal torture, but Ryume had something even more precious and that was his will to survive and desire for power.

Ryuma knew that no matter how great his heritage or how plentiful his ressources were, he could only gain true strength by being willing to endure great hardship.

If he was not even willing to exchange lasting power for momentary pain, than it would have been better if he had just killed himself after his reincarnation into this world, at least that was his opinion on the matter.

Finally after enduring several more agonzing minutes, Ryuma felt all the symbols settle in place and form an overarching seal that encompassed his whole physique.

At this point he laid spread-eagled on the floor, his whole body soaked in sweat, while phantom sensations of the incredible pain he had just experienced made his limbs tremble still.

What was left on his back was nothing more than the character for mountain– 山. This character was also the reason that the Resistance Seal was sometimes called Mountain Seal by the Uzumaki in the documents pertaining Fuinjutsu, adding to the fact that it could truly simulate the weight of a mountain pressing down onto one's entire body.

At its highest level, the seal would supposedly also strengthen one enough to pick up a mountain with one hand, though if that was true or not, Ryuma could not tell from the records alone.

The function of the seal was also relatively simply, as it had now been integrated into his body and chakra pathways and would supply itself with negligible amounts of chakra and pressure his entire body every second of the day, even during his sleep.

The seal was a very advanced Fuinjutsu technique so Ryuma could regulate its force of resistance by triggering the seal nodes hidden in the character on his back. One of those node could let him upgrade the pressure, while another could let him downgrade it and the last node made the pressure disappear entirely, which was important in fights.

The Resistance Seal though had an upper limit, which was reached by upgrading the resistance 99 times, meaning that there were only one hundred steps in total. This though wasn't very relevant for Ryuma at the moment and from what he had read no one had ever managed to upgrade the seal past stage 79.

The reason for this was that by the time those users had adapted to the resistance of that level, they had already grown old and did not dare to take another step, knowing that their vitality had simply run dry and that they would not be able to endure the next stage.

Ryuma though decided to not think about all that for now, as his mind was already at its limits.

Glad that he had succeeded and gained a vital piece to his future development though, he couldn't help but let out a weak smile, as he slowly crawled up from the floor and painstakingly climbed up the stairs to the actual library.

“Youn-! Ryuma, what happened to you?!”, Yui called out in panic, as soon as she saw Ryuma emerge from the building, looking as if he would collapse any moment.

She come over to the Clan Library after preparing dinner to look for her Young Lord, but the sight before her caused great worry to surge in her heart.

It was an incredibly rare thing to witness Yui Moha flustered, to speak nothing of panicked, but things were different when it concerned her Yound Lord's safety and well-being.

Afterall it had been Yui that had practially raised Ryuma up till this point, having stayed by his side since only a few days after he had just been born. She had cared for him, fed him, clothed him and loved him.

Yui may have been a servant to the Senju Clan, but in her heart she was also Ryuma's mother.

“Don't worry Yui. I just practiced new technique, though its completion was more painful than I thought it would be.”, Ryuma addressed the worried black-haired beauty, while Kokuyo came to his side and gently flicked its wings against his cheek, as if asking about his well-being.

“I am fine, little one.”, he assured his winged companion.

“Young Lord, please do not try such dangerous jutsus in future! You must think of the Clan, what would we do without your guidance?”, Yui voiced out pleadingly as she crouched low and helped Ryuma steady herself, her eyes watery and filled with great worry.

Ryuma though couldn't just brush her off with a few words, knowing that this would not be the last time he would do something like this, simply because it was necessary for his and the Clan's survival and revival.

He would also not lie to the ones closest to him, even though he kept many secrets. Every word Ryuma spoke was either truthful or unspoken, as he had long since learned how dangerous a simply lie could be.

Lies were like poison, though instead of causing immediate death or weakness, they slowly corrupted and infected everyone who heard them, including the person who voiced them out in the first place.

From a simple white lie to the regular white lie, and before long, lying would become something instinctive and one would start to believe in one's own lies without realizing it.

He had seen such things plenty in his last life as a mute. Without words to communicate, he had learned to be more perceptive when it came to people's expressions and gestures, which meant he had at some point developed a kind of sense for when someone was lying or at least was untruthful.

The most tragic thing was that lying had been so common in his old world, that people had forgotten how to deal with the truth. More often than not they chose to believe the lie, even when presented with the truth.

It had been one of the great tragedies, Ryuma had witnessed in his former life and he had no desire to be part of something like that.