Rise of the Dragon - Chapter 012 (Patreon)

[A/N: I am currently working on the further plot of The Phoenix, which is a rather complicated and tedious task, as the story draws towards its conclusion. I may also make a few polls to get some inspiration or direction for a few points.

For today, I decide to release a chapter of this FF to substitute for The Phoenix. Enjoy!]

Chapter 012 – Progress

[Year 69 – December – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]

'More than two whole months, huh. Not too bad.', Ryuma thought quietly.

Having just woken up from his night's sleep, Ryuma realized that the Yin Seal was still stable and no chakra had leaked over the night. On the contrary, the amount in the unfinished seal seemed to have increased.

This was the first night in two months, where he had not woken up to just realise that his efforts during the day had all been wasted, as he hadn't managed to stop the chakra from leaving the seal while asleep.

As he had expected such, Ryuma had not been surprised for the first few weeks, though that surprise had slowly turned into annoyance and then frustration.

During the two last weeks though, he had taken some time everyday to just meditate and clear his mind from any thoughts and obstructions, while somehow still trying to channel his chakra into the seal.

It was then that Ryuma had experienced real progress with the technique, as he had somehow managed to focus his thoughts to such a degree that his own subconscious had directed his chakra into the Yin Seal even during meditation.

From then on, the loss of chakra during the night and day had become less and less, until today, where his chakra had even started to fill the seal during his sleep seemingly on instinct alone.

It was also thanks to his meditation sessions that he had managed to let the joy he felt at succeeding in the most crucial step of the technique, just flow through him while keeping his mind stable and largely unaffected.

Over this period of time, Ryuma had become even more patient and centered, having once again realised the importance of a calm mind, when it came to success.

Being rash or angry would have not produced any better results with the technique, which they rarely did in any subject, but keeping a serene attitude like he did during his meditation, had proven much more promising.

And while in these two months he had not been able to use his Shadow Clones for any type of training, Ryuma himself had not been slacking off.

Daily, he had sparred against Master Paku for several hours, all the while trying to channel his chakra into the Yin Seal, which had not been an easy thing to achieve at all.

This though had forced him to truly multitask and split his mind in two, as Paku was relentless when it came to his lessons, something Ryuma greatly appreciated, even though he might not have enjoyed the sparring session at those times all that much.

Unable to use his chakra in their battles, had forced Ryuma to rely entirely on his Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, which had brought great results in both categories. He had learned to really draw out the potential of his body, as he was forced to fight and defend himself with nothing but his bodily capabilities.

The effects had been so great in fact, that Ryuma had decided to continue sparring with Paku in such a fashion for the foreseeable future for some time everyday, while also engaging in combat with access to his other techniques.

This also had brought about another benefit, as Ryuma had managed to advance the Resistance Seal by a level, which could be considered immense progress for his age.

Not having access to his chakra for nearly ten weeks, had obviously been somewhat disadvantageous and limiting, but there had been some other benefits to it, than his progress in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu.

Due to the fact that Ryuma was still a child, his physical energy wasn't nearly at the level it would be in the future. And while the same went for his spiritual energy, the other component that chakra was made of, Ryuma's spiritual energy was certainly much more abundant due to the fact that he had been reborn and wasn't actually a child, mentally speaking.

And due to this fact Ryuma had had the chance to become much more familiar with his spiritual energy during this time, where he could not use his chakra.

His experimentations with spiritual energy though had had an unexpected effect, as Ryuma managed to take his Yin Shroud a step further. Evolve, would probaby be the more suitable term.

The normal Yin Shroud Ryuma had learned from the Elder used Yin Chakra to conceal and dull one's presence, coupled with a Chakra Concealment Seal this technique made it basically impossible for even dojutsu users to notice him, as their visual prowess mainly relied on the ability to see the chakra around them with incredible clarity.

The downside was that a Chakra Concealment Seal would lose its effect when the user stimulated or used their chakra for a jutsu or technique.

Yin Chakra in its essence was chakra where the balance between physical energy and spiritual energy tilted heavily in the favour of the latter, but it wasn't easy to change the make-up normal chakra like that.

In fact it was impossibly hard and most regular Shinobi would never be able to use jutsu that relied on this without handseals and years of training. Ryuma on the other hand had trained to do so cince the very beginning by learning several minor Genjutsu and listening to the Elder's advice carefully.

He had however never come into contact with pure spiritual energy for such extended periods of time, but after doing so for weeks while experimenting with it, Ryuma had made an incredibly discovery.

Using almost pure spiritual energy instead of normal chakra and emulating the Yin Shroud, had well and truly erased his presence and concealed his chakra completely. The concealment reached such an extent that even his Mind's Eye couldn't detect anything, even without the support of a fuinjutsu seal.

Ryuma had basically become untraceable for every sensor in the world, though he wasn't sure how this newly dubbed Spirit Shroud would do against advanced dojutsu.

He knew that the normal Yin Shroud was only effective against those if they didn't specially focus on him, but now he wasn't so sure anymore that they would be able to see through his concealment.

Considering the favour the Hyuga owed him, Ryuma could have easily visited their compound and asked for their assistance in testing his new jutsu, but it wasn't very clever to show others a technique that could be considered a trump card.

He was also very certain that even a dojutsu couldn't breach the improved version of the Yin Shroud, if even his own sensory abilities could not do so.

The Mind's Eye of Kagura was considered the greatest sensor ability int the world, which wasn't reliant on a dojutsu. And even then it could measure up against the Byakugan and the Sharingan to an extent, especially when it came to tracking and sensing chakra signatures, which was were it truly shined.

Of course Ryuma could not draw any conclusion when it came to the Mangekyo or the Rinnegan, as these types of dojutsu were not something he had a full grasp on.

Coupled with the fact that Ryuma also wanted to stay away from any political or social stage as much as possible for now, as he knew that once he exposed himself too much in the public eye, it would be impossible to keep a low profile anymore and grow into power quietly.

The Hyuga Clan was one of the Four Noble Clans of Konohagakure, interacting with them on a regular basis, as the last male Senju and heir to the Clan, would inevitably draw unnecessary attention to him.

Even as Hiashi Hyuga had come to thank him for saving Hinata, Ryuma had spoken to him only for a short while and politely rejected Hiashi's invitation to visit the Hyuga Clan so that he could be shown proper gratitude for his help.

Also, tons of invitation still arrived at the compound from different Clans for various events, such as birthdays, weddings, or just normal banquets, but Ryuma did not leave the clan grounds again.

He knew that people like Danzo and probably Orochimaru, i.e. his spies, still had their eyes trained on him and it was only inside the Senju Compound that they did not dare intrude thanks to the Fuinjutsu formations protecting the place from outsiders.

Anyone, who was not part of the Clan and had their chakra signature recorded by the formation of the protective seal, would trigger all kinds of seals when setting even one foot into the place, amongst them various attack seals, trapping seals, poison seals and others.

The formation had been kept in good shape thanks to Yui, as she had enough advanced knowledge of Fuinjutsu to keep the seals functioning, though she could not make any changes to them, or even understand most of them.

Yui did not have access to all the Fuinjutsu knowledge that was stored in the Clan Library, so her skill in Fuinjutsu, while great for the current era, could not compare to the true masters of the Uzumaki Clan.

Ryuma had given her a few more advanced books to study some time ago, so that she could further her proficency. He trusted Yui and the rest of Moha with his life, so he did not have any reservations about strengthening them.

In fact the three original Moha were the only people Ryuma trusted, as he had seen their loyalty and devotion in the way they had raised him and trained him. Not to mention that all of them also had a Curse Seal placed on them that made it impossible to spread any clan secrets, neither could they betray the Main Clan without losing their life.

This was just how things were for the Moha ever since they had been established and Ryuma did not plan to change that. Trusting them was one thing, but acting with naivety was something totally different.

On this point, the two Uzumaki staying in the Compound had also begun their studies of Fuinjutsu under Yui, as she could easily teach the basics to Karin and help her mother Aika re-learn much of the knowledge she had been taught as a child but had forgotton over time.

Both of them had shown a phenomenal affinity with the subject, which was a rather curious thing, as the Uzumaki did not have a definite kekkei genkai like the Uchiha or the Senju, which were namely the Sharingan and the Wood Release.

The Uzumaki pair did have great amounts of chakra and could heal other with their ckakra-infused blood, while they also possessed the potential to form special chains with their chakra which had great sealing properties. These chains couldn't be manifested by any ordinary Uzumaki Clan member though, but only the main bloodline, which both Aika and Karin were part of.

All this could in a way be considered a kekkai genkai though, as these abilities were inherited from generation to generation and thus a 'Bloodline Limit', which was the literal meaning of kekkai genkai.

But even then their abilities were somewhat strange, as the Adamantine Sealing Chains of the Uzumaki didn't grow stronger with age or bloodline purity, but with their knowledge of Fuinjutsu.

And when it came to Fuinjutsu, they just seemed 'talented', as if they had simply been born with an understanding for this particular ninja art.

Ryuma though didn't try to think too much about that, as he was just pleased that these two were seemingly gaining strength quickly and had come to enjoy their stay in the compound.

The same could be said for Haku and Kimimaro, as both of them had special kekkei genkai and with them being properly nurtured by the Elder and Master Paku, they were making great progress in their strength.

Kimimaro's situation though caused Ryuma some degree of worry, as he knew that the boy would inevitably contract a severe illness later on, which would rob him of any fighting capabilities and ultimately his life.

Ryuma also had his theories about that sickness, which was one that even Orochimaru could not cure. Or rather, he speculated, did not want to waste the effort to cure.

Kimimaro's sickness most likely had something to do with his kekkei genkai, Shikotsumyaku. This particular Bloodline Limit was a lesser version of Kaguya Otsutsuki's ability All-Killing Ash Bone, so it was almost certain that the Kaguya Clan were descendents of hers.

The Shikotsumyaku, from what Ryuma could observe with his Mind's Eye, drew heavily, almost exclusively on pure Yang Chakra to manifest their technique and this could only result in a problem.

Unlike Kaguya herself, whose physique was most likely near immortal, coupled with her massiv amounts, practically endless amounts of chakra, using this techniques as a normal human, even one with part of her bloodline, like Kimimaro, to duplicate, shape and extend one's bones would most likely damage Kimimaro's vitality, as it 'sucked' dry his physical energy and would leave him sick and dying in the future.

And while this was only a conjecture that Ryuma drew after rearranging all the knowledge he had about the Shikotsumyaku and its origins, he thought it was highly likely that he was right.

Ryuma knew what an incredible fighter Kimimaro would become in the future and he didn't want to see such a promising member of the Moha fall sick and die, so he had already theorized several ways to save him.

At this point though Ryuma could not really do anything, as he wasn't even sure that his theory was correct, neither did he have the capabilities yet to synthesize a cure if it were.