Introduction to Fuinjutsu

“LIGHTNING STRIKE JUTSU!”

Upon hearing these words I increased my speed and tried to dodge Haruto’s attack while keeping an eye on Miyuki who was throwing Senbons coated with all kinds of nasty poisons at us. Using my short sword I was able to deflect most of the projectiles while dodging the rest.

Luckily, Haruto’s attack became less accurate after dodging Miyuki’s attack and missed me. Taking the initiative I was able to start an attack on Haruto who tried to quickly narrow the distance between him and Miyuki as she was closer to him.

I threw several Kunais with the intention of luring Haruto to an area that offered a less protective environment while simultaneously trying to sneakily lay out some ninja wire. Miyuki, on the other hand, was busy dealing with Haruto’s unrelenting barrage of Lightning Ninjutsus.

Due to my Kunais almost hitting him, Haruto was forced to alter his route, taking the path I had planned for him to traverse. As a consequence, the pressure on Miyuki considerably lessened and she began to prepare various weapons including Senbons and ordinary Shurikens.

Seeing her attempt at opening a pocket inside her sleeves I decisively abandoned the strategy of luring Haruto and focused my attacks on her while trying to advantageously position myself. After carefully avoiding another one of Haruto’s attacks I stood on top of a large stone thus successfully claiming the high ground.

But it was in vain as I had to give up on my position, as both Haruto and Miyuki attacked me leaving a tactical retreat as the only viable course of action. It seemed that they tacitly agreed to enter a temporary alliance if the bundled aggression toward me was any indication.

‘That’s just unfair. What have I done to warrant this level of attention?’, I silently grumbled.

“DISPERSING GALE JUTSU!”

‘F*ck! Not that move!’, I pleaded after hearing Miyuki using this vicious Ninjutsu while throwing some Shurikens at me.

You might ask yourself why I was so afraid of a couple of Shurikens and a Ninjutsu that effectively just created a strong wind. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. The Shurikens only served as a distraction for something far more sinister.

Remember Miyuki’s specialization? If you have trouble recalling it, I will gladly remind you: She’s a fricking poison specialist! And what happens when a poison specialist tries to blow air toward you? The chance that it has some poison is pretty high and the most frustrating thing is the general inability a human has to avoid breathing poisoned air.

While trying to gain distance from them I pulled on the string of Ninja wire I had lain beforehand. The emerging wire couldn’t manage to make them fall down but on the plus side, it effectively bought me some time for my escape as their chasing speed considerably slowed down.

As I was escaping, I noticed that Haruto’s movements became slower and his reaction speed was decreasing: He probably accidentally breathed in the airborne poison meant for me… Or so I thought for a while before remembering who his temporary ally was.

‘How could Miyuki possibly forget to tell her ally about the poison? The chance that there is an Uzumaki with perfect Chakra control would be higher... Honestly, this level of treachery just adds to her image of stemming from a clan known for their infiltration and assassination capabilities.’, I thought with a wry smile.

As to prove my point, Haruto began to significantly slow down and a couple of moments later, he dropped like a sack of rice face-first onto the ground. Fortunately for him, we had already arrived at a nearby river encompassed by a shore made of wet clay and sand making his fall less painful.

“WATER ROPE JUTSU!”

Now that it was a 1 vs. 1, I began to cast a Water Ninjutsu: My hands performed a series of signs which I had now grown accustomed to after training them for months. But what made it quite challenging was my relatively low affinity for the element.

‘Let’s hope it works as intended. I’m even near a river so it should be easier.’, I mentally muttered and to my relief, I could see a thin column of water being formed in front of me. Controlling the water rope proved to be quite the hurdle but I managed to attack Miyuki with it.

But due to its lacking speed, Miyuki effortlessly dodged my attack by stepping to her left and counterattacked with a storm of Senbons. I tried to dodge all of them but, because of the fatigue I built up after fighting for a while and using the Ninjutsu, one Senbon hit my left thigh.

I could instantly feel a numb feeling spreading at an alarming rate through my body: Now I had to finish this fight as quickly as possible. Sadly, Miyuki also knew this fact and tried to slowly whittle me down.

Fortunately, unbeknownst to her, I was already gathering my Chakra to perform a Lightning Ninjutsu. The moment she entered an area near the river that was slippery, I quickly used my hands to perform the necessary hand signs.

“LIGHTNING STRIKE JUTSU!”

Hearing and seeing my Ninjutsu being formed Miyuki prepared herself to evade my attack, as she knew that my body was reaching its limit. What she missed though, was the wet ground and the fact that a Lightning Ninjutsu could still affect her even if it missed.

After dodging my attack I could see her forming a thin smile, one could only detect after spending some time with her. But when my Ninjutsu touched the wet ground, her expression turned into one of pain and agony before her body reached its pain tolerance and shut down.

The last thing I could remember before collapsing was seeing her falling down and grinning like an idiot for winning the free-for-all. Just I was about to hit the ground I thought:

‘I really needed to take a shower later. ‘

OOO

My whole body felt numb and I thought that my head was about to explode. When I opened my eyes I saw the blue sky and a thin layer of gentle clouds. Turning my head to the left I saw Haruto peacefully sleeping.

“It seems that you’re awake.”, said a girl in a cold tone.

Lifting my upper body I was able to see the girl that spoke to me - It was Miyuki and she looked pissed. If eyes could murder I wouldn’t have just died, no, I would have turned into ashes before my soul would have been forced to suffer like Sisyphus in hell.

“Uh... Nice to see you?”, I said in an attempt to lessen the tense mood.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“... I’m going to win next time.”, declared Miyuki before walking to a nearby tree where she began to meticulously coat her Senbons with poisonous liquids.

‘...Thank god! I thought I was gonna die!’, I thought with relief.

“Nice to see you awake, Takumi. That was quite the dramatic win earlier.”, commented Mr. Gin with amusement.

“Thanks and also good to see you Mr. Gin.”, I replied with a smiling face.

“Well, it was certainly nice of Miyuki to use her less potent poisons as we can proceed with something very important after Haruto wakes up.”, added Mr. Gin in a serious tone. Just as I was about to ask him about the topic, a rumbling sound could be heard.

“Urgh… Where am I?”, grumbled Haruto.

“Remember Miyuki’s Wind Jutsu?”, I asked him, to which he nodded in confusion.

“The wind contained an airborne poison and because you were chasing me, you accidentally inhaled it. But unlike Miyuki, you aren't immune to it and therefore you were knocked out.”

“...But doesn’t that mean that Miyuki schemed against me from the very beginning?”, muttered Haruto in realization.

“Yeah.”

“…”

“…”

“...”

“Huh...It was really my fault for being careless. I guess that Miyuki later needs some nice cuddling.”, he added with a cheeky smile.

“What did you say?”, asked a girl coldly standing behind Haruto.

‘Holy shit. Since when did she stand there?!?!? Oh shit! Oh shit! Why the f*ck did you have to provoke this, Haruto?’, I internally panicked while Haruto was seemingly unfazed by Miyuki’s pressure.

“I said that someone here needs a bit of cuddling as a punishment for their betrayal.”, responded Haruto with an innocent smile and to my astonishment, he managed to surprise Miyuki by rapidly grabbing her robe.

Probably due to my earlier attack, she didn’t have the necessary speed nor strength to resist Haruto’s pull and proceeded to fall down. Haruto on the other hand laid on the ground and clung onto her back like a baby panda with a peaceful expression.

After realizing in what predicament she was in, Miyuki’s head began to turn red at an alarming rate and it radiated an unbelievable amount of heat which even I could feel as a bystander.

‘That has to be the definition of a childhood crush.’, I sheepishly thought.

“Ahem! Could I please get your attention?”, coughed Mr. Gin while smiling.

Hearing and seeing Mr. Gin Miyuki’s expression froze and her brain shortcutted for a short time before she nodded and escaped Haruto’s embrace with almost Jonin-level speed. Haruto on the other hand just grinned and patted himself before standing up.

‘Note to myself: When dealing with a pissed Miyuki, bring Haruto along.’

“The earlier spar served as a way for me to determine your individual strengths and weaknesses. The reason is that we’re going to accept our first mission as a Team in about a month. It’s going to be a patrol mission along the western shore of Uzushiogakure.”, explained Mr. Gin.

“YEAH!”, shouted Haruto while bumping his fist into the air. Despite knowing the possible dangers I was admittedly pretty excited and judging by Miyuki’s expression, Haruto and I were not alone.

“This is nothing to be happy about. There have been reports of pirate sightings in this region so be prepared for combat. Always remain vigilant and careful during your mission and especially after it. I have seen plenty of Genins dying by underestimating the after-effects of a mission.”, reminded Mr. Gin us with the most serious expression I have ever seen on his face.

My initial good mood quickly faded after hearing that we would probably face off against pirates. As I was cursing my bad luck, I realized that I hadn’t been baptized the Ninja way: Actively killing someone and wiping their blood off of me were things I had never done before.

‘Can I really kill someone?’, I asked myself while looking at the reflection my unused short sword made.

“Good to see that you’ve finally come to your senses. Remember: Being a Ninja means being a murderer - There isn’t an exception to this. We are Ninjas because someone has to do the dirty work so our village can enjoy peace and prosperity.”, continued Mr. Gin with a serious face before changing his expression to a more relaxed one.

“Now that I’ve reminded you of what it means to be a Ninja, we can proceed to something far more comfortable and interesting. A question to all of you and especially to you Takumi: Most Ninja villages issue their village’s headbands to their Genins after they graduate but why aren’t you wearing Uzushiogakure’s headband?”

While I was still somewhat preoccupied with my earlier thoughts, I tried to find an answer to Mr. Gin’s question.

‘Hmm...That’s actually, that’s a really good question. After my graduation, Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru immediately got their headbands but I wasn’t issued one. Why haven’t I noticed something this obvious?’

‘Come to think of, my unexpected departure to Uzushiogakure was announced right after I graduated, leaving me too shocked to realize such a small detail… But why didn’t I get an Uzushiogakure headband? Even my teammates don’t have one despite having lived in Uzushiogakure for their entire lives but I’ve seen a couple of local Genins wearing one.’

“Maybe we have to first earn it?”, I suggested after thinking for a while.

“Bingo! The headbands are only issued by the respective Jonin teacher of a Genin Team and it became a tradition to give them to the students before their first mission as a symbol of approval. Here, congratulations on becoming a fully-fledged Genin!”, acknowledged Mr. Gin with a smile before handing each of us a headband.

Holding an Uzushiogakure headband in my hands I noticed that it was made of a resilient black fabric and a shiny iron plate bearing the symbol of Uzushiogakure, one identical to Konoha’s with the sole exception being the lack of a triangle in the bottom left corner.

“As you may already know, the black fabric represents the ink used for Fuinjutsu and therefore Uzushiogakure’s prowess in it. The metal plate on the other hand is showing the Uzumaki clan’s symbol which also was the template for Konoha’s symbol that has a stylized leaf as an addition.”

“Uzushiogakure’s headbands, including yours, are special compared to others because they have a unique Fuinjutsu incorporated in them. This serves as a perfect transition to something that I want to personally teach you: The art of Fuinjutsu.”

“That’s awesome!”, I blurted out in amazement while Miyuki and Haruto were nodding and smiling.

In my opinion, Fuinjutsu was one of the most underappreciated tools a Ninja could possess. Its versatileness was almost endless and together with electricity, it would form the fundamentals of modern technology in the Naruto world.

“Indeed it is. While I am somewhat biased due to my love for the art, I can safely say that a Ninja who can use Fuinjutsu has a lot more options than one who doesn’t. But first, you have to provide a bit of your blood so that the Fuinjutsu on your headbands can work.”

“Its function is to display the legitimate owner of the headband. This means that if your headband is worn by someone else than you, it will begin to faintly glow red for about an hour before it starts to ignite and burn off thereby destroying itself. But if the legitimate owner is wearing it and inserts a bit of his chakra into the metal plate, it starts to brightly shine green.”

After Mr. Gin finished his explanation, he gave each of us a needle and told us to sting one of our fingers to draw a bit of blood before dropping it onto the metal plates on our headbands. With the needle in my right hand, I stung my left thumb and a small stream of blood came out.

I then dropped my blood onto the metal plate on my headband and it began to faintly glow white before returning to its normal state. Seeing this amazing display of Fuinjutsu my resolve to learn this art was strengthened.

“The Fuinjutsu on your headbands is quite the advanced one which takes a sizable amount of time to create. But we will start with a far simpler Fuinjutsu as an introduction. Let me briefly demonstrate the process of creating it.”

Shortly after speaking Mr. Gin took an elegant brush and stack of paper from a pouch. He then carefully inspected the brush and checked it for any defects. Afterward, he took out a small inkstone, filled it with water and gently rubbed an inkstick against it.

When the right consistency was achieved, he grabbed the brush in a natural but experienced way and began to create a Fuinjutsu: Firstly, he drew the Kanji for fire on the paper and then added a circle around it. The fire Kanji was written in a strange way connecting every stroke to the circle.

Secondly, he wrote the Kanji for Chakra around the circle’s border in a wavy pattern before finishing his work by connecting the Kanji for Chakra to the circle with a strange symbol which I have never seen before.

“That’s it. Does someone want to see if it works?”, asked Mr. Gin.

“Me!”, yelled Haruto before I could respond.

Giving the simple Fuinjutsu to Haruto, he explained how a Fuinjutsu is activated:

“When you’re in contact with a Fuinjutsu, you have to insert your Chakra into the paper while imagining its function: In this case, its function is to generate a small flame.”

Upon hearing Mr. Gin’s instructions Haruto closed his eyes and began to insert his Chakra into the paper. When the blue-white Chakra came into contact with the paper, the Kanji slowly ignited, burning the paper.

“As you can see, the paper in Haruto’s hands ignited even though he doesn’t have the Fire Release. This means that the Fuinjutsu is solely responsible for the reaction. If you’re a little creative, you might have already guessed how Fuinjutsu fundamentally works.”

“Firstly, you have to specifically describe how your Fuinjutsu should work: The more complex your Fuinjutsu is, the more detailed your description has to be. How you describe the function doesn’t matter so you can even use pictures or other languages but what’s important is that the creator has to vividly imagine it while infusing his Chakra during the process.”

“Later on, you can personalize your symbols or even create a unique system but I would suggest that you stick to the standard until you’re proficient enough. True Fuinjutsu masters even have the ability to directly mold their Chakra to create Fuinjutsu.”

“Secondly, the Fuinjutsu’s function has to be somehow connected to a grid or network which is mostly made of ink infused with your own Chakra. Then, the grid or network needs a source of Chakra which can be created by drawing the Kanji for Chakra which collects the natural Chakra around it.”

“Lastly, a Chakra siphon is needed to force the natural Chakra from the surrounding into the Fuinjutsu. It works like a water siphon and just needs an initial Chakra charge to perpetually transport the Chakra until the Fuinjutsu wears out or until the Chakra from the surroundings is exhausted. This means that the Chakra siphon is the most important part of a Fuinjutsu.”

“The chakra siphon also marks the difference between someone who can use Fuinjutsu and someone who can create Fuinjutsu. Every Chakra siphon is unique and cannot be copied which makes it a Fuinjutsu practitioner’s signature. This also means that if you use your own Chakra to start your Fuinjutsu, it’s going to be more efficient.”

“To see if you're talented in Fuinjutsu, you need to create your personal Chakra siphon by practicing calligraphy with Chakra infused ink until you feel a ‘right’ symbol. If the symbol can successfully siphon Chakra, then congratulations! You have successfully become a Fuinjutsu practitioner!”

“If you don’t feel a ‘right’ symbol even after days of practice or if your ‘right’ symbol doesn’t siphon Chakra, I have to tell you that you’re unfortunately likely to be unsuited for this art. You can try for an additional couple of weeks or even years but the chances, that you can draw a functioning Chakra siphon, are pretty low.”

“Nonetheless, you should at least practice creating a Fuinjutsu’s basic frame as it will considerably reduce the workload on our village’s Fuinjutsu practitioners who then only have to add their Chakra siphon to make the Fuinjutsu functioning.”

After Mr. Gin finished speaking, he handed each of us a stack of paper, a brush and an inkstone coupled with an inkstick. Holding the piece of paper in my hands I was determined to find my Chakra siphon.

‘Let’s do this!’

OOO

Turns out that forcing something that should be formed naturally wasn’t the best idea I had in my two lives. Ten days have already passed since Mr. Gin explained to us the basics of Fuinjutsu and everything went smoothly until I tried to form my Chakra siphon.

Haruto successfully formed his Chakra siphon a day after Mr. Gin’s demonstration showing his clan’s Kekkei Genkai for it. In contrast, Miyuki finally gave up on creating her Chakra siphon yesterday, while I was still desperately struggling with no signs of improvement.

If I don’t succeed until tomorrow, the chances that I can create Fuinjutsu in the future are abysmally low. I tried everything from drawing a water siphon to using the Kanji for a water pump to blindfolding myself while drawing - Nothing has worked so far.

As I was struggling with finding my Chakra siphon, I looked out of my room’s window and could see dark clouds forming above the sea. Autumn had fully arrived and it wasn’t unusual that a heavy storm would be formed. The clouds were coming toward Uzushiogakure and would soon rule the island with their lightning, thunder and rain.

When I was about to close my window to avoid getting wet, a thick and abnormally long lightning bolt strangely diverted from its original path and struck me making something click inside my head. I felt enlightened and everything looked a bit clearer to me.

Knowing that I could probably create my Chakra siphon I hurriedly took out some paper and prepared my brush to be used. After gently applying the wet ink to my brush, I let my instincts guide my hand.

The result was astounding: What lay in front of me was the painting of a beautiful spinning wheel with eight spokes. While it was made out of simple black strokes, it had a unique charm and I could feel a connection to it.

‘This is my Chakra siphon!’, I thought in joy and quickly recreated the Fuinjutsu Mr. Gin showed to us.

Finishing everything besides the Chakra siphon I anxiously added my Chakra siphon to the Fuinjutsu and hoped for the best. Finally, I inserted my Chakra into the Fuinjutsu to see if it works or to see my last remaining hope perishing.

CRACKLE

The piece of paper was burning after I inserted my Chakra into it. A feeling of relief swept over my body and I could feel my worries dropping off of my shoulders. I held the burning piece of paper in my hands like it was the most precious thing in the world.

Like a small beacon of hope, it burned without fail and I could feel the heat it generated. What I failed to notice though, was the fact that I had gained a new ability after being struck by the strange lightning bolt: Now, I could perceive the Chakra around me with my bare eyes.