Chapter 222: Necessity
Kaida could easily guess why each of these seals was necessary for learning the Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu. He took the paper and went to Sora's house.
...
"Good evening, Sensei," Kaida said. Sora was standing in front of him, his eyes swollen for some reason.
"It's already 4 PM. Damn, this is taking so much time," Sora said.
"Sensei, you are learning a jutsu that will qualify you as a grandmaster in fuinjutsu, and you're treating it as something trivial? You yourself said that this may take months to complete, and it's only been a week. Why are you in such a hurry?" Kaida asked.
"I'm not in a hurry; it's just that the effects are really exciting. I can't stop myself from working on it when I think about how the finisher array will look," Sora said.
To become a grandmaster in fuinjutsu, knowledge of arrays and complex seals is not enough. You have to develop something new by yourself, and that innovation should benefit the community in some way. For example, the array that protects Sora's house was his father's invention, which made him a grandmaster in fuinjutsu.
A grandmaster receives a huge amount of respect and a very high position in the village. Naturally, they have to work hard to reach that position.
"Leave that aside for now. Let's focus on you. I've been neglecting your progress for quite some time," Sora said.
"How is that avoiding me? You always send one of your clones to look after my progress daily," Kaida asked.
"I haven't taught you anything for the last two weeks. Luckily, you learned most of the basics on your own, and now we can start the next part," Sora said.
"About that, Sensei, there are some seals I want to learn before the others. Is that possible?" Kaida asked.
"It depends on which seals you want to learn. Some seals can only be learned in sequence," Sora said.
Kaida nodded and took out the paper Mitsuru had given him. Sora took the paper and skimmed through it.
"You can learn these eight seals without any prior knowledge, but this last one, Complex Array Seals, is a very advanced concept and will have to be learned step by step. This is also the one that will take the most time for you to learn," Sora said, noting that an array that can combine multiple sealing techniques into a single, powerful array is a very difficult concept to master. It's also the first step for someone to start the journey to becoming a grandmaster.
"Why do you want to learn these seals first anyway?" Sora asked, though he already had an idea.
"Sensei, as I told you, I want to learn the Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu. These seals are the ones I need to know for that," Kaida said.
"So after learning these seals, will you stop learning fuinjutsu?" Sora asked. Even though Kaida wasn't a super genius in fuinjutsu, his talent wasn't bad. With enough practice, he could surely reach the grandmaster level. Sora didn't want him to stop learning fuinjutsu at all, as grandmasters in fuinjutsu are a very important resource for the village and, in peacetime, have greater value than even a Kage-level ninja.
"No, Sensei, I really like fuinjutsu now. I'll continue to learn it from you even after I learn that jutsu," Kaida said.
This was only a half-truth. Even though he liked fuinjutsu, becoming a grandmaster in fuinjutsu is not easy at all. Sora, who was going to become a grandmaster at the age of 28-29, could be considered a once-in-a-century genius. Normally, every grandmaster is someone in their fifties.
Giving that much time to fuinjutsu for a stable life would once have been good for someone who didn't know the future. Even though grandmasters were important for a village, in front of people like Akatsuki, Pain, and Madara, they would just become cannon fodder.
The only reason Kaida wanted to continue learning fuinjutsu was that the Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu was not complete. At the very least, it should be at the level that Tsunade uses for it to be of any value in future main fights.
Since getting that jutsu from Tsunade would be very difficult, as no one even knew where she was at the moment... or even if Jiraiya knew, there was no way he would tell anyone, especially an Uchiha boy who just wanted to learn a jutsu from her.
So the only option Kaida had was to learn more complex seals and medical jutsu and hope that he could modify the Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu by himself.
Listening to Kaida's plan to continue learning fuinjutsu, Sora smiled.
"Great," he said.
"Sensei, how much time do you think it will take for me to learn all of those nine jutsu?" Kaida asked.
"How many clones can you make now?" Sora asked. Kaida had only been making 10-15 shadow clones for learning fuinjutsu for the last two weeks, even though he could make much more.
Because the knowledge he gained from those shadow clones was very complex, even after getting a mental enhancement from his 3-tomoe Sharingan, he would get a mild headache after releasing all 15 shadow clones.
That's why Kaida decided to stick with 15 shadow clones for fuinjutsu practice, but since Sora was asking about his limit...
"Sensei, I can only make 120 shadow clones at the moment, but according to my experience with the chakra reserve I have, I should be able to make more than 250. I asked my brother about this, and he said it was because my brain was trying to protect itself, and making more than this may cause permanent damage from information overload," Kaida said.
"He's correct. And what do you mean 'only' 120? I can only make 28 shadow clones, and that's my limit, and you call 120 'only'? Huh, this world is truly unfair," Sora said, shaking his head. Kaida just smiled awkwardly.
"Since you can make 120 shadow clones, that means 30 shadow clones for fuinjutsu should be feasible for you," Sora said. Fuinjutsu is a complex and challenging subject that requires higher mental capacity, which is why only 25% of the total shadow clones could be used to avoid information overload.
Kaida nodded his head, understanding that 30 should be his limit.
"So if you use all 30 shadow clones, you'll need... one month for these first eight jutsu at the very least, and for this last one, maybe two to three more months," Sora said. Kaida nodded, understanding that it was already quite fast and didn't ask if he could learn it any faster. Even though Mitsuru had said that he would need one month to learn the medical jutsu, he could just perfect and practice it for the next two months before learning the main jutsu.
"Then, Sensei, can we start now?" Kaida asked.
"Of course. I also want to see what's so special about that jutsu that it requires so much preparation," Sora said. He was naturally interested in the jutsu formed by combining two different fields together.
"Sensei, as I said before, Mitsuru-sensei forbade me from sharing that jutsu with anyone," Kaida said with a slightly guilty voice.
"I don't want that jutsu anyway, Kaida. I just want to see how it works. Maybe it will give me some motivation to further modify the array I'm working on," Sora said, waving his hand.
"Okay, Sensei," Kaida said with a smile.
After the discussion, they started the learning session. Though childish, Sora became completely serious once fuinjutsu was the topic. Maybe this was the reason he was so proficient in it.
Now, this became Kaida's schedule: learning medical jutsu in the morning, fuinjutsu in the evening, and then at 11 PM, going back to his house and repeating the cycle.
Though his life became monotonous, the higher-ups of Konoha were moving a lot due to his idea. After one week, a council meeting was called by Hiruzen, but most of the clan heads already knew the topic. Fugaku had made sure there would be no major obstacles in the meeting, and since he had the support of Hiruzen, things went well.