Chapter 10: Learning Another Language

Chapter 10: Learning Another Language

Standing in front of the inconspicuous building, Mizuki could hardly believe how miserable the Sealing Corps had become. Was this really the prestigious Sealing Division? It looked more like a holding area for idle shinobi.

"Seems like Konoha has been at peace for too long—the internal decay is obvious."

The entire Sealing Corps had a pitifully small staff, with only a few people sorting through documents. Their work barely had anything to do with actual sealing techniques. No wonder Konoha wouldn't restore the corps until Tsunade took over as Hokage.

Seeing this disheartening sight, Mizuki's hopes plummeted.

He had assumed that the Sealing Division, being one of the most powerful forces in the shinobi world, would at least be a classified department within Konoha. After all, even the Uzumaki Clan, known for their sealing expertise, was wiped out due to fear of their power.

Yet, he had easily entered this place—only to find a complete mess.

"This means one of two things: either the real sealing research division is hidden away, and this place is just a front for maintenance and documentation, or sealing techniques have become a privileged secret, restricted to a few elite figures."

Despite its low profile, sealing techniques were undeniably critical—from Iruka's Sealing Formation, Jiraiya's Fire Sealing Method, Kakashi's Evil Sealing Method, to the Yin Seal and even the Reaper Death Seal—sealing arts were the foundation of many powerful jutsu.

Even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, the so-called Rabbit Goddess, was defeated by sealing techniques.

If anything, the potential of sealing techniques was beyond measure. They had defined battles, altered history, and even influenced the fate of the entire shinobi world.

"Mizuki, what are you doing here?"

A familiar voice broke his thoughts—Chie Tsubaki had noticed him.

"I came to see you, Tsubaki," Mizuki turned to her with a smile. "Starting tomorrow, I'll be on a mission and won't have much time. Thought I'd visit while I had the chance."

"You never used to come here—why the sudden interest? Is this mission dangerous?"

"Not really. Hokage-sama assigned it to me. It'll take up a lot of time, but it's nothing too risky."

"That's a relief. I still have work to do, so I can't accompany you, but feel free to look around."

"Go ahead, don't mind me," Mizuki assured her.

---

Mizuki wandered around the building, observing everything carefully.

Aside from a few shinobi moving between rooms, there was nothing impressive.

He stopped by a shelf lined with old scrolls and asked a nearby staff member, "What's in those scrolls? Am I allowed to read them?"

"Oh, those? Just records on Konoha's sealing arrays and maintenance logs—nothing important. Most of it is outdated and due for disposal soon. You can read them if you want, but you can't take anything out."

"Got it. I'll just take a look to pass the time."

The shinobi shrugged and walked off, leaving Mizuki alone.

Grabbing a chair, Mizuki pulled out a scroll and began reading.

Initially, he only meant to kill time. But as he read further, his brows furrowed deeply.

Time passed, but Mizuki barely noticed. After what felt like hours, he finally placed the scroll back on the shelf.

"I didn't expect to find something this valuable…"

Rubbing his temples, he let the new information sink in.

"Sealing techniques… are even more terrifying and mysterious than I thought."

Even Kaguya, the most powerful being in the world, was helpless against sealing arts.

And now Mizuki understood why.

"The authority of sealing techniques is ridiculously high in this world."

Mizuki had some knowledge of sealing arts, but he had never seriously studied them.

Most shinobi, even if they saw these scrolls, wouldn't care.

But Mizuki was different.

"Sealing techniques are not just jutsu—they are the very rules that govern this world."

His thoughts drifted to a novel he read in his previous life—The Three-Body Problem.

One passage stood out:

"Imagine a painting as an entire world, and the artist as an all-powerful god. If the artist poked a hole in the canvas every inch, the people inside that world would study it and conclude, 'Our world naturally has holes every inch.'

"But in reality, those holes were never a natural law—just something the artist added."

Mizuki realized that sealing techniques worked the same way in the shinobi world.

If sealing formulas were the equivalent of a "language", then they were directly linked to the world's fundamental laws.

"Once you master this 'language,' you can rewrite the world's rules itself… No wonder sealing techniques are so damn powerful."

Unless countered by equal force, or by another sealing jutsu, these techniques were nearly impossible to resist.

"Of course, this means that mastering sealing arts takes enormous time and experimentation. But the problem is… I don't have that time."

Mizuki needed to find existing sealing techniques—steal knowledge rather than start from scratch.

"My best bet is to use my linguistic skills and cryptographic knowledge from my past life to break down sealing formulas."

Smiling to himself, Mizuki picked up another scroll and continued reading.

---

Time flew by, and soon the sun began to set.

Still absorbed in his reading, Mizuki barely noticed the passage of time.

The sudden heat in his right arm made him pause.

"The Cursed Seal is reacting…?"

Then a familiar voice rang out:

"Yo, Mizuki! What the hell, why do I keep running into you everywhere?"

It was Anko Mitarashi.

"Anko," Mizuki greeted casually. "I'm waiting for Tsubaki to finish work. Got nothing better to do, so I'm passing the time."

"Yeah? Didn't peg you for the scholarly type. What're you reading?"

"Just some random stuff."

Anko stretched and yawned. "I'm here for the Heaven and Earth Scrolls from the Chunin Exam. The Sealing Corps should still have the old formula."

"Good luck with that," Mizuki smirked. "This place is a mess—you're gonna have a hard time finding anything useful."

"We'll see," she said before striding off.

Mizuki exhaled, relieved.

"The Cursed Seal reacts whenever she's near… I need to be careful."

A moment later, Tsubaki appeared.

"You've been reading this whole time?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sealing techniques are actually kinda interesting," Mizuki admitted.

"Really? You used to say they were useless," she teased.

"Guess I changed my mind. If you don't mind, maybe you could teach me a thing or two?"

Tsubaki's eyes lit up. "Sure! I don't know a lot, but we can learn together."

"Perfect."

---

The next morning, Mizuki headed toward the Forest of Death.

"This place is huge… even the trees and plants are abnormally big. Who knows what kind of monsters lurk deeper in?"

Ignoring his unease, Mizuki dived into the forest.

Hours later, after setting traps and killing two elephant-sized boars, he finally sat down to rest.

"Even these animals use tactics—one distracted me while the other attacked. They're smarter than most Genin…"

Then it happened again—his right arm burned.

"Someone's watching me?"

Mizuki narrowed his eyes.

"Could be Anko again, but this is too frequent. Either she's keeping tabs on me, or… someone else is involved."

Frustrated, Mizuki decided to proceed with caution.

At sundown, he met Anko at the forest gates.

"How was it?" she asked.

"Brutal. The beasts here are way too strong—we need reinforcements. Iruka would be a good choice."

Anko smirked. "I'll pass it up to the Hokage. Same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

As he left, Mizuki smirked.

"Time to learn another language—one that can rewrite reality itself."