Chapter 12 : Sealing And Binding Vows

"Sealing Jutsu... that is not something an academy student like you should be worried about, Sukuna," Iruka said with a complicated expression on his face.

"I know, sensei. I only asked because I saw the weapon shop uncle bring out tons of weapons from those scrolls. They appeared out of nowhere..." Sukuna asked with a smile on his face.

"Ah..." Iruka got it. This was just another curiosity of the child. He had to say that out of all the students he had seen, Sukuna was the most curious. Always asking things about Ninjutsu and matters related to ninja.

It was a good quality in a student, however, sometimes the child gave him a tough time. He himself was just a chunin. He had no idea how those sealing scrolls worked.

"Well, sealing is a very difficult art. Only very talented ninja can use sealing, at least when it comes to creating seals.

Some forms of sealing can be used by any shinobi, like a storage scroll. It's basically a container that can store something or an object," Iruka pondered for a little while before saying.

"Oh... that's so cool, sensei. So where do those things sealed in a scroll go when they're inside?" Sukuna asked again with more enthusiasm.

Iruka's smile faltered a little. 'How the hell am I supposed to know where? I'm no sealing expert,' he wished to say, but that would break his image as a teacher. He couldn't do that.

"Hmm, that's a little harder to explain. I'm afraid you're still a little too young to understand the complex art of sealing. Once you're a little older and perhaps out of the academy, you'll naturally learn how those sealing techniques work," Iruka replied, making Sukuna twitch his mouth.

Sukuna knew he was making things difficult for Iruka, but he couldn't help it. It's not every day you're turned into a child—might as well enjoy it.

"O-Okay..." Sukuna nodded like he understood. At this, Iruka sighed in relief.

"Another question, Sensei."

"Another already?" Iruka gave a wary smile.

"Hai... you see, when that weapon shop uncle brought those weapons out, there was a big smoke and then those weapons appeared. Do you know why that smoke happens?" This was the real reason he came to ask Iruka.

Knowing Iruka, the man wouldn't have much knowledge about sealing, nor could he teach him about it. However, maybe he could learn why there was no smoke when he used the scroll, while there was when others did.

There was always a chance that it was just a coincidence, that Root members used a variant of sealing scroll which didn't produce smoke. It made sense, given the nature of their missions.

But he tested that scroll out with Sakura after slightly editing the outer design to make it look like a normal scroll. When smoke appeared and candies came out, Sakura was delighted.

The girl didn't even care how the candies appeared out of nowhere, which was good for him since he now knew it wasn't the scroll that was different. Meaning it had something to do with him and his usage of cursed energy that removed the smoke.

Perhaps if he learned why this anomaly happened with him, then he could understand what made sealing techniques the only kind of ninja magic so far that could also be done using cursed energy.

"Hmm..." One look at Iruka and anyone could tell the man had no idea.

"I..." Iruka was practically sweating, seeing the big eyes digging into him, pressing for answers.

"It's the waste of chakra. Those who don't use their chakra efficiently have this issue. That's why the Academy teaches chakra control exercises. You too, Sukuna, should try them by sticking a leaf to your forehead for starters.

Chakra exercise is essential for a shinobi. Without it, you can't do ninjutsu, and many other ninja divisions require good chakra control—like the medical division, or if you're aspiring to be a Genjutsu specialist.

Of course, there's also Sealing. That too requires one to have good chakra control," Iruka suddenly started babbling about chakra control.

Sukuna was deadpan.

With that, both parted ways—the student with more questions in his head than answers, and the teacher pondering whether he was qualified to teach at this rate...

After having his fun, Sukuna came out of the academy, heading toward his training grounds. After the incident with Danzo, he had been keeping a low profile, especially regarding his cursed technique.

Danzo would definitely recognize that kind of attack if he saw it again. "I should have killed him... sigh." He really wanted to act on his impulse back then and get rid of the old goat. However, that would've ended his plan before it even started.

He needed Danzo for the story to go just as it did in the anime. He couldn't have it change right now.

Since he wasn't training his cursed technique as usual, today Sukuna planned to carry out a few tests he'd been meaning to do ever since he came here. However, since they would take too long, he had never gotten around to them.

The test was simple: he wanted to see how similar both Chakra and Cursed Energy were. While Iruka's talk about chakra control didn't help him much, it gave him the idea to test whether he could walk on trees and water using cursed energy.

So with all enthusiasm, he rushed toward a tree, targeting his legs to attach to the trunk of the tree, only to instantly fall down after he went up two steps—and that only because he had momentum.

"Hmm..." He looked at the trunk and back at his legs. He didn't feel anything. Cursed energy was still beaming in his legs, yet he didn't feel them sticking to the tree.

"A non-possibility or just not good enough?" This was the biggest question.

There was only one way to find out. With his mind set, once again he ran toward the tree—only to fall again.

By night time, he was completely exhausted. He had tons of cursed energy left, but his stamina had already hit rock bottom.

"Okay... no improvement. Saying that cursed energy can do it wouldn't be wrong," he cursed. Another thing he had to figure out how to do.

"Perhaps a binding vow\..." he muttered as his mind started to think of the countless ways Ryomen Sukuna could use binding vows to improve his power or get out of tough situations.

As for what binding vows were, they were simply a contract or agreement a sorcerer placed on himself or with others with clear gains and losses set.

The best example of a binding vow in the JJK story was Kento Nanami's 'Overtime'.

It was a simple vow. It basically reduced Nanami's cursed energy to 80% during his working hours, but in return, his energy increased up to 120% after 5 o'clock.

At first, Sukuna liked the vow. He thought it was pretty cool how Nanami overcame his weaknesses and made himself stronger. However, after gaining Ryomen Sukuna's memories...

Sukuna had many things to say about the vow itself. Like having such a hard time limit meant Nanami would be cooked if he encountered a strong enemy before his overtime began.

Not to mention, Nanami might have made this a lifelong vow—which was stupid. In fact, Ryomen Sukuna also made these kinds of vows before, and Sukuna couldn't understand why.

There were ways to make binding vows time-sensitive. Like, "I won't use 50% of my cursed energy reserves today so that tomorrow I get up to 150%..." and done.

The binding vow would mostly be null and void after tomorrow. Sukuna would go back to his 100%.

Placing permanent binding vows upon oneself was dangerous.

Though how dangerous was a little exaggerated in the series. Only after going through Ryomen's memories did Sukuna learn why. There were ways to make them less dangerous and more usable.

Like if Sukuna, right now, vowed for his cursed energy reserves to increase by 200% for the price that tomorrow he shall have none—and invoked the vow. He could have a huge advantage in a fight.

Of course, the price had to be paid tomorrow. And if he tried to break it, then he'd get a backlash. What it could be, Sukuna himself couldn't be sure, but this was an example of a kind of vow that could really be dangerous.

This exact concept made vows complex and tricky. Vows made to instantly improve strength—or anything in that line—whose price the sorcerer pays later, were far more dangerous than those whose price was set and paid in advance.

If the conditions were not suitable, the binding vow would simply not be established, leaving the sorcerer to recalibrate the terms before invoking the vow again.

And this was the biggest allure and pitfall of vows.

Between fights, no one had time to tweak the vows to get maximum output. To get the needed benefit and improvement, sorcerers sometimes placed ridiculous restrictions on them, just so their vows would actually invoke and they could gain an upper hand as soon as possible.

Part of the reason why Sukuna was so feared was because he was highly adaptable during fights and had mastered binding vows like no other.

"A non-permanent vow with clear benefits and impositions described, with the headroom to tweak or completely nullify in the future." Sukuna was different than most sorcerers, though.

Even someone like Ryomen Sukuna, arguably the best binding vow user, was restricted by hardline thinking when approaching these vows.

The typical idea of "Give more to get more" was the baseline when doing these vows. And it was alright—not wrong—but those fighters had never heard of coding... the modern ideas of how a program works.

Sukuna had, though. For someone who had spent enough time in front of a screen, playing with programming languages and scripts, his approach was going to be much different than those ancient sorcerers.

A thinker like a new generation sorcerer, but with the knowledge of an ancient one—Sukuna had some wild ideas regarding the vows that he wanted to put into use.

"I'm not sure about other things, but in at least binding vows, I will surpass the King of Curses... I'm very confident in it." A big grin formed on his face.

"However, I have yet to place any vows. Better start with something simple," he muttered and then got up.

"Since I have decided not to use my cursed technique for some time, I'd rather use that in the vow," he thought as he got ready to head back. Planning to go through Ryomen Sukuna's memories one more time before putting a vow into use—just to be more cautious.

"I wonder when the Uchiha massacre will start. Don't know how much time I have left. I have to hurry."

xxx

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