Kuroda Ren immediately followed the address written on the note and made a trip there, where he met the legendary “Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku.”
The ramen shop was still being prepared and wouldn’t officially open for another half a month or so, meaning Kuroda Ren didn’t need to start working immediately.
He would only need to begin working once the ramen shop officially opened.
According to their agreement, Kuroda Ren would need to purchase designated ingredients twice every day—once in the morning and once in the evening—from the shops Teuchi had arranged suppliers with, and deliver them to the ramen shop.
The cost of the ingredients would naturally be reimbursed by Teuchi.
His wages would be settled once a week, at 1,200 ryō per week, which was somewhat higher than Kuroda Ren had expected.
Calculated this way, Kuroda Ren could earn nearly 13,000 ryō per month.
For an ordinary person, that definitely counted as a high income.
Of course, that only applied to ordinary people.
For ninja, whose expenses were enormous, this amount of money was merely enough to get by.
Nevertheless, after obtaining this job, Kuroda Ren’s strained financial situation was considerably relieved.
With most of his worries taken care of, Kuroda Ren could devote himself even more wholeheartedly to his taijutsu training and the improvement of Water Release: Wild Water Wave.
The weekend passed quickly.
His taijutsu training continued to progress steadily, but he hadn’t made much progress in improving Water Release: Wild Water Wave.
When the new week began and he arrived at school, Kuroda Ren immediately sought out Imai Nobuyuki, asking about the “special hand seals” that had occupied his thoughts throughout the entire weekend.
“Teacher, I saw someone using two very strange hand seals.”
Kuroda Ren imitated Senju Tobirama’s movements from the original story and formed two peculiar seals.
For the first seal, he raised the thumb of his left hand while curling the other fingers into a fist.
His right hand wrapped around his left hand, making it look somewhat like a thumbs-up gesture.
For the second seal, he interlocked all ten fingers and held them horizontally in front of his chest.
“Teacher, what are these two seals?
They’re completely different from the twelve Earthly Branch seals we were taught in class.”
Kuroda Ren asked curiously.
“These two seals?”
Imai Nobuyuki was stunned.
After thinking for a long while, he finally said uncertainly, “I’ve never seen the second one either.
As for the first…
I think it might be one of the seals from the Nine-Syllable True Word Seals.”
“Wait a moment.”
Imai Nobuyuki stood up and walked over to the bookshelf in the office.
After searching through it for a while, he took out a scroll and opened it.
He nodded.
“Found it.
It really is one of the Nine-Syllable True Word Seals.
It’s the ‘Front’ Seal, meaning, ‘My heart is Zen; all transformations merge in harmony.'”
As he spoke, Imai Nobuyuki handed the scroll to Kuroda Ren.
The description of the Nine-Syllable True Word Seals on the scroll was extremely brief.
Aside from illustrations showing the hand movements for each seal, there was only a simple sentence of explanation.
“My heart is Zen; all transformations merge in harmony—the fundamental body manifestation assembly.”
Kuroda Ren understood it only vaguely.
It seemed to have some connection to Buddhism, yet at the same time, its meaning was obscure and difficult to comprehend.
“What exactly does this mean?”
Kuroda Ren couldn’t help asking.
“Besides the hand movements, shouldn’t there also be a method for circulating chakra while forming the seal?”
“I don’t know about that.”
Imai Nobuyuki shook his head.
“Ordinary ninja have no use for the Nine-Syllable True Word Seals, so there’s no need for us to deliberately study them.”
“But…”
Kuroda Ren scratched his head.
He wanted to learn Senju Tobirama’s version of Water Release and then use that version as the foundation for developing his own Water Release techniques.
To accomplish that, mastering the Nine-Syllable True Word Seals—or at the very least, the “Front” Seal—was essential.
Imai Nobuyuki saw what Kuroda Ren was thinking.
He didn’t question him further and simply said, “Don’t rush.
I’ll find someone who can help you ask about it.
But it’ll take some time.”
“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Teacher!
There’s also the other seal.”
Kuroda Ren demonstrated the interlocked-fingers seal again.
“I’ll keep an eye out for it.”
Imai Nobuyuki nodded.
He pointed at the scroll in Kuroda Ren’s hands.
“Take this scroll with you for now and study it.
You can copy it and return it to me tomorrow.
However, if you want to research the Nine-Syllable True Word Seals, I recommend that you first completely master the twelve Earthly Branch seals.”
Kuroda Ren understood what Imai Nobuyuki meant.
Simply knowing how to use the twelve standard hand seals did not mean that one had completely mastered them.
True mastery meant completely understanding the essence and principles behind the twelve Earthly Branch seals.
This was something that many ninja—even some jōnin—might not be capable of doing.
If one simply wanted to learn ninjutsu, there was no need to study hand seals to such a degree.
Only someone like the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, who wanted to improve existing ninjutsu or even create techniques of his own, would need to deeply study the essence of hand seals and, through them, explore the underlying principles of ninjutsu.
Remembering the Hokage’s instructions, Imai Nobuyuki didn’t prohibit Kuroda Ren from doing something so obviously beyond the level expected of a Ninja Academy student.
He merely offered a few reminders.
Even though he believed that, regardless of how talented Kuroda Ren was, it was still unrealistic for him to begin studying the essence of hand seals and the principles of ninjutsu at such a young age.
But since the Hokage had instructed him not to interfere too much with Kuroda Ren, he would naturally follow those orders. New chapters come out on g.com first.
…
When Kuroda Ren returned to the classroom for lessons, Imai Nobuyuki had already arrived at the Hokage’s office and reported everything that had happened.
“Hokage-sama, that’s what happened.”
Imai Nobuyuki reported.
“I’ve already given Kuroda Ren the book on the Nine-Syllable True Word Seals.
As for whether we should provide him with more knowledge in this area, I’ll leave that decision to you.”
“These two seals…”
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, wore a puzzled expression.
Those are the techniques of my teacher.
There’s no mistake about that.
But where did he see those two hand seals?
As a disciple of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s mastery of Water Release was nowhere near Tobirama’s level.
However, he absolutely couldn’t mistake his teacher’s signature techniques.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall was a technique known by quite a few ninja throughout the shinobi world.
But a Water Formation Wall performed with only two hand seals was uniquely Senju Tobirama’s signature.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen himself had failed to master it.
He could only honestly use the standard Water Formation Wall that required five hand seals.
Logically speaking, after Senju Tobirama’s death, there shouldn’t have been anyone else in the shinobi world capable of performing the two-seal version.
So where had Kuroda Ren seen this method?
“No…”
Hiruzen suddenly remembered an old “classmate.”
If there was anyone among their generation who had inherited Senju Tobirama’s Water Release techniques, there was one person.
An extremely low-profile “eternal genin” who was the only one among them to have accomplished this.
“Was it you, Kosuke?”
A thought surfaced in Sarutobi Hiruzen’s mind.
“Shinobu, since that child has talent and ambition, then give him an opportunity.”
Hiruzen called out.
“Ha!”
An ANBU suddenly appeared, as though he had materialized out of thin air inside the office.
“Ha, take Shinobu with you and have him make a copy of the knowledge regarding the ‘Front’ Seal and the ‘Water’ Seal, then have Shinobu deliver it to Kuroda Ren.”
Hiruzen issued his order.
“Shinobu, I’m giving you another task.
Keep an eye on Kuroda Ren’s progress in learning these two hand seals.
Once he achieves any results, report to me immediately.”
“I want to determine whether this child possesses sufficient talent when it comes to hand seals.”
Imai Nobuyuki immediately straightened his posture and answered loudly:
“Yes, Hokage-sama!”
◇ Bonus Chapter Goals ◇