Chapter 16 - Journeying to Uzu

Following that day, as expected, it was a whole week full of training. I learned surprisingly little during the week, mostly because Sakumo and Dan said they didn't want to start on some of the advanced training, until I perfected the use of what I already know.

During the week, I also tried prying into Dan's mission, and surprisingly learned, that the mission he would have gone on, if not for being reassigned to me, could, in fact be the one that lead to his death, considering it was a solo infiltration mission, where Tsunade would have been sent with the backup team. What made me all the more certain, was that the very day after my genin test, Dan showed up to training, wearing the infamously cursed necklace of the first hokage.

I was told, that although he had to train me, the day Sakumo and I would leave for Uzu, Dan would be required to still go on that infiltration mission, which I, of course, made sure to warn Dan about, in the least suspicious way I could think of. Thankfully he bought it, and even brought me to help him pack for the mission the day before, calling it something like a lesson on "Optimal preparation for infiltration operations in hostile territory…" Sakumo had also tagged along to make sure I had the required equipment for our journey the next day.

I woke up earlier than usual, in order to get my morning training in, before I would be meeting up for the departure at the gates. We were originally supposed to stay in Uzu for about a week's worth of time, but in light of the revelations from my affinity test, our stay would be extended to one month.

To be honest, I was a little scared of going, since I had recently heard that Iwa, Kumo and Kiri, had pulled a lot of ninja staff from their respective borders, which I could only interpret as preparation for their invasion of Uzu… Thus, I made sure to bring everything in abundance. I even brought my sketch of Minato and I's unfinished Flying Thunder God seal, so that I could work on it during the journey.

As I finished my breakfast, my clones finished putting up the final lockdown seals, so that no one could get into my room, after which I left the Namikaze compound, walking towards the gates. Unfortunately, since Minato was still in the village, and still would be while I was away, I couldn't activate the compound security seal for extra protection, but I guess it's fine, since only Mito, Minato and I, would be able to break my lockdown seals.

As I approached the gates, I noticed Sakumo already being there, talking to Dan, who was also just about to leave. As such I decided to call out for them.

"Hallo, Sakumo-sensei, Dan-sensei"

"Ah finally here Yoshio-kun, I almost thought I would have to wait, you're just on time."

It was Sakumo who replied, while Dan just waved at me.

'It would seem, that unlike a certain white-haired descendant, Sakumo actually cares to be on time, huh…'

"Dan-sensei, are you about to leave? Be sure to be careful not to get hurt alright."

"Ha ha, like I would allow myself to get hurt, when I just accepted a student. Don't expect me to kick the bucket before I teach you anything Yoshio-kun"

"… The kid is right Dan, don't do anything stupid while on the mission… Also, be extra careful, now that you have that necklace, I heard rumors, that only the firstborn Senju can wear it without getting into accidents"

'Huh? That's weird, the necklace isn't supposed to be seen as cursed before both Dan and Nawaki dies wearing it… how come Sakumo knows about it?'

"That is just superstition Sakumo-san, anyway, I got to leave now, see you when you return, you too Yoshio-kun"

With that remark, Dan ran out the gates, leaving just me and Sakumo to sigh at his happy-go-lucky attitude.

"I already checked out, so we better get going as well"

It was quite uneventful during the journey, surprisingly so, as we only met five groups of bandits and a few pirates, which, although may sound like many, was less than what was expected during wartime… at least that's what Sakumo told me anyway.

I used most of my time on the ship to study the Flying Thunder God seal. In the original, Minato decoded it between the second and third war, meaning he had about seven to ten years, three of which were also spent on developing the rasengan, while some of the time was also spent developing the Flying Thunder God mark two, he was known for… Now, we were two working on it constantly, with at least twenty clones each, meaning we had already considerable progress, and was close to fully understanding Tobirama's original seal.

As of now, there were only one problem… Unlike the rest of the seal, the main mechanism didn't use the Uzushiogakure standard sealing script, which was what we had learnt from Mito. It should be said, that this wasn't the script most Uzumaki used, even Kana and Kushina had distanced themselves from this script, delving into the Uzushiogakure advanced script, which was reserved for the Uzumaki clan only.

Tobirama, apparently inspired by the idea of a more advanced script, decided, that the standard script wasn't god enough… Instead, he had the GENIUS idea of creating his own script, where he used new symbols, to which he, much to Minato and I's frustration, decided that any kind of explanation or translation notes were not necessary, meaning only he knew what the symbols meant…

The main mechanism contained twenty-eight different symbols, of which, Minato and I, had decoded twenty-six, due to a breakthrough last month. Unfortunately for us, the last two symbols meaning evaded us, but Hiruzen, displaying why he was known as the professor, gave us the idea to look through old sealing techniques from the warring clans' era.

When he told us about it, I face-palmed so hard, I almost gave myself a concussion, since the very first thing Hiruzen taught us about sealing, was where the current script came from… Guess what, the one who created the Uzushiogakure standard script, was none other than the current Uzumaki clan head, who was also the only living God level seals user…

He did this about two and a half years before the last Senju-Uchiha war started, meaning that the script was brand new and not very widespread at the time when Tobirama created the technique. He had later improved upon it, but the core was still from his own script, which we found out, was heavily influenced by various sealing styles from before the Uzushiogakure standard script… hell, we even found instructions for the sealing style, from which twelve of the symbols was copied from.

This led to what I was doing on the ship… Looking over documents for different sealing styles. I had brought a lot of documents with me on the journey, for just this purpose, and I finally, three fourths through my stack of documents, found a document called; "The intricate art of sealing" by Aku Shiru from the land of demons…

Unfortunately, it was right before we docked, so I had to leave it for later. In the harbor, we were met with a red headed guide, who checked our papers before leading us to the village, where we then, was left standing before a huge, Konoha style gate, with the Uzumaki logo on it instead…

That's were we are now, just outside the main gate of Uzushiogakure. I was so excited to see the great village during its glory days, I could only think of the all the culture that laid beyond this very gate, leaving me with stars in my eyes, as the huge doors started to pry open…