"That is because in the future I knew and saw… I do not exist…. It's an alternate future… without me in it."
The weight of Ryu's words hung in the air, a suffocating silence pressing down on Akihiro.
Akihiro finally asked, using handsigns, "What do you mean you don't exist in that future, Ryu?"
Ryu replied, "I am dead in that future."
The statement struck Akihiro like a physical blow. "How… How is that possible?"
Ryu replied, "I don't know for certain... My best guess is that I died from organ failure... I have already told you that I was dying when I was adopted by Grandpa."
Akihiro remembered the stories, the hushed whispers of Ryu's frail health, and the constant treatments he underwent. "Yes... you told me that you were very sick."
"Through knowledge of the future, I was able to develop a cure for myself and save myself from dying. But without that knowledge..." Ryu trailed off, leaving the unspoken conclusion hanging in the air.
Akihiro struggled to process the implications. "That future must be a really messed up future if you're not in it."
Ryu offered a small, sad smile and said, "Not really... At the end, the world was saved... The two children of prophecy saved the ninja world during the Fourth Great Ninja War."
Akihiro became curious. "Who are these children of prophecy...?"
Ryu's expression became distant, his gaze fixed on something far beyond the present. "Maybe that is a story for another time. For now, let's go join the others. Training awaits."
****
They left the quiet corner of the training grounds and joined the others in a separate training hall. All the other kids were training there. Kaia practised her wind techniques, and the splash of water as Jiyuu honed his water control.
Akihiro's sister, Kaia, discovered to be a wind element user with the help of the [C.A.T. Seal], was training to cut a leaf—the first stage of wind elemental training. She tried hard to cut the leaf in two but only made a small cut in a corner. She had a long way to go.
Nearby, Jiyuu was fully immersed in his water control exercises, now using the [R.A.T. Seal] to increase the load of the training and become a powerful water user. A swirling sphere of water orbited him, growing larger and more complex with each passing moment, and then it dropped in the bucket below.
Yasahii was engrossed in a lesson with Dan, their heads bent over a complex fuinjutsu scroll.
As Ryu approached, Kaia turned to Ryu, a hint of impatience in her voice. "I think it's my turn to use the sensory isolation room now," she said.
Ryu nodded and said, "Yes… the room is all yours; Ms Secretary will help you train."
Before Kaori could respond, Kohinata interjected smoothly and said, "I will take care of it, Ryu."
*****
Ryu shifted his focus to Dan and Yasashii, with a visible mischievous glint in his eyes.
"I have something I want to show you both."
Ryu reached into his ninja pouch and summoned a gigantic scroll, which dwarfed even Dan's considerable height. The scroll was intricately sealed in some kind of device, like a cylindrical container.
Dan raised an eyebrow, a mixture of curiosity and apprehension in his gaze. "What is it?"
Ryu smiled, presenting the scroll with a flourish. "This gigantic scroll and this device are collectively called the Fuinjutsu Cloud."
Dan's face immediately contorted in a grimace. "Fuinjutsu Cloud???"
"Where does he get his naming sense?" he muttered, shaking his head in exasperation.
Yasashii chimed in and said, "First RAT, then CAT… I was expecting a DOG this time, Brother Ryu. But a cloud…? From what angle does this look like a cloud to you?"
Ryu rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance. "Are you two done making fun of me?"
Dan chuckled, a hint of amusement in his voice, and said, "Yes, Ryu. Please explain what this seal does."
Ryu unrolled a portion of the scroll, revealing a complex array of seals. "This isn't just a seal, Grandpa. It's a method. An advanced system that allows a master to instantly access and deploy seals they have already manually mastered."
Dan's eyes narrowed, his mind already racing to comprehend the possibilities. "Instantly?" he asked. "Like a new kind of slotting mechanism?"
Ryu smiled, gesturing to the giant scroll. "This system is comprised of three core components: the Access Scroll, the Slotting Scroll, and the Blood Contract Seal for authentication. We use an access code with the Access Scroll to summon a specific seal's template to our Slotting Scroll, which then manifests the seal. It's an instant deployment, without the need for manual drawing."
Dan thought for a second, his gaze fixed on the scroll, and said, "So, you're telling me… It's like a summoning jutsu? And we can summon the seal instead of writing it. The idea is very similar to slotting. I am sure there is more to it."
Ryu's smile broadened, a secret shared between the two of them. "Yes, there is. There is not just one seal to slot here. Many seals would be stored in this big scroll. We call it the Fuinjutsu Cloud or a Celestial Scroll. I will be launching this scroll as a satellite above the cloud, hence the name."
Dan's eyebrows shot up, his expression a mixture of disbelief and awe. "A satellite? Like your planned communication satellite? That's ridiculous! A constant active seal like that would need a constant supply of chakra to maintain, right? Where are you getting the power for this 'Fuinjutsu Cloud'?"
Ryu replied, "You are right. Like a summoning scroll, someone needs to carry it and feed it a constant supply of chakra. Even if it is negligible. The summoner or the summon can do it. Here it has a Chakra storage seal built into it and also has Chakra metal in the container device around the scroll."
He smiled. "We can also summon the Celestial Scroll from the satellite and refill the chakra from time to time by summoning it and then reverse summoning it using the seal placed on the container. I am using a similar method for the telecom satellite for doing repair and upgrade work."
"Now that the need to carry it is resolved, we need to keep it somewhere. What's the safest place, then, space itself?"
"Telecommunication satellite launch is already scheduled. We'll just use that launch as a cover to send this one up as well."
"The satellite's core is the scroll that has the Seal Database and the chakra storage seal. We'll load it with enough chakra to last for months, and we won't have to worry about running out of power."
Dan's expression shifted. He became serious and said, "With this, multiple seals can be slotted and deployed by the user…. Then this [Fuinjutsu cloud] is just as dangerous of a creation as your earlier fuinjutsu creations. With this, just anyone can rival a fuinjutsu grandmaster."
Ryu reassured him, explaining a key limitation. "It's only as dangerous as the one who uses it."
"It has similar limitations to earlier slotting methods. The user must have intensive knowledge of the seal being slotted because the knowledge and the instincts and will of the user are put into the seal by chakra, and without that knowledge, the fuinjutsu cloud will be useless."
Dan thought, "He is right. Even if the seals and their knowledge are not fully decoded, the intent of the full sentences and most of the seals' broader meaning is clear. You need to have prior knowledge and intent of the seal in your chakra and will if you want to use the seal. If it were not so, then anyone, even a stupid bum with good handwriting, could mimic the seal and use it."
Ryu continued his explanation, "It just makes the deployment faster than the regular slotting method, and you can use just one slotting scroll and slot all the seals you have learnt so far, which was not possible earlier unless you were carrying 100s of slotting scrolls that were not easy to make in that number. Even bigger seals that you could not slot earlier can be slotted using this method."
"An auto-encoding feature will be included to protect the unified slotting scroll and the deployed seal. The whole method is for an elite few, a small circle of trust. We can all access it—you, me, and Yasahii. We can place common seals into it, as well as my special seals. We can also share access with anyone we want. I plan to give Aunt Tsunade access to it."
Dan shook his head, a mixture of exasperation and pride on his face. "You and your ideas..."
During the ongoing conversation between Ryu and Dan, Akihiro listened intently. The secret that Ryu told him rang in his mind.
Akihiro then thought to himself, "In that alternate world someone else was the child of prophecy, but in this one, it is you… Ryu…you are the true child of prophecy."
A/N: Hello everyone!
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