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The passage of time in a shinobi's life is often measured not by the seasons but by the scars left behind. For Kirito, the next three years were carved not by battles on open fields but by the silent wars waged inside an abandoned underground lab—wars against ink, symbols, theory, and failure.
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Year One – Foundations in Ink
The first year after the Uchiha Massacre was chaos in Konoha. Rumors and suspicions plagued the streets, ANBU patrols doubled, and Danzo's shadows grew thicker despite Hiruzen's public announcement that Root had been disbanded. Kirito, however, rarely emerged into the open village. His clones managed his existence for him.
Two clones maintained a cover life—training at the academy grounds or performing D-rank missions.
Five clones trained in elemental ninjutsu, each specializing in fire, wind, earth ,water and lightning release.
Two clones practiced swordsmanship, endlessly sparring in secluded forests.
One clone continued to experiment with chakra variant attacks like rasengan,chakra strings and chakra enhancing..
That left Kirito himself free. Free to dedicate every waking moment to the art that now consumed him: fuinjutsu.
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The Early Struggles
He began with the basics—storage seals, explosion tags, barrier seals. He broke them apart, rewrote them, studied their chakra flow with meticulous detail. His notebooks filled quickly, dozens of pages of cramped handwriting and ink diagrams, each correction marked in red.
At first, the results were discouraging. Seals collapsed on themselves, drained chakra in unstable bursts, or failed entirely. Once, a misdrawn barrier seal detonated with enough force to blow a crater in the stone wall of the lab. He awoke hours later, his clones having dragged him to safety.
But each failure taught him something. He came to understand that seals were not simply symbols on paper—they were language, an ancient dialect of chakra itself.
> "Kanji and ink are just the brush. The true seal lies in the flow of chakra weaves that follow the pattern."
This realization changed everything.
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The First True Success – Chakra Concealment Array
By the end of that first year, he perfected his chakra concealment seal. Unlike the crude version he had tested before, this one was a fully layered array, drawn directly onto his skin with ink infused with his own blood.
When activated, his chakra core dimmed entirely. Not even his clones could sense him. He tested it further—walking past two Hyūga children in the marketplace. Their pale eyes never once flickered toward him.
The relief was immeasurable.
For the first time, he felt truly invisible.
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Year Two – The Expansion of Knowledge
The second year was where Kirito transformed from an eager student to a true practitioner.
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The Lab of Seals
The underground base changed drastically. Every wall was plastered with sealing diagrams, glowing faintly as chakra flowed through them. The floor was inscribed with a massive circular formula that acted as both protection and power amplifier, pulling in ambient chakra and storing it.
He constructed specialized workstations:
Preservation arrays for organic tissues and Sharingan jars.
Barrier grids to prevent Root intrusions.
Scroll chambers, sealed rooms that opened only to his chakra signature.
What had once been a dusty, abandoned lab was now a fortress of symbols and light—a temple of fuinjutsu.
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Experimentation with Elements
But Kirito's mind was not content with mere storage or concealment. He wanted more. He wanted to merge fuinjutsu with elemental chakra.
His clones reported progress in elemental jutsu—wind release sharp enough to cut stone, fire release strong enough to incinerate trees. Kirito wondered: what if seals could store that power, then unleash it on command?
The first attempt was crude: he sealed a simple fireball inside a tag. When released, it burst forth with uncontrolled fury, scorching the chamber.
But with refinement—layering time-delay seals and chakra regulators—he created controlled Elemental Sealing Tags. Fire bombs, wind scythes, lightning bursts—all inscribed into scrolls small enough to fit in a pouch.
> "Ninjas waste chakra mid-battle. But with these… I can unleash storms with only a flick of paper."
He wasn't just matching shinobi arts anymore. He was rewriting them.
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The Barrier of Chains
By mid-year, he had unlocked something extraordinary. Among the Uzumaki-style scripts, he deciphered formulas designed not to destroy, but to bind.
Chains of chakra erupted from seals drawn into the ground, wrapping around targets. Even a clone struggled to break free when bound. The resemblance to the fabled Adamantine Sealing Chains of the Uzumaki clan was undeniable.
Kirito trembled with excitement.
> "Even without Uzumaki blood, with precision and knowledge, I can replicate their greatest legacy."
Now, he had weapons that could restrain not just men, but jinchūriki—or worse.
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Year Three – Mastery Forged in Shadows
The third year was one of refinement, of taking raw knowledge and tempering it into mastery.
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Daily Routine of Obsession
By now, his schedule had become unyielding:
Morning: Chakra theory, testing seal variations.
Afternoon: Experiments on Sharingan integration, using seals as stabilizers.
Evening: Clone sparring reports, analyzing ninjutsu growth.
Night: Advanced fuinjutsu design, often collapsing in exhaustion at his desk.
Sleep was a luxury. Food was an afterthought. His body grew leaner, sharper, eyes rimmed with dark circles. But his mind… his mind burned brighter than ever.
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Creation of the "Infinity Scroll"
Perhaps his greatest invention was the Infinity Scroll—a storage seal so dense and layered it could hold nearly limitless matter. He built it through trial and error, layering thousands of micro-arrays until the scroll shimmered with an otherworldly glow.
He tested it by storing an entire lab table, complete with jars and tools. The scroll barely strained.
This changed everything. No longer bound by physical space, he could transport his lab if needed, conceal his treasures, and move without trace.
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The Seal of Life and Death
But his most dangerous experiment came when he attempted to manipulate life itself.
Using cadavers from the Uchiha massacre, he began inscribing seals meant to preserve and reanimate tissue. The results were grotesque—limbs twitching, eyes flickering, chakra pathways spasming unnaturally.
One night, a preserved Uchiha body lurched upright under the effect of his seals, its eyes glowing with stolen chakra. Kirito dispelled it instantly, sweat soaking his clothes.
> "Not yet… but one day."
He realized he was treading a line few dared cross. Fuinjutsu wasn't just about sealing chakra—it was about binding the essence of life. And in the wrong hands, it could rival even Edo Tensei.
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The Seal of Identity
The final breakthrough came near the end of his third year. Kirito perfected a personal identity seal—a construct bound to his chakra signature. It cloaked his appearance, scent, and chakra, allowing him to walk even among ANBU undetected.
To the world, he was a faceless genin at best, a ghost at worst.
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The Hidden Growth of Clones
Meanwhile, his clones bore fruit of their own.
After three years of tireless training:
They mastered elemental fusion techniques—early prototypes of fire-infused Rasengan and lightning-based variations.
Swordsmanship had grown sharp, efficient, rivaling seasoned chunin.
His sensory abilities expanded; he could now sense chakra signatures from kilometers away.
When these clones dispelled, the knowledge rushed into him, layering onto his already immense fuinjutsu mastery.
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Kirito at 16 – The Sealing Master
When the three years ended, Kirito stood in his lab, surrounded by glowing walls of seals and scrolls that pulsed like living things.
He was no longer the boy who once scraped by on D-rank missions.
He was a sealing master, a shadow scholar who bent the ancient art of fuinjutsu to his will. Storage, barriers, suppression, elemental integration, even the whispers of life manipulation—he commanded it all.
The village still saw him as a forgotten genin, a footnote in the wake of the Uchiha massacre.
But in truth, Kirito had become something else entirely—something the shinobi world was not prepared for.
And he knew it.
> "Three years… and I've only scratched the surface. The day will come when even the strongest clans will bow before the art of seals. And on that day… I will be ready."
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