Chapter 31.4- One Thousand Hands

“I knew you would find a few of them useful as you got ready to ship out, but these are not only from your Granduncle” She said then, and then I could see it. More and more of the notes were in a flowing script that did not belong to him. Mito’s handwriting I realised. Not just her writing either. Some things were written in a less practiced hand that I could recognize from the writings I’d been given about the Mokuton. It was Hashirama’s writing. While Mito wrote about seals and theorized about various seal combinations, Hashirama’s writings were about ninjutsu. Not just wood release, but his theories about how chakra itself worked.

I flipped through the notes art a rapid pace, but a cough drew my attention again.

“While I do not doubt you will spend the rest of the night here if you get the chance, might I remind you that you have been chosen to head out tomorrow. There’s only one more thing I have for you” and at that, she pointed her cane over to a massive scroll resting against the wall. I figured it was just an empty sealing scroll, but it was clearly not just that. It had a heft to it that marked it to my senses as full. It was one thing I’d found I could do passively the better I became with fuinjutsu. Just feel at a seal and get some sort of understanding of what it aimed to do and its status.

“Open it” I did not bother turning around to my Grandmother’s obviously expectant face and did as she bid instead. I unruffled the scroll, and it spread out over the floor. I could see then that it was not just one storage seal, but multiple.

“You can use this to take most of this room with you when you head out. If there is one thing my Sons complained to me about enough from the first war, it was the boredom that hit them when there was no fighting or planning to be done. With this to keep you busy, I hope you don’t go looking for any additional trouble” She said, and I actually chuckled. From practically raising Kushina and watching the other Uzumaki once in a while, I’d come to learn what exactly my problem was. I had way too much energy just as they did, and they had a pathological need to be entertained. If that wasn’t happening, they sought out things to entertain them. I could see the same signs in my behaviour from when I was younger, and it was clear now that she was giving this to me for more than just advancing my education.

“Two of the seals are full?” I asked her then

“Open them. I won’t ruin the surprise.” I smiled up at her and unsealed the first one. The gasp I let out was entirely involuntary as I beheld it. It was perfect. The armour was black with red highlights. Not a one-to-one replication of Hashirama’s as I’d worn in my chunin exams. Instead, it reminded me more of Tobirama’s war armour. The styles were similar. There was no neckpiece that went up to my chin like with the former armour. It was neither a copy of Hashirama’s or Tobirama’s, but the style was similar. It was clear that it was supposed to make it clear that I was my own person while recognising the influence of those who had come before. It felt solid to the touch, but seemed to barely weigh a thing. Seals. All around it were seals of different designs, achieving different purposes.

“I won’t tell you too much about the script to avoid ruining the surprise, but just know that you will be able to use this in both the deserts of Suna and the Mountains of Kumo without much difficulty.” I nodded. When my eyes had devoured the armour from the beginning to the end, and gone over every inch of it, I moved to the other seal. I had a creeping sensation of just what was within the seal.

I pushed my chakra in and this time there was no gasp. I was struck dumb. It was a warbow. A full warbow, and not one of the smaller ones I’d grown accustomed to using.

“You’ve had a bit of growth spurt so I think you should be clear to use one of these now” She said, and I nodded while reaching out to grab it.

The seals across its form lit up as the bow pulled at my chakra without asking.

A/N; yup, finally gave in and just had AI make me a picture of our favourite Senju because I was struggling to describe the armour.