Chapter 15: Modifying the Seal

After a few more minutes of walking and the trio reached the twin’s flat. Hinata and Naruto both sat down, while Yuna went to the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks. Even though Naruto has just eaten around 3 tons of Ramen, she knew that Naruto wouldn’t say “no” to snacks. 5 minutes later, she came back into the living room and placed everything on the table while serving tea to Naruto, Hinata, and herself. Yuna has always enjoyed making tea and serving it to people she knows. Naruto was already used to it, Hinata however widened her eyes when she saw Yuna pouring her tea.

“A-Are you also from a noble clan?”

Yuna almost made a spit take when Hinata asked that question. Yuna has been pouring tea for people for a long time. Hinata probably confused her having a routine in it, with Yuna having learned it as something a noble lady should know. She was just about to deny Hinata’s question when someone else answered for her.

“Haha, there is no way nee-san is from a nobl…”

Before he finished that sentence, however, his instincts kicked in, warning him of great danger if he continues talking.

“*cough* A-as I was saying, neither nee-san nor I are from a noble clan.”

[HAHAHA, I’m starting to really like the kid. Seems like he is slowly starting to see the real you!]

‘You know what, Kurama? I think I’ll just remodel my mindscape and make everything look like Hashirama. Wouldn’t that be fun? Hashirama trees, mountains, and clouds. Hashirama everywhere you look.’

[There is no way you would do something this insane just to…okay you probably would. I apologize, seriously please don’t do that.]

“Technically, we are from a noble clan, Naruto. Or to be more precise a royal clan. Uzumaki was the name of the royal family of the Land of Whirlpools. Unfortunately, they got wiped out during the last war.”

Both Hinata and Naruto widened their eyes after hearing that.

“We are from a royal clan? So, we are royalty?”

Yuna only snorted at that.

“Royalty? What is a king without his subjects? An empty title. Those, that consider themselves better than others due to their bloodline are nothing but trash in my eyes. Only hard work and unyielding willpower can bring you to the top.”

Yuna was about to rant some more about young masters and stuff like that when she noticed that Naruto and Hinata were currently giving her weird looks.

‘Oops, lost control there for a moment.’

[Bad memories?]

‘Yeah, kind of. People that think they are bigshots because their daddy is important were quite frequent in my previous life. Oh well, that was rarely a problem that lived long. A well-executed assassination can solve a lot of problems after all.’

[Are there any stories from your past life, that don’t have sex, assassination, or genocide as the punch line?]

‘Err, if you give me a few hours, I’m sure I can dig one up. ‘

[Pass.]

‘NO! WAIT! I also have quite a few stories that end in a one-on-one fight to the death. That can’t be considered an assassination, right?’

[Still passing.]

‘Tsk, fine’

“*cough* Anyway, what I wanted to say is, that you shouldn’t bother about it, Naruto. Just be yourself and keep improving.”

“I a-a-actually never heard of the Land of Whirlpools before.”

Yuna couldn’t help but sneer at that.

“Of course, you didn’t. There is no way Konoha would be willing to spread the story of how their greatest ally was annihilated before they sent a single shinobi as support.”

“”Greatest ally!?””

This time, Naruto and Hinata asked the same question simultaneously. Instead of answering directly, Yuna asked them a question in return.

“What symbol is on the back of the Konoha flak jacket?”

That got both of them thinking for a while. After all, shinobi rarely travel normally. They usually just jump over the roofs of houses, so it is rather rare for the two of them to see the Konoha flak jacket. Hinata was the first one to understand.

“A spiral. No! A whirlpool!”

“Good job, Hinata. That is correct.”

Hinata’s face immediately morphed into a happy smile. She was clearly pleased with being praised.

‘Seriously, how shit are her parents at parenting? A little compliment and her face lights up like a parched man’s that has just found an oasis.’

“Konoha and the Uzumaki have been allies for a long time. The Uzumaki were known for their unquestionable superiority in Fuinjutsu and provided Konoha with a lot of powerful seals to support them during war times. That is also why they were wiped out by the coalition of three hostile countries. They feared the Uzumaki, because of their seals. That being said, remove that headband and show me your cursed seal. I will get rid of it.”

“Eh? G-g-g-get rid of it? T-t-there is no way that is possible”

[Oi Yuna, aren’t you promising a little bit too much there?]

‘Indeed. The current me probably can’t get rid of it completely, but I should at least be able to modify it.’

[What makes you think that?]

‘Everything I have read about Konoha, you have read as well, so let me ask you a question in return: What do you think of the current Hyuga clan?’

[The current Hyuga clan? They are worthless. Perfect chakra control is something they get pretty much for free, yet, for some reason, they insist on only learning their so-called “Gentle Fist”. Additionally, they suppress those of their branch family and cripple their clan even further. The only reason they are still considered as one of the strongest clans is that despite crippling themselves at every step, the Byakugan gives them enough advantages to keep their position.]

‘Indeed. You should also know, that previously their cursed seal only sealed away the Byakugan when the person dies or the Byakugan is stolen and didn’t have any of that slavery nonsense pushed into it.’

[I see, so you just want to remove the second part and keep the first]

“Correct. I don’t think, making the eyes useless when someone tries to steal them is a bad thing. I even consider it something rather smart to do. But some years ago, someone in the Hyuga clan clearly had greater ambitions. He modified it and incorporated a slave seal. Whoever designed the original seal was probably someone especially talented in seals and I don’t think I can casually undo a seal he probably spent years designing.”

After that sentence, a sneer filled with disdain appeared on Yuna’s face inside her mindscape.

‘However, the seal of some stuck-up old bastard, that can’t even figure out the consequences of enslaving more than 90% of his clan is something I have the confidence to break.’

“Haha, of course, it is possible, it is me after all.”

Hinata was still dumbfounded while Naruto only made a sagely nod.

“If it’s nee-san, she can probably do it.”

Naruto, of course, had absolutely no basis for that statement, but so far, Yuna has always done things that seem ridiculous. When he was just three years old, he didn’t really get it, but now that he is five, he has realized that a three-year-old shouldn’t be able to casually prepare a hotel room or a flat. Additionally, he realized that all those training methods were probably thought up by her as well. Add to that, that Yuna seems to be able to cook delicious meals despite Naruto having never seen her cooking at the orphanage, Naruto developed a mentality that pretty much explained every ridiculous thing Yuna does as: Well, it is nee-san, so I guess it’s fine.

Hinata, on the other hand, was still unsure what to do. The two people in front of her were really nice, but she really didn’t want to show that seal to anybody. She took a glance at Yuna’s kind smile and Naruto’s goofy one, and then made a decision. She hopes she will not regret it. She slowly lifted her arms and removed the headband that was currently covering her cursed seal.

‘Please don’t look at me with scorn for this.’

Hinata sighed in relief when she saw the twin’s reactions to the seal. Naruto got angry, not at her, but at whoever put the seal on her. Yuna, on the other hand, showed disdain and disgust, yet again not directed at Hinata, but the seal itself.

‘As expected, whoever modified this seal, barely knew what they were doing. It is like someone took a perfectly fine painting and then someone else took it and started adding things with crayons.’

Yuna immediately stood up and walked towards Hinata. Before Hinata could ask a single question, one of Yuna’s fingers lit up and poked her against the forehead. The moment Yuna’s finger touched Hinata’s forehead the seal on her head started to unravel itself and started to cover her whole head. This unraveling is something every seal master should be able to do. It reveals the basic components, that are included in a seal. When creating a seal, those that consider themselves masters would put all kinds of hidden traps and false seals into the basic formula to make it much harder for others to understand the unraveled seal. What was in front of Yuna right now, was something completely different. It was like someone tried to forcefully combine two languages. One of them, incredibly complex. Trap, after trap, after trap, combining itself into a complex labyrinth. While the other one was a children’s book that tried to use as few words with more than five letters as possible.

Yuna didn’t even bother to look at the abomination in front of her any longer. All her fingers lit up and she started to simply erase the unnecessary parts. There was no need for further modification.

‘Is this why the Hyuga clan doesn’t practice anything else, but the “Gentle Fist”? Are they afraid that someone might accidentally open a book about sealing and then remove these crappy modifications?’Another 2 minutes passed while Hinata was still dazed by Yuna’s swift movements. Yuna removed the glow from nine of her fingers and tapped Hinata’s forehead again with the remaining one that was still glowing. All the remaining seals on her head immediately got pulled towards her forehead, but instead of returning to their previous form, the seals transformed into a single blue dot on Hinata’s head.

“Well, I’m done. The seal can no longer be used to cause you pain or kill you, but if someone attempts to steal your eyes, the seal will still seal away your eyes. Don’t want the Hyuga clan hunting me down, after all.”

[You don’t?]

‘Well, not yet. Unfortunately, I am still too weak.’

Naruto only nodded at that, with a face that clearly said “It is nee-san after all, so it is no surprise it worked out fine”, while Hinata looked at Yuna like she has just grown a second head. Even after Yuna held a mirror in front of her, to show her how the modified seal looks like, Hinata still couldn’t believe it. It took Naruto and Yuna another 30 minutes to make her believe, that she was indeed set free from her clan. And so, Hinata cried. She cried a lot. And while she was crying, she embraced both Naruto and Yuna in an attempt to be as close as possible to the two people that changed her miserable life into something she might actually enjoy.