While Sasori was working diligently on his puppet,
Kaiji also was working diligently but on Fūinjutsu seals before going to sleep.
To his surprise, sealing arts felt easier than any other ninja art he had learned.
"Am I an Uzumaki from one of my parents?" Kaiji wondered.
In front of him were two 20 cm long stones, stuck together.
He had used the Temporary Adhesion Seal to glue the two objects for a short time.
He had learned both this seal and the Short-Range Tracking Seal.
The tracking seal was not very useful, as its range was only 5 meters and it also worked for only a short time.
Even so, he had mastered both of these Fūinjutsu techniques and Fūinjutsu basics within the week.
This was despite giving less time to Fūinjutsu than his other training.
"My hair is brown, not red. But still I can't be an Uzumaki, otherwise my chakra reserves would be huge," Kaiji dismissed his thought.
But he was truly glad that he learned Fūinjutsu so fast.
It was quicker than any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu he had learned so far.
Even basic Kenjutsu had been a bit harder than basic Fūinjutsu.
"Maybe I should visit the Sealing Department tomorrow and ask for a few more techniques," he decided.
He looked out the window.
The moon shone its light over Sunagakure.
He remembered Echigo, the Chunin in the Library Archive, had said only basic Fūinjutsu scrolls were there.
For more training, just like with Medical Ninjutsu, he needed to ask at the Sealing Department.
Before going to sleep, he took off the weights from his wrists and ankles.
He thought, "Maybe I should learn the Gravity Seal. Then I wouldn't need real weights anymore, hm, while I'm at it, scroll of Storage Seal would be good too."
With this plan for tomorrow, he went to sleep.
...
The next day, after getting ready early, Kaiji was at his usual training field.
No one was there to bother him.
He had even cut down his morning physical training time.
This gave him more time for the Seven Heavens Breathing Method.
Since, he had seen success in using the 'First Activation' of the technique.
But the time he could hold it was still under a minute, barely reaching a full minute.
He stood with his eyes closed and took a deep breath.
The next moment, he breathed out, and the air around him rippled.
A silver, misty, white aura, faint but barely visible, began to surround his body.
His eyes turned pale, almost completely white.
His muscles tightened, and veins bulged on his arms.
He felt his inner energy grow, his chakra reserves increased, he felt stronger than his base state.
"SAND ERUPTION KICK!" he shouted, before taking a stance, and jumped into the air.
Around his right leg, a whirlwind of sand started to form.
With full strength, he slammed his leg onto the ground.
Cracks spread on the ground where he kicked, with a large hole in the middle where his foot landed.
Ha...
Ha...
Ha...
He gasped, bringing his breathing back to normal.
After a few minutes of rest, he started to practice again.
He wanted to test using Ninjutsu in this technique's 'Daiichi Kassei' state.
But since he could not stay in that state for even a full minute, he decided to wait.
He would master 'First Activation' until he could use it for a long time while in state.
Then he would try using Ninjutsu and even Genjutsu in that state, to see if they would work.
...
After his morning training, he went back, washed up, and then went straight to the vice head of the Genin Corps, Chunin Ryota.
He knocked lightly on the door.
After getting permission, he slowly went inside.
He saw Ryota in his simple, neat office.
Ryota was looking at some files, probably about mission assignments for Genin.
"Oh, Kaiji, do you need my help?" Ryota asked, still looking at his files, after seeing it was Kaiji.
"I just want to ask if I have any mission today," Kaiji said politely.
"Hm..." Ryota raised his brow, "Are you that eager to do missions now?"
Kaiji shook his head 'no'.
"Well, you have no mission for today. You can take any task or do training today." Ryota answered him.
Kaiji nodded.
With a bow to Ryota, he left the room.
"It's good, I can go to the Sealing Department and the Ninja Library Archives," Kaiji mumbled as he walked out of the department.
"And I can also go to the weaponry shop."
"Hey, Kaiji, where are you going?"
While he was deep in thought, a loud, familiar voice pulled him out of it.
It was Hiroshi.
"Oh, it's you. Well, I'm just going to the Ninja Library Archives. What about you?" Kaiji asked, walking toward Hiroshi.
"I have a mission today. I just washed up and now I'm going to meet my team," Hiroshi replied.
Kaiji nodded.
Hiroshi then said, "But man, we haven't done any missions together, have we!"
"Well, don't worry. In the near future, we will have a lot of chances to do missions together," Kaiji said calmly.
"Hm, what do you mean?" Hiroshi asked, surprised.
"The Third Great Ninja War will start soon, and we'll obviously have to defend Sunagakure then," Kaiji said with a shrug.
"Ooooh, really? Stop talking nonsense. There's no serious situation that says war might happen," Hiroshi said, not believing Kaiji at all.
"Alright, I'm going!" Hiroshi said, waving his hand.
Kaiji also waved goodbye and thought, 'But it was True, and he didn't believe me. As for a serious situation, Sasori will create it all by himself soon.'
He just shrugged and with Body Flicker Technique, he went toward the Ninja Library Archive.
For today, he had decided to first return a few scrolls to the library.
These were the Fūinjutsu and E-rank Earth Release Ninjutsu scrolls he had borrowed.
He think of taking that Kenjutsu scroll about coating and strengthening a sword with Chakra, and even Elemental Chakra for Kenjutsu arts.
He had spent quite a bit of time on Kenjutsu until last week, learning its basics.
He tightened his grip on his sword.
In those two months he spent on Kenjutsu, he had also learned the basic stances—
Low, Middle, and High stance, with proper body position and keeping his balance.
He had also practiced footwork, learning sliding steps, and also practiced slashes.
While he thought that footwork and slashing practice with a sword still needed more practice, he still decided to take the scroll for Elemental Chakra enhancement in Kenjutsu.
This was all Sunagakure had to offer in Kenjutsu arts.
For more, he would either have to practice by himself or learn from an expert.
However, he still decided to keep practicing Kenjutsu after he had mastered the Chakra Scalpel and Blood Coagulation Jutsu to a usable level.
As they were his main priority for now.
•••