Sasuke cut his morning training short to visit Iruka. He had already prepared a speech to persuade him.
Iruka had provided Sasuke with his address and told him to seek help outside the academy if needed, so Sasuke was comfortable with his actions, even though it was a bit early.
It was 7:00 when Sasuke knocked on his door. After several knocks, Iruka, wearing his pajamas, opened the door. It was evident that Sasuke had woken him up.
"Sasuke, is something wrong? What happened?" he asked with concern.
"Sorry for waking you up, Iruka-sensei. Don't worry, nothing happened. You told me I could find you outside of the academy if I ever needed help," Sasuke said with a slightly awkward smile.
"Well, it's a bit early, but I would be up in half an hour anyway. Please come in, Sasuke," Iruka said with a smile.
After 7 minutes of waiting, Iruka was ready with a washed face, fresh clothes, and two cups of tea – one for him and one for Sasuke.
"Sasuke, please tell me how I can help you," Iruka finally asked.
"As you know, I've completely mastered calligraphy, and I can produce all the Kanji characters perfectly. I've read that the next step is to learn how to produce the basic storage scroll and the explosion tag," Sasuke said.
"Sasuke, you are the most talented ninja of your generation, and I trust you. However, it goes against protocol to give you these scrolls. If misused or if you make a mistake, you could harm yourself or your classmates," Iruka said.
"Iruka-sensei, with all due respect, I've read that Hatake Kakashi became a Chunin at age 6, and my brother graduated from the academy at the same age as me. I've already mastered the three academy jutsu without hand signs, and I know everything the academy can offer me. The only reason I don't want an early graduation is because I want to make friends and graduate together with them," Sasuke explained.
Iruka was skeptical and took his time to think.
"I can give you the basic storage scroll, but I can't give you the explosion tag. It's too dangerous," Iruka said.
"Iruka-sensei, I can already perform the fireball jutsu. If safety is a concern, I can already harm those around me if I'm not careful. I assure you that I'm mature enough to handle this. I promise you that I will only use explosion tags in the Uchiha training ground when nobody is around. Please trust me, Iruka-sensei," Sasuke pleaded.
'Fireball jutsu at this age… Sasuke is my most talented student by far. His talent is something that I can't even match in my dreams. He has shown me great maturity so far. The academy standards are extremely easy for him. As his teacher, I have the obligation to help him as much as I can. I am sure that if his family was still alive, they would have given him access to the scrolls. I should ignore the protocols this time,' Iruka thought.
"Sasuke, you have shown great maturity and intelligence so far. As a sign of trust, I will also give you the explosion tag. Please keep your word and be careful," Iruka said.
Iruka went to another room and after 4 minutes, he brought out two scrolls.
"These are the scrolls that you want. As you can see, they contain Kanji characters, lines, and shapes. You must learn how to copy them exactly as they are. Even the tiniest difference in a line, and the scroll won't work as expected," Iruka said.
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"Is there any book for instructions? How do I know what every line does?" Sasuke asked with curiosity.
"Sasuke, fuinjutsu is one of the hardest ninja arts, and there are very few masters. Our whole village has only one grandmaster, Jiraiya-sama, and even in the whole Elemental Nations, there are under 10. Even at my rank as Chunin, there is no such book. You have to understand that knowledge is power, and even if such knowledge exists, it's a well-kept secret. The power of fuinjutsu is so great that the village of Uzushiogakure, which consisted of the best experts, was so feared that multiple nations worked together to destroy it," Iruka said.
Sasuke had already read about the Uzumaki clan in his clan's library, so he was not surprised.
"So, if I want to further understand the seals, the only way is to experiment with the symbols?" Sasuke asked.
"That's also my conclusion. After mastering the two scrolls and a few other complementary materials, I haven't progressed further in the art. I'm guessing that a Jonin will have access to more scrolls. However, I have to warn you again. If you start playing around with symbols, you must be extremely careful," Iruka said.
Sasuke nodded and asked, "Can't anyone go to a weapon shop and buy scrolls like these? What's stopping them from copying them?"
"I expected this question. These two are special scrolls created without any anti-theft protection. They were made for the purpose of learning. If you buy a scroll from a shop, it will be covered by a layer of protection that hides the true symbols. If you try to bypass it, the scroll will self-destruct and turn to dust. Some forms of protection can even harm you if you try to bypass them," Iruka said.
'It seems like there are no shortcuts in this art, but the returns are huge. I definitely need to learn everything about it,' Sasuke thought.
After some small talk, Sasuke said goodbye to Iruka.
Immediately after, he visited Neji and told him to notify Daikoku-sensei that he was feeling sick and that he would skip the academy. After visiting Neji, Sasuke used the transformation jutsu to take on the appearance of Gin Ichimaru. He visited a remote hotel on the outskirts of Konoha and rented a whole villa for the day. He was finally ready to learn the two scrolls.
---
During lunch break, the Hokage decided to visit the academy and talk with the teachers about Sasuke. He didn't want to send an ANBU because he was sure that Iruka would have questions and he would visit him later, so it was better to handle it personally.
Hiruzen brought Daikoku and Iruka into the meeting room and finally said, "I came to talk about Uchiha Sasuke. I need to inform you that from now on, you must report directly to me about the boy's progress. Also, you are not allowed to share any jutsu or scrolls with him until I decide otherwise."
Daikoku simply nodded to the Hokage, but Iruka's expression changed, and he asked with worry, "What happened? Sasuke has shown great potential and maturity to me until now. Did he do something wrong?"
"I'm afraid that I can't share it with you, Iruka, because it concerns a secret of the village. However, you look worried. Did something happen?" Hiruzen asked.
"Actually, Sasuke visited me at my house in the morning and asked me for the storage scroll and the explosion tag scroll. I had already helped him with his calligraphy, and he had mastered it. This was the next step. I was a little hesitant, but he had proven to me that he is capable of handling it, so I shared them with him," Iruka said.
"Isn't the boy sick? He is missing today, and Neji informed me that he doesn't feel good," Daikoku said.
'This boy... From our discussion yesterday, he knew that I would try to limit his knowledge, so he decided to act faster and obtain the scrolls. He probably hid to learn the scrolls as fast as possible... What a little fox. However, I need to warn him. I can't let something like this happen again,' Hiruzen thought.
Watching Hiruzen thinking and not replying only made Iruka more worried.
"Hokage-sama..." he said hesitantly.
"Don't worry, Iruka. Your decision to give him the scrolls is completely justified. The boy is extremely capable. There is a different reason that I don't want to share them with him. Anyway, please don't give him more scrolls in the future," Hiruzen said.
---
After returning to his office, Hiruzen immediately said, "Turtle, go to the Uchiha compound and search for Sasuke Uchiha. Most likely, he isn't in the compound. Wait for his arrival and tell him to give you the scrolls and warn him that if he pulls something like that in the future, he will have multiple ANBU watching him."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."