In the bath, Shūichi Hoshita closed his eyes, contemplating the mission of being a double agent.
As a double agent, the most crucial factor was gaining the trust of both sides.
Earning Konoha's trust shouldn't be a problem. After all, he would be a Konoha ninja for a long time, with Minato Namikaze as his mentor and backing, and his loyalty to the village was well-established.
But how could he gain the Daimyō's trust over a long period? Beyond the mission itself, the Daimyō's investment in him was quite significant. This could provide an additional source of income, which he could use to his advantage.
"Should I introduce some geniuses to the Daimyō?"
"Like Kakashi… Charging a three-to-five percent introduction fee wouldn't be too much, right?"
"But if that guy Asuma Sarutobi gets recruited by the Daimyō, will he blame me?"
Shūichi's thoughts wandered, only coming back to reality after he finished his bath.
"My current focus is close combat, with a secondary role as a medical ninja."
"Leaving aside the medical ninja path for now, my close combat skills will definitely center around kenjutsu in the future. The Dance of the Crescent Moon isn't bad, but it's not enough to make me a Jōnin, let alone an elite Jōnin."
As Shūichi got dressed, he continued pondering.
Even though he was just a Genin now, he had to consider his future path.
For instance, how should he progress in kenjutsu?
"After mastering the Dance of the Crescent Moon, I should focus on Wind Release chakra nature transformation, then apply it to kenjutsu, developing my own ultimate sword technique."
"As for Fire Release… it seems like I would either need to pour a lot of chakra into it or combine it with other techniques, like Wind Release…"
Given the limits of time and energy, if it weren't for the tag-system, Shūichi would likely be fully committed to the Wind Release and kenjutsu path by now.
Once dressed, Shūichi headed straight to Konoha Hospital.
While practicing the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique at the Daimyō's residence, he had accumulated a few questions that only Nono Yakushi could help him answer.
However, upon arriving at the hospital, he didn't see Nono. Instead, he ran into Tsunade, whom he hadn't seen in a while.
"Lady Tsunade!"
Shūichi quickly bowed in respect.
"Kid… are you here to see Nono?"
Tsunade stopped in her tracks.
Shūichi nodded, "Yes, I'm here to study medical ninjutsu."
Tsunade nodded and began to walk away, but after taking two steps, she stopped and turned back, "Hey, have you ever thought about developing your Memory Palace into a sealing technique?"
Shūichi's eyes lit up at her words. He turned and asked, "Lady Tsunade, do you have the same idea?"
"I've already tried it before, I attempted to fix the Memory Palace in the mind using a curse seal and developed a technique for it. I later consulted with Minato-sensei, and he further refined it."
Tsunade frowned slightly upon hearing this, "That guy Minato… his sealing techniques aren't bad."
She knew about Minato Namikaze, of course—Jiraiya's disciple and Uzumaki Kushina's lover, who had learned sealing techniques from Kushina.
"If that's the case, then it's fine."
Tsunade waved her hand and started to walk away.
But Shūichi quickly stepped forward to stop her, "Lady Tsunade, although we have similar ideas, the paths we take might not be the same. It's really necessary to exchange our thoughts—who knows, we might gain even more insights."
Tsunade hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, let's go to my office."
...
In Tsunade's office, under her watchful gaze, Shūichi Hoshita carefully replicated the sealing technique that had been refined by Minato Namikaze.
Tsunade crossed her arms as she observed, nodding in approval when Shūichi finished. "This technique is already quite well-developed."
"It turns the Memory Palace into a genjutsu space, reinforced with a sealing technique, allowing for controlled input and output of memories."
"So, this sealing technique is specifically designed for certain memories?"
Shūichi gave a thumbs-up. "As expected of Lady Tsunade."
"The initial idea was to prevent the mental shock that comes from the memories when a shadow clone is dispelled."
Tsunade mused for a moment. "Shadow clones? You want to use them for training?"
"Be careful then—besides the memories, there's also the exhaustion. You could easily overwork yourself to death."
"But I assume Minato already warned you about this?"
Shūichi nodded, then asked, "Lady Tsunade, do you have any thoughts on this?"
Instead of answering, Tsunade asked, "What do you think ninjutsu is?"
"Uh..."
Shūichi frowned, thinking for a moment before replying, "It's the release of chakra energy in various forms, like wind, fire, lightning, or illusions, and so on."
Tsunade nodded. "That's a good description."
"There are many techniques, including curse seals and sealing jutsu, that can be pre-set on the body and then activated whenever needed."
Shūichi immediately thought of the Hyūga clan's Caged Bird seal, a sealing technique with both active and passive triggers.
Active, meaning the main family can control the seal at will to damage the brain and blind the Byakugan of the branch family members.
Passive, meaning that if a branch member dies in battle or is captured and their eyes are taken, the seal will automatically activate, destroying the Byakugan.
Another example that stood out to Shūichi was Danzo's Reverse Four Symbols Seal.
During his battle with Sasuke Uchiha, Danzo used a binding curse seal that must have been pre-prepared, allowing him to activate it instantly.
However, such sealing techniques and curse marks were far from simple; otherwise, they would have been widespread long ago.
Shūichi considered, "Lady Tsunade, are you thinking of using this to seal medical ninjutsu?"
Tsunade nodded. "The original Memory Palace is just a mnemonic technique that most people can learn."
"But by transforming it into a sealing technique, turning the Memory Palace into a genjutsu space, and the sealing space into something like a library, you could store memories as books, or even as people."
"In the same way, you could store medical ninjutsu using this method, ready to be deployed instantly without the need for hand signs."
Shūichi was inwardly shocked.
Is this really the kind of creativity a native of this world should have?
But thinking it over, there were already pre-set curse marks that could be activated instantly, and even ninjutsu scrolls that stored jutsu, like the one Shikamaru Nara used against Kakuzu.
However, Tsunade's idea was clearly more systematic and large-scale.
And it involved doing this within a person's brain.
After a moment's thought, Shūichi responded, "Lady Tsunade, simple memory is vastly different from fūinjutsu, curse seals, or ninjutsu."
The original Memory Palace was a mnemonic system, a technique for associative memory.
In simple terms, it linked what needed to be remembered with familiar locations to achieve quick, long-term, or even permanent memory retention.
Shūichi used the familiar setting of Konoha for his Memory Palace, which is why he came up with the idea of turning this mnemonic technique into a sealing jutsu.
And he had succeeded.
But ninjutsu was different from memory.
Memory is just a function of consciousness, whereas ninjutsu requires chakra as an energy source.
As Shūichi had explained to Tsunade earlier, the process of performing ninjutsu, without considering hand signs, involves controlling chakra energy and manipulating its form and nature.
"I'm aware of that," Tsunade replied, having clearly thought this through before proposing her idea.
Shūichi smiled. "It's certainly an astonishing idea."
"But solidifying a medical ninjutsu in the brain… aside from the difficulty of doing that, if the seal malfunctions, even a medical jutsu could cause serious harm."
Tsunade, however, was nonchalant. "What jutsu isn't dangerous?"
"If the Memory Palace can systematically store memories, it should be possible to store medical ninjutsu in the same way."
"Take Yin Healing Wound Destruction, for example. You wouldn't need to anticipate the enemy's attacks."
"Thoughts and nerve signals travel faster than any physical action, so you could activate the jutsu in the instant before the enemy's attack lands."
(End of Chapter)
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