Taming Your Demon (Sealing Series Part I)

Love And Kamaboko

Between Shikamaru's daily hounding about Jiraiya's code and Hiashi's intense training schedule, Naruto had no time to truly feel the continued sadness and loss that resulted from his master's death and his best friend's absence. Life had to move on. And he had spent the entire first half of his life hiding from the sadness in his heart. But then he met Iruka sensei and befriended Hinata. He became a part of team seven and took Jiraiya as a teacher. Lady Tsunade became like a grandmother and the rest of the village began to acknowledge him. He no longer had to pretend to be happy. He just was happy. And he knew Iruka was right. Jiraiya would not want him to lose sight of that happiness.

"In order to leave for Mount Myoboku to begin your training as a sage, you have to complete your sealed shadow clone first." Hiashi stood over Naruto with his arms crossed and his byakugan activated, as the young ninja attempted to create the seal that would be the center of his clone. "More chakra. It needs more chakra."

Hinata sat nearby watching as Naruto poured a massive amount of chakra into the seal. It was astonishing that he could infuse that much chakra without killing himself, or at least without passing out. She kept Kurama suppressed, so Naruto did not have to use any chakra to keep the tailed beast contained, and he could focus all of his energy on the clone's seal. But through the binding seal, she could feel the nine tailed fox stirring. Any movement from Kurama was an ominous sign, since a night cycle for the long lived tailed beast seemed to last months as opposed to hours. Her father did not seem to think there would be any danger in using this jutsu, but Hinata still felt anxious. She knew better than anyone the impressive amount of chakra that Naruto owned, but Kurama was known to sense and exploit any weakness or strain on his jinchuuriki's defenses and the sealed clone was a definite strain.

A few months earlier, during one of his many lectures, Hiashi explained the process of creating a sealed shadow clone to Naruto. "It is a living, breathing, and aging entity. Unlike a regular shadow clone it has its own will... obviously it is somewhat influenced by your will, since it is your clone, but if you leave it on its own long enough, it will develop its own wants, needs, and ambitions. That is dangerous. The sealed clone is only limited by the fact that it cannot act against you, its creator. Otherwise it can kill and be killed like a human."

"Why have I never heard anything about this before. Kakashi sensei is an expert with clones and he never uses these things." Naruto complained. He was already skilled with shadow clones. This just seemed like a waste of time.

"It's a forbidden jutsu!" Hiashi said this harshly. "...Except to a descent of the Uzumaki clan. And even then, permission must be granted by the Hokage. The amount of chakra it takes to create a sealed clone would kill anyone else... even Kakashi Hatake. Traditionally, they were used for training purposes, so the creator could be in two different places... learning two different skills for an extended period of time."

"Well what's the purpose of that." Naruto grumbled, halfway nodding off. He yawned. "I use my multi shadow clone jutsu for that already."

Hiashi thumped Naruto on the head, causing him to wake up fully and sit up straighter. "Sealed shadow clones are much sturdier than regular shadow clones, so they can last for years -even decades. They bleed and can be healed like a normal human. They don't just disappear when injured. As long as the seal is not reabsorbed by the creator, the sealed shadow clone will exist -even as a dead body."

Presently, Naruto finished the seal. It was an intricate pattern of brilliant white chakra, so condensed in the round pattern of the seal that it was even visible to the normal eye. He made some more hand seals and the seal began to sprout chakra. A rudimentary chakra network formed around the seal, becoming more intricate as Naruto made more and more hand seals. Eventually the chakra network resembled that of an actual human.