"Kurama, your hand seals are wrong!"
"You got the 'Kai' and 'Shi' seals right, but why can't you form the 'Shu' seal?"
"Do it like this!"
Nonoyu pushed up her round-rimmed glasses, her small face filled with seriousness.
"The pads of your index, middle, and pinky fingers should touch each other, your ring fingers should be crossed in your palms, and then the tips of both thumbs should rest on the tips of your ring fingers."
"This is the 'Shu' seal. What kind of mess are you making?"
The roles of teacher and student reversed, the Nine-Tails hung its head sheepishly, baring its teeth as it fumbled with its unruly fingers.
"This old man..."
"How can this old man's claws be as flexible as a little girl like you? That so-called ring finger bend and cross, I can't do it at all!"
Shigeru, who was accompanying Nonoyu, finally regained the dignity of a slacker in their small group by making a perfect 'Shu' seal in front of the Nine-Tails.
"See!"
"Kurama, look, isn't it very simple?"
"You just do this, and then this!"
The Nine-Tails was instantly enraged, its tail sweeping behind it and sending the infernal brat flying to who knows where.
"Ah..."
"Whoosh!"
With a series of screams, an unidentified object whizzed past, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind. Minato, who was intently compressing the chakra sphere spinning in his palm, was startled, and the chakra sphere in his hand exploded with a bang. The attribute-less chakra turned into a strong airflow, making Kushina, who was cheering Minato on, scream repeatedly.
"Ah!"
"What flew past!"
"Minato, did you see it?"
Minato shook his head, glanced in the direction the unidentified object had flown, and then calmly withdrew his gaze.
"Don't worry, it's Big Brother Shigeru provoking Kurama again."
"Kushina, let's continue. Keep helping me adjust the chakra rotation frequency using Kurama's senses. I have a feeling that if I try a few more times, I'll be able to compress the chakra to the limit of what I can currently achieve!"
Kushina nodded vigorously, her eyes intently fixed on the chakra sphere that had reappeared in Minato's hand.
"The outer layer is rotating a bit too slowly, and the middle needs to speed up."
"Very good, just like that!"
One observed carefully, the other practiced diligently. Their training atmosphere was as harmonious as if they were one person.
On the other hand, with their companion sent flying, Teacher Nonoyu became even stricter with Kurama, even stepping in personally to force Kurama's claws to teach it.
"Ouch!"
"Go easy, old man. If I'm not careful, this little girl's bones won't be as tough as that brat Shigeru."
Nonoyu, panting, pressed down on Kurama's ring fingers that wanted to snap back, and said angrily:
"If you hadn't sent Shigeru flying, wouldn't it have been great if he'd tied your fingers with chakra wires?"
"Now I have to hold them for you, and you know I don't have much strength..."
"Remember this feeling of bending your fingers, you idiot!"
Kurama pouted, forcing itself to control the instinct to snap its claws back, and cooperated with Nonoyu's movements to form a twisted 'Shu' seal.
"I shouldn't have let you teach me!"
"Isn't Orochimaru good at human anatomy? If he just pulled out the bones in this claw of mine, I could bend it however I want!"
"Kurama, are you sure you have bones in your body?"
Orochimaru's voice suddenly echoed beside Kurama. Nonoyu, who was struggling to hold Kurama's claw, was immediately relieved and threw Kurama's unruly hand aside.
"Teacher!"
"Mm!"
Orochimaru smiled and patted her head, giving Kurama a look of disdain.
"You laugh at others for not using their brains, and you can't even form the most basic seals. I think you'll never be able to use the Transformation Jutsu and Summoning Jutsu in your life!"
The Nine-Tails was immediately defiant. With a fierce resolve, it snapped the two ring fingers on each of its claws and, before they could recover, quickly formed a 'Shu' seal.
"Nonsense!"
"See, didn't I form it?"
Orochimaru's mouth twitched a couple of times, not wanting to comment on such a crude action.
Suddenly, the Nine-Tails' eyes lit up. It snapped off its two pinky fingers again and immediately formed a 'Wei' seal.
"Huh?"
The Nine-Tails let out a surprised yelp, and its hands made a series of cracking sounds as it formed all five seals for the Summoning Jutsu from beginning to end.
'Kai', no sound; 'Shi', no sound; 'Shu', two cracks; 'Shen', no sound; 'Wei', another two cracks.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Bang bang bang!"
Three small puffs of smoke erupted, and three confused Snake Sisters from the Ryuchi Cave were simultaneously summoned.
"Great Sage, Lord Kurama..."
"This is..."
Kurama looked at the three Snake Sisters standing side by side in front of it, and immediately stood on its hind legs proudly, patting Orochimaru's shoulder forcefully.
"Haha, how's my brain? Impressed, right?"
Orochimaru's eyes twitched. This method, which was no different from self-mutilation, was truly beyond his consideration.
"Kurama, this move of yours has opened a new path for the Tailed Beasts!"
"I originally thought you could train your fingers to be as flexible as Shukaku's to form various hand seals, but I didn't expect..."
Kurama raised its head triumphantly. Abundant chakra, strong recovery, that's how I, Lord Kurama, am so willful!
The mere One-Tails dared to provoke me before I could form seals, relying on its Sealing Jutsu to shout at me?
I can 'form seals' now. Once I learn some Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques, I'll show you a thing or two next time we meet!
"Girl, girl!"
Kurama excitedly ran to Kushina, its face fawning.
"Teach me some sealing techniques?"
"Look, I can form seals now!"
As it spoke, Kurama's hands made a series of cracking sounds again, and under Kushina's stunned gaze, it formed a string of hand seals.
"This... this..."
"Teacher, can you form seals like this?"
Orochimaru looked up at the sky speechlessly and sighed.
"Kurama, give up!"
"Sealing Jutsu involves a lot of theoretical knowledge. If just learning the hand seals is enough to perform it, where would the Tailed Beasts have any room to survive in the ninja world?"
Kurama's excited expression froze on its face, and it looked inquiringly at Kushina.
Kushina nodded and spread her arms to make a big circle.
"I read about this much sealing theory to learn the Four Symbols Seal!"
"Kurama, I think you'd better go learn some ninjutsu from Teacher..."
"Sealing Jutsu might be a bit difficult for you..."
Not just a bit difficult. Shukaku's Sealing Jutsu relies on the black runes carved on its body by the Sage of Six Paths, combined with Magnet Release. It doesn't require any theoretical knowledge to support it.
As long as it can be used, why bother understanding the principle of Sealing Jutsu?
As for Kurama's idea of suppressing Shukaku by learning Sealing Jutsu...
Forget it, it's more relaxing to just be a lazy fish.
Kurama lowered its head dejectedly and slowly returned to the side of the three Snake Sisters.
"Lord Kurama, is there something you need us sisters for?"
Kurama was awakened by the soft voice, and a shiver went through it. It immediately recalled the fantasies it had when it was in the Ryuchi Cave.
"Hehehe..."
After a sinister laugh, Kurama turned to look in the direction of the Hokage Rock. Shaking off the dejection of not being able to learn Sealing Jutsu, it waved its claws and shouted with high spirits.
"I'm taking you somewhere!"
"Orochimaru, don't come looking for me unless there's something important!"
"I'm going to fulfill a wish!"
With that, Kurama whooshed and ran back towards Konoha. The three Snake Sisters exchanged glances, bowed to Orochimaru, and hurried to follow.
"What's this guy up to now?"
Orochimaru watched Kurama's retreating figure and muttered in confusion.