"Kurama, your hand seals were wrong just now!"
"You got the 'Hai' and 'Ishi' seals right, but why can't you make the 'Yō' seal?"
"Do it like this!"
Nonoyu pushed up her round-framed glasses, her small face full of seriousness.
"The pads of your index and middle fingers, and your pinky fingers should touch each other. Your ring fingers cross in your palms, and then the tips of both thumbs touch the tips of your ring fingers."
"This is the 'Yō' seal. What kind of mess did you make?"
The roles of teacher and student reversed, the Nine-Tails lowered its head shamefully, baring its teeth and fumbling with its unruly fingers.
"This old man..."
"How could these old man's claws be as flexible as yours, little girl? That thing about bending your ring finger to cross, I just can't do it!"
Shingen, who was accompanying Nonoyu, finally regained his dignity as a slacker in their small group by teasing the Nine-Tails. He winked and formed a standard 'Yō' 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 furious. Its tail whipped out violently, sending the pesky brat flying to who-knows-where.
"Ah..."
"Whoosh!"
Accompanied by a series of screams, an unidentified object whisked past with a fierce gust of wind. Minato, who was intently watching the chakra sphere spinning and compressing in his palm, was startled. The chakra sphere in his hand exploded with a bang. The neutral chakra transformed into a strong gust of air, making Kushina, who was cheering Minato on next to him, shriek repeatedly.
"Yah!"
"What was that thing that flew by!"
"Minato, did you see it?"
Minato shook his head, glanced in the direction where the unidentified object had flown, and then calmly withdrew his gaze.
"Don't worry, it's just Big Brother Shingen provoking Kurama again."
"Kushina, let's continue. You help me adjust the chakra rotation frequency using Kurama's senses. I have a feeling that after a few more attempts, I'll be able to compress the chakra to my current limit!"
Kushina nodded vigorously, her gaze fixed on the chakra sphere that reappeared in Minato's hand.
"The outer layer should rotate a bit slower, and the inner one needs to speed up."
"Very good, just like that!"
One observed meticulously, 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 herself to forcibly bend Kurama's claws and teach it.
"Aow!"
"Go easy, old man! If I'm not careful, this little girl's bones aren't as tough as that brat Shingen's."
Nonoyu, panting, held down Kurama's two ring fingers that kept wanting to spring back, and said angrily:
"Wouldn't it be better if you had Shingen use chakra wires to tie your fingers if you couldn't hit him away?"
"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, struggling to control its instinct to snap its claws back, and followed Nonoyu's movements to form a twisted 'Yō' seal.
"I shouldn't have let you teach me!"
"Isn't Orochimaru good at things related to the human body? If he removed the bones in this claw of mine, I could bend them however I wanted!"
"Kurama, are you sure you have bones in your body?"
Orochimaru's voice suddenly sounded beside Kurama. Nonoyu, who was struggling to hold Kurama's claw, let out a sigh of relief and threw Kurama's disobedient hand aside.
"Teacher!"
"Hmm!"
Orochimaru smiled and patted her head, giving Kurama a disdainful look.
"You laugh at others for not having brains, yet you can't even form the most basic seals. I don't think you'll ever be able to use the Transformation Jutsu or the Summoning Jutsu in this lifetime!"
Kurama immediately felt indignant. It hardened its resolve and, with two *cracking* sounds, broke off the two ring fingers of its claws. Before they could recover, it quickly formed a 'Yō' seal.
"Nonsense!"
"See? Didn't I form it?"
Orochimaru's mouth twitched twice, not wanting to comment on such a crude method.
Kurama's eyes suddenly lit up. It *cracked* off two more little fingers, and immediately formed a 'Wei' seal.
"Huh?"
Kurama cried out in surprise, and its hands made a series of *cracking* sounds as it went through all five seals for the Summoning Jutsu from beginning to end.
Hai, no sound; Ishi, no sound; Yō, two *cracks*; Shin, no sound; Wei, two more *cracks*.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Poof, poof, poof!"
Three small puffs of smoke erupted, and three confused Snake God Princesses from Ryūchi Cave were simultaneously summoned.
"Great Sage, Lord Kurama..."
"This is..."
Kurama looked at the three Snake God Princesses standing side by side before it, then puffed out its chest and patted Orochimaru's shoulder forcefully.
"Haha, how's this brain of mine? Impressed, aren't you?"
Orochimaru's eye twitched. This method, which was no different from self-mutilation, was truly outside his considerations.
"Kurama, this move of yours has opened up a whole 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 never expected..."
Kurama proudly lifted its head. With vast chakra and strong recovery, I, Lord Kurama, am just this willful!
That petty One-Tails, daring to provoke me for not knowing how to form seals and relying on its sealing jutsu?
Now I can also 'form seals'. Once I learn some of the Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu, I'll show you next time!
"Girl, girl!"
Kurama excitedly ran up to Kushina and said fawningly:
"Teach me some sealing jutsus?"
"See, I can form seals now!"
As it spoke, Kurama's palms made another series of *cracking* sounds. 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 with emotion.
"Kurama, give up!"
"Sealing jutsu involves a lot of theoretical knowledge. If simply learning the hand seals was enough to use them, where would Tailed Beasts have any room to survive in the ninja world?"
Kurama's excited expression froze. It looked inquiringly at Kushina.
Kushina nodded, spread her arms, and made a large circle.
"I read about this much sealing jutsu theory to learn the Four Symbols Seal!"
"Kurama, I think you'd be better off learning some ninjutsu from Teacher..."
"Sealing jutsu might be a bit difficult for you..."
It wasn't just a bit difficult. The One-Tails Shukaku's sealing jutsu relied on the black runes carved on its body by the Sage of Six Paths, combined with Magnet Release. It didn't require any theoretical knowledge to support it at all.
As long as it could be used, why bother understanding the principles of sealing jutsu?
As for Kurama's idea of suppressing Shukaku by learning sealing jutsu...
Forget it, it's easier to just be a lazy fish.
Kurama lowered its head in dejection and slowly returned to the side of the three Snake God Princesses.
"Lord Kurama, is there something you need us sisters for?"
Kurama was awakened by the soft voice. A shiver ran through it, and it suddenly remembered its fantasies from when it was in Ryūchi Cave.
"Hehehe..."
After a strange laugh, Kurama turned to look in the direction of the Hokage Rock. Shaking off its dejection from not being able to learn sealing jutsu, it waved its claws and shouted with high spirits.
"I'm taking you to a place!"
"Orochimaru, don't come looking for me unless it's urgent!"
"I'm going to fulfill a wish!"
With that, Kurama zoomed back towards Konoha. The three Snake God Princesses exchanged glances, bowed to Orochimaru in unison, and hurried to follow.
"What's this guy going crazy about now?"
Orochimaru watched Kurama's retreating back and muttered in confusion.