Chapter 200: How Exactly Should We Seal the One-Tail and Bring It Back to the Village?
Rewinding time slightly by one minute—the atmosphere inside the mountain's belly was exceptionally tense. Uchiha Tatsuhata hadn't exaggerated. Replica Uchiha Madara's Wood Release was indeed very formidable. With a single move, he'd knocked down both Uchiha Shisui and Hiruko.
But the problem was that Hyuga Ritsu's Wood Release mastery proved no less impressive.
Hearing the intelligence White Zetsu transmitted back, forget Pain—even Uchiha Tatsuhata himself momentarily lacked confidence, uncertain whether relying solely on Uchiha Madara's replica could truly hold back this pack of wolf-like, tiger-like Konoha ninja.
Then—
In that instant, Uchiha Tatsuhata sensed replica Uchiha Madara's disappearance.
All the chakra threads had been destroyed cleanly, completely severing the possibility of recovery and reconstruction. To summon Uchiha Madara's replica again, he'd need to resurrect Uchiha Madara and recopy his chakra.
Uchiha Tatsuhata's mood became extremely terrible.
He looked up at Pain. Fortunately, his face still wore the tiger-head mask. Otherwise, he truly couldn't control the emotional changes on his face right now. After several deep breaths, he said in a deep voice, "I'm very sorry. My replica has been eliminated."
Pain's expression remained unchanged.
This was also an expected result.
Earlier, when he'd heard that entity named White Zetsu transmit the message that replica Uchiha Madara had been intercepted by Konoha's White Yaksha and the two were fighting neck and neck, an ominous premonition had arisen in his heart. If White Yaksha alone matched replica Uchiha Madara evenly, what would the result be if the Fourth Hokage also joined the battle?
Their side had no more pieces to throw into the battlefield supporting replica Uchiha Madara.
So—
Replica Uchiha Madara's defeat was highly probable.
"Let's end the sealing now!"
Pain once again proposed ending the One-Tail sealing.
"Alright."
This time, Uchiha Tatsuhata didn't object. He sighed somewhat helplessly.
Though near-success failure was indeed regrettable, as long as green mountains remained, one needn't fear lacking firewood. Not ending the sealing now and waiting for the Konoha ninja to arrive—when fighting broke out, life and death would be unpredictable.
He and Pain joining forces might not necessarily lose.
But they also didn't dare claim certain victory.
Not only because their chakra consumption was massive and their condition poor, and their replicas and avatars had been destroyed entirely in the recent battle—more importantly, the formidable combat power the Konoha ninja displayed in this battle left them without confidence in certain victory.
So—
The wisest choice at this moment was to temporarily avoid their edge rather than fight a desperate battle with the Konoha ninja regardless of consequences.
His Toyoakitsushihime was a pupil technique whose combat power grew stronger the more complete the preparations. Though this time, including Uchiha Madara, all replicas had been destroyed due to misjudgment—
As long as he was given sufficient time, he could collect a new batch of replicas.
"Pain, are you confident you can evade the Konoha ninja's search?"
Uchiha Tatsuhata asked.
"Rest assured. I can leave at any time."
Pain looked at Uchiha Tatsuhata. "It's you—don't get caught by the Konoha ninja."
"This time I was careless. I originally thought the technique formula left on the ninja tool was inherent to the tool, part of sealing the Tailed Beast, so I didn't touch it. I didn't expect it was actually for tracking and locating..."
Uchiha Tatsuhata paused for an instant, changing the subject. "Pain, after we escape, I'll come find you in Amegakure. At that time, we'll properly plan the specific action plan going forward."
"I'll wait for you in Amegakure."
Having spoken to this point, both fell silent. In unspoken agreement, they simultaneously cut off their chakra supply. The sealing technique Phantom Dragon Nine Consuming Seals abruptly stopped midway. The consequence of doing this was that the One-Tail's chakra, which had lost its suppression, began going berserk.
The crimson One-Tail chakra already absorbed by the Gedo Statue began flowing back. The One-Tail's own will was unwilling to be devoured by the Gedo Statue. Now without the sealing technique's suppression, and with the Gedo Statue being merely an empty shell whose controller couldn't truly excavate the Gedo Statue's power—
So—
The One-Tail's chakra successfully flowed out from within the Gedo Statue. That eye on the Gedo Statue that had opened more than halfway slowly closed. During sealing, the absorption had been thread by thread, strand by strand. But now during the backflow, it was like a mountain flood bursting forth.
In a matter of seconds—
All the One-Tail chakra devoured by the Gedo Statue flowed back completely. Simultaneously, the remaining One-Tail chakra in the teapot-shaped ninja tool Shukaku pot also poured out—from the moment Phantom Dragon Nine Consuming Seals began extracting the One-Tail's chakra, the seal applied to the Shukaku pot had been released.
All the One-Tail chakra gathered in one place and rapidly expanded. In the blink of an eye, it sketched out a complete form.
Seeing this, Uchiha Tatsuhata directly leaped down from atop the Gedo Statue. Before he could even land on the ground, he saw the massive Gedo Statue along with Pain standing on it transform into a cloud of milky-white chakra smoke.
"Ran so quickly."
After this exclamation, Uchiha Tatsuhata also smoothly merged into that hard rock and earth. All traces of his presence disappeared without a trace, including the Shukaku pot that had fallen to the ground—it was also spirited away by a hand extending from underground.
Approximately two seconds later, the crimson Tailed Beast chakra finally transformed into physical form. One-Tail Shukaku officially appeared. Upon manifesting, it used its massive body to smash the mountain belly's dome into scattered fragments.
The One-Tail's emotions were exceptionally violent.
Being used as a weapon by humans was one thing, but this time they'd actually planned to make it return to the god tree's shell—this was something Shukaku absolutely couldn't accept. Being stuffed into a human body was merely sitting in jail for a period. But being absorbed by the god tree—it feared it would completely lose the self-awareness born after separating.
So—
It was extremely furious right now.
Its destructive urges reached an unprecedented peak.
Even more detestable was that the humans who'd tried to stuff it back into the god tree's shell had escaped. So it began wantonly destroying everything around it, venting this fury and... fear in its heart!
The Land of Rain's humid environment prevented it from stirring up sandstorms capable of engulfing entire deserts, but it still transformed the surrounding mountain peaks into flowing sand. Its exhaled breath became violent winds scattering the clouds in the sky. Wind bullets terrifying as small meteorites fired randomly in all directions, creating crater after crater in the ground.
"Hokage-sama, what do we do next?"
Hyuga Ritsu looked at the berserk One-Tail Shukaku in the distance, speaking up to ask.
Minato's expression was grave. He asked again, "Hyuga Clan Head, you still can't find Missing-nin Anonymous's whereabouts?"
"I cannot see them. That person controls a stealth technique that's absolutely top-tier in the ninja world. Even my Byakugan cannot see through it. Perhaps they're hiding right now in a position not far from us, but unfortunately, even so, we cannot determine their location."
Hyuga Ritsu's Byakugan hadn't relaxed its observation of the surroundings from beginning to end. Above and below ground were both under his watch, but unfortunately, the opponent clearly hadn't revealed any openings.
"Tch! If only we could have been faster."
Minato clenched his fist unwillingly.
Missing this opportunity, who knew when they'd find another chance to eliminate Missing-nin Anonymous.
The only consolation was that their operation this time wasn't completely fruitless. They'd successfully eliminated numerous powerful replicas controlled by Missing-nin Anonymous and rescued the One-Tail from their control. They'd also revealed the existence of the legendary Rinnegan, first among the three great pupil techniques.
His unwilling emotions were suppressed.
Minato's composure grew increasingly profound. He quickly regained calm, saying in a deep voice, "Let's go meet up with the others first."
After speaking—
He extended his hand and grabbed Hyuga Ritsu's shoulder.
In the blink of an eye—
The surrounding scenery changed subtly. Though overall still very similar, they could still see the berserk One-Tail Shukaku raging in the distance. Simultaneously, the figures of Uchiha Fugaku, Hatake Kakashi, and the others also came into view.
Hiruko and Uchiha Shisui still lay on a raised stone platform—this was created by Sand ninja Yura using Earth Release.
At this moment—
The two who'd inhaled the pollen from Advent of a World of Flowering Trees hadn't yet awakened.
The three Sand ninja hurriedly crowded over. Yura asked excitedly, "Hokage-sama, have the enemies already been resolved?"
"Unfortunately, they escaped."
"Escaped?"
Obvious disappointment appeared on the Sand ninja's faces.
However—
Immediately after, jonin Yura rallied his spirits, speaking up, "The enemies escaped—we'll capture them next time. But at least the One-Tail wasn't taken away. Next..."
Reaching this point, he suddenly found himself somewhat at a loss for words.
According to his thinking, failing to bring the murderer who'd killed the Fourth Kazekage to justice was certainly regrettable. But if they could bring the One-Tail back, this operation couldn't be considered a failure. Compared to avenging the Fourth Kazekage-sama, bringing this strategic weapon the One-Tail back to the village was more important.
But at this step, the problem emerged—
How exactly should they seal the One-Tail and bring it back to the village?
Yura looked left and right, his expression showing difficulty.
Baki and Yashamaru were both considered rising talents in the village. Their strength was also considerable. But clearly, like himself, Baki and Yashamaru also lacked the ability to seal the One-Tail.
The Sand ninja hadn't anticipated this situation. Or more brutally put, even if they'd foreseen this situation, they'd be helpless. Sealing Tailed Beasts had never been simple. In the past, when the One-Tail went berserk and lost control, the Kazekage always had to personally take action to suppress it, with Elder Chiyo's cooperation to reseal it.
Simply put, sealing Tailed Beasts absolutely required ninja at the very top of the ninja world who were also proficient in sealing techniques.
Left with no choice—
Yura looked at Minato, forcing himself to say, "Hokage-sama, I wonder... could your side help seal the One-Tail?"
In the current predicament, aside from requesting Konoha's aid, there was no other way.
Minato remained silent.
He was thinking about what to do next. The One-Tail definitely had to be sealed. They couldn't allow it to rampage freely through the Land of Rain. His unwillingness to see the One-Tail go berserk and kill innocent people was one consideration, but to a greater degree, he didn't want the One-Tail to fall back into Missing-nin Anonymous's hands.
Though they still hadn't figured out exactly what purpose Missing-nin Anonymous had in stealing Tailed Beasts, they must find ways to sabotage whatever the enemy wanted to accomplish. This was an unshakeable, simple truth.
However—
How to seal the berserk, out-of-control One-Tail was an issue requiring consideration.
Minato glanced at the sleeping Hiruko, speaking up, "Hyuga Clan Head, Uchiha Clan Head—I believe it's necessary to reseal the One-Tail. What are your thoughts?"
"I have no objections."
Hyuga Ritsu answered very straightforwardly.
"I also feel we can't ignore the One-Tail. However... the problem is, how do we seal it?"
Uchiha Fugaku furrowed his brow, thinking seriously as he spoke. "Simply subduing the One-Tail shouldn't be difficult with our current forces. But sealing a Tailed Beast necessarily requires a corresponding container. Where are we going to find a suitable container now?"
His words directly pointed to the greatest key difficulty.
The hardest part of sealing Tailed Beasts was never the act of sealing itself, but rather finding a container capable of holding a Tailed Beast.
In the ninja world—
There were two types of containers for sealing Tailed Beasts. One type was ninja tools passed down from ancient times, said to be forged by the Sage of Six Paths, like the Crimson Gourd and Shukaku pot. The other type was jinchuriki—using ninja as containers to hold Tailed Beasts.
The former were few in number, with only a handful existing in the world.
The latter, though a renewable resource, still required finding suitable candidates from among ten thousand who could withstand a Tailed Beast's massive power.
"Yura-san, can you still sense your ninja tool, the Shukaku pot?"
Minato stared at Yura.
They'd been able to track Missing-nin Anonymous all the way to the Land of Rain because the Sand ninja had left a secret tracking technique on the Shukaku pot that sealed the One-Tail. If they could recover the Shukaku pot now, they'd have a container for sealing the One-Tail.
"..."
Yura turned to look at Yashamaru beside him.
Yashamaru, with his baby face that looked prettier than many women, showed a bitter expression. "I'm very sorry, Hokage-sama. Just a moment ago, I lost the ability to sense the Shukaku pot. The opponent has already erased the secret technique our Sunagakure left on it."
Minato furrowed his brow but said nothing.
He'd already anticipated this before asking.
He looked at the One-Tail still randomly destroying its surroundings in the distance with some frustration, murmuring, "Without a suitable container, there's no way to seal the One-Tail... Should we just directly disperse the One-Tail?"
Tailed Beasts were immortal existences.
But they could also be temporarily eliminated.
"If we're talking about containers for sealing Tailed Beasts, I do have one here."
Hyuga Ritsu spoke up at this moment.
"Hm?"
Minato first froze, then suddenly understood. "I remember now—Hyuga Clan Head, you seized the Crimson Gourd from the Mist ninja, correct?"
"That's right."
Hyuga Ritsu nodded with a smile. "Not just the Crimson Gourd. I also have those several ninja swords in my possession. However, the Crimson Gourd cannot be stored in a sealing scroll, so that thing is still sitting in the village."
"To use the Crimson Gourd to seal the One-Tail, we'll need to return to the village to retrieve it."
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