Chapter 69: The Seal's Depths
"Naruto, have you been feeling like your chakra flow isn't as smooth as it should be?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes fixed on the two interlocking seals on Naruto's abdomen, his brow furrowed in concentration.
He had identified the problem immediately: an odd-numbered seal had been forcibly superimposed over the original even-numbered one, disrupting the natural flow of Naruto's chakra.
This kind of work... it has to be that guy, Orochimaru, Jiraiya concluded without a second thought.
He called Naruto over, bent his five fingers, and focused a dense concentration of chakra at his fingertips. With a sharp motion, he pressed them directly into Naruto's stomach.
"OW! What are you doing, you Pervy Sage?!" Naruto wailed, glaring at Jiraiya with a mix of pain and anger. The sensation felt like being stabbed.
"Calm down," Jiraiya said, his voice steady. "Now, how does it feel? Is your chakra flowing more smoothly?"
Naruto frowned, then tentatively tried to circulate his chakra. To his surprise, it moved through his pathways far more easily and quickly than before.
"Hey! That's amazing! What did you do, Pervy Sage?" Naruto cheered, his pain forgotten. He leaped high into the air and, with a soft tap, landed firmly on the water's surface.
"Great! I finally did it!" He began jumping up and down excitedly on the water, dancing with joy.
Watching this, a flicker of intense interest passed through Aizen's eyes. The moment Jiraiya dispelled Orochimaru's seal, Aizen had felt the mysterious power within Naruto with even greater clarity.
To investigate this power further, Aizen decided it was time to act.
On the other side, Naruto was still hopping around gleefully, maintaining his balance perfectly despite his erratic movements.
Aizen's eyes sharpened. The next time Naruto landed, Aizen deliberately let his own body stagger, suddenly losing his balance and lurching directly into Naruto. His face was a mask of panic as he threw his arms around the boy, clinging to him as if to a lifeline.
Caught completely off guard, Naruto was bowled over by the force. The impact shattered the delicate chakra control he had been maintaining.
SPLASH!
Both Aizen and Naruto tumbled into the hot spring, sinking beneath the surface and vanishing from Jiraiya's view.
"Well, it seems expecting them to maintain focus for long is still a problem," Jiraiya sighed, completely fooled. He assumed Naruto's excited jumping had simply caused Aizen to lose his footing, never suspecting it was a deliberate ploy.
Underwater, Naruto and Aizen thrashed, both trying to get back to the surface quickly.
To his frustration, Naruto discovered that Aizen seemed to be a complete non-swimmer! Aizen clung to him tightly, his struggles violent and uncoordinated, pressing his body against Naruto's as if his life depended on it.
Naruto sighed internally but, being the good-natured person he was, decided to help. He grabbed Aizen's arms firmly and tried to pull him upward, bringing their bodies close together in the process.
Seizing this exact opportunity, Aizen subtly brought his finger to Naruto's abdomen and made an imperceptible swipe.
A concentrated stream of his spiritual power was injected directly into the fabric of the seal.
BZZZT!
A wave of hot energy erupted from the point of contact. Aizen allowed a faint smile to touch his lips as his consciousness was instantly pulled into another realm.
He found himself in a claustrophobic, confined space, surrounded by boundless darkness. An oppressive, suffocating silence filled the air, heavy with fear and horror.
A solemn, malevolent atmosphere pressed down from all sides, bringing with it an immense, invisible weight.
Aizen's form flickered into existence within this space. He immediately felt a scorching, furious wind, saturated with pure rage and killing intent.
Aizen responded with a contemptuous sneer and began walking forward calmly. The oppressive emotions swirling around him were crushed by his own overwhelming spiritual pressure before they could even get close.
As he ventured deeper, the temperature gradually rose, eventually becoming as terrifyingly hot as molten magma.
At the end of this blazing path stood a massive, barred prison.
Inside the prison was an enormous figure, its body a blazing red that radiated scorching heat. The most striking feature was the nine powerful, swaying tails behind it.
The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.