"Thank you, Sho-kun, you may go," the high priestess smiled and nodded to him, then turned her gaze to me, gesturing to the chair opposite her. "Nara-dono, welcome, please sit down."
"Thank you, Miroku-dono," I bowed slightly, ignoring the missing escort and settling into the offered furniture. "I apologize for the late visit, but I would like to clarify a few questions directly related to the upcoming battle with the demon as soon as possible.
All these formalities were just a waste of time, but with such a high-ranking person, even if she was from a small country, it was impossible to do otherwise — even if the priestess accepted an informal style of conversation, her subordinates and servants would not understand. In the local community, even for ninja, saving face is a compelling reason to act one way or another, not to mention the nobility or rulers.
"Please, Nara-dono, you have already helped the loyal shinobi greatly, and answering my questions will be a small payment on my part," the priestess nodded with a smile.
"All right, then I'll get to the point. Since the main tool for neutralizing the demon is the seal, I would like to take a look at it and assess its reliability," he decided to start with the main issue after a moment's consideration. "I don't want to insult the work of your ancestors, but as a fuin master, I simply cannot trust an unknown seal when preparing to fight a serious enemy.
After listening to me carefully, Miruku lowered her gaze, closing her eyes as if in thought, but even through her skin, I could see her eyes light up for a few seconds. Damn, this is definitely some kind of dojutsu, but why don't I have any memories or records of it when I have them for everything else, even the Rinnegan?
"I admit, that's a valid concern," the priestess acknowledged, looking at me again. 'Kana."
"Right now,' the kunoichi disappeared behind one of the doors leading out of the room and returned a few minutes later with a stack of scrolls, unloading them onto a massive table standing near the wall, directly under the lamp on the wall.
"Please, Nara-dono, these are all the records on the creation and operation of the Yashiro no Fuin (Seal of the Shrine)," said Miroku, standing up. 'They are entirely at your disposal."
"Thank you,' I said, standing up after her, bowing slightly, and quickly approaching the table without wasting any time.
With the help of the hostess, who knew the seal inside out, I began to study the various stages of activation, not of a single seal, but of a whole complex of intricate cascading seals, combined into a single whole, in which each subsequent stage was activated only after the previous one had been completed.
The first three seals created a powerful barrier that closed and fixed the user and the victim inside, protecting and lifting the former into the air.
Next came nine seals, only some of which I was able to recognize at first glance — the separation of the demon's consciousness from its body and the solidification of the latter with the creation of an anchor to some place.
More precisely, two anchors to the body and mind, which should serve as a means of attracting the separated demon to the places of sealing, as I managed to figure out after studying some scrolls with the creators' calculations.
The final stage of the complex's activation included six seals that completed the sealing and sent the two parts to their places of confinement, securely locking them with the creator's power.
More precisely, the last four did this, but the first two... It took me quite a long time to figure out their purpose under the watchful eye of the priestess — after all, it was not chakra that was used here, but spiritual power, which created certain problems in interpreting the intended functions — but when I figured it out, I returned to the incomprehensible fuin in the second stage, which now made sense, and I was convinced of the correctness of my conclusions. Rubbing my forehead, I turned to the women standing nearby.
"Miroku-dono, excuse me, but were your ancestors pathological suicides?" I couldn't help but ask in a sarcastically surprised tone. "Yashiro no Fuin (Seal of the Shrine) merges a priestess with a demon and then seals them together... Why!?"
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