Chapter 473: The Yin-Nine-Tails
Danzō's face was grim.
Work? He, the esteemed Konoha advisor, leader of the Root ninja, former acting Hokage, and the top candidate for the position, was here in this godforsaken place digging sand and laying bricks? You must be joking!
Work? He would never work. Not in this lifetime!
Danzō stiffened his neck. Born into the Shimura clan, he had been a prodigy since childhood and had been involved in matters of great importance as an adult. Building houses and roads was the work of the lowest class. He would rather die than suffer such a humiliating job.
The Third Hokage didn't force him. Instead, he just smoked his pipe leisurely, waiting quietly.
After fifteen minutes, Danzō, who had been sitting still with his eyes closed, couldn't help but glance at the back of his hand.
He saw a multitude of black spots appear out of thin air. There was no pain, no blood, just skin crumbling away like a mosaic.
A deep black hole opened on the back of his hand. Skin, muscle, and bone all turned to nothingness. The process was slow, but its slowness was what made it terrifying.
If this transformation continued unabated, he would completely disappear in two hours.
"Wait! Let me think!" He used a delaying tactic. He was still alive now. If these black spots covered his whole body, he would surely be done for. He had to figure out what was going on.
The Third Hokage was only interested in watching the show and had no intention of explaining.
He could only ask his "coworkers," wanting to know how they had ended up in this strange place.
The "coworkers" had all sorts of stories.
"It was a blond young man standing on a large bird who captured me!"
That sounds like Deidara, Danzō thought.
"It was a masked man! A guy wearing a mask burned my house to the ground and then sent me here! I even saw the Sharingan behind his mask!"
Danzō nodded slightly. That must have been the masked man from Akatsuki who called himself Madara Uchiha.
"It was Shimura Danzō from Konoha who captured me!"
Danzō cursed angrily, "Nonsense! I don't even know you!"
After summarizing, he found that the people working here were basically villains in the traditional sense. Some were captured by "Deidara," some were sent by the masked man, and a few were sent by "Danzō."
It was a motley crew.
The price for not working was simple and brutal: to watch your own limbs turn to dust, bit by bit, as the black spots consumed them.
There was no pain, no blood. Everything would end cleanly.
Danzō could only conclude that Akatsuki was behind all this. He picked up a shovel and started to work. Akatsuki, I will remember you. If I ever get out of here alive, I will kill you all!
That day, Danzō saw the eighty-one living pillars that made up the so-called "house," and the one in the most conspicuous spot looked exactly like him. He could feel that his soul was in that pillar...
Although his body was still alive, he feared it would be very difficult to escape this place.
The Third Hokage cheerfully patted his shoulder. "You have to look on the bright side. At least you're still alive, right? There's still hope. Just work hard."
Danzō asked another question. "Why are there so many monks here?"
Counting himself, there were eighty-one people, and more than thirty of them were monks.
The Third Hokage didn't know the answer to that either. He could only assume that the Shinigami either really disliked monks or really liked them.
With Danzō dealt with, Ino prepared to formally receive the Yin-Nine-Tails.
From now on, she wouldn't do anything else. She wasn't afraid of Pain. Even if the dance king managed to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, she could still resist a little with her own power. If nothing else, even if she was hung on the God Tree, she could at least fight for a spot with a nice, sea-facing view!
The Kekkei Mōra would elevate her life to a new level. At that point, her own surging chakra would be no weaker than a Tailed Beast's.
Using her own chakra was certainly more convenient than using a Tailed Beast's.
But for now, she couldn't give up on the Yin-Nine-Tails.
If she didn't become a jinchuriki, could she have the Yin-Nine-Tails as a summon? Madara Uchiha could do it, and Ino believed she could too.
Controlling the Yin-Nine-Tails would be no easy task.
As far as the Yin-Nine-Tails was concerned, he had already been separated from Minato. The Shinigami could keep him in a permanent state of slumber, but once he returned to the material world, he would awaken.
If he caused a ruckus then, it would be a big problem.
Ino could completely suppress the Yin-Nine-Tails, but doing so the moment it appeared, without it making a scene or letting out a heaven-shaking roar, was a bit difficult. She needed help, and Karin was her only choice.
"Ohohoho! Yep, yep, leave it to me!" Karin nodded enthusiastically, but Ino didn't feel reassured at all. This girl seemed to have inherited the Uzumaki clan's trait: she looked sharp, but she always managed to create some bizarre situations.
They weren't in the Land of Fire or the Village Hidden by a Waterfall, but on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean.
There was no one here, not even a ghost.
Ino had thoroughly studied Minato's Four Symbols Seal and Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, as well as the Reverse Four Symbols Seal that old man Danzō was so fond of.
Suppression and control were two different tasks. Ino would be responsible for control, while the job of using sealing jutsu to suppress the Yin-Nine-Tails fell to Karin.
The Uzumaki clan seemed to have a natural affinity for sealing jutsu in their bloodline. When others used a sealing jutsu, it was what it was. But when an Uzumaki used one, the effect was always a cut above the rest.
Karin had learned the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style that Ino had developed herself. Although she wasn't very proficient, she could use it.
"How about I give this thing to you? You can be the Nine-Tails jinchuriki," Ino asked.
Karin shook her head repeatedly. She was no longer the clueless rookie she once was. Although all the jinchuriki in Naruto appeared to be "perfect," reaching that state required many sacrifices.
Everything in the world is balanced; for every gain, there is a loss.
No power comes without a price.
Jinchuriki were always accompanied by disaster and misfortune. This wasn't just a saying. Every jinchuriki had extremely bad luck. In a novel about cultivation and luck, their luck would be in the negatives. Having their parents die at the start was a minor issue; living their entire lives under hostile glares was the norm.
Despite gaining immense chakra, no ninja ever scrambled to become a jinchuriki. In the traditional view of ninja, being a jinchuriki was definitely not a good thing.
"If... if you need me to, then I can..." Karin said hesitantly.
Ino waved her hand. "That won't be necessary. Prepare the seal. I'm starting."
"Okaaay," Karin drawled, then began drawing the sealing array as instructed.
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