If eyes couldn't be trained, then any ninja whose speed surpassed 30 frames per second would see the world as a static painting, awkwardly becoming blind to motion.
"Um, Sensei, I think we're back?" Kimimaro looked around. The once-lush Land of Roran was once again a scene of desolation and ruin. They had reappeared in the same rubble-strewn area where they first fought the daimyo's ninja, with nothing but a vast desert outside.
"Hey, it's true, we're back! What a shame, I never even got a chance to visit the daimyo's mansion and see what my father looked like when he was young," Yukihime said wistfully.
"It's a good thing you didn't stay there for long," Uchiha Nagi said, shaking his head. "That version of the world is in the middle of a Great Ninja War. The land is devastated, and the people are suffering. If you had left Roran, you would have seen horrors you'd never want to witness in your lifetime."
He turned to his student and Yukihime. "Wait here. I'm going inside to check on something."
"Understood, Sensei," Kimimaro nodded. He never questioned his teacher's orders; he simply obeyed.
"What are you going in there for?" Yukihime asked, curious.
"I want to see if the Ryumyaku can be absorbed," Uchiha Nagi stated plainly, making no attempt to hide his intentions.
He entered the underground structure alone. Regarding this time-traveling trip to the Lost Tower, Nagi had a theory: this was likely a parallel world.
There were several reasons for this. The first, and most flimsy, was the rogue ninja Mukade. Minato Namikaze knew that Mukade was a time traveler who had arrived six years prior, and he even knew that Mukade's original timeline was more than a decade in the future.
This raised a question: if the Third Hokage sent Minato to eliminate Mukade, why was Mukade still a wanted man more than ten years later? Shouldn't the incident have been recorded in an S-rank file and dealt with immediately? How was he still around for Naruto's team to chase all the way to Roran?
Furthermore, Minato had sealed everyone's memories. When he returned to his own time, he wouldn't have been able to give a detailed report. He wouldn't even know that Naruto had been there. Only the Third Hokage would have known the full story.
And there was another thing. In all their interactions—both after his death and in the series finale—neither Naruto nor Minato ever recalled this experience. Even after Naruto gained the Sage's body, the memory never returned.
The idea of a sealing jutsu erasing memories from the brain was a bit far-fetched to begin with. It was hardly as potent as the Sharingan's hypnosis. How strong could a sealing jutsu, hastily placed on their minds by Minato, truly be? As time passed and their own powers grew, they should have broken through such a seal long ago.
However—
Uchiha Nagi blinked. The last time he copied Tsunade's Yin Seal, he had only gotten halfway through. It was a shame he never got to see her release it and use Creation Rebirth.
But now, with Minato's sealing jutsu, he might be able to combine them.
That's right. He planned to drain the Ryumyaku's energy and seal it away to use as a personal battery.
The difference between this and a tailed beast was that a tailed beast was like a renewable nuclear power plant. Inside a jinchuriki, even if their chakra was completely depleted, they would be fully replenished in a few days. It was absurd how they could recover such immense chakra without eating or drinking.
According to popular speculation, tailed beasts instinctively absorbed natural energy from the world and converted it into chakra. That was how they produced limitless energy. In essence, they were a part of the God Tree, and what was the nature of the God Tree? To absorb natural energy and convert it into chakra.
But the Ryumyaku was different. It was subterranean energy, drawn from the earth itself. As heaven-defying as Uchiha Nagi was, he couldn't possibly seal the entire planet's ley lines into his body.
Mountains and rivers weren't like tailed beasts, which could be converted into chakra and sealed within a spiritual world. So, the only thing Nagi could do was what Tsunade did: draw out the Ryumyaku's energy all at once and store it in his body using the Yin Seal. He could then unlock it in an emergency for a backup power source.
Once it was used up, it was gone. He would have to "recharge" it.
Still, it was better than nothing. Especially after seeing Naruto, Nagi was both envious and jealous. The sheer amount of blue chakra that Naruto wasted like water was a shameful disgrace. Naruto's reserves were more than double Nagi's, and his recovery rate was terrifyingly fast. After a battle, while others were still catching their breath, he would have already recovered half his chakra. Truly worthy of a protagonist who would one day wield chakra by the "ton."
"This is the place. It seems the seal has recovered nicely over the past decade or so." Uchiha Nagi took out Minato's marked kunai and a scroll.
He placed the scroll on the ground and began to draw various formulas on it with a brush. This was Minato's sealing jutsu. On the other side of the scroll, he inscribed a different set of formulas—the ones Mukade had invented.
That's right. He had analyzed and copied Mukade's Ryumyaku absorption jutsu as well. During their fight, he had kept his Mangekyo spinning constantly, analyzing the formula and the principles behind it. When he finally shattered Mukade's body, he had seen the formulas carved onto the exterior of his core. For a puppet body to absorb the Ryumyaku's energy, it obviously needed a conversion method. Mukade was a genius, a genius among geniuses, to have invented a jutsu that could wirelessly transmit the Ryumyaku's power like a Wi-Fi receiver.
What was even more brilliant was his ability to receive the Ryumyaku's energy and store it in his body, turning himself into a being like a tailed beast. Combined with his countless puppets, he could have become an immortal puppet army, just like Sasori.
If, one day, Mukade had managed to build his Wi-Fi base stations far enough, he could have ruled that entire territory—
But there were no more "ifs." It all belonged to Uchiha Nagi now.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Uchiha Nagi created a clone to begin his experiment.
First, he used Mukade's jutsu to draw a small amount of energy from the unsealed Ryumyaku and sealed it into the shadow clone. Then, the clone performed Tsunade's Yin Seal, fusing it with Minato's sealing jutsu.
"It worked!"
Uchiha Nagi looked at the shadow clone with delight. To his surprise, it succeeded on the first try. The Yin Seal's diamond mark was visible on the clone's forehead.
"How do you feel?" Uchiha Nagi asked the clone.
"Uh, not bad. There's a lump of something in my body. Even though I know it's the Yin Seal, I feel like I could last a long time without dispelling the jutsu, thanks to this." The shadow clone closed its eyes to sense the feeling. "The seal requires a little bit of energy to maintain its stability, but only a little. If you leave an opening in the seal and periodically channel chakra into it, it could probably last a very long time."
Uchiha Nagi nodded. "Alright, I understand. Now I'm going to dispel you and see what happens."
With a hand sign, the shadow clone vanished, its memories flowing back to the original. At the same time, something unexpected happened. After the clone was dispelled, the small ball of Ryumyaku energy sealed inside it didn't return to the main body. Instead, it dissipated into the air along with the disappearing clone and Yin Seal.
Nagi pondered this for a moment. Based on the clone's feedback and his own experience, the Ryumyaku's power was very gentle, usable by the human body just like a tailed beast's energy. In fact, it was even milder than a tailed beast's chakra, which was why Mukade had been able to absorb it. However, it would be best to filter it through something, just as Mukade had.
He created several more shadow clones and ran the experiment again. The results were all the same. The Ryumyaku's energy couldn't be transferred back to his main body upon the clone's dispersal. This meant that if he really wanted to absorb the Ryumyaku's power, he would have to use his real body.
He added Mukade's formula to the outside of the Yin Seal to filter the incoming Ryumyaku energy. Then, he prepared Minato's sealing jutsu as a final lock. With everything ready, Uchiha Nagi began the creation of his artificial nuclear battery.
After setting up a barrier at the entrance to the underground chamber to prevent anyone from intruding, Uchiha Nagi took a deep breath.
"Here we go..."
He formed a few hand signs and pressed his hands onto the scroll. This was Mukade's jutsu for absorbing the Ryumyaku.
A vast, pure energy began to pour into his body, gathering at his dantian and forming a seal similar to a jinchuriki's. After ten minutes, Uchiha Nagi frowned. The power of the underground Ryumyaku was unexpectedly immense. Perhaps because it had been sealed by Minato for over a decade, it was now gushing out like a floodgate had been opened.
Before long, the energy surging into his body was already equivalent to that of a tailed beast.
Uchiha Nagi gritted his teeth. It was too late to stop now; he had to persevere. He formed several more hand signs and pressed them against his own stomach, activating Minato's sealing jutsu to lock down the massive energy and prevent it from going berserk.
This is bad. At this rate, I'll be torn apart before I can finish absorbing and sealing it.
Nagi realized he had been too arrogant. Unlike when Mukade had absorbed the Ryumyaku, the ley line had now accumulated over a decade's worth of energy. Once the seal was released, it was like a dam bursting, impossible to hold back.
"Susanoo—"
Nagi's eyes snapped open, his Mangekyo blazing as he unleashed the chakra-intensive Susanoo to vent the excess energy.
BOOM!
A massive explosion rocked the underground chamber. Outside, Kimimaro and Yukihime looked up to see a colossal, mountain-sized skeletal giant materializing before the Ryumyaku.
"Aaargh... GET OUT!" Uchiha Nagi roared, his eyes shot with blood.
The immense chakra began to construct the skeletal giant's body—first flesh and blood, then skin, and finally armor and a weapon.
The Susanoo's body grew at a frantic pace, its frame swelling from the size of a hill to that of a great mountain.
Finally, a Perfect Susanoo, as vast and ancient as a titan, stood in the center of the ruined Land of Roran. The red giant threw its arms wide, its mouth agape, and like a returning god, it let out a furious roar at the heavens.
"RAAAAWWWWR!"
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