Ryosuke's expression turned calm but faintly amused.
"I'm here for the beast inside you."
Utakata's eyes widened.
So it was true — this masked man was after Saiken. His grip tightened around his kunai, his stance guarded and tense.
If this man attacked, Utakata would fight to the death.
He turned slightly toward his teacher.
"Master, please! Warn the village! I'll hold him off!"
Beeut Harusame didn't move. His face was strangely composed, even relieved.
Utakata froze — why isn't he doing anything?
He didn't know the truth: this masked stranger was no enemy to Kirigakure. In fact, he had freed the village from its darkest curse — the genjutsu that had enslaved the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura.
That event had nearly destroyed the Mist Village, but the elders covered it up.
The identity of the one who broke the genjutsu was never made public.
And now, Harusame saw the same man standing before him.
He knew exactly who he was.
He bowed his head slightly.
"I won't stop you," Harusame said softly. "In fact, I ask you — please remove the Tailed Beeeast from my student… without harming him. Just like you did with Lord Yagura."
Ryosuke blinked in surprise.
"Huh. That's a first — someone asking me to take a Jinchūriki."
The man's calmness almost amused him.
Harusame continued earnestly,
"You are the one who freed our village from the genjutsu curse. The one who saved the Mizukage's life. To us, you are a benefactor — to the entire Land of Water."
Ryosuke gave a low chuckle.
A hero? Him? That was new.
He wasn't even from this village, and certainly hadn't done it out of kindness.
Still, he shrugged.
"Fine. Leave the room. I'll extract the beast, and I won't kill your student."
Harusame bowed once more, grateful, and stepped outside.
Inside the hut, only Ryosuke and the unconscious Utakata remained.
"Well, that was convenient."
He knelt beside Utakata, pulling back his shirt to expose the intricate sealing marks on his abdomen.
"Almost identical to Yagura's seal…"
That made things simpler.
He placed his palm over the seal, flooding his hand with chakra. The markings began to twist and shift as his chakra forced them open.
A surge of raw, corrosive chakra began to leak out — Saiken's essence.
Ryosuke quickly pulled a crystal sealing vessel from his system's storage space — the same kind he had used before.
He removed the cap, and immediately, streams of blue-white energy were sucked into the bottle.
The process was delicate.
He increased the flow to its maximum safe rate — enough to extract the Six-Tails' chakra without killing the host.
"Looks like this'll take a full day," he murmured. "Beeetter hope no one drops by."
Outside, Harusame stood silently, guarding the hut. He knew what was happening — and he dared not interfere. Extracting a Tailed Beeeast without killing its host required superhuman control. He'd tried to learn such a technique once, but his own skill fell short.
Time passed.
The next morning, Ryosuke opened his eyes — the process was nearly complete.
Only a faint glow of chakra remained within Utakata's body, just enough to keep him alive.
Inside the bottle floated a massive, sluglike creature — Saiken, the Six-Tails.
Its pale, gelatinous body pulsed and twitched.
"Ugh… looks even slimier in person," Ryosuke muttered.
The beast let out a shrill hiss, releasing clouds of acidic mist.
The fumes curled against the bottle's surface — but the glass didn't melt.
"Figures. System-grade gear never fails."
He sealed the lid shut and stored the bottle away again.
Now his eyes felt perfectly restored. His Eternal Mangekyō had fully recovered its chakra reserves after a full night's rest.
Stepping outside, he found Harusame waiting.
"It's done," Ryosuke said simply.
The old man rushed inside. Seeing his student alive, breathing normally — just unconscious — he finally exhaled in relief.
Meanwhile, Ryosuke descended the stone steps and glanced at the open clearing.
He focused his right eye, and the familiar ripples of his Teleportation Technique shimmered in the air.
A glowing portal opened before him.
He stepped forward — and then paused.
A voice called out behind him.
"Wait!"
Ryosuke turned, mildly annoyed.
Standing there was Terumi Mei, the red-haired prodigy of the Mist, her sharp eyes fixed on him.
"Oh? So it's her," he muttered.
He sighed.
He wasn't in the mood for small talk. Mei wasn't after his Sharingan — not yet, anyway.
Beeesides, he had other plans.
"I'll deal with that later," he said under his breath.
He stepped through the portal, already thinking of the Cloud Village — and of Samui.
"Time to visit Kumo… maybe share some bloodline power. Purely out of goodwill, of course."
The rift closed behind him, leaving the Land of Water quiet once again.
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