Shikou stepped forward, unfurling a scroll in her hands and undoing its seal. Then, a giant "hotpot" appeared right before Two-Tails.
Next, she and the four other Uzumaki shinobi formed hand seals together, preparing to seal Two-Tails into the container... This was undoubtedly the most important and crucial step of the entire capture operation.
Two-Tails also sensed what was about to happen—its imminent sealing. Having just revived and regained freedom not long ago, it naturally felt extremely reluctant. However, right now, it was being bound by the Adamantine Sealing Chains, pressed down by Katsuyu, and held in place by Haseo. Its ability to resist was thus severely limited.
Yet as a Tailed Beast with an immense amount of chakra, even the violent fluctuations and struggles from its chakra alone could cause major disruptions during the sealing process.
These young Uzumaki shinobi lacked actual experience sealing large pets like Tailed Beasts, so the sealing formula was repeatedly interrupted.
Haseo tightly gripped the cat's mouth shut, frowning. He realized things couldn't drag on like this any longer.
After some thought, he leaned close to Two-Tails' ear and whispered in a voice only this beast could hear, "Come on, behave yourself. Take a nap for now... Youn... I mean Matatabi."
The Sage of Six Paths had bestowed upon Two-Tails its true name—"Matatabi"—a name no human ninja should possibly know in this era. Yet Haseo spoke it accurately, clearly enough to shock Two-Tails deeply.
How could this be possible?
Combined with the fact that Two-Tails had been chasing after Haseo earlier, even though it was merely a Tailed Beast, it still couldn't help but fall into deep thought at this moment, so much so that it even stopped resisting entirely.
Haseo let go of his grip and dispersed his chakra mode. He silently glanced at the momentarily stunned Two-Tails and thought, I'll show you one last act of kindness—by finally letting go.
At that very moment when Two-Tails ceased resisting, the Uzumakis' sealing technique finally succeeded. Immediately afterward, the space beneath Katsuyu became empty—the enormous chakra of the Tailed Beast was sucked into the "hotpot."
The hotpot didn't flicker three times or click shut with any sound, but everyone understood: Two-Tails had been sealed successfully.
Shikou rolled the "hotpot" back into the scroll and handed that scroll over to Haseo.
Everyone finally exhaled in relief.
Haseo first released the Summoning Technique, sending Katsuyu back to Shikkotsu Forest. Then he flipped the scroll casually in one hand… Inside the scroll was a "hotpot," and inside the hotpot was a cat—a true doll within a doll. Who would have thought such an ordinary scroll actually contained a powerful Tailed Beast?
In summary, this battle for the Tailed Beast seemed relatively smooth overall, yet it also made Haseo realize how difficult sealing a Tailed Beast truly was… Even though Two-Tails had already been significantly weakened by a team from Kumo beforehand, it still violently resisted the Uzumaki's sealing techniques, forcing repeated interruptions in the procedure.
If it wasn't for those lying two-legs sweet-talking that cute cat, the Tailed Beast Sealing [Ritual] would've taken even longer, which would've introduced far too many uncertainties.
If the Two-Tails was already this tough, how much harder would dealing with the Nine-Tails be? Even though in Haseo Yu's memory, the Nine-Tails had been whipped around like a rag doll by the First Hokage, that didn't mean it would act the same toward him. Quite the opposite—it'd look down on him like he was nothing. Haseo Yu just wasn't no match for Hashirama Senju.
So simply gaining this kind of "experience" alone made this mission worth it for Konoha.
Haseo carefully stored the scroll away. If he accidentally lost this thing, he'd definitely have some serious explaining to do to the whole Land of Fire.
Since the Two-Tails hadn't managed to fire a Tailed Beast Ball directly at them, the Konoha squad was currently in decent shape—combat effectiveness remained intact… except for Mokkō, who appeared somewhat overextended. Everyone else seemed fine.
Though Mokkō's Adamantine Sealing Chains didn't last long, the true burden came from resisting the tailed beast's chakra. Added to that was the tremendous psychological pressure brought on by facing such a monstrous presence.
Therefore, both chakra consumption and mental fatigue temporarily left her unable to move.
Haseo signaled for Sakumo Hatake to carry her. In this mission, even the legendary White Fang of Konoha could only serve such a minor purpose.
"The Kumo shinobi haven't arrived yet…" Haseo said, turning his gaze toward the Hyuga ninja.
The Hyuga ninja nodded and said the Kumo forces were still a ways off, meaning they were relatively safe for now.
"If we've successfully avoided conflict with Kumo while completing our mission," Haseo continued, "then what comes next will be simple—we head southward straight from here without conserving chakra. The team needs to return to the village at full speed."
Now that the tailed beast was sealed, proceeding further forward should be straightforward. All they needed to do was take off running like hell.
With the tailed beast secured and Kumo behind them, their only sense of safety came from Konoha.
As long as the Konoha team exited the Land of Iron and returned safely to the Land of Fire, things should remain uneventful afterward.
...
At the exact moment they completed the tailed-beast sealing ritual, the Kumo squad stationed off the eastern coast was rapidly heading toward the Land of Iron.
Suddenly, the lead scout ninja stopped dead in his tracks, nearly causing a chain reaction pileup behind him.
"What happened? Why did you stop?"
The Kumo captain asked the scout, already agitated after being outwitted by the Konoha squad's shadow clones, not to mention the Two-Tails having vanished from their view for quite some time. The Kumo squad was now extremely anxious.
Under no circumstances should they halt—but the scout had done exactly that, which itself spoke volumes about the seriousness of the issue.
"Captain…" the scout reported grimly, "the Two-Tails' chakra… is gone."
"You're certain?" the captain asked, barely able to believe what he'd just heard.
The scout ninja nodded. If it was just an ordinary ninja's chakra that had disappeared, a misjudgment might be possible. However, regarding the chakra reaction of a Tailed Beast—how could there be any mistake?
"It's the Konoha ninja!"
At this moment, no one in the world was more furious than the Kumo Captain. Since the Two-Tails' massive chakra had vanished, the most likely explanation was that it had been intercepted by Konoha.
Daring to steal from Kumo? He must've been tired of living.
Unluckily for them, this wasn't the first time Haseo had clashed with Kumo. As far as he was concerned, what difference would stealing from them again make?
What baffled the Kumo Captain was how Konoha had performed the sealing so swiftly. Thus, he still clung to a sliver of hope—if perhaps the Two-Tails hadn't been sealed yet, but its chakra presence had merely been somehow masked… What he didn't know was that with the existence of the Uzumaki Clan, Konoha's sealing techniques were already a hundred years ahead of the rest of the ninja world.
"Keep moving forward. Head to where the Two-Tails' chakra disappeared last."
The Kumo squad sped up again, but when they entered the Land of Iron, there was no trace of the beast left whatsoever.
After a simple examination of the scene's remnants, the worst-case scenario lay before everyone—the Two-Tails truly had been sealed and taken away.
Failure? Unacceptable—especially now!
Just as the enraged Kumo Captain prepared to lead his team into the Land of Fire recklessly, the samurai forces of the Land of Iron appeared.
Their leader wore full armor, carried two long blades at his waist, and fixed the Kumo ninja with a cold stare.
"Ninja, according to the agreement among ninja nations, you are forbidden from stepping onto the land of the Iron without permission."
Instead of calming the Kumo ninja, the samurai's arrival only fueled their rage. Every Kumo ninja already despised anyone wielding a pair of swords—and now, each samurai before them was armed with exactly that.
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