Outside Takigakure, the leader Hisen personally came to see them off.
After removing his blindfold, Makoto said, "Leader Hisen, since the matter has been resolved, we will return to Konohagakure."
"Making everyone travel overnight is our failure in hospitality at Takigakure. I sincerely apologize. Once again, thank you to our allies from Konohagakure for your help. The detailed intelligence has already been reported to Hokage-sama in the letter."
Seeing Hisen bow again at a full ninety degrees, Makoto merely inclined slightly in return. "I will deliver the letter. Farewell, everyone."
After a brief goodbye, Makoto's squad turned and quickly vanished before the waterfall.
Watching the three leave with a Body Flicker Technique no inferior to his own, Hisen could not help but sigh in admiration. Konohagakure truly abounded with talent. Among the younger generation, the "Yellow Flash" had already become famous throughout the shinobi world and had ascended to the Hokage's seat.
And in the next generation there was the "Shield of Konoha," Higashino Makoto—an even more terrifying talent. Even his two teammates had displayed strength in the previous battle that Takigakure's own ninja simply could not compare to. For a small shinobi village like theirs to rival Konohagakure… there was truly not the slightest hope in sight.
His son, the future leader Shibuki, did not think so deeply. After listening to Suien's report to his father, he only felt that the ninja of Konohagakure were far stronger than anything he had ever imagined ninja could be. Moreover, they were Takigakure's allies, trustworthy, and showed none of the arrogance of a great power that rumors often spoke of.
They were practically the moral example of the shinobi world.
If there were difficulties in the future, one should simply go directly to Konohagakure for help.
At this point, he had already become a spiritual Konohagakure citizen.
Only Suien clenched his fists tightly, planting within his heart the seed of becoming strong—no matter what method it required.
...
The moonlight was bright and did not hinder visibility.
Makoto and the other two sped along the road. After distancing themselves from Takigakure, they stopped on the summit of a barren mountain. The night was hazy; he needed to determine their direction.
No matter how bright the moonlight at night was, it still could not compare to the sunlight of the day—especially for looking into the distance.
As a kunoichi, Yūgao had no complaints about traveling through the night. She only had a question.
"Hey, Captain, our mission isn't finished yet, right? The missing-nin from Konoha escaped, didn't he?"
"Right. That's why I'm searching now."
"Then why did you let them escape earlier? I saw it—you did it on purpose, didn't you?"
Thinking of Makoto's earlier action of collecting Tailed Beast chakra, Hayate guessed, "Maybe Captain has some other idea."
Makoto's behavior was somewhat hard for him to understand—there was a bit of mystery to it. But it did not matter. Trusting him was a habit he had formed since childhood.
In any case, Makoto would never do something meaningless just for amusement.
"This direction should be correct. Let's go."
After confirming the direction, Makoto activated his perception and set off again toward the Land of Grass.
Not long afterward, a specific reaction appeared within his perception.
He stopped and said, "Put your hands on my shoulders. I'll give you a speed boost."
Yūgao obediently did as told. Hayate, surprised, said, "You… don't tell me you're planning to—"
Before he could finish, the scene abruptly changed. The three of them were suddenly standing by a river, and the two of them felt a slight dizziness.
As members of the Fourth Hokage's Guard Platoon, Minato had naturally let them experience what it felt like to pass through space with Flying Thunder God while teaching them ninjutsu.
How should one put it… compared to the Fourth Hokage, Makoto's Flying Thunder God did not feel very smooth. It lacked that seamless sense of "close your eyes, open them, and you're already at the destination."
It was like a new driver who had just gotten his license, driving a manual transmission car in a jerky, hopping way—you worry he'll stall at the next step, yet the driver himself is full of confidence and utterly fearless.
Fortunately, after a period of training, Makoto had already solved the balance issue. The fact that he didn't make everyone land flat on their butts was already pretty good.
For now, it could only be used for travel. Using it in combat would easily turn into a blink straight into feeding a kill.
Even so, the performance alone was enough to make his two teammates envy him to death. The two of them—along with the three from Genma's squad—were still struggling to find the opportunity to even get started.
...
This place was a deep ravine. On both sides of the river there was only a bit of flat ground; beyond that rose towering sheer cliffs that stabbed straight into the clouds.
Yūgao glanced at the terrain. "This is…?"
Makoto prompted, "We've been here before. You should remember. Think carefully."
After orienting himself, Hayate recognized it. "This is the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire, right? We came here before on a mission."
He was right. This place was called Shimotori Ravine—one stretch of the Shinzengawa River.
And the Shinzengawa was a river that originated in the Land of Waterfalls, flowed through the Land of Grass, then turned east and cut across the Land of Fire, finally emptying into the sea at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water.
It was quite famous in the shinobi world. But an even more famous thing was a bridge over this river within the Land of Grass—because that bridge was called Kannabi Bridge.
A pilgrimage spot for Konoha; a place of heartbreak for Iwagakure.
Yūgao suddenly realized. "So it's here. But what are we doing here? Did the missing-nin escape here?"
"That's right!"
As he spoke, Makoto pulled a kunai out of the riverbank beneath the cliff. That kunai bore his Flying Thunder God marking.
This was not something he had left behind during past missions. Back then, he did not know Flying Thunder God. Someone kind had helped by planting it here for him.
As for who it was—
Makoto lifted his head. On the cliff face was a man-made cave hollowed out of the rock, with firelight glowing inside.
Hayate and Yūgao also recognized this cave. Back when they had pursued a gang of rogue-nin and bandits causing trouble in the Land of Fire, they had come here—this had been that group's temporary hideout.
Following the stone steps, the three entered the cave.
Inside the fairly spacious cavern, three people sat by the campfire, motionless like wooden dolls. One of them was the Konoha missing-nin they had been chasing. The other two were also the ones Makoto had let escape during the fight in Takigakure.
At a glance, Hayate and Yūgao understood. They had all been hit with genjutsu—specifically made to run here and wait to be captured.
Thanks to the power of his Yin attribute, Makoto's genjutsu was also very good—no weaker than the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. He simply rarely used it in ordinary times.
That Flying Thunder God kunai was something Makoto had kept outside using genjutsu, making the Konoha missing-nin leave it there.
In fact, all three of them already had Flying Thunder God markings that he had placed on them. Using a kunai was unnecessary—it was simply a habit of cautiousness.
"Keep watch over the mission target. I'm going to do an experiment."
Hayate replied, "Don't worry. He won't get away."
They did not ask what kind of experiment Makoto was doing. In any case, carrying out orders was the right thing to do.
Under Makoto's instructions, the two rogue ninja obediently went to the side. After taking off their shirts completely, they lay down, looking like puppets the whole time. Against high-level genjutsu, they had no resistance at all.
At best, their strength only reached the level of genin from the Five Great Shinobi Countries, but without systematic training in resisting genjutsu—breaking free? Not a chance.
That was why the battles of genjutsu ninja were not exciting, yet among the three ninja arts, they were the most terrifying. When you do not have enough power to resist, you become a puppet to be manipulated at will.
On this point, the future Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure strongly agreed.
Makoto took out a sealing scroll filled with a large amount of Seven-Tails chakra and spread it open on the ground.
Release!
As soon as the seal was opened, the violent chakra—almost as if it had consciousness—surged out rapidly, filling the entire cliff cave.
Fūinjutsu: Four Symbols Seal!
Makoto pressed his palm against the belly of one of the rogue ninja and used fūinjutsu to guide all of the chakra into the rogue ninja's abdomen.
The rogue ninja seemed to feel discomfort and frowned tightly, but under the influence of the genjutsu, he offered no resistance.
It was common knowledge that chakra contained consciousness. So in a sense, this also counted as creating a pseudo-jinchūriki.
Just like Sora, the boy from the Fire Temple in the original timeline.
After the sealing was complete, Makoto did not remove his hand from the rogue ninja's body. Instead, he carefully sensed the changes in the other's body.
It was a very wondrous process.
When Tailed Beast chakra was sealed into a human body, it immediately began to fuse with the jinchūriki. The two became entangled, tightly connected.
But because the Seven-Tails' main body was still alive, the autonomous consciousness of this portion of Tailed Beast chakra was not strong—only primitive instinct—so the fusion with the jinchūriki was not fast either.
Makoto estimated that if it were the complete Seven-Tails, after being sealed it would finish forming its life connection with the jinchūriki in less than half a minute.
He had verified this point from the genuine Seven-Tails jinchūriki, Fū.
That was to say: if the Tailed Beast were extracted, the jinchūriki would die immediately. Even with vitality as strong as the Uzumaki clan's, it would only let you delay a bit; before long, you would still die.
This was also why Tailed Beasts resented being sealed.
Their lifespans were practically endless, while humans—at most—lived only a hundred years. If a ninja could live past fifty, they should be burning incense and thanking the Sage of Six Paths.
Who in their right mind would want to share life and death with a short-lived species?
Even if the Tailed Beast would not truly die, nobody liked the feeling of being killed.
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