"So this is Mui?"
Ning Feng sized up the seemingly frail ninja before him.
There was a trace of worry and numbness in the man's eyes.
It seemed that, by this point, he was already being troubled by the Box of Paradise.
The timeline was still more than a decade before the Box would become widely known.
As such, Mui likely knew nothing about the events unfolding in the outside world.
Hōzuki Castle was almost completely isolated from society. All channels of information had long been cut off.
"Here, I will first place a sealing technique on each of you."
"It will help you better adapt to life in Hōzuki Castle."
With that, Mui slowly walked toward the nearest prisoner.
Before the man could even react, Mui's palm was suddenly enveloped in a layer of crimson chakra.
Then he slammed it directly into the prisoner's abdomen.
Boom!
The unfortunate ninja was blasted backward by the tremendous force, crashing through the air.
"Not a bad sealing technique."
Ning Feng silently praised it.
The technique not only condensed chakra at astonishing speed, but was also incredibly subtle.
Even Ning Feng had only sensed the violent surge of chakra at the instant Mui attacked.
A sealing technique like this...
Could definitely be useful on the battlefield.
Its destructive power, however, was rather unimpressive.
"Cough! Cough!"
The ninja who had been sent flying crashed into one of Hōzuki Castle's walls before slowly getting back to his feet, clutching his abdomen.
His clothing had been completely reduced to ashes by Mui's strike.
The skin around his stomach looked as though it had been scorched by fire.
A seal resembling intertwined worms now spiraled across his abdomen.
"So this is the Fire Release: Heavenly Prison?"
Ning Feng observed the sealed ninja carefully.
Yet he could no longer sense even the slightest trace of chakra from him.
A truly terrifying sealing technique.
Fire Release: Heavenly Prison.
This technique sealed away a ninja's chakra and effectively turned it into something akin to explosive fuel.
The sealed individual could no longer mold chakra.
If they attempted to force it, their body would be burned from the inside out.
In severe cases, they would be incinerated alive.
Likewise, moving too far away from the caster would trigger the seal and burn them to death.
Its weaknesses were equally clear:
It became ineffective underwater, and if the caster died, the seal disappeared.
Even so, as a sealing technique, it was arguably comparable to the Four Symbols Seal.
"Next. Please cooperate."
Seeing the ninja return quietly without complaint, Mui nodded in satisfaction.
This batch truly seemed free of troublemakers.
Every previous group sent to Hōzuki Castle had always included one or two idiots who tried to challenge authority.
Perhaps they were too used to enjoying freedom as shinobi and couldn't tolerate being controlled once they arrived here.
There were plenty of such people.
Yet very few ever escaped Hōzuki Castle.
"Next... hm?"
After sealing all the prisoners standing before Ning Feng, Mui's eyes suddenly paused upon meeting his gaze.
The other prisoners had either pretended to remain calm or hidden their anger behind forced obedience.
Ning Feng, however, was genuinely calm.
Completely calm.
As if he were a wandering ascetic.
To him, Hōzuki Castle seemed nothing more than another stage of cultivation.
Nothing worthy of taking seriously.
Merely a trial that had to be experienced.
"May I ask something?"
Mui stopped walking and looked at Ning Feng with newfound interest.
"Why were you sent to Hōzuki Castle?"
This aura...
It carried the faint presence of someone accustomed to standing above others.
Mui was certain he wasn't mistaken.
The man before him was definitely no ordinary ninja.
"Shouldn't that be outside your authority, Lord Mui?"
A faint smile appeared on Ning Feng's lips as he looked at him.
"...Fair enough."
Mui pondered briefly before slowly raising his hand.
Fire Release chakra instantly covered his palm.
Merely standing before this man, Mui could instinctively feel a wave of pressure washing over him.
If he had spent more time in the wider shinobi world, he would have recognized it immediately.
This was the aura of a true powerhouse.
An aura forged upon mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Ning Feng quietly lowered his body's defenses.
In fact, he almost completely relaxed them.
He could tell that if this sealing technique struck him normally...
It probably wouldn't even be capable of breaking through his physical durability.
Even though it was infused with Fire Release chakra—
And even though Mui's mastery of Fire Release was considered exceptional among jōnin—
To Ning Feng, its offensive power was merely average.
Any random Fire Release technique he casually used would possess greater destructive force.
Bang!
Mui's palm landed squarely on Ning Feng's abdomen.
Immediately, Ning Feng felt a wave of scorching chakra begin spreading from the point of impact throughout his body.
However—
The cells within him that had already assimilated Hashirama's cells instantly surged forward, attempting to eradicate the invading Fire Release chakra.
"Huh?"
The corner of Ning Feng's mouth twitched.
He hurriedly suppressed the activity of his cells.
At the same time, he secretly activated his Sharingan and cast a genjutsu on Mui.
Crack... crack...
In Mui's eyes, the prisoner before him appeared completely unaffected by the seal.
Everyone else struck by Heavenly Prison had been sent flying dozens of meters.
Their clothes had been burned away by the Fire Release chakra.
Yet this man hadn't moved an inch.
It was as though Mui's palm had struck solid stone.
"What's going on with this guy?"
Just as confusion surfaced in Mui's mind, the prisoner's expression suddenly changed slightly.
The man's clothing abruptly burned away, exposing the sealing formula wrapped around his abdomen.
"So I was overthinking it."
Mui chuckled at himself.
For a moment, he had actually believed someone might be able to withstand Heavenly Prison head-on.
If the technique truly hadn't worked, he had been prepared to use its advanced version—
Great Fire Heavenly Prison.
A sealing technique even stronger than Heavenly Prison itself.
Fortunately, the seal had taken effect.
There was no need to escalate matters.
This man...
Mui simply couldn't see through him.
"Phew..."
After watching Mui inspect the seal for a few moments before finally moving on, Ning Feng quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he had reacted quickly.
Had Mui noticed anything suspicious, his cover would have been blown.
And if his true strength were exposed, investigating the Box of Paradise afterward would become far more difficult.
Security within Hōzuki Castle was extremely strict.
Every prisoner was assigned an individual cell.
Ning Feng sat quietly in his own cell and waited for nightfall to arrive.
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