The Seal

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Outside the cave of Demon-Sealing Mountain.

"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!"

With hissing steam, countless terracotta warrior puppets began to crack across their surfaces inside the rolling mist. The cracks spread wider and wider until every puppet crumbled into piles of gravel.

Pakura of the Hidden Sand did not pay much attention to her own results. Her face was pale, and her brows were tightly drawn.

Elsewhere, after temporarily locking down a large group of terracotta warrior puppets with Earth Release, the captain of the Hidden Stone beheading unit looked back toward the cave entrance with a grave expression.

Ever since that monster had rushed into the cavern, tremendous crashes had continued coming from inside.

Even outside the cave, he could imagine how fierce the battle inside had become.

At the entrance, Kakashi used explosive tags to force back several terracotta warrior puppets, then retreated to Guy's side and asked anxiously, "Guy, are they really going to be all right?"

Guy nodded. "I believe in Naoki!"

As soon as Guy finished, another thunderous crash came from inside the mountain.

Along with that crash came a wave of evil chakra that made everyone shudder.

Kakashi quickly looked toward the cave, and the Sharingan Obito had given him began to turn.

Through the Sharingan's vision, Moryo's evil chakra seemed almost tangible. It filled the cavern so completely that it spilled out through the passage and poured outside.

Wiping the fine sweat beading at his temples, Kakashi thought despite himself, 'Facing a monster like that inside the mountain... they are going to die.'

Inside the cavern.

Naoki, suspended in midair, shouted to Shisui, "Leave the rest to me."

Shisui nodded and withdrew Susanoo.

He had used it for only a few minutes, but he was already panting. Awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan at such a young age was clearly not a blessing without cost.

Without Susanoo's assistance, Moryo's struggles grew violent again.

Its two failed secret arts had not only dealt a heavy blow to its pride, but had also shaken its confidence without it realizing.

By now, it had discovered that both Naoki and Shisui were powerful shinobi with strange ocular kekkei genkai. Their eyes in particular made it feel uneasy from the bottom of its heart.

That would have been unimaginable to it in the past.

In truth, from the moment Shisui had activated Susanoo, Moryo had been dazed. With its limited understanding of the shinobi world's top combatants, it had never imagined it could fall into such a dangerous situation. The series of changes that followed only made it more disoriented.

Only now did it clearly understand that the Yomi Sect, which worshiped it, was nothing in the shinobi world. Using the Yomi Sect's strength to judge the entire shinobi world had been a terrible mistake.

As for the Third Kazekage human puppet flying beside Naoki, Moryo had long since realized that it was a soulless puppet. It had also tried to seize control of it by force, only to be repelled by the Tenseigan chakra inside the puppet.

Two powerful ocular-kekkei-genkai shinobi of unknown origin, plus a priestess of the Land of Demons who naturally countered it. No matter how arrogant Moryo was, it knew the situation had become extremely unfavorable. If it did not find a way to escape, it would truly be sealed.

Facing Moryo's near-mad struggles, Naoki's expression hardened.

He had already used the Third Kazekage human puppet, his trump card, so he naturally would not be stingy with chakra now. No matter how many iron spears Moryo broke free from, more replaced them, pinning it firmly in place.

"Damn it!"

More and more iron pillars pierced into its body, drawing an unwilling roar from Moryo.

With Naoki pouring in Tenseigan chakra at full strength, the Third Kazekage human puppet's combat power had almost reached that of the living Third Kazekage.

And the Third Kazekage, praised as the strongest Kazekage, was one of the Kage-level shinobi better suited to restraining giant monsters. Briefly suppressing Moryo was not especially difficult.

Time passed bit by bit.

Before long, the priestess's sealing array finally began to activate.

In an instant, the formulas spread throughout the cavern all emitted a faint glow. The lights gathered together, becoming brighter and brighter, until at last they resembled a blazing sun.

Feeling the immense threat, Moryo struggled even more frantically, tearing at its own body without hesitation.

For a time, the cavern shook violently, and the iron spears binding Moryo shattered one after another.

Naoki steeled himself.

They had already come this far. There was no way he would give Moryo a chance to turn the tables. Ignoring everything else, he poured nearly all the chakra in his body into the Third Kazekage human puppet.

The shattered Iron Sand once again formed sharp spears and stabbed viciously into Moryo's body.

Shisui tried to step forward and help, but the moment he lifted his leg, his knees weakened and he dropped to the ground.

Susanoo had consumed too much of his chakra. He had not noticed it before, but when he tried to activate Susanoo again, he finally realized his body could no longer bear it.

At that moment, the priestess finally finished chanting the long incantation.

She slowly rose, pointed one arm at Moryo, and shouted softly, "Sealing Technique, activate!"

The dazzling sun-like mass of light slowly flew toward Moryo.

"No!"

Moryo struggled and howled in terror.

Naoki suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood in midair.

Moryo's final struggle was too fierce. Even after exhausting all the chakra in his body, Naoki could barely suppress it. Left with no choice, he activated the Physical Regeneration secret technique once, forcibly squeezing chakra from newly generated cells.

The sphere of light finally landed on Moryo's head. With one last unwilling wail, Moryo's enormous body shriveled rapidly like a deflating ball.

Then the priestess formed several more complex hand signs.

The brilliant light transformed into a curtain covered in sealing formulas. Like sheets of cloth, it wrapped layer after layer around Moryo's dried and withered shell.

At last, after all the light vanished, a giant cocoon wrapped in white cloth covered with sealing formulas slowly fell in front of Naoki and Shisui.

Sitting on the ground, Shisui's face lit with joy. "Did we succeed?"

Suddenly, a thick, dark-purple chakra like sludge shot out from the cracks in the ground.

The evil chakra did not attack anyone inside the cavern. Instead, it fled in panic toward the cave entrance.

Clearly, when its body was sealed by the priestess, Moryo's soul had slipped free, hidden in the cracks beneath the rock, and avoided the priestess's sealing technique. Now, while everyone relaxed for the briefest moment after successfully sealing its shell, it was trying to escape.

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