The Dragon Vein Seal

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The moment Naoki entered the ruins of Roran, he felt a sense of pressure.

The pressure did not manifest in chakra. It settled over his mind instead, like the feeling an ordinary person might have after wandering into the hunting grounds of a wild beast.

"Byakugan!"

With a low shout, Naoki activated his Byakugan and walked toward the central tower of the ruins while carefully watching his surroundings.

In his Byakugan's field of vision, everything around him was filled with deathly silence. The entire ancient city of Roran showed no sign of living activity, let alone chakra reactions.

"Huh. That is strange."

The sight immediately stirred a trace of doubt in Naoki.

No matter how few living things there were in the desert, there should still be snakes, insects, rats, and ants. With so many structures left in the ruins of Roran, this should have been a good place to shelter from wind and sand. It made no sense for there to be no signs of life at all.

Although he had doubts, Naoki felt no fear.

Whatever was wrong with this place, it would not pose much of a threat to him now. Even if the worst happened and the Dragon Vein's chakra went berserk, he was confident he could retreat safely.

Before long, Naoki arrived at the place where the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Dragon Vein.

"As expected, it is a composite sealing technique."

With only one look, Naoki identified the seal the Fourth Hokage had placed on the Dragon Vein as a composite sealing technique created from multiple sealing arts.

He stepped closer, crouched, and carefully distinguished each sealing formula.

As he analyzed it, he murmured to himself, "The foundation should still be the Four Symbols Seal. Mixed into it are formulas from the Contract Seal, as well as another sealing technique..."

After a rough analysis, Naoki could determine that the Fourth's Dragon Vein seal combined at least three powerful sealing arts. At present, he recognized only the Four Symbols Seal and the Contract Seal among them.

As for the third sealing art, Naoki had no clue. It did not seem to belong to the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts.

'At that time, the Fourth should not yet have inherited the Hokage title. That means he had only two paths to learn sealing arts. One was learning the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts from his wife, Kushina. The other was learning Mount Myoboku's sealing arts from his teacher, Jiraiya.'

Thinking of that, Naoki formed a guess.

The third sealing art inside the Dragon Vein seal was very likely from Mount Myoboku.

Naoki stood, stepped back a little, rested one hand under his chin, and thought for a while. With his current knowledge of sealing arts, he felt he had at least some chance of breaking through the Fourth's Dragon Vein seal.

After all, the entire Dragon Vein seal used the Four Symbols Seal as its base, and the Four Symbols Seal happened to be the sealing art he understood most thoroughly. If he forcibly released it, there was still some chance of success.

The problem was that the Fourth's Dragon Vein seal included part of the Contract Seal. That indirectly proved that some contractual relationship existed between the bloodline of the Queen of Roran and the Dragon Vein.

So if he wanted to handle this safely, he would be best served by bringing someone of the Queen of Roran's bloodline with him when breaking the Fourth's Dragon Vein seal, in case the Dragon Vein's chakra went berserk and became difficult to subdue.

"But where am I supposed to find a descendant of the Queen of Roran?"

Konoha, Root headquarters.

Swish.

A figure landed and dropped to one knee before Danzo, reporting, "Lord Danzo, we have completed our examination of Dingyou's body."

Danzo, leaning on his cane, struck the floor heavily with it. "The result."

The kneeling Root member immediately answered, "There are thirty-seven wounds on Dingyou's body. The fatal wound was to the head. Because the brain tissue was completely destroyed, we could not obtain any information."

The more Danzo listened, the darker his face became.

When he first learned that Dingyou had been killed, his immediate reaction was that Naoki must have done it. After thinking it over, however, he was no longer so certain.

In Danzo's mind, Dingyou's strength should have been above Naoki's.

Moreover, Dingyou had carried out many assassination missions, including several against jonin-level targets. In terms of both strength and experience, Dingyou ranked highly inside Root.

So even if Dingyou was no match for Naoki, he should not have died for no apparent reason without sending back a single message.

At that moment, the Root member continued, "During the autopsy, we also found a small amount of Iron Sand inside Dingyou's body."

Danzo's gaze sharpened. "Iron Sand?"

"Yes. The Iron Sand was very fine, even in size, and had excellent chakra conductivity. It seems to have been nourished by chakra for a long time. It is almost like..."

The Root shinobi wanted to voice his guess, but he felt the guess was too absurd and did not know how to report it.

Danzo had long handled the village's foreign espionage network. His breadth of knowledge was among the greatest in all of Konoha. He did not need the Root shinobi to say the words aloud. He already knew what the man was trying to suggest.

"Sunagakure..."

While thinking, Danzo suddenly asked, "Did you investigate the chunin who sent Dingyou's body back to the village?"

The Root shinobi answered, "Yes. His record is clean, and he has no connection to the Hyuga Clan."

Danzo said harshly, "Search his brain. I want to know everything."

The Root shinobi froze, then said quietly, "Lord Danzo, if we do that, the Third..."

Forcing a search through someone's brain carried considerable risk. One mistake could cause irreversible damage to a shinobi's brain. Because of that, such a brutal interrogation method was usually reserved for prisoners from enemy villages and defected missing-nin.

Danzo waved impatiently. "Do as I say."

"Yes."

The Root shinobi had no choice but to answer and quietly withdraw.

Before long, that Root shinobi returned and reported to Danzo, "Lord Danzo, we interrogated him. That chunin truly has no connection to Naoki Hyuga."

Danzo asked, "When Naoki Hyuga handed Dingyou's body to him, was Naoki injured?"

The Root shinobi shook his head. "No. In the memory images of that chunin, Naoki Hyuga showed no visible injuries."

Danzo then asked, "Where did Naoki Hyuga go afterward?"

"He did not know."

Danzo thought silently, 'Was Dingyou killed by Naoki Hyuga, or by a bounty hunter targeting Naoki Hyuga?'

At that moment, the Root shinobi said weakly, "Lord Danzo, during the interrogation, we made a mistake and damaged part of the chunin's brain tissue. He may no longer be able to continue as a shinobi."

Danzo said flatly, "Dispose of him."

"But..."

The Root shinobi naturally understood what those words meant. He had done such things plenty of times before, but his targets had always been enemies and traitors. This was the first time he would be disposing of an innocent person.

Looking at the shinobi who had only recently joined Root, Danzo said icily, "Do not make me repeat myself."

The Root shinobi wiped sweat from his forehead and nodded. "Yes."

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