Chapter 44: Opportunity

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Opportunity

Seeing Moryo attempting to escape, the Priestess immediately paled in alarm.

"Quick, stop it!"

If Moryo’s soul managed to escape, then all their efforts in sealing it this time would have been for nothing, and there would be no end to the trouble that followed.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Before the Priestess had even finished speaking, the sharp sounds of projectiles cutting through the air rang out!

They were shuriken thrown by Shisui at Moryo’s fleeing soul.

However, although every shuriken struck its target with pinpoint accuracy, without exception, they passed straight through its body. They failed to inflict even the slightest real damage on Moryo’s soul in its chakra form.

Shisui’s expression darkened. By the time he thought of launching another attack, however, it was already too late.

In the span of only a few breaths, the fleeing Moryo’s soul had closed to barely a dozen meters from the tunnel entrance.

At that very moment, Hyuga Kagami, standing on the other side, decisively unleashed—

Wheel of Will!

In an instant, Moryo’s soul, now only a few meters from the tunnel entrance, suddenly froze in place.

It was as though a pair of invisible hands had seized it tightly. Even with a body composed entirely of chakra, it was unable to break free.

"If I actually let you escape after all this, wouldn’t this whole fight have been for nothing?!"

With that, Hyuga Kagami intensified the Wheel of Will, violently dragging Moryo’s soul toward him.

As Kagami’s strength had increased, the effective range of the Wheel of Will had also expanded somewhat. Now, within twenty meters, no matter what the object was, it could not escape the technique’s control.

The Priestess, already prepared, hurriedly took out a wooden box from the scroll she carried. At the same moment Kagami pulled Moryo’s soul toward them, she unleashed a sealing technique.

"No...!"

Without its physical shell to protect it, Moryo in its soul form was utterly incapable of resisting the Priestess’s sealing technique.

With one final roar of unwilling fury, it was completely sealed away.

After Moryo had finally been sealed for good, all three people in the cavern collapsed to the ground, simultaneously letting out a long sigh of relief.

At this point, all three of them were thoroughly exhausted.

The Priestess had consecutively performed several sealing techniques. In particular, the technique she had used to seal Moryo’s physical shell had nearly drained every last bit of strength from her body. So although she had not directly participated in the battle, her own expenditure had been anything but small.

Shisui’s condition was no better.

Before obtaining the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, merely activating the Mangekyo Sharingan itself placed a considerable burden on Shisui, let alone using the Susanoo to engage Moryo in such a fierce battle.

As a result, the toll on him was far greater than it appeared.

As for Hyuga Kagami, he had even resorted to using the Body Regeneration Secret Art. That one use alone had overdrawn at least two or three months of his lifespan.

From this, it was clear just how powerful Moryo truly was. At the very least, it possessed strength comparable to an ordinary Tailed Beast.

After resting for a while, the Priestess sincerely thanked Kagami and Shisui.

"We truly owe everything to the two of you this time. If it weren’t for you, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"

Her gratitude came from the bottom of her heart.

Originally, she had believed that the only way to avert this catastrophe was to perish together with Moryo. Never had she imagined that the entire crisis would actually be resolved so smoothly.

As Kagami put away the Third Kazekage human puppet, he said, "I’ve fulfilled what I promised you."

The Priestess nodded.

"Rest assured. I will definitely honor my promise as well!"

By now, Shisui had also gotten back to his feet. Curious, he asked Kagami, "Senpai, was that a puppet you were using just now? A puppet capable of using Magnet Release?"

Kagami made no attempt to conceal it and answered directly, "Yeah. I obtained it through a fortunate coincidence. As for why it can use Magnet Release... that’s because it was originally the Third Kazekage."

"What!?"

It wasn’t just Shisui—even the Priestess beside him was stunned.

The Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest Kazekage, had been turned into a human puppet.

There was no way such a revelation could fail to shock them.

"The Third Kazekage was assassinated by a puppeteer from Sunagakure and then turned into a human puppet. During a battle with that puppeteer, I was fortunate enough to wrest the Third Kazekage human puppet away from him. That’s all there is to it."

Hyuga Kagami briefly explained how he had obtained the Third Kazekage human puppet.

Shisui looked astonished. "The Third Kazekage was actually assassinated by a ninja from his own village?!"

Kagami cautioned them, "Precisely because the truth about the Third Kazekage being assassinated and turned into a human puppet is so shocking, I’ve rarely used this puppet since obtaining it. This matter has far-reaching implications and concerns Sunagakure’s reputation, so the two of you absolutely must not spread it around. Otherwise, it could very well create friction between Sunagakure and Konoha!"

Since Kagami had dared to use the Third Kazekage human puppet in front of them, he naturally wasn’t worried that the Priestess or Shisui would leak his secret.

The Priestess was a genuinely kindhearted person—someone who had truly been willing to perish together with Moryo for the sake of peace in the world. On top of that, she now owed Kagami an enormous favor. He trusted that she would never betray him.

As for Shisui, firstly, Kagami trusted his integrity.

Secondly, Kagami also had something on Shisui.

If they both started exposing each other’s secrets, neither of them would come out of it unscathed.

And even in the absolute worst-case scenario, if word about the Third Kazekage human puppet somehow got out, Kagami could simply hand it over to the village.

After all, it was nothing more than a spoil of war.

It wasn’t as though he had killed the Third Kazekage himself.

Hearing Kagami describe the matter so gravely—even going so far as to say it could affect relations between the two great shinobi villages of Konoha and Sunagakure—the Priestess and Shisui hurriedly assured him,

"We definitely won’t tell anyone!"

Kagami then changed the subject and asked Shisui, "There are rumors that the Sharingan has another form beyond the three-tomoe state. That’s the Mangekyo Sharingan you mentioned earlier, right?"

Shisui made no attempt to hide anything either. Smiling, he replied, "Yeah. What I used just now was an ocular technique unique to the Mangekyo Sharingan. It’s called Susanoo!"

Exchanging secrets was the fastest way to open one’s heart to another.

After the Priestess, Hyuga Kagami, and Shisui exchanged their respective secrets, the atmosphere between the three immediately became much warmer.

After temporarily reinforcing the seal on the wooden box, the Priestess said, "I plan to choose a suitable location somewhere within the Land of Demons to seal Moryo’s soul. That way, with its physical shell and soul separated by hundreds of miles, the chances of it ever breaking free will be greatly reduced."

Compared to the seal placed on Moryo’s physical shell, the seal restraining its soul was considerably weaker. Therefore, the Priestess needed to select another suitable location, set up an entirely new sealing formation, and seal the wooden box within it. Only then could she truly be at ease.

Naturally, neither Kagami nor Shisui had any objections to her arrangement.

In truth, Kagami’s thoughts had long since moved away from Moryo.

He was already wondering how he should broach the subject with the Priestess and ask to learn the sealing techniques passed down through her lineage.

From the sealing of Moryo, Kagami had now personally confirmed just how formidable the sealing arts of the Land of Demons’ Priestess lineage truly were.

In his view, even taking into account the fact that the Priestess possessed an innate advantage against Moryo, the mastery of sealing arts she had displayed still far surpassed that of the overwhelming majority of shinobi in the village.

If he allowed this opportunity to learn sealing techniques to slip through his fingers, his Artificial Tailed Beast Project might remain nothing more than a distant dream forever...