Mui's face was cold as he swept his gaze across the exercise yard, taking in the disheveled prisoners. His eyes then landed on the beast-like Raoh-Naruto, his expression growing even colder.
"The warden's here! That brat's in for it now!"
"Not necessarily. He might actually stand a chance. He's insanely strong even without Chakra!"
"Yeah, he's completely beyond human limits, isn't he?"
"Since when can humans create shockwaves with just their fists? I've lived this long and never seen someone unleash a punch so powerful it generates wind pressure. That's terrifying."
The warden appeared to be in his thirties, a stern and cold middle-aged man. Dressed in a heavy, imposing warden's uniform, he exuded an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Mui, a former Jonin from Kusagakure 'Grass-Reality' faction, was entrusted with managing Hozuki Castle due to his reliability. On the surface, he was an iron-fisted warden, but in truth, he was a fervent extremist of the Grass-Reality faction.
The higher-ups of the Land of Grass were divided into 'Grass-Flower' and 'Grass-Reality', one advocating peace and the other war. Though the country was small, its factions were flashily named… essentially mirroring Konoha's old Anbu and Root ideologies.
Early in his career, the warden had supported the Grass-Reality faction, sacrificing his own son's life to the Box of Ultimate Bliss. The result, of course, was utter annihilation.
With his son gone, Mui had spent over a decade drowning in guilt and suffering. Naruto knew full well that Mui's goal wasn't to strengthen the Land of Grass with the Box of Ultimate Bliss… it was to resurrect his son.
Now, Naruto stared at the approaching warden with a mocking grin on his face.
"Finally decided to show yourself? Hozuki Castle is nothing special. Not a single one of you can fight!"
"Uzumaki Naruto?" Mui's expression remained unchanged, "Last night, you caused a disturbance in the prison for no reason. Now, you're deliberately provoking others."
"So what?" Naruto replied, completely unfazed.
The surrounding prisoners held their breath, watching the tense standoff with bated breath.
Finally, Mui moved.
A surge of fiery red Chakra erupted. Before Naruto could react, Mui activated the Heavenly Prison Seal. Two intersecting chains of sealing marks appeared on Naruto's chest, glowing like molten lava.
"Ahhh!!!" Naruto was instantly kicked away by Mui, collapsing to the ground in agony.
He had been taken down in an instant.
The watching prisoners were stunned. The much-anticipated Naruto hadn't pulled off any miracles. Under the suppression of Mui's seal, even a beast like him was forced to his knees.
As Naruto crashed to the ground with a thud, many of them closed their eyes in despair. Even if they didn't care about Naruto's fate, they had still hoped he would defy the odds.
They had wanted proof that even with shackles, resistance against Mui was possible. But now, that hope had been completely shattered. It was an impossible feat.
Even with Naruto's overwhelming strength, a single seal from Mui had rendered him powerless, utterly subdued.
Ryuzetsu stood in the distance, staring intently at Naruto, a deep sense of unease creeping into her mind, 'This guy was reckless to the point of seeming brainless, charging forward without a care.'
And yet, despite being completely suppressed by the seal, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, 'Even I could force Chakra through the seal if I pushed hard enough… there was no way he couldn't even muster Chakra before collapsing.'
'Besides, he had only been kicked once and hadn't even been injured. With a body that strong, a single kick should've been nothing more than a scratch.'
'This was too strange. What was his real goal?' Before leaving, Ryuzetsu took one last glance at Naruto, who was now lying completely still on the ground.
One day later.
Naruto opened his eyes, a triumphant grin spreading across his face as he took in the darkness of the solitary confinement cell. The moment Mui had activated the seal, he had already figured out how to break it.
Sealing Techniques, no matter how complex, all followed the same principles… and there was no seal the Uzumaki Clan couldn't undo.
With a loud bang, the door of the dark cell was violently yanked open from the outside. Blinding light flooded in, forcing Naruto to squint as several jailers dragged him back to his regular cell.
A full day and night without food hadn't put much strain on his body. Once he returned to his own cell, he casually pulled out some dry rations from his sealing space and began munching on them.
Before long, the familiar knocking sound came from the neighboring cell again.
"What's up?" Naruto walked over. It was indeed Ryuzetsu, the foolish Kusagakure's Anbu, "Do you have any suggestions?"
"No." Ryuzetsu replied, sounding exasperated, "I just wanted to ask if you're okay. I heard people who get thrown into solitary don't get any food and are left in complete darkness."
"No need to 'hear' about it… that's exactly what happened. But…" Naruto extended his hand, offering some of his dry rations, "Want some? Got to keep your strength up."
"By the way, are Anbu really that broke? Don't you get mission funds for the infiltration mission?"
Ryuzetsu: "..."
She covered her ears, refusing to listen any further, 'This guy was practically a demon… if I kept engaging with him, I'd lose my mind. Since when do Anbu get mission funds? That's ridiculous.'
'Stop talking about money. My loyalty to the village is unshakable. A few ryo won't change anything!'
Ryuzetsu ignored the offered food and silently retreated to a corner of her cell, hugging her knees.
Hearing no further response from next door, Naruto chuckled but didn't push it. Yawning, he lay back down and dozed off until the next exercise period, when he finally saw Ryuzetsu again.
'Small frame, narrow at the top, wide at the bottom. Tch.'
"Exercise time?" Naruto asked, stopping in front of her.
"Yeah." Ryuzetsu felt something was off, an odd discomfort creeping over her.
"Then let's go. I've got something to talk to you about anyway." Naruto motioned for her to follow and turned away, "Ah, it's definitely sunny outside."
Ryuzetsu sighed but had no choice but to follow.