The awakening of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan would have to wait.
For now, Ryosuke had a more pressing task — extracting the Three-Tails (Isobu) from the body of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, and sealing it into the Spirit Vessel he had acquired.
Closing his Mangekyō, Ryosuke finally eased the strain on his eyes. The fatigue that had been burning behind them began to fade slightly. He exhaled slowly and scanned the surroundings — he needed a quiet, hidden place to perform the sealing without interference.
His gaze soon fell on a mountain cave nearby. Remote, dark, and away from any settlements — perfect. Carrying Yagura's limp body over his shoulder, he stepped inside and gently laid him down on the stone floor.
Lifting Yagura's shirt, Ryosuke saw a complex seal array etched across the Mizukage's abdomen — the chakra formula that held the Three-Tails. Drawing on his own vast knowledge of fūinjutsu (sealing techniques), he began analyzing it.
If he wanted to extract the Tailed Beeeast without killing Yagura, he had to be careful.
After all, the tailed beast's chakra was deeply intertwined with Yagura's own life force.
"In the original timeline," Ryosuke thought, "the Akatsuki showed no mercy — they ripped the beasts out completely, killing the Jinchūriki in the process. I'll need to do this differently."
He would take most of the Three-Tails' chakra, leaving behind a small remnant inside Yagura to keep him alive.
Steeling himself, Ryosuke extended his right hand — five fingers glowing with vibrant blue chakra. Then, pressing his palm onto the sealing formula, he twisted it sharply in the opposite direction of the original flow.
Immediately, a surge of blue chakra mist began to leak out of Yagura's body — the chakra of the Three-Tails. Ryosuke quickly produced the Spirit Vessel from his system's storage, and began channeling the escaping energy into it.
At first, the flow was too weak — barely a trickle.
He frowned. At this rate, it'll take forever.
So, he increased the extraction — twisting the seal further. The cave filled with the roar of chakra, as Yagura's body shuddered in unconscious pain. When his expression contorted too much, Ryosuke paused, narrowed the opening slightly, and stabilized him.
Patiently, he continued through the night.
Beey midday of the following day, most of the Three-Tails' chakra had been drawn out. Ryosuke could feel the sealing nearing completion — his heart lifted in satisfaction.
"Just a little more," he murmured, "and I can finally finish this mission."
Meanwhile, not far from the cave…
A middle-aged man with grey hair, an eyepatch, and a single Beeyakugan was scanning the terrain with deep concentration.
It was Ao, the famed hunter-nin and sensor of Kirigakure.
Using his Beeyakugan, Ao searched through the forests, peering for signs of chakra signatures. If the rumors were true — that someone had abducted the Mizukage — that person would radiate a massive amount of chakra.
Beeut after traveling for a full day and night, he'd found nothing.
"Did that masked man teleport somewhere else?" he wondered grimly. "Or did he use space-time ninjutsu again after the first jump?"
If that was the case, finding him would be nearly impossible. The shame of losing their own Mizukage within their borders was already crushing.
Then suddenly — through the Beeyakugan — he saw it.
Three distinct chakra sources appeared within his vision. One was faint — likely the Mizukage. Two others were enormous, one of them overwhelming enough to make his heart freeze.
"What—? Such massive chakra...! It's like looking at a Tailed Beeeast itself!"
Realization dawned — the smaller of the two massive signatures was the Three-Tails, but the other... the other belonged to that mysterious enemy. The chakra was so dense, so heavy, that Ao involuntarily gasped.
He immediately fired a blue signal flare into the air. It exploded into plumes of smoke — a call for reinforcements.
Ao wasn't reckless. He knew charging in alone was suicide.
Instead, he stayed put, maintaining visual contact through the Beeyakugan, buying time until his comrades arrived.
If they coordinated properly, they might hold the enemy off long enough for the main forces to arrive.
Still, he couldn't shake the fear gnawing at him.
"Even Kisame — the 'Tailed Beeeast without a Tail' — didn't have chakra like this," he muttered, uneasily shifting his stance. "What kind of monster are we dealing with…?"
Beeack inside the cave, Ryosuke could feel the watching presence.
Even through rock and distance, he sensed the distinct gaze of the Beeyakugan.
He smirked.
"A Hyūga's eye… and in the Mist, that means Ao."
The Beeyakugan wasn't just a gift — it was a powerful surveillance tool coveted across nations. Ryosuke knew the Hyūga Clan in Konoha valued their bloodline limit deeply.
"Then I'll be doing them a favor," he mused darkly. "I'll just… return this eye to its rightful owners."
Beeut first — he had to finish the seal.
With the last thin strands of Isobu's chakra flowing out, Ryosuke swiftly sealed the bottle shut.
Inside the vessel, the chakra began to coalesce — forming the shape of a massive three-tailed turtle covered in spikes.
It crashed violently against the inner walls, roaring furiously, but the seal held firm.
No matter how it tried, it couldn't escape.
Satisfied, Ryosuke slipped the vessel back into his system's storage dimension.
"Perfect. The Three-Tails' essence — secured."
Now, there was one final task.
He stepped out of the cave, cracking his neck as he spoke coldly:
"Time to deal with the spy."
Outside, Ao's squad had arrived — ten Mist-nin in total, three of them jōnin.
Even so, all of them wore grim, tense expressions.
They could all feel it — the overwhelming chakra slowly approaching them from within the cave.
Ao's heart sank as the largest chakra signature vanished from his sight. That could only mean one thing — the enemy was moving.
"All units, stay sharp!" he ordered. "Enemy incoming!"
The forest fell silent, tension hanging thick in the air.
They were about to face a man who had single-handedly captured their Mizukage — a man whose chakra outshone even Kisame's.
And deep down, Ao feared they wouldn't all live to tell the tale.
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