"Hiss~ What an incredible power. They're clearly just a few teenage brats, yet with that Cursed Seal's enhancement, they suppressed the Three-Tails so easily. Even if that Tailed Beast lacked a Jinchuriki's command and was only fighting on instinct, losing that quickly is still a little too exaggerated…"
On the other side of the lake where the Three-Tails dwelled, White Zetsu, who had also witnessed the entire process of the Three-Tails being suppressed, clicked his tongue in amazement and commented on the scene he had just seen.
Then he turned his head and spoke to Obito Uchiha, who had also frowned slightly because of the battle just now.
"You think this is troublesome too, don't you, Obito?"
"Troublesome? A little, I suppose."
Obito Uchiha, wearing a tiger-pattern mask, nodded noncommittally.
"But what I care more about is why Rei Kaguya didn't personally suppress the Three-Tails…"
"Because there was no need?"
White Zetsu tilted his head.
"He's already created several subordinates who can contend with Five Kage-level shinobi. Suppressing an ownerless Tailed Beast, something a normal Kage-level shinobi can do, naturally doesn't require him to act personally, right? And if those brats act instead, he can also stimulate those conservative Kirigakure shinobi who don't get along with him very well. Let them see what rewards they can obtain after swearing loyalty to Rei Kaguya, that sort of thing…"
"Perhaps."
Obito Uchiha shook his head. Looking at the Three-Tails floating belly-up on the water and gradually drifting toward the gathered Kirigakure shinobi, he slowly sighed.
"But I still feel that this doesn't match his usual way of doing things. He didn't refrain from acting because he wanted to show something to the outside world."
"Let's go. Since we failed to catch the Three-Tails, we'll go retrieve my eye first…"
As Madara Uchiha's successor, Obito Uchiha knew when the Three-Tails had died, so naturally he could calculate the approximate time of its revival.
He had sent one of White Zetsu's clones to wait and monitor the lake where the Three-Tails dwelled precisely so that the moment the Three-Tails revived, he could use genjutsu to control it.
Afterward, whether he directly took it away for the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to absorb, or used the opportunity to scheme against Kirigakure's new Three-Tails Jinchuriki and cause irreparable damage to Kirigakure, could be decided according to the situation.
But what surprised him a little was that Rei Kaguya, who had never sealed the Six-Tails into a Jinchuriki despite the Six-Tails always being within Kirigakure's territory, had personally led Kirigakure shinobi here the moment the Three-Tails revived.
From the look of it, he had even selected a new Jinchuriki for the Three-Tails in advance.
Was this pure coincidence, or…
Had the other party learned something?
Obito Uchiha did not have enough clues in his hands to judge.
But his intuition leaned more toward the latter.
…
Obito Uchiha and White Zetsu left without a sound.
Meanwhile, the sealing ritual for the Three-Tails was also completed without any incident.
"How does it feel to become a Jinchuriki, Yagura?"
After using Kirigakure's secret sealing technique as the foundation to build the seal for the Three-Tails, then adding an additional Four Symbols Seal on the outside, Rei Kaguya looked at Yagura Karatachi as he opened his eyes again and asked in a relaxed tone.
"It feels… no different."
Yagura Karatachi slowly sat up and gently placed his hand over the right side of his chest.
Touching the seal that had already become one with him and could never again be separated from him intact in this life, he spoke with complicated feelings.
"Aside from sensing the Three-Tails' unwillingness and anger inside the seal, I'm no different from usual."
"Of course there's no difference."
Mangetsu Hozuki, who was watching from the side, rolled his eyes and said, "The Three-Tails was almost dismantled by us. How would it have any strength left right now to jump around and torment you?"
"That isn't quite right either. A Tailed Beast's chakra and recovery ability are still very powerful. If you relax your guard too much, the probability of being counterattacked by it still won't be small."
While dealing with the excited Samehada, which had eaten far too much of the Three-Tails' chakra, Kisame Hoshigaki asked Rei Kaguya, "Fourth Mizukage, after we return this time, we won't need to hand the ninja blades back, right?"
"No. From today onward, you are members of the new Seven Ninja Swordsmen under the Fourth Mizukage."
Rei Kaguya nodded. Then he glanced sideways at Zabuza Momochi, who wore an expression that clearly said he had not had enough, and spoke lazily.
"However, that does not mean you can relax in improving your own strength… In a few more years, I plan to change the name of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to the Seven Shadow Bladesmen. If your strength is still stuck at its current level by then, don't complain if you get eliminated."
"The Seven Shadow Bladesmen?"
Zabuza Momochi noticed Rei Kaguya's gaze, and also heard the term that seemed to carry a deeper meaning.
After frowning and thinking briefly, he drew in a slight breath, then asked in a tone carrying disbelief, "Shadow Blades… Is it that meaning, Fourth Mizukage?"
"Just as you think."
Rei Kaguya nodded and narrowed his eyes with a smile.
"Surprised? Or do you think you lack the qualifications?"
"I'm just… getting a little excited."
Zabuza Momochi opened his mouth, revealing an extremely excited and frenzied smile.
"Although with you here, Fourth Mizukage, I probably won't think about the Mizukage's seat for the rest of my life… I'm still very interested in taking a title like one of the Seven Shadow Bladesmen."
"Then work harder to improve your strength and make up for the shortcomings you have already realized."
Rei Kaguya pointed at Mangetsu Hozuki and Kisame Hoshigaki, then spoke to Zabuza earnestly.
"I do not object to you specializing in your ability to fight people. But no matter what, you should accumulate a few trump cards that can deal with super-large summons or Tailed Beasts. Otherwise, an awkward situation like today's will definitely happen again."
"I'll work hard."
Zabuza Momochi replied with a dark expression.
Rei Kaguya shrugged noncommittally.
Then he turned around, making the hem of his Mizukage haori flutter, and spoke to the Kirigakure jonin who had basically come here only to watch.
"All right. The Three-Tails' capture and the Jinchuriki sealing ritual have both been completed. The power of the Cursed Seal of Heaven has also been displayed to you in actual combat."
"If any of you feel tempted, then go back and objectively report everything you saw today to your clan elders…"
"Using the Cursed Seal of Heaven, which can at its highest level touch the power of the Five Kage, in exchange for your clans' inherited secret techniques—this transaction should still have room to continue negotiating, shouldn't it?"
No one answered immediately.
But in everyone's eyes, a light of desire that could not be concealed was flickering.
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