[Amegakure]
"Kakuzu-sama, our people have arrived."
Sarutobi Ishishu brought Asuma, Ryogen, and several other outstanding young Sarutobi clansmen into the office.
But all of them were disguised, so Kakuzu couldn't tell who they were.
Kakuzu looked at Sarutobi Ishishu with a scrutinizing gaze.
'Why is the Third Hokage's side in such a hurry? Have they reached a dead end?'
As these thoughts ran through his head, Kakuzu still treated the employer warmly.
"Oh, perfect timing. Master Senku is here, I'll take you to see him."
Kakuzu didn't exchange many words with them, what came next was Senku's matter.
He led the group up many stairways, arriving at the upper level of a tall tower.
Here was an open terrace, from which one could easily overlook all of Amegakure.
Senku was meditating on the terrace, his nine-ringed staff standing by his side.
"Master Senku, they've arrived," Kakuzu said respectfully.
Senku nodded slightly, and Kakuzu then retreated.
Sarutobi Ishishu stepped before Senku and asked, "Master Senku, these are our people. Please, see who is suitable."
Senku turned his head. Asuma and the others removed their disguises, all standing obediently and greeting Senku.
"Greetings, Master Senku."
"That beast called the Nine-Tails is extremely violent. So, I must test you."
Sarutobi Ishishu and the rest understood, "Please test us, Master."
Senku pointed to the ground beside him, "Sit down, all of you. Keep me company in meditation."
The few of them exchanged glances, it was clear the test had already begun.
So they imitated him, sitting down by Senku's side.
Senku glanced at Ishishu, "You as well."
Ishishu had never imagined himself becoming a jinchuriki, so he was a bit surprised.
But since Senku had spoken, he had no choice but to sit down.
Senku rolled the prayer beads in his fingers, then also closed his eyes.
In Amegakure the rainfall was abundant, it often rained.
From outside the terrace, wind and rain blew in, striking the few of them.
But Senku simply sat there like a withered tree all afternoon, without moving.
He ignored the Sarutobi clansmen. Whether they twisted their bodies to resist stiffness, or went running to the toilet.
Senku said not a single word.
Among them, Asuma unexpectedly endured it well. Aside from bathroom breaks, he sat there the entire time.
After all, they were shinobi, their endurance was stronger than ordinary people's.
But they hadn't expected that after an entire afternoon, Senku showed no sign of rising, his hand still rolling the beads.
He just sat straight through the night.
In the middle of the night, Senku suddenly began chanting sutras. His voice was low, yet as if massaging the Sarutobis' ears.
Before long, most of the Sarutobis were slumped sideways. Ryogen even began to snore outright.
Asuma also nodded off again and again, like a chicken pecking rice.
The only one still awake was Sarutobi Ishishu.
Assassins relied on infiltration as their foundation. Although Senku's chanting made his eyelids heavy, he still managed to endure.
As Rengoku's clone, Senku did not have the Sarutobis sit in vain.
He was genuinely watching whether the Sarutobi clan had anyone fit for a great role.
If there were, then of course, he'd pit them to death.
At dawn the next day, Senku waved his sleeve. The nine-ringed staff beside him rang with a series of dings.
All the Sarutobis woke up at once.
Their faces burned a little. It had been called a test, yet they had all fallen asleep.
Senku looked at Asuma and Sarutobi Ishishu, "The others may leave."
The rest looked toward Ishishu.
Ishishu felt a bit speechless. Senku had told them this was a test, yet none of them had been on guard and had all been knocked out.
But unexpectedly, the otherwise unremarkable Asuma had remained until the end.
"You all go wait below."
The Sarutobis had no choice but to go down first.
Only Ishishu, Asuma, and Senku remained.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Senku's staff began to tremble slightly.
The string of rings clattered. Both Ishishu and Asuma felt as if the whole world were twisting.
Their bodies twisted along with it.
They were somewhat shocked. They hadn't expected Senku to even use genjutsu.
With the vast Uchiha experience Rengoku held, his genjutsu ability was also outstanding.
Relying on sound alone as the medium, he had dragged Ishishu and Asuma into illusion.
Of course, he recognized Ishishu. He was the one who had led men to ambush the Uchiha, also the one who killed Danzo.
He wasn't clear where this man had come from, since in the original timeline, no such expert existed in the Sarutobi clan.
But such a man's existence was not a bad thing for Rengoku.
So…
Ishishu suddenly awoke, then broke into a cold sweat.
To think he had fallen into genjutsu so easily. If the caster had harbored ill intent, he might have just died like that.
Senku was still sitting in place, while Asuma beside him had already fallen asleep.
"Of everyone, you are the most suitable."
"Would you be willing to become the jailer of that beast?"
Senku's voice was calm and unhurried, easing Ishishu's anxious heart.
On the Third Hokage's side, the pressure was enormous. Now it was no longer a matter of willingness, but a matter of seeking a way out.
"Master Senku, before we came, we had already considered it. Please proceed."
Sarutobi Ishishu would normally be wary of outsiders, but Senku had dragged them into illusion and yet done them no harm.
That reassured him.
Hearing Ishishu's words, Senku slightly nodded. Turning his hand into a seal, he swiftly struck Ishishu's chest with one palm.
From his chest, a vast seal spread like a spiderweb over Ishishu's body.
Then gradually sank inward.
Sarutobi Ishishu did not know Four Symbols Seal, but he had seen it before.
Yet the ones he had seen were all simple, never one as intricate as this.
"The seal is done. When the time comes, you can channel the beast's power through this seal."
Senku sent chakra into the seal's center, which spread through the seal into Ishishu's limbs.
At his gesture, Ishishu swung his arm.
Gathering chakra was much faster than before.
It was as if Senku had built an additional chakra pathway inside him.
No one in the Sarutobi clan had ever been a jinchuriki, so this was especially astonishing.
"So this is how a jinchuriki uses chakra."
Rengoku secretly laughed. This had nothing to do with being a jinchuriki. It was merely the control seal he and Orochimaru had developed.
Senku said evenly, "Next comes the extraction and transfer of the beast."
Sarutobi Ishishu bowed to Senku, "We must trouble you to come to Konoha."
Senku picked up his nine-ringed staff, "It's nothing. The jailer should never have been a child."
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