Walking down the road, Seiki could clearly sense the increased respect in people's gazes toward him. Some warmly greeted him, and even a few enthusiastic Genin rushed out to express their admiration.
Clearly, his strength had earned recognition from everyone!
Ninja ultimately spoke through power. Whether it was his journey covering dozens of miles to rescue others or using Medical Ninjutsu to save countless lives, none of those actions created an impact quite like this time.
He reached the temporary meeting chamber.
Jiraiya and the other two were already waiting there.
"Sorry for the delay," Seiki apologized as he entered.
"Haha, the treatment of heroes, you know!" Jiraiya grinned knowingly.
After they sat down, Orochimaru solemnly asked, "Minato-kun, exactly what happened back then?"
Seiki and Minato exchanged glances before bitterly revealing the truth.
After listening, Orochimaru sighed with regret, "What a pity. After missing this chance, it won't be easy to kill the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki again."
This immediately annoyed Jiraiya, "If the Eight-Tails goes on a rampage, many of them won't return home alive!"
Orochimaru coldly replied, "Sacrifice is inevitable in war. As long as we can eliminate that perfect Jinchuriki, it's worth having all of them remain on the battlefield!"
"You cold-blooded snake still haven't changed—you're as heartless as ever!" Jiraiya said without hesitation.
After all, during their previous missions, if Tsunade hadn't strongly objected, Jiraiya might have been killed by Orochimaru when severely injured.
Orochimaru remained unmoved, saying, "Ninjas are tools by nature. What need have tools for humanity?"
Seeing the two about to argue again, Seiki quickly interjected, "Orochimaru-sama, Jiraiya-sama, please look at this first."
Curious about the scroll in Seiki's hand, Jiraiya asked, "Is this the scroll you used to seal that octopus leg?"
Shaking his head slightly, Seiki replied, "Inside this scroll is a technique."
Minato was taken aback briefly before exclaiming in surprise, "Could it be—your conceptualized idea has finally matured?"
Nodding with emotion, Seiki said, "Yes, I spent four whole years completing this Sealing Technique!"
Developing a new jutsu was never simple. For direct comparison, Minato spent three years creating the Rasengan during the canon timeline, while Naruto mastered it in only seven days.
And not to mention that Seiki barely had any time at all to develop new techniques in the first place.
"What concept?" While Jiraiya was still confused, Seiki unrolled the scroll. A warm glow radiated from within.
"This is... [Mystical Palm Technique]?" Eyes wide, Jiraiya quickly realized, "Did you seal the Mystical Palm Technique in this scroll beforehand?"
Orochimaru soon grasped its significance, asking pointedly, "Must this technique be performed by a ninja skilled simultaneously in both Sealing Techniques and Medical Ninjutsu? Or can they be executed cooperatively by separate users? Additionally, how difficult would someone find learning this technique?"
Obviously, if this technique couldn't be popularized or proved too difficult to master, its value would diminish greatly.
Seiki let out a mental sigh, unable to help but admire how quickly Orochimaru cut straight to the heart of the matter.
"The original design of this technique was based on myself," Seiki Shimaseki explained, "but later I realized that not everyone might possess my level of proficiency in both Sealing Techniques and Medical Ninjutsu..."
Jiraiya snorted under his breath. What did he even mean by 'might not'? Almost no one could possibly match his mastery!
But thinking further, for someone like Seiki Shimaseki—who'd already mastered Sealing Techniques, Medical Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Sage Arts—juggling two major disciplines was probably just basic stuff.
"Therefore," Seiki Shimaseki continued, "after developing a specialized sealing technique specifically for Medical Ninjutsu, I then created a combination sealing technique designed to be used collaboratively between two people. Difficulty-wise, it's roughly equivalent to a C-rank ninja technique."
This didn't imply the C-rank Sealing Technique took longer to develop than the A-rank Rasengan.
Rather, he first created an A-rank version of the sealing technique before simplifying it to a C-rank level. This process proved almost as challenging as creating an entirely new S-rank technique.
Without having placed first in the recent Chunin Exams and subsequently studying the [Scroll of Seals] for inspiration, he probably wouldn't have completed the technique at all.
Nevertheless, it was worth the effort. Without broad usability, the medical scroll would merely be an impressive-sounding novelty rather than significantly boosting his reputation.
"A C-rank Sealing Technique!" Orochimaru shot Seiki a sharp, searching look. "Once this medical scroll becomes widely accepted, your prestige might even surpass our teacher's! At least, in the eyes of those saved by this scroll, it certainly will!"
...
While Konoha celebrated joyfully, Cloud Village faced a gloomy atmosphere.
"Can we truly defeat such monsters?"
"I heard they're just ordinary civilian-born shinobi!"
"This must be fake news, right? How could regular people like us possibly defeat the noble-born Lord A and B, who is a Jinchuriki!"
Compared to the war's significant losses, the psychological impact from AB duo's defeat—once hailed as heroes and models—proved far more devastating.
After all, Cloud Village always emphasized martial prowess. Physical destruction never seemed particularly concerning, but the psychological blow carried profound consequences.
Inside a small house at Raimei Ravine:
"It's all my fault for being so reckless and impulsive from the start," A groaned, staring down at B lying unconscious in bed. "That's why I lost ground early—I dragged B into this mess because of it!"
"Using tactics isn't your mistake—it's using them without thinking that got you here!"
"That's exactly what you taught me!"
"What did you say?" Raikage bellowed, his beard bristling with rage. "I may be outwardly wild, but inwardly disciplined. You? You're more chaotic inside than you are out!"
After cracking a joke and lightening the heavy mood a bit, the Raikage turned serious again. "I already gave that Konoha brat my full attention, yet I still underestimated him!"
"With the sudden emergence of Seiki Shimaseki, he turned the tide of the war completely!"
"Damn it!" A clenched his fist, filled with fury. "I must kill Seiki Shimaseki and Minato Namikaze to avenge B!"
Raikage glared coldly and cursed, "How do you plan to kill them? Without B's protection, fighting both of them head-on would be suicide!"
Mentioning B triggered A's urgency. He couldn't help but ask, "Father, when will B recover?"
Glancing at the bed where B's body had withered to nearly half its size, Raikage answered in a low, heavy sigh, "Probably take one or two years before he recovers."
"F*ck!" A smashed his fist into the nearby wall, his elbow smashed clean through. Suddenly remembering something mentioned after the Chunin Exams, he asked, "Right, father, didn't you plan an assassination on that Seiki Shimaseki? When are we launching the operation?"
He was better off not speaking at all; upon mentioning the assassination, the Raikage instinctively slapped his hand down and said, "Without B's distraction, how am I supposed to carry out the assassination?"
Only then did A finally realize: if Seiki Shimaseki came under attack, he'd almost certainly notify Minato Namikaze immediately. That meant they'd face not one, but two masters of the [Flying Thunder God Technique]. The difficulty of the assassination would skyrocket—ten times harder than before.
This thought made A furious all over again. "Then what now? Just leave him be like this?"
Raikage replied frostily, "First, we wait for B to recover. Then, we must also wait for an opportunity!"
"An opportunity?"
"The opportunity for Mist to join the war!"
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