The sealing formation snapped to life like iron chains forged from pure chakra, lashing around the hulking bodies of Three Tails and Seven Tails. Their roars shook the underground chamber—raw, instinctive, the sound of creatures who knew the world had decided their fate for them.
The Anbu braced as waves of tailed-beast chakra surged, red and turbulent, dragged from their bodies and funneled into the waiting altars. The air thrummed. Sparks cracked across the stone.
Even with his Rinnegan holding their minds in place, the beasts still thrashed on instinct. The kind of primal resistance you don't teach… you're born with it.
Raizen narrowed his eyes.
"Hmph."
His Rinnegan glowed—cold, domineering, merciless. The two beasts froze as if an unseen weight crushed them flat against the floor. Their movements buckled, then died completely.
A moment later, the chakra conversion finished, and both beasts vanished into the altars—silent, sealed, contained.
Two down.
Seven more to go.
Raizen exhaled. The massive chamber held nine altars—nine empty "slots" for the rebalancing plan he had sketched a hundred times in his head. Now, two of them pulsed faintly, alive with contained monstrosity. The remaining seven sat dull and waiting, like open maws demanding more sacrifices.
"Next… we accelerate the intel sweep on the remaining beasts. Time is against us."
That wasn't paranoia. It was logistics. With major nations unifying behind their own warlords, Raizen knew one thing for damn sure: if he didn't finish the tailed-beast plan first, someone else would. And they wouldn't use the beasts for peace.
As the sealing glow faded, the squad leaders finally allowed themselves to breathe.
"Master Hokage!"
"Master Hokage, sealing operation complete!"
He gave a curt nod.
"Shunrai."
A shadow flickered forward and dropped to one knee.
"Master."
"Block this area with three Anbu teams. No one in or out without my direct order."
"Yes!"
Within moments, Anbu fanned out to secure the chamber. Only when Raizen saw the perimeter tighten did he turn and lead Mito out into the corridor.
She followed quietly, but her eyes were heavy with worry.
"Raizen… you're planning to go after the rest of the tailed beasts immediately?"
He didn't lie. Didn't soften it.
"Yes. Until I gather all nine."
Mito's eyes lowered. Even with her noble upbringing, even with her training, she still looked shaken. The tailed beasts were calamities in physical form—whole clans had been erased just trying to restrain one.
Raizen let out a soft breath.
"Don't worry. They're dangerous to almost everyone else."
A faint smirk.
"To me, they're just loud."
Her expression eased, if only a little.
Then Raizen shifted topics, his voice lowering.
"Mito… does your clan have any seals specifically for yin and yang chakra?"
She blinked.
"The sealing techniques of yin and yang…? You mean separate techniques: yin-attribute sealing, yang-attribute sealing… or something more?"
"Both," Raizen said. "But more importantly, something that can restrain yin–yang chakra together. Even—if possible—chakra of senjutsu nature."
Mito stiffened.
"…You want to seal sage chakra?"
That wasn't something normal shinobi ever said lightly.
She thought in silence for a long moment.
Then she began listing, her tone formal and crisp—Clan head to Clan head.
"If you want to seal ordinary yin–yang chakra, use the Four Elephants Seal.
If you want to specialize in yang-attribute sealing, use the Crimson Yang Seal.
For yin-attribute sealing, the Byakugo-Mark variant works.
To seal general chakra types, the Divine Gate seal can suffice.
But for sealing all forms of chakra—including forbidden ones—there is only one technique."
She hesitated.
"The Reaper Death Seal."
Raizen's eyes sharpened.
That one he knew. And he knew the cost.
"Mito… can you teach me all of these?"
Mito looked away for a moment.
Not because she wanted to refuse—she was measuring the weight of handing over secrets her clan guarded with their blood.
When she finally met his eyes again, she sighed.
"It's not about the exchange," she said quietly. "It's that the last technique—the Reaper Death Seal—takes the user's soul as payment. You must not use it unless you face a true dead end."
"I know," Raizen answered simply. Because he did. He didn't plan to die for anyone—not even for the village. Not yet.
She nodded.
"Then I will teach you all of them over the next few days."
That marked the beginning of a month of silent focus.
Raizen trained seals under Mito during the day, hunted tailed-beast intel at night, and behind both operations… he quietly mobilized Anbu for a third mission:
Acquire the Ten-Fist Sword.
A sealing blade that could pierce anything—physical or spiritual. A weapon connected to Susanoo and the mysteries of the old world. If he ever had to confront Black Zetsu… or worse, the one Black Zetsu served…
He'd need it.
By the end of the month, everything moved at once.
—He mastered all major Uzumaki sealing arts.
—Anbu reported new tailed-beast locations:
• One Tail → Altar complex, Land of Wind.
• Two Tails → Forest of Death region.
—And the hidden intel he'd been waiting for finally surfaced:
"The Ten-Fist Sword has been located… enshrined at Nangka Shrine, Land of Fire."
Raizen frowned.
Nangka Shrine wasn't some backwoods altar. It was a major shrine dedicated to Susanoo—powerful onmyōji lineage, political backing, and deep ties to the Fire Daimyō's court. Walking in and grabbing their divine blade?
Yeah. That wasn't going to be "easy."
But he needed that sword.
Even if it meant walking into a den of spiritual specialists who would rather die than let their artifact go.