Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Supporting each other as they stepped out of the cave, the first figure that caught Hyuga Kagami's eye was none other than Guy.
It was obvious that Guy had loyally followed Kagami's instructions and stood guard at the cave entrance the entire time, not allowing any Sand or Stone Village ninja to enter without permission.
Seeing the three emerge safely from the cave, Guy flashed his signature grin and gave a thumbs-up. "Kagami, I knew you guys could do it!"
Not far away, Kakashi said nothing, still wearing his usual aloof expression. But from the rise and fall of his chest, Hyuga Kagami could tell that beneath the mask, Kakashi had just let out a long breath of relief.
Leafcutter from the Sand Village didn't approach but instead stood in place, carefully observing Kagami and Shisui.
Everyone outside had felt the tremors coming from within the cave, so they all had an idea of how intense the battle must have been. That Hyuga Kagami and Shisui—both still young—had survived and emerged on their own two feet immediately raised her opinion of them.
On the other side, the Stone Village ninjas were clearly not looking at Kagami and Shisui kindly.
Their squad captain even wore a contemplative look, seemingly pondering something important, to the point where he appeared visibly distracted.
Sensing the hostility from the Stone ninjas, Hyuga Kagami instantly understood.
Now that the monstrous demon spirit known as Moryo had been completely sealed, the temporary cooperation between the Hidden Villages had come to an end. In its place: the usual rivalry and suspicion.
At that moment, the shrine maiden holding the wooden box bowed deeply to the gathered shinobi, expressing her gratitude for their assistance.
Even without any words, the battlefield strewn with broken puppet warriors outside the cave told the story. The ninjas guarding the entrance had fought their own hard battle—those puppet warriors were nearly indestructible before Moryo's full sealing.
After a few words of courtesy, the shinobi escorted the shrine maiden back to the Land of Demons. Then, the Sand and Stone ninjas took their leave one after another.
Because Hyuga Kagami still had a private agreement with the shrine maiden that hadn't been finalized, Konoha's Anbu Team 11 used the excuse of being commissioned by the shrine maiden to hunt down the remaining forces of the Yomi Cult to remain in the Land of Demons a while longer.
Of course, Kagami passed off the task of rooting out the cult remnants to Kakashi, Guy, and Shisui. He himself stayed in the shrine maiden's palace to recuperate, waiting for the special purple sealing clay she promised to collect for him.
With some spare time, Hyuga Kagami reflected on the fierce battle with Moryo.
This was the first time since awakening the Tenseigan that he had drained every bit of chakra in his body. The experience exposed many of his weaknesses, but also yielded unexpected gains.
The side effects of exhausting his chakra were more severe than he had anticipated.
In the days that followed, he found himself physically weakened, his energy drained, and mentally under a heavy, almost suffocating cloud he couldn't shake.
Fortunately, the Tenseigan in his eye sockets was his own, perfectly compatible with both his soul and body, making it far easier to bear.
If he had transplanted someone else's Tenseigan, he would have suffered intense backlash by now. At best, he'd be bedridden with drained vitality; at worst, dead.
From his hazy memories of his past life, he recalled that after Toneri Otsutsuki was defeated by Naruto and drained of chakra, the Tenseigan he had acquired through Hanabi's Byakugan vanished as well.
This proved that even someone as powerful as Toneri—who could fly and split the moon—couldn't maintain the Tenseigan after running out of chakra.
Weaklings simply aren't qualified to wield the Tenseigan.
This reinforced Hyuga Kagami's earlier suspicions.
His Tenseigan seemed to possess its own sentience, instinctively suppressing itself and remaining in a barely-awakened state to avoid overwhelming his not-yet-fully-developed body.
"There's nothing like having your own eyes," Kagami muttered, realization dawning.
Even the Rinnegan behaved differently depending on its user. With Madara Uchiha, its original owner, it displayed unparalleled power. But in Nagato's hands, it was never used to its full potential.
Madara could even use ocular techniques like Limbo: Border Jail, something Nagato never demonstrated. This subtly proved that Madara, as the Rinnegan's original owner, could tap into far more of its power—with far less cost.
This incident served as a wake-up call for Kagami: never again could he recklessly drain all his chakra. It also deepened his desire to create a synthetic Tailed Beast.
Time was of the essence, so Kagami could no longer wait. He finally asked the shrine maiden to teach him sealing techniques.
However, the answer disappointed him greatly.
The shrine maiden clearly explained that without her bloodline, it was impossible to learn her clan's sealing techniques. This had been confirmed countless times throughout history.
In short, the shrine maiden's sealing arts were also a form of bloodline limit.
That explained why, for thousands of years, the priestesses of the Land of Demons passed their arts down a single bloodline—no outsiders were ever allowed to learn them.
Suppressing his disappointment, Kagami opted for a second-best solution.
While she couldn't teach him her family's unique and powerful sealing arts, as a sealing master, she could still guide him in learning other sealing techniques.
Changing his approach, Kagami extracted all the sealing formulae related to synthetic Tailed Beasts from his research and handed them over to the shrine maiden, asking her to help him study and master them.
The moment she laid eyes on those sealing arrays, the shrine maiden's interest was piqued.
The sealing techniques from the artificial Tailed Beast data were all derived from the Uzumaki Clan—renowned for creating powerful forbidden seals like Reaper Death Seal, Four Symbols Seal, and Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Even the shrine maiden, a master of sealing in her own right, couldn't help but marvel at the Uzumaki clan's genius craftsmanship.
After a few days of intensive study, drawing on her deep knowledge of sealing arts, she quickly grasped the Uzumaki techniques and fully understood every array related to the artificial Tailed Beast project.
"These sealing techniques are simply exquisite... The Uzumaki Clan is truly worthy of admiration!"
Her praise was heartfelt.
The core principle of Uzumaki sealing arts was "subduing the strong with the weak"—using the frail human body, through the power of sealing, to suppress and control monstrous creatures like Tailed Beasts. That's why all the Nine-Tails jinchuriki throughout Konoha's history had been Uzumaki descendants.
In that respect alone, the shrine maiden considered herself inferior.
So after learning many of their sealing formulas, she felt she had gained a great treasure—and in return, dedicated herself fully to tutoring Hyuga Kagami.
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