Ultimately, Naruto still couldn't figure out how the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style combined the two Four Symbols Seals, so he had to settle for using one Four Symbols Seal first, though this would also have to wait for half a month, as he didn't yet know the Four Symbols Seal.
Three days later, an uninhabited island.
Jiraiya bowed his head, fumbling with the seal on the Tsuchikage's eyes, preparing to begin the first unsealing experiment.
The Tsuchikage's eye seal was very peculiar, layered and complex, like a bomb with hundreds of wires. Cutting the wrong wire would trigger a chain reaction, and it wouldn't unseal until death.
If it were a normal seal, Naruto could directly use Kurama's chakra for a violent release and wait for the explosion. Unfortunately, a Byakugan was bound inside this bomb, so he could only ask Jiraiya for help.
After promising hefty rewards and a two-day "anywhere in the ninja world" travel package, Jiraiya worked tirelessly day and night. After more than three days, he finally found a feasible method.
Standing beside him was Sakura, a medic, to prevent any accidents, and she would also be needed to retrieve the eyes after success.
Naruto, like a rookie, sat obediently to the side, learning sealing knowledge from the master.
Before long, another rookie, Sasuke, joined the learning.
Just out of the teleportation gate, Sasuke took out two small cans of dark green liquid from his pocket and handed them to Naruto: "Here."
Then he sat upright on the other side, activating his Sharingan to learn sealing knowledge from the master.
The liquid was what Naruto wanted. Although Sharingan and Byakugan were plug-and-play, preserving them required special treatment. For organ preservation, Naruto only knew about formaldehyde, but that substance was completely poisonous except for making things eternally dead and undecaying, so it couldn't be used.
Then he thought of Orochimaru. Who else in the ninja world could have better human organ preservation techniques than Orochimaru?
Sakura didn't understand sealing techniques, nor was she interested. She quietly moved next to Sasuke, leaned on his shoulder, rolled up her sleeve, exposing a bruised arm: "Sasuke, you don't know, yesterday Sensei made me hold a flour paste ball while he hit it, saying he wanted to see if I could block it, and I ended up like this. It hurts so much..."
Sasuke recalled the scene of Naruto and the Raikage's battle that day, and without looking up, said, "Your evasion is too slow."
Sakura immediately hung her head, feeling utterly dejected.
I'm so foolish, really. I knew it would be like this, yet I still held onto a shred of hope.
Naruto recalled her evasion abilities when she and Ino were attacking him last time, and echoed, "It is too slow."
You!! Is Hinata blind?!
Complaining inwardly about her two straight-laced teammates, Sakura used her medical ninjutsu to heal herself. She had endured the pain for a day, only to get this one sentence. It was a complete loss.
Sakura finished self-healing. Jiraiya coincidentally stopped and uncovered the Tsuchikage's eye mask. He took the white towel Naruto offered and wiped his sweat: "It's done. The rest is up to you."
Then he quickly took out a map, coughed twice, and said seriously, "Cough, cough. Send me here. I need to investigate Akatsuki's intelligence."
Naruto couldn't bear to look directly. If he hadn't been there himself, he would have believed Jiraiya's words. Damn it, there's no Akatsuki intelligence in the Land of Hot Water; that place is full of bathhouses and girls.
Jiraiya disappeared in less than ten seconds. Sakura took a cloth bag from her backpack, unfolded it, and pulled out a small knife, handing it to Naruto: "Disinfect."
Her movements were clean and precise, her tone firm, and her aura had changed. Unfortunately, she encountered someone whose "art style" was different.
"No need. Just go straight. After I'm done, I'll throw it to Cloud Village and let them handle it themselves."
Disinfect my ass. I'm already being humane enough by not digging it out with my bare hands.
"Oh, okay then." Sakura wasn't a clean freak. Hearing this, she brought the small knife closer to the Tsuchikage's eye socket.
Naruto watched her movements curiously. Having lived two lives, he had never actually seen eye surgery.
Sasuke was uninterested. He turned his head aside and looked at the sea. Watching others perform eye surgery felt very strange to him. He was only there to wait for his routine check-up.
Sakura moved quickly, taking less than five minutes to remove the eyeball and seal it in a jar. She took off her blood-stained gloves and tossed them aside. Sakura excitedly slowly reached out her hand towards Sasuke.
He hadn't been checked in over half a month. He wondered if Sasuke had changed at all. Slurp.
As for what had just happened, she had already forgotten it. What's wrong with being a straight guy? Being handsome is enough.
The check-up scene was as usual: Sasuke played dead, Sakura touched him all over. Naruto left a lamp and left, giving them time alone.
That evening, after picking up Jiraiya, Naruto looked at him with surprise. Today, this old man was doing well. There was no smell of alcohol or perfume on him. This was not normal: "Old man, what's wrong?"
Jiraiya held a stack of documents, his expression serious. "Naruto, let's head back."
He had gone to the Land of Hot Water today to gather material, but suddenly heard a rumor about an immortal serial killer from a few years ago. After much inquiry, he found out that the killer had been dealt with by someone hired with a large sum of money, and the one who took the commission was Akatsuki.
After years of fruitless searching, he now had a clue, and he wanted to free himself to investigate.
Naruto wondered, "Haven't we been heading back these past two days?"
"I mean, don't let your dog lead the way anymore!!" Jiraiya squawked.
He was the one who suggested heading back. Naruto wanted to teleport on the spot, but Jiraiya stopped him.
A journey has a beginning and an end. Walking out and then walking back would give Tsunade time to handle the mess, and also allow Naruto to cultivate Sage Mode undisturbed. This kid's mind was active. Once disturbed, who knew how many years it would take for him to learn it.
Originally, he estimated it would take three months to half a year to walk back, and Naruto would also learn Sage Mode. But with this dog leading the way, he wouldn't be able to get back to Konoha even in two years.
"Oh." Naruto casually replied, flipping through a book, then continued to struggle with the sealing jutsu.
Why is the Four Symbols Seal so difficult too?
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