The Priestess held her exclusive ritual tool, and the center of her *Chōkan* headpiece emitted a white glow.
A pinkish-purple chakra began to swirl around her.
She walked alone to the head of the monstrous dragon form that Mōryō had possessed the Daimyō's body into. Mōryō's crimson light stared at the Priestess.
Any approaching tentacles were dissolved by the pinkish-purple chakra.
"Priestess-sama, danger!" Kiyoshi rushed forward, shielding the Priestess. He presented an image of righteous bravery.
Mōryō, currently only a soul, was completely unable to unleash his true power.
In the future, Yomi would use himself as a vessel to bear more of Mōryō's power, at the cost of his body rapidly aging.
This was because Mōryō was using his power to awaken a large Ghost Army, and a mortal body simply could not withstand the corruption of that power.
Furthermore, without a physical body, Mōryō's soul could not exist in the world for long and would dissipate instantly.
In the ninja world, only the Sage of Six Paths had been shown capable of wandering the world as a soul for an extended period, observing his Ninshū and the disputes between his two sons over the inheritance issue.
But Ninjutsu could be used as a loophole, allowing the soul to remain outside the body for a while after leaving it.
That was Dan Katō's S-rank Ninjutsu, the Spirit Transformation Technique, which turned the user into a living soul, traveling great distances to kill enemies, or possessing other bodies and entering others' minds.
This was a relatively unsolvable Ninjutsu, yet Dan Katō was still ambushed, had his kidney taken out, and couldn't be saved even by Tsunade.
"Kiyoshi!" Kurenai was startled, not expecting Kiyoshi to be so reckless as to rush forward alone.
"He values the mission more than his life, huh." Obito momentarily felt a little respect for Kiyoshi.
"I have Sealing Jutsu; let me handle this." A figure appeared in front of Kiyoshi; it was Minato.
Minato stretched out his hand towards Mōryō ahead, and circular black sealing formations began to wrap around the purple-black fog dragon.
Four Symbols Seal!
"Hehehe, a mere ninja dares to use Sealing Jutsu on me!" Mōryō laughed disdainfully.
He instantly broke free from Minato's sealing technique.
"!" Minato's light blue pupils constricted. The Uzumaki clan's secret Four Symbols Seal was actually ineffective against Mōryō?
This was a powerful sealing technique capable of sealing and suppressing even the Nine-Tails!
*Pfft!* Because he was so completely caught off guard, Minato was sent flying by one of Mōryō's tentacles, crashing into the wall.
Mōryō's perceived strength shot up in his mind. The technique that could seal the Nine-Tails was useless against Mōryō?
"Must I use… that technique?"
Minato wiped the blood from his mouth, gripping his specialized three-pronged kunai.
He also knew an S-rank Sealing Jutsu, the Reaper Death Seal.
But Minato was unsure if he could successfully perform it. He had only a very brief understanding of this Sealing Jutsu and had been practicing it for too short a time.
Moreover, once he used this Sealing Jutsu, he would…
"Mōryō only I can deal with. Hidden Leaf ninjas, retreat now."
The Priestess was completely calm, as if everything was within her expectation. She turned around, presenting her smooth, white neck to Kiyoshi, with the curves extending from her collar visible.
"Is it true that only the Priestess's Sealing Jutsu is effective?" Kiyoshi thought to himself.
From the color alone, it was clear that the Priestess's sealing jutsu was completely different from traditional sealing techniques. Traditional sealing formations were usually black, while the Priestess's were pinkish-purple.
Furthermore, if a traditional seal were effective, the Uzumaki clan, which was famous throughout the ninja world for having the best Sealing Jutsu, would not have ignored Mōryō.
Coming here to eliminate this thousand-year-old threat would have greatly enhanced the Uzumaki clan's reputation for Sealing Jutsu, and they would have secured more mission requests when establishing the Land of Whirlpools.
This was likely a case of specialized skill—a special monster required a special sealing formation.
Legend has it that the Priestess's power was too immense. To prevent this power from being misused, she divided her "heart" and "thoughts" into two halves.
They lived with mutual distrust.
At some point, these halves became known as the Priestess and Mōryō.
Of course, this all came from Yomi, so it might be slightly inaccurate.
In the post-credit scene of the movie, after Shion and Naruto defeated Mōryō, she discovered that Mōryō was generated by humanity's negative emotions.
Like the boss of another movie, the Zero-Tails, it was born from the darkness in people's hearts. By the time people realized it, it was too late, because humanity could never truly eradicate darkness.
But since such a legend exists, it is highly likely that the very first Mōryō was the original Priestess's… negative emotions.
"Mōryō-sama, I will handle the Priestess. Go quickly and retrieve your body."
Yomi jumped out, his long hair fluttering. His skin turned purple, and his mouth stretched into an exaggerated slit, filled with sharp fangs.
"Hmph, Yomi, you have performed well this time. When I reclaim my body and the Ghost Army tramples the Five Great Nations, the time will come to establish a dark empire that lasts a thousand years. I shall appoint you as Great General then!"
Seeing the now serious Priestess, Mōryō laughed heartily, choosing to avoid confrontation for now and retrieve his body.
His massive form shot up and flew quickly towards the distance, like a black, foggy dragon!
Yomi, at the moment Mōryō flew away, slammed his hands onto the wooden floor, creating a deep pit and making contact with the exposed earth below.
Earth Release: Earthen Corridor!
*Boom!*
Countless rocks soared up, enclosing the entire shattered hall.
Kakashi's expression was grim. He had never seen anything so bizarre.
Yomi hadn't used Earth nature chakra, yet he had used such Ninjutsu.
Was this the influence of Mōryō? Kakashi thought inwardly, while constantly dealing with the Land of Demons ninjas attacking them.
He glanced at Kiyoshi and noticed Kiyoshi always maintained a calm, composed, and unruffled expression.
"Mōryō!"
When the Priestess saw Mōryō shoot into the sky, it was too late.
This was quite awkward, as the Priestess only possessed close-combat abilities, and her seals required establishing a small barrier.
Therefore, the Priestess could only stare helplessly at the earthen walls that now surrounded the hall.
"Let's deal with these monsters first." Kiyoshi said.
In the movie, the battle took place inside a cave to prevent Mōryō from escaping.
Now that Mōryō had burst through the wooden palace and reached the open air, it was quite normal that he couldn't be contained.
Hearing this, the Priestess looked at the mutated Land of Demons ninjas.
Though called Land of Demons ninjas, they primarily followed Yomi's orders.
Yomi only outwardly obeyed the Daimyō's commands.
"We Priestesses only have Sealing abilities." The Priestess shook her head.
These byproducts of Mōryō's power had already undergone mutation with their own flesh, becoming secondary derivatives.
The Priestess's sealing ability would be greatly reduced in effectiveness against these monsters.
"Kill them quickly!" Yomi roared.
The other Land of Demons ninjas surged forward.
Yūki, who had been surrounded, was now barely conscious, his hand almost cut in half.
He desperately called for a Medical Ninja to come over.
Unfortunately, the hall was in complete disarray, and Rin couldn't attend to him.
As for Kiyoshi, he hadn't spared a thought for healing Yūki.
He simply pretended not to hear, engaging in battle with the Land of Demons ninjas.
"Fire Style: Flowing Fire!"
One of the Land of Demons ninjas raised his leg, and a ring of fire flew out in an instant.
The trajectory was aimed directly at Kurenai.
"Watch me." Asuma looked excited. Such a weak Fire Release Jutsu—wasn't this his chance to show off?
He stood in front of Kurenai, his back to her, cheeks puffed out, preparing to spit out a Fire Release.
Both the Sarutobi clan and the Uchiha clan were adept at Fire Release.
A fireball quickly erupted from Asuma's mouth, shooting toward the ninja who released the Fire Release: Flowing Fire.
"Wait!" Minato noticed something was wrong.
This Fire Release Jutsu looked rough and only D-rank on the surface.
Looking at the earthen walls that now encircled the hall, Minato instantly realized what their plan was.
If a large-scale Wind Release Ninjutsu was launched at this moment, the ring of fire would rapidly expand, scorching every spot with extreme heat!
The area was sealed off!
"Wind Release: Divine Wind."
Four Land of Demons ninjas stared at the scene, cruel smiles on their lips. They simultaneously released a powerful hurricane.
*Whoosh!*
The hurricane continually assailed them like a tornado, making everyone's clothes flap wildly.
The Priestess's *Chihaya* robe stretched taut in the strong winds, clinging to her graceful figure, clearly exposing the curves of her full, long legs!
She was also biting her lip now.
If they died here, no one would be able to resist Mōryō!
"What do we do? None of us know Fire Release."
Usually, ninjas would dodge. Only if absolutely necessary would they counter with elemental Ninjutsu.
Since Fire overcomes Wind, to resist the Wind Release Ninjutsu launched by three ninjas, they would need at least four ninjas using the same Fire Release.
Or one ninja highly proficient in Fire Release!
They were Hidden Sand ninjas. They were fine with Wind Release, but their knowledge of Fire Release was very superficial.
"No, the marker there has been destroyed. Asuma's Fire Release won't put out this wind; it will only be used against us." Minato thought to himself.
He had left Flying Thunder God Seals on all the specialized kunai, but the special kunai inserted there had just been buried by the rock walls of the Earthen Corridor.
The Flying Thunder God marker itself would not disappear, but that did not mean the object carrying it could not be destroyed.
Now, he was unable to use the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The medium carrying the Flying Thunder God Seal had been destroyed by the rock!
Asuma looked at the sudden surge of the hurricane, a drop of cold sweat running down his forehead.
This is bad!
*Damn it*, they are all using Wind Release together without honor!
Even with Kiyoshi, there were only two ninjas here who knew Fire Release!
But Asuma couldn't flee.
Kurenai was behind him.
Moreover, the entire hall was like a pot now. Wherever they were, they would be in danger.
Only those transformed monsters might be able to withstand the incredible heat of the flames.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
***
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