Shaking his head quietly, Seimei dismissed his stray thoughts. He stepped forward to face Shemu, ignoring the various expressions on his opponent's face. Without hesitation, he raised his hand to form a seal and unleashed a ninjutsu technique—Chakra Absorption Jutsu!
Slap!
His palm landed on Shemu's shoulder.
In an instant, the chakra that Shemu had painstakingly gathered within his body surged out like a floodgate being opened, draining rapidly.
Seeing this all-too-familiar scene, Shemu's expression darkened to the point where it seemed like water might drip from his face.
Initially, after receiving some hints from Seven-Tails, he had come up with a few ideas.
But now…
Without chakra, what could he possibly do?
Seimei paid no mind to Shemu's reaction. After draining his opponent's chakra, he struck with his palm, knocking Shemu unconscious.
As the saying goes, "Even a lion uses full force when hunting a rabbit."
Although Seimei was certain that Shemu couldn't escape or resist, he still took precautions, ensuring there was no chance of retaliation.
Once he confirmed that Shemu was fully unconscious, Seimei wasted no time and immediately dispelled the "Curse Restraint Formation" on the ground.
Clank!
A sound resembling the rattling of chains echoed through the underground chamber.
Nine chakra chains that had been restraining Shemu from all directions withdrew from his body, coiling back and disappearing.
With the restraints gone, Shemu's body collapsed onto the ground.
Seimei grabbed him and carried him in front of the giant scroll.
Then, he pulled up Shemu's shirt, revealing the "Eight Trigrams Seal" on his abdomen.
Gazing at the seal, Seimei's eyes flickered. Without hesitation, he swiftly formed another hand seal and pressed his palm against Shemu's stomach, breaking the Eight Trigrams Seal.
At that moment, the malicious chakra of the Tailed Beast erupted like a tidal wave, instantly flooding the entire underground space.
Simultaneously, a thick, dark-red chakra surged from Shemu's body. It was so dense that it looked almost like a liquid, wrapping around him like a protective cloak.
With this, it would no longer be easy to kill Seven-Tails simply by killing Shemu.
But would Seimei even take that approach?
The answer was obvious—no.
Feeling the immense, almost tangible pressure radiating from Seven-Tails, Seimei remained unfazed, unleashing his own chakra pressure, which was no weaker than his opponent's.
Seimei could clearly sense that the moment his chakra erupted, the rate at which Seven-Tails was breaking free from the seal suddenly slowed.
However, this was Seven-Tails' final struggle—it was not about to give up.
After a brief pause, its chakra burst forth with even greater intensity.
In the blink of an eye, the dark-red chakra surrounding Shemu's body took the shape of Seven-Tails. Behind him, two solid tails and five translucent ones extended, forming a total of seven tails.
Seimei glanced at the seven tails but made no move to stop it. Instead, he locked eyes with Seven-Tails' compound insect-like eyes and silently watched, waiting for it to break free.
His composed demeanor reflected his absolute confidence in his own strength.
However, in Seven-Tails' eyes, Seimei's calmness was nothing more than arrogance and blatant disrespect.
"Hmph!"
A cold snort exploded in Seimei's ears, causing his eardrums to ache.
He furrowed his brows slightly but remained silent, continuing to wait.
In truth, he didn't have to wait long—within moments, Seven-Tails had solidified another two tails.
Its body also grew significantly larger.
At the same time, it launched an attack.
Countless specks of glowing dust filled the air. The chakra it had just released had somehow transformed into countless toxic scales.
These scales weren't just poisonous; they also had a powerful hallucinogenic effect.
Under Seven-Tails' control, the scales surged forward like a blizzard, aiming straight for Seimei.
Seeing this, Seimei's eyes gleamed.
Without bothering to counter the hallucination effect, he swiftly formed another hand seal and activated a wind-style jutsu—Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
Whoosh!
A powerful gust of wind burst from his mouth, scattering the airborne scales instantly.
However, these weren't ordinary scales—they were formed from shaped chakra.
With just a single thought, Seven-Tails reabsorbed the scattered scales back into chakra.
Then, just as Seimei's Wind Release technique subsided, Seven-Tails reformed the scales, filling the air with an even greater storm of poisonous dust.
Seeing this, Seimei frowned slightly. After a moment of thought, he used Chakra Cloak Jutsu, forming a protective layer around his body to shield himself from the poison.
Then, he formed another hand seal and activated Fire Release: Majestic Dragon Fire Jutsu!
"Inhale..."
Seimei took a deep breath.
Then, combining it with fire-style chakra, he exhaled, creating three massive fire dragons.
The dragons roared forward from three directions—left, center, and right—burning everything in their path.
The incoming scales disintegrated instantly upon contact with the fire.
Sensing the danger, Seven-Tails flapped its wings at high speed, narrowly dodging between the gaps of the fire dragons.
Not only that, but it also accelerated the pace of breaking the seal—its five solid tails transformed into six within the blink of an eye.
Now, it only needed one more tail to fully restore its original massive form and break free completely.
At that point, even if it couldn't defeat Seimei, it was confident it could escape.
And now, Seimei no longer had time to stop it.
As it watched the poisonous scales engulf Seimei, Seven-Tails couldn't help but want to laugh.
However, at that moment, it suddenly noticed something unusual—
Seimei's eyes had somehow transformed into Mangekyō Sharingan.
Not only that, but the entire environment felt strangely unreal.
"What's going on?"
A sense of dread crept into Seven-Tails' heart—it instinctively sensed danger.
And then—
Like a shattered mirror, the world around it suddenly collapsed.
Seven-Tails snapped back to reality.
Looking around—
There were no poisonous scales.
No fire dragons.
As a beast with some skill in illusion techniques itself, Seven-Tails immediately realized—
It had been caught in a genjutsu.
Its heart turned cold. It instinctively wanted to strike Seimei.
But then—
It suddenly noticed something else.
Its seventh tail… had already solidified.
Yet, based on its previous estimates, it should have still needed more time.
In other words—even its perception had been manipulated.
"No!"
A sudden realization struck Seven-Tails. It opened its mouth, preparing to unleash a Tailed Beast Bomb to break free by force.
But—
It was too late.
Seimei smirked as yin and yang chakra orbs appeared in the air.
"Trying to run now? Too late!"
He swiftly formed a hand seal, activating the "Universal Seal of Absolute Containment" within the massive scroll.
At that moment—
Countless sealing symbols glowed and spread across the ground, walls, and ceiling.
With Seimei continuously pouring chakra into them, the seals came to life, forming phantom-like chains that wrapped around Seven-Tails.
A powerful sense of doom filled Seven-Tails.
It tried to flap its wings to escape—but found itself completely paralyzed.
At the same time, a strong force pulled it toward a silver-white metal sphere the size of a fist.
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