In the real world, Senku's eyes flickered slightly, then he descended.
Behind him, Ishishu and the others followed and landed as well.
"Master Senku, is it here?"
Ishishu was a little surprised. Their current position was still inside the Forest of Death, a place of extreme danger.
The Uchiha could come chasing after them at any moment.
"Here."
Senku replied with only that one word. Calm in tone, yet leaving no room for doubt.
Ishishu and the others could only take up positions and stay on alert.
Senku planted his tin staff into the ground beside him, lifted Naruto's clothes, and pressed one palm onto his stomach.
A massive Double Four Symbols (Eight Trigrams) Seal immediately surfaced.
Senku twisted his hand, and from within Naruto's body, an immense surge of Nine-Tails Chakra was wrenched out.
But golden chains stretched out from Senku's body, instantly binding the still unformed Nine-Tails Chakra.
Senku gestured, and Ishishu immediately lifted his own shirt.
As Senku formed hand seals, he pressed his glowing palm against Ishishu's lower abdomen.
Sarutobi Ishishu instantly felt a torrent of warm energy being poured into the sealing mark he had prepared earlier.
However, the warmth grew hotter and hotter, quickly turning into a burning pain that felt as if his body were being scorched.
"Endure it."
"Yes," At a time like this, no matter how much it hurt, he had to endure.
Senku didn't care whether Ishishu was in pain or not, he kept forcing the energy inside.
The hand pressed on Naruto's body seemed to be controlling the seal, but in truth, it was drawing the real Nine-Tails from inside Naruto into Senku's own body.
After all, without completely extracting the real Nine-Tails from Naruto, a convincing fake could not be made.
The true Nine-Tails was now in a fully compressed and sealed state; even though Senku had absorbed it into himself, not the slightest trace leaked out.
And since Sarutobi Ishishu was currently receiving the fake Nine-Tails Chakra, he naturally didn't sense anything unusual.
In less than half a minute, Senku had already stuffed all of the fake Nine-Tails into Ishishu's seal.
Ishishu's consciousness blurred from the pain; he nearly crushed his own teeth from clenching too hard, but still managed to endure it.
Yet even so, with that chakra inside him, his body felt like a furnace, unbearable to the extreme.
At that moment, the Nine-Tails had been completely extracted from Naruto's body, and his vital signs were rapidly falling.
Senku placed one hand on Naruto's abdomen and grabbed Ishishu with the other.
Ishishu felt that blazing, furnace-like energy inside him quickly diminish.
Meanwhile, within Naruto's body, faint traces of Nine-Tails Chakra began to reappear.
Sarutobi Ishishu could feel it, the Nine-Tails Chakra inside Naruto now was minuscule, only about five percent of what he himself carried.
'So… this is how a Jinchuriki is kept alive?'
"These scattered beast-type chakra residues should be enough for the child to survive the transition."
Senku explained casually, though in truth he was just patching things up.
What he injected into Naruto was actually something he had prepared beforehand. The artificial Nine-Tails Chakra from that synthetic host, Sora.
"Let's go. Someone's already coming."
As Senku rose to his feet, Rengoku's figure appeared. An overwhelming pressure of chakra pressing straight toward them.
Ishishu and the others all turned pale.
Rengoku's body flashed like lightning as he charged directly toward Naruto.
The head of one Sarutobi clansman who tried to block him was blasted into the air, blood sprayed everywhere.
Under Rengoku's Sage Mode, they couldn't even hold him for a single second.
Senku formed a hand seal and thrust his palm forward; in midair, a huge array of glowing symbols formed into a barrier wall.
Rengoku swung his blade in a horizontal slash, it was as if the air itself rippled from the force.
The glowing barrier wall bent inward like rubber under the impact.
Rengoku's expression shifted, then he stomped hard, pushing off the air and springing back.
Senku swept his sleeve, sending Naruto flying gently backward on a soft current of energy.
"Go!"
With Senku's command, Ishishu and the others immediately retreated at high speed.
Rengoku reached out and caught Naruto, completing the staged "performance."
Senku had infused Naruto with the Nine-Tails Chakra he'd taken from Sora. Since it was genuine Nine-Tails Chakra, Naruto's body felt no rejection and accepted it naturally.
After Rengoku carefully examined him, Naruto's vital signs were merely a little weak, but overall, there was no real danger.
If anything, Rengoku was left with extra Nine-Tails Chakra he had originally prepared for use, his "Nine-Tails Bond Star" reward.
He planned to feed Naruto some Water of Life, but then remembered he had already given it to Karin.
Lifting Naruto up, he swiftly headed back toward her.
By the time he returned, everyone was awake and gathered together.
Seeing Rengoku carrying Naruto, their hearts leapt into their throats.
Sasuke and Gaara both rushed forward.
Only after they saw that Naruto was breathing steadily in sleep did they finally breathe in relief.
Rengoku waved to Karin, who quickly fed Naruto a dose of the Water of Life.
Naruto slowly opened his eyes.
"Everyone… huh? Principal, you're here too."
"Nine-Ta… the Nine-Tails… the Nine-Tails?"
Naruto touched his stomach, his body felt hollow.
Before, even when he couldn't call upon the Nine-Tails' chakra, he could still sense its presence.
But now, he could only feel a faint trace of chakra, the Nine-Tails was completely gone.
Panicking, Naruto turned to Rengoku, "Principal, the Nine-Tails is gone!"
Everyone was shocked. After all, when Gaara lost his One-Tail, it had nearly cost him his life.
But Naruto was clearly fine, alive, awake, and energetic.
Rengoku nodded slightly, "The Nine-Tails in your stomach was extracted by the Third Hokage's men."
Gaara smiled in relief, "Naruto, that's great! You're not a Jinchuriki anymore."
To Gaara, a tailed beast had only ever been the source of suffering.
Knowing Naruto was now free from his, he couldn't help but feel happy for him.
But Naruto didn't smile. Over these years, he had built a bond of friendship with the Nine-Tails.
Knowing Kurama had been taken by the Third Hokage, his first feeling wasn't joy, but worry. He grabbed Rengoku's sleeve anxiously, "Principal, what will the Third Hokage do to Kurama?"
Rengoku rubbed his chin, "Hmm… most likely imprison him, then forcibly extract his power."
Naruto grew flustered, "That's not right!"
"Enough," Rengoku raised one hand, cutting off Naruto's dangerous outburst.
Though Naruto and the Nine-Tails had built some friendship, saying such things here was clearly inappropriate.
"The matter of the Nine-Tails isn't something you need to concern yourselves with."
"Given the special situation today, I'll personally judge the results of both your teams."
"You're all badly injured, return and rest now."
Naruto was still a little downhearted, but seeing that everyone had been hurt for his sake, he couldn't bring himself to argue further.
———
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the tall tower, many Uchiha examiners had gathered, together with Kakashi and Anko, to collect the bodies.
When the Uchiha examiners learned that it was their own clan leader who had killed all these people, they were both shocked and proud.
From the wounds alone, it was clear, the fight had been completely one-sided.
These men had practically thrown their lives away just to stall Rengoku.
The corpses were quickly cleaned up. They were all evidence of the Third Hokage's crimes, so they had to be preserved carefully.
Although the bodies had been removed, the bloodstains on the ground remained untouched.
When the first team reached the central tower, they were immediately startled.
So much blood, it meant either many people had died here, or a massive beast or summoned creature had fallen.
But since this was an exam, and all participants were elite among genin, none would back down just because of some blood.
Everyone cautiously proceeded into the tower.
There they discovered that most of the examiners were present, still dealing with the corpses.
Even the more curious examinees didn't dare to ask questions.
Though the exam continued, outside the testing grounds, chaos had already erupted.