Hozuki Castle.
Sasuke and Naruto put on prison uniforms and regained a bit of dignity.
Since both had been sent from Konoha as prisoners, they were locked up together.
"Sasuke, are you okay? You look terrible."
Naruto glanced around while asking.
Sasuke gave a cold snort and said nothing.
With his proud personality, the whole clothes-tearing incident today had been a huge humiliation.
Naruto, being thick-skinned, didn't think much of it.
"Sasuke, don't take it so hard."
He turned back and grinned.
"…"
Sasuke shot him a look and said, "We're breaking out."
Once he found the Box of Ultimate Bliss, he'd settle the score with Mui.
"Move!"
Naruto was easily carried along by the new topic, suddenly excited.
He thrust out his hands, instinctively trying to gather chakra—then froze.
"Sasuke, I don't think I can use my chakra."
Naruto gritted his teeth and tried with all his might, but it still didn't work.
Sasuke frowned, said nothing, and tried to draw chakra himself—also useless.
"It must be that Fire Release: Heavenly Prison."
He spoke evenly. "No wonder they feel safe leaving us unattended."
"What do we do then?"
Naruto scratched his head. "If we can't escape, we can't do the mission sensei gave us."
"No rush."
Sasuke thought for a moment, then suddenly activated his three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Right! Use eye techniques."
Expectancy lit up Naruto's face.
Seeing that, Sasuke tilted his chin, a bit smug and proud.
At least in this one area, he could outdo Naruto.
The very next second, he let out a scream.
His white prison garb burned away at once, and the flames turned into chains that wrapped him tight.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto reached out, but was scalded and reflexively jerked back.
"I—I'm fine."
Sasuke ground out the words between clenched teeth.
But blood welts were already rising across his skin.
Fortunately, the flames didn't last long.
"Give me your top."
Once the pain ended, Sasuke felt a bit cold.
The cold wasn't the main issue—the main issue was he was wearing nothing.
His dignity had taken another critical hit.
"Oh, oh."
Naruto immediately stripped off his shirt.
"This Heavenly Prison is a pain."
Sasuke tied the shirt around his waist like an apron. "I may need time to crack it."
Pride often goes hand in hand with stubbornness.
Especially in front of Naruto.
He absolutely refused to admit he couldn't handle this jutsu.
"Mm."
Naruto nodded and sank his consciousness into the seal space.
Given the situation, he had to flip the cheat—no, ask Mom and Dad for help.
Over the years, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina had taught him the basics.
Except Flying Thunder God and sealing arts.
Because Naruto just couldn't learn them.
If he had the talent, he wouldn't have stuck with Rasengan so doggedly in the original story.
To foster Naruto's independent combat sense, Minato and Kushina had adopted a free-range policy.
Unless it was life-and-death, they wouldn't step in.
But when it involved Natsume's mission, that was different.
Maybe Sasuke had a way, but from the looks of it, they weren't getting out any time soon.
"I've heard of the Heavenly Prison."
Minato rubbed his chin, pondered a bit, and said, "It's a kind of secret art—an imprisonment technique."
"What imprisonment? It's just Fire Release plus sealing formulas."
Kushina patted Naruto's shoulder. "At most three days. Mom will crack it for you."
"Why make it so complicated?"
Not far off, Kurama raised its head and said disdainfully, "With enough chakra, there's no jutsu you can't break through."
"But you're stuck in here."
Kushina glanced at it and smiled.
"…"
Kurama's fox face flushed. In a foxy grumble it said, "That was an accident, okay? An accident!"
Naruto suddenly noticed how much its current attitude resembled Sasuke's earlier.
"Alright, Naruto, don't mind him. Go back out and wait a while."
Kushina waved a hand. "We won't delay Natsume's mission."
"Mm."
Naruto opened his eyes again to find Sasuke looking stormy.
At the same time, the shirt he'd lent out had already been burned to shreds.
Uh…
What now?
Two guys sharing one pair of pants?
…
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the castle lord's residence was equally heavy.
Mui's hands trembled as he read the intelligence from the Hidden Grass.
The elders were dead.
He couldn't open the Box of Ultimate Bliss alone.
If he couldn't open it, he couldn't revive his son, Muku.
All his years of hard work running Hozuki Castle had turned to bubbles overnight.
Mui was unwilling to accept it.
"Who's there?"
A sudden jolt of alarm made him turn toward the windowsill.
A youth wearing a mask.
"Mui."
Natsume spoke. "Pleased to meet you."
Mui's eyes narrowed, and the white gloves on his hands immediately turned red.
Dense chakra condensed into a flaming sword that lunged at Natsume.
Fire Release: Heavenly Prison—Flame Sword!
If it hit, the target would be burned to ash.
Natsume had come uninvited and suspiciously sneaky.
He was in a foul mood and couldn't be bothered to talk—he struck first.
"That's a pretty cool move."
Natsume smiled and praised him.
The flame sword pierced through his body, but caused no harm.
"What?!"
Mui's expression changed drastically. He'd never encountered anything like this.
But he was experienced and quickly realized the issue.
An illusion? When did it happen?
Mui formed a seal and barked, "Release!"
Nothing changed.
He frowned deeply, conjured another flame sword, and hurled it.
The scene repeated.
Natsume remained unharmed.
Didn't dispel it?
Mui's face twisted in shock.
What kind of genjutsu was this?
A thin sheen of sweat appeared on his brow.
"Who are you?"
Mui stopped testing, took a deep breath, and asked, "What's your purpose in coming here?"
"The Box of Ultimate Bliss."
Natsume's tone was flat.
As expected.
Mui was silent for a few seconds, then said, "The box can no longer be opened. Even if you obtain it, it's meaningless."
"I killed the elders."
Natsume said suddenly.
"…?"
Mui stared at him and demanded, "If you knew they were needed to open the box, why kill them?"
"I think you can guess the reason, Mui."
Natsume's voice didn't ripple.
"You can perform the opening formula?"
Mui blinked, involuntary joy flickering across his face, then vanishing.
Working with those four at least left him a hope of making a wish.
But with this mysterious, overwhelmingly powerful youth, he would be at another's mercy.
How would he revive his son, Muku?
He fell into confusion.
Cooperate, and he still couldn't save Muku.
Refuse, and he'd lose his own life.
"The box can be opened multiple times. If you do something for me, you'll get a turn."
Natsume said casually.
He wasn't lying.
Opening the box required absorbing massive amounts of chakra.
With enough, it could be opened repeatedly.
But after seeing the result of the first opening, Mui would probably give up.
He still clung to hope only because he didn't know the box's true nature.
Mui's gaze hardened. He couldn't trust Natsume, but he couldn't refuse either.
Unless he could win a fight—or find four sealing experts again.
Either was extremely difficult.
"What do you want me to do?"
By asking that, he'd agreed to cooperate.
"Nothing big."
Natsume's lips curled. "Help me torment the two new prisoners who arrived today, named Musashi and Kojiro—especially the one called Kojiro."
It wasn't a kink.
First, to train his two students.
Second, to help Sasuke open his eyes early—let him take some lumps now so he wouldn't fold when absorbing the box.
Mui nodded, his eyes flickering.
He was already pondering what the two had to do with this masked enigma.
Natsume glanced at him, unconcerned with his thoughts.
The weak could think all they liked; it didn't matter.
He'd gone to such lengths simply to farm more Fate Points.
"One more thing."
Natsume said lightly, "Ryūzetsu is in Hozuki Castle right now. Capture her and hand her over to me."
Ryūzetsu?
Mui recalled she was his son Muku's friend.
Nothing he couldn't do.
"I'll find her."
Mui collected himself and returned to a blank expression.
For his son, everyone else could be sacrificed.
[Because of your actions, the fates of Mui, Ryūzetsu, Naruto, and Sasuke have changed. You gained a total of 160 Fate Points.]
Natsume nodded in satisfaction.
"I'll come find you next time."
His voice still echoed as his figure vanished.
Mui exhaled in relief.
Only then did he finally sense traces of the illusion.
He formed seals and dispelled it.
"Lord Warden?"
"You're awake! Finally awake!"
"Lord Warden, why did you cast two jutsu and then go dazed?"
"Yeah, we called and you didn't respond."
"We thought you were under genjutsu, but feeding chakra didn't work."
A chill ran through Mui.
What on earth was that man's illusion?
Why hadn't any of them noticed?
There are several ways to break genjutsu.
The simplest is to have teammates help.
Yet that method had failed on him.
"Leave me."
He ordered coldly.
After they left, he was silent for a moment, then headed to the cells.
Soon, the sounds of fists and feet clashing rang out.
Mui didn't use Fire Release—he used taijutsu to fight the two.
Even so, he pressed them hard.
Without ninjutsu and chakra, Sasuke and Naruto were far weaker.
"Useless trash."
Mui pointed at Sasuke. "Especially you."
He was carrying out Natsume's command.
"Bastard! I'll kill you!"
Sasuke lost his composure.