“Deal!” Tsunade agreed without hesitation.
“Information itself is priceless.
Giving you half is perfectly reasonable.” “Nice!” Shu snapped his fingers.
“Then let’s go big next.
First, we’ll try getting Saito Shuichi and the others out of Kurouzu-cho.” “If we actually pull it off, the Main God should reward us pretty well.” …
Several hours later.
A black sedan slowly came to a stop on the road near the outskirts of Kurouzu-cho.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Shu stared at the familiar road sign outside the window and helplessly rubbed his temples.
“This is already the third time we’ve passed this damn sign.” “Looks like my guess was right.
The space around Kurouzu-cho has already been completely sealed.” “No matter how far we drive along the road, we eventually loop back into town without even realizing it.” Tsunade’s expression wasn’t much better in the back seat.
She opened the door, stepped onto the road, and carefully sensed their surroundings.
“It’s more than simple spatial distortion.” Her tone turned grave.
“The gray-black curse energy in the air is stronger than when we first entered town.” “This curse is spreading fast.” “W-What are we supposed to do, then?” Shuichi gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“Even the road out is gone…
Does that mean we’re just trapped here waiting to die?” Kirie sat beside him, pale and silent.
She merely hugged Shuichi’s arm tightly while trembling faintly.
Tsunade looked toward Shu in the passenger seat.
“Hey, brat.
If we can’t get them out, what’s next?
Are we just going to sit around until the mission timer runs out?” Shu thought for a moment.
Since escape was no longer an option, they would have to confront the heart of the problem.
“Let’s go to Dragonfly Pond first.” “Dragonfly Pond?” Tsunade frowned.
“What’s there?” “Something very important to us.” Shu didn’t explain further and turned toward Shuichi.
“You know where it is, right?
Stop sitting there and drive.” Shuichi gritted his teeth and started the car.
Half an hour later, the sedan entered the center of town and finally stopped beside a pond.
Everyone got out.
The moment Tsunade looked at the still, lifeless water, her brows knitted together.
“This place…” She immediately sensed something wrong.
The air around the pond seemed almost stagnant, and the concentration of that deeply unpleasant curse energy was horrifyingly high.
Shu walked to the water’s edge.
“This is the source of Kurouzu-cho’s curse.” “More precisely, the source lies deep underground beneath this pond.” “There’s an ancient spiral ruin buried down there.
No one knows how long it’s existed.” “Every abnormal phenomenon in Kurouzu-cho is caused by the strange energy radiating from those ruins.” Tsunade stepped beside him and stared into the dark water.
“So you’re saying we destroy the ruins below and cut the curse off at the source?” Before Shu could answer, Tsunade shook her head without hesitation.
“Brat, get that suicidal idea out of your head right now.” “Only after getting this close did I realize how bad it is.
The curse energy here is dozens of times denser than what was inside that corpse.” “I just released a little chakra into the water as a test.” “It was assimilated almost instantly.
It didn’t even have a chance to resist.” Tsunade’s expression turned serious.
“If the surface water alone is this dangerous, diving hundreds of meters underground to destroy those ruins would be suicide with our current strength.” Shu shrugged.
“I know.
Attacking it directly is obviously impossible.” “But what if we don’t destroy it with brute force?” “What if we seal it?” “As far as I know, Konoha has a large-scale barrier technique called the Four Violet Flames Formation.
It can seal off a wide area.” “It normally requires four people casting from four corners at once, but your chakra reserves are far beyond those of an ordinary shinobi.” Shu’s gaze shifted toward the diamond-shaped mark on Tsunade’s forehead.
“If you use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and release the chakra stored inside your Yin Seal, that should give you enough power to sustain the barrier.” “We might be able to temporarily seal the curse energy radiating from the ruins.” “The Four Violet Flames Formation?” Tsunade gave Shu a long look.
“You really do know an awful lot, don’t you?” “Knowing that barrier is one thing, but you even know about my personal secret technique.” Shu pointed toward his Sharingan and gave her a meaningful smile.
Inside, he couldn’t resist praising himself.
‘I’m seriously too damn clever.’ ‘Using “my Sharingan can see the future” as an excuse was brilliant.’ ‘No matter what classified information I know, I can just blame it on my eyes!’ Tsunade fell silent for a moment.
“If those ruins extend beneath the entire town, the Four Violet Flames Formation won’t work.” “The area it can cover is too small.
It can’t seal something that large.” She shook her head, then changed direction.
“We’d need at least the higher-level Four Red Yang Formation.” “But that technique has an extremely high requirement.
Normally, it needs four people with at least Jonin-level chakra reserves casting it together.” Tsunade touched the mark on her forehead.
“If I release the Yin Seal and pour out chakra without worrying about the cost…” “I could probably force it to work.” Then she suddenly snorted and glared at Shu.
“But I really don’t like how you’ve already calculated every last trump card I have!” “Don’t worry about the little details, Tsunade-sama.” Shu smiled placatingly.
“Surviving and getting rewards is what matters.” He turned toward Shuichi and Kirie behind them.
“If we can successfully seal the ruins, even temporarily, the spatial distortion at the edge of town should weaken once the curse stops feeding it.” “And when that happens…” “That should be your chance to escape.” “Really?!” Shuichi trembled with excitement.
“That’s incredible!
We finally have a chance!” Overwhelmed by the hope of escaping certain death, Shuichi pulled Kirie tightly into his arms.
The two nearly cried from relief.
“Then let’s schedule the sealing operation for the final day,” Shu proposed.
Tsunade considered it briefly before nodding in agreement.
After all, those mysterious ruins were buried deep underground.
They knew almost nothing about what was actually down there.
And no one could say what other horrifying things might still be hiding inside.