Chapter 572: Thoughts, Suppression, and Absorption

On the other side.

Minato Namikaze finally snapped out of his shock.

Before their departure, Hiruzen Sarutobi had provided him with intelligence on Uchiha Seimei. According to the information, Seimei possessed a jutsu of devastating power.

Initially, Minato thought the reports were exaggerated.

However, after witnessing Seimei's "Wind Release: Rasenshuriken" and the sorry state of the Six-Tails after being struck, he realized the report not only wasn't exaggerated but had perhaps underestimated Seimei's capabilities.

Only then did Minato truly grasp the extent of Seimei's talent.

With his keen perception, Minato easily recognized that the foundation of "Wind Release: Rasenshuriken" was the Rasengan.

When he first discovered that Seimei could also perform the Rasengan, he was impressed, especially after witnessing Seimei use it in battle.

At that time, however, Minato merely thought Seimei was talented.

He assumed Seimei had likely seen him or Jiraiya perform the Rasengan at some point and gained inspiration to develop his own version.

Though remarkable, Minato still found this within an acceptable range of talent. After all, the creation of a jutsu relied heavily on inspiration—without it, no progress could be made.

But now, Seimei had advanced the Rasengan even further. This was no longer something that could be dismissed with a simple "impressive," even if Seimei had borrowed inspiration.

After all, neither Minato nor Jiraiya had achieved this step.

This alone was enough to highlight the extraordinary.

Furthermore, there was Seimei's "Wind Release: Wings of the Wind."

This flight jutsu had already gained a fearsome reputation on the battlefield.

It was almost certain that this technique was another of Seimei's original creations.

And then, there was yet another jutsu Minato had just witnessed—a technique that protected Seimei's entire body, seemingly inspired by the Tailed Beast Cloak.

These accomplishments transcended the realm of genius; they bordered on monstrous.

Yet, when Minato thought of the strained relationship between the village and the Uchiha clan, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

Though he wasn't fully aware that Seimei had already been targeted multiple times by Danzo and his Root division, as Sarutobi's favored successor, Minato had access to information far beyond that of a typical Jonin.

After reviewing the reports submitted by Shikaku Nara, Minato had noticed troubling patterns—signs that someone was deliberately targeting Uchiha Seimei.

This inevitably led him to think of the long-standing tensions between the village and the Uchiha clan.

Clearly, there were individuals within the village who did not want a genius—no, two geniuses—from the Uchiha clan to rise.

Minato recalled another Uchiha prodigy who was as renowned as Seimei.

But what purpose did these machinations serve other than to deepen the divide between the village and the Uchiha clan?

In Minato's opinion, the village should focus on embracing such geniuses. By doing so, they could use these individuals as bridges to influence the Uchiha clan and, over the course of a decade or two, gradually ease tensions between the two sides.

"Ah," Minato sighed softly, pulling himself from his thoughts.

He shook his head to dispel his wandering mind and refocused on the Six-Tails.

Originally, Minato had planned to work with Seimei to weaken the Six-Tails before using his full power to seal it.

Now, it seemed unnecessary.

Seimei's recent attack had struck a vital point.

The Six-Tails was not only in immense pain but also visibly unstable.

Its body appeared to be melting, with copious amounts of mucus sloughing off its form. The beast seemed to be shrinking.

At this moment, sealing it with an appropriate technique should be straightforward.

Acting without hesitation, Minato threw two shuriken toward the left and right of the Six-Tails.

Then, forming hand seals, he used the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Poof!

With a puff of chakra smoke, Minato split into four, creating three shadow clones.

The clones, without needing his orders, used the Flying Raijin Jutsu to appear around the Six-Tails, flanking it from all sides.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Minato had earlier embedded a kunai marked with the Flying Raijin formula near the Six-Tails.

Now, including himself and the two shuriken he had just thrown, the original Minato and his three clones perfectly surrounded the Six-Tails.

Sensing danger, the Six-Tails swung its tails toward them, aiming to crush them.

However, it was too slow.

Before its tails could land, Minato and his clones finished their hand seals and activated the sealing technique.

Clink, clink!

The sound of chains echoed.

Eight chakra chains inscribed with sealing runes shot from the hands of Minato and his clones.

Six chains wrapped around the Six-Tails' tails, immobilizing them and suppressing its chakra.

Seizing the moment, Minato directed the remaining two chains to coil around the Six-Tails' neck and abdomen.

With that, the Eightfold Sealing Chains restrained the Six-Tails entirely, leaving it almost motionless.

Watching this, Seimei couldn't help but think of the sealing jutsu used earlier by the four ninja team.

Clearly, Minato's sealing technique was derived from the Uzumaki clan's special sealing art—Adamantine Sealing Chains.

Considering Kushina Uzumaki's heritage and Minato's talent in sealing techniques, Seimei guessed that Minato had likely modified the jutsu himself.

Its effectiveness was nearly identical to the original Adamantine Sealing Chains, capable of suppressing a Tailed Beast completely.

Unfortunately, sealing techniques leaned more toward theoretical knowledge rather than practical skill. Even the Sharingan couldn't copy them.

Otherwise, with this technique, Seimei would find handling Tailed Beasts far easier in the future.

As Seimei mulled this over, the Six-Tails seemed to sense its impending fate and began thrashing wildly.

Having just escaped confinement, it was desperate not to be sealed again so quickly.

Roar!

A furious roar erupted from its mouth.

The beast's chakra surged violently, straining the eight chains to their limit. The sealing runes flickered ominously, as if on the verge of breaking.

"Jonin Seimei!"

Minato called out to Seimei below, seemingly requesting his assistance.

But before he could finish his sentence, Seimei had already flown to the top of the Six-Tails' head.

Ignoring the beast's wrathful gaze, Seimei quickly formed hand seals and pressed his palm against the Six-Tails.

"It all depends on this," Seimei murmured seriously.

In the next moment, Chakra Absorption Jutsu activated!

Instantly, the dense and heavy chakra unique to a Tailed Beast was forcibly drawn into Seimei's body.

A violent surge of mental energy assaulted his mind, leaving him momentarily dazed.

Fortunately, having used the Sharingan to control the Six-Tails before, Seimei had experienced such pressure and quickly regained his composure.

Without acknowledging Minato's astonishment, Seimei focused entirely on absorbing and converting the Six-Tails' chakra.

The results were promising. Even at Level 6, the Chakra Absorption Jutsu could still siphon Tailed Beast chakra.

However, the process was far from ideal.

First, Seimei had to endure the mental onslaught of the Tailed Beast's will. This was unlike absorbing chakra from humans, where the spiritual imprints were erased during conversion.

The Chakra Absorption Jutsu had been designed to handle human chakra specifically, ensuring no residual spiritual traces remained.

While Seimei had refined it to perfection, adapting it for Tailed Beast chakra required further modification.

The experience gained from this encounter would prove invaluable when advancing the jutsu to Level 7, where these issues could potentially be resolved.

Moreover, Seimei noted the technique's efficiency had significantly dropped.

Previously, he could absorb 2,000 chakra points per second from human targets, but now it was reduced to just 500 per second.

Although this rate wasn't slow, Seimei found it unsatisfactory and aimed to improve it.

On the bright side, the conversion rate remained relatively unaffected, dropping only slightly from 100% to 90%.

This confirmed that, fundamentally, the energy composition of Tailed Beast and human chakra was similar, facilitating the conversion process.

While Seimei conducted his experiment, the Six-Tails was on the brink of madness.

Already suppressed by the sealing jutsu, its chakra reserves were rapidly drained by Seimei's relentless absorption.

Despite its fury, the combined efforts of Minato and Seimei left the beast powerless to resist, unable to even muster its ultimate technique—the Tailed Beast Bomb.