Three days passed in a flash.
In the small training ground behind the orphanage, a figure moved as fast as lightning. Faint azure electric sparks jumped and flickered around his body, emitting crackling sounds.
It was Sora.
His footwork changed with each step. Every movement stirred up a sharp gust of wind. His speed was noticeably faster than three days ago, by more than just a step.
"Huh."
Sora stopped moving, let out a long breath, and the lightning on his body surface gradually faded.
"As expected of the ultimate secret technique of the Raikage lineage. It truly is powerful."
Feeling the abundant stamina within his body and only a slightly accelerated heartbeat, a trace of satisfaction appeared on Sora's face.
This Lightning Release Chakra Mode was practically tailor made for him.
For an ordinary ninja who obtains the training method, without a powerful physique and sufficient recovery ability, let alone achieving minor mastery, even getting started is difficult. The slightest carelessness can damage muscles and chakra pathways.
But Sora was different.
The formidable physique and super recovery ability brought by the Azure Dragon Fruit allowed him to ignore this level of strain.
Coupled with his natural affinity for lightning power, his training was doubly effective with half the effort.
In just three short days, he had already entered the hall and reached the minor mastery stage.
His speed, reaction, and strength had all seen significant improvements.
If he were to open the Eight Gates now, and use Beast Transformation along with Super Strength, the combined power of all four...
Sora felt that even Uchiha Madara's Susanoo probably couldn't withstand a single punch.
However, Sora quickly suppressed the impulse to try it immediately.
Right now, there was an even more important matter that needed to be resolved. The Curse Tongue Eradication Seal on Nonō.
This seal, placed by Danzo, was like a time bomb. Not only did it bind Nonō's freedom, it also threatened her life safety at all times.
Until it was removed, Sora could not feel at ease.
"It's time to go to the Anbu."
His current knowledge of sealing techniques mainly came from studying the Four Symbols Seal and the Contract Seal earlier, for the Dragon Vein.
Although they were all advanced, complex and profound sealing techniques, they leaned towards sealing energy and physical entities. They were different in principle and focus from seals like the Curse Tongue Eradication Seal, which acts on the tongue and carries a curse and silencing nature.
To break it, he needed a broader foundation of sealing technique knowledge as a basis.
Thinking of this, Sora delayed no further. After tidying up a bit, he set off for the Anbu headquarters.
...
Anbu Underground Headquarters.
Descending the familiar stone steps, that feeling of being strictly monitored assaulted him again.
Sora's expression was calm, long accustomed to it.
He skillfully arrived at that heavy iron door engraved with sealing formulas.
On duty today was still that Anbu clerk wearing the Suzuka mask.
"Green Snake, sir."
Suzuka's voice was flat and monotone, the same as before, just with "sir" added after "Green Snake."
Sora presented his identity token and directly stated his purpose.
"I need to look up some scrolls and materials regarding sealing techniques."
He did not specifically mention the Curse Tongue Eradication Seal. That would be too obvious a target and could arouse unnecessary suspicion.
Suzuka took the token to verify it, nodded, and opened the sealed iron door.
"The rules are the same as usual. One hour. Requires expenditure of Anbu Merit Points."
Suzuka explained routinely.
"Understood. Thank you."
Sora nodded and stepped into the stone room filled with scrolls and an old smell.
This time, his goal was clear. He directly headed towards the areas marked with labels like "Sealing Techniques," "Cursed Seals," "Restrictions," and so on.
The number of scrolls here was noticeably much smaller than in the attack ninjutsu area.
Sora began patiently browsing the catalogs.
"Evil Sealing Method," "Four Limbs Heavy Seal," "Five Elements Seal"... One after another, names of sealing techniques, some familiar, some unfamiliar, came into view.
He looked very carefully, his brain operating rapidly, screening knowledge that might be helpful in cracking the Curse Tongue Eradication Seal.
'The Curse Tongue Eradication Seal is a cursed seal developed by Danzo. The core is sealing speech. Once triggered, it paralyzes the body, and may even directly silence the target.'
Sora searched while recalling information about this seal from the original work in his mind.
'To break it, one cannot use brute force. One must understand its operating principles and find its flaws.'
Time passed minute by minute.
Sora browsed through several thick catalog booklets. He even checked the introductions of some B rank and C rank sealing technique scrolls. But he did not find any records directly related to "Curse Tongue Eradication" or similar functioning cursed seals.
'As expected. Something involving core control and secrecy like this wouldn't be easily placed here.'
Sora was not discouraged. This was within his expectations.
He changed his train of thought and began searching for those basic sealing techniques and theoretical scrolls that could be understood by analogy.
...
Finally, on one shelf, Sora found two scrolls that seemed quite valuable.
One was Analysis of Ancient Cursed Seal Runes. It contained some ancient, even lost, cursed seal runes, along with simple analysis and speculation.
The other was A Shallow Analysis of Chakra Contract and Forced Binding Principles. It mainly discussed the theoretical basis and application cases of establishing contracts through chakra and imposing forced binding.
These two scrolls did not directly teach how to perform or break a specific sealing technique. Instead, they analyzed cursed seals and seals from a more fundamental, more theoretical perspective.
This was exactly what Sora currently needed.
He didn't need, nor did he expect, to get a ready made solution. He needed knowledge and ideas to help him understand the composition of the Curse Tongue Eradication Seal, thereby finding a way to break it.
"I choose these two."
Sora took the two selected scrolls to Suzuka.
Suzuka glanced at the scroll labels and said plainly,
"Analysis of Ancient Cursed Seal Runes, B rank access, requires 600 Anbu Merit Points. A Shallow Analysis of Chakra Contract and Forced Binding Principles, B rank access, requires 500 Anbu Merit Points. Confirm the exchange?"
"Confirm."
Sora nodded without hesitation.
Suzuka said no more. He took the scrolls, registered them, and deducted the corresponding Anbu Merit Points.
"Borrowing period is one month. Return upon expiration. You know the rules."
He handed the scrolls to Sora.
"Understood. Thank you."
Sora took the scrolls, carefully stored them, and turned to leave the Anbu base.
Walking out of the dark underground, Sora touched the two scrolls inside his clothes. A flash of determination passed through his eyes.
'I hope to find useful things from within.'
...
By the time he returned to the orphanage, it was already afternoon.
In the courtyard, Nonō was leading Yumi and Ayumi in airing out bedding.
Seeing Sora return, she smiled gently.
"You're back?"
"Yes."
Sora nodded, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment, confirming her complexion was still good.
"Sora, big brother." Yumi and Ayumi ran over happily.
Sora patted the heads of the two little girls and said to Nonō,
"Sister, I have the next three days off. I plan to go into seclusion to cultivate the new things I obtained."
Nonō nodded understandingly.
"Go ahead. Pay attention to balancing work and rest. I'll call you at mealtimes."
She didn't ask further. Regarding Sora's cultivation, she had always been supportive.
Sora returned to his room, closed the door properly, and sat cross legged on the bed. He first adjusted his mental state to be as still as an ancient well without waves.
Then, he first took out the scroll A Shallow Analysis of Chakra Contract and Forced Binding Principles.
He slowly unrolled it.
The handwriting on the scroll was very neat, carrying an academic rigor.
"Chakra, the fusion of mental energy and physical energy... The essence of a contract is the resonance and constraint of chakra... Forced binding is the imposition of unilateral or unequal rule force based on this..."
Sora read word by word, sentence by sentence. His brain operated rapidly, understanding and absorbing this theoretical knowledge.
'According to this theory, the Curse Tongue Eradication Seal is an extremely powerful unilateral forced binding contract.
Using the caster's (Danzo's) chakra as the source, a rule barrier is constructed on the recipient's (Nonō's) tongue. Once the condition "reveal Root's secrets" is triggered, the barrier activates and executes the command of "paralyze" or "destroy".
'The key to breaking it might lie in interfering with the judgment of this rule, or... severing that chakra connection that serves as the "source"?'
Sora seemed thoughtful.
Forcibly severing Danzo's chakra connection wasn't difficult given his current strength, as long as he could find Danzo.
But the seal had been in place for years and had already entangled to some degree with Nonō's own chakra.
Forcibly severing it could very likely harm Nonō herself.
So, the remaining line of thought was to understand the composition of this "rule barrier," find a flaw from within, or... use a stronger "rule" to overwrite it?
Sora rubbed his temples, feeling his thoughts were somewhat tangled.
He put down the first scroll and picked up the second one, Analysis of Ancient Cursed Seal Runes.
This scroll was even older, the material somewhat yellowed.
It recorded many strangely shaped runes. Some resembled flames, some snakes, and some were completely abstract combinations of lines.
Sora's gaze swept over these runes one by one, trying to find something useful among them.
After a long time, his gaze finally settled on a rune that looked like "chains coiling around a blurred vocal organ."
The annotation below read.
"Suspected to be related to 'silencing,' 'contract cage.' Energy attributes lean towards Yin Release, spiritual binding..."
Sora's spirits lifted.
The structure of this rune bore some resemblance to the cold Yin chakra fluctuations emitted by the mark on Nonō's tongue.
He immediately concentrated all his mental energy and began carefully studying every stroke of this rune, the speculated paths of energy flow, and the several cracking ideas noted beside it.
...
Time flew by in focused study.
Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened.
But Sora remained completely unaware, fully immersed in the sea of sealing and cursed seal knowledge constructed by these two scrolls.
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