Chapter 69 - 69 – Shukaku

Chapter 69 – Shukaku

At the top floor of the intelligence department, of Konohagakure, Hiruzen along with few others looked at the video on the water screen with grim faces.

Orochimaru was wearing a robe and a hat, just like a Kage, and talking with Kazekage about cooperation.

"Orochimaru…" Jiraiya watched as Orochimaru walked out of the Kazekage's room. Listening to their plans, Jiraiya frowned and turned to face Hiruzen.

"Raito," Hiruzen called out with his tired voice, as he waved his hand then turned around.

Raito nodded then canceled the Fuinjutsu. The images in the screen stopped and slowly blurred out, returning to plain water. Then, the mass of water, forming the screen lost it's shape and returned to the scroll.

As Raito started cleaning up, he looked around the room from the corner of his eyes and found the silence in the room extremely gloomy. Smart people tend to overthink and make a mess before anything else. These people in the room had already started analyzing from their field of expertise, thinking about various patterns and strategies.

Looking through the window at the village below, Hiruzen let out a deep sigh filled with exhaustion. "It has finally come to bite back."

"I should have dealt with this years ago."

Mari and Shun looked at each other in worry. Jiraiya had a constant frown in his face and, Ibiki and Inoichi stood with signs of contemplation. Even the ANBU in the room were taking secretive glances at Hiruzen, awaiting their next order.

For a long time, the room was filled with faint pressure, which shook Raito's heart. Worried sighs, hesitation, contemplation, uncertainty, and even doubt. The negative emotion gave rise to a depressive atmosphere, which in turn made Raito frown.

This war was between two forces. On one side, Sunagakure and Otogakure, and the other, Konohagakure. No one favored a war to happen, especially Konoha even more so during this recovery period, after a decade from the 'Attack of Kyūbi' and just a couple of years after the 'Uchiha massacre'.

"Jii-chan," Raito called out breaking the silence in the room. "What should I do next?"

Hiruzen turned sideways and looked at Raito. Seeing his face gave Hiruzen a little motivation on what he was supposed to do and whom he was doing this for.

"Ah, it should be coming soon," Hiruzen took a deep breath and exhaled.

Forcing his hands on the table, Hiruzen looked around with a fierce determination in his eyes.

"I wished that the new generation will not have to go through something like this but it has come to be. Although it's not a war… we will be treating it like one."

"Our priority is defense… and for that, we will be taking measures along with the civilian council. Shikaku, find someone to take lead for this."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Shikaku nodded. In wartime or any kind of threat, the priority will always be given to civilian-borne, those who cannot protect themselves and also the very people who are needed for the proper functioning of the whole village.

Shinobis, even Genins are at the middle-end of the priority list to safeguard because they are trained and even the fresh graduates from the academy will have six months of experience and grinding under their belt, which will help them survive longer.

But for everyone beyond that level are expected to take part in the operation; either rescue or fight back.

Knock, Knock.

Just when things were going on track and Hiruzen was ordering his shinobi, the door was knocked in a pattern which immediately brought silence to the room.

After the pattern was repeated three times, the door opened slightly and a woman wearing a Chūnin flak jacket popped her head in.

Standing straight, she reported, "Hokage-sama, we got a long-distance live transmission from the Daimyō palace."

"Konoha council is also called in as per Daimyō-sama's request." She added then took out a small scroll, passing it to Hiruzen.

After reading the contents of the scroll, Hiruzen returned it and gave her signal to return.

Taking the hint, the female Chūnin swiftly walked out of the room and closed the door.

"Inoichi, prepare substitutes for the Suna-shinobi. From what we know, they planned to stay in the village full time" Hiruzen started ordering his shinobi.

"Ibiki, Mari, take the recording. I need everything about Sunagakure on my desk tomorrow." Hiruzen waved at Raito, telling him to give the scroll and talisman to them.

Raito nodded and took out several talismans regarding Baki and gave them to Mari.

"Also prepare a team that will be responsible for this Suna situation."

Nodding at Hiruzen, Mari left the room with Ibiki and Anko.

"We also have three Otogakure Genin. Ask someone to deal with them." Hiruzen gave the order to the ANBU. "We need them in the future."

One by one, the shinobi in the room nodded their heads with their backs straight.

"Jiraiya, Fourth Hokage had a seal ready for that boy. Do you still have it?" Hiruzen asked with a frown as things came to complicated matters.

"I have but for that…" Jiraiya rubbed his chin and frowned, thinking of the problem that was going to pop up in this process. "It carries a huge risk."

"Take Raito with you." Hiruzen shook his head and pointed at Raito. "Modification is useless and time-consuming… just replace the seal."

"Inoichi…"

"Hey, kid, it looks like you are stuck with me." Jiraiya grabbed Raito and dashed out of the room as fast as the wind.

Seeing the image blurring, Raito immediately used '[Fast Thinking]'

Jiraiya quickly reached an empty room on the ground floor then released Raito.

Seeing Raito a little winded Jiraiya smiled inwardly and gave a laugh, "Sorry, kid. We don't want to waste time."

"I'm Raito," Raito said with an irritated tone.

"I know. Don't worry, kid. I promise you'll have tons of time to train when we finish with this sealing thing." Jiraiya took out a scroll and scribbled characters on a fresh scroll.

"I am just a beginner Sealmaster. I don't think I can be much help with this." Raito frowned as he looked around the empty room. There was another door with seals, creating a barrier between the two spaces, completely hiding what was on the other side of the door.

"Don't worry, kid." Activating the chakra, Jiraiya swiped the scroll and the characters on the scroll started distorting.

"Do you have any seals on you?" He asked after gathering all the ink on his finger, which dyed is finger black.

Raito came back to his senses and looked at Jiraiya who had a black finger. His face twitching, Raito answered, "Um… a few storage seals here and there and a few chakra storage seals."

"That's a good set for beginners. Not bad-" Jiraiya nodded but was interrupted by Raito.

"Weight training seal and Restriction seal. Oh…" Raito watched here and there as seals flashed on his body.

"Body training? Did you take that from Gai? No, he doesn't use much of Fuinjutsu."

Jiraiya sighed and shook his head. "Kids these days…"

"You sound like an old man," Raito commented but quickly shut his mouth as Jiraiya glared at him.

"Do you know about 'Barrier Fuinjutsu'?" Jiraiya asked with a bit of seriousness.

"I do." Raito nodded.

"Where we are going in is a restriction barrier. It will be a bit dangerous inside being trapped with one of the nine chakra monsters of the continent." Jiraiya explained while drawing a seal over Raito's arm.

"If it's about safety then there is no one better than me in keeping myself safe," Raito said with a smile.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and finished the seal. "This allows you to get inside and outside the barrier. Don't show it to anyone… not even to-"

A researcher rushed out with frown and worry on his face, which quickly subsided upon seeing Jiraiya. "Jiraiya-sama, you are finally here. There has been a change, that Suna–nin, he… he created a sand guard around him and nothing works. Luckily, no one is injured."

"Let's move." Jiraiya grabbed Raito's arm and dragged him inside the door

Upon crossing the barrier, Raito felt a small force pushing him back. But the seal on his arm that Jiraiya engraved, lit up, pushing the force away.

"So this is a key." Raito looked at the seal then turned his head around, finding various talisman and seals making the entire passage black with ink or so it seemed.

"This is a sealing room, you know… to do stuff that isn't for everyone's eye." Jiraiya gave a few snorting laughs as he entered the big room.

Inside the big dome-shaped room, there stood ten or so Sealmaster researchers, surrounding the center of the room, where a cocoon of sand lay still.

"That's Gaara?" Raito used '[Observe]' and found that it was indeed Gaara, enveloped in the sand.

Jiraiya walked in front of the sand cocoon and felt it. He even tried injecting chakra into the cocoon but the cocoon seems to be impenetrable. Jiraiya frowned for a second then shook his head, "It's not the boy's chakra, that's for sure."

"Jiraiya-sama," An ANBU rushed in from the passage behind then gave Jiraiya a small bow.

"You finally came?" Jiraiya clapped the ANBU's shoulder then took a few steps back. "This has nothing to do with the chakra monster but give it a try."

The ANBU nodded and started weaving hand seals, oddly to Raito, it seemed that it was going to be earth release Ninjutsu. Throwing seeds in the air, he made a Snake hand seal and released his chakra. "[Wood Release]"

"Wood Release!?" Raito jumped in shock as he watched the seeds growing green vines that thickened and formed brownish wood, which eventually wrapped around the sand.

"Surprised?" Jiraiya smirked as he looked at Raito.

"Of course I am surprised. That's wood release, same as first Hokage-sama's, Hashirama Senju." Raito shouted, pointing at the ANBU with shining eyes.

Jiraiya slapped the back of Raito's head, shutting him up. "Ow."

"It's wood release but it will not work here," Jiraiya explained with a frown as he looked at the impenetrable sand defense. "That's why we have me, a superb Sealmaster."

Taking out a scroll, brush, and ink, Jiraiya started scribbling character seals on it. "Sand manipulation is a branch of Earth manipulation, so, it is easy for me since, I am also primary earth."

"I am primary earth too," Raito mumbled while his eyes glued to the scroll.

While scribbling character seals on the scrolls, Jiraiya started explaining, "This is a three sequence Fuinjutsu. Mine is a bit different from the rest. First, I will categorize the elements that I am about to seal. With a good foundation and a little bit of special knowledge, it can be easy as breathing."

"Then the second part will be to create a foundation for a barrier. These characters represent the basic elements that are in nature, which reinforces each other." Jiraiya pointed with his left hand and explained while scribbling with his right.

Raito was dazed as he saw Jiraiya flick his brush, which forced the characters to twist and form a circle at the center. "It's just a trick."

After finishing the sealing formula, Jiraiya raised his head then looked at the sand cocoon and ANBU. "Even wood release, which is known to tame the chakra monsters and restrict chakra, cannot do anything to that thing; then it means we are dealing with something that is completely different."

"What is this 'completely different'?" Raito looked at the wood, trying to tear open the cocoon, then at the Fuinjutsu in front of Jiraiya then at his hand.

"We are one of the strongest hidden villages in the elemental nations. Do you think that this is all we can do?" Jiraiya smirked as he added a few extra character seals on the scroll. "In my life as a shinobi, I have seen all kinds of things."

"Kid, I don't usually brag but there aren't many Seamaster better than me."

Raito frowned as he looked at the extra characters on the scroll. They were 'Life', 'Blood', 'Soul', and 'Spirit'. Under each character seal, a twisted line was drawn.

"When you start reading more advanced books and experience more things, you will know," Jiraiya explained as he took out a kunai.

With a clean swipe to his palm, blood splashed on the scroll, coloring the center circle red. With a few hand seals and feeding chakra to the scroll, the blood turned into character seals that mixed with the character seals on the scroll. "This is a simple 'Enhancing' to our seal formula."

"Couldn't we have just used a Ninjutsu?" Raito looked at the blood and quickly used '[Heal]'.

Jiraiya watched in amazement as the wound on his palm disappeared rather quickly. Looking at Raito, Jiraiya felt his face twitching. "You are doing medical Ninjutsu too? And it seemed rather advanced…"

"Huh?" Raito looked at Jiraiya's face and smiled. "Of course, if ever the time comes then I don't have to depend on others."

Jiraiya was dumbfounded as a frown appeared in his face. He opened his mouth and immediately chided, "Haven't you heard 'Jack of all, King of none'? How can you waste your talents like that-"

"Jiraiya-sama, don't think too much about it or you will blow yourself." Inoichi walked in with a tired face, which still had a small smile. "Take him as a special case and ignore it."

"… Well, whatever." Jiraiya paused for a second then waved his hand, turning back to the Fuinjutsu.

By this time, Tenzō had backed out to a side and sat cross-legged. Thick wooden poles with dog heads surrounded him like guards to a carriage.

"What's that?" Raito eye fixed at the wood release Ninjutsu like a curious cat looking at a ball of yarn. He even took a couple of steps forward unknowingly towards ANBU with a big smile inside his head. 'I can learn this jutsu with '[Observe]', I need a scroll… just one wood release Ninjutsu scroll then I…'

Inoichi grabbed Raito's head and forced him to turn around. With a bit of irritation, Inoichi chided, "You can't learn that. You don't have the bloodline."

"What bloodline? And I didn't ask?" Raito shrank his neck and said with a laugh.

"But you were going to, right?" Inoichi let out a creepy smile and said. "Wood release is one of Konoha's biggest secrets and if I got to know that you told this to anybody then…"

"…" Raito laughed nervously, grabbing Inoichi's hand, which was on his head. "Inoichi-sensei, you need some sleep. Look at those eye bags and look at the wrinkles. You look older than your current age. And your skin it's so pale and it's so-"

"Just stop talking." Inoichi rubbed Raito's head forcefully then turned around to face the sand cocoon.

"I will start then." Jiraiya clapped as chakra erupted from the circle, in the scroll then targeted the sand cocoon.

Enveloped by the chakra, the sand cocoon broke little by little and the chakra linked to the scroll started dragging the sand particles to the scroll.

"It will take a long time at this pace," Raito commented, looking at the scroll and sand cocoon. It can be said that the sand was just trickling away.

"It's not usually like this." Jiraiya frowned as he increased the amount of chakra used but the speed just increased by a negligible amount.

"Give it a try then." Jiraiya gave Raito a look. He remembered that during Gaara's capture Raito had used his control over the earth elements to destroy the sand guard.

"Ok." Raito nodded then raised his hands. With palms wide open, bluish chakra covered his hand, which then turned yellow to brown to finally black. After a few seconds, a silver of golden chakra appeared at the center of his hand for a flash of a second before disappearing. "[Earth Elemental Control]"

Raito's elemental control affected the sand cocoon as trembled for a long time before breaking down in large chunks.

"It's indeed fast now." Jiraiya whistled, amazed at the speed of the cocoon breaking down and released even more chakra to feed the scroll.

"Yup, it's fast." Raito let out a stiff smile. He was forced to use way too much chakra than the last time if not for the chakra storage tags on his body and the book, hidden by the jacket, Raito may not be able to bear with the expenditure.

'Even ten thousand points of chakra is less for this glutton.' Raito gnashed his teeth and continued the skill. Now he had to take some time off from training and refill all the chakra storage.

Inoichi looked at the two in front of him, focused at breaking and sealing the sand, and then signaled for the researchers in the background to focus at him. Using the '[Mind-Voice Transmission]', he gave them instruction then looked at Tenzō.

Tenzō was at the peak of concentration with his palms thrusted forward. If looked closely, there was a character seal on his palm, 'Suppress', which glowed red, directed towards Gaara.

"Jiraiya-sama, I'll be going all out for this one. It should be the last push so, prepare yourself." Raito warned and activated all of the chakra stored on the tags and book, then used the acc.u.mulated chakra on the skill '[Earth Elemental Control]'.

With the burst of chakra from Raito, the cocoon of sand shook for a moment before breaking down into big chunks, revealing Gaara who was all curled up on the inside.

"[Fuinjutsu: Elemental Sealing]"

Swoosh!

All the sand was s.u.c.k.e.d in by the circle, in the scroll, and at end of it, there was character seal for 'Earth' on the circle, indicating successful sealing of the sand.

"Medics!" With Inoichi's shout, two of the researchers walked up and checked Gaara.

"Still alive." After checking Gaara, the researcher quickly announced it.

"And that's how you do elemental sealing." Jiraiya rolled up the scroll and tied it. But just as he was about to keep it inside his pouch, Jiraiya threw the scroll to Raito.

"Me?" Raito looked at the scroll quizzically then looked at Jiraiya. "Should we give it back to Jii-chan."

"Yeah, keep it. When you have time go through the sealing formula." Jiraiya waved his hand and walked towards Gaara. "When all this is over, you may have to give it back."

"This bit of sand?" Raito looked at the scroll for an extra couple of seconds before storing it in the inventory. He had more of Gaara's sand in his inventory, a lot more than in this scroll.

After Jiraiya finished his work, several researchers walked in with big scrolls.

"Jiraiya-sama, we have already figured out the basics of this Fuinjutsu." Opening the scroll, the characters seals, line seals and numerical seals made a complex picture. "According to Hokage-sama's instruction, we need to break this Fuinjutsu but…"

Even taking a single glance was dizzying; even thinking about deciphering the seal was just too mind-boggling for the current Raito. Even though his knowledge on Fuinjutsu was higher crossing fifty levels, he had almost no idea about the number and seals combination.

"I don't know much about numerical seals and I am just half-half on line seals," Raito confessed after looking at the complex sealing formula.

"Character seals are the basics of the basics but line and numbers depend on each other. And the Sealing formula on this level… ah, you are not even a Chūnin." Jiraiya scratched his head and sighed. "The old lady in the library will only give the books when you become a Chūnin… what a waste."

"Raito is not here for that anyway," Inoichi said as he walked towards Gaara.

"He is not!?" Jiraiya asked then added. "His Fuinjutsu is top-notch. If not for the village's limitation on Fuinjutsu…"

Raito sunk in his thoughts then his eyes landed on Gaara and Inoichi. A thought occurred to him as he voiced out the question in his head, "Then what am I here for?"

Inoichi looked at the curled up, red-headed boy with a bit of sadness in his face. For a kid like this to be put through so much trouble, every day was a torture for him, mental trauma in childhood, assassination attempts, shunned by the village, seen as a monster, feared by everyone including his own brother and sister then treated as a weapon.

In a room full of shinobi researchers, Gaara was strapped on a table with his upper body b.a.r.e. Thin needles were all over his body and when looked from above, the needles formed a special pattern.

The dome-shaped room, where this was going on, had scrolls open, and they were hanging from the top. Character seals, line seals, and numerical seals on each of the scrolls formed a sealing formula, which together complimented one another.

[Yamanaka Style - Empowerment]

[Yamanaka Style - Stabilize]

[Yamanaka Style - Barrier]

[Yamanaka Mind Force Array]

Or that's what his '[Observe]' skill told him.

"All these Fuinjutsu are Yamanaka clan's secret techniques. Only a few people other than the clan members know about this." Inoichi commented, looking at the scrolls hanging from the ceiling. "Prepare yourself."

"Prepare what? Prepare to mind walk?" Raito looked at Gaara with a frown.

"Haha," Inoichi laughed, feeling refreshed then added. "That's what we are gonna do."

"We are gonna dive in straight to his core mindscape this time."

"Sensei, what about tailed beast… I mean, Shukaku. Isn't he dangerous?" Raito asked, his mind conjuring Shukaku as tall as the Kyūbi, a big shadowy figure with a long and huge tail.

He turned towards Inoichi and said, "Didn't you tell me not to enter Naruto's mind… reason being that the nine-tails is extremely dangerous."

"Don't worry Shukaku is harmless compared to Kyūbi," Inoichi reassured.

"I also saw that report file, sensei." Raito felt his face twitching as he looked at the shameless Inoichi.

"That's what these scrolls are for… and believe it or not these tailed beast are not as dangerous as you think," Inoichi reassured.

"Hmph, as long as they are in that cage." Jiraiya snorted. Just remembering the day, twelve years ago, when he had returned from a mission to see the broken village, dead shinobi and civilians, made Jiraiya breathing rough.

A massacre.

Destruction.

Hundreds and thousands of people lost their lives, and many were crippled.

Son, daughter, mother, and father. Brothers and sisters. Husband and wife. Newborn and elderly.

From a monster's perspective, none of them mattered. As it swiped with his claws and slammed its tails, jumped and crashed on a ground like playing on mud, hundreds or even thousands, lost their lives, in an instant.

A creature, capable of this feat… a creature that had changed the lives of countless people, how can one not hate it, and at the same time fear it, that it will once again do the same?

"This one-tailed will come out of its cage and create devastation upon the people of Konoha."

"When we finish this seal, we can say that we saved the lives of half of the people in Konoha."

The researchers voiced out their thoughts and Raito looked at them stupidly.

"We can't rest… we have war at bay, an unstable Jinchūriki in the village and a former elite shinobi turned rogue against us and possibly hundred thousand of enemy shinobi ready to pounce at us." Inoichi's hand tightened and several people in the room flinched, hearing the true situation they were facing.

"When you put it that way… it seems that we are in trouble." Raito clenched his fist as he took out the last of his chakra storage tags from his inventory.

"Yes, we are." Inoichi sighed as his hand fell in exhaustion.

"But, Jiraiya-sama, aren't you supposed to be stronger than Orochimaru? And isn't Sunagakure strapped for cash because of the mercenary guild in their capital? And… and isn't Otogakure just a newly established village, which…?"

At first, Raito's voice was clear and collected but as he kept on asking, his voice trembled and at the end turned into a whisper.

The room of researchers were not only focused on research but also were smart people, who had enough life experience. Everyone understood what was going to happen and what outcome there were going to be. Since the opponent was ready to go against Konoha, they should have considered these things and prepared for that.

Since a thirteen-year-old can speak those words, why couldn't the combined forces of the evil knocking at Konoha's door not have even thought about that?

"Inoichi-sama, everything is ready according to what you said but…" One of the researchers broke the thinking status chain and walked forward, reporting their current status. But while reporting about the Fuinjutsu and the Yamanaka members at bay to fortify the seal, he kept giving Raito side glances.

The Yamanaka researcher knew that whatever the duo were going to do, he had no authority to stop and override it. But still, he couldn't worry about the outsider gaining knowledge of their clan secret and stealing a valuable opportunity such as this.

"Don't worry about it." Inoichi sighed and signaled him to go back.

The researcher sighed and shook his head as he walked back towards the group of fellow researchers. "The elders are not going to be happy."

"Raito, get ready," Inoichi called then signaled to Tenzō.

"Hai," Raito nodded and walked forward. By this time, his chakra pool had completely filled and was ready to work… but wasn't this teacher of his supposed to say what he was about to do exactly?

Wooden platforms rose around Gaara and the scrolls were placed on top of the platform. Inoichi jumped lightly and sat on the scroll, signaling Raito to do the same.

The researcher sighed as he placed the scroll on the block. Turning to face Inoichi, he voiced out his thoughts. "It would be better if-"

"It's Hokage-sama's order." Inoichi sighed and said with a bit of irritation. "If you have any complaints, tell Hokage-sama about it."

"…" The researcher turned around and walked back.

"What's all this about?" Raito sat cross-legged on the scroll and asked. Clearly, the Yamanaka researchers didn't want him to do this and even wanted someone from the clan or relative in his stead.

"Nothing," Inoichi answered plainly then patted the scroll below. "Start creating your construct. We are jumping directly to the core of Gaara's mindscape."

"Then what am I going to do exactly when I get in?" Raito asked.

"Don't ask too much." Inoichi gave Raito a stern glare then started constructing his mental avatar.

"Well, whatever." Raito shrugged in annoyance and started creating his own construct. "[Construct - Avatar]"

Chakra rushed towards Raito's forehead. Invisible to all eyes, a miniature version of Raito walked out of Raito's forehead, giving his surrounding a quick sweep.

"Activate the seal on the scroll with your construct and it will send you directly to Gaara's mindscape." A miniature Inoichi instructed then activated the seal before disappearing.

"Why is sensei in such a hurry? He is breaking his own rules." Raito frowned as he activated the seal on the scroll then disappeared.

Splash

With a splash, Raito appeared in a big cave with nothing much to see. There was water on the floor and torch lights on the sides and a long pathway.

"One nasty mindscape." Raito pulled back his leg, ready to use chakra to step on water.

"Don't waste your chakra on useless things." Inoichi grabbed Raito and pulled him, a bit forcefully.

"Hey, Sensei, you are acting weird." Raito looked at Inoichi, who still had a frown in his face, and asked, "Now can you tell me why I am here?"

"We need to get some of Shukaku's chakra to use in Fuinjutsu," Inoichi answered Raito nonchalantly.

"And?"

"You are going to be the one to extract Shukaku's chakra," Inoichi said as he stopped in front of a huge door.

Raito stopped and looked at Inoichi dumbfounded.

"What are you doing? Come." Inoichi frowned and pulled Raito.

"I'm out." Raito shook his head wildly.

"You can't." Inoichi sighed then after a bit of hesitation added. "In the future, you are going to look after these things… like Kyūbi and Naruto."

Raito forcefully turned his hand and grabbed Inoichi's wrist. With a bit of aggressiveness, Raito asked, "What will happen to Naruto?"

"…" Inoichi looked at his wrist and smiled weakly. "Raito-"

"Explain," Raito stood still like a pole jammed on the earth below.

Inoichi sighed and exhaled, "The nine tails inside Naruto… a time may come when Naruto will give in to that monster and the nine-"

"He won't." Raito interrupted but Inoichi just continued.

"And nine tails will overtake Naruto's body. Time will come when the seal inside Naruto will break, releasing it to the village and the continent."

"… And me? What am I supposed to do?" Raito asked with a frown.

"For now we still have Jiraiya-sama and a few people, who can seal Kyūbi but Hokage-sama said that it would be a good experience for you… to meet with the chakra monster and experience what it's really like." Inoichi turned back and pushed the door revealing a dark room.

Just as Raito and Inoichi was about to open the big door, notifications popped up one after another.

"It's not safe at all." Raito cried out.

[Caution!]

[You are about to enter a special space.]

[Special space has several restrictions.]

[Not having the 'Mark of Sand' decreased your total stat by 10%.]

[Not having the 'Chakra of Shukaku' decreased your total stat by 10%.]

"Gurrr!!"

A pair of big beady patterned pupils focused on Raito and Inoichi as hot air rushed out, bringing with it a sense of dread.

Swish, Bang!

Swish, Bang!

With each bang, Raito could feel his heart trembling strongly.

The water rushed out of the darkroom splashing onto them but strangely, it didn't wet them.

"That is Shukaku, one-tailed sand spirit." Inoichi stepped in the darkroom, dragging the paralyzed Raito.

[Shukaku Lvl ??]

[Ichibi, Shukaku the Sand Spirit, Monster Tanuki]