"Godfather, what’s this Saturn Seal all about? It looks quite similar to the Format Ring’s technique!"
In the private study of the Great Immortal Huang at Xuanyuan Mound, Jing Hang held a worn-out book titled Ancient Marvelous Techniques: A Compendium and asked curiously.
"Bring it here. Let me take a look."
The Great Immortal Huang, lying lazily on a rocking chair and half-asleep, stretched out his hand. He took the book from Jing Hang with little enthusiasm.
"This, huh? It’s just like that Format Ring—another one of those shady, smoke-and-mirrors forbidden sealing techniques that require human sacrifices."
"Exactly. It’s written right here, isn’t it? ’Two Yin, two Chen, one You, five men in total, arranged in a pentagram formation, each occupying the positions of Water and Earth to complete the ring... By sacrificing lives, the seal is formed. Even someone with the strength to move mountains and cross seas would be bound by it.’ Hah! Sounds impressive, but it’s really just that—overhyped. The cost is too high, its use is too niche, and it’s too easy to break. Not worth much."
The Great Immortal Huang yawned, clearly unimpressed.
"What if I encounter it? How do I break it?" Jing Hang asked.
"Use your head, you blockhead! This sealing technique is obviously outdated. It was probably developed before the Shadow Clone Jutsu was even invented.
If you reverse-engineer the structure of the technique, you’ll see it’s designed to seal chakra energy as its target. The seal has vulnerabilities both above and below it. Here’s what you do: create a shadow clone with the same amount of chakra as yourself to act as the target for the seal. Then, have your main body either escape into the sky or burrow underground. That way, you’ll be safe."
"But wouldn’t that mean losing half of my chakra?" Jing Hang asked.
"What else do you expect? Without a chakra target, this seal will keep tracking you. Even though it’s outdated, if you get caught by it, you’re done for. Chakra can regenerate over time, but you only have one life. Can’t you do the math?"
The Great Immortal Huang waved him off impatiently and turned over to continue his nap.
A massive rock golem slowly retreated, revealing a scattered pile of iron sand on the ground. Akatsuchi carefully observed the pile, which seemed to have lost all its vitality, not even trembling in the slightest.
"You, come here!" Akatsuchi gestured to Darnell.
Darnell reached into his pocket and pulled out a peculiar clay figurine after a moment.
The clay figurine instantly grew to human size and began digging ferociously into the pile of iron sand.
Both Akatsuchi and Darnell instinctively stepped back two paces, with one controlling the clay figure and the other activating the Earth Fist Technique to remain on guard.
Suddenly, the clay figure seemed to have unearthed something—a humanoid shape!
"Pull it out!" Akatsuchi ordered.
Darnell nodded and manipulated the clay figure to grab the humanoid figure’s legs, dragging it out of the iron sand.
It was none other than Jing Hang!
"We got him!" Akatsuchi exclaimed excitedly. Despite the cost of five lives, sealing the Kazekage was undoubtedly a worthwhile trade.
"Do you really think it’ll be that easy?"
A voice suddenly emerged from underground, and another Jing Hang burst forth. The one on the ground vanished with a puff of white smoke.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
Before Akatsuchi and Darnell could react, the iron sand on the ground came alive, launching a violent barrage at the two.
Akatsuchi managed to block part of the attack with his massive earth fists, but even so, he was hit multiple times, bleeding profusely.
Darnell wasn’t as fortunate. His body was riddled with holes from the iron sand, and his left eye was completely destroyed, leaving a bloody crater. He collapsed to the ground, his life hanging by a thread.
As the Saturn Seal Ring closed in on him, Jing Hang followed the Great Immortal Huang’s advice. He split half of his chakra to create a shadow clone, using it as the target of the seal. Taking advantage of the iron wall barrier to obscure the enemy’s vision, he quickly used the Iron Sand: Shield Boring Technique to dig a shallow pit. The moment the seal entered the barrier, he swiftly lay down in the pit, narrowly escaping disaster.
It seemed that reading and studying more really paid off. Otherwise, he would’ve been done for today.
At this moment, Akatsuchi had moved to Darnell’s side, raising an earth wall to shield him.
Jing Hang was about to continue his attack when he noticed several Iwagakure ninjas closing in from the distance. He paused to assess the situation.
After fighting these two in the air for so long, he had already consumed a significant amount of chakra. The Saturn Seal had halved his reserves further. Although he still had a pill for emergencies, who knew what other tricks Iwagakure had up their sleeve?
No matter. With Iwagakure’s aerial forces nearly wiped out, Akatsuchi alone, injured, posed little threat. The primary strategic objective had been achieved, so there was no need to linger here.
Having made up his mind, Jing Hang didn’t hesitate. He ascended into the sky on his Iron Truth-Seeking Orb, leaving the battlefield to regroup with the Sunagakure forces.
Kitsuchi asked anxiously. Two medical-nin were working on Darnell—one using the Mystical Palm Technique to heal him, while the other wielded a large magnet to extract the iron sand embedded in his body.
"His injuries are severe. I can’t guarantee his survival. I’ll do my best, but the rest depends on his will to live," the medical-nin performing the healing replied.
"Do whatever it takes to save him. Arrange for a team to escort Darnell back to the village immediately. You have full access to all rare medicinal resources," Kitsuchi ordered firmly.
Over the past year, Iwagakure had suffered one upheaval after another. Many elite ninjas had perished, leaving the Fourth Tsuchikage’s talent cultivation plans in shambles. Among the younger generation, only Darnell stood out—a legacy of his father, Onoki. Naturally, Kitsuchi held him in high regard.
"Sir, may I have a word?" Wenya whispered to Kitsuchi.
Kitsuchi nodded and stepped aside with Wenya.
"Sir, we should consider retreating," Wenya suggested.
Kitsuchi didn’t appear surprised or opposed. Instead, he furrowed his brows in silence.
"I won’t comment on the political landscape of the ninja world for now, but based on the current battle and intelligence, we’re already at a disadvantage," Wenya continued.
"According to the intel from the Anbu, Sunagakure’s Third and Fourth Divisions are moving toward the Land of Earth. I estimate they’ll arrive within three days. There’s no way we can eliminate these 400 Sunagakure ninjas in that time. If we wait until they arrive, retreating will be impossible."
"I know that. But with the enmity between our villages now set in stone, how can Iwagakure face their retaliation?" Kitsuchi sighed.
Wenya analyzed calmly, "We need to separate the issues.
"With Kumogakure, it’s blatant aggression. We’re resisting an invasion, which is justified.
"As for Sunagakure, there are two main points: first, our covert instigation of their rebellion; second, Jing Hang’s personal ties with the Third Raikage. If we look at it this way, there’s still room for maneuver."
"Regarding Sunagakure’s rebellion, we had no direct involvement. We can completely deny responsibility and pin it on Higashi Shijin, declaring him a rogue ninja. This way, Sunagakure has no grounds for blame."
"Wenya, you’re too naive. We used this trick during the Iwa-Suna War, and what happened? Jing Hang still came after us."
"How did the Iwa-Suna War end, then?" Wenya countered.
"You mean Konoha?" Kitsuchi immediately caught Wenya’s implication.
"In recent years, Sunagakure has grown rapidly, forming an alliance with Kumogakure in the north. They’re showing signs of striving for dominance in the ninja world, which Konoha would never tolerate. Without Iwagakure holding the northern front, a united Kumogakure and Sunagakure would threaten Konoha’s position as the leading power in the ninja world."
"So Konoha won’t just stand by?" Kitsuchi asked.
"Exactly. If we send emissaries to form a strategic alliance with Konoha, they’ll gladly agree to counter the rise of Kumogakure and Sunagakure. Konoha will inevitably check Sunagakure’s advances. Kumogakure, still recovering from the tailed beast rampage, will need time to rebuild. Meanwhile, we can fortify our northern defenses. The outcome is far from decided. Instead of wasting valuable forces here, we should prepare for the future war."
Kitsuchi fell into deep thought after hearing Wenya’s analysis.
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