Involving contracts touches upon the intangible and inexplicable realms of souls, bloodlines, and other ethereal elements, making the learning curve of the Contract Seal no less challenging than that of the Four Symbols Seal.
However, Hyuga Kyo was no longer a novice in sealing techniques.
With the guidance of the priestess from the Land of Demons and his in-depth study of the Four Symbols Seal, he had achieved a modest level of proficiency in sealing techniques. Specifically, regarding the Uzumaki clan’s sealing methods, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him a semi-expert.
After half a day of serious study, he estimated that it would take at least seven days to master the Contract Seal fully.
Fortunately, the village was negotiating peace talks with the Hidden Cloud Village, and Team Eleven had no missions. Therefore, seven days seemed just right for him.
Team Eleven unexpectedly showed up at Hyuga Kyo’s house four days later.
Seeing Kakashi, Shisui, and Guy together, Hyuga Kyo smiled and asked, “Why are you all here?”
Guy, being impatient, spoke first, “Kyo, have you heard?”
Hyuga Kyo casually responded, “Heard what?”
For the past few days, he had been so focused on studying the Contract Seal at home that he had completely shut out external affairs.
Guy hurriedly said, “The village’s negotiations with the Hidden Cloud have broken down!”
Shisui added, “Senior, the peace talks between the village and the Hidden Cloud have collapsed!”
Hyuga Kyo was surprised, “What?”
In his past life’s memory, when the village signed a peace agreement with the Hidden Cloud, there was indeed an incident where the Hidden Cloud’s negotiation representative attempted to kidnap the Hyuga clan’s heiress.
But back then, the peace agreement had already been mostly finalized.
The talks had broken down even before they were concluded, which puzzled Hyuga Kyo.
As the captain of Team Eleven, Kakashi explained the whole situation in detail.
It turned out that not only were people in Konoha unhappy with the peace talks, but many in the Hidden Cloud also opposed them, believing that if they held out a bit longer, they could knock Konoha off its position as the strongest ninja village.
With dissatisfaction on both sides, the peace talks naturally fell apart.
Upon hearing this, Hyuga Kyo thought carefully and smiled, “You don’t need to worry too much. Our village and the Hidden Cloud are too exhausted to continue fighting. The Third Hokage and the Raikage understand this, so the peace talks will resume.”
Guy curiously asked, “Why are you so sure?”
Hyuga Kyo explained, “The ninja world doesn’t consist of just our village and the Hidden Cloud. If we fight until both sides are severely weakened, it will only benefit the other villages.”
Whether it was from his vague memories of his past life or from the information he had gathered in this life, Hyuga Kyo was certain that the Hidden Cloud’s raid on Konoha was merely a test. If Konoha showed little resistance, the Hidden Cloud would have launched a full-scale attack.
But once Konoha proved that it was not a lamb to be slaughtered, the Hidden Cloud’s test would have yielded results, and they would see no need to continue taking risks and making themselves vulnerable to the other villages.
After seeing off the members of Team Eleven, Hyuga Kyo sighed, “It looks like the peace talks between our village and the Hidden Cloud will be drawn out.”
Even though he knew that a peace agreement would eventually be signed, the talks would likely be long and arduous until the anger on both sides subsided.
But this situation worked in Hyuga Kyo’s favor.
As long as the negotiations with the Hidden Cloud continued, the village would not risk internal unrest by taking action against the Uchiha clan, meaning the Uchiha could temporarily serve as a shield.
Hyuga Kyo mastered the Contract Seal five days later than initially anticipated.
The primary reason for this delay was his need for more practice opportunities. When studying the Four Symbols Seal, he could practice the sealing techniques on anything in his house.
However, the contract seal was different; it required real contract relationships to practice sealing, so Hyuga Kyo, who was staying home, needed help finding suitable practice subjects. Fortunately, the scroll provided by the Third Hokage clearly explained the key points of the Contract Seal, allowing Hyuga Kyo to grasp it by analogy even without much practice.
The latter was surprised when Hyuga Kyo returned the Contract Seal scroll to the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage had expected Hyuga Kyo to need at least a month to master the Contract Seal but hadn’t anticipated that Hyuga Kyo would return the scroll after only thirteen days. In the Third Hokage’s memory, it had taken the Fourth Hokage nearly fifteen days to master this technique.
As a result, the Third Hokage couldn’t help but regard Hyuga Kyo more highly, seeing him as a rare talent in sealing techniques.
After returning the scroll, Hyuga Kyo requested permission to travel outside the village.
The Third Hokage’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “Why do you want to do this?”
Hyuga Kyo had already prepared an excuse, “I want to find a suitable summoning beast.”
In Konoha, it wasn’t uncommon for ninjas to travel outside the village. One of the legendary Sannins, Jiraiya, was a typical example, as he was rarely in the town.
However, traveling outside the village required the village’s approval. Even Jiraiya was no exception to this rule; otherwise, it would be considered desertion.
Of course, if one had a strong enough background and sufficient strength, like Tsunade, it wouldn’t be called “desertion” but rather “departure.”
As a member of the ANBU directly under the Hokage, Hyuga Kyo technically didn’t have the right to request to travel, especially at a critical time when the village was negotiating with the Hidden Cloud.
Therefore, Hyuga Kyo had to come up with a reason the Third Hokage couldn’t easily refuse.
Since a summoning beast was crucial to a ninja’s combat capability, finding a suitable one naturally became a legitimate reason for most Konoha ninjas to travel.
After pondering for a while, the Third Hokage finally relented, “I can only give you a two-month leave.”
After thanking the Third Hokage, Hyuga Kyo returned home, packed his previously prepared luggage, and headed towards the village gate.
This time, his main objective was to see firsthand the sealing technique that the Fourth Hokage had placed on the Dragon Vein and attempt to break it.
Once he confirmed that he could break the seal on the Dragon Vein, he could immediately initiate his artificial-tailed beast plan.
After registering his departure at the village gate, Hyuga Kyo left without looking back. The Root member assigned to monitor him had no choice but to follow.
“I need to find a way to shake him off,” Hyuga Kyo thought as he sensed the tail following him.
Suddenly, a chain sprang up from the ground, binding Hyuga Kyo tightly.
Almost simultaneously, two figures emerged from the bushes on either side, thrusting their long swords into Hyuga Kyo’s sides.
One sneered, “We’ll take those 25 million ryo!”
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