How Kurama Leads Naruto Astray

First, using sealing jutsu to counter a sealing jutsu? That idea was off the table—Kakashi knew his limits.

Second, using a powerful jutsu to destroy the seal? It was possible in theory, but not something Kakashi could pull off. His strongest jutsu was the Raikiri series. Even if he somehow learned Kirin from Sasuke, it probably wouldn't be enough to overpower this seal.

Lastly, moving Mito-sama out of the seal's range… In theory, Kakashi couldn't do that either. But theory wasn't all he had—Kakashi had one more trick up his sleeve.

The three-tomoe Sharingan slowly spun in his eye, morphing into the Mangekyou pattern.

Kakashi knew that the only way to save Mito-sama now was to use Kamui and teleport her out.

But here was the problem: even though Kamui activated quickly, Mito-sama had sharp battle instincts. Kakashi believed she'd still be able to react in that split second.

He also thought about using Kamui on himself to escape the seal's range. It could work… but only halfway.

Because running away wasn't the goal. If he teleported himself out, Mito-sama would just go after someone else under the seal's influence. Now that the seal was fully formed, Kakashi had to either break the jutsu—or stop Mito herself.

But as a key part of a bigger plan, Kamui might still be useful.

The water around them started churning. Kakashi could tell—Mito-sama was about to attack.

The seal's range was massive—there was no way to dodge everything. And if Kamui failed, Mito-sama wasn't going to give him another shot. He only had one chance.

Kakashi looked at his right hand. "My chakra's draining faster… so this jutsu's effect is to force my body to keep using chakra until I'm empty?"

What a nasty technique.

Sealing squad! You guys seriously can't handle even one Mito-sama?

Kakashi wanted to throw all those lazy sealing team members from Konoha to the dogs—literally, to Pakkun.

The moment the words left his mouth, the water in the sky came crashing down like a waterfall, rushing toward Kakashi with overwhelming force. The pressure hit him immediately.

As the sky's water raged, the water under his feet started churning too.

Kakashi kept leaping to dodge the attacks. He started gathering lightning in his hand—but just as it formed, it fizzled out.

"This jutsu seals off all Ninjutsu. Unless it's a Kekkei Genkai, the seven chakra nature types can't be used in here," Mito's voice echoed again. "Even Kekkei Genkai will be suppressed."

In other words—wind, fire, water, earth, lightning, yin, and yang—all sealed. Even jutsu formed by mixing two chakra types would be suppressed.

Kakashi wanted to flip a table.

He was a ninjutsu-type ninja, damn it!

Even Lightning Release Chakra Mode didn't work. Those sealing marks were constantly locking down his jutsu.

Seeing the water about to swallow him, Kakashi gritted his teeth, and his chakra suddenly surged: "Eight Gates Release — First Gate — Gate of Opening! Open!"

Green chakra burst out wildly. His body, which had been wrapped in water, suddenly exploded with power, blasting away the surrounding current. In the blink of an eye, he shot backward like a streak of green lightning.

Mito's eyes lit up as she watched: "Is that… Taijutsu? It looks like some kind of Taijutsu that borrows effects from sealing techniques. If it gets developed further, it might... No, that's not good."

She shook her head in regret. "This kind of technique causes permanent damage to the body. If it's just at this level, it's still manageable. But if developed further, the body probably won't be able to handle it after four uses. It's a dangerous jutsu."

Even so, as dangerous as it was, Kakashi was using it well right now. The water could barely keep up with his movements. If this kept going, it wouldn't be long before—

Kakashi would break out of the range of the sealing jutsu.

Mito thought it was fine, but the Edo Tensei script didn't.

So, as Kakashi moved away, Mito stepped forward in pursuit. The water beneath her feet didn't change from her movement, but if you looked closely, the water seemed to flow outward around her in all directions.

While following him, she began forming hand signs: "Sealing Technique — Great Mountain River — Divine Spirit!"

The flowing water in the sky suddenly stopped. Right in front of Kakashi's shocked eyes, a massive black shadow burst out from the water above. Looking closely, it wasn't just a shadow—it was a mountain...

No, not just a mountain. Its size was even bigger than Kurama. Even from far away, Kakashi could see a torii gate on it. And not just that—there seemed to be a shrine and even an altar for worship.

In a split second, before Kakashi could react, the shadow of the mountain appeared overhead, reflected in the water below. The black shadow covered him completely. His high-speed dash was frozen mid-motion, like someone had hit pause on a video. It completely ignored the laws of physics.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that the mountain was still falling—and Kakashi was stuck in place, frozen in mid-movement.

"I… can't even move my eyes?" Kakashi was full of dread. "This jutsu… was probably made to fight tailed beasts, right?"

His confidence was starting to crack.

A sealing jutsu with this kind of range and power—there's no way it was meant to deal with just one ninja.

Mito sighed. "This was originally a very advanced sealing jutsu. In theory, one person would need to form over a hundred hand signs to use it. But now that this water world is complete, the sealing marks in the surroundings make it much easier to cast."

Thanks for the explanation, Mito-sama.

Kakashi couldn't even grit his teeth anymore. He was done for. In this situation, there was no way to escape. He couldn't even twitch, let alone move. Even his eyeballs wouldn't budge. His chakra had been completely sealed—he couldn't move at all.

Kamui!

Just as the mountain was about to fall, Kakashi managed to activate his eye technique. A black spiral appeared and swallowed him. With a twist in space and time, he vanished from the spot.

Then the mountain crashed down.

Mito let out a sigh of relief. "Space-time ninjutsu… yeah, that really is the easiest way to break my jutsu."

At least now she didn't have to worry about Kakashi's safety. As long as someone had space-time ninjutsu, most attacks were basically...

A sudden flash of lightning burst in front of Mito. The blinding light reflected in her eyes, and a powerful force seemed to appear out of nowhere right before her.

"Lightning Release: Thunder Rage Tiger!"

A huge tiger made of lightning, nearly ten meters tall, roared as it lunged at Mito, with Kakashi inside its massive head.

"Your space-time ninjutsu doesn't need a mark? You can just appear anywhere?" Mito looked surprised, but her hands didn't stop moving. "Using space-time to avoid the sealing jutsu's restrictions and then attacking after building up power… smart move."

"Sealing Jutsu: Black Thunder Secret!"

Black clouds wrapped around Mito. Just as the thunder tiger opened its mouth to bite, a pitch-black bolt of lightning suddenly burst out from the clouds. It spread over the tiger's body, weakening its power.

Mito quickly pulled back and formed hand signs to activate the sealing barrier.

Kakashi wasn't going to waste the chance. He opened his eyes wide. His Mangekyō spun rapidly, blood tears falling. A black spiral appeared at Mito's neck. "If I twist your neck off, even a reanimated body won't be able to move!"

Mito was impressed: "You stayed inside the jutsu so the seal would only hit the jutsu and not you. You used it to sneak past the barrier's suppression. I never said you'd spot that hole in the plan… you really are—"

"—an outstanding ninja."

"If that attack had landed, I probably wouldn't be able to fight anymore." Even though the Uzumaki clan's bodies are tough, a broken neck is fatal—even Hashirama would die from that.

Mito looked genuinely moved. "Even in our era, your skills would've stood out… but it's too bad, you still lost."

The black spiral snapped shut, completely twisting Mito's neck. Her head was torn from her body, but instead of crumbling into paper like normal, it all just vanished into smoke.

A hand parted the black clouds. Mito stepped out from the cover of black lightning. "Once I saw you using space-time ninjutsu, of course I changed my tactics. Tobirama beat me with that move many times—I had to be ready."

But none of this was her choice. As a reanimated body, she had no control over her actions.

Mito's face showed sorrow. "I'm sorry, Kakashi."

As Kakashi stared in disbelief, Mito finished her jutsu: "Sealing Jutsu: Omoikane Ritual…"

This jutsu seals the soul directly. The fight is over.

A black light fell on Kakashi's paralyzed body. His blue soul was pulled out by sealing characters. Black letters climbed upward, completely wrapping around his soul.

Mito watched as Kakashi's body lost its soul… then saw the soul sealed… and then saw the body collapse to the ground. A deep, hard-to-describe sadness filled her heart.

This was a ninja of the Hidden Leaf… and she had just killed him… if she had just held out a little longer…

The Edo Tensei… what a terrible technique.

*Bang—*

The sound of a Shadow Clone disappearing made Mito freeze. She instinctively looked at the sealed soul—only to see a puff of smoke. The black characters dropped as the fake body vanished, reflecting the stunned look on her face.

Then, the black letters crawled up Mito's body. And with them came Kakashi's unmistakable voice: "Mito-sama, I might not know sealing jutsu as well as you do, but I can manage a basic movement seal. Even for you, undoing it takes a little time, right?"

Just a little time. Maybe less than a second. But that was more than enough.

The black spiral space reappeared at Mito's neck—and this time, it was her real body.

She smiled. Even though her body was still trying to cancel the movement seal, she knew it was over. "Thank goodness. I really thought I had killed you."

"After all, I had already used up a lot of chakra. Even if I used a shadow clone, with your sensing abilities, you'd think the sudden drop in chakra was from using 'Lightning Wrath Thunder Tiger,' and overlook the fact that it was just a clone from the start." Kakashi's voice sounded tired.

"I take back what I said earlier." Mito turned to look at Kakashi, her kind face full of relief. "Your battle instincts aren't much different from Tobirama's. If it were you, I'd fully support you becoming Hokage."

"Thank you for your praise, Mito-sama." Kakashi finally smiled. "But compared to Lord Tobirama, I still have a long way to go."

"At least you're better than Hashirama," Mito said with a gentle smile.

The next second, a black spiral rift in space opened up. As her head was pulled into the Kamui dimension, Mito's chakra signature completely vanished. The splashing water floating in the air turned transparent, then slowly faded away like starlight.

Kakashi let out a long breath and leaned weakly against a nearby tree.

Mito's head hit the ground, and scraps of paper fluttered around, trying to repair her injuries.

Seeing this, Kakashi forced his exhausted body to move and formed a hand seal. "I'm sorry, Mito-sama, but I need to make sure you're sealed properly."

Mito let out a soft chuckle, her smile carrying a strange, hard-to-read meaning. "Then I'll leave it to you."

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