Chapter 83: The Sealing Technique That Imprisons Time! I Am the Embodiment of Justice!

Minato Namikaze invited Luo Fu to his home, both as a statement regarding the past and a gesture of goodwill, hoping Luo Fu could let go.

After all, no matter what the truth of the past may be, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki’s current life is happy.

And Minato Namikaze trusted Kushina—after all, even if their romance had indeed been manipulated by higher-ups, the feelings between them were real.

He also believed there could be no secret between him and Kushina Uzumaki.

For Luo Fu, this sudden invitation from Minato Namikaze was unexpected, yet upon reflection, it made perfect sense.

“If I have time, I’ll pay Itachi a visit.”

Upon receiving Luo Fu’s affirmative reply, Minato Namikaze immediately smiled broadly again and said, “When Itachi come, Kushina and I will prepare a lavish feast.”

On Luo Fu’s side, the past with Minato Namikaze had been laid to rest.

On the other side, Uchiha Mikoto, who had been dragged away by Kushina Uzumaki, gave her friend a puzzled look.

“Kushina, Itachi’re acting strangely.”

“I’m not acting strangely at all.”

Uchiha Mikoto gave a knowing glance. “Even more strange. Don’t Itachi know? When Itachi’re nervous or lying, your verbal tic always shows?”

“I’m not! Deba yo.”

“Again.” Uchiha Mikoto leaned close to Kushina Uzumaki, lowering her voice. “Ever since Itachi met Luo Fu, Itachi’ve been acting odd—even your tic’s out. Oh, now I remember—Itachi and Minato were classmates with him in ninja school, weren’t Itachi?”

“Oh no.” Kushina Uzumaki suddenly grew irritable. “Fine, yes, Minato and I were classmates with Luo Fu. In fact, back in ninja school, Minato and Luo Fu were both my best friends.”

“Still strange.” Uchiha Mikoto looked as if Conan had possessed her. “Your behavior just now wasn’t just meeting an old friend—it felt more like...”

Recalling Kushina Uzumaki’s odd behavior moments ago, Uchiha Mikoto suddenly had a flash of insight, her eyes widening in shock.

“Kushina, that boy who vanished without a word—Itachi mentioned before—could it... could it be Luo Fu?”

As a confidante who shared everything, Uchiha Mikoto remembered clearly: before dating Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki had once mentioned a quiet crush in ninja school who suddenly disappeared without explanation.

A look of dejection crossed Kushina Uzumaki’s face. “Why are Itachi suddenly so smart now? Damn it, deba yo.”

“It’s... really true?” Uchiha Mikoto’s eyes widened in disbelief.

She never imagined that Luo Fu, once so unremarkable within the clan and village, had once nearly become close to her best friend Kushina Uzumaki.

Recalling the strange feeling Luo Fu had given her earlier, Uchiha Mikoto suddenly had a bold suspicion: had she been the one who took Kushina’s place?

Her inner gossip urge surged instantly. She lowered her voice. “Tell me everything—what really happened between Itachi and Luo Fu?”

Since Uchiha Mikoto had guessed it, and since the past held nothing shameful—just two naive teenagers who developed feelings for each other, only to be cruelly separated by circumstance—

Kushina Uzumaki briefly recounted her past with Luo Fu to Uchiha Mikoto.

Uchiha Mikoto’s expression grew complex.

Kushina Uzumaki’s account made Uchiha Mikoto suddenly recall: her grandfather, the Uchiha clan’s senior elder, had indeed made a deal with the Hokage.

Even her grandfather had been deeply dissatisfied with that deal. Now she realized—he had agreed to send a child from the clan to the Second Shinobi World War.

So... was that why Luo Fu had looked at her with such an unsettling gaze? Was the reason so complicated?

Uchiha Mikoto’s impression of Luo Fu instantly underwent a 360-degree reversal.

In her mind, the young Luo Fu had simply fallen for someone he shouldn’t have, only to be targeted by the village and the Uchiha clan together, forced to graduate early, and sent to the battlefield of the Second Shinobi World War as a child.

Now she wondered: how could a matter that made her grandfather harbor resentment toward the Hokage for so long be as simple as sending a clan child to war? Surely, from the start, both the Hokage and her grandfather believed the child sent to the battlefield had no chance of survival.

Luo Fu had been so weak that even she barely remembered him—perhaps precisely because of that weakness, he had somehow survived, and even now possessed strength that forced Fugaku to take him seriously.

“Mikoto, what are Itachi thinking?” Kushina Uzumaki, puzzled by Uchiha Mikoto’s suddenly complex expression after hearing her story, asked.

Coming back to herself, Uchiha Mikoto said with a heavy expression: “Kushina, if I told Itachi Luo Fu didn’t voluntarily graduate early—what would Itachi do?”

Kushina Uzumaki paused, then said: “No matter what the reason was back then, now I have Minato.”

“That’s true.” Uchiha Mikoto felt even more guilt toward Luo Fu.

In her view, her best friend should have ended up with Luo Fu—but instead, Luo Fu had been forced to graduate early and sent to war as a child because of her grandfather and the Hokage’s schemes.

Even the girl he loved had moved on to Minato Namikaze after he left, and now she was married and pregnant.

Though Kushina Uzumaki was straightforward, she wasn’t foolish—especially where Uchiha Mikoto was concerned.

As best friends, Uchiha Mikoto could easily sense Kushina Uzumaki’s oddness, and Kushina Uzumaki could equally sense Uchiha Mikoto’s insincerity.

“Mikoto, do Itachi know something?” Kushina Uzumaki asked suspiciously.

“I...” After a moment’s hesitation, Uchiha Mikoto chose to conceal the truth.

After all, so much time had passed.

Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze were so deeply in love; digging up the past would only embarrass everyone and benefit no one.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about some old things.”

Uchiha Mikoto’s denial only deepened Kushina Uzumaki’s suspicion.

She was certain Uchiha Mikoto was hiding something—and that something was connected to Luo Fu.

Even though she no longer felt any romantic emotion toward Luo Fu, Uchiha Mikoto’s concealment still stirred a trace of resentment in Kushina Uzumaki.

“Don’t treat me like a fool, Mikoto—we’re sisters. Are Itachi really going to hide this from me?” Kushina Uzumaki glared at Uchiha Mikoto, fists clenched.

As if to say: if Itachi won’t tell me, we’re done.

Uchiha Mikoto grew even more conflicted.

After long hesitation, she finally decided to tell Kushina Uzumaki everything she knew.

After hearing Uchiha Mikoto’s account of Luo Fu’s past,

Kushina Uzumaki stood frozen in place.

She never imagined the boy who vanished without warning from her life had suffered such treatment.

“Damn it.” A surge of betrayal and guilt made Kushina Uzumaki’s red hair writhe like octopus tentacles.

“Calm down, Kushina. What are Itachi going to do?” Uchiha Mikoto quickly restrained her friend.

Kushina Uzumaki said: “I’m going to settle accounts with the Third Hokage and the others.”

Uchiha Mikoto sighed. “I knew Itachi’d say that. But have Itachi thought about Minato?”

Minato?

Kushina Uzumaki snapped back to reality.

She sighed helplessly. “But... if I do nothing, I feel like I’ve betrayed Luo Fu.”

“That past is gone forever. Itachi must consider Minato’s feelings,” Uchiha Mikoto soothed. “If Itachi really don’t know what to do, talk to Minato. But remember—never hide anything from him!”

The moment Uchiha Mikoto finished speaking,

Luo Fu arrived. It was time for Uchiha Mikoto’s examination.

After Luo Fu and Uchiha Mikoto departed together,

Minato Namikaze returned and immediately sensed his wife’s unease.

Kushina Uzumaki revealed everything she had just learned from Uchiha Mikoto, without concealment.

Minato Namikaze sighed. In his conversation with Luo Fu, he had already guessed what had happened in the past—this merely confirmed his suspicions.

“Kushina, do Itachi feel guilty toward Luo Fu?”

“I’m sorry, Minato, I... I...”

Gently pulling Kushina Uzumaki into his arms, Minato Namikaze said: “It’s fine. I’ve already invited Luo Fu to visit us in a few days. If Itachi truly feel guilty, tell him the truth and offer him some compensation. I remember he was once very interested in sealing techniques—Itachi’re skilled in sealing techniques, aren’t Itachi?”

“That’s right!” Kushina Uzumaki’s eyes lit up. She recalled Luo Fu had indeed shown interest in sealing techniques back then—though at the time, she hadn’t yet learned the Uzumaki clan’s sealing arts from her grandmother, Mito.

Though times had changed and Luo Fu’s power likely no longer needed sealing techniques,

their compensation was rooted in their own psychological guilt, not any actual debt to Luo Fu—after all, strictly speaking, the true culprits who betrayed Luo Fu were the Third Hokage and Uchiha Mikoto’s deceased senior elder.

“I remember Itachi inherited all my sealing techniques,” Kushina Uzumaki suddenly brightened. “Those techniques were passed down by the Uzumaki clan. Itachi should be the one to give them to him.”

Minato Namikaze clearly understood why Kushina Uzumaki was doing this.

Luo Fu’s appearance hadn’t damaged their marriage—it had only deepened their bond.

After accompanying Uchiha Mikoto through her medical checkup and bidding farewell to Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki at the hospital, Luo Fu returned to the Uchiha compound.

That same day, several Hokage guards personally visited Luo Fu.

They delivered a large quantity of Uzumaki clan sealing techniques.

For a moment, Luo Fu—who alone remained unaware of the past truth—was genuinely puzzled by Minato Namikaze’s intentions.

Yet Luo Fu had no intention of refusing the sealing techniques.

After all, if he had to name the most astonishing technique in the ninja world, he would unhesitatingly choose sealing techniques.

Even the Otsutsuki bloodline paled before the wonder of sealing techniques.

Sealing techniques had never shown an upper limit: Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Nine Tailed Beasts, all fell to sealing techniques—even the seemingly unstoppable Edo Tensei of the Fourth Shinobi World War was effortlessly suppressed by them.

And the most powerful sealing techniques were held by the now-extinct Uzumaki clan.

In fact, before the Uzumaki clan’s fall, the only truly qualified jinchuriki in the ninja world had been Mito Uzumaki, Hashirama Senju’s wife.

Only after the Uzumaki clan’s destruction did the other villages refine their own sealing techniques to create jinchuriki capable of better utilizing tailed beast chakra.

Even the Cloud Village’s perfect jinchuriki was built upon Uzumaki sealing techniques.

As the Uzumaki clan’s princess, Kushina Uzumaki undoubtedly possessed the most Uzumaki sealing techniques.

But after the Nine-Tails’ attack, these techniques would become Konoha’s property—and most would be embezzled by the Sarutobi, Shimura, Mito, and Tonbo clans.

It was better for Luo Fu to receive them now than for them to be stolen by Konoha’s “Big Four” and their families.

In the following period, Luo Fu immersed himself in studying sealing techniques.

The Uzumaki clan had indeed elevated sealing techniques to an unprecedented height.

Whether matter, energy, space itself, or even time, all could be sealed.

Take the Lohan Dragon Vein—it was undoubtedly a representation of time, space, and energy.

Yet Minato Namikaze had still easily sealed its immense time-affecting energy, proving just how high the upper limit of sealing techniques truly was.

Sealing techniques are indeed profound and extensive.

Luo Fu, immersed in them, had even forgotten that Minato Namikaze had invited him over for a visit.

What interrupted him, forcing him to temporarily set aside his research into sealing techniques, was not Minato Namikaze, but several masked ANBU.

Yet the instant he saw these masked figures, Luo Fu immediately recognized them—not as ANBU, but as members of Danzo’s Root.

“Senior Ninja Luo Fu, the Hokage has ordered Itachi to come with us immediately.”

“ANBU?” Luo Fu feigned ignorance, glancing at the Root members. “Wait a moment—I’ll gather my things, then accompany Itachi to see the Hokage.”

“Senior Ninja Luo Fu, please don’t make this difficult for us,” said the Root ninja, utterly devoid of compassion.

Luo Fu, as if deaf to them, quietly gathered all the scrolls recording sealing techniques from the room and sealed them into a scroll he had crafted himself.

Luo Fu had just finished this action.

The Root ninja, who had been watching him closely, hesitated for a moment, then led Luo Fu straight toward a direction opposite the Hokage’s Tower.

Though he realized these Root ninja intended to take him to Danzo, Luo Fu acted as if he noticed nothing amiss.

If his guess was correct, Danzo’s goal was surely the sealing techniques inherited from the Uzumaki clan.

At this point, the Third and others may not yet have conceived the idea of incorporating the Uzumaki sealing techniques into their own family’s possession.

But Wulunruhe , they could not allow the Uzumaki sealing techniques to fall into the hands of a Uchiha like Luo Fu.

These Root ninja, using the Hokage’s name to summon him, might not be acting on Danzo’s false orders—perhaps this was even the Third Hokage’s own intention, and he merely preferred letting Danzo take the blame.

After following these Root ninja to an underground base,

Luo Fu suddenly halted and said, “This seems to be Root. Itachi’re not the Hokage’s direct ANBU—Itachi’re Danzo’s Root?”

“Starfang, no matter how famed, is still just a wicked and foolish Uchiha.”

A voice, smug yet laced with contempt, echoed.

Turning toward the sound, Danzo’s face, half-covered in bandages, came clearly into Luo Fu’s view.

“Uchiha Luo Fu, the Uzumaki sealing techniques belong to the village. Hand them over and submit to Root’s inspection,” Danzo commanded imperiously, as if he had Luo Fu completely cornered.

“Danzo, who gave Itachi the audacity to challenge me?” Luo Fu glanced at Danzo, then instantly activated Star Breathing—his form vanished in an instant before Danzo could react.

As starlight flared, when Luo Fu reappeared, every Root ninja in the base, except Danzo, stood frozen as if stunned.

“Why are Itachi still standing there?” Danzo roared in fury.

In his view, Luo Fu had merely used flashy, empty tricks with his starlight.

Yet his elite Root ninja had truly seemed paralyzed.

“Danzo, your subordinates don’t seem very capable,” Luo Fu remarked with interest. “No—more accurately, it’s Itachi, the leader of Root, who isn’t capable. Haven’t Itachi noticed? These men are already dead.”

“Dead?” Danzo was instantly startled.

He instinctively glanced at a ninja beside him, wearing a hound mask.

At that moment, Danzo finally realized the truth.

Around the neck of the hound-masked ninja ran a thin, almost invisible black line—nearly encircling half his neck.

Upon closer inspection, Danzo realized it wasn’t a mere line at all—it was a sealing technique, its effect manifesting as a network of intricate seals.

As a high-ranking village official, Danzo himself bore countless sealing formulas within his body.

These seals were originally designed to ensure that, whether dead or captured, he could not leak Konoha’s secrets—and to prevent any mind-reading techniques from probing his thoughts.

To demonstrate his loyalty to Konoha, Danzo had even implanted the Reverse Four Symbols Seal within himself. Should he die or activate it intentionally, the Reverse Four Symbols Seal would draw him and everything nearby into its spatial domain.

Precisely because of his deep knowledge of sealing techniques, Danzo instantly recognized the black lines on his subordinates’ necks as dense arrays of sealing formulas.

Even for powerful ninja endowed with supernatural abilities, the neck remains a fatal vulnerability—unless one possesses special means.

To leave sealing techniques in such a location—even if Luo Fu had not yet activated them—Danzo immediately decided to abandon these Root ninja.

Sealing techniques are miraculous in every aspect. Even the Hyuga’s Caged Bird Seal and Danzo’s own Tongue Severance Seal within Root were applications of sealing arts.

In Danzo’s mind, if Luo Fu had forced him to abandon these ninja, it meant they had been killed outright by Luo Fu.

In other words, Luo Fu had slaughtered Root without hesitation—clearly intending to defect from the village.

“Uchiha Luo Fu, are Itachi abandoning the honor of the Uchiha and the Will of Fire to become a traitor?”

Danzo shouted, his voice fierce but hollow.

Luo Fu sneered. “Elder Danzo, Itachi seem to have misunderstood something. What made Itachi think I care about the so-called Will of Fire? And what made Itachi think I care about the Uchiha clan at all?”

“Itachi...” Danzo froze.

In Root, he had encountered too many who initially boasted bravado.

Some were Konoha members; others were spies from other villages captured by Root.

But even spies from other villages had never outright denied, from the very first word, that they possessed the Will of Fire.

After all, the Will of Fire was the true foundation of Konoha.

To deny the Will of Fire was to deny Konoha’s very existence.

Especially since Luo Fu not only unapologetically declared he had no Will of Fire, but as an Uchiha, he didn’t even care about his own clan.

Such a hardened, unrepentant rogue—even Danzo had never encountered one.

Regaining his composure, Danzo erupted in rage.

Luo Fu denying his Uchiha identity was one thing.

After all, in Danzo’s eyes, the Uchiha were a wicked clan; any bizarre behavior from them was unsurprising.

But to openly deny the existence of the Will of Fire? That Danzo could never accept.

He tore off his outer robe.

Though Danzo had not yet obtained sufficient Sharingan with three tomoe, nor replaced his arm with one made from Hashirama’s cells,

his body had long since been grotesquely altered.

“I was right about Itachi all along—Itachi are a wicked Uchiha, daring to deny the Will of Fire. Even if I must die, I will not let Itachi, this wicked Uchiha, live. Hizashi and the others may be deceived by your facade, but your disguise cannot fool my eyes.”

As he spoke, Danzo truly felt he had become the embodiment of justice.

With swift hand seals,

the figure of Luo Fu standing before him suddenly exploded into a burst of starlight and vanished.

In the Demon Slayer world, the Star Breathing pioneered by the Demon Slayer Luo Fu had, in both the Alien Luo Fu and the Hokage Luo Fu, manifested power far exceeding its original form.

The Alien Luo Fu had fused the essence of the Big Dipper’s seven stars; each sword style revealed a unique stellar power.

But in Uchiha Luo Fu, fused with chakra, Star Breathing had become utterly unrecognizable.

This ability, straddling taijutsu, kenjutsu, and ninjutsu, was clearly evolving into a unique type of ninjutsu.

If Uchiha Luo Fu could fully integrate this ability into his bloodline, he might even create a Star Release Kekkei Genkai unlike any other in the ninja world!

Luo Fu’s Star Release was not like the Star Hidden Village’s, which relied on a meteor with special radioactive radiation.

The Star Hidden Village’s meteor emitted radiation that could only alter ninja chakra enough to enable techniques like the Peacock Illusion—materializing chakra.

But Luo Fu’s Star Release had truly transformed Star Breathing into an entirely unique form of chakra.

This special chakra existed independently of Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Yin, and Yang.

In using Star Release, Luo Fu had already broken free from the limitations of pure sword techniques.

Of course, Star Release was still in its infancy—barely developed to the level of a near-ninjutsu-taijutsu hybrid, not yet fully realized as true chakra, nor had he opened an eighth chakra nature beyond Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Yin, and Yang, nor truly converted it into Star Release chakra.

Yet on Luo Fu, even this nascent form of Star Release chakra could already mimic the Water Release transformation technique of the Kirigakure’s Kirigakure clan.

It allowed Luo Fu’s body to briefly transform into starlight, moving instantaneously across vast distances.

For instance, now—though Danzo had moved faster,

and had already half-finished his hand seals, Luo Fu only activated Star Breathing at the last moment.

Yet he struck first—his body turned to starlight, sweeping past Danzo in a flash.

As the starlight vanished before his eyes, Danzo suddenly felt half his body grow unnaturally light.

Only when he regained his senses did he realize in horror: his right arm had been cleanly severed at the shoulder.

As searing pain surged into his brain, the chakra Danzo had been channeling went berserk due to the sudden loss of his arm.

“Puff.”

He spat a mouthful of blood; his aura instantly withered.

“Itachi... Itachi actually... dared to cut off my arm?”

Luo Fu, now restored to human form from starlight, regarded Danzo, kneeling on the ground, with interest. “Elder Danzo, no need to thank me. Itachi never should have had a normal arm to begin with. I’m doing Itachi a favor. Itachi should be grateful.”

Danzo gnashed his teeth in hatred. “Itachi wicked Uchiha, don’t get too cocky. Do Itachi think cutting off one arm means I can’t stop Itachi from destroying Konoha? I am the root of Konoha. Even if I must sacrifice everything, I will eliminate Itachi as a plague—and die with Itachi!”

Sealing runes flared instantly across Danzo’s body.

Danzo was truly prepared to die.

Luo Fu, who had spent this time studying sealing techniques, recognized instantly: Danzo intended to use the Reverse Four Symbols Seal to take him down with him.

But what puzzled Luo Fu was this: Danzo had already witnessed Star Breathing—how Luo Fu could vanish into starlight in an instant.

Why, then, did he believe the Reverse Four Symbols Seal could drag him to death?

Just as Danzo was about to fully activate the Reverse Four Symbols Seal,

a sharp cry came from outside the Root base, rapidly approaching.

“Danzo, stop!”

Turning, they saw Hiruzen Sarutobi, now clad in battle armor, wielding the transformed Golden Staff Monkey King, leaping forward like a nimble monkey.

Behind him, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, dressed in his ceremonial robe, and Uchiha Fugaku, along with other Uchiha clan members, rushed in.

Perhaps seeing Hiruzen arrive with so many others, Danzo abandoned his plan to die with Luo Fu.

The sealing runes on his body dimmed. He clutched his severed shoulder and roared, “Hizashi, this Luo Fu is a wicked Uchiha! He disrespects the village, calls the Will of Fire nonsense, and doesn’t even care about the Uchiha clan! This evil must not be allowed to live! Quickly, strike him, Hizashi!”

The Konoha Zhongren who had arrived with Hiruzen Sarutobi now exchanged uneasy glances.

“Enough, Danzo.” Hiruzen Sarutobi first glanced at the many Root ninja whose neck wounds, after being cut down by Luo Fu, had been sealed with sealing jutsu.

Taking a deep breath, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Luo Fu a long, meaningful look, then said to Danzo: “Danzo, Itachi are an Elder of Root. Why did Itachi impersonate the Hokage’s Anbu?”

(End of Chapter)