"Success!"
Seeing this, Maki and the others finally allowed a bit of tension to slip from their faces.
If even the Nine Pillars Seal couldn't restrain the enemy, their only option would have been a strategic retreat.
And in that case, it might have required the Kazekage to personally intervene to seal the opponent.
Rumble…
The nine stone pillars all shifted a few steps toward the center, and the light barrier surrounding them contracted slightly.
The Nine Pillars Seal is a technique that combines confinent and sealing into one. Every ten seconds, the nine pillars contract, and after nine contractions, they fully rge, completely sealing whatever is inside.
In other words, in ninety seconds, 'Sand Spirit' Saibote could be successfully captured.
But no ninjutsu in this world is perfect.
The Nine Pillars Seal had its glaring weaknesses—most notably, the full ninety-second waiting period.
And the nine stone pillars themselves.
Few would suspect that the pillars, the core of the seal, could be destroyed—but only from inside the barrier.
Yet the pillars were far from easy to break. Their durability was imnse, and they could absorb chakra from the caster to reinforce and self-repair.
Since the creation of the Nine Pillars Seal, it had only ever been broken once—during the sealing of the One-Tail, Shukaku.
Ti passed, ten seconds slipping away.
The nine pillars contracted again.
During these twenty seconds, Saibote had not been idle. He attempted to escape using various thods, including sandification, but all attempts failed.
"The space is shrinking again. At this rate… I have roughly a minute left."
Saibote's face showed no panic, only calm.
He sandified once more, rging with the sand beneath him, attempting to escape underground.
But the creator of this seal had clearly anticipated such a loophole.
Each stone pillar was 25 ters tall, with 20 ters above ground and 5 ters buried below.
The barrier's area was defined by the pillars, extending underground as well.
Another ten seconds passed. The pillars moved inward once more.
Saibote erged from the sand in failure, returning to humanoid form.
He paused for a mont, then, as if entering a berserk mode, launched an indiscriminate large-scale attack!
Countless sand blades flew everywhere, cutting through all in their path.
Outside, Maki and the others could barely see inside, only noticing the nine Sealing Squad mbers nervously injecting chakra into the pillars.
The light barrier taking hits was insignificant—it was ant to lure attacks.
But under this indiscriminate assault, the nine pillars bore imnse pressure, which explained their tension.
Fortunately, while the attacks were nurous and rapid, their strength wasn't enough to break the pillars.
Slowly, the team began to relax.
As long as they could hold out for less than a minute more, it would all be over.
Ti passed. The pillars contracted three more tis.
Finally, the chaos within subsided. It seed Saibote had realized that all attempts to break the seal were futile.
"Finally giving up?"
Maki watched him stand still, feeling an inexplicable unease.
"Interesting ability… it seems there's a reason you humans can dominate this world," Saibote said.
"Strong and bloodthirsty, cautious yet greedy."
"Much remains for to learn."
He then drove his snake sword into the ground.
Maki's eyelid twitched; unease surged within her.
"Be careful. This one seems about to unleash a major attack."
Before the words finished, the sand around Saibote's sword began to flow. It moved faster and faster, forming a swirling vortex, which continued to grow.
At this mont, the nine pillars were contracting inward, and in almost an instant, collided with the vortex.
Then an unbelievable scene occurred!
"How is this possible?!"
"The pillars… the pillars are sinking?!"
"No… look carefully. They're being devoured!"
The sand infused with imnse cursed energy enveloped the pillars, rapidly eroding them into powder.
"Sand Curse Transformation · Great Desert Reincarnation!"
Pfft!
All nine Sealing Squad mbers imdiately coughed up blood.
Their chakra was too weak to keep pace with the pillars' rapid sandification, and within seconds, it felt as if their energy had been drained dry.
Perhaps only nine Jonin of equal skill could have resisted long enough to complete the seal.
But finding nine Jonin proficient in sealing techniques across Sunagakure was nearly impossible.
The barrier shattered.
The nine stone pillars collapsed with a roar, swallowed by the swirling sand, disappearing entirely.
Maki's heart sank—her greatest fear had co true.
"What do we do now?"
"Retreat for now?"
"Though we still have fighting power, if we can't counter his sandification, we'll never complete the task entrusted by Lord Rasa."
"And if we continue to drag it out…"
Suddenly, Maki's pupils contracted. She shouted, "Watch out!"
But it seed too late.
As Saibote drew his snake sword, the vortex halted.
He spread his arms, and sand began swirling around his body.
"Sand Curse Transformation · Sand March!"
Like a phantom, he charged at the nine weakened Sealing Squad mbers at a speed almost impossible to track with the naked eye.
Maki could do nothing but watch helplessly as Saibote pierced them one by one, their bodies stiffening, all moisture drained, turning into dried corpses.
In an instant, her entire Sealing Squad was wiped out!
"Damn it! Wind Killing Formation!"
Rika furiously swung her fans, generating a stream of wind to trap Saibote in spinning blades.
But this only delayed him briefly; it caused no real harm.
Ichiro tried to summon other puppets from his scroll to assist Rika, but Maki stopped him.
"Retreat!"
"What did you say?"
"I said retreat. If we keep fighting, we'll all be exhausted to death here."
"I won't retreat! So many have already died!"
"If we die blindly here, their sacrifices will be in vain!"
Maki's expression was deadly serious. "If we transmit these combat details back, the Kazekage can analyze the enemy's weakness. That's when we'll have our chance for revenge."
Rika and Ichiro reluctantly acknowledged the truth in Maki's words.
They slamd a fist into the sand in frustration, recalled their puppets, and withdrew with the remaining survivors.
Rika, fearing pursuit, unleashed a final tornado, severing the path between them.
By the ti Saibote reford into humanoid form from the sand, Maki and her team had vanished without a trace.
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20 Power Stones= 1 additional chapters.
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