"Yin Seal, Release!"
"Yin Seal, Release!"
As the Yin Seal was released, the oval-shaped eye pattern on Nagi's forehead, once a closed loop, split open, transforming into a mark resembling a third eye.
A massive surge of chakra, drawn from the Ryumyaku he had stored away, poured out of his body. He had never calculated the exact amount, but it was certainly more than a One-Tailed Beast's worth. Combined with the chakra he had recovered from the food pills, it was more than enough. For Mind Teleportation, spiritual energy was the primary component; chakra was secondary. It was just like with Obito's Mangekyo, where dojutsu and spiritual power did most of the heavy lifting.
He had to leave this place, and the sooner the better. The pot was constantly siphoning his chakra.
The plum blossom pattern of Nagi's Mangekyo Sharingan began to spin rapidly, so fast that it blurred into a perfect circle. Finally, unleashing all his spiritual and chakra reserves, Nagi teleported into the fabric of space-time.
The Amber Purifying Pot continued to interfere with his spatial travel, but this time, it was useless. Nagi no longer needed a coordinate. It could interfere with the coordinates all it wanted. A powerful tearing force immediately tried to snatch him back into the pot. Thousands of runes flickered to life within the space, transforming into vipers that tried to bind him.
But Nagi pushed his mental output to its absolute maximum, his chakra flaring without reserve. Finally—
Swish—
With a flash of sparks, Nagi successfully vanished from within the pot, escaping to another world.
"Um, Big Bro? I feel like the pot got a little lighter." Killer B had two tentacles wrapped around the Amber Purifying Pot.
"Bee, did you rap yourself stupid? No one can escape from the Amber Purifying Pot. Hold onto it properly. If it gets stolen, I'm holding you responsible," A said with dissatisfaction.
"Oh, oh, okay, Big Bro! I'll watch the pot real good!" Killer B replied, for once looking serious as he sat down dutifully in front of the urn.
The Hidden Cloud Village hadn't yet decided how to deal with Uchiha Nagi. A man who could use the Flying Thunder God would be too easy to escape if he got out of the pot. A's opinion was to just wait for him to die. It wasn't as if the Hidden Cloud didn't have cloning technology. They could extract his cells while his body was still fresh after death, and that would be that.
Others had different opinions, believing a living person was more valuable than a corpse.
But the debate was for later. They all agreed that Uchiha Nagi wouldn't die within a few days. They would keep him sealed for now, drain his chakra, and then decide.
And so, the Eight-Tails, Killer B, became his guard.
Finally, after several days, the Hidden Cloud had a plan. In a specially constructed sealing chamber, they ensured that even if Nagi got out, he wouldn't be able to use his space-time ninjutsu. They also prepared a massive sealing squad, one large enough to seal both Raikage A and the Eight-Tails together.
Only then did they cautiously open the Amber Purifying Pot. And the result—
"Huh?! Where'd he go? Bee, where did the man go?!" The Fourth Raikage, A, stared wide-eyed at Killer B. "Did you sneak off to play again and let him escape?!"
"Yo, yo! I didn't go out, Big Bro! I was right here dancin', check it, yo!"
"Cut the crap!" The Fourth Raikage flew into a rage, not believing a word of Killer B's nonsense, and slammed his fist on his head.
BOOM!
Killer B was knocked unconscious by the heavy blow, foaming at the mouth.
The Anbu squad was also baffled as to why the pot was empty. Darui looked at the Amber Purifying Pot, his brow furrowed. After a long moment of thought, he couldn't find an answer. "Lord Raikage, the Amber Purifying Pot is impossible to break from the inside, and it's not easy to damage from the outside either. It seems he escaped using space-time ninjutsu."
"Impossible! Anyone sealed in the Amber Purifying Pot absolutely cannot use space-time ninjutsu! Otherwise, how would Tobirama Senju have died back then?"
"..."
The many strategists of the Hidden Cloud began to discuss this peculiar situation, but in the end, they could come up with nothing.
"Where am I?"
With a splitting headache, Nagi shook his head and stood up. A quick glance at his surroundings told him everything he needed to know. The electric lights, the cars on the street—he was back in the world of Demon Slayer.
Nagi had no idea how much time had passed since he had last left. One thing had led to another, and he had completely forgotten to come back. He saw a newspaper on the side of the road and tossed it aside. He didn't even remember what date it was when he'd left last time.
Leaning on his Nichirin Blade, he rested against a wall and sat down to catch his breath. The toll this time had been immense. He had even exhausted the power of the Ryumyaku. His backup nuclear battery was gone. Normally, with his current level of chakra and spiritual energy, Mind Teleportation wouldn't have been so draining. The space inside the Amber Purifying Pot must have been a completely separate dimension, just like the Kamui dimension. Who knew how the Sage of Six Paths had created it?
When dealing with different dimensions, it was hard to say how far they were from the ninja world. Obito could enter his Kamui dimension with ease, but traveling to Kaguya's lava and ice worlds had been so strenuous he'd needed Naruto's help.
"Hahahaha! What's this? A marechi? If I eat him, my wounds will heal completely!"
An arrogant, disgusting voice echoed down the street. Under the dim light of the lamps, a figure covered in grievous wounds staggered forward, blood dripping onto the ground. It wasn't a person... it was a demon.
It was walking towards Nagi with a look of pure glee. It had sensed that this seemingly injured vagrant was an extremely rare blood type. He was like the sweetest dessert, drawing the demon in with an irresistible aroma. No, he was a hundred times better than dessert. If it ate him, it might even be able to become an Upper-Rank demon without any trouble.
The heavily injured demon opened its maw, its mouth splitting wide as it lunged at Nagi, intending to swallow him whole, head and all.
At that moment, a few figures came rushing in pursuit from behind. Seeing the scene, they cried out in alarm. One of them quickly raised a gun and fired, but—click—it was out of bullets.
"Dammit! Not now! Out of bullets at a time like this!"
Just then, Nagi, whose headache had begun to subside, opened his eyes and glanced at the reckless little demon.
"Sun Breathing, Thirteenth Form..."
On pure instinct, he drew his blade and sheathed it in one motion. The divine Raikiri, imbued with the sun-like properties of the ore from which it was forged and the mysterious power of the meteorite, unleashed its power. In a single strike, the insolent little demon was sliced into pieces and disintegrated into ash.
"It's a Nichirin Blade! It's Nagi-niisan!"
"It's Nagi-sensei!"
"Oh, oh! The red-eyed big bro!"
Nagi wearily opened his eyes and smiled. "So it's you guys. You little rascals."
The newcomers were none other than Tanjiro and his three companions. Following Nagi's earlier guidance, they had formed a team and had been taking on missions together. Genya, with his dual pistols, provided ranged support and surprise attacks, while the other three worked together on the front lines.
To Nagi's surprise, Zenitsu seemed to have overcome his cowardly, dual-personality state. His eyes were now as bright as lightning.
"You guys came at the right time. Help me back to rest. I'm a little tired..." With that, Nagi drifted into a deep sleep. Of course, he would still awaken if danger approached.
"Oh, oh! I'll do it, I'll do it!" The little boar, Inosuke, charged forward and hoisted him onto his back.
Since their target had been eliminated, the mission was complete. The four of them cleaned up and headed back to the Butterfly Mansion.