Breaking the Body Seal

A few more days passed.

During those days, Tokiju had refined his method for breaking the sealing runes on Uchiha Hikari.

He placed his still-small hand on her forehead.

That was right. Although he had spent an incredibly long time in this Sealing Space,

Tokiju's body hadn't grown at all. He was still six years old, just as he'd been when he first entered.

After all, time didn't pass in this place, so it made sense that his body didn't develop. Though he still got hungry.

Perhaps because he was constantly training his chakra and developing his Eye of Light, his physical and mental energy still dwindled.

That was also why the system had given him a sign-in panel for morning, noon, and night: so he wouldn't starve to death.

System, you're amazing!

Besides, the food from the sign-in activities wasn't ordinary food. It was "fake food" made entirely of pure energy.

He could taste its distinct flavor, but it was fundamentally different from normal food.

The difference was that his body could absorb the system's food completely, without leaving any residue.

But this system food wasn't like the heavenly treasures of cultivation worlds, which could improve one's aptitude just by eating them.

Its only effect was to keep Tokiju from dying of energy depletion while he trained his chakra.

Still, since the food was pure energy, eating a lot of it did have some effect on his physical strength.

That effect was just very limited. After eating it for ten or twenty years, his body was only three or four times stronger than when he'd first arrived.

So why had Tokiju spent so long here without gaining any physical strength?

Because time didn't pass in this space, his body hadn't developed at all, and his physical strength couldn't improve.

Whenever he thought about it, Tokiju got furious!

Over all these years, his daily chakra gains had been pitiful because his body wasn't strong enough.

After all this time, he had at most as much chakra as an ordinary jonin.

An ordinary jonin's chakra wasn't exactly negligible.

But for someone like Tokiju, descended from the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan, that amount was insignificant. He had the chakra reserves of a wimp, which left him feeling completely unsafe.

With the little chakra he had now, he couldn't even swing more than a few Adamantine Sealing Chains.

But there was no need to worry. Once he found a way out of this Sealing Space, his body would start developing again, and all these problems would resolve themselves.

And what about his Dual Eyes of Time?

His Eye of Light was doing fine. There was even a faint glow in this space, and Tokiju could still absorb it.

Over the years, he'd developed many light-style moves, including some with considerable power.

As for his Eye of Time—

Through all those years of practice, he could just barely sense a trace of temporal fluctuations, but he couldn't interfere with them.

It wasn't that he couldn't. He didn't dare.

That was right. Whenever he thought about interfering with time, he had a certain feeling.

If he dared to act, the chakra required to interfere with time would drain him dry in an instant.

Once his recollections ended, Tokiju placed his hand on Uchiha Hikari's forehead and slowly began channeling chakra into her.

Black sealing runes reappeared across her body.

Only after the runes had fully manifested did Tokiju begin to break them.

With a complicated Sealing Jutsu like this, the only way to break it was to proceed slowly. It would take an enormous amount of time.

As time gradually passed, Tokiju finally broke every sealing rune on Uchiha Hikari's body. It took almost three months.

And while removing the seal from her body, Tokiju had also taken the opportunity to seal away the chakra inside him.

After Tokiju removed all the runes from Uchiha Hikari, she continued floating there quietly, showing no sign of regaining consciousness.

Tokiju had expected this. Strictly speaking, the invisible barrier that enclosed this place was what kept time from flowing here.

The sealing runes on Uchiha Hikari were merely a precaution.

The main reason Tokiju could move was that his left Eye of Time was interfering with the space.

So, to restore Uchiha Hikari's consciousness, he had to grant her the power of the Eye of Time, allowing her to escape the interference of time here.

As the power of time slowly flowed into her, Uchiha Hikari's consciousness gradually returned. Tokiju could sense it.

But even though her consciousness had returned, she still couldn't move.

It was simple enough to let her move freely: he just needed to channel in more of the power of time.

But he couldn't do that yet. Tokiju was desperate to find someone to talk to, but not so desperate that he'd risk his own safety.

He gently opened Uchiha Hikari's eyes and met her gaze.

Seeing that her eyes had regained their luster, Tokiju spoke gently. "You should be able to see and hear me now, right?"

"I know you're scared, but don't worry. I won't hurt you."

"This is the Sealing Space where you were sealed. I don't know why you were sealed; you should know that yourself."

"I came here for reasons I don't know, and, just like you, I really want to get out."

"I'm going to restore your ability to move in a moment. Please don't attack me, okay?"

With that, Tokiju began channeling the power of time into Uchiha Hikari again.

As soon as the power of time had been fully infused, Uchiha Hikari regained her ability to move and immediately threw a punch at Tokiju's chest.

At once, Tokiju sprang backward.

He'd spent more than ten years here, after all, and had long since grown accustomed to moving in this weightless environment.

After easily dodging Uchiha Hikari's attack, Tokiju immediately raised a hand to stop her from attacking again.

"Stop! I don't want to fight you!"

Seeing this, Uchiha Hikari gave up on attacking him again.

It wasn't that she didn't want to fight. The weightless environment was making her uncomfortable.

Judging by how quickly he'd dodged her attack, he was clearly used to this place. If they fought, she wouldn't gain the upper hand.

Besides, she couldn't sense any chakra inside herself, so she couldn't even activate her Sharingan.

"Who are you? Where is this?"

Uchiha Hikari asked. Since she couldn't fight, she might as well gather some information.

Tokiju rubbed his forehead and said helplessly, "Didn't I already tell you? This is the Sealing Space where you were sealed. Don't tell me you don't even know how you were sealed?"

At that, a flicker passed through Uchiha Hikari's eyes. Her memories gradually returned, and she recalled being sealed by the Senju Clan and the Sarutobi Clan working together.

Only then did Uchiha Hikari withdraw her aura, fixing her gaze on Tokiju.

Seeing this, Tokiju finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As you'd expect from a hardened warrior of the Warring States Period. Her presence was nothing like that of a kid like me, who'd never even killed anyone.

Once she'd calmed down, Tokiju continued, "My name is Tokiju. What's yours?"

He already knew her name, but it was still better to ask properly.

"Uchiha... Nameless."