At the western border of the Land of Fire, a large number of elite Mist Ninja had gathered outside an inconspicuous cave. This was the sealing site chosen by the Mist Ninja. All the higher-ups stood guard at the entrance, waiting for the outcome of the sealing, while only Hozuki Zangetsu and Utakata remained inside the cave.
"Crack, crack, crack..." Amid a series of dull noises, the crude stone door at the entrance closed. The cave immediately fell into darkness, with only several oil lamps at its center casting a faint glow.
By the light of the lamps, the cave could be seen to be extremely spacious. Aside from a circular altar in the center, there was nothing else around it!
This altar was exceedingly crude, built entirely from grayish-black stone. There were no patterns on its surface, only rough, unpolished rock.
At the center of the altar stood a rectangular stone bed, surrounded by five stone pillars. An oil lamp rested atop each pillar for illumination, while five iron chains as thick as a baby's arm ran through the pillars, their other ends wrapped around the stone bed.
Utakata still lay unconscious on the stone bed, his limbs and neck firmly bound by the chains.
This crude altar was the key facility meant for extracting and sealing the Six-Tails. Due to a shortage of materials, they did not even have a barrier to restrain Utakata's struggles and could only use iron chains instead. Beside the stone bed sat a special wooden barrel, its exterior carved with all kinds of jutsu formulas. This was the container intended to seal the Six-Tails. Making it had not only consumed a great deal of the Mist Ninja's time, but also exhausted every last piece of precious barrier material in the army. The Mist