Simple Version of the Nine Dragons Sealing

After three rounds of drinks.

As the night wore on, even Naruto, who couldn't hold his liquor, poured himself a cup to try. The result was that he promptly threw it all up with a "bleurgh."

Jiraiya and Qiuyang burst out laughing. It seemed that, in that moment, all the exhaustion from their three years of traveling had melted away.

Their bond grew stronger, too.

After a night of complete indulgence, Qiuyang saw the master and student off the next afternoon, then quietly went to reopen his long-sealed underground laboratory.

But the first thing he did was stack all the equipment in the corner, clearing a fairly large space.

He planned to use the space to recreate the nine-in-one, long-lasting Eight Trigrams Sealing array he had in mind.

It was a simplified version of the Nine Dragons Sealing that could operate on its own.

The array consisted of nine small, independent Eight Trigrams Seals, each meant to seal a part of a Tailed Beast, and one large Eight Trigrams Seal that linked all nine smaller ones.

When the chakra produced by the nine Tailed Beast parts converged on the miniature Demonic Statue of the Outer Path inside the large seal, it would generate an even more powerful Power of All Creation.

Qiuyang suspected that this was Ten-Tails chakra.

Although the Tailed Beast parts produced chakra at a less-than-impressive rate, as the saying went, any plaster that drew out pus was a good plaster. At least it would let him experience Six Paths Level power ahead of time.

It sounded complicated, and it was complicated to put into practice.

Just engraving the sealing arrays with the help of his Sharingan would take at least five days.

But Qiuyang was a man of action. First, he used Earth Release to level and harden the laboratory floor.

Then, with a pained expression, he took out a small bucket of the special pigment used to engrave arrays.

It was a genuinely precious material in the Ninja World. Arrays drawn with it had top-tier strength and chakra conductivity. It was more valuable than gold.

To put it simply, this conductive material was controlled by the various shinobi villages.

Qiuyang had acquired this half-bucket of pigment for engraving seals only after visiting black markets in several countries and paying a hefty price.

He rarely used such precious material to draw the various techniques in his scrolls, but it was worth it to ensure the sealing array could operate at full power.

He could use chakra and life force to create sealing chains like Kushina did, but Qiuyang wanted to live a little longer. He didn't want to use something so harmful to his body.

"Whew. I hope this is enough."

Qiuyang took a deep breath, activated his Sharingan, and focused as he picked up his brush and began painting with the black pigment.

First, he drew the nine small Eight Trigrams Seals around the perimeter.

One day... two days... three days...

Then he drew the large Eight Trigrams Seal in the center. That took another four days...

Qiuyang worked in fits and starts, and on the eighth day, he finally finished engraving all the sealing formulas.

During the final half-day, he ran out of pigment completely, so he used his own blood instead to fill in the channels connecting the smaller seals to the large one.

The blood, infused with Yin-Yang Release, should work at least as well as the pigment, if not better.

After making the final stroke, Qiuyang was so exhausted that his head throbbed, urging him to lie down and give himself a break.

But he couldn't.

As time passed, the engraved formulas would be exposed to the air, and their effect would gradually fade.

After checking several times to make sure none of the arrays had any flaws, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to return to Konoha. Then he went straight to the Hyuga Clan Compound to find Hanabi.

When Hiashi, the clan head, heard Qiuyang had come to visit, he hurried out to greet him. After telling a servant to call Hanabi, he fixed Qiuyang with a stern look and said:

"Qiuyang, you don't look well."

"Ahaha... I just haven't been getting enough sleep these past few days."

Hiashi sat down and spoke in the manner of an elder. "Lord Jiraiya told me you had no interest in joining the Konoha High Command."

"Maybe... maybe I'll consider it later. Ahaha!"

Qiuyang wasn't about to say anything reckless to this stern father. He laughed it off and changed the subject. Just then, he spotted Hanabi coming out and hurriedly led her away.

"Whew... your father is so serious. He's scarier than a teacher calling on you in class."

Once they were far enough away, Qiuyang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to the little girl. Seeing her smiling eyes and realizing she was trying not to laugh, he angrily flicked her smooth forehead and threatened:

"Go ahead and laugh. Next time I see your father, I'll ask him to give you more training."

Hanabi rubbed her forehead and looked up at him, stunned, her expression seeming to say, "How could something like that come out of Brother Qiuyang's mouth?"

Her adorable look nearly melted Qiuyang. He cleared his throat and explained that he was only joking.

Hanabi wasn't having it. She complained indignantly:

"You said it would be seven days. I've been waiting eight."

"Huh? Sorry, sorry. I lost track of time. How about Brother Qiuyang compliments you in front of your father next time?"

"I don't need you to compliment me."

But the little girl's smile returned.

After leaving the Hyuga Clan Compound, Qiuyang used the Flying Thunder God Technique again. In the space of two breaths, he was back in the shadowy laboratory.

Hanabi saw the densely packed symbols of the arrays and had already grown numb to them. To her, there was nothing Brother Qiuyang couldn't do that wouldn't make perfect sense.

Like the Hyuga's Rotation and Air Palm.

"This mission is very important. Little Hanabi, you have to help your teacher see it through, okay?"

Qiuyang spoke earnestly.

It wasn't that he didn't want to ask elite shinobi like Jiraiya or Kakashi to help. He was just afraid that people who put the village first would expose his secret, which would be a terrible trade-off.

By contrast, a little girl like Hanabi, who was easy to persuade, would definitely keep his secret.

Hearing that it was an important mission, Hanabi perked up at once and nodded firmly.

"Wait over there for a moment. I still have a few things to set up..."

Once the little girl had obediently moved to the corner, Qiuyang took out the Tailed Beast parts he had swiped from Snake Auntie one by one and placed them in the small Eight Trigrams Seals.

As for the miniature Demonic Statue of the Outer Path... he wasn't sure whether it would have a will of its own once released, so he simply placed it, along with the machine, inside the largest sealing array.

He planned to release it only after placing it inside his body. That way, even if it did have a will of its own, he could still suppress it with Wood Release chakra.

In the corner, Hanabi had activated her Byakugan. She watched as Brother Qiuyang took out several objects, each taller than a person and radiating ominous chakra.

She was very curious about where Brother Qiuyang had found all these bizarre things. The white monster at the Uchiha Clan Compound three years ago had been the same.

But her nerves were much stronger than they had been three years ago. She felt no fear at all. After all, Brother Qiuyang would protect her.

After completing the final preparations, Qiuyang called the girl over and pointed to the floor.

"In a moment, I'll use clones to seal these things into my body one by one. You stay by my real body and watch for anything unusual. If I tell you to cut it off, use your chakra points to sever the connecting channels."

"Got it!"

Crack, crack...

Under Hanabi's astonished gaze, Qiuyang's head suddenly split into ten, and each one grew a body before breaking away.

Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique.