If he had to capture the Three-Tails in the future, he would have to search lake after lake. Who knew how long it would take to find it?
This also made Xuan Yu realize that if he wanted to capture the Three-Tails, it would be best to have an acquaintance in Kirigakure or gather information beforehand.
Otherwise, he could only search slowly, lake after lake, to capture the Three-Tails.
While Xuan Yu was thinking about all this, Utakata had already walked into the ruins, his heart heavy.
The place had never been properly cleared out, and there had been no reason to bother.
Utakata was certain that almost nothing here had changed since that night.
With a mixture of apprehension and hope, he searched the area carefully and found quite a few documents.
The documents were damaged to varying degrees, but there were so many of them that he could still get a general idea of what they had recorded.
After carefully reading through everything he could find, Utakata's shoulders began to tremble.
This time, it wasn't from fear or anger, but from guilt—deep, overwhelming guilt.
He hadn't expected Xuan Yu to be telling the truth.
The documents he had collected were all his teacher's research.
They recorded extensive research his teacher had conducted into the curse inside his body.
Besides those, he also found a few scattered manuscripts.
Those manuscripts made Utakata suffer even more. Every one of them revealed how much his teacher had cared for and protected him.
Clutching the damaged pages in his hand, he staggered toward the cave that had haunted his dreams night after night.
This was the most heavily damaged place on the entire island.
Still, Utakata entered the cave. Inside, he saw the wrecked laboratory and the stone platform from back then.
The scenes from that night surfaced before his eyes once more.
But he understood that he had been wrong then—and had remained wrong for a long time afterward.
In the ruined laboratory, Utakata also found some research documents and manuscripts left behind by his teacher.
After reading everything, he seemed to lose all his strength in an instant and slumped to the ground, utterly despondent.
At that moment, Xuan Yu's voice reached him. "What's done can't be undone. Since you made a mistake, you should do your best to make up for it."
"Kirigakure is still suffering in the depths of the Bloody Mist Village. This is the home you and your teacher came from. Now that you're capable of doing something for Kirigakure, are you going to keep living in despair and watch more people suffer?"
"I..." Utakata opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he gave up arguing with Xuan Yu.
After a long while, he sighed and said, "What should I do? And how could I possibly be capable of making amends? The monster inside me doesn't obey my will."
Hearing that, Xuan Yu was delighted.
He said to Utakata, "That's why I came to you. The monster inside you is both a disaster and an opportunity. If someone tossed you a piece of gold and gave it to you, that would obviously be a good thing. But if someone tossed a whole wagonload of gold at you, you'd have to worry about getting crushed."
"The curse on you is the same. You're tormented by it because you can't control such a powerful monster. But I can strip away most of its power and seal it."
"Then you'll be able to use the monster's remaining power as easily as moving your own limbs. The curse will be lifted, and you'll still have considerable strength. Without the curse holding you back, you'll be able to train seriously like any other ninja."
Xuan Yu's words completely won Utakata over.
Utakata hadn't yet fully mastered the Six-Tails and become a perfect Jinchūriki.
The Six-Tails' presence filled him with fear and misery.
One of the main reasons he lived in seclusion was that he worried he might fail to suppress the Six-Tails, causing the Tailed Beast to run rampant and bring about a blood-soaked disaster.
Hearing Xuan Yu say he could resolve the curse filled Utakata with hope.
He looked at Xuan Yu and asked earnestly, "How will you lift the curse?"
Xuan Yu replied casually, "Let's go back to where you were staying. After I deal with the curse, I'll take care of that Tailed Beast, too. And you don't need to worry about getting Kirigakure out of the misery of the Bloody Mist Village just yet."
"Someone in Kirigakure is already working toward that. I'll also work with you on it later. Once the curse is dealt with, keep training hard and wait for word from me."
Utakata nodded.
As he did, Xuan Yu activated Kamui and took him to the forest where he had been staying.
Once they arrived, Xuan Yu said, "Sit down. You don't need to worry about what comes next."
Utakata hesitated briefly, then sat down in a clearing.
Xuan Yu went behind him and began forming the Sealing Jutsu.
"Smack!"
He first struck Utakata on the back with his palm, placing an Eight Trigrams Seal on him.
This Eight Trigrams Seal had been modified by the special effect trait Precise Control.
Its effect was similar to Naruto's, though not exactly the same.
"Rumble—"
Under the Eight Trigrams Seal's effect, Saiken's Chakra began seeping into Utakata's body little by little.
"I can't hold back that monster's power!" Utakata said with some pain.
Xuan Yu replied unconcernedly, "You don't need to hold it back. I'm trying to release most of that Tailed Beast's Chakra."
As Xuan Yu spoke with Utakata, more and more of the Six-Tails Saiken's Chakra seeped out.
But Xuan Yu still thought it was too slow. He immediately grabbed Saiken's Chakra and pulled it out of Utakata's body much faster.
Inside the sealing space, Saiken watched the outside world intently, its expression vicious.
Ever since it had been sealed inside Utakata, the two of them had never gotten along. Saiken had constantly tried to escape.
At last, its chance had come. A new seal had appeared on Utakata, creating a breach in the vessel that allowed its Chakra to seep out.
Saiken had already decided that once it got out, it would kill the two bugs outside.
But it hadn't expected one of the bugs to be so eager to die. As its Chakra continued to seep out, that fool actually thought it was escaping too slowly and kept tugging at its Chakra from outside.
Saiken sneered to itself. "Pathetic bug. Once this great one is free, I'll smash you into a pulp with my tail!"
Before you continue