After the Neutral Liaison Station closed, it did not reopen all its channels.
The Land of Rivers activated only single-use emergency codes.
The nine codes were isolated from one another.
None of the parties could see whether anyone at the other eight locations had responded.
The question did not mention Kaguya, either.
It did not ask the Tailed Beasts to believe the records from the sea.
Nor did it ask them to acknowledge that they had once belonged to the same body.
There was only one sentence on the paper.
"Do you consent to your power being brought together again?"
Below it were two separate verification fields, one for the Jinchūriki and one for the Tailed Beast.
If either party refused, the channel would close immediately.
Silence from either party would not be treated as consent, either.
Black Zetsu soon tried to forge the first authorization.
A consent seal carrying tailed beast chakra appeared on the outer layer of the liaison station.
Its strength, direction, and anonymous code all matched.
But it had only the Tailed Beast's authorization, without independent verification from the Jinchūriki.
Under the logic of old sealing methods, the presence of a Tailed Beast's power was enough to represent its host.
The temporary protocol required the two authorizations to exist separately.
If either was missing, the Recorder could not admit it into a valid channel.
The forged seal was sealed away in the outer layer and failed to become an entry point for the projection's reunification.
The first answer came from Konoha.
Nine-Tails offered no lengthy explanation.
He simply severed the pale connection inside the seal.
"My power is mine."
Authorization on the Jinchūriki's side was verified by caregivers and medical personnel under the established rules.
The host was not brought into the meeting, nor was he