423. Infiltration in the Hozuki Castle

A week later,

A strange news spread across the Five Hidden Villages. Sasuke Uchiha of the Hidden leaf village attacked Raikage and Tsuchikage during an important strategic meeting.

Sasuke slaughtered seven jounins and twenty chunnins during the battle. He chopped off Raikage's arm and gravely wounded Tsuchikage and escaped the pursuit of two villages.

Kumogakure and Iwagakure issued a joint apprehension notice against Sasuke and publicly demanded an explanation from the Hidden Lead Village.

To maintain its diplomatic relations with the two villages, the hidden leaf village responded by sending its elite shinobis to capture Sasuke. The latter was apprehended and pleaded guilty.

After a lengthy discussion among the three villages, they sentenced Sasuke to life imprisonment in the Hozuki castle.

Clang…

The door of the prison cell closes and one of the guards removes a black cloth from Sasuke's face.

"You have quite some guts, kid! Sabotaging the meeting between two Kages and massacring their shinobis, you might perhaps be the first person to escape alive after all that commotion."

Bang…

The guard knees Sasuke in the guts.

"Your balls might be big, but my stick is even bigger!" He bashes Sasuke's head with an iron baton.

Blood leaks from Sasuke's head as he raises his head and activates his Sharingan to glare into the guard's eyes.

"How? How are you able to use chakra despite those chakra suppression cuffs?" The guard falls back in terror.

Shiing…

The tomoes in Sasuke's Sharingan spin as he casts a genjutsu on the guard.

A few seconds later, the guard pees his pants and froth foam from his mouth. This demonstration scares the rest of the guards.

"Hurry up and call the warden! This guy is bad news. We can't handle him."

The rest of the guard panics and dashes away from Sasuke's cell.

"What's going on? What's with all this commotion?"

A fair, tall man with shoulder-length black hair, brown eyes, and a chiseled face walks through the corridors of the prison hall. A thick strand of hair hangs in front of his head. He wears a long black trench coat held together by a long brown belt and a silver buckle. He wears white gloves and long brown boots.

"Mui-sama! Mui-sama!" The guards hurriedly surround him and prostrate.

"Mui-sama, that new prisoner is too dangerous for us to handle."

"Hoh!"

Mui walks towards Sasuke's cell and glances at Sasuke. He opens the prison cell and enters. Sasuke raises his head and glances at him.

"I am Mui, and I am responsible for this place. Being sent here means that you have completely lost the trust of your village. So remember this, you are no longer of any value and…"

Mui swiftly makes a few hand signs. Crimson chakra coats his hands.

"Inferno Style: Celestial Prison!"

He slams his chakra-coated palm into Sasuke's chest.

Gah…

Sasuke spits out a mouthful of blood from the impact. A crimson sealing formula covers his entire chest and disrupts his chakra. Sasuke's eyes return to normal.

"… now your life lies in my hands."

Mui withdraws his outstretched palm. Sasuke attempts to infuse the chakra but the seal on his chest glows and disrupts his chakra flow.

Argh…

Sasuke winces in pain as the seal inflicts burns on his body.

"It's futile! This is my clan's imprisonment jutsu that has been handed down for ages. This is the reason the Hidden grass overseas the Hozuki Castle for ages. As long as you have that jutsu formula on your chest, you will not be able to infuse the chakra.

There are only two ways to get out of this place. One is an official request by your village." Mui pauses a glance at Sasuke's file.

"But given the crime you committed; this option is out of choice. And the second is if you die. Now behave if you want to live a few more years."

Mui glares at Sasuke and turns around to leave.

"Remove the chakra suppression cuffs!" He orders a guard.

"Yes, Mui-sama!"

The guard enters the prison cell and removes the chakra suppression cuffs from Sasuke's hands.

"Tch… you better behave or the rest of your days won't pass in peace." The guard scoffs and leaves the cell.

Sasuke lowers his head and sits in a dark corner of his cell. After ensuring that no one is around; Sasuke opens his mouth. He spits out a mini scroll from his mouth and recalls the event prior to his imprisonment.

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Inside the meeting room in the In-Yō headquarters,

Tsunade, Kushina, Shizune, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Itachi gather around a round table.

"The Raikage and Tsuchikage have agreed to our plan. They are ready to deploy their men in case of emergency and aid us." Tsunade glances at the scroll placed on the top of the table.

"We will now execute the next step of our plan!"

Everyone turns towards Sasuke since he is the central figure of the entire plan.

"This is the map sent by Raikage and Tsuchikage for the upcoming strategic meeting of all hidden nations. You will infiltrate this place and create a commotion. The representative of the Hidden Grass village will also be present at the meeting. So, your acting skills should look convincing to them."

"I understand!" Sasuke picks up the scroll and pockets it.

"Another important thing!"

Kushina takes out a scroll from a nearby cabin and hands it over to Sasuke.

"The Hozuki castle has a tradition of sealing its prisoner's chakra through a powerful ancient seal called Celestial Prison. This seal is so powerful that none of the shinobi nation and clans, including the Uzumaki clan known for their Fuinjutsu prowess, were able to decipher it. Thus, the warden of the Hozuki castle has absolute confidence in their seal. However…"

Tsunade smirks and points toward the scroll.

"Your big brother Izuna previously infiltrated the Hozuki castle to investigate the suspicious activities related to the hidden organization, Kara. His infiltration skills are second to none in the entire shinobi world, so he was able to easily access the core secrets of the Hozuki castle.

After studying the method to plant this seal, Izuna reverse-engineered the seal and created a key to crack open the seal. This scroll is one of those keys.

After you infiltrate the Hozuki castle and get branded by the Celestial Prison seal; wait for an opportunity to unlock the seal using this special key. This scroll is made of a special paper unique to the Shikkotsu Forest and is capable of shrinking in size. So, you can easily sneak it in."

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"Looks like this seal isn't as effective as I assumed it to be. I can still infuse my chakra and even activate my Sharingan and even Mangekyo Sharingan."

Sasuke channels the chakra into his eyes to activate his Sharingan.

"However, I can't release the chakra outside my body. Releasing the seal outside my body will activate the seal and, if possible, I don't want to experience such pain again."

He shakes his head and proceeds to unlock the celestial prison seal.

"Looks like you have quite the reputation to get a personal cell and make the warden of Hozuki castle pay a visit." A rather feminine voice interrupts him.

Hmm…

Sasuke swallows the scroll again and glances toward the wall on the right side of his cell.

"And you are…" Sasuke questions the voice.

"I am Ryūzetsu, a native of this island. I stole a few things and somehow ended up being here." Ryūzetsu introduces himself.

"And you are?" He asks Sasuke.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha, a former shinobi of the Hidden leaf village. As for my crime, I chopped Raikage's arm and almost slashed the Tsuchikage in my half." Sasuke introduces himself.

"Woah! That's quite impressive. Looks like you are a real deal is what would you like me to say, however…" Ryūzetsu pauses.

"… you are a spy for the Shinobi Alliance, right?" Ryūzetsu's voice changes as he speculates.

Hmm…

'Looks like they are aware of our moments. Does this mean there are spies among the higher-ups of the Shinobi Alliance since this information was only known to a few people?'

"Hoh! So, what if I am? Do you plan to reveal it to the warden and leave the prison on this account?" Sasuke scoffs at him.

"No! I don't have such intentions. However, I would like to cooperate with you to reveal the truth of this prison to everyone." Ryūzetsu offers.

"Hmm… I never expected I would hear such words from a petty thief." Sasuke retorts.

"You can say to me whatever you want, but the Hidden grass isn't as united as the rest of the nations think it to be."

"Then I would like to hear more about this matter before we can think of a cooperation," Sasuke responds to him.

"Very well!"