What Ino was about to do next involved a secret of the Hidden Leaf Village, and for both public and private reasons, she couldn't let Karin see it.
However, this girl had clearly been worried about her just now, and Ino couldn't be too heartless.
She patted Karin on the shoulder and then pointed in a direction: "Go up the stairs from here, and the second room on the left is my study. On the fifth bookshelf, there are two Ninjutsu Scrolls. You can choose one to learn."
Karin wasn't particularly interested in learning Ninjutsu, so she asked, "If I learn Ninjutsu, will I become useful to you?"
What does you learning something have to do with me? I just want to get you out of here!
Ino was increasingly convinced that every single one of these ninjas had some kind of issue.
She nodded firmly: "Absolutely."
"Alright!"
Karin, being a typical people-pleaser, was thrilled and ran upstairs to study.
Ino turned her attention to Naruto.
The situation was troublesome, but not life-threatening.
Sakura anxiously asked, "Should we go find Kakashi-sensei?"
Sasuke countered, "What if that guy from earlier comes after us again? I don't think Kakashi can beat him."
It was clear that Sasuke's words carried significant weight for Sakura, and she instinctively wanted to nod in agreement. But seeing Naruto lying unconscious like a dead man, she couldn't bear it.
Ino had the same concern.
Chameleon Kubisaki's invisibility was at its strongest when it remained motionless, arguably the best in the world. But once it moved, even a seasoned Jonin would notice something amiss with a bit of attention.
Taking Naruto all the way to find Kakashi now was too risky, and Kakashi couldn't solve this problem anyway.
Ino had a solution, and she had an idea.
There weren't many ways to obtain Nine-Tails Chakra, and this was a good opportunity.
Saving Naruto couldn't be done inside the Demon Fortress. If the Nine-Tails Chakra erupted, old Kubisaki, who was already like a candle in the wind, wouldn't be able to withstand it.
They had to go outside.
Ino used her sensing ability to detect that Orochimaru was getting farther away, and reinforcements from the Hidden Leaf Village were entering the Forest of Death from three directions. She estimated that the crisis had been resolved.
"Naruto is clearly being controlled by a seal. If we go outside, I should be able to undo it."
The others knew that Ino's Ninjutsu was quite varied, so they weren't surprised. They all left the Demon Fortress.
Ino told Karin to stay inside the fortress and continue studying, and then the group left the fortress, finding a very hidden cave.
Ino coughed lightly: "Ahem, let me give it a try. You guys hold him down."
After becoming Tsunade's apprentice, the Third Hokage had personally given her an A-rank Sealing Technique Scroll, the famous "Five Elements Seal."
Previously, only the Third, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya knew this sealing technique. Tsunade didn't.
Ino's apprenticeship had stirred some old memories in the old man, and he gave the "Five Elements Seal" learning scroll to Ino, perhaps with the intention of having her pass it on to Tsunade.
Naruto's "Naruto Uzumaki Two Thousand Combo" was rated as an A-rank Ninjutsu. The difficulty of this technique lay in the Shadow Clones. Once you mastered the Shadow Clone Technique, could the remaining basic Body Techniques really be considered A-rank? Even D-rank would be generous.
The "Five Elements Seal" was rated as an A-rank Sealing Technique, and its difficulty lay in the Five Elements. To use this sealing technique, one must possess all five Chakra Natures.
The Third Hokage and Orochimaru both possess the five Chakra Natures: Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water, so using the "Five Elements Seal" is no problem for them. Jiraiya, however, lacks the Lightning attribute, which originally made him unable to use this sealing technique. But thanks to the prowess of his disciple and his disciple's wife, who relied on the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan and Minato Namikaze's talent in ninja techniques, the couple modified the "Five Elements Seal." Now, this sealing technique can use Yin-Yang attributes to substitute for the missing Chakra Nature.
Jiraiya learned this modified version of the "Five Elements Seal," and later, the Fourth Hokage passed the technique to the village. Now, the Third Hokage has entrusted it to Ino.
Ino lacks the Fire and Lightning Chakra Natures, but she can temporarily substitute them with Yin and Yang attributes. Additionally, since she is reversing the technique to undo the seal, it's somewhat easier than when Orochimaru placed the seal on Naruto.
She focused her mind and spirit, and between her fingers, Water, Earth, and Wind Chakra emerged one after another. Then, she used Yang attribute to replace Fire and Yin attribute to replace Lightning.
"When I undo the seal, there will be a Chakra explosion. Hold him down! Don't move, absolutely don't move!" she shouted.
Shikamaru, Choji, and Sasuke pressed down hard on the unconscious Naruto.
Among them, Choji was the most forceful, his chubby face slightly distorted from the effort.
Ino's fingers formed a claw shape, and she quickly pressed them onto the new seal on Naruto's abdomen, then reversed the technique to undo it.
"Five Elements Unseal!"
With a loud "bang," the Chakra within Naruto's body sent everyone flying.
Sasuke's head hit the rock wall beside him, causing a bloody wound. Ignoring his own injury, he looked at Naruto.
"How's that idiot doing?"
Seeing that Ino didn't respond, he asked again twice.
"This is my first time doing this, how would I know? That's a seal placed by Orochimaru!"
Ino felt a bit frustrated. She was so skilled, yet her friends had no idea. Life was truly lonely.
After waiting for a while and noticing that Naruto still showed no signs of waking up, Ino checked again. The "Five Elements Seal" that had interfered with the "Four Symbols Seal" had been removed. The reason he hadn't woken up was likely due to something else that had happened during the time the seal was disrupted.
Since she had already gone this far to save him, and Ino also wanted to see what the Nine-Tails looked like—to see how much Chakra the Nine-Tails, "evenly" distributed by the Sage of Six Paths, actually had—she decided to proceed.
"I'll wake him up. Protect me," she said.
Shikamaru and Choji immediately understood, positioning themselves to guard her.
Ino quickly formed hand seals and aimed at Naruto: "Mind Body Switch Technique!"
Her consciousness, wrapped in Chakra, rushed into Naruto's inner world. Normally, at this point, she would be able to push the original consciousness aside and take over, but this time, the Mind Body Switch Technique only halfway succeeded. She couldn't find Naruto's main spiritual body at all.
"Where is he?"
The dark corridor was filled with puddles of water, and the entire space felt cold and damp.
With so much water on the ground, it definitely wasn't the Nine-Tails' urine, nor was it related to the "Four Symbols Seal" being located near Naruto's bladder. Even though Ino's Yin Release level and spiritual energy were high, the faint traces of the Nine-Tails' spiritual energy leaking outside the seal were overwhelming. It was too violent. Naruto's ability to remain optimistic for so long was truly remarkable.
Ino didn't see Minato's Chakra, Kushina's Chakra, or Asura's Chakra here. She guessed that the big shots probably thought the small issue at hand wasn't worth worrying about, so none of them showed up.
"Naruto?"
"Naruto?"
"Naruto Uzumaki?"
She called out for a while, but the only sound around her was the dripping of water. Not a single figure appeared.