The seal burned.

  Not violently—but in a way that let Ken know Shukaku was still testing the limits. The One-Tail pulsed inside him, a storm of chakra confined to carefully drawn lines and blood-bound inscriptions across his abdomen. The seal was still holding—but barely.

  It had never been meant for this.

  Ken had used a rough prototype based on Minato’s notes—half-learned, half-guessed—from the depths of the restricted Konoha archives.

  Now, he was in the medical wing beneath Hokage Tower, shirt discarded, three ANBU standing by, and two of the most dangerous shinobi in the vilge examining him like a bomb that hadn’t gone off yet.

  Tsunade was not amused.

  “Are you out of your mind?” she snapped, pulling on her gloves.

  Ken tilted his head. “It worked.”

  Tsunade turned to Kakashi, who leaned against the wall, arms crossed, face half-hidden behind his mask as always.

  “Why do they all say that?” she muttered. “Every Uchiha thinks ‘it worked’ is a seal of approval to py god.”

  Ken didn’t reply.

  He sat still as Tsunade’s chakra threads probed the edge of the Crimson Gate Binding seal.

  Kakashi finally spoke.

  “Shukaku’s not dormant,” he said. “I can feel it from here. Like chakra static. You’re a lightning rod.”

  Ken shrugged. “It’s manageable.”

  “It won’t be for long,” Tsunade cut in. “This seal is holding by willpower and luck. If it slips—he’ll go berserk and tear through this vilge from the inside out.”

  Ken looked down at the glowing ink. “Then fix it.”

  Tsunade raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

  “You're the best seal reinforcement specialist left in the vilge after Jiraiya. I used a base concept pulled from the fourth Hokage’s archive. It worked. But you can make it hold.” His eyes sharpened. “So do it.”

  Tsunade stared at him for a long moment.

  Then sighed.

  “…You’re lucky I like reckless idiots.”

  The reinforcement took three days.

  Ken spent them mostly unconscious, his chakra tethered to a complex array of sealing rings and chakra-flow regutors. Tsunade’s version of the Crimson Gate Binding had more complexity, more flexibility. Dynamic control triggers. Emergency shutdown nodes. Chakra modution points.

  It wasn’t just a jail anymore.

  It was a contract.

  Shukaku growled through the tether, furious and confused.

  “You gave your word,” Ken whispered, barely audible, as Tsunade drew the final line of ink.

  The beast quieted.

  When he woke, Tsunade sat nearby, arms folded, a mug of tea cooling in her hand.

  “You’re stable,” she said. “Barely.”

  Ken flexed his fingers. The weight inside his chest felt more... connected. Less foreign.

  “I need to train with it.”

  She nodded. “Start small. Pull a sliver of his chakra. Get used to the flow before it overwhelms you. This isn’t like the Sharingan—you don’t get second chances with a bijū.”

  Ken sat up, chakra fring faintly through his skin.

  “I don’t need second chances.”

  Meanwhile – Hidden Sand VilgeKazekage Rasa’s hand crushed the report scroll.

  Around him, the Suna Council erupted into shouting—anger, confusion, fear. They had lost everything.

  “We’ve confirmed it through our remaining trackers. Gaara is alive, but the One-Tail is gone.”

  “And it’s now sealed in a Konoha shinobi,” spat one elder. “The boy Gaara described—Uchiha. No forehead protector. But there’s no doubt.”

  “It’s theft,” another snapped. “Viotion of the Tailed Beast Treaty.”

  Rasa’s voice finally broke through.

  “This... is a decration.”

  The room fell silent.

  “Whether they admit it or not,” he continued, “Konoha has taken a jinchūriki from our vilge and cimed it for themselves. This changes everything.”

  One of the advisors leaned forward.

  “Do we retaliate?”

  “No.” Rasa’s eyes narrowed. “We wait. Let the other vilges hear what happened. Then we’ll see if the Leaf can carry this burden alone.”

  Elsewhere – Hidden Vilges ReactIn the Stone, the Tsuchikage grunted as the report reached him. “So… Sarutobi’s children are still stealing monsters to make themselves gods.”

  In the Mist, the Mizukage narrowed her eyes. “The Uchiha took a tailed beast? How poetic. Let’s see if he can hold onto it.”

  In the Cloud, the Raikage smmed a fist onto his desk. “Another jinchūriki in the Leaf. First the Nine-Tails, now the One-Tail. What next—Seven-Tails in Konoha’s undry room?!”

  And far beyond the borders—

  The Akatsuki listened.

  Back in Konoha – Training Ground Forty-FourKen stood alone in a wide clearing, eyes closed, body steady.

  The new seal pulsed faintly with Tsunade’s reinforcements. Beneath it, Shukaku stirred, restless but no longer furious. The beast had begun to accept its new container—not by choice, but through mutual advantage.

  Ken exhaled.

  And reached inward.

  A tendril of chakra uncoiled—thick, grainy, wild. It wrapped around his spine, then flickered through his right arm like molten sand.

  He formed the first seal.

  Sand Bullets.

  Tiny beads formed in the air, floating like dust motes. Then, with a flick, they unched into the nearest tree—shredding bark, cracking the trunk.

  He smiled.

  The chakra was dense. Heavy. But the control was there.

  This wasn’t a curse.

  This was a weapon.

  Later, he sat on the ridge above the training grounds, watching dusk fall.

  Kakashi approached quietly, holding a worn scroll.

  “I found this in the old ANBU archives,” he said. “Seal compatibility theory. Might help.”

  Ken took it, nodded.

  “You’re going to have targets on your back,” Kakashi added. “You know that, right?”

  Ken didn’t look away from the horizon.

  “I already did.”