Half an hour later.
On the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf Village.
In a secluded forest.
The dense canopy of leaves blocked out the sunlight, casting an eerie gloom over the area, even in the middle of the day.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps broke the forest's silence, growing closer and closer.
Moments later, a figure appeared—none other than Seimei.
Sensing the increasingly blatant presence trailing him, Seimei decided to stop moving forward. He turned around, facing the path he'd just come from.
Sure enough, a stranger soon appeared in his line of sight.
The person was dressed like an ordinary villager from the Hidden Leaf, looking completely unremarkable.
But that lack of anything unusual was, in itself, the biggest red flag.
Sure, Seimei hadn't been sprinting at full speed or going out of his way to hide his tracks, but there was no way an average person could keep up with him.
As for the idea of them just "happening" to be on the same path? Total nonsense.
This place was far from civilization, teeming with wild beasts. What kind of ordinary villager would wander out here for no reason? Were they looking to get themselves killed?
Clearly, this person was the one who'd been secretly watching him.
And then there was their face.
With a quick mental scan, Seimei recalled seeing this person before.
Half an hour ago, when he'd glanced back, this face had been among the villagers. At the time, he'd been too focused on the ninjas in the crowd to pay much attention to the "ordinary" people.
Now, it was obvious this guy wasn't so ordinary after all.
Their ability to mask their chakra and presence was impressive, to say the least.
Since Seimei was dressed in casual clothes, he couldn't activate the Byakugan in his forehead without drawing attention. Instead, he activated his three-tomoe Sharingan to get a closer look at the stranger's body.
And that's when he spotted it.
To the naked eye, the person appeared completely normal.
But through the Sharingan, Seimei could clearly see a massive concentration of chakra in the stranger's abdomen, where the chakra pathways were densest. The amount of chakra was well beyond what an ordinary Jōnin could muster.
This guy was definitely a ninja.
But… who?
Seimei racked his brain, but with so little time, he couldn't pin it down.
No matter. Why wait for them to get closer and start asking questions? He could just take them down and read their memories instead.
With that thought, Seimei flicked his wrist, and a shuriken slipped out from his sleeve, landing neatly in his palm.
Sure, he was in casual clothes and hadn't brought his full ninja tool pouch, but that didn't mean he was unarmed. He always kept a kunai and a shuriken tucked away in his sleeve for emergencies—just like this one.
Whoosh!
The shuriken sliced through the air as Seimei hurled it forward.
His hands then blurred through seals, executing an A-rank ninjutsu: the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!
In an instant, the single shuriken split into two, then four, then eight, multiplying into over a hundred in the blink of an eye.
They all shot toward the stranger charging at him.
It all happened in a flash.
The stranger barely had time to register Seimei's presence before they were faced with a barrage of shuriken.
The sudden attack clearly caught them off guard.
After all, who wouldn't expect a bit of banter first—some back-and-forth to figure out what was going on—before jumping straight into a fight?
But Seimei? He wasn't here for chit-chat. He'd lured this guy out here for a reason, and now he was making his move.
The stranger's mind was a mess, but that didn't stop them from reacting.
Their skills, though? In Seimei's eyes, they didn't quite match the Jōnin-level chakra in their body.
The stranger dodged left and right, avoiding most of the shuriken, but a few still grazed them, leaving shallow cuts.
For a Jōnin, their combat ability seemed… underwhelming.
And there was something else odd. The wounds bled very little, and the blood itself didn't look quite right. It was almost as if…
Seimei's mind raced, landing on a fitting description: it was like they were pretending to be injured.
Exactly!
His eyes lit up as his three-tomoe Sharingan scanned the stranger, searching for the source of this strangeness.
But aside from the odd wounds, he couldn't find anything else out of place.
Enough overthinking. Seimei stomped the ground and launched himself forward like a cannonball, zeroing in on the stranger.
A kunai slid from his sleeve into his hand.
The next moment, they clashed.
Clang! Clang!
The sharp sound of metal striking metal echoed through the forest, startling nearby birds into flight.
But the fight didn't last long.
With his wealth of combat experience, boosted by 29 points in his "mental" attribute and 27 in "physical," Seimei's heightened perception and reflexes let him dominate the fight without needing any fancy tricks.
In just a dozen exchanges, his kunai carved a deep, bone-revealing gash across the stranger's chest.
The stranger recoiled, seemingly in pain, and instinctively retreated.
Seeing his chance, Seimei's eyes gleamed. He pushed his Sharingan to its limit, closing the distance in a flash and grabbing the stranger by the throat.
A ribbon-like sealing jutsu materialized in his palm, spreading instantly to envelop the stranger's body, binding them in place.
This wasn't just any sealing technique—it was the "Curse of Self-Binding Seal" Seimei had acquired from the Root organization.
Trapped by the seal, the stranger froze, completely immobilized.
And then, their appearance shifted. Or rather, their Transformation Jutsu unraveled, revealing someone Seimei recognized.
"Uehara Shinichi!?"
Seimei stared, stunned, his voice laced with confusion. Why would he be following him?
From what Seimei knew, Uehara Shinichi was a bit of a loner. He held some resentment toward clan-born ninjas, especially those from prestigious families like the Uchiha and Hyūga. But from their few interactions, Seimei had never sensed any real malice.
That resentment was just the typical inferiority—or maybe pride—that common-born ninjas felt. It was common in the Hidden Leaf.
The village's unique Jōnin promotion system meant that commoners who climbed the ranks through sheer skill often looked down on clan ninjas who they thought got their titles through connections.
Still, that tension never escalated to outright hostility. At most, it was just some private griping.
So why was Uehara tailing and spying on him?
Seimei's gaze lingered on Uehara's face, and when he met his eyes, he froze.
"No, you're not him. Who are you?" Seimei's tone was certain.
The stranger—still looking like Uehara—was caught off guard by his confidence.
Still, they responded, "What are you talking about, Seimei-san?"
Seimei let out a cold chuckle.
If he wasn't 100% sure before, he was now. This person was not Uehara Shinichi.
Sure, their appearance and chakra signature were nearly identical to Uehara's, but the pride and drive of a common-born Jōnin were gone.
Instead, their eyes held a mocking glint, like someone at a zoo watching a monkey perform.
It was clear they were looking down on him from a higher position, even while trapped and at his mercy, as if they were never worried about their own safety.
Realizing this, Seimei didn't waste another word. He prepared to use the "Mind Reading Jutsu" to dive into their memories.
But just as he was about to act, the stranger's eyes changed, as if a different soul had taken over.
A completely different voice came from their mouth: "Hold on!"
Seimei, however, was set on his course. Even with this new oddity, he had no intention of stopping.
This threw the stranger—or whatever was controlling them—into a panic.
With no other choice, the hidden force abandoned the body.
In the next moment, the figure that looked like Uehara Shinichi transformed into a ghastly, pale-white creature.