To facilitate his operations in the Land of Water, Hagoromo chose the most suitable method of disguise, which was... not disguising himself at all, just going bare-faced.
Generally speaking, whenever he appeared on the battlefield as a ninja, he almost always sported that white-masked "gourd boy" look, especially during his several appearances on the Hidden Mist battlefield.
For a ninja carrying such iconic ninja tools, the enemy would subconsciously use the tools as one of the characteristics—or even the primary characteristic—to identify him. And because of these exceptionally conspicuous props, the ninja's other physical traits would easily be overlooked.
This wasn't a fallacy, but an actual, existing cognitive phenomenon. In fact, to intimidate the enemy, Konoha really ought to give a portion of their frontline ninjas a cut-and-dye job, bleaching their hair blonde to impersonate the Yellow Flash and terrify the Stone and Cloud enemies.
Similarly, the cognitive recognition effect of Hagoromo's gourd was highly pronounced. When he appeared on the battlefield, the first thing that drew the enemy's eye was the iron gourd on his back. Consequently, they ignored everything else about him; details like his height and build were processed as secondary information.
Therefore, when Hagoromo disguised himself as an ordinary civilian and operated using his true face, it was incredibly deceptive. He looked utterly harmless; his smile was bright and warming. Without needing much of a disguise at all, he could play the role of the boy next door or the sympathetic older brother—a face truly appealing to all ages and genders.
Judging from first impressions alone, it was very difficult to associate him with a cold-blooded, murdering ninja.
If they were comparing this specific aspect, there was only one person in the entire ninja world who could beat him: someone named Haku of the Yuki clan.
That's why you can't judge a book by its cover. Looking harmless doesn't mean you are harmless. If necessary, Hagoromo was perfectly capable of stabbing someone while saying something like, "Regardless of good or evil, all are equal before death, so I will send them on their way with a smile. Killing with a smile is my courtesy."
Ultimately, Hagoromo was the kind of person who belonged to the battlefield, who thrived on it. Environment influences the person, or the person adapts to the environment. In his peaceful past life, he could be a stable, ordinary civilian, but in the chaotic ninja world, he was a ninja who killed with peace of mind.
Which one was his true self? Both of them were.
Starting tonight, the Konoha ninjas assigned to the infiltration mission would sneak into the Land of Water in batches. Naturally, this kind of mission required the ninjas to remain as stealthy as possible during their operations.
If some unlucky squad was discovered during the process of infiltrating the Land of Water, things would go south very quickly.
Being discovered most likely meant engaging in combat. Engaging in combat on enemy territory meant a high probability of being surrounded by a numerically superior force of Hidden Mist ninjas. And being surrounded meant no escape...
Even dying wasn't a very foolproof measure. One had to pray that the Hidden Mist didn't possess an ability like Konoha's Yamanaka clan, who could extract intelligence from the minds of the dead.
If that happened, even if a ninja like Hagoromo might still be able to stay hidden in the Land of Water, the difficulty of executing a mission in such a high-tension environment would be unimaginable.
Since Konoha had just attacked a Hidden Mist stronghold, the Mist—having realized that Konoha's war strategy had shifted from defense to offense—was already on high alert.
Realistically speaking, now was not the best time to infiltrate the Land of Water. But that was just how war worked; one side couldn't possibly hold an absolute advantage forever, and certain missions had to be executed regardless of whether the conditions were favorable or not.
The only advantage Konoha had during the infiltration process was likely the fact that the Land of Water was an island, surrounded on all sides by coastline. It was impossible for the Hidden Mist to completely monitor and blockade it.
After all, look at how much effort Konoha expended trying to monitor the Land of Whirlpool, only to ultimately fail. Not to mention the Land of Water.
But accidents and misfortune were inevitable. Strategically speaking, Hagoromo had done very well. His Summoning Jutsu gave him a massive advantage, allowing him to silently infiltrate deep enough inland.
The only regret was that today, he was rather unlucky.
Just as he was about to step out of this stretch of forest, he spotted a four-man enemy squad approaching his position.
Retreat back into the woods to hide? But he couldn't guarantee the opponent didn't intend to search this area.
If he was discovered in this situation, even with his deceptive appearance and civilian clothing, showing up in the middle of the night near this desolate coastline was impossible to explain away. Was he supposed to say he urgently needed to take a leak into the ocean at midnight?
So... the most reliable option was to utilize his advantage of spotting them first to take the enemy out.
Simply defeating or killing the enemies wasn't the crucial point; the crucial point was taking them out silently. Once he made obvious noises in the quiet of the night or created conspicuous signs of battle, any other enemies nearby would inevitably be drawn over, and he would likely be out of luck.
Exposed before the infiltration had even truly begun—how could the mission possibly proceed after that?
Hagoromo hid behind a tree at the edge of the woods. Although the moonlight was quite good, he didn't peek out to observe the enemy's movements. He simply relied on the sound of their footsteps to judge the distance.
He was waiting for the opponent to walk into his jutsu's effective range of their own accord.
And surprisingly, accompanying their approach was the sound of conversation.
"Captain, I heard that during Konoha's previous attack, Lord Fuguki Suikazan of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was killed in action. Is this true?"
"It should be true... Who would have thought that even a ninja of that caliber would be taken out at this stage of the war. Konoha is truly going all-out on the offensive."
"Then can we hold Konoha off?" This voice revealed a hint of worry.
The captain didn't speak, but another voice chimed in, "Ahem, I think we should all be a bit more careful. We are on a mission, after all. Who knows, maybe some Konoha ninjas have already infiltrated the area."
"Relax. Even though we've entered a state of high alert, Konoha just executed a massive operation. Even if they wanted to launch a new offensive, they'd need time to prepare. How could they move so fast? Moreover, even if someone were infiltrating, they wouldn't choose this location."
Listening to their chatter, Hagoromo thought to himself that someone had actually guessed correctly—there really was a Konoha ninja who had infiltrated through this exact location.
However... openly chatting during a mission, that was way too undisciplined. Didn't they know that sound travels far in the dead of night?
These Hidden Mist ninjas were still judging the tempo of the war using outdated mindsets. In the final stages of the war, battlefield opportunities changed in the blink of an eye. The tempo was far faster than before; those who seized the opportunity won, and those who missed it lost. What was so strange about Konoha launching a new operation immediately following their successful raid?
Amidst their conversation, the enemies had entered his jutsu's range. Hagoromo wove his hand signs swiftly and silently. The four enemy ninjas only saw a figure flash before their eyes, and then everything completely disappeared.
"Captain, do you feel like the night suddenly got darker? Why can't I see anything?"
"Captain?"
The captain didn't respond to him, because he had already met his end.
An unfamiliar voice rang out by his ear, "The stars are still the stars, the moon is still the moon. It hasn't gotten darker because of the night, but because... you are caught in a genjutsu."
"If there's a next time, I highly recommend not chatting during your missions. Seriously, it's far too careless."
"Who's there?!"
However, that was as far as it went. Hagoromo didn't bother answering; he simply placed a palm on the man's head, and that was that.
When it came to techniques for silently neutralizing enemies, one had to mention the new skill Hagoromo had mastered during his process of learning Water Style—Genjutsu.
Just now, he had used the First Hokage's high-level genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.
Instantly stripping the enemy of their sight and completely sealing off their vision, in that fleeting moment, even a ninja could be slaughtered at will.
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