Inheritance, *Steaming Danger Tyranny*! Mirage!

"Hozuki Fuyuki, Not-Moon? What kind of ridiculous name is that..."

"This guy is actually a descendant of the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki's branch?"

"He pulled some strings to get a long-term posting outside the village? Makes sense. With the Bloody Mist Village being the way it is, who wouldn't run if they could?"

"Oh~ He knows quite a lot! So this is the principle behind the Water Transformation Technique? They call it a secret technique, but this practically counts as a Kekkei Genkai, doesn't it? Damn it, just as I thought, I can't use it..."

"Water Gun Technique, Double Dings, rapid fire, Great Water Arm Technique, Water Hail..."

"Huh? This guy actually read the Second Mizukage Gengetsu Hozuki's Ninjutsu Scroll, and he even contracted his Summoning Beast, Mirage?! Incredible, incredible!"

Yamanaka Kei pressed one hand against Hozuki Fuyuki's head as he performed the Memory Reading Technique.

The more he saw, the more delighted he became!

He had learned about the Water Transformation Technique, a genjutsu exclusive to the Hozuki Clan, through the memories of several Mist captives while serving in the Analysis Team.

Though it was regrettable, even after learning all its principles and training methods, the Blue Entry Water Release Mastery still could not allow him to use this secret technique.

Still, with powerful secret Water Release Ninjutsu of the Hozuki Clan such as the Water Gun Technique, he had already made an enormous profit!

And there was also the inheritance of the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki!

In the original story, Gengetsu Hozuki had not appeared in many episodes, but those few episodes had been enough for Yamanaka Kei to understand just how powerful he was.

Even when he had no desire to fight the Ninja Alliance and had deliberately held back like mad,

he had still toyed with the Ninja Alliance in the palm of his hand.

With Steaming Danger Tyranny alone, he had dragged the Second Tsuchikage Mu, who had created Bloodline Elimination, down to the Pure Land with him.

It was simply absurd!

That was Bloodline Elimination, something that surpassed even Kekkei Genkai!

With such an inheritance, as long as he found a suitably talented successor, he could cultivate at least a Kage-level combatant!

"How much sorrow can a man possess? Like a eunuch visiting a brothel. What a pitiful child..."

Yamanaka Kei cast Hozuki Fuyuki a pitying glance.

This fellow's Water Release talent was actually fairly decent, but his genjutsu talent was a complete disaster.

Even after obtaining the inheritance of the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki,

he could not bring out the power of that inheritance.

The reason he had pulled strings to obtain such an overseas posting was not to escape the Bloody Mist Policy, but to escape the eyes of his clansmen.

He had clearly obtained Gengetsu Hozuki's inheritance and received the clan's full support in training,

yet he had fallen far short of his clansmen's expectations.

The expectations and disappointment of the clan elders, the contempt and mockery of his fellow clansmen—everything weighed on him until he could barely breathe.

"Urgh—blegh! Blegh!"

The moment Yamanaka Kei temporarily stopped the Memory Reading Technique, Hozuki Fuyuki immediately struggled awake.

The mental trauma inflicted by the A-rank genjutsu, combined with the suicidal clashes of mental energy from his repeated resistance to the Memory Reading Technique, left him dizzy, his vision darkening as dry heaves burst from his throat.

"Wouldn't it be better to lie still and suffer a little less?"

Yamanaka Kei curled his lip.

Though he pitied Hozuki Fuyuki's circumstances, he would not show the slightest mercy when acting against him.

Just as if he fell into the hands of ninjas from another hidden village, they would never spare him.

In the ninja world, where everyone was effectively an executioner,

showing mercy to a ninja was simply courting death!

Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Clone Technique!

Ignoring Hozuki Fuyuki's retching, Yamanaka Kei used the nearly instantaneous Mind Transfer Clone Technique to easily seize control of the other man's body.

Recalling the amount of Chakra needed to summon the clam that safeguarded the Summoning Contract Scroll from the memories he had just seen,

he controlled Hozuki Fuyuki to bite his fingertip and rapidly form hand seals.

Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Ram!

Poof~

Chakra smoke billowed forth.

A clam over two meters in diameter appeared in the laboratory. Its shell was pitch-black and looked exceptionally hard.

Controlling Hozuki Fuyuki's body, Yamanaka Kei patted the clam's shell.

The tightly sealed clam slowly opened.

It revealed a massive Summoning Contract Scroll within, one meter in diameter.

"How dare you! That's the Summoning Beast of our Hozuki Clan! How dare you!"

Hozuki Fuyuki's soul was squeezed into a corner of his Inner Sea as he watched the contract scroll being taken out, his eyes nearly splitting with rage.

"You talk too much."

Yamanaka Kei fused his mental energy with Chakra, turning it into vast Yin Release Energy, then slapped Hozuki Fuyuki's soul.

His already damaged mental energy suffered another devastating blow.

The pain that penetrated deep into his soul made it curl into a tiny ball, with pained groans escaping from his mouth from time to time.

Yamanaka Kei's main body, which had been waiting nearby, accepted the contract scroll handed over to him.

Upon opening it and seeing that it began with Gengetsu Hozuki's name, followed by more than a dozen others, he sighed in exasperation.

It was clear that the Hozuki Clan had desperately wanted to cultivate a successor capable of inheriting Gengetsu Hozuki's legacy.

Unfortunately, they had tried more than a dozen times, and every attempt had failed.

"A little trouble is still better than letting someone summon this thing if they ever get brought back with the Reanimation Jutsu."

Yamanaka Kei took out a blood storage vial from the pocket of his Jonin Vest, dipped into the blood, and wrote his name at the end of the scroll.

After clearly sensing that the contract between them had been formed, he nodded in satisfaction.

He formed a one-handed seal with his right hand, and complex Sealing Technique formulas rapidly gathered in his palm.

Sealing Technique: Contract Seal!

He struck the contract scroll with one palm, directly over Gengetsu Hozuki's name.

The sealing formulas swiftly spread outward and invaded the inside of the contract scroll, directly severing Gengetsu Hozuki's contract with the Clam Clan.

The name, written in blood and still bright red after decades, gradually turned black after losing the power of the contract.

Yamanaka Kei did not delay and continued performing the Contract Seal.

The Contract Seal was an advanced Sealing Technique of the Uzumaki Clan.

In the original story, Namikaze Minato had used this seal to dissolve the contract between Obito Uchiha and the Nine-Tails.

It had prevented the other party from summoning the Nine-Tails through the Summoning Technique again.

When Yamanaka Kei had studied Sealing Technique with Kushina, he had made a point of learning this technique to ensure Madara Uchiha could not manipulate him in the future.

His proficiency with it was no less than with the Four Limbs Heavy Seal, which he could use at will.

Smack~ Smack~ Smack~ Smack~

He used the Contract Seal more than a dozen times in succession.

When the final Contract Seal landed on Hozuki Fuyuki's name, the black clam that had been summoned dissolved into smoke within the laboratory.

Yamanaka Kei looked at the contract scroll, where his own name was the only one that still retained its vivid crimson color.

After giving it some thought, he summoned the black clam once more and handed the contract scroll back to it for safekeeping.

According to the information in Hozuki Fuyuki's memories,

the Clam Clan lived in an unknown sea far from the ninja world, a place no one had ever reached.

The only reason the Second Mizukage Gengetsu Hozuki had been able to form a contract with this clan was because he had done something just as foolish as Jiraiya.

Without having a contract with any creature, he had rashly used the Summoning Technique.

The only difference was

that Jiraiya had been taken to Mount Myōboku by the power of the Summoning Technique.

Meanwhile, due to his exceptionally abundant Chakra even in his youth, Gengetsu Hozuki had coincidentally summoned the Clam Clan's ancient progenitor—a gigantic clam named Mirage.