Within Hidden Mist Village

After presenting identification from the Daimyo's Palace at the gate, Seiji was immediately respectfully allowed through by the guards and entered Hidden Mist Village.

"Father, I've come to Hidden Mist Village," Seiji murmured, his voice filled with emotion and longing for his father, Genji.

In his previous life, Seiji had lived in a peaceful era, while in this life he had grown up outside the village. Thus, the current Seiji held no particular feelings toward Hidden Mist Village.

His reasons for coming to Hidden Mist Village were twofold. First, he wanted to see the place where his father had grown up, as well as inherit his father's will and unfinished dreams. Second, as one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Hidden Mist Village could greatly aid Seiji's growth and development. Moreover, he intended to use Hidden Mist's power to plan for the resurrection of his parents.

Although Ōtsutsuki Isshiki did not possess the Rinnegan and knew nothing of its ability to reverse life and death, Seiji had seen clips in his previous life of Madara Uchiha's resurrection and Nagato using the Rinne Rebirth Technique. Though he did not know the details, he clearly knew that the Ninja World possessed methods capable of reviving the dead, even if the process would be extremely difficult.

But Genji was different. Hidden Mist Village had been established by Genji and his generation with their own hands, and Genji had deep feelings for the village. Back then, as the captain of the Second Mizukage Hozuki Gengetsu's guard unit, he had even been groomed by the Second as a potential Mizukage.

Looking around, Seiji, who had come to a shinobi village for the first time, experienced the differences between this shinobi village—previously described only by his father Genji—and an ordinary town. More than ten years had passed since the first great conflict among the five villages, and Hidden Mist Village had long since shaken off its former desolation. As an island nation bordering the sea, the Land of Water possessed uniquely advantageous geography. The sea's bounty far surpassed that of the mainland, and thanks to this, both the Land of Water and Hidden Mist Village were currently enjoying a relatively prosperous period.

After finding an inn and settling in, Seiji began planning his next steps.

He definitely could not return to the Kaguya Clan. In fact, within the Kaguya Clan, he was already considered dead.

Although the Kaguya Clan had nearly fallen out with Hidden Mist Village and the Third Mizukage Hyou due to Kaguya Musashi's ambitions, resulting in the entire clan moving out of Hidden Mist Village completely, and although the Kaguya Clan now rarely took on village missions aside from war, Seiji still had to prevent Musashi's subordinates—those who knew his appearance—from seeing him. In the Land of Water, strange-looking shinobi were everywhere, but he was the only one with two horns growing from his forehead. That feature was simply too distinctive.

Therefore, even after entering Hidden Mist Village, where there were no Kaguya clansmen, Seiji continued maintaining the Transformation Technique. Though he concealed the horns on his forehead and the red dot between his brows, his basic appearance remained unchanged. After all, the only feature people knew him by was that unique pair of horns.

In truth, joining the Mizukage's directly controlled assassination tactical special unit—the Anbu—would have been the best choice for Seiji. First, he could wear a mask most of the time to conceal his face, allowing him to stop constantly maintaining the Transformation Technique. Second, according to his father Genji, nearly all of Hidden Mist's upper echelon had once served in the Anbu.

Unfortunately, Seiji was not even an officially registered shinobi of Hidden Mist Village. He had no shinobi registration number, much less a Ninja Headband, let alone any chance of joining the Anbu.

It had been nearly five days since Seiji arrived in Hidden Mist Village, yet he was still troubled by how to join the village.

During the reign of the Third Mizukage Hyou, Hidden Mist gradually began implementing an elite-shinobi policy known as the "Bloody Mist." Students graduating from the shinobi academy were required to form pairs and slaughter one another until only one remained, with the aim of producing the most outstanding and cold-blooded shinobi.

At first, it had only been experimental in nature. However, as the first group of "Bloody Mist" shinobi continued to mature and perform exceptionally well, this bloody policy could now be said to be openly carried out in Hidden Mist.

Thus, with a relatively stable source of elite shinobi, if Seiji did not reveal his identity, he had virtually no chance of joining Hidden Mist Village as a wandering shinobi.

Over the past five days, Seiji had barely left the inn. Troubled, he decided to change his mood by taking a walk through the village and getting some fresh air.

Walking the streets without any particular destination, Seiji suddenly heard a commotion ahead.

"Lord Genji!"

"Elder!"

Greetings rang out one after another. The villagers consciously moved aside to clear a path and respectfully bowed to the approaching old man.

An elderly man with an aged face but an exceedingly kindly appearance slowly approached, accompanied by two guards. He held a Snake-shaped Staff and wore an enormous brown robe, warmly responding to each villager's greeting in turn.

This man was Elder Genji, who possessed extremely high prestige within Hidden Mist Village.

Not recognizing Genji, Seiji hurriedly followed the villagers' example and bowed to the old man.

Now fifty-four years old, Genji remained fairly energetic. A follower of the First Mizukage Byakuren and one of Hidden Mist Village's founders, Genji had held the position of elder ever since the village's founding.

After the First passed away and the Second took office, Genji's outstanding administrative abilities and complete lack of desire for power led the Second Mizukage Hozuki Gengetsu to grant him authority equivalent to that of the Mizukage.

By the era of the Third Mizukage, Genji had become an old minister who had served through three administrations, as well as the sole remaining elder from the First Mizukage's era.

The Third Mizukage likewise granted Genji authority nearly equal to that of the Mizukage. However, Genji did not agree with the Bloody Mist policy implemented by the Third. He believed that shinobi raised to be cold, merciless, and psychologically twisted would ultimately bring disaster to Hidden Mist Village. Yet, faced with the support of most of Hidden Mist's upper echelon, Genji could only gradually withdraw from public affairs, retaining only his authority over civilian administration and no longer interfering in the village's military and political matters.

When Genji came before Seiji and looked at the boy bowing to him, a glint of sharpness flashed through his slightly clouded eyes before quickly disappearing.

Now nine years old, Seiji's facial features more closely resembled those of his mother, Kaguya Yukiko. Genji, who happened to be on good terms with the Kaguya Clan's Sixth Elder and had met Kaguya Yukiko before, could not help forming some suspicions upon seeing Seiji's face, which bore an extreme resemblance to hers.

Ten years ago, Genji had still stood at the peak of power in Hidden Mist Village and maintained a deep degree of control over the village.

Genji knew the entire sequence of events behind the internal power struggle within the Kaguya Clan like the back of his hand. Not to mention that Kaguya Genji had been able to join the Shadow Guard due to Elder Genji's recommendation. Thus, Genji had deeply regretted what had happened to Kaguya Genji and had continued to keep a close eye on him afterward. However, since it was an internal clan matter, he could not break the rules to help Kaguya Genji.

That was why Genji had recognized Seiji at a glance just now.

"Go ask whether that young man from earlier is named Seiji. If he is, invite him to this old man's home later," Genji said quietly to Ao, the guard following behind him.

"Yes, Elder." Ao accepted the order and departed.

After Genji left, Seiji continued walking forward along the street with the crowd. At that moment, he sensed an aura roughly at the level of a Special Jonin rushing straight toward him without any attempt at concealment.

After distinguishing it slightly, Seiji recognized it as the Chakra signature of the guard behind the elder who had just passed by. He slowly came to a stop.

Whoosh! Ao appeared before Seiji using Body Flicker. Because of Genji's earlier instruction, Ao's manner remained fairly respectful.

"Young man, the elder wishes to ask your name."

"Me?" Seiji asked doubtfully. Ao's arrival had instinctively made him think his identity had been exposed, but on second thought, an elder so beloved by the villagers could not possibly have ties to those reckless brutes of the Kaguya Clan. Besides, he had sensed no hostility whatsoever from either Ao or Genji, whom he had met just now.