Hurting Heaven and Harmony, Not Hurting Qinghe

These past few days, though Shiba Seika had been stirring up trouble in Cat Country and inciting internal strife in Konoha, his personal training had never once slackened.

With continuous practice, the insights granted by the system were rapidly digested and integrated, transforming into strength that was truly his own.

In this process, Shiba Seika gradually discovered that he had considerable talent in the field of Genjutsu.

Moreover, his approach to using Genjutsu differed from most ninjas.

He never insisted on using illusions to kill or weaken his enemies; in his view, deception itself was the goal!

There were many ways to kill an enemy, no need to rely solely on Genjutsu, but deceiving an enemy and manipulating emotions—only Genjutsu excelled at that!

He was especially adept at blending illusions with reality, mixing truth and falsehood until one could no longer distinguish the real from the virtual.

For instance, right now, Karasuba and Masuda Ikki were genuinely using Uchiha clan techniques, and Shiba Seika had specifically instructed them not to use the ninjutsu they had known in the past.

This layer of reality served as the perfect assist, grinding down the Root ninja's mental defenses bit by bit.

The relentless barrage of "Great Fireball Technique," the familiar flames, the scorching heat, the faint red eyes—finally snapped the Root ninja's nerves completely.

He roared with the resolve of one who had no way out.

"You evil Uchiha! You will never defeat Lord Danzo!

Lord Ryōma will devour your bodies with his insects, Wu and Po's Fire Release far surpasses yours, they will burn you to death, Lord Luo will gouge out your eyes and stuff your bodies into stone pillars!"

This Root ninja felt he had no chance of survival; the Uchiha's Sharingan was famously unbeatable in one-on-one combat.

Thus, under the influence of the Genjutsu, he went completely mad, shouting out all the venomous curses he had never dared to speak before.

Just as he was about to continue his tirade, tracing back to viciously attack the Uchiha's lineage, a sharp pain shot up from his tongue and rapidly spread through his entire jaw.

The agony snapped him back to reality, and everything before him finally returned to normal. The moonlit night was silent—where were the red-eyed Uchiha?

"Wha—"

He tried to speak, but by then the pain had quickly turned into numbness and emptiness.

He felt his tongue and even his entire throat rapidly festering and dissolving into nothing.

Externally, a swarm of black tadpole-like Sealing Technique runes spilled from his mouth, swiftly spreading toward his neck.

Shiba Seika raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling a bit of regret.

Seeing this, he hesitated no longer and used a Body Flicker Technique to appear before the Root ninja, plunging a blade straight into his heart.

But death did not stop those tadpole-like runes; they continued to spread across the corpse, only now their direction turned upward, soon covering the ninja's entire face and head.

Ajisai and the others caught up at that moment and gasped in shock at the sight.

"What in the world is that? It looks so eerie and terrifying." Ajisai asked, still shaken.

Shiba Seika pulled out his blade and explained calmly, "This is the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, a secret technique of Konoha's Root."

"So these are the Root you've been talking about all along."

Only then did Ajisai and the others confirm the enemy's identity.

Masuda Ikki said regretfully, "What a shame. If not for that bizarre secret technique triggering, he might have spilled more information."

Everyone nodded in agreement, their gazes toward Shiba Seika tinged with a mix of awe and fear.

Compared to the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, Shiba Seika's Genjutsu was no less eerie and terrifying!

He had effortlessly manipulated the enemy's emotions, toyed with an experienced Anbu ninja, and extracted a fair amount of intelligence.

Shiba Seika, however, didn't dwell on it much.

He had long known that Root had confidentiality measures in place.

Moreover, the activation of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal precisely confirmed that the intelligence the enemy had spoken before death was true.

Ironically, it had helped him, serving as a strong guarantee of the information's authenticity.

"It's fine. This trip has already yielded a lot. We've confirmed that the enemy leader is Yūno Ryōma, and the squad includes two experts proficient in Fire Release and one brutal ninja skilled in Earth Release."

After a pause, Shiba Seika added, "And based on the enemy's refusal to retreat and our surveillance these past few days, this Root squad likely has no reinforcements coming."

Even though this intelligence was indeed useful, everyone's expressions remained far from optimistic.

"Even so, they're still very strong. That Yūno Ryōma—I think I heard of him years ago. He made a name for himself during the Second Great Ninja War." Masuda Ikki said with a grimace.

As Root's highest-level commander, Yūno Ryōma was ordinarily permitted to use his real name instead of a code name, so he had some renown in the ninja world.

Hearing that name, the group's morale sank even lower.

Though they had been confident before setting out, only after actual reconnaissance did they truly grasp the gap in foundation between a major ninja village and the Rain Ninja.

Every one of the twelve Root operatives possessed outstanding quality.

The lone straggler they had just taken down was a soft target they had spent three days stalking.

Now, suddenly learning that the enemy also had a famously powerful commander, everyone's fighting spirit plummeted further.

But Shiba Seika smiled faintly, his grin cold and eerie under the moonlight.

The next moment, his words struck like a thunderbolt: "No. I've already thought of a way to deal with them."

Everyone turned their heads in unison, their eyes wide with shock.

"Captain Seika, you have a plan already? That fast?"

"What should we do?"

Shiba Seika still wore that gentle smile as he faintly uttered a few words.

In that moment, everyone couldn't help feeling the moonlight turn a bit cold, a chill seeping into their bones, making them all shudder in unison.

Shiba Seika said, "We'll set the mountain on fire."

Finally, Shiba Seika kindly explained the brilliance of this tactic.

"Based on the intel we have, this enemy squad lacks water-style ninja. The Aburame clan's bugs have a big advantage in the forest, but a wildfire can completely break that advantage."

But that wasn't what everyone was focused on.

Kenjiro stammered, "Captain Seika, isn't this... a bit too ruthless? There's a village at the foot of the mountain. Even if the fire doesn't reach the people, those villagers rely on mountain game to get through winter. And if the fire gets out of control, the consequences would be unthinkable."

Ajisai also pouted and muttered curtly, "It's against the will of heaven."

But Shiba Seika just lightly spread his hands, and one sentence crushed them all.

"You've known me from day one, haven't you? When has Shiba Seika ever cared about going against the will of heaven?"

Against heaven, against man—none of it mattered, as long as it didn't go against Seika.

Finally, he declared decisively, "I don't want casualty numbers. I just want Root dead!"