Thanks for Shimura Danzō's Tip!

[Heart Severing Realm] originated from the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique, [Mind Body Switch Technique].

Back then, Yamanaka went home and began training in the secret technique. As he practiced, it inexplicably mutated, granting him this additional ability.

Heart Severing Realm couldn't sense chakra fluctuations or Natural Energy. It sensed fluctuations in emotion.

As everyone knew, any intelligent living creature experienced emotional fluctuations as long as it was alive.

And since shinobi knew nothing about sensing emotions, no one would deliberately guard against it. That worked out perfectly for Yamanaka Chujiu.

However, though Heart Severing Realm could sense emotions, Yamanaka Chujiu might not understand them. Without understanding them, he couldn't pick them out from the vast sea of emotional fluctuations.

The more he understood his target's inner thoughts, the farther away he could be and still distinguish the target's emotions, and the more precisely he could pinpoint their location.

This was where being a transmigrator put him at a disadvantage. Yamanaka Chujiu wasn't a native of the Shinobi World and couldn't relate to shinobi culture. How the hell was he supposed to understand shinobi?

Unable to understand shinobi emotions, he couldn't distinguish them from a safe distance. That made Heart Severing Realm useless.

Fortunately, the mutation hadn't taken up a secret-technique skill slot, so Yamanaka Chujiu was still a qualified Yamanaka shinobi.

Then the Third Shinobi World War broke out, and Yamanaka Chujiu was sent to the front lines. After his Ino-Shika-Cho squad was wiped out, leaving only him alive, he finally understood some aspects of the shinobi mindset.

There was one thought shared by nearly all shinobi: survive!

From then on, Yamanaka Chujiu could not only distinguish enemy and allied shinobi and pinpoint their locations, but his sensory range also reached an astonishing two thousand meters.

It even exceeded the Byakugan's range.

More terrifyingly, once he became proficient in Heart Severing Realm, Yamanaka Chujiu could condense his thoughts into fine threads and wrap them around his enemies. Even a single thread, if it burrowed a little way into the mind, could hypnotize an enemy into ignoring his presence.

If he wrapped more threads around an enemy, Yamanaka Chujiu could temporarily turn them into a puppet, controlling them just like with the Mind Body Switch Technique and fighting with their body.

In theory, by taking deep control of a target's mind, he could permanently change their sense of self, including their gender, worldview, and memories.

If he changed enough of their perceptions, it wouldn't be temporary puppeteering anymore. They would be completely transformed into a living puppet.

They could think for themselves, live independently, train, fight, and grow stronger, yet they would obey Yamanaka Chujiu's will absolutely and could sacrifice themselves at any time. Perhaps such a living puppet could be called an external avatar.

By comparison, the Human Puppets of Sunagakure were downright pathetic.

Unfortunately, all of that was only theoretical. Living shinobi had instincts and a sense of self, and they would resist fiercely.

Forget turning them into living puppets—even controlling them temporarily was difficult.

That was why Yamanaka Chujiu was so surprised when the thought threads wrapped around Uchiha Shisui on their own.

What's more, several different kinds of thought threads had wrapped around him, and they were invading his mind at an astonishing speed.

In just a few minutes, Yamanaka Chujiu discovered that he could change Shisui's preferences and perceptions—and it seemed he could even tamper with his sense of gender...

Honestly, it felt bizarre!

Yamanaka Chujiu felt an urge welling up inside him. Reversing Shisui's sense of gender and making him think he was a woman would definitely be hilarious!

In the end, Yamanaka Chujiu managed to restrain himself.

Changing someone's sense of gender was too shallow. It was nothing but hurting someone without benefiting himself. Only an idiot would do it.

The Uchiha shinobi of the Military Police Force quickly figured out what had happened. With cold expressions, they knocked on every gate along the street and demanded that the homeowners come out and explain themselves.

Just as Chujiu had predicted, the homeowners all produced land deeds and property deeds. The villagers, on the other hand, had no proof to show.

The villagers were dumbfounded. They didn't know what to do, so all they could do was cry and repeat what had happened.

The Uchiha shinobi of the Military Police Force weren't stupid. They stared at the brand-new documents with livid expressions. They didn't even need to verify them to know something was wrong.

How could documents issued a few years ago, or even more than a decade ago, look brand-new?

The ink on the seals hadn't even dried!

But the Uchiha were helpless. This wasn't the first incident of its kind that day.

The first time they saw such obviously fake documents, the Uchiha had arrested the homeowner without a word and taken him to the Hokage Building for verification.

But the documents, which were obviously fraudulent, matched the records exactly. They even had seals and the Third Hokage's handwritten signature.

The Uchiha could only do as the homeowners demanded and drive the poor villagers to the Shanty Town in the northeast corner of the village to find temporary shelter.

Watching all this, Yamanaka Chujiu felt heavy-hearted. The children with him began making all sorts of connections.

For example: why had the families of shinobi disappeared, even though they too were shinobi's kin?

Kazamatsuri Harume's teeth chattered as she asked, "Big Brother Chujiu, is this what you meant when you said people who fell below the Execution Line would be killed?"

Yamanaka Chujiu nodded. "Yes. And this isn't a helpless killing because they're poor. It's the most shameless, violent, and cruel kind of killing."

Yano Shoichi's face was pale. "Big Brother Chujiu, let's go. Let's go clear some wasteland. I don't want to fall below the Execution Line. I don't want the Uchiha shinobi to drive me out."

Yamanaka Chujiu glanced at the shadows along the street, then looked away. "Let's go."

They passed through the noisy streets and reached Konoha's commercial district, where they bought farming tools and seeds as planned.

Yamanaka Chujiu also bought plenty of snacks to share with the children.

The children ate carefully, but not one of them smiled. He couldn't harvest any happiness from them, either.

The group left the district in silence, crossed the Konoha River that ran through the village, and arrived at the Yamanaka Clan's barren hillside.

Just then, two Root shinobi with complex patterns on their masks appeared, having followed them all the way, and blocked everyone's path.

At the same time, two more Root shinobi appeared behind Yamanaka Chujiu.

Suppressing their killing intent and concealing their movements, they crept forward, their weapons aimed at Chujiu's heart and kidneys.

Meanwhile, the two Anbu Ninja in front drew their weapons and slashed at the dumbfounded children.

No warning, no attempt to restrain them—just an outright attempt to kill.

That was very much in keeping with Root's style.

Yamanaka Chujiu didn't answer, defend himself, or dodge. Instead, he swept his gaze across the four Root shinobi with a cold smile.

Just as the Root shinobi who had launched the attack reached the children, they suddenly put away their weapons, bent their knees, and knelt on the ground.

Yamanaka Chujiu lifted his chin and gave an annoyed snort.

The Root shinobi in the village hadn't been brainwashed thoroughly enough.

After the thought threads wrapped around them, he still had to spend an extra second burrowing into their minds to achieve shallow mental control.

The Root shinobi who were sent out of the village on independent missions were much better.

They had been subjected to repeated, destructive brainwashing. Their minds were simple and empty; they had long since lost their sense of self and were already close to being puppets.

When Yamanaka Chujiu used thought threads to control normal shinobi, they instinctively struggled frantically. All he could manage was shallow hypnosis or brief control.

But mature Anbu Ninja had no sense of self. As soon as thought threads wrapped around them, he could take deep control of their minds in an instant.

With no sense of self to resist, the mind control would continue to deepen, and they would soon become Yamanaka Chujiu's living puppets.

All Chujiu could say was:

Thanks for Shimura Danzō's tip!