Within Hidden Mist Village

After presenting identification from the daimyo's residence at the gate, Qing Si was immediately and respectfully allowed through by the guards, entering Hidden Mist Village.

"Father, I've arrived in Hidden Mist Village," Qing Si murmured, his tone filled with emotion and longing for his father, Genji.

For Qing Si, he had lived in a peaceful era in his previous life, while in this life, he had grown up outside the village. Thus, the current Qing Si held no attachment to Hidden Mist Village.

His reasons for coming to Hidden Mist Village were, first, to see the place where his father had grown up and to inherit his father's aspirations and unfinished dreams. Second, as one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Hidden Mist could offer tremendous help to Qing Si's growth and development. Moreover, he intended to make plans for reviving his father and mother.

Qing Si had once come across clips in his previous life of Madara Uchiha's resurrection and Nagato using the Samsara of Heavenly Life. Though he did not know the specifics, they still made him clearly realize that the shinobi world possessed methods capable of reviving the dead.

Genji, however, was different. Hidden Mist Village had been built by Genji's generation with their own hands, and Genji felt deeply attached to the village. Back then, as the captain of Second Mizukage Gengetsu Hozuki's guard unit, he had even been groomed by the Second Mizukage as a potential successor.

Looking around, Qing Si, visiting a shinobi village for the first time, sensed the difference between the shinobi village his father Genji had once described and an ordinary town. More than ten years had passed since the First Five-Village Clash, and Hidden Mist Village had long shaken off its former desolation. As an island nation bordering the sea, the Land of Water possessed exceptional geographical advantages. The ocean's resources far surpassed those of the mainland, and thanks to this, both the Land of Water and Hidden Mist Village were currently enjoying relative prosperity.

After finding an inn to stay at, Qing Si began planning his next steps.

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

Although the Kaguya Clan had nearly fallen out with Hidden Mist Village and the Third Mizukage due to Kaguya Musashi's ambitions, and the entire clan had completely moved out of Hidden Mist Village, with the clan now rarely taking on village missions aside from war, Qing Si still had to avoid being seen by Kaguya Musashi's subordinates who knew his distinctive appearance. In the Land of Water, strange-looking shinobi were everywhere, but he was the only one with two horns growing from his forehead. That trait was simply too easy to recognize.

Therefore, even after entering Hidden Mist Village, where no Kaguya clansmen lived, Qing Si maintained his Transformation Technique at all times. Though he concealed the horns on his forehead and the red dot between his brows, his basic appearance remained unchanged. After all, the only things people knew him by were those distinctive horns.

In truth, joining the Mizukage's directly controlled Special Assassination and Tactical Squad—the ANBU—was Qing Si's best option. First, they wore masks most of the time, allowing him to conceal his face and avoid constantly maintaining the Transformation Technique. Second, according to his father Genji, nearly all of Hidden Mist Village's upper ranks had once served in the ANBU.

Unfortunately, Qing Si was not even an officially registered shinobi of Hidden Mist Village yet. He had no shinobi registration number, much less a forehead protector, let alone any chance of joining the ANBU.

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

During the rule of the Third Mizukage, Hidden Mist had gradually begun implementing an elite soldier policy called the "Blood Mist," requiring ninja academy graduates to form pairs and slaughter each other until only one remained. The goal was to produce the most outstanding and cold-blooded shinobi.

It had initially been experimental in nature, but as the first generation of "Blood Mist" shinobi continued to grow and perform well, this bloody policy was now openly carried out in Hidden Mist.

Therefore, with a relatively stable source of elite shinobi, Qing Si had virtually no chance of joining Hidden Mist Village as a wandering shinobi unless he revealed his identity.

Over the past five days, Qing Si had barely left the inn. Troubled, he decided to change his mood and take a stroll through the village for some fresh air.

As he wandered aimlessly through the streets, a commotion suddenly broke out ahead.

"Lord Yuan Shi!"

"Elder!"

Greetings rang out one after another as the villagers consciously stepped aside and respectfully bowed to the approaching old man.

An elderly man with an aged yet kindly face slowly approached, accompanied by two guards. He held a snake-shaped wooden staff and wore an enormous brown robe, warmly returning the villagers' greetings one by one.

Qing Si quickly searched through Jigen's—or rather, Isshiki Otsutsuki's—memories and found the information the Underground Bounty Station had gathered on this old man.

This man was Elder Yuan Shi, a figure of immense prestige within Hidden Mist Village.

Now fifty-four years old, Yuan Shi remained fairly energetic. As a follower of First Mizukage Byakuren and one of Hidden Mist Village's founders, Yuan Shi had served as an elder since the village's founding.

After the First Mizukage passed away and the Second Mizukage took office, Yuan Shi's outstanding administrative abilities and lack of ambition for power led Second Mizukage Gengetsu Hozuki to grant him authority equal to that of the Mizukage.

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

The Third Mizukage likewise granted Yuan Shi authority nearly equal to his own. However, Yuan Shi did not agree with the Third Mizukage's Blood Mist policy. He believed that shinobi raised to be cold, heartless, and psychologically twisted would eventually bring disaster upon Hidden Mist Village. Yet, with most of Hidden Mist's upper ranks supporting the policy, Yuan Shi could only gradually withdraw from power. He retained only his authority over civilian affairs and no longer intervened in the village's military or political matters.

More importantly, despite possessing enormous power within Hidden Mist Village, Elder Yuan Shi, though a politician, was one of the rare people in the village who could be called "kind-hearted"!

When Yuan Shi passed near Qing Si, a flash of sharpness suddenly appeared in his slightly clouded eyes, only to vanish almost immediately...!

Nine-year-old Qing Si's features now resembled those of his mother, Kaguya Yukiko, more closely. Yuan Shi happened to have a good personal relationship with the Kaguya Clan's Sixth Elder and had seen his daughter, Kaguya Yukiko, many times. Thus, when he saw Qing Si's face, which bore an extreme resemblance to Kaguya Yukiko's, a few suspicions could not help but arise in his heart.

Ten years ago, Yuan Shi had still stood at the pinnacle of power in Hidden Mist Village and maintained deep control over it.

He knew every detail of the power struggle that had occurred within the Kaguya Clan.

Not to mention that Kaguya Genji had been able to join the Shadow Guard due to Yuan Shi's recommendation. Thus, Yuan Shi had greatly regretted Genji's fate back then and continued to keep an eye on him afterward.

However, since it was an internal matter of the Kaguya Clan, even as an elder, he could not break the village's rules to help Genji.

That was why Yuan Shi had recognized Qing Si at a glance just now.

"Go ask whether that young man is called Qing Si. If he is, invite him to this old man's home later," Yuan Shi said quietly to Bi, the guard following behind him.

"Yes, Elder." Bi accepted the order and left.

After Yuan Shi departed, Qing Si continued moving down the street with the crowd. At that moment, he sensed a chakra signature heading straight for him without any attempt at concealment.

After identifying it briefly, Qing Si recognized it as the chakra signature of the guard who had been behind Elder Yuan Shi earlier.

Whoosh!

In the next second, Bi used the Body Flicker Technique to appear before Qing Si. Because of Yuan Shi's earlier instructions, Bi's attitude was fairly respectful.

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

"Me?" Qing Si asked, his confusion carrying a hint of vigilance.

Bi's arrival made him realize that something must have gone wrong. Otherwise, with the identification from the daimyo's residence that he had used to enter the village, no one should have come looking to cause trouble for a child like him.

But Qing Si quickly reconsidered. An elder so beloved by the villagers, and so highly regarded in the information Isshiki Otsutsuki had obtained—someone considered a "good person"—probably would not harbor hostility toward him for no reason.

More importantly, Qing Si had not sensed any hostility from either Bi or Yuan Shi, whom he had met earlier.