Mind's Eye of the Kagura

Karin ran to the river with a group of friends to catch fish. They were not like Naruto, who caught fish because he had nothing to eat. They were just a bunch of little kids playing by the river, catching fish while they were at it.

Karin had never caught fish before. Or rather, she had barely played any of the games normal children played. So she was immensely interested in every game.

Whenever she went out, she played herself silly. It had gotten to the point where Yumi started complaining that the little girl had no feminine grace at all.

Aoba did not mind. He knew Karin was making up for everything she had missed. It was actually good for her growth.

Today, the children had gone to play by the river again. Karin showed the other children her tree-climbing ability.

Karin had naturally begun basic training like tree climbing and water walking long ago. But she was playful by nature and lacked Naruto and Sasuke's ruthless determination to train as if their lives depended on it. Aoba would not allow her to push her body that hard, either.

So it had taken her two weeks to complete the tree-climbing training.

Now, naturally, she had to show off properly in front of her friends.

Aoba allowed this sort of harmless showing off. But he and Yumi had both strictly forbidden her from revealing the special nature of her body.

"No matter what happens. Even if your best friend gets hurt right in front of you, you must never let him bite you. Under no circumstances are you allowed to tell anyone about this."

Aoba and Yumi's stern warning, along with the hardships Karin had suffered since childhood, had made her particularly sensitive about this matter. So even when playing around with everyone, she could still distinguish what was important.

But Karin was somewhat absentminded today.

Her friends had noticed that something was off with her.

"Karin, what's wrong?"

"I... I'm fine. Let's go play somewhere else. I'll teach you how to climb trees."

"Okay."

The children left the riverbank, laughing and making a racket.

Something weighed on Karin's mind. Before nightfall, she said goodbye to her friends and returned home. This surprised both Aoba and Yumi. Normally, the girl would never come back before dark.

"What's wrong, Karin? Did you argue with your friends?"

"No, I..." Karin hesitated. After thinking for a moment, she spoke.

"Aoba, I have a secret to tell you both."

"What secret?"

"It's..." Karin seemed unsure how to describe it.

"When I close my eyes, I can still see people. It's strange—the more tightly I close my eyes, the clearer I can see. And I can see very far away. I can see behind walls and into the woods."

Aoba smiled. Of course, he knew what this was. Karin had likely awakened the Mind's Eye of the Kagura.

The Mind's Eye of the Kagura was an ability unique to the Uzumaki clan. It could be considered a special Kekkei Genkai.

Once awakened, it granted an exceptionally powerful sensory ability. Within a certain range, no living creature could evade the Mind's Eye of the Kagura's perception. It was not much inferior to the Byakugan, though it did not reach as far.

"Don't be afraid. You've awakened a power called the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. It's a good thing. It will give you powerful sensory abilities. From now on, no one will be able to ambush or sneak attack you, because you can sense hidden enemies around you at any time."

"But I feel a little uncomfortable."

The discomfort was because, after the Mind's Eye of the Kagura awakened, the amount of information her brain had to receive had suddenly increased, leaving her unable to adjust. It was not a problem. As time passed, she would quickly adapt.

"Is that so? Then can I see things underground?"

"I'm not entirely sure. In theory, you should be able to. Why? What did you see?"

"I saw people underground. No, they didn't look like people. I don't know what they were, but they were alive. And they could move. They looked really scary."

Aoba's expression changed at once. Of course, he knew what those things were. If nothing unexpected had happened, they were probably White Zetsu sent by Obito to monitor Konoha.

White Zetsu possessed a special ninjutsu called the Mayfly Technique. The Mayfly Technique merged the user's body with the earth, grass, and trees to achieve high-speed movement. It was White Zetsu and Black Zetsu's exclusive infiltration technique.

Their appearance resembled the shell of an insect-eating plant. Once they used this technique, they could merge with the earth.

They could then move at high speed to any location by linking into organic networks such as plant roots and underground water currents in the ground.

While the technique was active, it completely cut off all traces of their presence. No one could detect Zetsu's aura. Even the Byakugan would struggle to track them without prior preparation.

Only a cheat-like sensory ability such as the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, which directly sensed their life force itself, could clearly pinpoint their locations.

Aoba crouched down and looked Karin directly in the eye.

"Can you see those things around our house?"

"No. There aren't any near our house. I usually see them around the Hokage Building and the school."

"That's good, Karin. Listen to me now. From this point on, don't deliberately look for those things, understand? Don't deliberately look. But remember where they are, then tell me. Understand?"

"Understood. Is this a ninja mission?"

"Of course. This is a mission I'm giving you. The first objective is to keep yourself from being noticed by those things. The second is to remember their locations. The third is to notify me if you see one close to the surface."

Aoba had long known that Konoha was under White Zetsu's surveillance. Most of those things were not particularly strong in combat, but when it came to hiding and escaping, they were unparalleled in the Shinobi World.

With his current strength and technical reserves, he had no way to deal with them.

Karin awakening the Mind's Eye of the Kagura this early solved a crucial part of the problem. He could now keep track of White Zetsu's positions around Konoha. But because she had awakened it too early, he was not prepared at all.

Under the current conditions, capturing one of those things would still be extremely difficult.

Most of those White Zetsu hid dozens of meters underground. At such depths, forget that he was not skilled in Earth Release—even if his Earth Release were at Jiraiya's level, it would be difficult to catch them.

They were too deep underground. Before his ninjutsu could even take effect, they might have already dived more than a hundred meters beneath the surface.

That was why he had told Karin to notify him if she discovered any close to the surface.

But even if one came near the surface, it was far from safe. Aoba still needed to make more preparations.

White Zetsu was a crucial link in his next plan. Aoba had even suspended all his other experiments and begun preparing to capture White Zetsu.