❇️Flashback❇️
About 44 minutes ago…
Seimei was hiding underground, just beneath the caravan, protected by multiple ninjas.
It was nothing special, just a clever use of the Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu. It let him stay hidden while pinpointing the locations of every target, whether it was a person or an inanimate object, by sensing the Earth's geomagnetic field. He could even move underground, if needed, without leaving any visible marks.
Of course, to sense persons or objects above the ground, he didn't need to rely on his senses alone. He had one pair of broken dojutsu, the Tenseigan, to help him clearly see everything happening above the ground while he chilled underground.
To ensure he stayed undiscovered, he activated all kinds of seals to cover his aura and chakra.
He had used Presence Concealment Seal, Chakra Isolation Seal, and other anti-probing seals to hide his chakra. With that, even if the overly cautious sensor ninjas tried to sense things underground, they wouldn't find shit.
Not only that, but he had also marked the surrounding area with multiple invisible Flying Thunder God Seals to make sure nothing escaped his spatial perception.
On top of that, he had also created a few shadow clones and made them transform into stones, grass, and other unassuming objects to help him monitor Genzo and the ninjas guarding the mysterious caravan.
Naturally, his shadow clones had also used proper fuinjutsu seals to hide their presence and chakra.
Seimei was watching and listening to the ninjas as they patrolled and talked. Genzo and Fukada Ren had no clue they were being monitored so closely.
Seimei even focused on his targets' lip movements so as not to miss a single detail.
It was already past 7:30 PM.
At that moment, he suddenly saw Fukada Ren and Shiraishi Genzo walking up to the mysterious caravan.
He immediately perked up his ears and put some extra effort into reading their lips.
"You really don't have to worry about the item, Lord Genzo. As you can see, we are already protecting it. I have eight ninjas and samurai to protect it. Not to mention, more people are keeping a close watch on the caravan covertly as well."
The words of Fukada Ren reached Seimei's ears as he was reassuring Genzo.
Genzo shook his head and replied, "I trust you, Fukada-san. But I just can't rest easy. Until I reach the Land of Frost, I truly can't."
Fukada reassured him again, "We will be there in a day or two."
Genzo nodded heavily and asked, "Are you keeping an eye on the Konoha ninjas?"
Fukada Ren smiled. "That's for sure. All three are under our watch. Although we can't watch their movements blatantly to avoid suspicion, we are still keeping an eye on them."
Fukada Ren paused for a bit before continuing, "However, as you know, Lord Genzo, the object shows no reaction to anyone's chakra. It doesn't emit chakra either. So, I doubt they will pay much attention to it. Even if they did, it would be futile. For they would find nothing except for a few tools and equipment."
Genzo sighed in relief, "I know. And that's for the best."
Meanwhile, Seimei, who was hiding underground, had a peculiar expression on his face.
No, the one you are surveilling is my shadow clone, not the real me. I am right here beneath your feet, and you have no idea at all. Seriously, from this position, if I launched an ambush, wouldn't this guy die ten times over? Where's his confidence coming from?
Seimei mused as he kept listening to their conversation.
He narrowed his eyes and thought about what he just heard.
That said, there's indeed something fishy inside that caravan, isn't it? I just don't know what. But it doesn't sound too dangerous.
At most, it feels like Genzo has some trinket that he wants to use in the Land of Frost. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to concern us, does it? It doesn't sound like he is colluding with a foreign ninja village to harm Konoha or the Land of Fire's interests.
Still, I am curious. What the hell is this guy planning to do once he reaches the Land of Frost? It doesn't seem like a simple mineral transport. If anything, the mineral transport seems like a cover.
Seimei had actually tried to see what was inside the caravan that made the merchant Genzo take this sort of excessive precaution.
With his Tenseigan, most obscure blockages weren't an obstacle at all.
But even with that, he didn't find anything.
Sure, there were some other tools, fine equipment to rest and sleep in peace, a few luxurious things that Genzo might prefer during his long-distance travels, and other miscellaneous things.
But they weren't something that required excessive protection and precaution.
For a merchant of Genzo's caliber, they were nothing.
Is there some kind of seal that prevents both my Tenseigan and Natsumi's Byakugan from seeing through it? Not sure. However, if the thing they are protecting neither reacts to chakra nor emits it, then not finding anything is understandable, even without a concealment seal.
But why are they protecting such a useless item? Everything of value in this world emits chakra. Even if they don't, they will at least react to chakra.
They aren't protecting some super precious mundane stuff, are they? In that case, we are just being paranoid over nothing.
Damn it. I understand Orochimaru's obsession with snakes now. In times like these, a small snake with camouflage ability that could slip through the cracks and inspect things for me would have been perfect.
Should I go ahead and find a snake-type summoning beast? But if I do, Shirayuki (that Kage-level big white wolf that specializes in Ice Release) would surely make a fuss.
Seimei, hiding underground, rubbed his chin with his right hand as he mused silently.
After a few seconds of silence, he looked up. His ocean-blue eyes glowed slightly as he decided to attempt one final probe.
Even if he didn't find anything, which was probably most likely to happen, it was fine. He would no longer torture his brain cells thinking about this topic.
So what if his eyes were of no use? Fine. He would just unleash his chakra field along with a 3D-mapping sensory Jutsu to detect peculiarities around him.
None of the ninjas guarding Genzo and the mysterious caravan were any sensor-nin.
Statistically, natural or innate sensor-type ninjas made up less than 0.1% of the entire ninja population.
Other non-sensor ninjas could go through extensive training to develop sensory abilities.
But most never succeeded since it required an extremely high level of chakra control, mental stamina, and a long period of focused training. To most ninjas without innate sensory talent, that was just a waste of precious training time and resources.
To sense enemies and their surroundings, most ninjas actually relied on active sensory techniques that were incredibly difficult to master.
For this very reason, unless someone was an innate sensor or developed a passive sensory chakra field through years of meticulous training, most ninjas never realized it when other sensory ninjas deployed a chakra field to secretly observe their movements until they actively cast a sensory ninjutsu as well.
Without a passive chakra detection field, Genzo's ninjas would never find Seimei's chakra field unless he stupidly increased the chakra density of the sensory field for no reason.
And obviously, I am not that stupid. Seimei thought inwardly while letting out a brief villain-like chuckle.
Then, without a shred of hesitation, Seimei expanded his chakra field.
His chakra, undetectably thin yet potent, spread out from him, swiftly covering the mysterious caravan, Genzo, Fukada Ren, and the people guarding the caravan.
The chakra recorded everything it encountered. It created something like a 3D holographic radar, allowing Seimei to sense things he could or couldn't see.
Anything that reacted to or obstructed his chakra would be completely mapped in his mind.
Soon, his chakra seeped through the caravan's body.
In the next moment, his chakra seemed to touch a container covered in various seals.
"This seal…it doesn't actually block chakra completely. At most, it blocks just over 98% of invading chakra. But it's highly effective against Dojutsu that has surveillance capabilities, for example, Byakugan and my Tenseigan."
"Then again, based on their earlier conversation, there's no need to actively shield the item from chakra-field-based reconnaissance attempts."
"It seems it really doesn't react to chakra. In that case, to most sensors, it would be nothing but a useless, mundane item."
"No matter. I will just satisfy my curiosity and go back to spying on Genzo and his team."
Seimei muttered as he forced his chakra through the seal's defense.
As his chakra touched the item inside the sealed container, Seimei got a good grasp of what the item looked like.
Some kind of hexagonal gem? Seimei thought inwardly.
"But it's truly as Genzo had mentioned. It doesn't have any chakra. It doesn't react to chakra either. So, were we really being paranoid for nothing? Is it really some extremely precious mundane item that some high-ranking noble in the Land of Frost wants and is prepared to pay a high price, enough to make a merchant like Genzo extremely cautious?"
Seimei didn't bother anymore. He had already lost interest in the item.
However…
Unexpected things always happened at unexpected times.
Just when he was about to retract his chakra, the hexagonal crystal seemed to come back to life.
Sling…
With a weird sound, the crystal suddenly vibrated and poured out an extremely chilling combination of Yin and Ice Release chakra.
It became entangled with Seimei's chakra, resonated with it, and started releasing an even more powerful surge of chakra.
Crack… Crack…
Frost covered the interior of the caravan and slowly spread outside. The ninjas and samurai guarding the caravan felt their blood freeze and their minds buzz.
Fortunately, the special chakra's range of activity seemed to be limited to within a 10-meter radius.
Seeing the rampaging chakra and its effects, Genzo, Fukada Ren, and the sealing experts were instantly alarmed.
Genzo spoke first. "What's going on? This isn't supposed to happen. Why is it suddenly acting up?"
Fukada Ren immediately commanded, "Sealing team…contain the item immediately. We must stop it before it attracts attention."
The sealing team literally scrambled to contain the commotion. They immediately tried to set up a barrier around the caravan to hide the anomalous phenomenon.
Meanwhile, Seimei was bewildered by the situation, too.
But his astonishment came from another reason entirely.
That crystal's strange chakra seemed to resonate with his own chakra, triggering something hidden within his bloodline and DNA.
His Otsutsuki bloodline was reacting.
[Otsutsuki Bloodline LV5 (50,120/ 100,000) → (50,124/ 100,000)]
…
[Otsutsuki Bloodline LV5 (50,124/ 100,000) → (50,131/ 100,000)]
…
[Otsutsuki Bloodline LV5 (50,131/ 100,000) → (50,144/ 100,000)]
…
His system notifications kept flashing in his mind. His Otsutsuki bloodline's proficiency and purity seemed to be going up, as if it had finally awakened from its dormancy.
Of course, that was an illusion.
But the fact that his bloodline was reacting to it wasn't.
"What the hell!"
Seimei could only curse silently.
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