In the blink of an eye, an hour and a half had passed.
Deep within Kirigakure.
At the residence of Genshi.
Seimei stared at the open door and the two Kiri Special Jōnin collapsed nearby, his brow furrowing slightly.
Over the past hour and a half, he had gone around Kirigakure, replacing the hidden seals on everyone he'd marked with the Fūshin Sakuon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In (Heart-Sealing Soul-Locking: Contract Instant Body Seal).
Sure, there had been a few hiccups along the way—running into unrelated people—but those usually happened after he'd finished applying the jutsu.
This time, though, was different.
He really hadn't expected that, this late at night, Genshi wouldn't be asleep in his room. Instead, the old man was sitting in his study in the dark, eyes closed, pretending to nap.
This meant the moment Seimei teleported in, Genshi spotted him.
Sure, Genshi's combat ability had declined sharply with age, but as a battle-hardened veteran, his experience in handling sudden situations was top-notch.
Plus, he was super paranoid about his own safety. The guy had even rigged his study with traps and mechanisms.
Almost instantly, Genshi hit a switch under his seat, activating the traps.
Right before Seimei's eyes, the chair Genshi was sitting on whooshed backward, pulling him away in a flash.
And that wasn't all. With a series of "click-clack" sounds, dozens of kunai shot out from the four corners of the study.
The angles of these kunai were clearly pre-calculated.
The moment they launched, they formed a net, sealing off every inch of the study—except for the path where the chair moved.
But even that path wasn't just a clear road. It was timed with precision, creating a split-second window that matched the chair's movement.
This made it impossible for an enemy to chase after him.
If that was all, it wouldn't have been a big deal.
Though Seimei couldn't subdue Genshi right away, he seized the moment their eyes met as Genshi moved away, using Sharingan genjutsu to control him.
As for the kunai flying at him?
Sure, launched by mechanisms, their speed was beyond human capability, but under the Sharingan's insane perception, they were no biggie.
Seimei dodged the rapid barrage with just a few quick flashes.
So, that wasn't the problem.
The real issue was that the traps' activation had drawn the attention of the two Kiri ninja guarding outside.
This was something that hadn't happened in the past hour and a half.
Seimei reacted fast, though. The moment the two pushed open the door, he cast Genjutsu: Sharingan, pulling their consciousness into an illusion.
But the mess in the room wasn't something he could fix by wiping a few minutes of their memories.
Hence, the furrowed brow.
Sure, by combining the Sakuon In (Soul-Locking Seal) and Jigyō Jubaku no In (Self-Karma Curse Seal), the Fūshin Sakuon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In he developed had some thought-imprinting capabilities.
But strictly speaking, it didn't quite have the power to outright brainwash someone.
At best, this so-called thought imprint could only prevent someone from doing something—it couldn't truly bind their mind.
Well… at least not until he added the "Soul-Locking" ability and raised its potential to S-rank.
As for the Tensha Fūin (Transcription Seal) mixed in?
Yeah, that jutsu could manipulate a target's consciousness and make them do stuff.
But it required a trigger condition, and the task had to be simple.
For example, the condition he'd set was for them to activate the Hiraishin seal on their body once they confirmed definitive news of the Three-Tails' revival.
That was a specific and straightforward task.
But using it to completely control someone's mind? That was a pipe dream.
As far as he knew, the only thing in the Shinobi World that could fully rewrite someone's thoughts was Uchiha Shisui's Betsutenjin (Otherworldly God).
But too bad—there was no way Shisui would waste such a precious dōjutsu on this.
Plus, Seimei didn't want him involved in this anyway.
After all, secrets are only secrets when one person knows. The moment two people know, it's no longer a secret.
Seimei stood there, deep in thought. After a long while, he finally came up with a plan.
First, Genshi.
He channeled chakra from the interdimensional space in his brow, topping off his own chakra reserves. Then, he formed hand signs and cast Ninjutsu: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!
Poof!
With a puff of chakra smoke, a kage bunshin of Seimei appeared in the room.
Sharing Seimei's memories, the clone instantly knew his plan.
Without needing instructions, it walked over to Genshi.
Then, it woke Genshi up. The moment their eyes met, the clone activated its Eien no Mangekyō Sharingan (Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan).
In an instant, an overwhelming wave of dōryoku (pupil power) erupted from the clone.
Next, the clone pushed Genjutsu: Sharingan's power to its absolute limit.
Genshi's face twisted in response. It took a while, but eventually, his expression calmed, and he closed his eyes.
A few minutes later, Genshi opened his eyes again.
You could tell his already cloudy gaze was now even more lifeless.
When he looked at Seimei and the clone, the wariness from before was gone.
At that moment, he was like a puppet, standing silently, not saying a word.
Still, the occasional flicker of struggle in his eyes showed he hadn't completely given in.
Seimei wasn't too bothered by this.
As long as the kage bunshin periodically hit him with another dose of genjutsu, it could suppress his resistance, keeping him immersed in the illusion and indirectly controlling his will.
Yup, Seimei's plan was to leave a kage bunshin behind to control Genshi with genjutsu long-term.
This was inspired by how Uchiha Obito later controlled the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, with prolonged genjutsu.
Obito managed it with just a regular Mangekyō Sharingan. Seimei, with his Eien no Mangekyō Sharingan, had no reason to think he couldn't pull it off.
And sure enough, it worked!
Now, as long as the genjutsu was maintained without interruption, he could stably control Genshi long-term.
Since he had plenty of pawns planted in Kirigakure, leaving a kage bunshin to keep an eye on things gave him extra peace of mind.
As for the clone's durability and whether anyone would notice something off with Genshi?
For the first, he just needed to swing by every now and then, reabsorb the clone, and summon a new one to take its place.
Sure, it'd cost him some chakra, but it was manageable.
As for the second?
Genshi was already a recluse. If he acted even more withdrawn for a while, it wouldn't raise any red flags.
Over time, people would get used to it, brushing off the "not-quite-abnormal" behavior.
With that, Genshi's issue was sorted.
Next up were the two guards who'd barged into the study…
(Chapter End)