It was still the Year 38 of Konoha calendar. The past few days had been gloomy and overcast.
Kento's funeral was held alongside the ceremony for other fallen shinobi.
Before the funeral, Mitsuki had gone to see Kento's remains.
In the midst of misfortune, there was at least some relief — Kento's body was largely intact, based on the mission report from the Anbu.
A few days earlier, several forward outposts along the eastern coast of the Land of Fire had been destroyed by unidentified enemies. However, rather than occupy the outposts, the enemy forces breached the coastal defenses and entered the region near Gyosui Port.
Kento's squad was dispatched to investigate this unknown enemy. The mission initially went smoothly, and intel confirmed that the assailants were none other than the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
However, the retreat was anything but smooth. The enemy seemed to have anticipated their discovery and deliberately baited the scouting team. Once discovered, the Seven Swordsmen acted immediately.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen were composed of seven elite jonin, each wielding a unique, powerful blade. It was said that when united, they could bring down an entire small nation in a single night.
Considering that, it was already a miracle that Kento's team managed to relay the intel back to the village. After all, among them, only Kento and En were on elite jonin level. The remaining six included four chunin.
Worse still, the enemy had laid extensive traps in Gyosui Port. When Kento's team encountered them, only three swordsmen — Jūzō Biwa, Fuguki Suikazan, and Mangetsu Hōzuki —revealed themselves.
The other four lay in wait outside the port, ambushing the team from both flanks. It was a crushing pincer attack, and the odds were never in their favor.
Mitsuki didn't know the exact details of the battle, but he could easily imagine how dire the situation must've been.
Thanks to the desperate efforts of Kento and five other shinobi, Uchiha En and a jonin from the Aburame clan were able to escape and deliver the intel to the Hidden Leaf.
Konoha reacted swiftly. The Third Hokage immediately sent Jiraiya to lead a pursuit team to Gyosui Port.
But they found nothing. The Seven Swordsmen had brought no backup and were highly mobile. Following the scent trail left by an Inuzuka jonin, the team tracked them all the way back to the breach in the coastline.
Clearly, this had been a baiting operation by Kirigakure—a high-impact strike from their Seven Swordsmen, followed by a swift retreat. Their goal wasn't to conquer, but to cause damage and force Konoha to commit higher-level forces.
After all, once Konoha learned the enemy was the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, they couldn't afford to send weaker shinobi.
In truth, the Swordsmen were incredibly lucky. Had they delayed their retreat even slightly, Jiraiya's team might have caught them—resulting in real casualties on their side.
Back to the funeral.
Dressed in mourning black, Mitsuki stared at Kento's now-buried grave.
All around, the families of other fallen shinobi stood in silence. Some children, like Mitsuki, tried their best not to sob aloud, though tears streamed down their faces.
The Third Hokage was present, personally leading the funeral.
"Where the leaves dance, the fire burns. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village and help new leaves grow."
It was the first time Mitsuki had heard those words directly from Hiruzen.
He didn't feel much personally, but those around him seemed deeply moved, their eyes lighting up with conviction.
"This world is constantly at war… no wonder people are so spiritually hollow" Mitsuki thought.
To him, the ninja world felt like one massive pyramid scheme.
After the funeral, Mitsuki walked home, thinking about the man he had seen earlier—the one with the Uchiha crest embroidered on the back of his funeral attire.
That had to be Uchiha En, Kento's friend. Mitsuki had planned to thank him after the service, especially since he'd given him such a valuable gift.
But En left in the middle of the ceremony, clearly not intending to speak with him.
Just as Mitsuki approached the door to the Shimizu home and reached out to open it, the door swung open from the inside.
Startled, Mitsuki instinctively stepped back, preparing for a counter.
"Relax. It's just me."
En stepped calmly through the doorway, gazing at the surprised Mitsuki.
Mitsuki's mind was spinning. Sure, stealth was standard for shinobi, but En had clearly opened the door from inside the house.
And Mitsuki knew for certain he had locked it when leaving.
He had suspected En and Kento were unusually close — perhaps teammates since their graduation— but he never imagined En would have a key to their house.
Still processing this, Mitsuki was about to invite En inside, but his gaze suddenly met En's eyes — now transformed.
The black pupils shifted into three spinning tomoe, then morphed again into three interlinked comma-like shapes.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
Mitsuki was shaken to his core. Why was En revealing this to him?
But his confusion vanished as he collapsed — the genjutsu had already been activated.
En quickly caught him and laid him gently on the living room couch, then performed some unknown action before leaving quietly.
Not long after, Mitsuki regained consciousness. Looking around, he murmured:
"I came back home after the funeral… I saw Kento's teammate, Uchiha En. But… why did I pass out?"
The system, silent until now, updated itself with a soft chime.
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Host: Shimizu Mitsuki
Skills: Chakra Refinement, Substitution Jutsu, Transcription Seal: Heaven's Reversal (One-time Use)
Wish Rewards: None
Mail: No new messages
=============
Mitsuki stared blankly.
"Wait… I got a new skill? And it's one-time use?"
He was familiar with Transcription Seals—a high-level technique where a jutsu could be sealed into a person or object and automatically activated under specific conditions.
In the manga, Itachi had sealed Amaterasu into Sasuke's eye.
Considering the last person he saw before losing consciousness was Uchiha En, it didn't take long to figure it out.
This Amenotoki must be En's Mangekyō ability. Could it have awakened due to Kento's death?
If so, Mitsuki had severely underestimated the bond between the two.
He opened the detailed description of the ability:
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Transcription Seal: Heaven's Reversal
When the host suffers a fatal wound, time will reverse and the host's body will be restored to its state 24 hours prior.
=============
Just as he had suspected from the name — the jutsu involved time manipulation.
But even then, Mitsuki hadn't expected it to be this powerful. It was practically a miniature Izanagi.
"So… Uchiha En was worried about Kento's orphan and set this up as a failsafe, huh."
The realization stirred up a mix of emotions in Mitsuki.
No one who hadn't reincarnated could possibly understand what he was feeling.
He wasn't really Kento's child — just a soul from Earth pretending to be. He had tried to comfort himself, saying it was okay, that he was just a child.
But the truth was, he had received so much from these people — Chiyoko and Kento — and now even from En.
Mitsuki couldn't keep making excuses for his emotional detachment.
This time, he wanted to take action.
"At the very least… I'll get stronger. I'll find a way to avenge Chiyoko and Kento"