Immediately, he cast an illusion around a small circle of ground, allowing him to cover his activities with an opaque veil.
Then he began to dig. When he reached the wooden coffin, he then carefully pried it open. The stench of decay was rough, but he remained undeterred. So he reached inside and collected some of the remains of Mangetsu's corpse.
This would suffice for now.
Whether or not Mangetsu even had at least one of the swords, the DNA sample would be useful in building an army.
Replacing the lid, Arthur refilled the hole, ensuring the grave remained undisturbed. Then he deactivated the illusion before melting back into the shadows, leaving the town behind as silently as he had arrived.
Twelve hours later, he found himself in a secluded clearing in front of an unconscious victim. It was a hapless passerby, a petty thief who had attempted to rob unsuspecting merchants back in Wizened Town.
Arthur was planning to use him as a sacrifice. His disappearance wouldn't raise an eyebrow.
'Summoning jutsu: reanimation...'
A complex seal materialized on the ground as the dust fluttered through the air. Then, with a crack, it covered the thief until a figure clad in the tattered remnants of a Mist Village ninja uniform appeared.
Arthur placed a kunai strapped with a charm inside the figure's head, causing Mangetsu Hōzuki's eyes to blink. His resurrection was complete, but his consciousness remained dormant.
"Mangetsu Hōzuki," Arthur said. The reanimated corpse twitched ever so slightly as its head tilted towards Arthur in a silent query. "Perform the summoning technique and bring forth my swords."
Mangetsu, devoid of his own will, responded instantly. His hands shot out, forming a series of hand signs as he slammed his hand onto the ground. A plume of smoke then erupted from the epicenter of the seal, revealing a massive scroll.
It unfurled, emerging not with a single weapon but with three: the Blunt Blade, the Long Blade, and the Explosive Blade!
Arthur felt only content.
Five out of the seven blades were now within his grasp.
Not wasting any time to admire his new acquisitions, he unfurled three separate scrolls. One by one, the weapons vanished inside each of them.
Turning back to Mangetsu, Arthur deactivated the Reanimation technique as Mangetsu's vacant eyes lost their ethereal glow. He then slumped back into the coffin before it sank back into the earth, swallowed by the darkness.
Arthur remained in the clearing for a few moments longer, basking in the quiet power he had amassed. Not a single person knew what he was up to, and that's just the way he preferred things.
'Flying raijin…'
✟
As Arthur reached the outskirts of Wizened Town, his gaze landed on the construction site where Sun Stream Plaza was taking shape.
Xavier, true to his word, hadn't wasted any time. A massive crater now occupied the space where the plaza would rise.
This was small but great progress nonetheless.
While the plaza marked a significant step, it was just the beginning. His ambition craved more, a wider canvas to paint his grand design; he needed more land and more resources.
So with a definitive decision made, he turned, fixing his gaze on the horizon. Northeast would be his next destination. Three days would need to be spent traversing the terrain to head towards the "Land of Silence."
The Land of Silence was a remote samurai nation nestled in mountains. It was once ruled by a feudal lord and now harboured resentment towards the ninjas of the Five Great Nations.
Arthur's objective was an individual residing within its borders: a man named Gengo who dwelled inside Fushū Castle, nestled in Curtain Village.
Curtain Village itself was the capital of the Land of Silence. It wasn't like other villages. The poverty-stricken majority scrape by while a select few nobles enjoy a life of luxury. Crime also ran rampant, which attracted many fugitives.
Regarding Fushū Castle, it was written to be the current seat of power for the "Enlightened Ones," an occultic group Gengo leads.
Gengo himself was a former Mist Village shinobi. He believed ninjas, with their ability to manipulate chakra, should be the ruling class. His story began with a rebellion against the fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. After the rebellion failed, he and his comrades became disillusioned mercenaries.
Eventually, he took over the Land of Silence and established the Enlightened Ones to follow his nepotism. What was interesting, however, was that they wouldn't be fully formed until the aftermath of the Fourth Shinobi War.
Driven and charismatic, Gengo used his genjutsu to build his following. But he was an arrogant tyrant who resorted to torture when necessary.
When the Leaf Village discovered his activities more than ten years from now, his reign finally came to an end at the hands of Shikamaru Nara and his team.
Not only was this event less likely to happen since Shikamaru was dead, but Arthur was also several years ahead of the time.
✟
Three days of traveling by air and in the wilderness presented no real challenge.
He moved with stealth, hunted for sustenance, evaded any encounters, and arrived at the border of the Land of Silence on schedule without any real problems.
An oppressive silence was evident from the moment he landed.
'So this country truly lives up to their name…'
The journey to Curtain Village took another half day via a trek through uninhabited landscapes. Upon reaching the village, Arthur surveyed the small cluster of ramshackle buildings huddled together. Here lies Fushū Castle in the center.
His plan was simple: infiltrate the castle and locate Gengo without being noticed. To do this was easy thanks to one simple jutsu.
'Smoke jutsu…'
Arthur's form quickly dissolved into swirling smoke as he glided through the castle walls. He used his Crimson Gaze to help guide his infiltration.
Not long after, in the chambers, he found Gengo. Gengo was a man of average build and unremarkable appearance. He had a black beard, and he was engrossed in a book by a dimly lit lamp.
Arthur watched him silently without making a move.
Twenty-four hours later.
Not once had Arthur made himself known; he had followed Gengo quite nicely, witnessing his mundane routine, such as breakfast, reading, and attending a meeting. There was nothing extraordinary about the man's behaviour.
When night finally came, Arthur, still in his smoke form, continued watching in the throne room from a concealed corner.
The monotonous routine had taken a turn after a frustrated woman stormed into the chamber. She barked, berating Gengo about the deplorable state of the marketplace food.
"This is unacceptable!" she raged, holding a pile of wilted vegetables and questionable meats. "People are complaining, lord Gengo. You can't allow this to continue!"
Gengo, perched nonchalantly on his throne, simply sighed. "My dear, it's not as if I have any control over the quality of the food."
'Hmm…' Arthur noticed after Gengo spoke. There was something amidst it just now. 'Crimson gaze…'
Arthur focused on Gengo, searching for any telltale fluctuations in his chakra flow. For the most part, his chakra signature remained unchanged. But then, a subtle shift occurred: an invisible tremour emanated from Gengo's mouth as he spoke.
Intrigued, Arthur honed his focus to discern the nature of this anomaly.
There was a strange, almost ethereal wave of chakra that pulsed from Gengo's mouth and intertwined with the sound vibrations of his words. It was genjutsu. Or rather, it was Gengo's infamous illusion technique called "Evil Illusion: Enhancing Flattery."
This genjutsu was a powerful illusion in which the user injected chakra into their voice to manipulate the listener. Should the target turn around after hearing the user's voice, they would then be forced to confront their deepest fears and become a loyal follower of the user.
What made it so potent was that it affected one's will, and it wasn't something that could be detected via normal means.
The Sharingan could place people under illusions, but another dōjutsu user could always tell if their target was in one. When casting Gengo's genjutsu, the only influx of chakra was during its initial use. That made the technique virtually undetectable after usage.
But it wasn't all-powerful. It was resistant to basic awareness. Also, a strong-enough emotional bond to someone or something could just as easily break it.
Yet, who was Arthur not to desire this technique? That was his sole purpose for coming to this village in the first place.
He watched, captivated, as the wave of chakra seeped its way into the sound vibrations and carried on Gengo's soothing words. It quickly entered the woman's ears before traveling up to her brain. Then the chakra moulded itself with the woman's mind as it subtly twisted her perception to warp her beliefs.
'So it's the unusual flow that's the key,' Arthur deduced.
Suddenly, he felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck. The illusion's vocals were trying to influence him from his position. He hadn't thought it would reach him either.
The sensation felt insidious, like a being begging him to turn around. It soon caused a shiver to run down his spine as his vision was covered in darkness. So he closed his eyes, trying to drown out Gengo's voice.
'Relax…'
After what felt like minutes but was truly milliseconds, Arthur gingerly opened his eyes. The darkness that greeted him gradually faded.
The evil illusion: enhancing flattery failed against him.
Or rather, had Gengo said the right words, Arthur would have been ensnared for certain. A close call nonetheless.
Arthur soon returned his attention to the woman. Her initial anger had morphed into an uncertain confusion, then a hesitant acceptance before finally, a blind adoration.
She was now completely under Gengo's sway. "Forgive my outburst, lord Gengo. You are benevolent, and I couldn't tell that it wasn't the food that was the problem due to my own ignorance."
After the theatrics, she exited the throne room in a daze, leaving Gengo and his guards alone. Gengo, unaware he was being spied on, chuckled to himself since the woman's outburst had been easily quelled thanks to one simple illusion.
The illusion itself, which Arthur pieced together, worked by subtly altering the listener's perception through sound. By placing chakra in one's tongue and focusing that chakra on the sound vibrations, one could essentially rewrite the message their words carried, thus twisting them to their will.
It was deceptively easy to understand because the technique relied on sound rather than natural elements.
Before exiting the castle, Arthur placed a Flying raijin mark in a secret location. He then dispelled his Smoke technique outside before solidifying his form once more.
What he could do now is collect the country's native flowers to help amplify the mind-control effects of the illusion. But what he had acquired so far was more than enough. There was more to explore anyway and more knowledge to be gleaned while all the way out here.
With a reserved thought, he turned his back on the castle and left Curtain Village behind.