Time ticked by, second by second.
A few minutes later, Seimei released his hand.
Standing in place, he pondered for a moment before stepping toward Daiki Chikamura and casting Ninja Art: Mind Reading Jutsu once more.
His hand gripped Daiki's head, and a flood of memories poured into Seimei's mind, ready for him to sift through.
Soon, he'd skimmed through Daiki's memories from the past few months.
Combining the memories of both Daiki and Reiko, Seimei finally pieced together the full story.
First, their identities.
From their memories, Seimei learned that both had once been ninja of the Hidden Mist Village. But they'd backed the wrong side during the rise of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. Coupled with mistakes made during the Third Great Ninja War, they'd been held accountable after the fact and forced to defect from the village.
This time, they'd shown up here because of a mission from a new organization they'd joined—assassinating the leader of a small nation allied with the Land of Water.
Everything had gone smoothly, and they'd completed the mission without a hitch.
But afterward, Reiko, cooped up at their base for too long, insisted on wandering around.
That led to their whereabouts being exposed.
What followed was a relentless pursuit by the Hidden Mist's hunter-nin.
Lucky for them, they reacted quickly, breaking through the encirclement before the hunter-nin could fully close in. Plus, they had a shark summon to aid their escape—otherwise, they'd have been dead already.
The rest was straightforward.
On their way back to their organization's base, they passed through this sea and sensed the chakra fluctuations Seimei was emitting, unable to fully control his body due to genetic evolution.
Since they needed a place to rest and regroup, they set their sights on him.
They even mistook him for a secret prodigy trained by the Yuki Clan.
At this thought, Seimei glanced down at his clothes.
To keep a low profile while traveling, he hadn't worn Konoha's standard jounin uniform or anything bearing the Uchiha crest.
And with the icy, snow-covered surroundings, it wasn't surprising they'd misidentified him.
After all, in their minds, bloodline limits were powers passed down within specific clans. For an outsider to master one was, if not impossible, then incredibly rare.
So, fueled by resentment and acting on a hasty misjudgment, their mistake was understandable.
But Seimei didn't care whether it was a mistake. They'd attacked him, and that was enough reason to strike back.
Of course, he wouldn't kill them outright. He might've considered it earlier, but after reading their memories, he'd scrapped that idea.
There were two main reasons.
First, killing them here might draw the attention of the Hidden Mist's hunter-nin. With his skills, that risk was small, but it existed.
Moon Island was a rare "training haven" he'd found, and he wasn't ready to leave just yet.
So, he needed to eliminate that risk entirely.
That meant keeping these two alive for now.
Second, there was an organization behind them.
According to their memories, this group had about thirty to forty members, mostly rogue ninja from various villages who'd defected during the Third Great Ninja War.
They banded together for mutual protection.
And they had an unwritten rule: while other matters could be ignored, if a member was being hunted by their home village, the others were obligated to help within their means.
Daiki and Reiko had already sent out a distress signal, including their escape route.
It was easy to predict that if they didn't return, someone would follow that signal and come looking.
Seimei wasn't afraid of these "rats in the shadows," but if they kept showing up one by one, it would greatly increase the chances of this island being exposed.
That was something he couldn't allow.
So, he had only one path forward: strike first and take out the entire organization.
That was the only way to eliminate the problem for good.
But finding their base would require these two's cooperation.
While reading their memories, he'd noticed an issue: the memories of their base's location were sealed off by a barrier.
Seimei had a gut feeling that if he tried to force his way into those memories, the seal would activate, likely erasing that part of their minds.
If that happened, finding the base would mean waiting for their rescue team to show up.
But those people would likely have the same seals in their minds.
If so, why would the organization's leaders let their members leave the base—or carry out missions of questionable origin—without such precautions?
Better to start with these two, follow the trail, find the base, and wipe it out in one go.
That was another reason he'd spared their lives.
All these thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
Seimei lifted his hand from Daiki's head and looked at them. "I'm giving you a chance to live. Want to hear it?"
Daiki and Reiko exchanged a glance, their expressions grim.
In their current situation, did they even have a choice?
They could practically see it: if they refused, they wouldn't just die—they'd face that soul-deep pain again and again.
That kind of torment wasn't something they wanted to endure a second time.
So, they stayed silent, in sync.
Seeing this, Aస
System: Seimei nodded approvingly and said, "Good, you're smarter than you look. No need to be nervous—it's a simple job."
He held up one finger. "First, send a message to your organization. Tell them you're out of danger and don't need backup."
Before they could respond, he raised a second finger. "Second, take me to your base."
Their faces twitched, but they quickly lowered their heads, hiding their flickering eyes.
As the saying goes, better your friend die than yourself.
They knew Seimei wasn't up to anything good by asking for their base's location.
But after hearing his demands, they silently agreed to comply.
Part of it was because they had no choice, being under his control. But more than that, they saw a chance to escape his grasp.
Revealing the base's location was their opportunity.
Sure, they couldn't take Seimei alone, but with dozens of people at the base, could he really handle them all?
Even if he could, the chaos of a fight would give them a better shot at escaping.
Seimei ignored their scheming thoughts. After laying out his demands, he said, "Alright, if there are no objections, send the signal."
Daiki took the lead, biting his thumb and using his blood to perform the Summoning Jutsu, calling forth a small shark.
Then, he pulled a small scroll from his pocket and prepared to write.
(End of Chapter)