Tap, tap, tap~
The sound of footsteps echoed through the air.
Four of Seimei's shadow clones emerged from the forest, each gripping a long blade, surrounding the young man in the center.
Yet, despite being cornered, the young man merely glanced at Seimei's four shadow clones, his face showing no trace of fear.
Seeing this, Seimei wasn't in a rush to attack. This guy piqued his interest, and he wanted to know who he was. So, he had one of his shadow clones start talking.
"Who are you?" the clone directly facing the young man asked bluntly.
The young man let out a cold smirk. "Heh, who am I? Just a homeless wanderer, that's all."
"A homeless wanderer…" Seimei muttered under his breath, his brows furrowing. He wasn't a fan of cryptic types like this.
But before he could have his clone press further, the young man continued, "And you… you're a ninja from the Uchiha clan, aren't you?"
He recognized me? Seimei thought, surprised.
To prevent even the slimmest chance of someone escaping, Seimei's shadow clones had all used the Transformation Technique during this mission. Right now, the four clones looked like ordinary middle-aged men—nothing special.
Yet, this guy still figured him out.
There were only two possibilities: either this guy knew a ton about the Uchiha clan, or he was obsessively keeping tabs on them. Either way, he was clearly familiar with their fighting style, enough to pick up on subtle clues and identify Seimei.
Seimei figured it was probably a mix of both.
Then he noticed the young man's eyes.
Suddenly, it clicked—a family came to mind: the Blood Pond Clan.
That's right, the Blood Pond Clan, known for their Blood Dragon Eye.
In Seimei's memory, the Blood Dragon Eye looked exactly like those eyes.
The vague sense of familiarity he'd felt earlier now became crystal clear.
A long time ago, in the Land of Lightning, there was a kekkei genkai clan called the Blood Pond Clan. They had a special eye technique, the Blood Dragon Eye, which was particularly skilled in genjutsu. At one point, their reputation rivaled that of the Uchiha's Sharingan.
This fame went to their heads, and their ambition grew. They started defying the leadership of the Hidden Cloud Village, craving more power.
So, during a change in Raikage leadership, they rebelled.
But it was a disaster. They barely made a ripple before they were crushed.
The consequences were brutal. The new Raikage exiled the Blood Pond Clan to Hell Valley, a harsh and unforgiving place. Not only did he seal them in with a barrier to prevent escape, but he also sent shinobi to monitor them day and night, subjecting them to systematic brainwashing and internal slaughter.
The Blood Pond Clan was nearly wiped out, with only a handful escaping.
Seimei recalled that one of the survivors was named Muya Shoen.
That same survivor later trained a genius ninja named Chino and founded a mercenary group called "Baku" to take revenge on the Uchiha clan.
And why the Uchiha? Simple. To deflect blame, the Hidden Cloud Village brainwashed the Blood Pond Clan survivors into believing the Uchiha were behind their downfall. Conveniently, the Blood Pond Clan and the Uchiha had been sworn enemies long before the One Village, One Nation system was established.
So, the survivors bought into the lie without much convincing.
That's why Chino later sought vengeance against the Uchiha.
Okay, back to the present.
Seimei had a hunch this young man was none other than Muya Shoen from his memories.
With that thought, he tested the waters. "Muya Shoen?"
The young man, who had been calm and collected until now, froze. His face shifted to shock and suspicion. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"Well, damn, it really is you!" Seimei said with a sigh.
But he didn't answer the question. His curiosity was satisfied, so there was no point in dragging this out.
As for the messy grudges between Muya, the Hidden Cloud, and the Uchiha? Seimei had no interest in getting involved or hearing the guy ramble about it.
The ninja world was a twisted place. You could talk about grudges for weeks and still not cover it all. No need to get sucked into that mess.
Seeing Seimei's clones move in without warning, Muya didn't waste words either. He focused, activating his Blood Dragon Eye and casting a genjutsu to disrupt the movements of the clone in front of him.
Then, with a quick dodge, he slipped out of the pincer attack from the other three clones.
The shadow clones didn't let up, adjusting their positions and coordinating to attack Muya together.
But Muya, hardened by growing up in Hell Valley and surviving the chaos of the Third Great Ninja War, was no slouch. His combat experience was top-notch. Exploiting the shadow clones' weakness to heavy damage, he skillfully used his Blood Dragon Eye to hold his own against all four, not losing ground for the moment.
Seeing this, Seimei's four clones exchanged a glance. Two of them stepped back and began forming hand signs, while the other two pressed forward, keeping Muya tied up.
Muya tried to break free from the two clones in front to go after the ones preparing a jutsu, but his close-combat skills weren't quite up to par. He couldn't shake them off.
As the two clones in the back finished their hand signs and prepared to unleash a jutsu, Muya didn't hesitate. He played one of his trump cards.
Boom!
The ground seemed to shatter under an impact.
Suddenly, a figure burst out from underground like a cannonball, charging straight at the two clones about to cast their jutsu.
"Here we go!" Seimei muttered from above, his eyes widening.
Activating his Byakugan to its fullest, he used its piercing vision to analyze the sudden figure.
Soon, he saw through it—this wasn't a living person but a corpse.
Muya was using the Blood Dragon Eye's ability to manipulate blood, combined with his own chakra, to control the corpse, making it fight with a fraction of its former strength.
Seimei had already sensed something off about this figure earlier. Though its blood was flowing, it didn't feel alive.
Now it was clear: it was just a puppet.
And it wasn't the only one. Seimei had noticed this figure hiding underground earlier, after Muya lingered in place suspiciously. Back then, he hadn't connected the dots to the Blood Dragon Eye, so he wasn't sure what was going on.
But now, everything clicked.
If this was a puppet, the other figures hidden underground nearby were likely the same.
Clearly, these were Muya's other contingencies.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Seimei was done playing. He decided to end this.
With that, he released his Ama no O technique and recalled the dozens of shadow clones scattered across the island.
Then, forming hand signs, he unleashed Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.
In an instant, the sky lit up. A massive fireball, over fifty meters wide, appeared like a meteor crashing down, slamming into the island below.
(Chapter End)