In the pitch-black stillness of the underground cell, Reiji slowly got up and stepped toward the door.
He pressed his hands together.
"Ox–Ram–Snake. Secret Technique: Nurarihyon Jutsu!"
With a low hum, a strange gray energy cloaked his body.
The mist spread out, merging with the darkness. In that instant, it was as if Reiji had been erased from the world.
A secret technique from Amegakure—its primary effect was drastically lowering one's presence.
The downside? It only worked on normal sight, tricking the average person into subconsciously ignoring him. Against sensory-type ninja, though, it was useless.
Reiji didn't know if the ANBU had anyone with Byakugan.
But!
It didn't matter now. Any plan came with risk. All he could do was minimize that risk as much as possible.
His ears twitched slightly as he caught a faint sound.
A light footstep had just passed outside the door.
That was an ANBU patrol.
He didn't know the exact timing or pattern of the patrols, but he didn't need to. All he had to know was the shortest possible interval between them.
Roughly thirty seconds.
That meant after one ANBU passed by, the next wouldn't be back any sooner than half a minute.
He began counting silently.
Ten... eleven... twelve... thirteen... fourteen...
Now.
Reiji quickly formed a "Horse" seal and pointed his right index finger at the door lock.
"Alohomora Opening Technique!"
At that moment, iron particles hidden in the cracks of the corridor wall fused into a key, phased through space, and appeared in the door's keyhole.
Click!
The sharp sound echoed down the empty corridor.
Damn! He'd planned for everything—except the damn door noise!
Reiji forced himself not to flinch, gently pushed the door open, slipped out silently, closed it behind him, and formed another seal.
"Body Replacement Technique!"
Poof!
A puff of smoke later, the pillow on his bed had transformed into a perfect replica of him, now lying where he had been moments ago.
"Come here."
Using his Magnet Release to sense the metal, Reiji pulled the kunai hidden in the pillow straight to the door.
Just a few seconds later, Tsuchigami came sprinting down the corridor.
Seeing that familiar dog-face ANBU mask, Reiji grinned.
He didn't know what Tsuchigami actually looked like, but he was certain the guy wasn't a Hyūga or Uchiha.
Which meant... the clone back in the cell might just fool him.
How did he know? Easy.
Both clans had way too obvious traits.
One was tall, cool, and had long black hair. The other? Angry little tsunderes with social issues.
Tsuchigami? Just your average repressed, pervy introvert.
Stopping in front of the cells, Tsuchigami started checking them one by one, trying to locate the source of the sound.
Click! The little hatch on a door opened.
Inside, a prisoner grumbled and turned over in their sleep.
Soon, he arrived at Reiji's cell. After hesitating for a second, he slid open the hatch.
There, standing stiffly right at the door, was Reiji—face plastered with a creepy grin, pitch-black eyes glowing in the shadows, staring straight at him.
Tsuchigami's scalp instantly went numb. He staggered back several steps on instinct.
"Y-You... what are you doing?!"
"Heehee~ Come play hide and seek with me."
That innocent voice rang right in his ears.
In a flash, a chill shot up from his tailbone to the top of his skull. The hairs on his head stood on end.
"G-Go back to sleep!" he stammered, slamming the hatch shut in a panic—completely unaware that the voice had come from behind him, not inside the cell.
Shivering, Tsuchigami looked around suspiciously, then braced himself and made his way toward the guard room, oblivious to the shadow silently tailing him from behind.
Grinning wickedly, Reiji reached back and brushed the hatch with his fingers, planting a tripwire made of iron powder. Then, light on his feet, he followed Tsuchigami down the corridor, reclaiming the iron powder he'd spread along the walls.
Tailing him closely, Reiji followed Tsuchigami all the way to the guard room at the end of the hallway.
Unlike other rooms that were tucked along the corridor, this one blocked it entirely.
It had two doors—one opening toward the prisoner cells, the other leading out into the open world.
Reiji slipped in right after Tsuchigami, entering the brightly lit room.
At once, the gray mist shrouding his body shifted, no longer blending into the dark but camouflaging to match the room's warm lighting like a chameleon.
Tsuchigami stepped fully into the light, shuddered again, and complained loudly to his comrades already seated inside.
"Damn that Reiji! The guy didn't sleep all night, just stood in front of the window pretending to be a ghost—scared the hell out of me!"
Several ANBU burst out laughing.
"Serves you right! Who told you to lend him The Tale of Genji? All his blood's probably rushing south—no wonder the kid can't sleep!"
Tsuchigami didn't bother to argue. He just shivered again.
"You guys keep patrolling. I gotta take a leak."
"What, Tsuchigami? Don't tell me he scared the piss outta you!"
More laughter echoed through the room.
Reiji grinned along with them, then quietly followed Tsuchigami as he left.
They passed through four or five doors, climbed what felt like seventy or eighty steps, and brushed past several groups of patrolling shinobi. Clutching his stomach, Tsuchigami finally made it to the surface—with Reiji shadowing him the whole way.
Looking around, Reiji let out a soft chuckle.
He was inside the Hokage Building now, standing at the first-floor stairwell.
Drawing from past visits, Reiji split off from his "good brother" Tsuchigami and made his way easily to a pair of wide double wooden doors tucked in the corner of the first floor.
The moment he saw the elaborate flame motifs etched into the wood, he clenched his fists, unable to contain his excitement.
Finally!
After everything—it all led to this door!
To infiltrate Konoha, he killed Amegakure shinobi and assumed the identity of Rie's brother.
To protect his freedom, he'd worked tirelessly to draw close to the Will of Fire.
To make Konoha wary of him, he'd even killed Amegawa and exposed his power.
To sneak into the Hokage Building, he went as far as taunting Tobirama Senju with bold words and reckless behavior.
Every step—so cautious, so delicate. Like walking a tightrope over a pit of blades.
Thinking about it now, a wave of frustration welled up inside him.
Why was it that when other people transmigrated, they got easy lives, full bellies, and Mangekyō or Rinnegan falling into their laps?
And him?
Sure, immortality was great—if you didn't count being diced up and air-dried first.
He'd worked his way into Amegakure only to get thrown straight into Konoha as a spy.
Finally pulled together a master plan—only to realize Konoha had already turned Amegakure into a leaky sieve. His cover was blown instantly.
And that wasn't even the worst of it—getting into the Ninja Academy required him to beg like he was performing in a street drama.
"It's so damn hard," Reiji muttered, clutching his forehead with a dead-eyed stare.
But now—finally—the fruits of victory were within reach.
Soon, Reiji Sakuhō would soar.
Rubbing his hands together in anticipation, he raised his right hand. Tiny specks of iron powder squeezed from his fingertips, slowly forming into a key.
Click.
At the sound, Reiji's grin stretched wide. Forgetting the slow pace required by the Nurarihyon Technique, he flashed forward, slipped into the archive room, and shut the door behind him.
Taking a deep breath, he was hit with a wave of thick ink and aged parchment.
"Yes! This is the smell of knowledge... Subarashii~"
On tiptoe and rubbing his hands in glee, Reiji's eyes sparkled as he scanned the room.
The archive was massive and round, with a vaulted ceiling that rose seven or eight meters high.
Ancient, towering bookshelves lined the circular walls, each packed neatly with scrolls of various shapes and sizes.
Reiji knew well—these scrolls held the secrets to Konoha's ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and hidden techniques.
He skimmed the shelves quickly. None of them held his attention.
His goal was singular.
At the center of the room, resting atop a circular stone pedestal, lay a massive scroll—half the height of a person.
It was old and worn, its presence almost sacred. Intricate, arcane markings covered the stone base beneath it, alongside an array of complex kanji.
Six candlesticks were arranged evenly around the pedestal, their slow-burning flames illuminating the entire space.
Damn... set one little fire in this records room, and the police chief's head will be over heels for me.
Reiji couldn't make sense of these ninjas at all. Lighting candles in a room filled with scrolls? It was like playing hide-and-seek in a toilet.
But with time ticking, he couldn't afford to dwell on it. He rushed to the stone platform and looked down at the patterns on the ground.
They were beautiful—delicate and intricate—like his first encounter with English back in third grade.
All those twisted words...
They seemed to recognize him, but he didn't recognize them.
Still, Reiji knew these patterns weren't just drawn for decoration. Like those sentences in English textbooks—they weren't just there to torment students; they had a purpose.
With that thought, Reiji raised both hands and formed another hand seal.
In the next instant, he pulled out an iron rod formed from compressed iron powder—from between his legs.
"Alright, let's see what you've got!"
He thrust the rod into the stone platform.
Suddenly, a flash of silver light swept past—and the hand holding the rod was sliced off at the wrist.
What the hell?! You didn't cut the rod—you cut me?!
And not just the skin—you severed a wrist bone harder than steel. Now that's something!
Blood mixed with black iron powder gushed from the stump. Reiji hurriedly formed a one-handed seal.
In the next second, the iron powder surged to the wound, forming a membrane that stemmed the bleeding.
"Watch this—Magnet Release: Iron Man Technique!"
With a low shout, the rod on the ground instantly disassembled and transformed into a palm-sized version of Reiji.
This was the very move he'd used earlier to escape the special cage.
Mini Reiji stood up, bounced twice to get used to the tiny body, then picked up Reiji's severed hand and tossed it out of the formation.
Reiji caught it midair and pressed it to the severed stump.
Inside his body, iron powder wove into needles, stitching the wrist back together in a flash.
There was no time for slow healing now.
Once his hand was reattached, Reiji formed another seal and commanded the tiny clone inside the formation to dash toward the waist-high Scroll of Seals.
Mini Reiji leapt up, deftly pried open the clasp securing the scroll...
With a soft whoosh, it unfurled. Reiji stepped up to the edge of the platform.
Seven bold characters stood out on the Scroll of Seals—
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
Holy crap—it's a cheat code jutsu?!
No time to marvel. Reiji snapped into focus, held his breath, sharpened his senses, and stared intently at the scroll.
Skimming ten lines at a glance, he didn't even try to understand it—just memorized the hand signs for the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique as fast as he could.
"Next page!"
At his command, Mini Reiji immediately rolled the scroll toward one side—stopping just before it reached the candle's flame.
"Stop!"
Seeing the fire about to lick the scroll, Reiji quickly had the mini version pull it back.
Once it stopped, Reiji looked again.
"Huh? That's not the Eight Inner Gates. What is this?"
A dense, almost indecipherable passage appeared on the scroll.
"This—The Flying Thunder God Technique! But where's the jutsu? The hand signs?"
No instructions—just a wall of baffling text.
Shit!
Reiji gritted his teeth and forced himself to memorize the entire chunk.
Good thing he'd trained for this day—his memory skills were sharp. Otherwise, he might not have pulled it off.
Every single character, he recognized—but strung together? Not a single sentence made sense.
Still gritting his teeth, Reiji was about to press on...
When suddenly, his senses flared.
"Crap—room inspection!" he whispered urgently.