Akihiro’s mental clone, inside Rokuro’s body, ran through the forest toward the Hidden Leaf Vilge.

  Without full access to his chakra in that body, he was forced to move in the traditional way, which considerably lengthened the journey time.

  Although the vilge was close, that was only in shinobi terms. For a normal person, it would have taken hours at best.

  Rokuro reached the vilge. A short distance away, he stopped to clean himself up and applied a chakra concealment seal. Even though the amount of chakra in his body was minimal, it was always better to hide even that small amount from sensors, just in case something went wrong.

  He approached the vilge and entered without any issues. The guards didn’t ask him any questions and let him pass without trouble.

  Rokuro was confused, but as soon as he felt numerous eyes fixed on him, he swallowed hard and continued walking as naturally as possible. When he reached a bar, he went in and ordered some beers.

  Inside, the stares persisted. He couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

  He had thought this would be simple, but the surveilnce was much heavier than he had anticipated. The moment he stepped inside, the eyes of several shinobi began following him.

  If it weren’t for the perception training he’d done with Aiko, he never would’ve noticed.

  —I’ll have to wait for an opportunity. I was hoping this would be easier —he said internally and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

  Rokuro spent the rest of the day drinking and eating as if nothing were out of the ordinary, until nightfall. Then he looked for a room and stayed there the rest of the night.

  Even there, the gazes didn’t stop, although they did decrease in number, dropping to just a few gnces now and then.

  He knew that if he kept it up for a few more days, the stares would disappear completely.

  —Sorry, Akihiro, you’ll have to wait patiently —he thought, and carried on.

  The second day in the Leaf Vilge passed quickly. The drop in surveilnce wasn’t as drastic as the first day, but now he could feel only a few eyes on him.

  He continued wandering the vilge, looking for women, food, and drink. Though after the fifth day, he was already sick of the act and cried internally at how much money he’d wasted.

  Finally, after a full week, all the stares vanished.

  —Good thing I did a lot of missions. If I were the me from before becoming a genin, I’d rather kill myself than waste so much money —he muttered as he disappeared from his room under the cover of night.

  He had erased all traces before leaving.

  Using concealment seals, he moved toward the outer grounds of the Uchiha Cn. He proceeded cautiously to avoid being noticed by any experienced shinobi.

  Luckily, those individuals lived in the core of the grounds, leaving the outer areas to cn members and civilians. So, entering was retively easy.

  Looking around, he found a comfortable pce to stay and pced perception-distorting seals throughout the area.

  Only a master of fūinjutsu would be able to detect them, and fortunately, Konoha wasn’t a pce where many such experts existed—much less in the Uchiha Cn grounds, where ninjutsu, taijutsu, and their kekkei genkai were the main focus.

  Rokuro stayed there comfortably until dawn.

  The civilians began to wake up slowly, and the Academy children came out and headed toward the school.

  Rokuro observed each one carefully, evaluating them.

  He didn’t see anyone familiar, but that was to be expected considering the time period. Many of the important shinobi wouldn’t be born for several decades; even the parents of some of them were still children, younger than him.

  Another week passed quickly, and the constant surveilnce gave him a lot of information.

  He had already decided on his target: an Academy student with little presence, an older sister who was a civilian with no chakra, and Uchiha lineage.

  The boy showed no remarkable talent or any signs of standing out.

  He was, therefore, a more than ideal target for capture and identity repcement.

  Rokuro waited until nightfall. When the time came, he infiltrated the child’s room and caught him by surprise.

  —Who are you!? What are you doing here!? —the boy shouted when he saw him enter.

  Luckily, Rokuro had already pced soundproofing seals, anticipating that the kid might scream for help.

  The entire house was completely sealed off, and no sound would escape.

  Wasting no time, he grabbed the boy by the neck and knocked him out immediately.

  Once that was done, he trashed the entire room. He wasn’t subtle—he left evidence everywhere, making sure the scene clearly showed that someone had broken in and kidnapped the boy.

  It was all part of the pn. He needed them to search for the boy afterward so that his next move would make sense.

  Once he had left enough traces to trigger a search, Rokuro left the pce and exited the vilge without being detected.

  It wasn't that the guards were incompetent, but rather that there were many ways to leave without being seen. Even if certain points were under surveilnce, it was unrealistic to cover every exit, considering how massive the vilge was.

  Rokuro didn’t bother to be subtle. He used all the little chakra he still had access to in order to quickly reach the hideout where Akihiro was waiting. Now it was a race against time: once the kidnapping was discovered, he would only have a few hours before they began a serious search.

  Of course, if his goal had been to escape without leaving a trace, it would’ve been easy. But since he wanted to be found, time was limited.

  It took him a few hours to reach the hideout, and by then, dawn had already arrived.

  Akihiro, seated, greeted him upon arrival.—You took your time —he said without much emotion.

  —It was harder than I expected. You’ll understand once you have my memories —Rokuro replied as he id the boy’s body on the ground.

  —He has a peculiar face. Not much chakra, and doesn’t seem talented. Does he have the Sharingan awakened? —Akihiro asked, observing the boy.

  —No. Did you really expect me to find a kid, within such a limited age range, with an awakened Sharingan and also be able to capture him without drawing attention? Be realistic, man —Rokuro sighed.

  —One can dream. Everything’s ready. You know what to do —Akihiro said, immediately beginning the Mind Transfer Jutsu.

  Akihiro’s astral form separated from his body and entered the boy’s.

  Slowly, the child opened his eyes and looked around.—So… this is what it feels like to be a kid again —he said as he tried to stand. His movements were clumsy; it was clear he had forgotten how to move in such a small body.

  —It’s uncomfortable. Everything’s so tall, my height is ridiculous, and this body is weak. Aside from a high Yin energy —as expected from an Uchiha— there’s nothing notable. He’s really mediocre… at best, a genin with no hope of advancing —he said while examining his new arms and legs.

  —It’ll take some time to fully adapt. The only good thing is that he has the Sharingan, though it hasn’t awakened yet —he added with a sigh. Then he gestured to Rokuro.

  Without a word, Rokuro sealed Akihiro’s original body into a scroll. He knew it wouldn’t be used for a long time, so he reinforced the sealing to make it even more secure.

  —Alright. Engrave the safeguard seal, now —Akihiro ordered, turning his back to Rokuro.

  Rokuro approached Akihiro’s new body and began carefully tracing seals onto his skin. The process was complex and demanded high precision: every line, every symbol had to be pced exactly to avoid failures in spiritual containment and chakra camoufge.

  Hours passed in silence, interrupted only by the soft crackling of the ink as it burned slowly under the constant chakra flow.

  Finally, Rokuro stepped back, exhausted but satisfied.—Done —he said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

  Akihiro inspected the seals carefully and nodded in approval.—It’ll do for now. We can’t waste any more time —he said, signaling to Rokuro.

  Rokuro took the scroll containing Akihiro’s sealed body and brought it close to the boy’s body. He then activated the Fuinjutsu sequence previously inscribed.

  The safeguard seal had multiple functions: it not only contained the spiritual essence to prevent users of the Mind Transfer Jutsu from detecting the possession, but also hid the original chakra signature, leaving only that of the new body. This would prevent sensors or tracking techniques from suspecting any anomaly.

  Furthermore —and no less important— the seal allowed safe storage of objects, as if it were a hidden container inside the body.

  Rokuro opened the seal’s core and carefully inserted the scroll containing Akihiro’s true body. The seal closed with a faint fsh, indicating the operation had been successful.

  —Everything’s ready. Now we just wait for our "rescuers" to arrive —he said disdainfully.

  Hours ter, the seals pced in the forest activated, signaling the presence of multiple targets approaching their location.

  —Perfect. Everything went according to pn —Akihiro said calmly, before forming a hand sign. In an instant, his body fell unconscious, as if it had been turned off.

  Rokuro nodded silently and closed his eyes.

  In his mind, standing before the soul of the man whose identity they had stolen, he looked at him one st time. The poor guy was trapped in countless spiritual chains that kept him immobilized, buried deep within his own consciousness.

  —This is our farewell. You were a good container… if you can call it that —Rokuro muttered emotionlessly.

  —Bastard… —the man growled, lifting his gaze with hatred. He had seen everything that happened, and knew exactly what awaited him once he regained control.

  —Don’t worry, it’ll be quick… I think —said Akihiro’s mental clone, just before vanishing from Rokuro’s body.

  Before disappearing completely, he undid all the spiritual chains that had imprisoned the true owner of the body.

  The mental clone returned to Akihiro’s new body, merging instantly with his main consciousness.

  Rokuro, for his part, awoke with a shiver running through his entire body.—I’m free… —he whispered with a smile, only for it to vanish as his eyes nded on the body of the kidnapped child. A surge of intense rage overtook him.

  —Bastard! —he screamed furiously, picking up a rock and hurling it with force toward the child’s head.

  But in the very next instant, his field of vision twisted violently. Everything spun around him. The st thing he saw was his own decapitated body falling to the ground as several figures with glowing red eyes appeared around him: members of the Uchiha Cn.

  —You should’ve left him alive… we needed to interrogate him —one of the shinobi said, looking at the corpse.

  —Sorry —replied another. —I acted on impulse when I saw him about to kill a child from our cn.

  —It looks like some kind of ritual, but I don’t recognize the symbols… beyond the fact that they’re clearly Fuinjutsu seals —commented one shinobi, crouched and examining the patterns engraved on the ground.

  The squad leader stepped forward and carefully picked up the boy.—Leave that to the investigation team. Two stay here to secure the area. The rest, we return to the vilge —he ordered before vanishing in an instant.

  The others quickly followed, leaving behind Rokuro’s lifeless body.

  No one paid it any more attention.To them, he was nothing more than discarded trash.