Amanai's fingers dug into specific points on Muzan's neck and shoulders. The pressure was precise, targeting locations that should have disrupted chakra flow and paralyzed his muscles. Muzan felt the force but nothing else changed. His body didn't respond the way it should have. Whatever these pressure points were supposed to do, his transformed physiology ignored them completely.
He let his body go slack anyway, letting his weight hang from Amanai's grip. Better to let them think their technique had worked.
Toshiro grabbed his other arm and together they hauled him forward. Muzan kept his eyes half-closed but his senses were fully active. He counted at least thirty distinct heartbeats as they entered the camp. People stopped what they were doing to watch. He heard the scrape of metal as someone's hand moved to a weapon. Smelled cooking meat mixed with weapon oil and sweat. Felt the weight of dozens of eyes tracking his movement.
The camp was organized with military precision. Tents arranged in neat rows with clear paths between them. Training areas marked out with wooden posts. Weapon racks standing at regular intervals. This wasn't a temporary encampment but something more established.
Amanai and Toshiro stopped in front of a tent that was twice the size of the others. Two men stood guard at the entrance, both wearing the same red and white fan symbol on their backs.
"We found someone with a Sharingan," Amanai said. "He claims he doesn't know what an Uchiha is."
One of the guards frowned. "If he has a Sharingan, he's one of ours."
"That's what concerns me," Amanai replied. "His origins are completely unknown. Lord Urashi needs to hear about this."
The guard ducked inside the tent. Voices murmured too quietly for normal hearing but Muzan caught fragments. "Unknown Uchiha" and "suspicious circumstances" and "bring them in."
The guard emerged and held the flap open.
The interior was lit by several candles that cast shifting shadows across the fabric walls. A man stood in the center studying a map spread across a low table. His hair was grey at the temples and deep lines marked the corners of his eyes. He looked up as they entered.
"What's this about?"
Amanai bowed his head slightly. "Lord Urashi, we found this man near the camp perimeter. He has the Sharingan but claims no knowledge of the Uchiha clan."
Urashi's expression didn't change but his eyes moved to Muzan, studying him carefully. "Explain."
"We confronted him while he was observing the camp from the treeline," Amanai continued. "I used genjutsu to subdue him but he broke through it almost immediately. When Toshiro asked if he was an Uchiha, his eyes were red. Toshiro believes he saw the tomoe appear after we captured him."
Toshiro stepped forward. "When I first looked at his eyes, I thought they were just red with no pattern. But moments later, two tomoe had formed. I've never seen anything manifest that quickly."
Urashi walked around the table. His footsteps were quiet but deliberate. "You're certain about what you saw?"
Toshiro hesitated. The confidence in his voice wavered. "Everything happened very fast. The moonlight was poor and the situation was tense. I thought I saw the tomoe appear but I can't be completely certain they weren't already there."
"And you?" Urashi turned to Amanai.
"I can't confirm what Toshiro claims," Amanai admitted. "His eyes were red from the moment we confronted him. Whether the tomoe were present from the start or appeared later, I don't know. It all occurred within seconds."
Urashi stopped directly in front of Muzan. His eyes shifted and the black comma patterns in his pupils began to spin. Three marks in each eye rotating slowly as his gaze locked onto Muzan's face.
Something pressed against Muzan's mind. Not physical but tangible, like invisible fingers trying to pry open a door. The pressure increased, pushing harder, but it found no purchase. His consciousness remained separate and untouched. Whatever technique Urashi was using couldn't penetrate.
Urashi's eyes widened slightly. The spinning patterns accelerated. More pressure built behind Muzan's eyes but it still couldn't force its way through. After several long seconds, Urashi stepped back. His expression remained neutral but Muzan caught the brief flash of confusion before he controlled it.
"His mind resists genjutsu," Urashi said quietly.
Amanai's posture stiffened. "That shouldn't be possible. Your techniques are among the strongest in the clan."
"I'm aware." Urashi circled around Muzan, examining him from different angles. "Either he's been trained specifically to resist Uchiha genjutsu, which would require extensive knowledge of our techniques, or his condition is unusual in some other way."
He stopped and crossed his arms. "How old are you?"
"Twenty," Muzan said.
Several people in the tent exchanged glances. Muzan caught the subtle shift in their postures, the way their shoulders relaxed slightly. Twenty years old with only two tomoe wasn't impressive. He could read that much in their body language.
Urashi's expression didn't change. He was thinking about something else entirely. Muzan could see it in the way his eyes moved, calculating and measuring.
"Here's what will happen," Urashi announced. "You'll remain with us under supervision. We'll teach you about the Uchiha clan and assess your capabilities. If you're truly a lost member of our bloodline, it's our responsibility to bring you back. But if you prove to be a threat, you'll be eliminated. Do you understand?"
Muzan nodded. "I understand."
"Good." Urashi turned to Amanai and Toshiro. "You two are responsible for him. Start with clan history and basic chakra control. He doesn't leave the camp without permission and he's never unsupervised. Clear?"
"Yes, Lord Urashi."
"Find out his name and get him sorted with supplies."
Outside the tent, Amanai's grip on Muzan's arm tightened. "What's your name?"
"Muzan."
"All right, Muzan." Amanai guided him through the camp. "Don't try anything stupid."
The camp was larger than Muzan had initially estimated. They passed training areas where people practiced with weapons, their movements sharp and coordinated. Groups sat around fires eating from metal bowls. A medical tent stood near the center with its flaps tied open. Everywhere he looked, people wore the red and white fan symbol.
Conversations stopped as they walked past. Eyes tracked his movement. Muzan heard whispered questions about who he was and where he'd come from. He kept his expression neutral and let Amanai lead.
They stopped at a supply tent. Toshiro ducked inside and emerged with a set of black clothes and sandals. He tossed them to Muzan without ceremony.
"Put these on."
Muzan dressed quickly. The clothes were plain but well-made, designed for movement rather than appearance. The fabric was thicker than what he'd worn in the Land of Iron, probably meant for colder weather.
Once he was dressed, Amanai led him to a small tent at the camp's edge. "This is yours. Someone will be stationed outside at all times. If you try to leave, you'll be hunted down and killed. Understood?"
"Understood."
Toshiro stopped beside the tent entrance. "Get some rest. Tomorrow we start your education. You've got a lot to learn about being an Uchiha."
Both men left. Muzan heard one of them settle into position just outside the tent. The footsteps stopped and fabric rustled as whoever it was sat down.
Inside, the tent was sparse. A thin bedroll lay on one side with a small wooden chest at its foot. A single candle sat in a holder but it wasn't lit. Moonlight filtered through the fabric, providing enough illumination for his enhanced vision.
Muzan sat on the bedroll and closed his eyes. His body was still responding to the pressure points Amanai had used even though they hadn't worked as intended. He could feel where the fingers had pressed, the specific locations mapped out in his mind. If pressure points were meant to disrupt chakra flow, that meant chakra moved through the body along certain pathways.
He'd felt something similar when Urashi had tried to use genjutsu on him. That technique had attempted to inject foreign chakra into his system, to manipulate his senses through his own energy pathways. But his transformed body had rejected it automatically.
The question was whether he could learn to use chakra himself. He'd felt it in the flesh he'd consumed, had absorbed it when he fed. His body clearly had some capacity to process and contain the energy. But drawing it out and using it consciously was something else entirely.
Tomorrow he would learn more. The Uchiha thought he was one of them because his eyes had copied their appearance. They would teach him about chakra and their techniques while keeping him under constant watch. It was more than he'd hoped for when Amanai and Toshiro had first captured him.
Muzan opened his eyes and stared at the tent's ceiling. He was trapped in an enemy military camp, surrounded by people who would kill him if they discovered what he really was. But he was also exactly where he needed to be to gather information and learn how to survive in this world.
He would play along with their expectations. Let them think he was a lost Uchiha who needed education. Learn everything they were willing to teach. And when the opportunity came, he would find a way back to the Land of Iron.
But first he needed to understand what he'd become and how to control it. The hunger was already building again in his chest, a steady pressure that demanded feeding. He would need to find a way to satisfy it without revealing his nature.
Muzan lay back on the bedroll and forced his breathing to slow. Outside, he could hear the camp settling in for the night. Conversations dying down. Fires being extinguished. Footsteps moving in regular patrol patterns.
He closed his eyes and waited for morning.