"There's a village up ahead. I'll ask about Kaede's village there."
After walking along the forest path for a while, the outline of a settlement appeared in the distance. Uchiha Retsu formed a seal with one hand.
Puff.
White smoke dispersed, and he returned to the appearance he had in life.
A dark-blue high-collared robe draped over his body. The Uchiha clan fan crest was embroidered on the back. A katana hung diagonally at his waist.
His black hair fell loosely over his shoulders. His ink-dark eyes were sharp and profound.
The traces of Edo Tensei were completely hidden beneath the Transformation Technique.
He walked slowly into the village, casually surveying his surroundings.
It was an ordinary mountain village.
There were no shops, only scattered wooden houses. Barefoot children ran along the dirt paths. Villagers cast wary glances at the unfamiliar stranger.
The village was small, with vast farmlands stretching around its outskirts.
After circling once, Retsu found nothing special.
The only thing that could be called "unique" was the shrine on the mountain behind the village.
A long staircase paved with blue stone wound upward from the foot of the mountain, leading straight to the shrine gate.
To be honest, he was quite curious about the shrines so common in anime.
But after thinking about it, he dismissed the idea.
He was still in an Edo Tensei body.
And the priests and shrine maidens of this world truly possessed spiritual power capable of purifying evil.
To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and meaningless conflicts, he chose to keep his distance.
"Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to Kaede's village?"
He stopped a villager carrying a hoe and asked politely.
"Kaede's village? Never heard of it." The villager shook his head in confusion.
Retsu asked several more people.
The answers were all the same.
He wasn't surprised.
In a world overrun by demons, most villagers probably never left their hometowns in their entire lives. Not knowing about Kaede's village was normal.
Unable to find any clues, he didn't dwell on it. He turned and headed toward the path outside the village, preparing to continue in the direction where the Shikon Jewel had shattered.
"Come out. You've been following me for a while. What do you want?"
Not far from the village, Retsu suddenly stopped and spoke without turning around.
"You noticed?"
A clear female voice sounded.
The next moment, a figure in red-and-white shrine maiden robes stepped out from behind a tree.
She held a kagura bell decorated with silver charms. As she walked, soft chimes rang out.
She had long, jet-black hair cascading to her waist. A few loose strands framed her pale face. A string of ancient prayer beads hung at her chest.
Her bright eyes held a trace of hidden weariness.
Clad in sacred robes, she radiated a pure, tranquil aura.
"You are?" Retsu looked at her calmly, showing no surprise.
He had sensed her long before leaving the village.
She had concealed her presence with spiritual power.
Unfortunately, such concealment was meaningless before the Sharingan.
He could clearly see the gentle, holy energy surrounding her—undoubtedly the source of her stealth.
"I am this village's shrine maiden. My name is Hitomi," she replied softly, her voice like clear mountain spring water.
"Hitomi…"
Retsu repeated the name.
A fragment of memory surfaced in his mind.
He remembered her now.
She was a character who had appeared in the original story.
Born with powerful spiritual power, she had been targeted by Naraku from a young age. Fifteen years later, Naraku ambushed and killed her with spider threads, then revived her and controlled her, forcing her to seize Kagome's sacred bow and murder her.
"Miss Hitomi, what do you want with me?" Retsu asked calmly, turning to face her.
"You… are not among the living, are you?"
Hitomi's gaze tightened instantly.
Her fingers clenched around the kagura bell, her voice filled with caution.
The aura of the man before her was far too strange.
He lacked all vitality of the living and was instead wrapped in a faint but unmistakable aura of death.
"So you saw through it?" Retsu raised an eyebrow, half surprised, half unsurprised. "As expected of a shrine maiden said to rival Kikyo in spiritual power."
His Edo Tensei body lacked the warmth of life.
Before someone sensitive to spiritual energy, there was nowhere to hide.
As his words fell, white smoke burst out.
He dispelled the transformation.
His true form appeared.
Pale skin crisscrossed with spiderweb-like cracks. His pupils were dull and grayish. Thick deathly aura radiated from his body.
"A wandering dead soul…"
Hitomi's vigilance intensified.
She pressed the kagura bell to her chest. The hem of her robes trembled slightly.
"If you've already died, why do you still linger in the world of the living?"
"Nothing special," Retsu replied helplessly, seeing how tense she was. He shrugged lightly, half-joking. "Probably… because I haven't lived enough yet."
"You were sent by Naraku, weren't you? Begone, evil spirit!"
For fifteen years, Naraku had never stopped trying to kill her.
Those eyes lurking in the darkness had become her lifelong nightmare.
Seeing Retsu's unknown origin and eerie aura, she instinctively assumed this was another assassination attempt.
Without time to think, she shook her kagura bell violently.
Amid the crisp ringing, a beam of pure white spiritual power shot toward Retsu like an arrow.
Chakra flashed beneath his feet.
The Body Flicker activated.
His figure vanished instantly.
"He's gone? Where—?!"
Hitomi's pupils shrank.
Alarm surged through her as she hurriedly raised her hand to form a barrier.
Before she could complete it, a helpless voice sounded behind her.
"Miss Hitomi, you shouldn't attack strangers so casually."
"So fast!"
A chill ran down her spine.
Cold sweat broke out as she tried to turn.
But her wrist was suddenly seized in a firm grip.
A powerful force twisted her arm, forcing her to turn and face Retsu's gray-black eyes.
His other hand's fingertip rested lightly against her forehead.
The faint coolness made her entire body stiffen.
She didn't dare move.
"First, I mean no harm. And I don't know anyone named Naraku," Retsu said gently, seeing her tense profile. After thinking for a moment, he added, "But since fate brought us together, let me give you a gift."
Before she could respond—
His eyes suddenly turned crimson.
Three tomoe spun rapidly, merging into an intricate Mangekyō pattern.
A chilling, ominous aura spread from his gaze.