Chapter 47: The Art of Erasing Faces
"The birth of sage chakra requires a perfect balance between natural energy and physical energy. If there is too little chakra, nothing forms. If there is too much, it mutates. If your chakra reserves are not high enough, it really is impossible to cultivate it at all."
Kenichi Amamiya stroked his chin as he rode along the road.
He was currently on his way to the Land of Rain.
The Land of Rain sat at the junction of three great powers, a small country forced into the role of buffer zone.
For such small nations, the situation was always tragic. They were constantly turned into battlefields by the great powers, which meant endless war orphans, ruined villages, and wandering refugees.
However, Kenichi knew that the Land of Rain was no longer just some powerless minor country. Its status in the future would be very different.
Even so, traveling from the Land of Fire to the Land of Rain was troublesome enough on its own, especially for someone who was now a rogue ninja.
Fortunately, his teacher had taught him a very powerful disguise ninjutsu, a famous face changing technique.
So Kenichi had simply ambushed a passing merchant and taken his identity.
Perfect. Earn some money, slip out of the Land of Fire, and no one would be the wiser.
Sitting on the horse, Kenichi closed his eyes and felt the natural energy drifting through the air.
It was the same as before, surging around him with excessive enthusiasm, clinging to him like an overly affectionate admirer.
No, he corrected himself, it was more like a crowd of elderly people charging toward a store when they heard eggs were being given away for free.
"Should I give it a try?"
Kenichi licked his lips, equal parts tempted and cautious.
Absorbing too much natural energy was still incredibly dangerous.
Orochimaru had already explained what happened when you lost control of it. Your body would twist and deform, and in the end, you would become a strange stone statue.
The backlash was very similar to what happened when trainees failed at Mount Myoboku.
Kenichi pulled a small bottle from his pocket. Inside were some irregular white masses of tissue.
These were Hashirama Senju's cells.
Kenichi had already learned the forbidden Impure World Reincarnation from his teacher, and after several experiments, he had gained a deeper understanding of how it worked.
"If the sacrifice is just an ordinary person, then the First Hokage resurrected through Impure World Reincarnation probably would not have that much combat power, right?"
Kenichi stared at the bottle, hesitating.
In his notes on Impure World Reincarnation, he had recorded that ordinary people could also be used as sacrifices. But when that was done, the resurrected ninja had almost no real fighting power and were only good as suicide attackers.
Moreover, because an ordinary body could not withstand the soul of a powerful ninja, those resurrected from commoners were much more prone to collapse.
They lasted only about thirty minutes before the technique unraveled on its own.
Dissection of the sacrificed bodies afterward showed multiple organ failure throughout.
Who knew how long an Impure World Reincarnation version of the First Hokage could last under those conditions?
"Wait a second. If we somehow obtained tissue from the Sage of Six Paths, wouldn't that mean we could directly resurrect the Sage of Six Paths with Impure World Reincarnation?"
Kenichi slapped his fist into his open palm at the sudden thought, then immediately forced the idea out of his head.
What kind of joke would that be in this world?
Madara Uchiha had already managed to break free of Impure World Reincarnation on his own.
The Sage of Six Paths, who was on an entirely different level and constantly watching over the ninja world, would obviously not be any easier to handle.
"If you want to live, leave the goods and get lost!"
Just as Kenichi was frowning at the bottle in his hand, a rough shout snapped him back to reality.
He looked up to see four or five bandits blocking the road.
Kenichi scratched his head.
Even in the world of shinobi, there were still ordinary mountain bandits pulling stunts like this.
Taking out small time groups like these was the kind of job that sometimes showed up at mission offices, but the pay was never great unless there were wandering ninja or rogue ninja among them.
"This must be what they call fate," Kenichi murmured, glancing at the bottle again.
He had just been wondering whether to use an Impure World Reincarnation version of the First Hokage, and now the sacrifices had walked up to him on their own.
He quickly counted. Five of them.
That was more than enough.
A trained shinobi could cut down ordinary people in an instant, and Kenichi's current strength was already far beyond average. There was no chance of him losing to a handful of bandits.
However, before he could even move, a shadow flickered behind the bandits.
One heartbeat later, all five of them were lying on the dirt road, convulsing as their life force drained away.
Kenichi stared, stunned for a second, then immediately schooled his expression into that of a frightened merchant who had just survived a bandit attack.
"..."
The ninja sheathed his blade.
He wore a mask, but the moment Kenichi saw the silver white hair, he knew exactly who it was.
Kakashi.
"Travel pass."
Kakashi extended his hand, his tone icy.
Kenichi could feel the chill in that voice. It seemed Kakashi had grown even colder lately.
"Y yes, of course, ninja sama, please wait!" Kenichi fumbled through his clothes, pulled out a folded document, and handed it over with both hands.
A travel permit was a document issued by the Land of Fire to merchants. Without it, they could not legally leave the country.
That was precisely why Kenichi had chosen this particular merchant as his target in the tavern, the one who had bragged loudly, "After I finish this deal in the Land of Rain, I am heading home to get married."
In the end, it turned out that some things should not be said too early.
Kakashi glanced at the permit, then at the merchant's face in front of him, and finally handed the paper back.
Next, he took out two wanted posters and showed them to Kenichi.
The faces on them were Orochimaru's and Kenichi's.
Kenichi's heart remained perfectly steady.
His face erasing technique was not just for show.
After giving the posters a suitably nervous look, he shook his head and stammered that he had never seen either of them before.
His reactions from beginning to end were exactly what one would expect from an ordinary person facing a dangerous shinobi.
Fearful, respectful, and eager to cooperate.
Seeing no obvious flaws, Kakashi did not press further.
After checking the cargo Kenichi was transporting, he turned and left without a word.
He did not even take the small cash gift Kenichi timidly offered, simply disappearing down the road.
"So Kakashi is personally out hunting me and teacher now?"
Kenichi scratched his head and then glanced down at the dead bandits.
He had not expected to run into Kakashi again so soon after leaving the village.
On second thought, though, it made sense.
Their defection from Konoha was still very recent.
Even if it was partially for show, the village had to send teams out to pursue them. The Anbu would definitely be dispatched.
Whether or not they actually found their targets was a matter of luck.
If you ran into bandits, that was one thing.
But if you drew a certain silver haired hunter, that was an entirely different kind of lottery.
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