Chapter 190: You Can Prophesy Too?
"What does it mean that the inside can't be changed?"
For a moment, Uchiha Hikari didn't understand what Shiromo meant.
And she also couldn't figure out what use this "Shadow Mirror Body Transfer Technique" which resembled a transformation jutsu, actually had.
Transformation jutsu was one of the most basic techniques for ninja.
Even kids at the Ninja Academy could use it.
If you wanted a transformation to be hard to detect, you had to precisely control your chakra, deeply understand visual intelligence, and have convincing acting skills.
If this Shadow Mirror Body Transfer Technique was supposed to make things harder to notice, Shiromo had already said that even the voice couldn't be changed.
Just that alone made it worse than the most ordinary transformation jutsu.
When you use a transformation to gather intel, do you really stay silent the whole time?
"The meaning of the inside not changing is…"
Shiromo leaned over to Hikari's ear and explained in a low voice.
This technique was indeed extremely crude, so crude that a person could only use it once in their lifetime, and it could only alter the exterior. Even slightly detailed internal organs, including the vocal cords, couldn't be changed.
Which meant that the internal biological sex couldn't be changed either.
It was basically like getting a sex-change surgery and becoming a ladyboy.
Luckily, in the original plot, that guard only transformed into the shrine maiden's appearance to die in her place, rather than to "deliver blessings."
And luckily he died after transforming, otherwise, living permanently in that transformed body would have been unbearably awkward.
"Ah?"
Hikari stared with her mouth open, completely at a loss.
Why was it that ever since she awakened, everything in the new ninja world kept shattering her worldview again and again?
If Shiromo wasn't around, she really might've wanted to destroy the world.
"Secret techniques born of such innate evil are better kept contained. They can't be allowed to bring disaster upon the world."
Shiromo gave his final verdict.
White Zetsu's transformation ability was far more perfect and much harder to detect, but White Zetsu was obedient, if it wasn't told to transform, it absolutely wouldn't.
And White Zetsu's transformations couldn't be replicated; others couldn't learn it.
This Shadow Mirror Body Transfer Technique was different.
It was a secret technique, not even a bloodline limit, more like the hereditary techniques of the Ino–Shika–Chō clans.
Its inheritance didn't really require talent, just the right status.
Which made it outrageous.
Shiromo wasn't worried about falling for it himself.
He could already see through White Zetsu's transformations, let alone this kind of disguise that couldn't even change the inside.
Shiromo was genuinely thinking about the safety of the rest of the ninja world.
Yes, the reason behind it was heartwarming.
"?"
The twelve-year-old shrine maiden Shion stared blankly at Shiromo and Uchiha Hikari whispering to each other.
Were they treating her like she didn't exist?
"Ahem. What is your purpose in coming here?"
Shion had no choice but to speak up.
Hearing this, Kurotsuchi turned to Shiromo and tugged on his clothes.
"Oh, we want you to help unseal Mōryō, then we'll wipe it out."
Shiromo answered.
"That's not allowed… huh? Not allowed!!!!"
Just as mentioned before, Shion had already decided in her heart that no matter what conditions Shiromo and the others proposed, she would refuse. So she instinctively rejected it.
But only after saying no did she process what Shiromo had actually said.
She immediately cried out in alarm and looked toward the door, hoping the guards would rush in.
These people were actually coveting Mōryō's power!
Well, Shiromo's part about "wiping it out" didn't register with her at all. She only heard "unseal Mōryō."
Maybe you misjudged him yesterday…
Stop.
"Why are you shouting so loud? And why did you say 'not allowed' twice?"
Shiromo complained.
"Stop looking. The guards outside are all under genjutsu already."
Uchiha Hikari walked up to the shrine maiden, who was trying to stand, and pressed her back down.
Shion looked up at Hikari and saw the Three-Tomoe Sharingan spinning.
But Hikari hadn't cast genjutsu on her.
"Genjutsu? Help! Help!!!!"
Shion cried out stubbornly toward the outside.
Unfortunately, those guards were pitifully weak to begin with. Hikari didn't even need Tsukuyomi, ordinary Sharingan genjutsu was enough to control them all.
This was to prevent them from rushing in and causing trouble. If they upset anyone, they'd only end up losing their lives for nothing.
"Little girl, go ahead and keep shouting. Even if you shout your throat raw… I'll heal it for you so you can keep shouting."
Tsunade grinned and joined in the teasing, walking over and sitting beside Shion, pulling her into a side hug.
Wasn't the line supposed to be "even if you shout your throat raw, no one will come save you"? Why had the dialogue changed?
"..."
Shion immediately stopped crying and struggling.
"Wait, doesn't this turn into kidnapping the shrine maiden? And she's the leader of the Land of Demons. Wouldn't that be abducting a head of state?"
Seeing the situation, Kurotsuchi suddenly felt a headache coming on.
"Looks like that old man Ōnoki taught you quite a lot."
Tsunade glanced at Kurotsuchi in surprise.
If not for Gaara, Kurotsuchi would be the youngest among the Five Kage.
And unlike Gaara, who had grown up with a status barely higher than the family pet, Kurotsuchi had been doted on.
Yet in such a short time, she had already become quite mature.
Mentally, at least.
Physically, she still had a long way to go.
"Forget whatever the old man taught me, this still isn't normal human interaction, right?"
After saying that, Kurotsuchi looked at Shiromo.
"Then what do you think we should do? Sure, this isn't urgent and we could waste some time, but do you really think this little shrine maiden would actually listen to us?"
As Shiromo spoke, he walked up to Shion and leaned his face right up close.
Shion jumped in fright and hurriedly tried to retreat.
But Hikari was holding her down, and Tsunade was pulling her in place.
At that moment, Shrine Maiden Shion looked just like the miserable illustration of Emperor Xian of Han in Three Kingdoms Kill.
"I heard you can prophesy like the toads of Mount Myōboku too, seeing the deaths of people around you?"
Shiromo spoke.
Hearing this, Shion felt as if she'd grabbed onto a lifeline.
"Yes! Hurry and let me go and leave the Land of Demons! I won't report you! If you don't leave soon, once my prophecy appears, you'll be in danger!"
But after rattling off that string of words, she suddenly felt something off when she recalled Shiromo's phrasing.
Like toads?
The little shrine maiden instantly got a bit angry. Was she really that ugly and disgusting?
Still, she was kind-hearted, for now at least. She didn't fabricate a lie saying she had already foreseen Shiromo's group dying just to scare them away.
She had already experienced the tragedy of death prophecies, so she was sensitive about it and didn't want to make another fatal prediction come true.
"Give me an example then. For instance, those guards outside, have you recently prophesied that any of them would die?"
Shiromo glanced outside.
"...Yes."
Shion pointed in a low voice: "He will, before long, be killed by invading ninja… I'm not talking about you."
"Oh."
The moment Shiromo spoke, his figure had already appeared behind that guard, and he punched straight through the man's abdomen.
Shion never imagined something like this would happen. Tears burst out immediately.
"What are you doing?!"
Shiromo pulled his hand back and tossed the guard into the nearby bushes.
By now, the guard's body had already regenerated. He was still under Hikari's genjutsu and didn't feel much pain.
"So was that prophecy broken?"
"...Huh?"
(End of this chapter)