The night sky wasn't very bright, with dark clouds obscuring the stars.
Through the dappled shadows of the trees, Seiki glided like a ghost, stopping only when he reached the outer edge of Konoha's Chakra Barrier.
Though the Uzumaki clan's shrine was located far from the village, it still fell within Konoha's jurisdiction. Entering recklessly would surely alert the Barrier Unit.
Of course, for someone like Seiki, who had already become one of the village's top officials, slipping past barriers unnoticed was no great challenge.
Chakra Barrier, open!
"Even sneaking back into my own village feels like a hassle," he thought bitterly as he followed his preplanned path.
Before long, he arrived at a dilapidated shrine.
"This must be it." Calmly, Seiki stepped inside.
The shrine was filled with an eerie chill. The vast interior was empty except for a wall lined with Demon Masks.
"These are all Shinigami masks?" Seiki glanced around, then his hands flew through seals.
Spirit Transformation Technique!
In an instant, Seiki's spirit body floated upward.
From the perspective of spiritual sight, each mask seemed to conceal behind it the faint outline of a Shinigami.
"Artificial death gods like the Evil Gods?" A theory flickered through his mind, but now wasn't the time to confirm it.
Guided by spiritual perception, Seiki chose the mask emitting the weakest spiritual energy and took it in hand.
Then he withdrew his spirit form and left.
Though technically on Konoha's outskirts, this location still lay within the village limits—better to conduct experiments elsewhere.
...
On a small hill in the Land of Fire, where a gang of bandits had gathered.
With most of Konoha's ninja deployed to the frontlines, life had grown significantly easier for thieves and raiders across the country.
That said, this was only true for the past couple of years.
As the war situation improved, their lives had once again grown difficult.
Now, Seiki stood atop a nearby tree, watching the sacrifices below.
"The quality of these offerings is terrible, but since I've already sealed Satori, completing the technique shouldn't pose much trouble… If things go wrong, I'll just compensate with numbers."
Muttering softly, Seiki sealed the fate of these bandits.
Unaware that they were being watched, the bandits laughed and joked around their campfire.
"Haha! Today's haul wasn't bad at all!"
"At first those old men refused to cooperate, so we had to kill a few before they finally handed over the cash."
"That's just how it goes. Life hasn't been easy for us either."
"It's getting harder to operate here in the Land of Fire. After this last job, we're heading to the Land of Wind…"
Just then, a ripple of chakra spread outward.
All movement among the bandits ceased simultaneously. Their pupils lost all luster, creating a chilling scene against the black night.
Calmly jumping from the branch, Seiki landed silently on the ground. He activated his Sensing Barrier before retrieving the scroll that held Satori.
Seal, release!
An ice coffin radiating cold emerged from the earth, deepening the chill of the cold night.
"It begins now!" Using genjutsu to control one bandit, Seiki guided him toward the icy coffin and began forming hand seals.
The key element of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal lies in the soul. Take the battle between The Third and Orochimaru as an example—after sealing the Shinigami's contract, even Shadow Clones could be offered as sacrifices.
Therefore, though these bandits were weak spiritual offerings, under Seiki's control, using their souls to summon the Shinigami was barely achievable.
Of course, there was a catch: every sacrifice came with its own fare—in this case, chakra expenditure.
For Seiki, however, lending out a bit of chakra was absolutely no problem.
Before long, the Shinigami appeared behind the bandits—it clutched prayer beads in its hands and held a tanto clenched between its teeth.
"This is the Shinigami? Doesn't look too impressive." Seiki raised his brow. Although he had chosen the mask with the weakest spiritual power, the visible Shinigami truly posed little threat to him.
He even suspected that if someone tried the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on him, the Shinigami might simply refuse to act.
"It seems this technique also relates to the strength of one's spirit."
As Seiki observed silently, the summoned Shinigami finally took action.
Its incorporeal arms easily pierced through the Ice Coffin, plunging into Satori's body. With brute force, it yanked his soul outward.
Though still sealed within his physical form, Satori's soul reacted immediately. "Damn it! What's happening? This isn't Loulan—why am I here?"
Clearly, his consciousness remained fixed on the moment before his sealing.
Yet regardless of knowing or not knowing what spectral being tugged at his soul, Satori understood—he absolutely could not allow himself to be dragged over.
So he fought hard to pull back.
Pulling and resisting—it was like a fierce tug-of-war.
Perhaps because the sacrifices were so weak, in this struggle, Satori's soul surprisingly began to overpower the Shinigami.
Seiki watched calmly, then decided to step in and tilt the scales unfairly.
Five more bandits approached and simultaneously unleashed the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
The Shinigami's power surged instantly, forcefully dragging Satori's soul entirely toward it.
With a single stroke of the blade—
Amidst Satori's resentful wail, both his and several bandits' souls were sealed inside the Shinigami's body.
After completing the seal, the Shinigami vanished.
Ignoring the fallen bandits, the surroundings seemed eerily undisturbed as if nothing had happened.
"Time for the next step—kill the donkey now that the millstone has done its job!" Seiki nodded in satisfaction. He summoned another tool person and placed the mask onto a bandit's face.
[Dead Demon Consuming Seal—Release!]
The hard-working Shinigami reappeared, but before even locating its target, it was slashed across the abdomen by this unscrupulous capitalist.
Several orbs of soul-fire burst from the Shinigami's abdomen. Six appeared extremely weak, yet one burned exceptionally strong.
[Spirit Transformation Technique—Capture!]
In the next moment, those rootless fireballs were gathered into Seiki's grasp.
"This world does possess the forbidden technique, Impure World Reincarnation. Though I doubt anyone would bother bringing you back, for safety's sake, your souls shall be utterly annihilated!" With cold indifference, Seiki shattered all the bandits' souls.
Then, he cast a calm gaze toward the oddly wronged Shinigami.
"A weakened Shinigami—perfectly compatible with this soul!"
"What the hell is this?!" the Shinigami shouted in shock.
Seiki forcefully restrained the escaping Shinigami, merging the souls of the Shinigami and Satori together.
This was an idea he'd gotten from observing Black Zetsu's body.
Though not truly Yin-Yang Release, it functioned much like how White Zetsu and Black Zetsu could merge and split apart.
After sealing the fusion within the mask, Seiki placed the Shinigami Mask into storage.
"The Shinigami mask is no longer just a summoning medium—it's more like a Ninja Tool now!" Seiki mused as he fiddled with the mask, then put it on his face.
Instantly, the desperate thoughts of the bandits trapped in the Illusion Realm echoed in Seiki's mind.
Once he confirmed the mask worked exactly as planned, Seiki removed it with satisfaction. "Until I can replicate this power myself, this mask will make a decent temporary replacement."
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