Chapter 82: Reconstruction Technique, Being Abe Seimei
By dusk, Uchiha Tonan had feigned urging Sarutobi Shinnosuke several times to stay. However, Shinnosuke, worried that Sarutobi Asuma might cause trouble if left unchecked, insisted on leaving immediately.
After seeing him off, Tonan returned to his study and settled into his chair. After a moment of thought, he called Yoshiwara Ao and instructed, "Bring me the registration lists of all residents living outside the Northern District."
Ao blinked, a bit surprised. "Is that all, My Lord?"
"That's all."
Although Ao was puzzled, he dared not question Tonan's motives and promptly carried out the order. After some time, a stream of attendants entered the study one after another, each carrying stacks of registers and placing them on the desk.
Due to the sheer volume, it took nearly fifteen minutes to arrange them all. After dismissing the attendants, Tonan formed multiple hand seals and used Shadow Clone Jutsu to create six copies of himself. The clones dispersed to read through the entire pile.
By midnight, he had finished. After dissolving the clones, his face turned pale and he swayed slightly. Returning to his seat, he sipped some tea to ease his fatigue.
Filtering through the records in his mind, his eyes suddenly glinted with a strange light. He muttered softly, "Abe Seimei…"
Late that night, on the outskirts of the Fire Capital, the dim moonlight cast a hazy glow over the rolling hills, making the landscape appear almost surreal. Scattered peasant homes dotted the slopes, though their lights were all extinguished now, enveloping the area in still darkness.
These peasants didn't live within the village proper—partly due to ancestral ties to the land, but mostly because they couldn't afford the steep prices of housing inside the city.
The farther one climbed the hill and moved away from the village boundaries, the sparser the signs of human life became, and the denser the forest grew. The path would soon lead into remote, heavily wooded mountains.
Coo coo…
The deeper the night, the louder the calls of nocturnal birds, snakes, rodents, and insects echoed from the grass and trees, deterring all but the bravest from venturing further.
Halfway up a cliff, a natural plateau emerged. Upon closer inspection, a ramshackle hut stood there. The bright moon floated gently in the sky, its silver light washing over the mountains, casting them in a mysterious glow.
Moonlight painted the cliffside in a silvery sheen, reflecting like a polished mirror. Inside the hut, an old man, nearing the end of his life, lay sleeping peacefully.
Though the hour was late, pale moonlight spilled through the window, illuminating the room. Suddenly, a shadow rose, blocking the moonlight and plunging the room into darkness.
In an instant, the light returned. Tonan withdrew his finger from a lethal pressure point on the old man's stomach. His face was expressionless but radiated an indescribable pressure.
He activated his Sharingan, scrutinizing the old man's features and physique. Then, his hands moved so fast they blurred as he performed the Secret Technique — Reconstruction Technique.
Tonan's body began to change: his stature lengthened, his skin grew wrinkled, and dark age spots surfaced. His pitch-black hair gradually turned pure white from the roots outward.
After ten minutes, the transformation ceased. Tonan now resembled the old man by about eighty percent. This was a limitation of the Reconstruction Technique—it could only alter the user's appearance to a certain extent since it was based on the user's original form. Perfect mimicry was impossible.
Still, this was sufficient. Tonan stripped off his clothes and stored them in a scroll, then retrieved a fresh set from the closet and dressed. He moved to a chair by the window and took items from his ninja pouch.
Tonan had inherited this Reconstruction Technique from Sanbo Motoyoshi, a former ANBU Captain. Motoyoshi was aware of the technique's shortcomings and had spent years mastering makeup artistry to refine facial details—a method Tonan named Light Makeup.
Outside, white pigeons hovered in the moonlight, their feathers gleaming even brighter under the silver glow. Tonan stretched his hand out the window, and a pigeon gently landed, hopping twice in apparent excitement.
Tonan smiled softly, stroked its feathers, and instructed, "Remember to clean all the blood."
The pigeon nodded almost human-like. Tonan then formed hand seals and activated the Secret Technique — Beast Infestation. The pure white pigeons transformed into fierce, pitch-black birds and descended upon the old man's corpse.
The sounds of tearing cloth and flesh filled the hut, chilling the air. Meanwhile, Tonan set up a small mirror and meticulously adjusted his makeup, unconcerned with the chaos behind him.
After a brief moment—enough time to drink tea—he studied the reflection. The face in the mirror was that of an old man with sharply protruding cheekbones and a gaunt, pale-grey triangular face under the moonlight.
The eyes, however, were deep and tranquil like a still ancient pond, incongruent with the body's age. Tonan had no means to alter the eyes—there were no contact lenses in this world. Apart from that, his disguise was nearly perfect.
"These eyes are the flaw, but it won't be a problem," Tonan murmured, stroking his beard. Though the face resembled a starving man's, those eyes gave it the sharpness of a hawk's gaze.
Behind him, the corpse and clothes had been devoured by the pigeons, which had reverted to their white forms. They had followed Tonan's instructions precisely, licking even the bloodstains clean before flying out one by one.
One pigeon fluttered back to Tonan, gently pecking his head in apparent dissatisfaction—perhaps today's meal hadn't met its standards.
Tonan reached out, caught the bird on his hand, placed it on the windowsill, and sighed, "You're such a picky eater. Isn't it good enough just to have something?"
Annoyed, the pigeon turned and flicked its tail at Tonan before cooing loudly and flying off.
Tonan packed his belongings, exited the hut, and walked up the cliff path. At the summit, he looked down at the platform below with an indifferent expression.
He took a few steps back, formed hand seals, and intoned,
"Earth Style: Great Mud River."
The earth before him liquefied into a powerful mudflow, tumbling down the cliff and swallowing the hut entirely.
Silence returned.
Tonan gazed blankly through the face of the old man, then turned slowly and headed toward the Fire Capital.
At dawn the next day, Tonan, fully transformed into Abe Seimei, strolled toward the northern gate.
According to the information from the registers, Seimei had lived deep in the forest mountains for years and hadn't been in the Fire Capital for at least two decades.
Thus, Tonan had little fear of his disguise being uncovered. Since Seimei's identification had long expired, he needed to register anew to enter the city.
He queued patiently, lowering his eyes to embody the worn visage of an elderly man who had weathered a hard life.
The North City Guards—large, imposing figures armed with spears and kunai—exerted an intimidating presence as they inspected the identification papers of those entering.
When it was Tonan's turn, a guard glanced at the frail, empty-handed old man before him. He took a form and asked while jotting down notes, "Name, address, occupation, and reason for entering the city?"
Tonan hunched slightly and replied softly, "My name is Abe Seimei. I've lived in Zifu Mountain, in a place called Dan Tengai. In my youth, I taught in a village nearby, but later I returned to the mountains to sustain myself through farming and hunting. Recently, heavy rains caused a landslide that destroyed my home. Now, I have nowhere else to go. I'm entering the city to find work and plan for the future."
The guard wrote the details, handed Tonan the form, and pointed toward a pavilion beside the gate. "Take this to the guard there. Once he verifies it, you'll receive your new identification."
Tonan nodded, steadied himself, and approached the pavilion. Inside, a clerk examined the form.
"I know Zifu Mountain, but Dan Tengai?" he murmured, perplexed. Though experienced, he had no record of Dan Tengai.
After searching through the archives, he found the register for Zhifu Mountain and finally located Seimei's entry. He added 'Dan Tengai' to the address field.
He then pulled an old black-and-white photo from the file and compared it to Tonan. Confident in his transformation, Tonan knew his resemblance was about ninety percent accurate—a near-perfect disguise sufficient to fool the guards.
"This old gentleman still has some fight left in him," the clerk said with a smile.
With a pop, the clerk stamped the identification document and handed it back. "Your ID is valid for three days. After it expires, you'll need to renew it. You may enter the city now."
Tonan accepted it and bowed slightly. "Thank you, young man."
Meanwhile, Tonan's shadow clone left behind at the North City Guard Residence noticed the time and ordered Yoshiwara Ao to post a recruitment notice on the outer gate wall.
The notice quickly drew a crowd. Following the recent incident, the North City Guard's reputation had soared among the townsfolk, and the recruitment news spread rapidly.
Those with even basic education eagerly came forward to recommend themselves to Ao, who stood by the gate. Following Tonan's instructions, Ao accepted everyone without refusal.
"Please wait here and rest. The test will begin in the afternoon. There's plenty of time to regain your strength."
"No problem! Tonan-sama is so kind to organize this. Waiting a few hours is nothing."
"Yes! Not only did Tonan-sama adopt those orphans, but he's also searching for someone to teach them. I'm glad to be part of such a good cause."
Thanks to the notice—and Tonan's usual tactic of planting undercover informants to stir public enthusiasm—the crowd grew rapidly.
After circling the city several times, Tonan arrived at the North City Guard Residence. Like the others, he recommended himself and entered to wait.
By afternoon, hundreds had gathered in the main hall. Soon after, Tonan's shadow clone appeared from the study, bowed slightly, and apologized, "Sorry for the wait, everyone. I was caught up with some Guard business."
"No worries, we just arrived too."
"Tonan-sama, you've been working so hard."