Chương 118: The Chaos of Appearance

Chapter 118 The Chaos of a Hundred Appearances

"Where are the four of them?" Jieluo asked.

"I assigned them low-level tasks, and they're cultivating while doing them," Mito laughed.

"That little girl Zhuyin was a bit resentful, so I gave her a beating. You're not angry, are you?"

Jieluo nodded and said, "Let's go out to eat." Jieluo was too lazy to cook.

"Okay~" Mito chuckled.

Lucy cannot be away from Jieluo for too long. She needs Jieluo to periodically process and absorb the large amount of negative emotions in her body, but ten days or half a month is not a big problem.

Therefore, Jieluo did not recall the four little ones. After having a sumptuous meal with Mito in the village, they took a walk together. Mito talked about some things that happened in the village, and Jieluo listened and occasionally chimed in.

Glancing at Chikamatsu, who appeared in the village and was leading Chiyo on a tour, they passed each other and walked away on the long street.

Before they knew it, they had walked to a stone bridge. The mountain stream flowed beneath the bridge. Watching the fish swimming in the clear river, Jie Luo sat on the bridge, pressed the Thunder Light Sword, found a loaf of bread, tore it apart, and threw it into the river.

"Give me some." Mito sat down, reached out, took the bread that Yura handed him, and then threw it into the river.

Before long, a group of colorful carp gathered under the bridge.

"There are many koi like this on Whirlpool Island," Mito said.

"I keep a large pond of red koi."

"Missing home?" Jieluo asked.

Mito shook his head and said, "Not yet."

Indeed, no. Mito's emotions have always been remarkably stable.

Among ninjas with this mindset, medical ninjas stand out. Their calmness and precision are like a surgeon's scalpel, and their thinking is absolutely rational. It's hard to say about Tsunade, the medical ninja pioneer who lacked emotional control. The most typical example is Nohara Rin. One second she is crying, and the next second she can wipe away her tears and forcibly control her emotions.

With an absolutely calm and rational mind, she completes a precise eye transplant surgery, almost like an emotionless robot. Later, when the Three-Tails was implanted, she was able to make cold judgments and rational deductions in an instant. With the precision and ruthlessness of a surgeon's scalpel, she decided to remove the bad part of herself to prevent the tailed beast from going berserk and harming the entire village.

If it weren't for Madara's deadly scheme, Rin's mental fortitude would have made her a great success as a medical ninja.

That's a pity.

Jieluo said, "Didn't the old man assign you any subordinates?"

"I have plenty of subordinates," Mito shook his head.

"He asked, but I refused. I'm just too busy to manage a few kids."

Jie Luo pursed her lips, feeling a little uncomfortable.

They didn't discuss work matters further; it was just casual conversation between Yura and Mito.

That night, still on the rooftop, while enjoying the night breeze and a little wine, Chikamatsu set off again.

Yura stood up, looked at Mito, and said, "I'm off."

"Take care on your journey." Mito stood up and smiled as he saw her off.

Jieluo secretly followed Chikamatsu's footsteps. Once they left the village, Chikamatsu used the same old tricks, so Jieluo had no choice but to follow him.

This time, after testing the waters, Chikamatsu became bolder and extended the timeframe to six days.

After this period of tracking and Chikamatsu's persistence, Yura has almost figured it out.

First of all, this Hundred-Faced Ranpo must be an extremely strong ninja, so strong that after his defection, the entire Sand Village had to treat him with great care and secrecy. He must either possess extremely valuable information or something else, such as puppetry techniques.

Secondly, the First Kazekage died a violent death, and Chikamatsu also disappeared almost as if he vanished into thin air. None of the entire Sunagakure clan showed up in the First Shinobi World War. Following in the footsteps of the Second Hokage, they died violent deaths on the eve of the war. If no one was targeting them, it would be too much of a coincidence. Perhaps this person was the one who started it all.

An assassin who never fails?

If the deduction holds true, then it is incredibly strong, extremely strong.

On the sixth day, Chikamatsu returned to the village to rest, having failed to achieve his goal.

Jieluo didn't want to waste any more time like this, so she went to the Mizukage's office to report on the mission's progress.

After pondering for a while, Bai Lian looked at Jie Luo and suddenly asked, "Are you confident?"

"Old man, you mean..." Jie Luo asked.

"With the ability to change one's appearance in a hundred ways..." Bai Lian said, "It would be very difficult to find such a person in a vast sea of people unless our Hidden Mist Village activates its power."

"That's exactly what we wanted," Yura said.

"That Chikamatsu kid is a very cunning fellow. He's been intentionally or unintentionally sending information to Kirigakure, hoping we'll help him find someone."

"Then let's help him. I'm very curious about what kind of thing it is," Bai Lian said.

Hidden in the mist, within the Land of Water, finding someone is simple: just post a portrait, attach a price tag, and the entire Land of Water, from ninjas to civilians, will be mobilized.

The next day, in a town, Chikamatsu looked at the wanted poster in front of him and a smile crept onto his face.

Finding Momochi Ranba is difficult, but forcing him out is a different story. Under Kirigakure's blockade, it's only a matter of time before Momochi's whereabouts are exposed. When Momochi, who won't just sit idly by, clashes with Kirigakure, Chikamatsu can seize the opportunity and profit from the chaos.

Then, half a month passed, then a month passed, and the entire Misty Hidden Land remained completely unchanged.

Inside the manor, Chikamatsu paced back and forth, utterly perplexed.

Something's not right.

Given Hyakuchi's abilities, no matter what, he would have caused a huge commotion on Kirigakure's territory; it was impossible for things to be so peaceful.

Which part of the process went wrong?

Chiyo looked at her teacher with a puzzled expression.

Rewind to a month ago, on the island of Kirigakure, near the coast, in an inconspicuous, peaceful little village, Hyakuchi, as a conspicuous outsider, was an unusual presence no matter how he changed his appearance. When he saw his portrait posted in the village, Hyakuchi knew that he could no longer stay here.

We set off immediately to blend into a larger town with a large population.

But as the Hidden Mist ninjas continued their investigations and searches, the suspicious gazes of the surrounding civilians and the space for hiding were drastically reduced, unless they hid in the desolate, uninhabited deep mountains and forests.

This might be possible on the Ninja World Continent, but there's no such place on Asagiri Island; the Hidden Mist Ninja are everywhere.

Finally, after hiding for so long, he inevitably revealed a clue.

By the time Hyakuchi realized it, a girl had already appeared before him like a ghost, silently and abruptly.

Just one person, with scarlet eyes.

She knew her; among the intelligence gathered in Hyakuchi, she was a very famous person.

"The body of a young girl, inhuman combat power, unpredictable stealth techniques, ominous deadly attire, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Oni-hime..." Momochi said.

"It was really hard to find you. You're quite the hider," Yura said with a light smile, her gaze fixed on the small doll on Momochi's shoulder.

To outsiders, Momochi is the real person, and the doll on her shoulder is a puppet.

But in reality, the doll is the real body, and the beautiful woman standing there is the puppet.

"I haven't asked your name yet," Jieluo said.

Noticing Yura's gaze, Hyakuchi's heart sank.

"You saw through my true form the moment we met?" The puppet's original body floated up from its shoulder. Hyakuchi was no longer disguised as a puppet. His lively eyes looked at Yura and he opened his mouth to speak.

"The land is in complete chaos."