The strange chakra from the hexagonal crystal kept resonating with Seimei's chakra, constantly stimulating his DNA and bloodline.
Seimei really had no idea what was going on.
How was a random crystal that was supposed to stay dormant and not react with anyone's chakra reacting to his chakra?
Why was it stimulating his Otsutsuki bloodline?
What was the origin of that hexagonal crystal?
What was that complex mix of Ice and Yin Release chakra radiating from it all of a sudden?
And most importantly, why the heck did Shiraishi Genzo, a civilian with no chakra, have that thing? He had no business possessing it. What was he planning?
What was he going to do with the crystal?
That was clearly something related to the Otsutsuki bloodline. Otherwise, his bloodline wouldn't be acting up. Even though it was purifying his bloodline grade, which was a good thing, the sudden series of events was truly shocking.
He couldn't help but feel uneasy about it.
Question after question kept popping up in his mind. But there was no one to answer them for him.
[Otsutsuki Bloodline LV5 (50,440/ 100,000) → (50,486/ 100,000)]
Vrrrrmmmm…Ouunggg…
Suddenly, the hexagonal crystal vibrated with a strange sound.
Then, as if struck by thunder, it stopped interacting with Seimei's chakra, completely canceling the state of resonance.
Before Seimei's Otsutsuki Bloodline proficiency in the system panel could reach 50,500, the hexagonal crystal suddenly retracted its rioting chakra.
The sudden withdrawal left Seimei completely stunned again.
No, what is this behavior? One moment, you are trying to entangle with my chakra. And at the next moment, you just run away like a shameless girl tired of your old boyfriend? What kind of use-and-throw behavior is this?
Seimei grumbled inwardly.
The resonance was suspicious. It was like a chakra-based probing.
If he took the stimulation to his bloodline and DNA out of the picture, then the hexagonal crystal's behavior felt like a pre-programmed probe upon finding a very compatible program.
But upon realizing the program wasn't the same thing, it suddenly pulled out.
It wasn't natural at all.
If anything, that hexagonal crystal was probably some kind of man-made thing.
But who in the world could create something that could react to his Otsutsuki bloodline, even if it was for a moment?
"I don't know what Genzo is up to, but I will find out eventually. And it will be very soon. Since you are carrying it to the Land of Frost, you must have a use for it. Isn't that the case, Genzo?"
Seimei whispered as he calmed himself.
He narrowed his eyes as he calmly watched the hired ninjas and sealing experts scramble around to seal the container and the hexagonal crystal inside it.
Then, without wasting any more time, he turned back and moved away from the caravan's location. Using Earth Release, he moved underground like a fish in the water, silently, without rousing anyone's suspicion.
❇️Flashback Ends❇️
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Time slowly passed, and in the blink of an eye, the morning sun rose from the eastern horizon, washing away the gloom of the night.
Both Seimei's squad and Genzo's merchant group wasted no time packing up and erasing the markings of their camps before setting out once again.
When they were less than ten miles away from the Land of Hot Water's border, Reina, as the leader of Squad 13, approached Genzo.
She didn't mince her words and spoke directly, "Mr. Genzo, we will soon cross the border and enter the Land of Hot Water. As per our agreement, we will lead the caravan now."
"We will lead the caravan along the safest route possible. The routes we have mapped have the fewest high-tier chakra activities. As long as nothing abnormal happens, our journey should be smooth until we cross the borders of the Land of Frost."
Shiraishi Genzo thought for a moment before agreeing with her. "Very well, I will leave this to you."
Genzo had no objection to this. After all, Konoha was a large, centralized force of powerful ninjas. They had a better grasp of the continental geography and a superior intelligence network.
Until he reached his destination in the Land of Frost, relying on Konoha's intelligence would mean fewer obstacles, delays, and possible loss of manpower due to chakra beasts and other hostile attacks.
After the agreement, Reina went back and continued guard duty with her team.
Soon, they entered the Land of Hot Water.
Thanks to Natsumi's Byakugan, the group dodged many troublesome chakra beasts before they even reached the vicinity of the caravans.
Apart from a few occasional skirmishes with minor, low-level chakra beasts, the entire journey was relatively free of trouble.
They even stayed in a large inn for four hours to rest well.
Although Seimei's group and Genzo's hired ninjas and samurai weren't too tired, the same couldn't be said for Genzo and his civilian assistants.
After all, they never unlocked chakra. A long cross-country journey that kept them on edge was still tiring.'
Since it was already planned, no one had any objections.
Reina and Natsumi even took their time to soak in the nearby hot spring spa for a while.
However, because of the four-hour delay, the sky once again started becoming dark just when they were roughly forty miles away from the borders of the Land of Frost.
The average temperature of the atmosphere had already started dropping the closer they got to the Land of Frost.
Even if they didn't take the danger of nocturnal chakra beasts into account, the sudden drop in temperature at night and the landscape would make it difficult to resume traveling.
A few more miles, and the elevated lands, uneven mountainous terrain, and snow-covered, rocky valleys would show up.
Although ninjas could easily traverse these rough terrains at night in the absence of light, Genzo and his caravans couldn't.
And just like that, the group had to set up camps and campfires to rest another night.
11:38 PM…
Reina and Natsumi were fast asleep.
Meanwhile, Seimei was patrolling around his team's camp. Although he had set up several defensive barriers and alarm seals, one had to be vigilant, especially when they were out in the wild.
Tonight, Seimei was on patrol duty from 8 PM to 12 AM. Once the clock struck 12, Seimei would wake Reina and Natsumi, who would be on patrol duty from 12 AM to 4 AM.
With nothing to do, Seimei sat before the campfire.
Crackle…Pop…
He looked up at the sky.
The sky was a bit cloudy, but not cloudy enough to cover the moon.
The radiance of the full moon illuminated the surrounding rocky terrain, making the night a bit less gloomy and dark.
Apart from him, quite a few ninjas and samurai hired by Genzo were also awake, patrolling the camp and the perimeter to prevent ambushes from dangerous assailants or chakra beasts.
"Come to think of it, this is the first night I am spending outside of the Fire Country, huh?"
Seimei mused.
If he were to be honest, the journey so far had been pretty boring, except for the one instance when the unknown hexagonal crystal flared up all of a sudden.
But a boring and monotonous journey was a good thing.
In this ninja world, boring meant safety.
Monotonous meant security.
Too much excitement, instead, could really cost people's lives.
For example, if the Dance King Uchiha Madara showed up right here right now, things would certainly be very interesting and exciting.
But for the people here, such excitement must be too much to handle. Their souls would definitely ascend to the Pure Land.
After all, Uchiha Madara was supposed to be dead in this world, and he would ensure it stayed that way by silencing anyone witnessing him in his true form without any disguise.
Of course, with his Flying Thunder God Technique, Seimei could slip away to a safe place along with his companions. So, he wasn't really worried about dying.
Now, Madara had no business showing up at random places at random times.
But that couldn't be said for a certain filial son, Black Zetsu.
Who knew who that guy was spying on right now?
That filial son could even be here, hiding in plain sight.
But obviously, that guy couldn't hide from his Tenseigan or even a Hyuga clan ninja's Byakugan, as long as it wasn't using its unique Perfect Duplication/Substitution Technique of the White Zetsu.
Boom!
Just as his mind was wandering around again, Seimei suddenly heard a faint booming sound, making him instinctively look in the direction of the source of the sound.
He immediately activated his Tenseigan and tried to find the source of the sound that came from at least a couple of hundred meters away.
"A Telebird? Here?"
Seimei muttered as he saw a Telebird shot toward the direction of the Land of Frost at breakneck speed.
If that were all, Seimei wouldn't mind. After all, finding a wild Telebird, while rare, wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
But thanks to his Tenseigan's farsight ability, although the Telebird had already flown far away at the speed of nearly 400 miles per hour, he could still clearly see the mini-container and the rolled letter inside it.
Seimei didn't know what was written in that rolled letter.
But he clearly knew one thing.
Seimei's eyes turned cold as he whispered, "So, a spy is hiding among us…"
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