The Rotting Wood Technique was exactly what its name suggested—a method to erase all pheromones from the body, fading into the background like decaying timber. A powerful stealth jutsu, refined to an art by the Uesugi clan during their rise to prominence.
Seiran studied the technique with a critical eye. There was another famous stealth kekkei genkai to consider: Transparency. It didn't just erase scent; it rendered the user visually invisible. True perfect concealment—except for one fatal flaw. The user couldn't move. Any motion shattered the illusion instantly.
He almost laughed imagining how frustrated the kid from Moonlight Gale must have been with such a limitation. Invisibility without movement, visibility when moving—a frustratingly narrow window of usefulness.
A technique whose effectiveness wasn't diminished by motion was, strictly speaking, superior.
Seiran turned the sealed scroll over in his hands. Should he report it to the Third Hokage? The mission details had made no mention of Uesugi Toru carrying cultivation scrolls. The Hokage likely didn't even know.
He made his decision in seconds.
Not a chance.
A technique this effective? Not learning it would be criminal negligence.
As darkness fell, Seiran built a small fire in the cave and immersed himself in the manual. The chakra flow was peculiar—once activated, the body's life response diminished dramatically. Heart rate slowed to a crawl, breathing became shallow, the biomagnetic field inconspicuous as a hibernating creature.
Understanding bloomed in his mind. This was why Uesugi Toru's biomagnetic readings had been inconsistent. The man had been arrogant, believing the technique's stealth would protect him. In theory, it could evade even some sensory barriers.
But equipped with dual perception abilities, Seiran saw through it like watching a deformed shadow. The Rotting Wood Technique was genuinely formidable—he had to respect that.
He began practicing in the dim cave, the firelight flickering across his closed eyelids.
---
The Land of Grass sprawled beneath a hazy sky, its towns thriving on black market commerce. Masked figures moved through the streets in abundance—some wrapped entirely in black robes, revealing only their eyes. It was the kind of place where no one asked questions and everyone had something to hide.
Rasa walked at the head of a small team, his masked face furrowed in sudden suspicion. He turned his head, searching the crowd.
"Lord Rasa?" His subordinate leaned in. "What's wrong?"
"I felt someone watching us," Rasa said quietly. "Just now."
The feeling nagged at him—familiar somehow, like an echo of a past encounter. He couldn't place it.
He shook his head. "Probably nothing. Stay focused. This mission is critical. We find that traitor and we don't draw attention. Understood?"
"Understood," the shinobi whispered.
---
Not far away, crouched on a rooftop with his Byakugan activated, Seiran's mouth curved beneath his silver mask.
Rasa. Here of all places.
He'd crossed paths with the Fourth Kazekage in the Land of Iron. Every shinobi's biomagnetic field was unique—Seiran had filed away the other man's signature like a memory. What troubled him was his history. During the Third Shinobi World War, Rasa had engineered a purge of his own rivals to claim the Kazekage seat. When war broke out, it meant direct threats. Development time would collapse.
His interests hung in the balance.
A disguised Sand shinobi pushed open the door to their temporary headquarters and reported to Rasa inside the building below.
"My lord, we've confirmed the missing-nin was active in this area. He's been taking black market missions for bounties."
"The nerve!" Rasa's teeth ground audibly. "A traitor with a price on his own head collecting bounties like a common mercenary?"
Sasori—the puppeteer with a brilliant future ahead of him, now a turncoat. He'd defected for the White Secret Technique, mutilating his own colleagues in the process. Sunagakure's manpower was already stretched thin. The wound Sasori left still bled.
Rasa hated him.
"Have the sensors continue monitoring. The moment you find him, notify me."
"Sir!"
---
Seiran remained perfectly still on the rooftop, using the Rotting Wood Technique. His body emitted no fluctuations, no heat signature, no chakra disturbance—just dead wood lying in the sun.
Rebels? Surveillance?
He pieced it together quickly. Major shinobi villages tolerated rebellion about as well as a blade tolerated rust. Their mission here was clearly to eliminate one of Sunagakure's own.
The Rotting Wood Technique was proving invaluable. At this close distance, with sensor shinobi among the Sand team, he should have been detected long ago. Instead, he was invisible—more than invisible. He was unnoticed. Forgotten.
In the Land of Iron, he'd used Shibi Aburame's bugs combined with Electromagnetic Manipulation to gather intelligence. Now, the Rotting Wood Technique had made that painstaking effort unnecessary.
Evening came. The monitoring shinobi returned.
"Lord Rasa, Pa has been sighted. He's heading this way—he hasn't spotted us yet."
Rasa's eyes lit up. Eliminating this traitor would restore his standing in the village. The path to Fourth Kazekage would open before him.
"Move out!"
---
They moved with practiced urgency. By the time Rasa reached the abandoned warehouse district, his team had already begun positioning themselves. The sensor shinobi pointed to a specific structure.
"That building, Lord Rasa."
"Surround it. Don't let anyone escape," Rasa ordered.
Seiran followed from the rooftops, the Rotting Wood Technique still active, invisible even to the Byakugan from certain angles. He landed silently on a distant building, his Byakugan piercing the warehouse's walls.
Inside, Pa moved frantically, sealing documents and scrolls. His hands shook with urgency.
"Found you!" Rasa's voice shattered the silence, heavy with killing intent.
Golden dust erupted from the ground like a tidal wave, shattering the warehouse. Pa barely dodged, but he was already cornered.
"White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu Ten Puppets!" Pa pulled a massive scroll free, slamming his hand down.
Ten advanced puppets materialized around him in perfect formation, their joints clattering as they moved, eyes glowing cold and purposeful.
"Pathetic," Rasa sneered, weaving hand signs. "Magnet Release: Gold Dust Defense!"
The dust surged like liquid metal, crashing toward Pa's puppets. The sheer weight suppressed their defenses instantly.
"Explosive Tags!" Pa hurled a dozen tags at the wave. The explosion disrupted the dust's density for a crucial moment.
But Rasa was relentless.
Seiran watched, calculating rapidly. If I move now, I could snatch the puppet scroll. The Chikamatsu Ten Puppets technique could be valuable. But getting a tissue sample from Rasa...
No. Too risky. Rasa was Kage-level for a reason.
Below, Pa's puppets crumbled one by one under the relentless pressure. Their metal frames corroded beneath the gold dust's assault. It was becoming one-sided.
"It's over!" Rasa formed the final hand sign. "Magnet Release: Gold Dust Impact!"
The dust crystallized into a massive spear, hurtling straight at Pa's chest.
Pa couldn't dodge. He reached for a hidden weapon pouch—
Clink.
Metal struck metal.
The spear deflected harmlessly into the ground.
A figure landed between them, black cloak billowing, silver mask gleaming. Seiran.
He'd made his choice. He wanted that puppet scroll.
"Who is it?!" Rasa's eyes narrowed, sensing the powerful chakra.
Seiran didn't answer. His hand rose slightly, and metal shards erupted from his cloak in a deadly arc.
"Placer Gold Shield!" Rasa formed a wall of gold dust, the shards clanging violently against it.
"Pa, run," Seiran said, his voice deliberately distorted. "I'll hold him."
Understanding flickered in the puppeteer's eyes. He didn't hesitate—this was his chance.
"Thank you!" Pa activated a fleeing technique, shooting away like an arrow.
"Don't even think about it!" Rasa roared, trying to pursue, but Seiran stepped into his path.
"Your opponent is me," Seiran said coldly.
"Seeking death!" Rasa unleashed a fury of gold dust blades.
Seiran raised both hands. An electromagnetic barrier materialized before him, transparent and crackling with barely contained power. The dust blades collided with it in a shower of sparks.
Zzzt!
"Magnet Release?" Rasa's surprise was genuine.
"Electromagnetic Manipulation," Seiran corrected quietly.
He raised his right hand, and the metal shards that had been blocked reversed course, shooting toward Rasa's blind spots.
Rasa's dust reformed instantly, creating a defensive circle.
Seiran closed the distance, his hand shifting into the Gentle Fist stance. He drove forward with explosive force—Rapid Fist, accelerated by Electromagnetic Manipulation, turning into a drill of pure power.
Rasa's pupils contracted. He retracted the gold dust, forming a shield—
Boom!
The collision flattened surrounding buildings. Dust and debris scattered across the district. Seiran slid back several steps. Rasa only took one.
As expected. Kage-level power is in a different tier.
But Seiran wasn't here for a prolonged battle. He needed Pa to escape, and samples if possible. His chakra was limited—Rasa's endless gold dust would eventually overwhelm him.
Time to leave.
"Armstrong: Electromagnetic Railgun!" Seiran thrust his hand forward. A metal shard wrapped in electromagnetic energy shot out at blinding speed.
Rasa sensed the danger and hurled himself aside. The shard screamed past, obliterating a building hundreds of meters distant and leaving a massive crater.
Seiran launched another. Then another. Each attack forced Rasa to dodge, keeping him off-balance.
"Placer Gold Shield!" Rasa summoned a thick barrier of crystallized dust. The railgun attacks hammered against it relentlessly, each impact making the shield tremble.
It was time.
Seiran formed a hand sign. Metal shards exploded around him in a cloud of metallic dust, obscuring everything.
When it cleared, he was gone.
Rasa stood alone, his face grim, staring at the emptiness where his opponent had vanished. That silver-masked shinobi had not only saved Pa but forced him into a losing position. Who was this person?
"Let's go," Rasa said coldly to his assembled team. "We'll come back another day."
---
Hidden in an abandoned building nearby, Seiran used the Rotting Wood Technique to remain completely still as Rasa's forces retreated. Once they were gone, he moved.
From his pouch, he withdrew the sealed scroll. During the chaos, he'd switched it for a dummy while Pa escaped with nothing.
He opened it carefully. Inside lay the complete cultivation method for the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets and all secrets of the White Secret Technique.
"Worth the risk," Seiran murmured, allowing himself a slight smile.
He looked in the direction Rasa had departed, his Byakugan tracking the Fourth Kazekage's retreating biomagnetic signature.
"We'll meet again, Rasa."
Then Seiran turned and vanished into the darkness, continuing his endless journey of growth and preparation.