The Kiri ninjas, under the scorching heat, had been reduced to dried-up corpses devoid of moisture.
And the Suna ninjas had either been pierced through by water bullets or had their organs crushed by Water Release, their flowing blood dyeing the lethal currents red.
In just a single exchange, aside from Pakura, everyone else had lost their lives.
The brutality of the scene perfectly mirrored the aftermath of a deadly clash between the two factions.
A few minor adjustments, a bit of work on the details, and it would be easy to mislead any investigation.
"How were you able to use Scorch Release?"
Minato looked at the only survivor, knowing full well that Kei had left her behind as a scapegoat. He didn't press further, but something puzzled him.
She was under the control of Kei's technique, meaning her body should be entirely under his command. So how had she managed to use Scorch Release?
Based on the intelligence he had gathered, the Yamanaka clan's secret technique, after seizing control of someone's body, would suppress their ability to perform jutsu. Even among the weaker members of the clan, those controlled through this technique couldn't activate their own jutsu.
To achieve such a feat, one would need an extraordinary level of Yin Release mastery, strong enough to sever the connection between the original consciousness and the chakra within their body.
Since chakra is a fusion of spiritual and physical energy, cutting off the original consciousness's influence over their own chakra was far more difficult than simply taking over their body.
More importantly, under normal circumstances, the only jutsu a controlled individual could use would be ones the controller themselves had mastered. The controlled person also needed to possess the necessary chakra attributes for the jutsu to manifest.
It was true that Pakura naturally possessed Scorch Release. But Kei… there was no way he had learned it, right?
"With enough training, certain jutsu become ingrained into muscle memory, turning into an instinctive response. As long as they are guided properly, the body will complete the remaining steps on its own."
Kei's explanation was concise.
Ultimately, Pakura's mastery of Scorch Release was so advanced, especially her signature technique that all he had to do was mimic her hand seals. Her body's instincts, refined through countless repetitions, would execute the technique before her brain even processed the command.
"Muscle memory… instinct…" Minato nodded thoughtfully.
"Minato, adjust the traces at the scene once more. Check for any overlooked details, then take care of her."
Kei issued his orders, then led Pakura, who's eyes were filled with hostility and murderous intent, toward a dilapidated, abandoned house nearby.
Yin Release had the power to manifest the intangible into reality.
Representing spiritual energy, it was capable of performing feats that defied common sense—manipulating the five senses, crafting illusions indistinguishable from reality, detecting chakra over long distances, probing memories, controlling bodies, transmitting emotions and sensations, harming the mind, destroying consciousness…
And even altering memories.
As the sole individual in Konoha marked with [Transmigrator], Kei's spiritual power was beyond imagination.
With such immense mental strength, [Yin Release Mastery] granted him abilities that would be inconceivable to others.
Take memory alteration, for example.
To his knowledge, throughout the entire shinobi world, no one else could achieve this.
Even in the future, when Shisui awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and gained access to Kotoamatsukami, he could only alter a person's will, not rewrite their entire memory.
Among the Yamanaka clan, the one with the greatest mastery of the family's secret techniques, second only to Kei, had attempted to modify someone's memories last year. Not only did the target die instantly, but he himself suffered a severe backlash from yin chakra. His mind was damaged, and he was bedridden for over two months.
This kind of memory alteration… for now, only Kei could do it.
Laying Pakura down on the tattered bedding inside the small house, he formed a single-handed seal, allowing his yin chakra to swiftly invade her mind.
Extracting fragments from his memory palace, he pieced together a narrative from the memories he had accessed while working in the analysis division.
A scattered collection of intelligence reports, woven together, transformed Pakura's past—her new identity now that of a Konoha spy embedded in Suna since childhood.
He seamlessly integrated scenes of secret meetings and exchanges of information, reinforcing her fabricated identity as a spy.
Special attention was given to modifying her most recent memories, erasing any trace of himself and Minato. Every loose end was tied to the already-dead Fuguki, ensuring he took the blame.
With the final step approaching, Kei carefully formed a series of intricate hand seals, using the Memory Erasing Seal Kushina had once taught him.
As the long and complex sequence of seals came to an end, he pressed one hand lightly against Pakura's forehead, temporarily sealing the rewritten memories deep within her mind.
A small gap was deliberately left in the seal, ensuring that over the next one to two years, the false memories would gradually "resurface."
The human brain possesses a remarkable ability to self-repair and reinforce fragmented memories. By the time the seal fully dissolved, Pakura would wholeheartedly believe she had always been a Konoha spy.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Kei grinned in satisfaction.
The Uzumaki clan's memory-sealing jutsu concealed the alterations flawlessly within the brain itself—far more reliable than the Memory-Concealing Manipulative Sand Technique, which required needles to be inserted directly into the brain.
Even if Pakura were subjected to Suna's most advanced secret techniques for mind-probing, they wouldn't find anything amiss.
[Major alteration to a supporting character's fate.]
[Slight interference with the timeline detected.]
- 1 gifting opportunity]
So that's the reward for a major alteration? So generous...
Kei nearly rolled his eyes at the notification. He grumbled internally for a while.
He had gone through all this trouble and this was the same reward as simply killing Fuguki?
Feeling a bit bored, he activated all trait extractions.
- Water Release Mastery (Blue)
- Always Smiling (White)]
[Water Release Mastery (Blue):
Years of rigorous training have granted you precise control over the properties and forms of Water Release techniques. Learning, molding, modifying, and creating Water Release jutsu now come with increased efficiency. The casting speed, power, and effectiveness of Water Release techniques are significantly enhanced.]
[Always Smiling (White):
Your facial muscles and nerves have permanently adapted—no matter what expression you attempt to make, your face will always appear to be smiling. Slight increase in charisma. Slight increase in likelihood of depression.]
Kei's mood instantly improved as he read the description of [Water Release Mastery]. The exhaustion from using high-level Yin Release techniques to rewrite memories vanished in an instant.
People often underestimated blue-tier traits. Even someone like Danzō had spent his entire life striving for mastery over Wind Release, only to barely achieve Wind Release Mastery as his peak accomplishment.
Yet with just one random draw, Kei had obtained a power that would take a talented ninja an entire lifetime to master.
What was there to complain about?
As for [Always Smiling]?
Who the hell would want to be stuck with a constant smile? And increased depression risk?
Without hesitation, he immediately activated [Water Release Mastery].