The Genjutsu Devil of Konoha

Tsunade's golden eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms under her chest. "Don't overthink it, brat. I'm giving it to you because you earned it. You're a Chūnin now. And more importantly... you're my student."

Seijuro stared at her calmly, his tone thoughtful.

Still wasn't something you could give away so easily.

Tsunade's brow twitched. "You're getting a slug, not the Hokage's chair. Don't make this sentimental."

Katsuyu tilted her large head politely. "If I may, Lady Tsunade has never offered to share a fragment of her contract before. This is a meaningful gesture."

Tsunade whirled around, jabbing a finger toward her own summon. "Stop helping him overthink it!"

Then she turned back to Seijuro, cheeks puffed with irritation and pride.

"Listen here, brat. You'll need it. You're stationed at the front line, with the scout team. You'll need it. When you're half-dead on the battlefield, you'll wish you had this. It also serves as a way you can contact me. Not everyone gets the chance to have direct contact with me."

She seemed a bit boastful about it.

There was a long pause. Seijuro gazed at her, then gave a graceful bow.

"I thank you for trusting me with such an important thing." He was very polite as he said that.

Tsunade turned away, arms folded again.

Finally, the damn kid took it. Almost thought she would have to bribe him.

Beat that, Orochimaru. She had a cheeky smile on her face.

A Few Hours Later — Kusagakure Outskirts, Iwa Front Camp

So when they said immediate dispatch, they meant immediate dispatch. Well, thankfully he had his shit packed up, so he was ready. He had brought a lot of military food, alongside dried beef jerky.

Alongside some light snacks from time to time, so he didn't get bored of eating the same shit over and over again every single day.

Currently, he was within his 12-man squad. 10 Chūnin excluding him, and then the leader—Fugaku Uchiha.

Uchiha Fugaku stood with his hands behind his back, radiating quiet authority even at his young age. His eyes were cold, measured, and far more jaded than most boys his age should be.

Granted, he was probably like 15 or something. Still.

He glanced at the clipboard and gave a sharp nod.

"State your name and specialization. Briefly."

The first Uchiha stepped forward. "Uchiha Daigo. Fire Release and Kenjutsu."

Next. "Uchiha Minami. Recon and Ninjutsu."

"Uchiha Setsuna. Scout and trap specialist."

"Uchiha Kaien. Fire Release demolition and close-quarters."

"Uchiha Jun. Sharpshooting and flanking tactics."

"Uchiha Ren. Sensor and counter-tracking."

They came like a wave—precise and proud. All Uchiha. All of them armed to the teeth.

Then came a boy with a feral grin and a small ninken perched on his shoulder. "Inuzuka Riku. Tracking, ambush tactics, and bites. Good ones."

A pair of Hyūga siblings followed. "Hyūga Mai. Side Branch. Byakugan recon and mid-range Gentle Fist."

"Hyūga Arata. Side Branch. Defensive Rotation and field analysis."

Next was a quiet, hooded figure whose voice buzzed ever-so-slightly. "Aburame Kyosai. Infiltration, data gathering, and silent kills."

Then all heads turned to Seijuro. Seijuro opened his mouth and said:

"Kurama Seijuro. Kenjutsu and Genjutsu specialist, Medical Ninjutsu, sensing, and Fuinjutsu."

Damn. Speaking of being overqualified.

A few Uchiha raised their brows.

"...Overqualified much?" muttered one—Uchiha Kaien—folding his arms with a smirk. "Planning to teach the rest of us how to breathe next?"

Another snorted. Uchiha Jun, tall and lean with a sniper's eyes, added, "All those fields, and you didn't list Fire Release? What a shame. You might be in the wrong clan."

There were a few quiet chuckles from the Uchiha side of the group.

Seijuro, however, remained completely unfazed, his tone polite, calm, and annoyingly humble.

"Genjutsu is my strongest point," he said, voice level and unshaken. "But as a ninja, I've come to realize versatility is essential. I chose to learn enough of other fields to stay competent—not an expert, but capable. I never wanted to be the liability in a squad."

That shut the laughs up a bit.

Fugaku, who had remained silent until now, finally stepped forward. His arms were crossed, his eyes sharp with the weight of leadership. "Kurama. You said sensing. How good is your range?"

Seijuro responded crisply. "Roughly 150 meters in all directions. I can push it to about 500 meters in a single direction with concentration. Though I lose clarity if I try to multitask."

"Hm." Fugaku nodded thoughtfully. "Healing capabilities?"

"I can handle minor wounds, stabilize internal damage if it's not too far gone, and I'm confident in poison removal. If the injury's beyond my reach, I can still keep the patient alive long enough for a proper medic to take over."

"And your Fuinjutsu?"

"I can produce explosive tags, paralysis seals that freeze a target for 3 to 5 seconds if their chakra is under a certain threshold, and chakra suppression seals. Mostly designed for ambush and restraint."

There was another pause.

Uchiha Daigo, arms crossed and brows furrowed, scoffed, "So... you can heal a little, sense a little, seal a little, and swing a sword a little? Sounds like a jack of all trades, master of none."

Seijuro tilted his head slightly, regarding him with that same unreadable calm. "Perhaps," he said softly. "But if someone's dying, poisoned, or marked by an enemy tag, I'll still be the one saving your life. Even if it's just 'a little.'"

That earned a few raised eyebrows.

The Aburame gave a small approving nod. The Hyūga siblings didn't react much, but Riku, the Inuzuka, grinned wide. "Man, I like this one."

Fugaku gave the faintest of nods. Approval, perhaps. Maybe just acknowledgment. Either way, he turned on his heel.

"We move at dawn. Gear ready by 0500. You're representing Konoha on the Iwa front. I expect no less than excellence. That includes teamwork."

His voice cut like a blade, and they all straightened.

Time skip.

After getting their shit together, they were currently on a mission.

Seijuro's senses were spread to their maximum—500 meters in all directions... yes... he lied, bite him.

He needed to make his progress seem semi-believable.

They just needed to basically report back anything that seemed out of the ordinary to the main squadron. Nothing more. Which is precisely why this mission was so dangerous. In war, information was key—and whoever held more info had the advantage.

All of this fancy shit to say: whoever had more info... wins.

Speaking of which.

"300 meters north. 6 Jōnin, 4 Chūnin, 10 Genin."

Fugaku looked at the Hyūga. The man activated his Byakugan, and lo and behold, he saw 6 Jōnin, 4 Chūnin, and 10 Genin.

"Kurama-san is correct," the Hyūga said.

Fugaku nodded. With their squad, they wouldn't be able to fight that, so—

"Fallback." And thus, all attempts to go further were canceled, with them retreating even before a fight could start.

Seijuro's attention was still on the Iwa shinobi.

"They have spotted us."

Arata looked behind—and yep, the Iwa-nin were full-on sprinting toward their location.

Fugaku had a thoughtful expression. Did Iwa have a sensor? How could they possibly sense them?

"May I?"

"Go on."

POV Change: Iwa-nin

20 Iwa-nin could be seen with shit-eating grins. They had spotted some filthy tree-huggers. The intel wasn't wrong—some Konoha scouts were here.

Heheh. They would slaughter all of them—maybe grab a few Sharingan. Heard there were a couple dōjutsu users in that squad.

Heh.

"Captain, their chakra signatures seem to have vanished."

The man's eyes narrowed. No. His toys. The fuck you mean vanished?

It wasn't like something like that could just vanish.

"What do you mean by that?" he roared. His fun shall not be ruined.

"Their presence is weak."

"Aoki," he said, looking at another member—a Jōnin from the squad. The man nodded his head before dashing off. He was the speedster of the team, and also very good at tracking. If anyone could find out where those filthy tree-huggers went, it would be him.

Those damn tree-huggers. Fuckers.

Aoki went, and then—

A few seconds later, as they caught up with him—

The man opened his mouth and said:

"There is no trace of them. It's like they vanished." Aoki recounted what he saw. It was as if the whole team decided to use their fastest speed and dip.

"The fuck? How could they get away so fast?" The man was annoyed. What a shame. He didn't get to murder them.

"Sir, we are approaching the Land of Fire border. At this rate, they may have reached camp already. Getting too far from camp isn't recommended."

He hated that his subordinate was right.

...Fucking tree-huggers.

This didn't make any sense. They couldn't have just vanished. Something must have happened—someone cannot just vanish into thin air like this. There had to have been a reason for it to happen in the first place.

Something was off.

He would gaze everywhere, watching everything down to the last minute of minute details. Everything seemed perfect—everything seemed like it was supposed to be.

Even his Iwa clothing seemed the way it was supposed to be.

It didn't feel too perfect in the way that this was a Genjutsu. It just felt... as it usually was.

Glancing at his subordinate—wait... they were all dead.

"Genjutsu!"

"KAI!"

Then... it faded to black.

POV change

Fugaku's squad could be seen, finishing off the jounin and chunin, who were standing still, not budging at all, resembling mummies.

"Mind speeding it up? I do not possess an enormous pool of chakra," Seijuro would say, a bead of sweat falling down his temple.

Uchiha Kaien, the close-quarters specialist, would be seen finishing off the last chunin.

"When the hell did you have time to place them in a Genjutsu?"

"I simply needed them to see my sword. So, after using the seal to hide our chakra and having Kyosai-san hide me with his bug, I was able to place them in a subtle Genjutsu."

That was BS. They were placed in a Genjutsu long before that. Still trying to sell the "need the sword" thing.

"The hell you need the sword for?" Kaien would say.

Seijuro would stay quiet for a bit.

Fugaku would clear his throat.

"It's his secret. If he wishes to keep it, let him keep it."

Seijuro would simply open his mouth and say,

"It's okay. I used a sword as it's more safe. As you may or may not be aware, the Kurama Clan Kekkei Genkai is Genjutsu—more specifically, Genjutsu that take full and complete control of all five senses. However, there is a side effect. I need precise control, or I risk the chance of even putting myself and my allies in that Genjutsu."

Random BS excuse go.

TL;DR, the sword worked like a conduit. Let them believe that.

"Needing a sword for what we Uchiha can do with a glance," Kaien said, quite proud of himself.

"Oh, am I supposed to assume you could've launched such Genjutsu at our opponents while being on the run, Uchiha-san?"

"Kaien, shut it," Fugaku would say harshly. He was in no mood to deal with the BS. As to why he didn't say it to Seijuro—Seijuro did something. All Kaien did was be boastful and accomplish jackshit for the squad so far.

"Arata, do you see anything suspicious?" he would say, looking at the Hyūga.

"No... there is nothing for 300 meters all around us."

"Good. Kurama, seal the bodies. We're returning back to camp." His voice was quite authoritative.

"Yes, captain," Seijuro would say in a polite voice as he began to take out some scrolls he made, sealing the body of every shinobi killed today.

And thus, they returned back to camp.

Fugaku went to give his report to Orochimaru—about the terrain, stuff like that, places that could be good to set up ambushes, you know, the stuff.

Orochimaru listened to the report and nodded, dismissing Fugaku for now.

POV change

Seijuro could be seen swallowing some soldier pills. More like a ration pill. Tasted like absolute ass, but oh well—it did its job. He didn't feel hungry and wouldn't feel hungry for the next 12 or so hours.

He yawned a bit.

Maybe he should take a nap.

As he was about to lay there and sleep—

"Kurama!"

Looking up at his captain, Fugaku, upon getting the boy's attention, would open his mouth and say,

"Kurama, you are to report to Lord Orochimaru."

There wasn't an if nor but about it. He nodded his head and did as he was asked, going toward the commander of the camps—the amazing, the great... Diddymaru.

Though currently, just Orochimaru. An elite Jounin.

With Jiraiya with the Cloud, and Tsunade with the Sand, Sakumo was currently with the Sand too—though probably would go with Kiri after a while.

Konoha needed all the fronts covered, after all.

Along the way, he saw all the camps in their tents. The tent for the medics was already filled to the brim with injuries.

Already.

Damn.

Most of the tents... were made out of earth. Earth—using some good old Earth Style Ninjutsu. Quite cost-efficient, really. Only the medic area and the captain's area seemed to be made of something other than dirt.

Speaking of which, he was getting there.

Upon arriving in front of the commander's tent, two Jounin stood guard. They were powerful.

"What's your purpose here?" the guard on the left would say, looking at the boy.

"I am Kurama Seijuro. I was asked to come here by Lord Orochimaru."

The guards told him to wait outside. One of them went inside to confirm the info, then came back and said:

"Come in."

He was followed to where Orochimaru was. The door to the room was open. There, he saw the man, surrounded by paper.

To describe the man's appearance, it would be something like this: he seemed pale, yet his most conspicuous characteristic was his snake-like appearance. He had very pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils, purple markings around his eyes, and fang-like teeth.

He also had pronounced cheekbones and straight, waist-length black hair, with some locks covering and framing his face or falling to his shoulders.

He wore the Konoha Jounin flak jacket.

After a bit, the man finished all the papers.

"Sorry for the wait, Seijuro-kun."

His snake-like voice wasn't reassuring, but Seijuro didn't mind. Worst-case scenario, he'd reverse-summon his way out of trouble—he was, after all, the rightful owner of the Slug Summon Scroll.

Speaking of which, those little slugs were quite helpful. Later that night, he would send a letter to Tsunade detailing his first day, the stuff, and maybe hinting at someone targeting him.

Aight.

"It's no problem, Lord Orochimaru was simply busy," he would say calmly.

The snake would smile.

"From the report, it says you placed the enemy in a Genjutsu. Your Kekkei Genkai, I presume?"

"Yes."

The man would hold onto Seijuro's file.

"Placing several Genin in a Genjutsu is a simple matter. Chunin—that would be decently challenging, but nothing too hard. Jounin are very perceptive. That must have been hard. But being able to place all of them in a Genjutsu at the same time must have been quite the challenge for you," Orochimaru would say.

The man was poking for something—as if trying to see a crack in a façade. Well, he got the wrong guy. Seijuro wouldn't crumble so easily.

"Kyosai-san's bug greatly helped. If it wasn't for his bug hiding me and my blade, I would never have gotten close enough to catch them off guard."

"Oh? Are you saying that you wouldn't have been able to do this without the Aburame?" The snake had a glint in his eyes.

"It would have been significantly harder."

That was a half-lie. It would have been harder. Like, a bit harder. Like going from lifting 10-pound weights to lifting 11-pound weights—you barely notice it.

Orochimaru would look at him.

"Here is your reward for today's mission."

Seijuro glanced at it—an Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears.

To sum this jutsu up—you turn nearby earth into spears. Not spears you throw—the ground itself turns into spears. Cool. That was like a decent B-rank jutsu.

He'll take that.

After thanking Orochimaru, he would be excused and leave the office.

Hm. Well, time for more missions to continue piling up.