The Genjutsu Devil of Konoha

Time skip.

Currently, Seijuro and the squad were making their way toward the Waterfall Village because of the mission—well, duh. Every five or so minutes, either Arata or Mai would open their Byakugan to look around in case there were enemies nearby.

You know, can never be too safe, and since in the report, their Byakugan range was further than his own range...

Seijuro was keeping pace with them. They were moving at Chūnin speed, which, to be fair, Seijuro could easily keep up with.

Fugaku was the only Jōnin in the squad with a 3-tomoe Sharingan, his illusionary prowess was indeed quite vast.

He didn't have a Mangekyō ability just yet, though he was probably the closest to it.

Since this man seemed to really care about the Uchiha in the squad, he probably would awaken it if any of them were to die—or some shit like that.

Soon enough, they arrived at the gates of the Waterfall Village.

Seijuro sensed the Chūnin who were on guard... heh, were those Jōnin jackets...? Those Jōnin of this village seemed to only be elite Chūnin level though.

Were their standards really so low?

"Konoha Shinobi, what is your purpose here?" the guard asked, looking them up and down. The presence of 20 other shinobi appeared in Seijuro's senses. Well, at least they had a lot of ninja. Good on them.

Fugaku wouldn't say much, just gave the man a paper.

The man took the paper and began to read it.

Oh... enemy shinobi on their land.

It would be in their best interest to let Konoha handle it—or, you know, they could try and handle the Hidden Stone on their own and get absolutely diddled and have their Tailed Beast stolen.

So, deciding the best option was letting big bro handle it—i.e., Konoha...

"Right. Well... the inn's cleared out for your squad. It's closest to the water basin, where our sensory unit operates. We've picked up some movement near the northwest ridge, but nothing concrete yet. Might be animals. Might be scouts."

"Do you have a chakra-sensory map of the ridge from the past two weeks?" Fugaku asked in his usual authoritative voice.

The liaison blinked again. "Yes... I can provide copies."

"Good. I will take them," the man said coldly. The shinobi just nodded.

The Konoha shinobi were allowed into the village.

Later That Evening

The squad gathered around the central table. Seijuro laid out three chakra trail maps across the floor, pinning them with kunai.

Kyosai Aburame was leaning close, bug-covered fingers tracing the faint flickers of chakra disturbances. "There's an unnatural vacuum here," he murmured. "There is barely any insect or animal around this area."

"They are most likely using Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu to hide themselves."

"Wouldn't the village notice them? How are they not aware of them?" Setsuna asked, leaning back in his chair.

"They are most likely using a very powerful concealment technique. After all, if this mission means as much to them as we thought, they wouldn't want to be discovered," Arata added.

Mai tilted her head. "That's... high-level. Only Jōnin use that."

Kaien's Sharingan spun slowly. "So they've already started sending elites."

Fugaku nodded grimly. "Then we don't wait. We split into sub-teams and scout the northwest ridge. Seijuro, you're with Arata and Mai."

"Understood," was what everyone said.

"Remember," Fugaku warned, "if we're right, this could be the most dangerous opponent we've encountered in the war so far. If you spot the enemy—do not engage alone."

[Northwest Ridge – An Hour Later]

Seijuro crouched behind a thick root system, his hand pressed to the ground, eyes closed.

His chakra slowly spread like a mist through the soil—touching, tasting, listening.

Arata stood atop a tree branch with a kunai in hand, scanning the dark brush. Mai's Byakugan glimmered faintly nearby.

"There," Seijuro whispered, eyes still closed. "I count 8 chakra signatures moving slowly under the terrain. They're using Earth Release to shift the soil."

Mai's expression hardened. "They're circling toward the village. Tunneling."

"Sabotage squad," Seijuro said. "Iwa likely wants to collapse part of the inner basin to flood the village or sever their sensory network."

Arata gave a grim smile. "So we blow the tunnel?"

Seijuro gave the boy a smile.

"Let's set up a trap for them," Seijuro said calmly.

Merely trying to blow them up wouldn't work—they most likely had very good sensors in their squad.

POV change – Iwa-nin

The 8 Iwa-nin currently digging through the earth were very cautious, really not trying to get spotted. They had been moving very slowly—speaking like 1 mile per hour. Move slow enough to not completely make the ecosystem run wild. It would be suspicious if animals started acting weird, because those snitches could feel something wrong with the earth.

Well thank god, they only had to do this shit for like 4 more hours. Then, then they would get to the goodies—they would finally get close enough to that village waterfall.

The Hidden Stone Village needed a boost, and the Waterfall Village was known for one thing: the Hero Water.

What was that, you may ask? Well, it was simple. The Hero Water was a liquid from this village. It is produced once every one hundred years from the giant tree that hides the village.

By drinking the water, it allows a ninja to have at least a tenfold increase in power for a short period of time.

Or at least that's what the report they received said. Sure, it sounded too good to be true, but if they could get some of the leftover Hero Water that this village had, the firepower they would receive would be insane.

They needed that good shit.

Konoha would never know what hit them.

KABOOM

Without even realizing it, they had run into a paper bomb... not just one... but 60... all perfectly spread out, and some of them even directly beneath them.

POV change back to Seijuro

"Your Genjutsu skills... are quite... advanced," Arata said, looking at his teammate. This was supposed to be a hard mission, just like that?

"I simply used the Transformation Jutsu to turn the paper bombs into dirt and used a thin layer of Genjutsu to hide the chakra within them. It was child's play, really," Seijuro said politely.

"We need to regroup with the others to inform them about our success," Arata said, about to leave—but Seijuro stopped him.

"The tunnels."

"What about them?" the Hyūga raised an eyebrow.

"The tunnel they dug still hasn't collapsed, meaning..." He didn't finish his sentence, letting those boys finish it instead.

"Iwa shinobi in the future could use this same tunnel to get to Takigakure," Mai said.

He gave her a smile; her cheeks flushed. Arata didn't look all too happy about it.

"You two could go on and report back. I will be destroying the tunnel," Seijuro said politely, looking at his teammates.

Arata simply nodded. Didn't argue with the boy's logic. Plus, if he and Mai left, that meant the chance that Mai would fall deeper in love with Seijuro would lessen. Didn't like how she looked at him.

Like come on.

Plus, Seijuro was the strongest of the three of them. With his illusions—unless he was facing a Kage-level opponent—he would be fine, or getting jumped by some elite Jōnin or Chūnin, and even then, unlike them, he had a way out.

One, his Genjutsu and intellect. Arata wouldn't put it past Seijuro to outsmart his way out of it.

Two, his summoning seal. He could simply reverse summon himself back to the Slug area for safety purposes. So unlike them, he had a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Seijuro made sure they left before moving on with his mission.

Going where the Iwa-nin exploded—just as he expected—above ground, no sign of the explosion could be heard. He had to use Earth Style: Earth Wall in order to push their bodies to the surface.

Or whatever was left...

They were all burnt to a crisp. No bother. Seijuro sealed their bodies up in scrolls.

One of their headbands survived. He shall take that too.

Seijuro took one of their swords. It was a katana with a black hilt, different from his current blade. Good enough.

Once he had taken care of the bodies, he ran through some very quick hand seals:

Tiger → Hare → Boar → Ram → Dog → Ox → Snake

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall"

Instead of raising a massive wall, he simply used this to refill any missing gap in the earth.

Was easy enough. Just like that, the tunnels were done.

Now.

Seijuro walked a bit farther. There, he cast an illusion to make his next action invisible—just extra precaution in case he was being watched. He made a shadow clone.

And the clone was now the new him. To the outside world, it just looked like he had exploded the remaining explosive tags that were underground.

His clone would go back to the group.

Seijuro, meanwhile, ditched his Konoha outfit and instead went for more stealthy clothes—while still keeping the Iwa team's loot. If something went wrong, Iwa would be framed for this.

He wore a robe of muted blacks and grays, layered like a shadow given form. The outer cloak was long and draped, sleeveless and hooded, flowing down to just above his knees. It hung with the weight of secrecy, its hem whispering against the stones as he walked. The fabric had been reinforced with woven chakra threads—lightweight, resistant to tearing, and designed to scatter sensory perception.

His inner tunic crossed tightly over his chest, bound by a thick, high-grade shinobi sash that doubled as a utility belt. Ninja tools—kunai, smoke bombs, chakra-sealed needles—lined the belt in clean, symmetrical rows. Everything about him was efficient, lethal, and calculated.

Black gloves covered his hands, but his forearms were wrapped in stark white bandages, a quiet nod to traditional shinobi roots—and a subtle intimidation tactic. Blood showed better on white.

But it was the mask that made him a specter.

A porcelain-white faceplate, smooth and featureless save for angular black eye slits and soft, inked lines that curved like a predator's smile. No clan crest. No emotion. Just the cold, unreadable presence of a weapon honed for war. His hood draped low over it, deepening the void where his eyes should have been.

White strands of hair peeked from beneath the mask and hood, contrasting the dark folds of his attire like ghostlight in a moonless forest.