"There's a village up ahead. Let's go ask if they know where Kaede's village is."
After walking for a while along the forest path, the outline of a village appeared on the horizon. Uchiha Kagase formed a hand seal, and with a "puff," a cloud of white smoke dispersed, restoring him to the appearance he had in life.
He wore a white kosode with a high, stiff collar, left open at the chest in a silent gesture of defiance. The robe faded into a loose, blood-red, scarlet hakama, cinched at the waist with a thick, braided red silk cord. At his side, he carried a embroidered with the Uchiha clan's fan crest. A katana hung diagonally at his waist. His long black hair fell over his shoulders, and his ink-colored eyes were deep and piercing. The marks of Edo Tensei were concealed by the Transformation Technique.
He slowly entered the village from the entrance, casually observing his surroundings.
It was a small and ordinary mountain village, with no shops, only a few scattered wooden houses. Barefoot children ran along the paths between the houses. The villagers who passed by looked at him, a stranger, with a certain degree of suspicion.
The village was not large; vast stretches of farmland surrounded its perimeter. Kagase looked around but found nothing particularly noteworthy.
The only thing that could be considered "special" in the entire village was probably the shrine on the mountain behind it. A long staircase of blue stone wound up from the foot of the mountain, leading directly to the shrine's main gate.
To be honest, he was quite curious about shrines commonly seen in fictional works.
But then he reconsidered: at the moment, he was in an Edo Tensei body, and the priests and miko of this world truly possessed supernatural power, like spiritual energy, capable of purifying evil spirits.
To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and prevent a meaningless conflict, he took a wide detour, not approaching it.
"Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to Kaede's village?" He stopped a passing villager carrying a hoe and asked politely.
"Kaede's village? Never heard of it." The villager shook his head with a puzzled expression, his eyes full of confusion.
Uchiha Kagase asked the same question to several other villagers, and the answer he received was always the same.
He was not surprised. In this world filled with monsters outside settlements, ordinary villagers probably never left their own village in their entire lives, so it was normal not to know the location of Kaede's village.
Unable to obtain any clues, he stopped thinking about it, headed toward the path outside the village, and prepared to continue in the direction where the Shikon Jewel had shattered.
"Come out. You've been following me. Do you need something?"
Shortly after leaving the village, Uchiha Kagase suddenly stopped, turned around, and spoke to the figure behind him.
"You actually noticed me?"
A clear female voice echoed through the air. The next moment, a figure dressed in a red and white miko outfit stepped out from behind a tree, holding a kagura bell adorned with silver chimes. As she moved, the bells produced a soft and pleasant sound.
She had long dark hair falling casually to her waist, with a few stray strands brushing her cheeks, making her skin appear even fairer. An ancient rosary hung from her chest. Her bright eyes revealed a trace of fatigue, and her sacred miko attire radiated a pure and immaculate aura.
Uchiha Kagase looked at the suddenly appearing miko without showing any surprise on his face. He had sensed her presence ever since he was preparing to leave the village.
The other party must have used spiritual energy to conceal her presence, but unfortunately, such concealment techniques were useless against the Sharingan.
He could clearly see a delicate energy surrounding the miko, emitting a sacred and purifying aura. He assumed this was the key to how she hid herself.
"I am the miko of this village, Hitomiko," the miko said gently, her voice like a clear mountain spring.
"Hitomiko?" Uchiha Kagase murmured the name, trying to recall something, and suddenly a scene flashed through his mind. He remembered: this miko was a character who had appeared in the original work.
Since birth, she possessed powerful spiritual energy, but she was targeted by Naraku when she was young. Fifteen years later, Naraku used spider silk to ambush and kill her, then resurrected her to manipulate her, and Kagome killed her.
"Hitomiko, do you need something from me?" Unexpectedly encountering the miko of this village, Uchiha Kagase was slightly surprised. He turned to look at her and asked calmly.
"You… are not a living person, are you?"
Hitomiko's gaze stiffened instantly, her fingers tightening slightly around the kagura bell, and her tone was full of vigilance.
The aura of the man before her was too strange; it lacked any vitality that a living person should possess, instead being surrounded by a faint but persistent aura of death.
"You figured it out?" Uchiha Kagase raised an eyebrow, surprised yet feeling it was only natural. "As expected of a powerful miko whose spiritual energy is comparable to Kikyo's."
His current Edo Tensei body was inherently devoid of the vitality of the living, so it was naturally impossible to hide from a miko sensitive to spiritual energy.
As soon as he finished speaking, a "puff" sound erupted and white smoke spread out. He deactivated the Transformation Technique, returning to his original Edo Tensei appearance.
His pale skin was covered in strange, web-like cracks, his pupils emitted a faint gray hue, and his entire aura radiated a heavy energy of death.
"A spirit lingering in the world of the living..."
Hitomiko observed him carefully, increasing her vigilance. She held the kagura bell tightly to her chest, and the hem of her red and white miko outfit trembled slightly.
"Since you are already dead, why do you continue to linger in the world of the living?"
"Nothing special," Uchiha Kagase observed her defensive posture, shrugged helplessly, and said with a hint of irony: "Maybe… I haven't lived enough yet."
"You were sent by Naraku! Leave, evil spirit!"
For the past fifteen years, Naraku had constantly tried to kill her; those eyes lurking in the darkness had become a looming shadow in her life. Seeing Uchiha Kagase's unknown origins and strange aura now, Hitomiko's first reaction was that this was another assassination attempt sent by Naraku.
She had no time to think carefully and violently shook the kagura bell in her hand. Amid the crisp sound, a pure white spiritual energy shot toward Uchiha Kagase like an arrow.
Facing the incoming spiritual energy, chakra flashed beneath Kagase's feet as he activated the Body Flicker Technique, disappearing instantly from the spot.
"He disappeared? Where is he?!"
Hitomiko's pupils shrank sharply in shock, and she hurriedly raised her hand, intending to activate a defensive barrier.
But before she could form the seal, a helpless voice came from behind her:
"Miko, don't attack strangers recklessly, alright?"
"So fast!"
A chill ran down her spine, causing cold sweat to form. Just as she was about to turn around, her right wrist—the one holding the kagura bell—was suddenly grabbed.
Immediately, an immense force traveled through her captured arm. She was forcefully turned around, her eyes meeting Kagase's ash-gray pupils, characteristic of an Edo Tensei user.
At that exact moment, the tip of Uchiha Kagase's other hand gently touched her forehead. The slight cool sensation from his finger made her body stiffen completely, unable to move even an inch.
"First of all, I have no bad intentions, nor do I know that Naraku," Uchiha Kagase looked at her tense expression, softening his tone slightly, and after thinking for a moment said: "However, since we have met, it is fate. Allow me to give you a gift."
Before he even finished speaking, his eyes suddenly transformed into a scarlet Sharingan. The three tomoe rotated and merged rapidly, finally forming the intricate and bizarre pattern of the Mangekyō, emitting a cold and sinister aura.