Chapter 18

Kenji was sitting in his hotel room in Ishigakure. He had just arrived under the guise of a traveling mercenary for hire. His mastery in ninjutsu was so high that no one could recognize his henge.

It was deep in the night and barwly a civilian would walk around that that time. As he was looking out his window, he saw a peculiar man strolling down the streets.

He could see the peculiar hair of the man, black with pink tips. 'What kind of fashion is that? Is he a fabulous one? Nope! I should not judge! Maybe he just likes it!'

The man was swaying from side to side and dancing along. But, Kenji felt that something was wrong. The man was using chakra. It was some kind of sound based genjutsu.

Kenji narrowed his eyes and focused. His constant state of total concentration breathing helped him in completely reigning in his bloodlust.

'He reminds of someone.'

Kenji could tell that as he walked, everyone within range fell asleep. He could tell that the man was doing something sinister. The heartbeat of his neighbor was weakening. Something was off. The neighbor wasn't the only one as well.

Kenji quickly henged into a five year old street rat and used shunshin to get ahead of the man. He waited patiently as the man walked at a lesurely pace.

He deliberately made noise by rifling through trash cans which seemed to alert the stranger.

"Oooh? What do we have over here?"

The sickening glee on his face, the deathly pale skin, the worm-like veins dancing on his hands and face, and the characteristic marks down his face resembling tears...

'It's him... There's no mistaking it!'

"I-I was just looking for some food! I ain't a thief!!"

"Hmm? How peculiar... You aren't being affected by my genjutsu... What's your name, kid?"

"Goku Ren!" Kenji replied, feeling a sense of glee as he decided to use the legend's name, especially to defeat scum like the man in front of him.

"Interesting name. My name is Enmu Taimo and I happen to know a place with lots of food. Do you want to go there?"

'So creepy!!'

"B-But mister! I don't got no money!"

Enmu chuckled and said, "Don't worry about money. The food is free. Come along now. My leader would love to meet you!"

"Leader?"

"Ahh, Muzan-sama would loooove to meet you. He loves kids!"

'Oh please! I so dearly hope they're not like the actual demons and just share the names and appearance!!'

"Come along now. Don't you want free food?"

"Y-Yeah!" Kenji ran and followed Enmu, a glint of cruelty flashing in his eyes as he readied himself for some fierce battles ahead.

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Enmu led the street rat to his base. He had been very cautious and even tried to dispel any genjutsu or henge on the boy. Even the boy's chakra felt ordinary.

'He's just naturally resistant towards genjutsu.'

He was certain that Muzan would appreciate him for finding such a gem that could be cultivated into a great weapon. A shinobi resistant towards genjutsu would greatly help them against the likes of Uchiha who were dreaded for it.

"Do you really live here, mister? This place is huge!!"

"Isn't it? Lord Muzan is a very caring man. He will treat you veeeery well."

As they entered the building, a pale and grotesque man stopped them.

"Enmu, why have you brought an intruder with you?"

"Ah, Gyokko-san, I found an interesting little street rat and thought of presenting it to Lord Muzan. He seems to have a peculiar anility of naturally resisting genjutsu."

Gyokko bent down and looked at the little kid, who hid behind Enmu's leg.

"Are you scared of me, rat?"

Gyokko was certainly very grotesque. He has two mouths in place of his eyes that were twisted into a constant smile.

"Stop scaring him!" Enmu said and then held the kid's hand to lead him to Muzan.

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'Kibutsuji Muzan, so that's him.'

[Name: Kibutsuji Muzan

Age: 19 (45)

Description: Muzan is the founder of the Demon style jutsu. Bestowed with various abilities by the demon Moryo, Muzan is seeking out men who would form his demon army and help Moryo accomplish his dream of world domination. The unique demon kinjutsu allows him and his followers to survive traditional attacks. A technique to counter them is yet to be found. The only thing stopping them is their limited numbers]

'Certainly very different origin from Kimetsu no Yaiba.'

"Who is this, Enmu?"

Enmu bendlt down on his knee and said, "Lord Muzan, I found this kid on my nightly stroll as I fed on people's chakra. He was completely immune to my genjutsu. I tried to force it upon him, but there was not a single effect on him. So I brought him with me as a potential addition to your esteemed army."

Kenji inclined his head innocently and asked, "Army? No food?"

The two ignored him and Muzan said, "Good. The thirteen of us aren't enough to accomplish the goals of our organization. We need men to do the grunt work. Take him where the rest of the children are. Feed him. I will see whether he will be of use or not."

'So, it's possibly Muzan plus the 'Twelve Kizuki'. I'll leave a clone behind and work on getting some more information before I act.'

Kenji was going to wait. He could feel that not all of the Twelve Kizuki were in the building. Plus, he had to find a way to help the captured children escape as well.

'They're a bootleg version of the demons. Man, I really hope they don't practice cannibalism. That'll leave a bad taste in my mouth.'

As soon as he was left behind with the rest of the kids and given what seemed like a glass of red drink and a noodle soup, he picked it up and found a place secluded from all eyes. He made sure there was no presence of any kind of chakra around him before creating a shadow clone and leaving the place in a flash.