Yeah, the difference starts from here. The First half is the same as the original Chapter 9.
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Garrison Branch HQ
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The room was dimly lit, the scent of old paper and ink filling the air. Stacks of documents were piled across wooden desks, detailing troop deployments, work reports, and classified intelligence.
The Garrison Branch Headquarters wasn't particularly secure, but the room Seiji stood in was restricted to high-ranking officers.
And yet, here he was.
The soft rustling of pages was the only sound in the office.
Seiji flipped through another report, his fingers skimming the words before tossing it aside, unimpressed. His Transformation Jutsu unraveled, revealing his true form—black hair, crimson eyes, and an attire that didn't belong to any regiment of the military.
'Although I didn't expect Much, since it's not the Survey Corps, but … This is quite underwhelming'.
The information in here all ranged from written reports on Garrison Maintenance, Patrols, and complaints logged by Civilians.
It had been Twenty minutes since he snuck into the Garrison using the Transformation Jutsu. Twenty minutes later, The young Uchiha was bored.
Near the entrance, four unconscious Garrison soldiers lay sprawled across the floor, knocked out before they could raise the alarm.
Then, the door creaked open.
A platinum blonde-haired woman in uniform stepped inside, her sharp gaze locking onto the scene.
"... Thanks for waiting. I rushed over without even having time to take off my gear. Now then, let's … Huh?"
Her voice froze, the words dying in her throat.
Inside the room, which housed the Garrison Archives, she saw a scene she least expected.
Near a shelf, an unfamiliar face could be seen reading through a document in his grasp.
Both eyes turned to meet the other's. It was followed by a strange silence.
"... Well, this is awkward ..."
He said after a few seconds of silence.
Meanwhile, Rico was dumbfounded. Alongside a few unit captains, they were supposed to gather here to sort out the archives for a special case. Unfortunately, she had been a few minutes late. Now however, the situation was different from her initial expectations, with the bodies of the Garrison members she had expected to meet here all on the floor.
'An Intruder in HQ?'
Her face changed drastically. Tossing the papers in her possession, Rico Brzenska's hand went to her sword.
"Who are you?"
'Here we go again'.
Seiji gave her a dull look. 'Should I use Genjutsu on her? The knowledge of the others proved pretty much useless. Perhaps she knows'.
In the twenty minutes he had been in The Garrison, Seiji had learned a very valuable lesson that couldn't be taught but only experienced.
Just unlocking Mangekyo didn't automatically mean he knew what to do with The Sharingan.
The eyes of the Uchiha clan had two uses even before Mangekyo. Insight, and hypnotism. The effect of the former was obvious.
Copying Jutsu, seeing through Chakra, memorizing body moves, predicting an opponent's next move before they made it.
Hypnotism dealt more to the Illusory side. Allowing for stunning, Genjutsu, and the likes. One feature Seiji had been looking forward to was the ability to read the Memories of others.
Just like the Yamanaka clan, the Uchiha with enough practice and eye development, were capable of reading the memories of a chosen Target.
This was the archive room, which held all the Garrison's sensitive files in this branch. Upon entering, Seiji who was still in disguise at the time had met the four men in the room who asked who he was and what he was looking for.
Long story short, the Four poor souls near the door were the results of his first use of Genjutsu in an attempt to read memories and extract the Information he needed.
Turns out, reading memories was harder than it sounded. Upon reaching into the farthest depths of the first Target's mind, Seiji realized just how difficult Itachi's feat against Kabuto was.
The brain was a complicated organ.
Unlike the way he imagined, Genjutsu used in this sense wasn't as easy as using the search function on a mobile phone's File Manager to pop up exactly what you wanted. Instead, it was more like a vintage record store, requiring you to go through the DVD's one at a time yourself until you found exactly what you were looking for.
Just a single Garrison officer, held a mindscape akin to a Treacherous Maze. But like they say, practice makes perfect. The vast Majority of those Twenty Minutes were spent going through the heads of the Four Unit Captains. From Seiji's reaction, the results could be guessed.
Nothing.
For the people of AoT, Their world was already divided into Four classes. Wall Maria, Peasants. Wall Rose, Middle Class. Wall Sina, Upper class. And The Capital Mitras, Nobility.
For the vast majority of the people of Trost, Little was known about the Upper Class Citizens, and the Noble families. The Garrison Regiment was clearly no exception.
The vast Majority of these soldiers hadn't even set foot in Wall Sina before. Expecting them to know any useful information on the Nobles was a mistake. One Seiji realized after the third memory reading.
Which was why Seiji was contemplating whether to repeat the same process all over again. Judging from the results so far, the only difference in achievement would be that he would be looking through a woman's mind instead of a man.
On this thought, Seiji felt intrigued. It was always said that the Minds of women were difficult to understand. Now, the possibility to see what was going through their heads was an interesting prospect worth exploring.
With numerous thoughts in his head, Seiji flipped another page whatever he was reading absentmindedly.
Instantly, the blade was drawn, her fingers tightening on the hilt.
"I asked you a question."
"…."
The answer she received was silence. Rico watched as the intruder continued to flip through the document, without so much as a care.
'Why you …'.
Just when she was about to take action, he finally responded.
Not in words, however.
Instead, he sighed, shaking his head as if dissatisfied.
"I've been going through the knowledge you have," he said at last, turning toward her fully. His Sharingan gleamed in the dim sunlight peering through the windows.
'… Those … What's up with his eyes?'
"It's all worthless."
He said, tossing the documents aside.
Rico's expression hardened.
What the hell was this guy talking about?
Numerous thoughts ran through her mind as she observed the figure before her. Dark hair, fair skin, ..... Pe-culiar features, and strange eyes …
He wore dark clothing, and had a sword strapped to his waist.
Who the hell was this guy?
Why was he here?
She pushed down her unease, straightening her posture. "You have five seconds before I run you through."
Seiji looked at her, keeping a blank demeanor.
"My name is Seiji Uchiha. Who are you?"
She frowned. "Squad Leader Rico Brzenska. Garrison Regiment."
"… I see. A squad leader instead of a Unit Captain. Finally, someone who can give me the answers I seek."
In the midst of deliberation, Seiji ultimately laid off the idea of using Genjutsu. After Four fruitless tries, it was pointless to continue. Perhaps he could get what he wanted by asking nicely. Or at least confirm if she knew anything before resorting to Genjutsu again.
"I want to ..." He paused, not knowing how to frame his words. Could he just ask plainly where they store all the Information they had on The Noble families of The Interior? Or where exactly was the Location of the 104th Cadet Corps?
That honestly sounded dumb.
Most likely, she would ask more questions instead of giving him an answer. Then sound the alarm and a whole new round of Drama would begin.
'My Mistake then'.
"You know what? Nevermind .."
'Genjutsu'.
In an instant, Chakra was transmitted from Seiji's eyes straight to the intended Target.
Rico stiffened. The next moment, her expression grew dull.
'Tsk ... This is much more difficult than normal'.
Genjutsu was simply pouring chakra into the Target user's chakra system, then manipulating the Chakra in the Target's cranial nerves.
This in turn formed the Illusions they experienced. However, once the Target in question didn't have Chakra or Chakra Pathways, this became complicated.
Not only was it harder and required greater control of Chakra, In essence, The Genjutsu wouldn't last long. Because the Target didn't have a natural chakra pathway, the Chakra injected would dissipate quickly. Once that happened, the Genjutsu would be ineffective and automatically release on its own.
Ilse's situation was similar. He had infused a lot of chakra into her system without her noticing, yet he could only guarantee Two hours for the Genjutsu duration.
Two Minutes Later ...
THUD!
A slight thudding sound emerged. In the room, Rico Brzenska dropped face first to the floor with her eyes closed. Her posture in a completely unladylike manner, indicating that just like the others, Seiji had placed her in a coma Genjutsu.
'Well, That was a waste of Time'.
Seiji thought, looking at the fallen bodies.
He had expected The Military Officers in the branch to at least know information on The Circles Of Nobility within Wall Sina. Just the location of the Reiss Family would have been enough.
Too bad. None of them knew a thing.
From his past life memories, Seiji remembered that The True king of The Walls was currently in disguise as a mere Regional Lord.
However, the name of The Reiss Noble family seemed to not ring even the slightest bells. It wasn't surprising. Their knowledge on the general Nobles of wall Sina were already quite limited as it was.
In Attack On Titan, it was stated that the current King the public knew was nothing but a fake puppet. When in fact, the True Royal Family was the Reiss who secretly controlled everything from the shadows and kept a low profile.
Of course, The Reiss Family now barely existed with only two living members left. His target, Rod Reiss, and the Future Queen, Historia Reiss or as she should be going by now, Christa Lenz.
Seiji had figured out the current year. 849. Wall Maria fell in year 845, and Eren Jaeger, Mikasa and Armin graduated from The Cadet Corps in the year 850.
In the most conservative estimate, it was a year before The Struggle For Trost Arc in the Timeline. Less conservative, It was a couple Months.
As one of his goals, Seiji also attempted to receive the Location of The Cadet Corps from the Memories of the Unit Captains to find Eren Jaeger.
The result?
Seiji didn't find Eren's Location but found out that there were dozens of Training Camps similar to the ones Eren, Mikasa and Armin were showed to attend in the AoT anime. All spread out across the entire Territory of Wall Rose and all under the unified banner of the 104th Cadet Corps batch.
With no definite clue, Eren could be in any one of these camps and he had no direct way to find him in a short time. Meaning, in this infiltration, Seiji had obtained nothing.
Looking at the Platinum Blonde slumped on the floor, Seiji shook his head and closed the door before returning to go through the files. This time, he moved towards the newest entries.
Rows of neatly stacked tomes were skimmed over, Seiji determining it's worth just by a single look. His reading speed much faster with The Sharingan.
Nothing of importance came up.
The memories contained little and the files contained even less.
'It seems I can only look for those two for what I want'. He thought, closing another booklet and picking one more.
Just a few more. If the result was still the same, he had decided to leave The Garrison and start heading towards Mitras.
Trost had nothing left to offer him. As from the looks of it, if he was going to find something substantial, then the only way was to Target Erwin and Pixis. Commanders who actually knew the inner workings of wall Sina and extract information from them using Genjutsu.
Perhaps Levi might be an option. If he remembered right, Levi came from the underground in Wall Sina so he was a viable option, but earlier, he didn't see him around Erwin.
Nevertheless, Seiji wasn't willing to go that far. No other reason, because Targeting either Erwin or Pixis wasn't necessary to get the Location of Rod Reiss.
Information was scarce in Trost, but the same couldn't be said for other cities in The Interior. As long as Seiji got to Mitras, he was sure that any random person walking on the street could tell him the Territory of Rod Reiss.
It was the same information. Not to mention he was going to Mitras anyway. Hence, it was irrelevant.
Seiji, making up his mind, picked up the next report. Setting his gaze on it ..
'... Oh?' his casual movements paused.
A touch of surprise in his eyes at the front cover. It was a single file, it's entry record dating back four days ago.
As for what was so special about it? Well, it carried the Insignia of a certain Military department.
The logo of a shield with a green Unicorn on it. Paradis Island's third military department, The Police Brigade.
The Three Military Departments consisted of The Survey Corps, The Garrison Regiment, and The Military Police Brigade. Each held different duties, with The Police Force known as the King's Guard and hence, working within the Inner wall.
'A permission slip?' reading its contents, Seiji couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It contained far less words than everything else he had read so far. Barely a dozen lines.
Apparently, a unit Team of the Military Police Brigade had been hired to transport a batch of goods bought by a nobleman from a company in Trost to The Ehrmich District in Wall Sina.
Explaining why Police Brigade members were stationed in Trost.
Seiji's eyes lit up. Quickly scanning through the ledger, recording several names of importance.
Scott Adler.
Thomas Vaughan.
Lina Fitz.
Reeves Company.
In Seiji's understanding, these were all Military Police officers who lived within Wall Sina. Meaning unlike The soldiers in Trost, these ones most likely had the information he needed.
The Location of The Territory of The Reiss and how to get there exactly.
Searching through the other Ledgers, he found nothing similar. If there wasn't an exit entry, it meant they were most likely still in Trost.
And from the address on the ledger, he knew where. A warehouse somewhere near the walls edge belonging to a organization called The Reeves Merchant Company.
".. Guess it wasn't a waste of Time after all ..."
The young Uchiha thought, putting the ledger aside before moving towards the door. Knowing where to get what he wanted, there was no use staying in the Garrison any longer.
With these thoughts in mind, Seiji used the Transformation Jutsu to change form once again before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him. Leaving behind five unconscious bodies.
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