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"I'm not in the same faction as the one who attacked you just now," Uchiha Haru said calmly.
Though still a bit annoyed that Elder Genji had suddenly turned on him, Haru wasn't petty. The bigger picture mattered more.
"Haha," Elder Genji sneered, "Of course, I can see you're not allies—but that doesn't mean you're a good person."
"Why have you come to Kirigakure? What's your purpose? Tell me now!"
Haru narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing across his face.
He'd spared the old man's life earlier because the elder still showed some strength.
But if Genji was going to act hostile, Haru wouldn't hesitate to teach him a lesson.
No one was allowed to be so insolent before him!
Terumi Mei, noticing the thick tension between Haru and the elder, cursed silently in her mind. Damn it!
In a situation this sensitive, it was understandable that Elder Genji was suspicious and aggressive.
But Haru wasn't exactly a gentle soul.
She had witnessed with her own eyes Haru slay more than a dozen Kirigakure ninjas without batting an eye.
She didn't want the same fate to befall the elder, so she quickly interrupted, "Elder Genji, we have an urgent matter to discuss with you."
"I saw with my own eyes that the Fourth Mizukage was being controlled by a masked ninja."
"The current Mizukage isn't the real Mizukage!"
"What did you say?!"
Mei Terumi's words caught Elder Genji's full attention. He spun around and stared at her, disbelief written across his face.
The Mizukage controlled by someone else?
Mei Terumi explained everything that had happened that night.
After listening, Elder Genji's expression was filled with doubt. He hesitated, then shook his head decisively.
"Impossible!"
"I refuse to believe it. The Fourth Mizukage is a Jinchūriki of three tailed beasts. With that strength, who in the shinobi world could possibly control him? It's simply impossible!"
"Mei Terumi, enough with your sweet talk—I will never believe it!"
The elder's reaction was exactly what Haru and Mei had anticipated.
After all, claiming the Mizukage was under another's illusion was earth-shattering news.
Even Mei Terumi had struggled to believe it when Haru first told her.
"Elder, it's true—I saw it all with my own eyes."
Mei Terumi quickly tried to convince him, "Have you not noticed how the Mizukage has changed since the Third Ninja World War?"
"He used to be humble and easy-going. Now he's cruel and ruthless—like a completely different person..."
The elder furrowed his brow; the lines on his face deepened as he tried to recall the Mizukage's changes.
It did seem… a little strange.
But after a moment, he dismissed it all.
"Silence!"
"The Mizukage would never allow you to slander him like this!"
"With the power of the Fourth Mizukage, no one could trap him in an illusion. Such a thing simply does not exist!"
"Really?"
Haru chuckled and, with a flash of movement, appeared right in front of Elder Genji at an incredible speed.
The elder was shocked and instinctively took a few steps back.
Such speed was intimidating.
Before Genji could fully react, his eyes met a pair of crimson, haunting eyes.
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Under that gaze, Elder Genji felt as if time and space twisted, dragging him back to his youth.
Back when he was just a ninja in his early twenties.
"Master, hurry!"
A cheerful young ninja smiled at him, full of innocence and charm.
This was one of his teammates.
Beside him stood another, thin and quiet ninja who hardly spoke.
The three of them had just received a mission order — one they were to complete without fail.
"I..."
Elder Genji raised his head in a trance, a sudden sensation that he had forgotten something important yet unable to recall what.
His teammates urged him on.
Without overthinking, Genji followed.
The scene shifted.
He found himself on a battlefield.
Corpses littered the ground—enemies and comrades alike.
Genji stood in the center, his body unscathed, untouched by blood or injury.
At his feet lay his two teammates, wearing the same uniform as him.
One of them was dead.
The lifeless face bore a warm, innocent smile, stained with blood.
The eyes, wide open, showed fear and hatred—but more than anything, disbelief.
"Why..."
The quiet, thin, and serious ninja was dying, repeatedly whispering, "Why… why…"
Elder Genji lowered his head as he heard the voice, looking down at his teammate who had stood by him through thick and thin. The expression on Genji's face turned cold, almost frightening in its severity.
In the next moment, everything snapped back to reality.
Genji's eyes darkened, but that bone-chilling coldness remained etched across his face.
Terumi Mei felt a shiver run down her spine and instinctively took a few steps back.
She hadn't seen the illusion just now and couldn't understand why the usually calm and amiable Genji had suddenly transformed into someone so terrifying.
She had never seen this side of him before.
Such a Genji made her feel deeply uneasy.
The elder Genji, now returned fully to reality, blinked and suddenly seemed to awaken from a trance.
What was happening?
How could he suddenly recall those memories… illusions?
He abruptly raised his head and fixed his gaze on Uchiha Haru.
"Is it you?" he asked, voice trembling.
Haru answered calmly, "Do you believe me now?"
"Of course, ordinary illusions couldn't fool the Fourth Mizukage. But what if the one behind it possesses eyes like mine?"
In Haru's blood-red eyes, the three magatama shifted and connected in an instant, fusing tightly together like razor-sharp blades.
"This… this… this is…" Genji stammered.
"The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan… No, not just any Sharingan!"
"This is the Mangekyō Sharingan—the Mangekyō Sharingan that exists only in legends!"
The elder's shock was palpable.
Older and more experienced than most, Genji immediately recognized the terrifying nature of those crimson eyes.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
The legendary Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Mangekyō Sharingan…" Mei Terumi murmured beside them.
She had seen Haru's eyes before but hadn't realized what they were—just that they were unusual.
Only now, upon hearing Elder Genji utter the name, did she truly grasp the significance.
What exactly did those strange eyes represent?
Uchiha Haru possessed the eyes that only legends spoke of…
No!
A thought struck Mei Terumi's mind.
She suddenly remembered—the single eye glimpsed on the mysterious masked man was also a Mangekyō Sharingan!
Yes!
The "same eyes" meant the masked man.
The masked man also wielded the Mangekyō Sharingan!
"You mean the Fourth Mizukage was controlled by the Mangekyō Sharingan?" Elder Genji spoke after a moment of silence.
Having now personally seen the Mangekyō Sharingan, he could better appreciate the horror of the illusion.
He had to admit—the Mangekyō Sharingan very well could be powerful enough to control the Mizukage.
"Yes!" Mei Terumi nodded firmly.
"Mangekyō Sharingan… Uchiha…" the elder muttered to himself, looking up at Haru with a newfound respect and restraint.
No matter the era, strength commands respect.
Having witnessed Haru's formidable power, Genji had no choice but to show deference.
"The one controlling the Mizukage is from your Uchiha clan, and the one confronting me now is also from your Uchiha clan," he said carefully.
"What exactly does your Uchiha clan intend to do?"
Mei Terumi looked at Haru as well, sharing the question she was burning to ask.
But Haru responded, "You don't need to know what I want."
"You only need to understand this—I am not an enemy of Kirigakure. We share the same enemy."
Elder Genji remained silent.
Mei Terumi asked no more questions.
They were all intelligent—they understood what mattered most at this moment.
Compared to the threat, the internal matters of the Uchiha clan were insignificant.
Having said all this, Haru turned to leave.
Even though he knew Elder Genji would never fully trust him, he had done enough.
His words had sown the seeds of doubt in the elder's mind about the Fourth Mizukage.
That suspicion was the fuse that could eventually unravel the masked man's control over the Mizukage through illusion.
The rest could be left to Elder Genji and Mei Terumi.
With their combined skills, uncovering the truth was not a difficult task.
After all, in the original Naruto world, these two had joined forces to expose conspiracies before.
So far, their objectives for the night had been completed without incident.
There was only one thing that piqued Haru's curiosity.
It was what he had seen in the surroundings of Elder Genji.
To increase the credibility of his illusions, Haru rarely fabricated perfect falsehoods.
Instead, he extracted the most vivid, memorable fragments from his target's mind and wove them into his illusions.
In other words, what he had just seen in the elder's environment wasn't an illusion—it was reality.
The elder Genji, highly respected throughout the Hidden Mist Village, might not be as simple as he seemed.
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Love the story and can't wait to see what happens next?
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Thank you for reading, and I truly appreciate your support! 💖
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