Raien almost enunciated each word as he spoke the name.
Silence.
Absolute, suffocating silence filled the hall.
"The concubine I lost is Kurenai Yuhi."
Those words struck like a thunderbolt.
They exploded directly inside Kurenai Yuhi's ears.
Her mind went completely blank, and even her heartbeat seemed to stutter and skip.
"What…?" Kurenai subconsciously took half a step back.
The color drained from her face, leaving only disbelief behind.
Absurd.
Utterly absurd.
She was a distinguished Konoha jōnin, the leader of Team 8—
Yet the so-called Emperor of the Land of Fire had just publicly declared her to be his… runaway concubine?
"Pfft!" Inuzuka Kiba's laughter shattered the dead silence at the worst possible moment.
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, forcing a dry laugh in an attempt to break the suffocating atmosphere.
"Haha… Your Majesty, you're really good at joking! There are… there are plenty of people with the same name. You must be talking about another Kurenai Yuhi, right? Right, Teacher Kurenai?"
He looked toward her, desperately hoping she would agree.
But Kurenai Yuhi didn't respond. Her eyes were locked firmly on Raien, seated above them on the throne.
A cold chill crawled rapidly up her spine.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Raien's gaze wasn't joking at all.
It carried a terrifying mix of possessiveness, cold appraisal, and a twisted excitement—
Like someone looking at a lost item they had finally found again.
Hinata's Byakugan was already activated.
She could clearly sense the subtle changes in Raien's chakra.
It was deep and viscous, thick with intense negative emotions.
Fear surged instinctively through her body, making her tremble slightly.
Behind dark lenses, Shino Aburame's eyes widened in alarm.
Beneath his robes, countless parasitic insects began to writhe and hum restlessly.
That reaction came only when they sensed extreme danger.
"Your Majesty," Kurenai Yuhi forced herself to suppress the chaos in her heart. Her voice trembled, just slightly.
"This joke isn't funny. I am Kurenai Yuhi, a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. I am here on a mission under the Hokage's orders. Please… stop joking. Please tell us the true mission objective."
She straightened her posture, drawing a firm line between herself and him—between jōnin and ruler.
"Take it back?"
Raien chuckled softly.
The sound echoed through the vast hall, cold and chilling.
He slowly rose from the imperial throne.
His dark dragon-embroidered robe shimmered with faint golden light as he moved.
"Yuhi… you've always been this stubborn."
His tone carried a disturbing intimacy.
As though he were reprimanding a disobedient lover.
"If I say you're my concubine, then you are. What? You plan to disobey? I am the Emperor of the Land of Fire."
His voice sharpened, pressure crashing down like a mountain.
"As a Konoha ninja, I obey only Hokage-sama!" Kurenai shot back instantly.
"Your Majesty should understand—Hokage-sama will not tolerate this kind of recklessness."
Her chakra surged violently within her body.
Her fingers had already begun forming the hand signs for genjutsu.
After a brief pause, she added coldly, "Please show some restraint. Otherwise—"
"Otherwise what?" Raien's smile vanished.
In its place was a chilling coldness that made everyone's hearts seize.
He stepped forward.
Just one step—
Yet it felt as though space itself had been trampled.
In an instant, the distance between him and Team 8 vanished, replaced by crushing pressure.
"Otherwise you'll use your… lovely genjutsu against your master?"
Just as Kurenai gathered chakra, preparing to reject him outright—
Raien's eyes changed.
The deep darkness within them suddenly ignited.
Scarlet erupted outward, as if born from pure malice.
His pupils were swallowed whole by blazing crimson, like flames burning straight from hell.
And within that red—
Black tomoe spun violently.
Twisting.
Reorganizing.
Evolving.
Kurenai felt as if an icy hand had clenched her heart, stopping it entirely.
What… what was she seeing?
Sharingan?
No—
Mangekyō Sharingan.
She had seen these eyes before.
The night Uchiha Itachi returned to Konoha.
That overwhelming defeat, when her pride as a genjutsu specialist was utterly crushed—
"Sha—Sharingan?!" Kiba cried out in shock.
Akamaru let out a pitiful whine, tail tucked tightly as he nearly collapsed in terror.
"Impossible… the Uchiha Clan…"
In Hinata's Byakugan vision, the chakra radiating from those Mangekyō eyes resembled a dark, blazing sun.
A pressure so immense it felt capable of devouring all life.
Her legs shook as she struggled just to maintain her dōjutsu.
Shino's expression changed completely.
The insects beneath his cloak retreated in panic, as if encountering a natural predator.
His voice came out dry and strained.
"Sharingan… confirmed. Extreme danger."
In that moment, he finally understood.
The deaths of the thirty-six heirs of the former Daimyo—
They were never accidents.
This Emperor standing before them…
Was a monster wearing human skin.
Kurenai's face turned deathly pale.
Her body felt frozen in place.
"You… you're from the Uchiha Clan?"
"Who said only the Uchiha Clan can possess the Sharingan?" Raien's voice dropped low and heavy.
"Now…"
Those terrifying Mangekyō eyes locked directly onto Kurenai Yuhi.
"My Yuhi. It's time for you to come home. To fulfill your duties… As my concubine."
The air itself seemed to solidify.
Yet Kurenai Yuhi proved why she was an elite jōnin.
The instant Raien's Mangekyō revealed itself, a violent sense of danger flooded her mind.
Almost reflexively, she mobilized all her chakra, forming hand signs at lightning speed.
"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"
A powerful restraining genjutsu erupted outward.
Invisible mental force surged like binding vines, aiming to interfere with Raien's will—
To buy even a single second for her team to escape.
But before her chakra could fully release—
Thump.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Three dull sounds echoed like heavy hammers striking her heart.
Kurenai snapped her head around, pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
Hyuga Hinata.
Inuzuka Kiba.
Shino Aburame.
All three collapsed to the ground simultaneously, as if their bones had vanished.
Their eyes were shut tight.
Their breathing was faint—but steady.
They had fallen into a deep genjutsu-induced coma.
The process was instantaneous.
No resistance.
No struggle.
Even Akamaru lay curled beside Kiba, unconscious, letting out a faint whimper.
Not even a moment?
Raien hadn't even looked at them.
It was as if—
It had happened with nothing more than a thought.
...
Author's Note
Hello, readers! Welcome to my second Webnovel account.
My first Webnovel account is Shadow_demon_007, where I uploaded 20 fanfics. Due to Webnovel's upload limits and rules, I created this second account so I can continue uploading more fanfics for you all.
Please also check out my first account, where many of those 20 fanfics are available. Some of them are already fully completed, and I have uploaded those completed fanfics on my Patreon
👉 patreon.comShadow_demon_007
On Patreon, you can find
Fully completed fanfics
Three free fanfic available for readers
Another free fanfic coming on next month
I sincerely hope you enjoy my works, and I truly appreciate all your support.
Thank you for reading and supporting me!
— Shadow_demon_007