"What…"
Kurenai Yuhi instinctively took half a step back.
The color drained from her face, leaving only an incredulous pallor.
Absurd!
An overwhelming sense of absurdity instantly engulfed her.
A distinguished Konoha elite jonin, the sensei of Team Eight.
Was actually being publicly declared by the "Emperor" of the Land of Fire as his… runaway concubine?
"Pfft!"
Kiba Inuzuka's laughter unseasonably broke the deathly silence.
He scratched his head, trying to dispel the suffocating atmosphere, and chuckled dryly:
"Haha, Your Majesty, you're quite the joker!"
"There… there are plenty of people with the same name."
"You must be looking for another Kurenai Yuhi, right?"
"Right, Kurenai-sensei?"
He looked at Kurenai Yuhi, hoping for her affirmation.
However, Kurenai Yuhi seemed not to hear him.
Her gaze was fixed on Mikage on the throne.
A cold chill rapidly climbed up her spine.
Something's not right!
Far too wrong!
Mikage's eyes… he was definitely not joking!
It was a gaze mixed with a determined possessiveness, a cold scrutiny, and… a twisted excitement, as if looking at a lost and found possession.
Hinata's Byakugan was already activated.
She keenly caught the subtle changes in Mikage's chakra.
It was a deep, viscous chakra, carrying strong negative emotions.
This made her instinctively feel fear, and her body trembled slightly.
Shino's sunglasses could barely hide the shock in his eyes.
Countless parasitic insects buzzed faintly and frantically under his wide robes.
That was an instinctive reaction to perceiving extreme danger.
"Your Majesty,"
Kurenai Yuhi forcibly suppressed her surging emotions, her voice carrying a barely perceptible tremor.
"This joke is not funny. I am Kurenai Yuhi, a ninja from Konohagakure."
"I am here on a mission by order of the Hokage. Please… don't joke around."
"Please tell us the true mission objective."
She straightened her back, trying to draw a clear line with her identity and position.
"Take it back?"
Mikage chuckled.
His laughter echoed in the vast hall, carrying an eerie reverberation.
He slowly rose from the throne.
The dark dragon robe shimmered with a dark golden luster as he moved, "Kurenai, you're always so stubborn."
His tone carried a strange intimacy.
As if scolding a willful lover.
"I say you are my concubine, then you are."
"What? Are you going to disobey? I am the Emperor of the Land of Fire!"
Mikage's tone intensified, carrying an undeniable pressure.
"As a Konoha ninja, I only obey Lord Hokage!"
Kurenai Yuhi, hearing this, retorted sharply, "Your Majesty should know that Lord Hokage will not tolerate your outrageous behavior."
Kurenai Yuhi's chakra began to surge uncontrollably within her body.
The preparatory hand signs for genjutsu in her hands were almost formed.
After a pause, she added, "Your Majesty, please show some respect! Otherwise…"
"Otherwise what?"
Mikage's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling coldness that made one's heart palpitate.
He took a step forward.
That step seemed to tread upon space itself.
Instantly closing the distance to Kurenai Yuhi's team, bringing an overwhelming sense of oppression.
"Otherwise, are you going to use your… lovely genjutsu to deal with your 'master'?"
Just as Kurenai Yuhi gathered her chakra, preparing to refuse and warn him sternly… Mikage's eyes, originally as deep as the night sky.
Suddenly changed!
A trace of demonic, blood-red color, as if condensed from the purest malice, suddenly exploded in his eyes.
That red instantly swallowed the original pupil color, like the burning flames of purgatory.
What terrified Kurenai Yuhi even more was that.
At the core of that crimson, black tomoe spun, twisted, and reassembled wildly!
Kurenai Yuhi's heart felt as if it had been gripped by a cold hand at that moment, stopping its beat!
What did she see?
This is… the Sharingan?
The Mangekyo Sharingan?
She had faced these eyes before, when Itachi Uchiha returned to the village.
She, who prided herself as a genjutsu master, was utterly defeated that time… "Sha… Sharingan?"
Kiba Inuzuka cried out in alarm.
Akamaru let out a mournful whimper, tucking his tail between his legs, almost collapsing in fear!
"Impossible… The Uchiha clan…"
In Hinata's Byakugan vision, the chakra radiating from those Mangekyo was like a tangible dark sun.
It carried a terrifying pressure that seemed to devour all life.
Making her almost unable to maintain her dōjutsu, her body swayed precariously.
Shino's sunglasses completely failed to hide his drastically changed expression.
The parasitic insects frantically retreated back into his body, as if encountering a natural enemy.
His voice was extremely dry: "Sharingan… confirmed… danger!"
He finally understood.
The deaths of the thirty-six heirs of the old Daimyo might not have been accidental at all!
This "Emperor" before them was a monster in human skin!
Kurenai Yuhi's face was ashen, her entire body frozen in place, "You… you are from the Uchiha clan?"
"Who said that only the Uchiha clan can possess the Sharingan?"
Mikage's voice became unusually deep, "Now…"
Those spinning Mangekyo locked onto Kurenai Yuhi's terrified face.
"My 'Kurenai', it's time for you to come home."
"Fulfill your… duties as a 'concubine'."
The air solidified.
But Kurenai Yuhi's reaction was absolutely a model of a top-tier jonin.
The moment Mikage's demonic Mangekyo appeared.
A strong sense of crisis washed over her like ice water.
In just an instant, Kurenai Yuhi instinctively mobilized all her chakra, her hands rapidly forming hand signs:
"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"
A powerful defensive and binding genjutsu instantly formed.
Invisible mental energy, like tough vines.
Attempting to entangle and interfere with Mikage's will.
To buy herself and her companions even a second of breathing room!
However, her hand signs had just formed.
Her chakra had not yet fully surged out… Thump…
Thump... thump... Three dull thuds, like heavy hammers, struck Kurenai Yuhi's heart!
She snapped her head around, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks from extreme horror!
She saw Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame, as if all their bones had been instantly removed.
They collapsed to the ground without any warning.
Their eyes were tightly shut, their breathing faint and steady.
They had clearly fallen into a deep genjutsu-induced coma.
The entire process was incredibly fast.
They didn't even show a hint of resistance.
Even Akamaru curled up beside Kiba, whimpering faintly, having lost consciousness.
Not even a moment?
Mikage hadn't even looked at them!
It was just... a thought?