Faced with this awkward scene, Kakkō turned his head aside helplessly. He didn't want to argue with Taiseki anymore, nor did he want to face the murderous gazes of his remaining companions.
Damn it… he was clearly the sane one here, yet no one would believe him.
His mind felt exhausted, almost hollow. Maybe the Mangekyō's illusion truly wasn't something they could break with ordinary means. The more he thought, the more he wondered whether he was the one trapped in a genjutsu.
Wait…
Where did the Mangekyō—the source of all this madness—go?
He couldn't stop himself from asking.
Taiseki shrugged. "I barely survived. Who cares about the eye?"
He glanced at Jirō, Renga, and Gozu. They all looked confused too—clearly unaware of whether the eye had been dropped, destroyed, or stolen in the chaos.
Then, Taiseki's eyes widened.
His expression suddenly twisted in anger.
"It's YOUR fault!" Taiseki roared at Kakkō. "If you hadn't gone crazy, we wouldn't have lost the Mangekyō!"
Kakkō almost laughed at the absurdity. He was the most innocent one here, but arguing now would be pointless.
Both sides stared each other down, tension thickening the air.
The chakra of the three others was slowly returning.
If this dragged on, Kakkō would soon be facing four Iwagakure elite-level missing-nin alone.
"Wait," Taiseki muttered. "What about the other Sharingan—the one-tomoe? Who was holding it?"
The three stiffened.
Yes.
Who had it?
And where was their fifth member?
Their collective killing intent sharpened like a blade.
Kakkō felt chills run down his spine.
"Don't look at me like that," he said quickly. "I had it. I kept it safe."
"You killed him and stole it, didn't you?" Jirō snarled. "You bastard—you're not living past dawn!"
Taiseki glared at him with open suspicion.
Kakkō didn't need any genjutsu to know—they no longer trusted him at all.
At this point, even he was starting to doubt himself.
He grit his teeth, made a decision, and pulled out a storage scroll. Tossing it to Taiseki, he said:
"The Sharingan is in there. We were rotating duties. I had no intention of keeping it."
Taiseki caught it, eyes narrowed, expression unreadable.
"You can open it," Kakkō said.
With a faint smirk, Taiseki placed his hand on the scroll. A puff of smoke rose, and the glass container rolled out, revealing the scarlet single-tomoe eye.
Taiseki nodded slowly.
Kakkō, relieved, let out the breath he'd been holding.
Taiseki put the scroll away—
then, seeing the other three preparing to strike—
He quickly moved toward Kakkō, jumping onto the earthen platform.
"I believe you," Taiseki said. "Looks like they really are under genjutsu."
Kakkō exhaled deeply, tension loosening in his chest.
"Good… good. I almost thought I was trapped in an illusion," he admitted.
"So what now?" Taiseki asked. "Can the Sharingan break a Mangekyō-level genjutsu?"
"Don't even think about it," Kakkō said. "Single-tomoe and Mangekyō aren't even close. It's a chasm you can't cross."
Taiseki grimaced.
"Then how—?"
"We break them out like you were broken out," Kakkō said confidently. "Just knock them unconscious."
Taiseki hesitated, but Kakkō sounded certain, so he drew a kunai and faced his three comrades.
"But can the two of us even restrain them? And we can't kill them," Taiseki muttered.
They were outnumbered four to two, and the other side wanted Kakkō's head more than anything.
"You're forgetting something," Kakkō reminded him. "The stabilizer crystal the organization issued—the prototype scientific ninja tool. It absorbs chakra-based ninjutsu."
"If it weren't for this thing, I'd have died to their combined jutsu long ago."
Just as he spoke, Taiseki's eyes changed.
The calm gaze twisted—
murder flooded in—
and a dark red chakra cloak bubbled over his skin like boiling blood.
"Taiseki—?!"
Before Kakkō could react—
SLASH.
The kunai carved through bone.
His severed hand dropped—along with the green crystal.
Pain exploded through his nerves.
Taiseki seized the crystal and swung horizontally, aiming to cut Kakkō in half.
The killing intent was suffocating.
Kakkō's instincts screamed—
He staggered back—
and threw himself off the ten-meter platform, barely dodging the lethal arc.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!!"
Taiseki discarded the kunai, formed seals, and unleashed a massive fireball.
Kakkō plummeted helplessly—no chakra for jutsu, no hand seals, no crystal.
He stared in disbelief at Taiseki—not understanding—
until he did.
The transformation dispersed.
Standing there—
was not Taiseki.
It was Sarada.
Confusion, fear, resentment, shock—all flashed across Kakkō's eyes before the flames swallowed him whole.
Sarada stood on the shattered platform, the red glow of the fire reflecting in her single Mangekyō.
"Everything taken from me," she whispered, "I'll reclaim myself—with blood."
Jirō, Renga, and Gozu finally snapped out of the illusion.
They understood instantly.
The girl they had tried to burn alive—
the girl they left for dead—
the girl whose Sharingan they stole—
was standing before them. Alive. Unharmed. Smiling.
Their blood ran cold.
Sarada had killed Kakkō.
Likely Taiseki too.
She had tricked them, outplayed them, humiliated them.
A brat who should've died on the floor was now mocking them under the moonlight.
Humiliation boiled into rage.
The three wrapped thin chakra threads around their torsos—ready to snap themselves out of any genjutsu.
"Fire Release: Fire Tornado!!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!!"
"Lightning Release: Earth Walk!!"
Three lethal waves roared toward her.
Sarada smirked, lifted her hand, and displayed the green crystal tied to her wrist.
The ninjutsu collapsed into it instantly.
The three men froze.
"Continue?" Sarada asked, walking forward slowly.
"Don't get cocky!" Renga barked, though his voice wavered.
"Calm down," Gozu muttered. "It's only a first-generation tool. It'll overload after a few more jutsu."
Realization flickered in all their eyes.
Sarada clicked her tongue.
She had miscalculated.
This was only a shadow clone.
She couldn't use Flying Thunder God.
She couldn't return the Sharingan to her main body.
If they pushed her long enough, the crystal would shatter, and everything she reclaimed would be lost.
And her main body was still nearly half an hour away.
The three closed in with lightning-coated and wind-honed kunai.
This girl wasn't just a Mangekyō user.
She was a Jinchūriki, too.
A priceless research subject.
And tonight—They intended to claim her.
---
A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
Support: patreon.com/Narrator_San