"Come on, seriously… did you actually think such terrible acting could fool anyone?"
Shinji's mocking tone made her so angry she looked ready to explode.
But the woman quickly regained her composed, charming smile.
"So what if you saw through it? The moment I touched you, you were already a dead man. Just look at your arm."
Shinji played along obediently and rolled up his sleeve. Seeing patches of dark discoloration spreading across his skin, he gasped in exaggerated shock.
"Oh no! What a terrifying poison! I'm absolutely terrified!"
Lines of frustration appeared on the woman's forehead as she watched his over‑the‑top reaction.
"Drop the act, Demon God Akagi! Today, I, the Black Widow, will claim the bounty on your head! Go — kill the others!"
"Understood!"
The two burly men also dropped their pretense. Completely subservient to the woman, they grinned maliciously and prepared to take down the easiest targets first.
"Kid, you should actually thank you for leading us straight to him. Just don't hate the wrong person when you're dead," one of them said, pulling out an iron rod.
They wanted not just to kill, but to break their spirits first.
Yet Sasuke remained completely unmoved.
The other brute had his eyes fixed on the beautiful Tamamo Hotaru, practically drooling already. But fearing the Black Widow's power, he reluctantly decided to just kill her quickly.
It didn't matter — as long as it was fresh, the rest could wait until they were done here.
DIE!
SPLAT!
A head rolled to the ground.
Paws stained with blood, the white fox — wiped them off in disgust against the fallen body before leaping back into Tamamo Hotaru's arms.
Until his last moment, the man never imagined that such a harmless‑looking little creature could move so fast or possess claws so sharp.
On the other side, Sasuke drove a Chidori straight through his opponent's heart.
Having trained and traveled for so long, Sasuke had grown cold and ruthless in combat. His expression didn't flicker once throughout the entire move.
THUD.
The body hit the ground, and an eerie silence fell over the clearing.
Even Shinji looked curious. "Aren't you afraid of my companions? Why only poison me?"
Indeed — why?
The Black Widow's expression turned grim. Of course she cared about them! Her original plan had been to infiltrate their group, win their trust, and poison everyone at once.
That was how her script was supposed to go.
But she had been exposed before even getting started, forcing her hand early.
She had assumed: If I hold their leader's life in my hands, surely they'll just bow their necks and surrender.
Instead, both of her subordinates had been cut down without mercy, leaving her all alone.
She felt like screaming at them: "Don't you care if I kill him?!"
"Think about this carefully!" she shouted.
"The Demon God Akagi's life is in my hands! Without my antidote, he will be dead in one minute!"
"If you want to save him, swallow these pills right now!"
Everyone looked at her as if she were an idiot. Everyone except Shinji, who was clearly enjoying his performance and fully immersed in his role.
"What?!"
"I'm going to die in one minute?!" (utter shock)
"Save me! I don't want to die!" (eyes wide with desperation)
"You damned traitors — hurry up and take the medicine!" (voice sharp with rage)
"Oh, I see… You've all been waiting for me to die, haven't you? And here I thought of you as brothers!" (coughs up blood in despair)
The strange, unreadable expressions on everyone else's skin made the Black Widow's scalp prickle with fear.
Clinging to Shinji's dramatic pleas as her last hope, she shouted along desperately: "Can't you hear your leader?! Are you really going to betray him?!"
Seeing them remain completely unmoved, the Black Widow's heart sank deeper and deeper.
She had never imagined the situation would turn out like this.
It seemed the Demon God Akagi's group was already on the verge of falling apart.
Instead of threatening them, her actions were actually helping them get rid of their leader.
She felt utterly defeated.
RUN!
The Black Widow turned and fled for her life.
She had no leverage left at all.
"Don't go! Leave the antidote behind!" Shinji cried out.
Hearing him, she ran even faster.
"Senpai… she's almost out of sight…"
"Tsk. Some people really have no appreciation for art. You see that right there? That's what I call acting — defeating the enemy without fighting. Learn from it."
In an instant, Shinji transformed from a dying man into someone full of life and energy.
Poison?
To someone with an immortal body, poison was nothing but a joke.
Besides, the blood he had coughed up during his performance contained all the toxins he had absorbed. Since most poisons spread through the bloodstream, and Shinji had absolute mastery over his own blood, the Black Widow's trick was just embarrassing herself in front of a master.
"Leave that woman to you, Sasuke."
"Catch her, and you get a reward."
"But if she escapes… hehe, you can imagine the consequences yourself."
When Shinji's gaze drifted meaningfully toward Sasuke's head, the boy shivered instantly, then shot off in pursuit, killing intent radiating from every pore.
He wasn't chasing for a reward — he just refused to go back to being an egg‑shaved bald head.
Shinji, meanwhile, told himself he was only doing this to train Sasuke, and absolutely not to satisfy his own weird sense of humor. He swore this by Hidan's kidneys!
That said — it had surprised him that the so‑called Black Widow really had come specifically for him.
It seemed that for the sake of such a massive bounty, all sorts of monsters and lunatics would crawl out of the woodwork.
Even with his fearsome reputation, there would always be those foolish enough to charge head‑on, hoping to rise to fame by taking him down.
Quite a while later — by which time Shinji and the others had already finished their meal — Sasuke finally dragged a corpse back to camp.
It looked like the fight hadn't been easy.
Which made sense. Anyone bold enough to target the Demon God Akagi had to have some real skills.
But Sasuke had remained extremely cautious from the very start, specifically wary of poison.
He had dragged the fight out rather than make reckless moves, never giving her an opening.
In the end, the Black Widow had met her end in frustration.
If only she hadn't revealed herself so early… If they hadn't known what she was capable of, the moment they got poisoned, she could have easily turned the tables.
But there are no "what‑ifs."
Seeing that Sasuke was in good spirits and only had minor scratches and bruises, Shinji decided not to heal him with Reverse Cursed Technique. Instead, he asked:
"How long has it been since we left Konoha together?"
Sasuke thought for a moment. "More than three months."
"Yeah… more than three months."
Shinji nodded slowly. "Do you want to get stronger?"
Was there even a need to ask?
Sasuke nodded vigorously.
Satisfied, Shinji said no more. He took out the item he had kept ready — [Sharingan Phantom Core], now completely cooled and ready for use.
"You've used this once before. You know what to do."
Sasuke immediately activated his Three‑Tomoe Sharingan and stared intently at the faintly glowing eyeball‑like object in Shinji's hand.
As Shinji activated its power, the shape in his hand rapidly shifted — first changing perfectly into the exact same Three‑Tomoe pattern Sasuke had, before slowly, steadily evolving into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
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