A Master of Acting

Meanwhile, Uchiha Homura had been extremely cautious ever since entering the valley.

With a medicine basket on his back, he looked around from time to time, pulling up every herb he came across and tossing it into the basket.

Sometimes, perhaps just to look cool, he even put on a fancy display of climbing cliffs and scaling walls to gather herbs.

The valley was very dark, with no sunlight reaching inside. Still, since it was morning, he could barely make out his surroundings by the light passing over the valley overhead.

I've been gathering herbs in the valley for nearly half an hour. Minato and the others should be ready by now. Now let's see how long these ninjas can hold out before making their move. Seeing that his medicine basket was nearly two-thirds full, Uchiha Homura thought silently.

The ninjas who had been watching Uchiha Homura were also discussing something at that moment.

"Boss, should we just kill that brat?" One of the ninjas, whose Chakra reserves were at chunin level according to Soji's observations, spoke to someone hiding behind a clump of grass.

From his tone, it was obvious that the other silent person was the leader of their group.

The jonin who was clearly the leader did not answer his subordinate directly. Instead, he raised his right hand, signaling everyone to remain hidden.

It was not that the ninja leader did not want to kill this brat, who was clearly just a genin. He was simply afraid that this was a trap meant to lure the snake from its hole.

Although he believed there was almost no chance it was a trap, the thought of that man of steel's instructions still made him shudder.

To complete the task assigned by that man, whom he could not afford to offend, he decided to be cautious—then even more cautious.

If he messed up the task that terrifying man had assigned him, he believed his fate would be far from pleasant, even if he was a jonin.

With his usual temper, he would have ordered his men to swarm Uchiha Homura the moment he entered the valley. Why would he be suffering through this frustration now?

Thus, under the jonin's orders, the group continued secretly observing Uchiha Homura's every move.

Another half hour passed, and Uchiha Homura's medicine basket was now filled with the herbs he had gathered.

Even though he had deliberately slowed down his herb-gathering, he could not drag things out any longer. Otherwise, he would definitely arouse the suspicions of the ninjas in the valley.

For a moment, Uchiha Homura even wondered whether he had been exposed, causing these ninjas to turtle up instead of coming out to kill him.

With no other choice, Uchiha Homura adjusted the medicine basket packed full of herbs and prepared to leave the valley, planning to meet up with Minato and the others before discussing another plan.

Just as Uchiha Homura turned around and took his first step toward leaving the valley, a shuriken flew in from behind him at an angle, grazing his hair and embedding itself in the ground before his feet.

"Move."

At the ninja leader's command, a group of ninjas rushed out from all directions in the valley, surrounding Uchiha Homura as he was about to leave.

That shuriken had been thrown by the ninja leader. It was also the signal telling his subordinates that they could begin.

Uchiha Homura seemed frightened by the sudden shuriken and the large group of ninjas. He stumbled and fell onto the ground.

"Y-you... who... who are you people?" To make his act convincing, Uchiha Homura even deliberately stuttered.

At the same time, he scrambled backward on his hands and feet.

At that moment, several of the ninjas lit torches, bringing faint points of light into the dim Wuyang Valley.

By the torchlight, the ninjas could see the terrified expression Uchiha Homura had put on for his performance, and mocking smiles appeared on their faces.

In this situation, any ordinary genin would probably have been scared enough to wet himself. The ninjas greatly enjoyed watching Uchiha Homura's expression.

The ninja leader pushed through the subordinates surrounding Uchiha Homura and walked up to him.

Then he looked down at Uchiha Homura, whose face was filled with panic and helplessness.

He was quite satisfied with Uchiha Homura's expression. It reminded him of how he had looked when facing that terrifying figure a year ago. He had probably been even more pathetic than Uchiha Homura was now.

"I ask, you answer. Get one word wrong, and I break one of your bones. I'll keep slowly breaking them until every bone in your body is shattered. Understand, brat?" The ninja leader pressed the knuckles of his left hand with his right, producing a series of cracking sounds.

Combined with the scene, his tone made the atmosphere even more terrifying.

"Gulp."

Uchiha Homura swallowed hard, then nodded frantically.

Of course, it was all an act. Uchiha Homura wanted nothing more than to spring up and deal with all these ninjas. How could he possibly feel even the slightest fear? If anything, he was excited.

"Brat, you're a genin from Konoha?"

"Yes."

"What are you doing in Wuyang Valley?"

"I accepted a D-rank mission from the village to gather herbs here."

"Did you take this mission alone?"

"Yes."

"Where are your other companions?"

"They went to carry out other miss—"

As the ninja leader asked his final question, Uchiha Homura deliberately acted as though he had answered instinctively, then hurriedly clamped his mouth shut halfway through.

"Hehe!"

The ninja leader laughed sinisterly twice but said nothing else.

Uchiha Homura's attempt to conceal the truth only made the ninja leader feel that he already knew what was going on.

"Does anyone else know that you came here alone to carry out this mission?"

As if to confirm his guess, the ninja leader threw out another question.

"O-of course! When I came to carry out this mission, I... I told my Mentor Teacher everything. If I don't return to the village before sunset today, my Mentor Teacher will definitely bring Konoha's ninjas here to look for me. Really!"

Uchiha Homura's tone made it seem as though he was trying to intimidate the ninjas before him.

He even deliberately emphasized the word "really" at the end.

But to these seasoned ninjas, Uchiha Homura's behavior only proved that he was guilty. He was even trying to bluff them with lies to save his own life.

"Hahahaha!"

Sure enough, the ninjas burst into laughter after hearing Uchiha Homura's answer!

They truly refused to believe that a genin who looked only about ten years old could fool them with lies.

They believed Uchiha Homura's answers to the first three questions were true, but the final two were obviously something he had made up on the spot to save his life.

With their intelligence, how could they possibly fail to see through such a petty "scheme"?

What Uchiha Homura really wanted to say was, Do you think I'm on the second level while you're on the third?

Actually, you're on the third level, and I'm on the fourth!

This time, I predicted your prediction of me!

As the laughter gradually died down, the ninja leader bent over, lowered his head, and brought his face close to Uchiha Homura's. He said viciously, "Brat, I already know everything. Now, come be our guest. We'll give you a very 'warm' reception."

After saying that, he widened his eyes and bared his teeth at Uchiha Homura, who had lowered his head in fright and practically buried his face in his chest.

Then he reached out, intending to grab the brat and toss him to the subordinates behind him.

"W-wait. Can you look into my eyes?"

Just as the ninja leader's hand was about to grab Uchiha Homura by the collar, he heard the other boy's weak voice by his ear.

Instinctively, the ninja leader looked toward Uchiha Homura, who had just been hanging his head but had now raised it again to look up at him.

From the ninja leader's angle, he could see that Uchiha Homura's eyes held no fear or tension whatsoever. Nor did he look nearly as panicked or cowardly as his voice had suggested.

Of course, that was not the most important thing. What truly filled the ninja leader with terror was the pair of blood-red eyes staring at him!

Two tomoe spun madly within them as a cold, sinister Chakra invaded his mind through that gaze.

"Sharingan!" I'm finished!

Those were the only two thoughts that flashed through the ninja leader's mind before he lost consciousness!

Everyone knew the saying in the ninja world: never engage an Uchiha Clan Sharingan user in a one-on-one battle.

Yet the ninja leader's subordinates were still confused.

Why had their boss suddenly stopped with his hand halfway out?

Without orders from their leader, they did not dare move recklessly.

So right now, it was no different from Uchiha Homura facing the ninja leader one-on-one!

By then, the ninja leader had completely fallen into the illusion Uchiha Homura had woven for him and had entirely lost control of himself.

Even with jonin-level Chakra reserves, he could not quickly break free from Uchiha Homura's genjutsu under such circumstances.

Not to mention that when he fell under the genjutsu, the ninja leader had been completely defenseless, bringing his face close to Uchiha Homura's and locking eyes with him.

Everything that had happened earlier had been seen by Soji.

After Uchiha Homura controlled their leader, Soji and Minato immediately sprang out from behind and launched a surprise attack on the defenseless group of ninjas.

To avoid using powerful ninjutsu that might allow the ninja leader to break free from the genjutsu, they both attacked directly with taijutsu.

It was practically one punch per person. With Soji and Minato's current Special Jonin strength, dealing with these remaining ninjas, who were at most chunin, was laughably easy—especially in a surprise attack.

Finally, after they had knocked down roughly three-quarters of the ninjas and only a few were still holding on, the remaining ones realized that their boss had definitely been caught in something!

Otherwise, their entire group would not be on the verge of getting wiped out while their boss stood there stupidly with his arm extended.

The remaining men immediately rushed toward Uchiha Homura, trying to wake their leader from the genjutsu.

"You only figured it out now? Too late." What greeted the remaining few were several shuriken Uchiha Homura pulled from his ninja tool pouch with a backhanded motion.

"Urgh!" "Ah!"

The shuriken Uchiha Homura threw accurately struck the limbs of the people rushing toward him, instantly taking away their ability to fight.

"Heh, all done." Looking at his final masterpiece, Uchiha Homura stood up from the ground, dusted off his dirt-stained clothes, and said proudly.

At this moment, Uchiha Homura could say with complete responsibility that he had exceeded the task assigned to him by the team.

"Homura, well done! Thanks to you, we were able to break through this valley so easily." Minato Namikaze walked over and spared no praise.

"Yes. Homura's performance really lowered the difficulty of our mission by a great deal." Soji casually dealt with the last chunin, then agreed with Minato.

"Not really. These ninjas were just too stupid, so I was able to fool them." Uchiha Homura did not forget to twist the knife further into the hearts of the ninjas lying on the ground, unable to move their limbs.

The moment they heard Uchiha Homura's words, several ninjas were so enraged that they fainted on the spot.

"Then all that's left is their leader."

Seeing that the battle was decided, Soji and the others gathered around the ninja leader, who was still trapped in the illusion and unable to pull himself out.