The instant the voice rang out, Inoue Shinta turned into a black shadow and lunged at the wardrobe.
"Pfft~"
The short blade pierced straight through the wardrobe, yet he heard no muffled groan as expected.
What was going on?
A flicker of doubt crossed Inoue Shinta's eyes.
His target had clearly been inside the wardrobe. The lack of a groan could be explained by strong willpower, by enduring the pain.
But the feeling of the blade going in was clearly wrong.
The next moment, the entire room was suddenly flooded with light, and a gentle voice sounded behind Inoue Shinta.
"A guest has arrived. Would you like a cup of tea before you set off?"
Inoue Shinta spun around sharply, only to see Uchiha Tunan in a white dress shirt and gold-rimmed glasses, seated at the living room table and watching him.
Two cups of fragrant tea sat on the table.
The wisps of steam drifting from the tea showed that it had just been brewed.
Inoue Shinta's gaze flickered uncertainly. Then, the sound of dripping water suddenly reached his ears.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced toward the kitchen faucet.
The faucet was not dripping.
Inoue Shinta raised a brow, formed a hand seal on the spot, and said viciously,
"You little brat, you dare use such a low-level genjutsu on me? Go practice more in hell."
Chakra began circulating rapidly through his body.
"Genjutsu, release!"
The next instant, the genjutsu was broken, and the scene before Inoue Shinta changed.
He found that he had already opened the wardrobe door. His short blade was pressed to Uchiha Tunan's throat, while Uchiha Tunan clutched his bleeding Three Tomoe Sharingan and trembled all over.
"Genjutsu backlash? What a pitiful fellow."
Inoue Shinta smiled cruelly. He had initially been annoyed that he had fallen for the other's genjutsu, but seeing Uchiha Tunan suffering from backlash brought a hint of satisfaction.
What a genius. He had actually managed to trap him in a genjutsu.
It was just that this genjutsu was still far too immature.
In the next instant, the short blade thrust forward and passed through Uchiha Tunan's neck, spraying blood everywhere.
Inoue Shinta pulled out the blade and prepared to leave at once.
The moment he turned around, the lights flared on, and the same scene began playing out again.
"A guest has arrived. Would you like a cup of tea before you set off?"
"How is that possible? I clearly broke your genjutsu." Inoue Shinta instinctively retreated two steps.
"Drip, drip..." Inoue Shinta glanced at the kitchen faucet from the corner of his eye and saw that it was not dripping at all.
Damn brat.
He had actually endured the genjutsu backlash and cast another genjutsu on him.
He must have cast it at the instant he had been about to kill him.
His will to survive was quite strong.
But none of it mattered now.
Inoue Shinta understood everything in an instant. The frightened expression on his face immediately faded, and he formed another hand seal. "Genjutsu, release."
The entire room fell into darkness once more.
Before Inoue Shinta could breathe a sigh of relief, the lights came on again. However, the person seated in the living room was no longer Uchiha Tunan.
It was an Uchiha Clan jonin.
Inoue Shinta had seen this Uchiha jonin before. He was a captain in the Konoha Military Police Force.
The Uchiha jonin looked at Inoue Shinta with an ambiguous smile, the Three Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spinning and placing immense pressure on him.
"You managed to break my genjutsu. Not bad.
"Uchiha Tunan is a Konoha genius. How could no one be protecting him?
"Speak. Who exactly are you?"
As he spoke, the Uchiha jonin rose to his feet and looked at Inoue Shinta with arrogant eyes.
It was as though he did not consider Inoue Shinta worthy of notice at all.
A cold sweat broke out on Inoue Shinta's forehead, and his right leg trembled faintly beyond his control.
How could this be?
No wonder. No wonder everything had been so strange.
Had I fallen under a genjutsu the instant I entered?
That had to be it. After all, it was a genjutsu personally cast by an Uchiha Clan jonin. It was already fortunate that I could break it in the end.
No... what if... what if this was also a genjutsu?
With a trace of hope, Inoue Shinta hurriedly looked toward the kitchen faucet, only to see water dripping from it.
"Drip, drip..."
This was not a genjutsu.
Inoue Shinta tightened his grip on the short blade, his eyes darting around as he searched for a chance to escape.
The Uchiha Clan jonin gently raised a hand, then suddenly lowered it. With a slight lift of his brows, he said, "Oh? It seems I won't need to act personally. Someone has come looking for you."
Inoue Shinta froze upon hearing that, and a possibility arose in his mind.
It's over... could it be the Anbu...?
Suddenly, several ninjas wearing Cat Masks appeared beside Inoue Shinta and said coldly,
"Inoue Shinta, spy from Kirigakure. Your companion, who attempted to assassinate Kakashi, has already been killed by the Anbu. Do you wish to be killed here, or cooperate and accompany us to Konoha's interrogation room?"
"So it failed... as expected..."
A desolate look flashed through Inoue Shinta's eyes. These masked ninjas had all appeared using the Body Flicker Technique, a technique only jonin could use.
He was merely a Chunin, surrounded by several jonin...
Inoue Shinta could no longer withstand the pressure. His hands dropped limply to his sides, and the short blade in his grip clattered to the floor.
The next instant, darkness filled his vision.
What was going on? Why turn off the lights?
"Pfft~"
A kunai pierced Inoue Shinta's heart, sending blood splattering.
Inoue Shinta collapsed weakly to the floor, his eyes full of confusion.
As his life ebbed away, his vision gradually blurred. In the darkness, he vaguely saw a pair of grim Three Tomoe Sharingan.
"Pfft~"
"Pfft~"
"Pfft~"
After several consecutive finishing blows, Uchiha Tunan confirmed that the intruder was completely dead before turning on the lights.
The reason Uchiha Tunan's genjutsu was so powerful was mainly because he had inherited the talents of his three closest brothers, causing his spiritual power to surge. In a short time, he had constructed the room's environment.
It was not that Inoue Shinta could not break the genjutsu. Rather, every time Inoue Shinta began accelerating his Chakra circulation, before the genjutsu could actually be released, Uchiha Tunan gave him the illusion that it had been broken.
The dripping sound had merely been a psychological suggestion. From beginning to end, the faucet had never dripped.
Furthermore, at the final stage of the genjutsu, he had used the Hell Viewing Technique to dig out what the other man feared most at that moment.
What this man feared most was that someone was protecting Uchiha Tunan, and that his companion had failed and the Anbu had come to arrest him.
When Inoue Shinta finally saw water dripping from the faucet, he completely believed that he was in reality.
Uchiha Tunan returned to the bedroom, took out the family's only Sealing Scroll, and stored the corpse inside it.
He then went to the kitchen, turned on the faucet, wet a rag, and wiped the bloodstains from the floor until they were completely clean.
He also rubbed soap over his hands and the kunai to remove the smell of blood.
He took off his clothes and put them in the washing machine, then changed into a clean, neat white dress shirt.
There was no need to dispose of the body and erase all traces. He was Hiruzen Sarutobi's man. So long as he did nothing too excessive in Konoha, there was nothing to fear.
Besides, this was an enemy village spy. Killing him would even earn him merit.
Using the Three Tomoe Sharingan to cast genjutsu and kill a Chunin alone was not too outrageous either.
There was nothing to hide. In any case, he could not hide it even if he wanted to. This man had a companion, and once the Interrogation Department searched his memories, everything would come out.
Having thought it through, he picked up the scroll and headed for the Hokage Building.
Before you continue