title.Illusion Master

The ink‑painted tiger let out a long roar, snatched up a bandit and snapped his neck in one bite.

"What the hell is that!!"

After seeing the tiger, some of the bandits started to panic; they'd always heard about ninjas' power, but today was the first time they actually witnessed a ninja's strength.

Yewu Yue saw Sōi make a move and lost any desire to keep playing.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball erupted from Yewu Yue's mouth, turning every bandit in front of him into charcoal. The few survivors were then torn apart by the tiger that Sōi had drawn. Now the only bandit still alive was the leader who had been kicked away by Yewu Yue.

After being kicked away by Yewu Yue, the bandit leader slammed into a distant rock. Seeing Yewu Yue's tactics, he clutched his chest, struggled to his feet, and tried to flee.

But at his speed there was no way to escape; Yewu Yue closed the distance with two swift steps and seized him.

"M‑…masters, I beg you, please let me go! I really haven't done anything evil! I became a bandit only out of desperation, just to have something to eat! Treat me like a speck of dust and set me free!"

The bandit leader burst into tears, repeatedly bowing his head to Yewu Yue and the others, his expression filled with sorrow.

"If you've ever done something wicked, tell the truth yourself."

Three tomoe slowly materialized in Itachi's eyes as his Sharingan whirred. When the bandit leader saw those eyes, he froze instantly, his gaze becoming vacant.

Sōi, standing nearby, instantly turned his head away, avoiding eye contact with Itachi.

Itachi noticed the subtle movement, but he didn't mind.

Under the control of the Sharingan, the bandit leader slowly confessed his crimes.

"I became a bandit because I lost all my family's money gambling. Before leaving home I robbed the neighbors of everything they had, and fearing they'd seek revenge I killed their entire family.

After that I joined a gang of bandits on Little Tang Mountain. Because I'm ruthless and experienced, I always managed to loot a lot, and soon the Black Iron boss promoted me to a sub‑leader, leading my brothers to ambush passing merchants.

So far we've already robbed three waves of merchants passing through here."

"What do you do with the merchants you rob?" Itachi asked.

"All the men are killed, the women are taken up the mountain and locked away for the brothers to use for pleasure," the bandit leader said, his eyes still vacant.

A cold glint flashed in Yewu Yue's eyes; he felt that no amount of killing could ever satisfy his hatred for people like this.

"How many of you are there in total? Any ninjas among you?" Itachi continued.

"We're about a hundred strong, no ninjas, and the boss is just an ordinary person," the bandit leader replied.

After finishing his confession, the bandit leader suddenly clasped his hands over his head and, bit by bit, twisted his own neck until it snapped.

"Letting him die like that is far too cheap," Yewu Yue said.

"They're also holding hostages; the sooner we go, the sooner we can rescue them. There's no need to waste more time on scum like this."

Having obtained the information he wanted, Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and pulled out the map attached to the mission scroll.

"These bandits should be on this mountain. The extermination mission is now yours two; I'll handle any escapees from below. But if anyone makes it to me, that means you've failed, and Sasuke you'll have to go back to the ninja academy and retake the course.

You also have to rescue all the hostages safely. Understand?"

Itachi pointed at a mountain marked on the map and said to Yewu Yue and Sōi.

Only then did Sōi dare to look back; when he saw that Itachi's eyes no longer bore the three tomoe, he finally relaxed.

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"Got it!" Yewu Yue and Sōi replied in unison.

The two then followed the route drawn on the map, sprinting toward Little Tang Mountain.

But… this was all only from Sōi's perspective.

From Yewu Yue and Itachi's viewpoint, Sōi was alone, arms swinging behind him, running circles around them.

Yewu Yue saw him and almost laughed, but held back.

Now he truly witnessed how terrifying a master of illusion could be.

In fact, Sōi had already fallen under Itachi's illusion before Itachi activated his Sharingan; it was just a minor trick that slightly altered Sōi's sense of direction. Later, when Itachi opened his Sharingan to interrogate the bandit leader, Sōi thought he'd turned his head to avoid Itachi's gaze, but he had actually turned directly into Itachi's line of sight.

After that, Itachi fully hypnotized him, trapping him inside the illusion.

"Just leave him here, Nissan. Hand over all these bandits to me. If you let him follow me, I won't be able to use my techniques."

Yewu Yue tightened his grip on the Zanpō Blade in his hand and said to Itachi.

Itachi nodded, then summoned a spirit raven.

"Take one of my summoned ravens; if anything goes wrong, I can have it fly to you instantly."

The summoned raven circled above Yewu Yue's head.

"But if you fail this mission, I'll really make you go back to the ninja academy and retake the course," Itachi said with a grin to Yewu Yue.

Yewu Yue chuckled at that.

"Don't worry, that won't happen." With that, Yewu Yue took off toward Little Tang Mountain, the raven at his side.

Remaining in place, Itachi watched Sōi still running circles around them and fell into thought; he knew that the core ninjas were all marked with Danzo's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, making it impossible for them to reveal any information about the core or Danzo.

"But… sometimes, giving the enemy false information can be more useful than obtaining the truth from them…"

line.

Ye Wuyue used his Flash Step to arrive at the Little Tang Mountain the sub‑leader of the mountain bandits mentioned, and saw their stronghold; two bandits were guarding the gate.

"Transformation technique."

Ye Wuyue formed a hand seal, and his entire appearance turned into that of the sub‑leader.

He then swaggered up to the gate of the stronghold. Since the bandits were holding innocent hostages, Ye Wuyue didn't plan to force his way in.

He had originally intended to use Qu Guang, but after using it his movement was hindered, so he switched to the transformation technique.

"Greetings, third leader!"

The two gate‑keeping bandits lowered their heads and greeted him.

"Good." Ye Wuyue nodded and walked into the stronghold.

"Third leader, where are the other brothers?"

At that moment one of the bandits noticed Ye Wuyue was alone and asked him.

"We just robbed a wealthy family; the others are hauling goods behind us. I have an urgent matter, so I came back first."

The bandit's face lit up with sudden understanding.

"Ah, I get it. The urgent matter the third leader mentioned is wanting to go to the cell, right?" The bandit gave a lecherous grin and asked Ye Wuyue.

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