Sasuke Uchiha, You're Under Arrest!

The Konoha Military Police Force of the Uchiha Clan had previously been responsible for maintaining order in the village.

Now that the Uchiha had been wiped out, a large number of experienced and powerful Bloodline Ninja with dojutsu had died. The impact on the village in the short term was enormous.

After losing such a large batch of elites, the village would inevitably face a manpower shortage.

And over the past two days, several villages—the Land of Demons, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, Amegakure, Kusagakure, and Takigakure—had sent more than a hundred ninja and officials. Their arrival would undoubtedly further worsen Konoha's shortage of personnel for public security.

After all, no one could say what purposes these villages, ostensibly here to participate in the Chunin Exams, harbored in secret.

No matter how one looked at it, none of the necessary surveillance and security measures could be neglected.

But all of that required manpower!

So tonight, the ANBU Building, which should have been heavily guarded, was likely extremely empty.

This was a blind spot right under the lamp!

Bang.

Another firework blossomed in the night sky.

The dazzling multicolored light reflected across Shinji's face, making his expression seem uncertain and obscure.

The faint pain in his eyes reminded him that he had to obtain Fugaku Uchiha's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan as soon as possible.

Otherwise, once the condition of his own Mangekyō Sharingan began to decline, his chances of succeeding would only grow lower and lower.

Drawing back his distant gaze, Shinji turned his eyes toward the Root ninja trapped in the genjutsu.

That man had seen his Susanoo. Shinji could only choose to silence him; otherwise, Shinji would be the one who died.

But he still needed to figure out how to silence him.

He forced himself to calm down and sort through his thoughts before walking up to the Root ninja. He took several Explosive Tags from the ninja tool pouch at his waist and stuck them inside the man's clothes.

Then, he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and implanted a psychological suggestion into the Root ninja. "Go to Sunagakure's residence and detonate the Explosive Tags on your body!"

At the end, he added, "Detonate them somewhere empty. Do not harm innocent people!"

Terror flashed through the Root ninja's eyes.

Clearly, his consciousness had not been completely erased, and he was still capable of resisting.

But the lower limit of the Mangekyō Sharingan's Dojutsu was there. Even if Shinji was a novice, he could still suppress the man's will for a short period of time.

So, before long, the man became completely blank-eyed. Following Shinji's command, he turned and headed toward Sunagakure's residence.

After watching the Root ninja leave, Shinji glanced at the unconscious Shion on the ground, then turned without hesitation and rushed toward the ANBU Building.

Before long, having already memorized the village's layout inside and out, Shinji successfully slipped near the ANBU Building.

Hiding in the shadows, he put on a fox mask and used the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as an ordinary ANBU ninja.

The Transformation Technique was one of the most basic Three Body Technique. As the Uchiha body's original owner had already mastered it before his death, Shinji had naturally become proficient after practicing it privately a few times.

Still, the Transformation Technique was easy to learn but difficult to master.

The greater the transformation, the more precise one's Chakra control needed to be.

So this time, in order to minimize the traces of his transformation, Shinji made no major changes. He merely increased his height slightly and disguised himself in a set of ANBU attire.

Even the mask on his face was a genuine physical mask, reducing the flaws to the absolute minimum.

Bang!

Brilliant fireworks still burst in the night sky from time to time.

But Shinji had no time to admire them. His eyes remained fixed on the brightly lit ANBU Building in the distance as he calculated how he should proceed once inside.

Boom!

Suddenly, a huge explosion unlike the fireworks sounded in the distance.

The blast instantly alerted the ANBU inside the building. Within moments, seven or eight figures shot out of the ANBU Building one after another and rushed toward the explosion.

After taking a deep breath, Shinji stepped toward the ANBU Building.

Just as he had expected, the ANBU Building, which should have been a den of danger, was exceptionally empty tonight. Dressed as an ANBU ninja, he strolled right in.

On the first floor, he brushed past an ANBU ninja hurrying along.

He had been so nervous that he was nearly ready to activate his Mangekyō Sharingan, but the other person seemed to be rushing off on a mission and did not pay him any attention at all.

Whew.

He quietly let out a breath, then discreetly began studying the layout of the ANBU Building.

The first floor seemed to contain only places like reception rooms, changing rooms, and equipment rooms.

"Important places like the storeroom and archives should be on the second floor or underground."

He analyzed as he carefully observed his surroundings.

But after making a circuit, he found no entrance to the underground level, so he could only head to the second floor.

On the stairs, he ran into an ANBU ninja wearing a Dog Mask who was preparing to go downstairs.

The two passed each other.

Just as Shinji thought he was safe, the other man suddenly stopped and asked, "Stop. Which squad are you from?"

Shinji's heart tightened, but his mind raced as he blurted out, "Lord Danzo sent me to inventory the sealed Sharingan."

"Weren't the Sharingan already taken by Lord Danzo—"

Halfway through his sentence, the ANBU wearing the Dog Mask immediately realized something was wrong. His hands rapidly formed seals as he shouted, "Water Style, Water Prison Jutsu!"

Splash!

In an instant, a massive column of water surged toward Shinji.

Though Shinji had been on guard, he was still startled by the Dog Mask ANBU's sudden attack. He had not expected the other man to act so decisively, and the water column struck him at once.

Seeing that his Water Style had hit Shinji, the Dog Mask ANBU formed seals again. "Water Style, Water Prison Technique!"

Driven by the ninjutsu, the water column battering Shinji began to change.

"Total Concentration, Water Breathing, Sixth Form—Twisting Whirlpool!"

Engulfed by the water column, Shinji had a sudden idea. He activated his Breathing Technique and, using Water Breathing's affinity with water, spun nimbly. At the very instant the water prison closed, he narrowly ran across the water and burst free.

He did not dare linger. He charged toward a nearby window while tearing a long string of Explosive Tags from the ninja tool pouch at his waist.

Seeing his opponent actually escape the Water Prison Technique, the Dog Mask ANBU's expression changed. He immediately formed seals again. "Water Style, Water Bullet Technique!"

In an instant, the sealed water prison exploded violently, and streams of water droplets shot toward the fleeing Shinji like a rain of swords.

Almost at the same moment, Shinji detonated the long string of Explosive Tags he had just pulled from his ninja tool pouch behind him.

Boom!

A massive explosion rang through the corridors of the ANBU Building.

Under the cover of the blast and smoke, the drenched Shinji successfully smashed through the window and escaped the ANBU Building.

The moment he landed, pain shot through his back.

Without a doubt.

The Explosive Tags had not completely blocked the other man's Water Bullet Technique. One or two streams of water bullets had still struck him.

But he could not worry about that now. He fully activated his Breathing Technique, controlled his wounds to stop the bleeding temporarily, then darted into the shadows at incredible speed.

He had planned his escape route before the operation, so although he was in a sorry state, he was not panicked.

Upon reaching a blind spot, he immediately canceled the Transformation Technique and tossed the fox mask, which had cracked during the battle, toward a small lake nearby.

The lake water could erase scents!

Splash!

Sasuke poked his head out of the lake.

The instant he jumped into the lake and the water soaked him, he realized that Itachi's reflection on the lake's surface earlier had only been his illusion.

Suddenly, he noticed a damaged fox mask floating on the lake not far away.

It floated there all alone.

He swam over, picked up the mask, and returned to the shore. Staring blankly at the crack on it, he murmured, "Were you abandoned too?"

At that moment, he felt that he was very much like the damaged mask.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Amid several sounds of rushing wind, several ANBU ninja instantly landed around Sasuke.

Among them, the ANBU ninja wearing a dog-faced mask looked over the dripping-wet Sasuke and the fox mask in Sasuke's hand, then said in a deep voice, "Sasuke Uchiha, you're under arrest!"

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