Preparing to Defect

The Root ninja in the lead saw Uchiha Shaoyu standing still and assumed his injuries were too severe for him to fight back. A cold smile curled his lips as he thrust the kunai in his hand toward Shaoyu's wrist.

But just as the kunai was about to touch Shaoyu's clothes, Shaoyu's body shifted slightly to the side, dodging the lethal strike like a phantom. At the same time, his right hand shot out and seized the other man's wrist with pinpoint accuracy.

"What?"

The Root ninja's expression changed drastically. He hadn't expected Uchiha Shaoyu to move so quickly—nothing like someone who was gravely injured.

He tried to break free, only to find Shaoyu's hand clamped around his wrist like an iron vice. He couldn't move at all.

Seeing this, the two Root ninjas beside him immediately rushed to help, thrusting their kunai toward Shaoyu from both sides.

Shaoyu's gaze sharpened. Rather than release the man he was holding, he kicked back hard with his left foot and spun halfway around in the air. His right foot struck the Root ninja on the left squarely on the wrist, knocking the kunai from his hand, while his left fist slammed into the chest of the Root ninja on the right.

"Pfft!" The Root ninja on the right grunted and spat out a mouthful of blood. He flew backward, crashed heavily into the courtyard wall, and slid to the ground. He struggled a few times but couldn't get back up.

The lead Root ninja was even more alarmed. He abruptly gathered his chakra, trying to break free of Shaoyu's grip, and shouted under his breath,

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A blazing ball of fire burst from his mouth and hurtled toward Shaoyu's face.

Uchiha Shaoyu raised an eyebrow but didn't dodge. Instead, he shoved the Root ninja he was holding forward. The Great Fireball struck his comrade in the back, setting his clothes ablaze in an instant.

"Ah!" The Root ninja screamed, completely losing the ability to fight back.

Shaoyu let go and watched him roll on the ground, trying to put out the flames. Then he turned his gaze to the remaining Root ninja.

The ninja's face had gone pale with fear. He hadn't expected Uchiha Shaoyu to be so powerful. In just a few exchanges, he had taken two of his comrades out of the fight.

He swallowed and slowly backed away, still gripping the kunai in his hand. Clearly, he was hesitating over whether to attack again.

But he was a Root ninja. The consequences of failing the mission would be even worse.

After a moment's thought, the Root ninja gritted his teeth and charged again with his kunai raised.

Like a gambler staking everything on one throw, the Root ninja used the momentum of his retreat to kick off the ground. His body became a blur as the kunai in his hand flashed with a chilling glint, aimed straight at Shaoyu's neck.

He figured Shaoyu had just dealt with two of his comrades and hadn't yet caught his breath. He also gambled that a badly injured man would inevitably have an opening. The strike came with the ruthless desperation of someone burning his bridges.

Shaoyu seemed to react too slowly. His body was still in the pose he'd held after kicking away the kunai, and though his neck tilted slightly to the side, he failed to dodge completely.

The sharp tip of the kunai sliced through the air and, with a hiss, pierced his flesh. Warm blood immediately welled from its groove, staining the collar of Shaoyu's black combat uniform.

"Got him!"

Wild delight flared in the Root ninja's eyes. His heart pounded with overwhelming excitement.

He could almost picture Lord Danzo praising him for completing the mission. Without thinking, he tightened his grip, trying to drive the kunai through Shaoyu's carotid artery.

But at that moment, a sharp stab of pain shot through the back of his neck. It felt as if countless needles had pierced his nerves at once, and the scene before his eyes suddenly warped.

The Uchiha Shaoyu whose neck he had just pierced slowly curled his lips into a cold smile. The deep wound faded like a receding tide, leaving skin smooth and unmarked.

"H-how is that possible?"

The Root ninja's pupils contracted violently. His kunai felt as if it had plunged into cotton, meeting no resistance at all.

He tried to pull his hand back and retreat, but his body seemed pinned in place. A numbing heaviness filled every limb, leaving him unable to move.

"Genjutsu? When?"

His gaze rose against his will, and he met Uchiha Shaoyu's scarlet eyes.

Three tomoe spun rapidly in his dark pupils, like the gears of fate, radiating a terrifying ocular power.

The Sharingan's distinctive scarlet light enveloped his consciousness. The world around him crumbled away. The courtyard vanished, replaced by an endless expanse of darkness. Only Shaoyu's eyes shone brightly in the void, like a god looking down upon its prey.

"When did you start thinking you couldn't be caught in a genjutsu?"

Uchiha Shaoyu's voice echoed through the darkness, carrying a faint note of mockery.

The Root ninja's mind went blank as fear swept over him like a cold tide.

He finally understood. The sensation of the kunai piercing his neck, the warmth of the blood—none of it had been real. It was all an illusion created by the Sharingan.

From the moment he saw Shaoyu "injured," his mind had already fallen under the other man's control.

His supposed "success" had been nothing more than a trick to toy with its prey.

He tried to gather chakra and break the genjutsu, but the chakra in his body was like a dried-up river, unable to flow.

The Sharingan's ocular power bound his mind and body like invisible shackles, leaving him to suffer in despair in the endless darkness.

Shaoyu's genjutsu wasn't as absurdly powerful as Itachi Uchiha's Tsukuyomi or Shisui's Kotoamatsukami in the original story, but the formidable ocular power of the Mangekyō Sharingan still made his genjutsu exceptionally potent.

The Root ninja before him had only barely reached the level of a jōnin. He was certainly capable, but he was nowhere near strong enough to resist Shaoyu's genjutsu.

In the darkness, Uchiha Shaoyu slowly raised his left hand, brought three fingers together, and pointed them at the ninja's forehead.

"If you were willing to come after me, you should have been prepared to fail."

The Root ninja's eyes filled with terror and regret. He opened his mouth to beg for mercy, but no sound came out.

Though Danzo had brainwashed him into being completely loyal, even the most loyal man wouldn't want to die if he could live.

Before the absolute ocular power of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, all his struggles seemed laughable.

In the last moment before his consciousness sank into darkness, all he saw were the tomoe in Shaoyu's eyes spinning faster and faster, as if they were about to swallow his soul whole.

In the real world, the Root ninja remained frozen in his charge, his kunai hovering less than an inch from Shaoyu's neck. His eyes were wide, his pupils unfocused, and a trace of delight still lingered at the corners of his mouth. Yet his body had already lost all signs of life.

The impact of the genjutsu had completely shattered his mind, leaving behind an empty shell. He fell straight backward and hit the ground hard, never moving again.

A genjutsu from the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was already beyond the likes of him to resist, let alone one cast with the Mangekyō Sharingan he had now.

That old geezer Danzo really did underestimate the Uchiha. He'd thought Shaoyu was injured, so he'd sent these useless nobodies to deal with him.

Uchiha Shaoyu slowly deactivated his Sharingan, and his scarlet pupils returned to inky black.

"Root has gotten this brazen? Looks like it's time to leave Konoha."

That's right. Uchiha Shaoyu had already decided to defect.