Prince remained silent for a long time. At last, he raised his eyes, and the faintest curve touched his lips.
It was a bitter smile of relief, the kind that came after someone had seen through every card he held.
"Just as expected, a great reputation is never undeserved. Uchiha Balo, you truly live up to your name."
"So, would you mind clearing up my doubts?" Balo ignored his praise.
"Even if I refused, you'd use those eyes to hypnotize me, wouldn't you?"
Prince smiled, his tone returning to its earlier ease, as though he were discussing something that had nothing to do with him.
Balo did not deny it.
Prince shook his head and sighed.
"You still made one mistake, Mr. Balo. You shouldn't have come after me alone."
Something else appeared in his eyes, part mockery, part regret. He actually admired the man before him, but what Balo intended to do left him no choice but to destroy that admiration with his own hands.
"Though perhaps it wasn't entirely your fault. Smart people all have the same flaw: arrogance. You think you can calculate everything, that once you have everything under control, you can act without fear. Most of the time, you're right. But this one time—"
Before he could finish, the hem of his robe exploded outward.
A massive scorpion tail shot from beneath his robes. Its segmented shell glinted with a dark green chill beneath the sun, barbs growing along the edge of every segment. The venom sac at its tip bulged like a fist, and its stinger, black as ink, stabbed straight at Balo's chest.
Balo's Sharingan activated the instant Prince's robe hem lifted. The Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly, breaking the scorpion tail's attack path into clear afterimages.
The tremor of the venom sac at