Mirror Flower, Water Moon: An Original Genjutsu!

Zuo Hao turned to look at Asuma, a glint of amusement flashing in his Sharingan.

"Because I'm a genius?"

He paused, his tone turning pointed.

"Or do you think a twelve-year-old Genin shouldn't be capable of this?"

Kurenai took a deep breath and forced herself to stay calm.

"When did you use the Shadow Clone Technique? Before the exam started? Or even earlier?"

Zuo Hao raised a finger and gently wagged it, his steady gaze resting on Kurenai Yuhi.

"No, Jōnin Kurenai Yuhi. That's not the question you should be asking."

"Then what should I ask?"

"As a Konoha Jōnin, you didn't even notice when I used a Shadow Clone. Don't you think that's a failure on your part?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Asuma's expression darkened.

Kurenai was his lover. For this Uchiha Clan brat to humiliate her right in front of him was going too far.

"Zuo Hao, don't you think what you just said was out of line?" Asuma asked, suppressing his anger. "We let our guard down for a moment. That's all."

"For a moment?"

Zuo Hao tilted his head slightly. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan gleamed coldly in the shadows.

"What about now?"

The instant the words left his mouth, the scene before Asuma shattered like a mirror.

The corridor, the exam room, Kurenai and Kakashi beside him—everything broke into countless tiny fragments and came crashing down.

His eyes flew open.

He was in a dim observation room, seated in a chair with his forehead resting against his crossed hands. The cigarette between his fingers had long since gone out.

Sweat slid down his temple and dripped onto his knee, leaving a small dark stain.

Beside him, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Might Guy opened their eyes almost simultaneously.

Kurenai's face was deathly pale. Horror and disbelief churned in her scarlet eyes.

She looked down at her hands. Her fingertips were still trembling.

Kakashi leaned against the wall, shock written in his one visible eye.

Might Guy reacted most violently. He sprang straight out of his chair, thick brows drawn together, looking as though he had seen a ghost.

"How—how is this possible? When did we..."

"From the beginning."

Zuo Hao's voice came from a corner at the far end of the observation room.

"You were caught in my Genjutsu the moment you walked into this room."

Zuo Hao raised a hand and pointed to his eyes, to his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

"I call this technique 'Mirror Flower, Water Moon.' The first layer is the mirror. It reflects reality, making everything you see, hear, and feel seem perfectly normal."

"You keep watching the exam room, keep talking, keep making guesses and judgments about me."

He paused, a teasing smile tugging at his lips.

"The second layer is the real killing blow. The moment you think you've seen through the first layer, you fall into the second."

"In that illusion, you discover my Shadow Clone. You question me. My words make you angry. You think you've finally glimpsed the truth."

Kurenai's fingers stopped trembling. She looked up and fixed Zuo Hao with the eyes of someone who had undergone countless hours of Genjutsu training.

"A double-layered Genjutsu... The first layer is a standard Sharingan Genjutsu, and the second is a mirror reversal."

"You made the first layer so perfect that we were bound to see through it. But seeing through it was the trap you'd set for us."

Zuo Hao raised an eyebrow. "As expected of Konoha's strongest Genjutsu Jōnin. You figured it out fast."

Asuma's face was thunderous.

"So everything that just happened—we accused you, you mocked Kurenai, I said you'd gone too far—all of it was an illusion?"

"Yes and no." Zuo Hao raised a finger. "The conversations and reactions in the illusion were generated from each of your personalities and psychological weaknesses."

"You saw me mocking Jōnin Kurenai because, deep down, what you fear most is seeing someone humiliate her in front of you."

Asuma's pupils contracted sharply.

Zuo Hao turned his gaze to Kurenai. "And you saw the Shadow Clone because you'd suspected from the start that I'd used the Shadow Clone Technique. I simply gave you the answer you most wanted to find."

Kurenai's hands clenched tight.

Kakashi finally spoke, his voice as rough as sandpaper.

"How do we break this technique?"

"Good question. An ordinary double-layered Genjutsu can be broken by releasing it twice. But my Mirror Flower, Water Moon is different. The trigger for its second layer is 'seeing through the first layer,' so releasing the Genjutsu only becomes the key that reinforces the second."

He paused, his tone turning pointed.

"The only way to break it is not to try breaking it in the first place."

A deathly silence fell over the room.

All four Jōnin looked grim.

Not because they were angry, but because every word from the twelve-year-old boy before them overturned what they knew about Genjutsu.

He was telling the truth.

The stronger the ninja, the more likely they were to fall into this trap.

They were too confident, too certain they could see through any Genjutsu. The moment they spotted a trace of the first layer, they would release it without hesitation—then plunge straight into the second, utterly unprepared.

Just then, a commotion rose from the exam room.

Ibiki Morino's voice sounded through the speakers in the corridor.

"The first exam is over. Seventy-nine candidates have passed."

Zuo Hao deactivated his Sharingan, and his black eyes regained their usual lazy, indifferent look.

He stretched and headed for the door.

"Oh, one more thing, everyone."

He stopped at the doorway and glanced back at the four Jōnin, wearing that signature careless smile that made them want to grit their teeth.

"When I asked you in the illusion to look after Sasuke, that was the one thing I said that was true."

With that, he pushed open the door and left, his figure disappearing down the corridor.

The observation room remained silent for a full ten seconds.

Then Might Guy slammed a fist into the wall, his spirited face twisted with emotions too tangled to name.

"That kid... What kind of monster is he?"

Kakashi leaned against the wall and slowly pulled down his Forehead Protector, covering his Sharingan again.

"He's not a monster."

His voice was low, almost as if he were speaking to himself.

"He's a genius. A true genius."

Kurenai lowered her head and looked at her still-trembling fingertips.

"A double-layered Genjutsu triggered by seeing through it, turning the act of breaking it into a trap... Even the Hokage might not be able to..."

She did not finish.

Asuma lit another cigarette and took a long drag, the smoke veiling half his face.

"There's only one thing I want to know now."

He exhaled, his gaze as deep as a bottomless well.

"How much else can he do that we don't know about?"