Illusion and Reality, Falsehood and Truth

Uzuki Yugao was panicking.

Seeing through people's hearts...

Didn't that mean Xia Yu had already seen through her intentions, too?

Yet she had foolishly thought she had gained his trust and used every means possible to flaunt her body...

"Xia Yu! You really are... so cruel!"

He had enjoyed her for free...

Uzuki Yugao bit her red lip so hard that traces of blood seeped out...

Xia Yu said nothing. He merely smiled and shook his head, raised a hand to tap Yugao's cheek lightly, and said gently, "Time to wake up, Yugao..."

In a daze, the world spun around her.

Uzuki Yugao suddenly felt her consciousness sink. The next second, her eyes snapped open...

She found herself lying on a large, unfamiliar bed.

"Where is this...?"

Xia Yu sat in a chair beside her and answered expressionlessly, "My home..."

"Your home? But your home... didn't look like this?"

"What you saw and experienced just now was nothing but a Sharingan illusion..."

Uzuki Yugao: "..."

Her clothes were completely intact, too.

It seemed Xia Yu was telling the truth.

"Xia Yu, you've already seen why I approached you through your Mangekyō Sharingan's ability, haven't you?"

"Yes..."

"Hmph..." Uzuki Yugao snorted coldly. "Then why didn't you just kill me? Are you a pervert? Did you have to disgust me mentally before you could be satisfied?"

"Huh?" Xia Yu froze.

"Hey, hey, hey! Could you be reasonable? When did I disgust you? You were clearly the one enjoying yourself mentally! From then until now, I've been sitting right here behaving myself. I haven't done a thing!"

At his words, Uzuki Yugao instantly flushed. "Th-that's what I'm saying! You're a pervert! Why did you make me experience something like that mentally? You... you're filthy!!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake..." Xia Yu let out a long, helpless sigh and waved a hand, no longer willing to argue with her.

"What? Not answering means you feel guilty. So you admit it?"

"Admit it, my ass! Why's this gal so darn stubborn!"

In his agitation, Xia Yu even slipped into his hometown dialect.

"Huh? What are you saying?"

Uzuki Yugao could not understand what language Xia Yu was speaking at all.

But she was not surprised. During her earlier investigation, she had heard that Uchiha Clan members who awakened the Mangekyō all had something wrong with their heads. Occasionally spouting nonsense was normal, too.

"Xia Yu! After treating me like that just now, your filthy mind should be satisfied, right? Are you going to start doing it to me for real next? Hmph, let me tell you, you've miscalculated! I'd rather die than submit!"

As Uzuki Yugao spoke, she pulled her top tighter around herself and drew a kunai hidden inside her kimono from behind her...

Seeing this, Xia Yu steadied himself and sat back down in the chair. "Yugao, you're very prejudiced against me..."

"Am I wrong? You pervert!"

Xia Yu shook his head.

"No. The only reason I did that to you was to see... how far you would resolve to go for the Hokage's orders."

"Yugao, the way you acted in the illusion surprised me. I really never imagined you would go that far for the Hokage's orders. Like that... were you really still yourself?"

"..."

Uzuki Yugao froze...

Before her, Xia Yu was looking at her with pity and regret.

That's right...

Whether it was an illusion or reality, she had willingly entered Xia Yu's room for Lord Hokage's mission and used shameless methods to satisfy Xia Yu as much as possible.

For the past half month, she had even spent her days and nights in the pleasure district, taking the people there as her teachers, all to carry out the mission more perfectly...

In the end, she had turned herself into this...

The purpose... was merely to carry out an order from her superior.

Xia Yu continued.

"Yugao, you're a smart woman. Instead of accepting orders unconditionally, why can't you think about why your superior would give you such a despicable order? Do you really think it's for the village?"

"Isn't it just because he's afraid our Uchiha power will shake his position?"

"That's what hurts me most about him. Our clan is Konoha's Uchiha, and always will be, yet the Hokage treats us like this, both in the past and now..."

"Yugao, your loyalty shouldn't be spent on him. Do you think staying by the Hokage's side and winning his approval will let you soar to the top?"

"Heh... stop dreaming. The only one soaring to the top is him. Look at yourself now, at the pathetic missions you're carrying out..."

"Is it worth it?"

Xia Yu's words rang like a warning bell, shaking Uzuki Yugao's wavering heart.

Over the years, she had stayed by Hiruzen Sarutobi's side as an elite member of the Anbu. She knew very well what he had done.

Anbu missions had always been nasty and unusual. Sometimes, they even involved striking against their own people. Such missions were commonplace, nothing unusual.

The Anbu members had no complaints, either, because from the day they joined the Anbu, they had always upheld one rule: act, don't speak.

As long as it was a mission, they had to carry it out unconditionally.

This was absolute loyalty, as well as absolute trust in their superior.

Uzuki Yugao had grown up with Hiruzen Sarutobi's teachings from childhood and had never wavered in that original conviction.

But today, she wavered.

Once loyalty wavered, recalling past events would only make that wavering intensify.

Two years ago, she had also participated on the night of the Uchiha massacre, though she had only arrived afterward, mainly to handle the cleanup.

At the time, they had clearly known Uchiha Itachi was responsible. Itachi had even appeared nearby, yet Hiruzen Sarutobi had not ordered anyone to pursue him...

She had not understood...

Half a month ago, it had been her squad that stayed beside Hiruzen Sarutobi throughout Danzo's interrogation. In the end, under Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders, they had helped the "crazed" Danzo escape the interrogation room.

Once again, the whole truth remained obscure.

She had not understood that, either...

Why had Lord Hokage done that?

But perhaps she had grown accustomed to it. Even when she did not understand, she would not think any deeper. In short, she simply had to trust him.

Her superior's actions surely held some deeper meaning.

Until today. With today's events added to them, everything passed before her eyes like drifting clouds and smoke, each detail vivid...

Illusion and reality, falsehood and truth.

What was real,

What, in the end, was real...

Judging by the results, only the apprehension toward and persecution of the Uchiha Clan were real.

As for something as vague and intangible as "protecting Konoha," she truly seemed never to have seen it. Truly...