The scene from two days ago, when the clan leader had entrusted her with the mission, immediately surfaced in her mind.
But now that she had met Yeyue Ziyun in person, she was stunned.
Was this harmless-looking boy really as evil as the clan leader had said?
Her hesitation lasted only an instant before Mikoto's eyes turned scarlet.
For the sake of the Uchiha Clan, she had to complete this mission, or the clan would fall under the High Command's suspicion.
Two tomoe appeared in her eyes.
Ziyun then felt as though several thick stakes had nailed his limbs in place, leaving him completely unable to move.
Is this the Uchiha Clan's Genjutsu: Binding?
Looks like Konoha is testing me.
Ziyun glanced at Dodai beside him and saw that he looked tense, his body stiff.
He must have been caught in the genjutsu too.
Looks like Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't hold back after all.
Testing me so brazenly on Konoha's most crowded street... this visit really is dangerous.
Still, I didn't expect them to send someone from the Uchiha Clan.
This must be another of Hiruzen Sarutobi's moves to keep them in check.
Ziyun could already imagine the Third Raikage's fury when the Uchiha Clan made a move to kill him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi would sacrifice the Uchiha Clan without hesitation to appease the Third Raikage.
Just as he would later use Hizashi Hyuga's life to appease the Hidden Cloud Village.
Of course, the Uchiha Clan would never let the Konoha High Command manipulate them as they pleased.
If nothing unexpected happened, Uchiha Mikoto was the pawn the Uchiha Clan had put forward of its own accord this time.
She could be sacrificed.
When that happened, he, the genius who threatened Konoha, would be dead, and the Uchiha Clan would be weakened. That would also diminish their standing among Konoha's civilians.
What a way to kill two birds with one stone.
Interesting!
A smile appeared on Ziyun's lips.
He had yet to sow discord himself, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had already done him a huge favor.
It seemed a rift had already opened between the Uchiha Clan and the Konoha High Command.
Now he only needed to go with the flow to drive the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha's higher-ups further apart.
The essence of genjutsu was to disrupt an enemy's five senses and plunge them into an illusion.
There were several ways to break it. Against an enemy using visual genjutsu, one only had to avoid looking into their eyes.
If one had already fallen under a genjutsu, breaking it required strong mental power and physical constitution, or disrupting one's own chakra.
So the moment after he was caught in Genjutsu: Binding, Ziyun activated Elemental Transformation.
At the moment of Elemental Transformation, as his body shifted back and forth between lightning and flesh, the chakra within him was naturally disrupted.
Though Ziyun had said Elemental Transformation could not prevent genjutsu, he had meant abnormal techniques like Tsukuyomi and Kotoamatsukami.
Against low-level genjutsu, Elemental Transformation still made him unbeatable!
"Teacher Dodai, wake up."
The moment Ziyun broke free of the genjutsu, he placed a hand over Dodai's chakra point and sent chakra into it. Dodai woke up.
"Was that the Uchiha Clan's genjutsu?"
As soon as Dodai awoke, he fixed his eyes on Uchiha Mikoto, who had appeared before them earlier.
The Sharingan!
There was no mistaking it. The girl before them was definitely from the Uchiha Clan.
It failed!
In the blink of an eye, Mikoto realized that her genjutsu had failed.
That harmless-looking boy possessed an exceedingly strange power.
"Little Uchiha Clan girl, why did you attack me?"
The instant Ziyun broke the genjutsu, his whole body turned into lightning. The next moment, he appeared beside Uchiha Mikoto.
He's so fast.
Mikoto froze, only then realizing that Ziyun had come to her side.
She instinctively tried to dodge, but Ziyun grabbed her arm and held her fast.
"Where are you trying to run off to? You attacked a ninja from another village. Do you think you can just leave it at that?"
Afraid Mikoto would slip away, Ziyun gave her a slight tug. She lost her balance and nearly fell.
Seeing that, Ziyun had no choice but to brace himself against her with his chest and catch her.
"Trying to hurt yourself? I won't give you Konoha people any chance to make trouble."
Ziyun smiled as he looked at Mikoto in his arms.
Should I just take her back with me?
The Hidden Cloud Village doesn't have beauties like her.
"Let... let go of me! I didn't mean to!"
Mikoto realized that this harmless-looking boy was quite strong. She couldn't break free at all.
"I just... I just wanted to test a genjutsu I'd newly developed. I picked someone at random from the crowd. How was I supposed to know it would happen to be you?"
Mikoto's delicate face turned red as she came up with a clumsy excuse on the spot.
"Hahaha, are you trying to brush this off because there's no evidence? It won't be that easy."
Ziyun laughed. He couldn't believe she had come up with an excuse like that.
Uchiha Mikoto, should I call you naive or arrogant?
At the same time, several presences lurking in the shadows revealed themselves.
"Yeyue Ziyun, let her go! This isn't the Hidden Cloud Village. You can't just do as you please here!"
The man at their head was a member of the Uchiha Clan. He stepped forward and shouted at Ziyun to stop.
The Uchiha Clan members following him also glared at Ziyun.
Dodai came to Ziyun's side and shielded him from behind.
"You used genjutsu on a visitor who sincerely wants an alliance with Konoha, and now you're trying to turn the blame on us. So this is how Konoha treats its guests?"
Ziyun sneered and met the Uchiha Clan members' eyes without the slightest fear.
It seemed that, besides the Anbu, the Uchiha Clan had also assigned people to keep watch on him.
Interestingly, though, Ziyun's Observation Haki could sense several presences still lurking in the shadows.
In other words, the Anbu Ninja were indifferent to his capture of Uchiha Mikoto.
In a sense, the Anbu's attitude represented Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude.
How interesting.
"Didn't she already tell you? She just wanted to test a newly developed genjutsu. How could she have known she'd run into you... It was just a coincidence."
When Ziyun brought up Konoha, the Uchiha Clan man's tone softened.
It seemed the Uchiha Clan was still somewhat wary of the Konoha High Command.
"Hmph, you don't get to decide whether it was a coincidence. I have to let the Third Hokage judge this!"
"Come on, Teacher Dodai. Let's go to the Konoha High Command and ask them why Konoha Village's Uchiha Clan attacked us for no reason!"
Quick to pick up on this, Ziyun spoke indignantly and dragged Mikoto toward Konoha's Hokage office building.
The Uchiha Clan men's expressions changed drastically, and they immediately tried to rush in and take her back by force.
If this reached Hiruzen Sarutobi, it wouldn't end well.
Even an Uchiha Clan member thinking with his ass would know Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude toward this matter.
But at their speed, how could they keep up with Ziyun, who had already become lightning?
He arrived at the Konoha office first, brimming with aggression.
The Konoha Ninja who tried to stop Ziyun along the way couldn't stop him at all.
After all, Ziyun was lightning. They couldn't even touch him.
With no one able to stop him, Ziyun entered the Hokage's office and told the Third Raikage everything that had happened.
"Third Hokage, Konoha's Uchiha Clan attacked a genius of our Hidden Cloud Village for no reason. You must give us an explanation!"
At those words, the Third Raikage's aura changed instantly!
Chakra gushed out like a flood bursting through a dam.
Like a wild beast, he stared fixedly at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The members of the Konoha High Command present were stunned.
So this is the Third Raikage, known as the strongest Raikage?