Facing this awkward scene, Tazeshi helplessly turned his head away. He did not want to argue with Moli again, nor did he want to face the killing intent in his companions' eyes.
Damn it. He was clearly the only sane one, yet he had no way to defend himself.
He felt somewhat exhausted, but more than that, he was thinking about how to resolve the current trouble. Perhaps ordinary methods simply could not break a Mangekyō Genjutsu.
He comforted himself inwardly. Even he was beginning to wonder whether he had fallen under a Genjutsu...
Wait, then where had the Mangekyō that caused this entire mess gone? He could not help but wonder.
Moli said, "I was lucky enough to survive just now. Who would still care about a Mangekyō?"
Moli looked at his three companions. They wore equally confused expressions, apparently having no idea where it had fallen. Perhaps it had been destroyed by the previous attack?
He suddenly realized something and furiously roared at Tazeshi, "It's all your fault! If you hadn't suddenly lost your mind, we wouldn't have lost a Mangekyō!"
Tazeshi felt that he was the most innocent one here, but trying to reason with them now would be like playing music to a cow.
For a moment, both sides remained deadlocked. The three others' Chakra was slowly recovering as well. If this continued, Tazeshi would have to face four elite jonin alone!
"Wait, there was another Sharingan. Who was keeping it?" Moli demanded.
The three of them froze. That was right—where had the Single Tomoe Sharingan gone? Come to think of it, their five-man team seemed to be missing someone named Tazeshi.
The killing intent in the air immediately grew even denser.
Tazeshi: ...
"Why are you looking at me? I admit that I was keeping that Sharingan."
"So you killed Tazeshi and stole the goods, huh? You bastard, you'll be dead before dawn tonight!"
Moli's doubtful gaze immediately landed on Tazeshi's face. Seeing that expression, Tazeshi did not need to guess—Moli had started suspecting him too.
In this situation, forget him—I was starting to suspect whether I was fake myself!
After thinking for a moment, he took out another scroll and tossed it to Moli. "The Sharingan is inside. We agreed to take turns keeping it. I never intended to keep it all for myself!"
Moli raised a hand and caught the scroll, giving Tazeshi a suspicious look. The latter's mouth twitched slightly. "You can inspect it right now."
Oh? A faint curve appeared at the corner of Moli's lips. Somewhat amused, he pressed his hand onto the scroll. Amid a puff of white smoke, a scarlet eyeball lay inside a glass bottle.
He smiled and nodded at Tazeshi. Seeing that smile, Tazeshi thought Moli had finally believed him, so he smiled and nodded in return.
Moli hurriedly put away the scroll. Then, seeing his three companions still poised to attack at any moment, he quickly moved away from them and ran toward Tazeshi.
"I believe you now. They may really have fallen under a Genjutsu!" Moli said as he leaped onto Tazeshi's earthen pillar platform.
"That's great. At least there's still one sane person. I nearly thought I was the one under a Genjutsu." Tazeshi seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, his whole body relaxing considerably.
"Then what do we do now? I don't know whether a Sharingan is enough to break a Mangekyō Genjutsu," Moli asked.
"Don't think too much. The Mangekyō and a Single Tomoe are not even on the same level. The gap in ocular power between them is harder to cross than a heavenly chasm."
Tazeshi naturally understood what he was thinking. Even if Moli replaced his eye with that Sharingan, it would absolutely not be enough to break the Mangekyō Genjutsu.
"Then...?"
"Don't worry. Didn't you break free from the Genjutsu? We just need to use a similar method and knock them unconscious too."
Tazeshi spoke with complete confidence.
Seeing how confident he was, Moli could not help believing him somewhat. He pulled a kunai from his satchel and faced off against the three companions opposite them.
"What exactly should we do? With just the two of us, we probably can't beat them, right? Not to mention, we can't kill them."
They were determined to kill Tazeshi, while they had to hold back. Coupled with their numerical disadvantage, they were clearly at a loss.
"You don't need to worry about that. Did you forget the Cyan Crystal the organization gave us when we came here? It's said to be a first-generation scientific ninja tool capable of absorbing ninjutsu.
If I hadn't used that thing to absorb their combined ninjutsu, I probably would have died under their attack long ago."
Tazeshi sighed faintly. Just then, Moli's gaze abruptly changed. His calm eyes instantly revealed terrifying killing intent. With the kunai he had prepared beforehand, he viciously slashed down and directly severed the hand holding the Cyan Crystal.
Crack—!!
The sound of the kunai's sharp blade cutting through bone was crystal clear. At some point, dark-red Chakra liquid had appeared over Moli's skin, bubbling like a ferocious cloak.
He snatched the crystal away and continued swinging the kunai horizontally, intending to cut Tazeshi in half at the waist.
Tazeshi was stunned for only a few breaths. The instant pain reached his mind, he sensed an even more dangerous aura.
Ignoring his painful roar, he hurriedly jumped from the earthen pillar platform over ten meters high, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
After tossing aside the kunai, Moli rapidly formed hand seals. Before Tazeshi could reach the ground, an enormous fireball rapidly closed in.
Without the Cyan Crystal, and with one arm already severed so that he could not form hand seals, there was no way he could deal with this fireball.
In the end, amid an unwilling roar, he stared in astonishment at Moli, who had leaped into the air, as though asking why he had done this.
But he understood in the next instant. Moli released the Transformation Technique, and a familiar figure entered his sight.
Shock, confusion, hatred, unwillingness, regret, realization—his expression changed one after another. In the end, he could only helplessly be swallowed by the flames and burned to ashes.
"Everything I have lost, I will personally reclaim through blood and tears!"
Sarada, having fully revealed her identity, appeared before the surviving three. Her mocking, provocative gaze met theirs directly, and an incomparably delighted smile filled her face.
When "Moli" killed "Sarada," they had already realized that something was wrong. Combined with what Tazeshi had said, they might truly have fallen under a Genjutsu.
Now that Sarada had stepped forward without any attempt to conceal herself, they immediately confirmed that the girl was truly alive. Perhaps she had survived through some other method.
And she had actually played all five of them. She had even killed Tazeshi right in front of them. Moli had likely died by her hand as well.
This was simply too humiliating!!
She was clearly just a little brat. She should have been lying on the ground begging for care, so why did she insist on seeking death?
The three of them snorted coldly. Their stern gazes locked onto Sarada like flames as they cooperatively tied a thread around themselves.
If any one of them fell under a Genjutsu, the others could immediately inject Chakra into them and break it.
Fire Release: Fire Dragon Whirlwind!
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
Lightning Release: Earth Run!
In an instant, three powerful ninjutsu erupted. Sarada merely made a face and mockingly took out the Cyan Crystal tied to a thin string.
The three men's expressions immediately turned ugly. As expected, every attack was absorbed by the crystal, as though a plug had suddenly appeared at the bottom of a lake and all the water flowed into it on its own.
"Keep going?" Sarada was extraordinarily patient as she casually walked toward them.
"Don't get too smug!" Iwashi angrily shouted, though he could not think of a way to deal with her for the moment.
"Don't panic. That kind of scientific ninja tool is only a first-generation model. Its practical performance isn't that strong. I estimate the crystal will shatter after absorbing a few more ninjutsu," Aici reassured them.
At those words, all three men's eyes lit up. They regained their earlier composure. Besides, this little girl was not particularly strong in taijutsu. Wouldn't she be at their mercy then?
Sarada deeply furrowed her brow. She had thought she had seized the initiative, but was she still going to accomplish nothing?
The Sarada before them was merely one of the original Sarada's three Shadow Clones. She did not know the Flying Thunder God Technique, so she could not send the Sharingan back to the original body. This Sharingan, which she had finally managed to reclaim, might be lost again.
Furthermore, the original body was nearly half an hour away. By then, they would probably have already escaped aboard the Thunder Train.
The three men rapidly approached Sarada, gripping black kunai blades wrapped in lightning or wind-natured Chakra.
It seemed they were not blindly arrogant either. After all, a Tailed Beast Cloak had once appeared on Sarada's body. Being so knowledgeable, they naturally knew where such a thing came from.
Unexpectedly, this girl truly was a genius of the Uchiha. Not only had she awakened the Mangekyō, she was also the Jinchuriki of one of the Tailed Beasts.
She was simply... far too valuable for research!!
Before you continue