"Can we have a proper talk now?"
In the eyes of the Root ninja named Crow, Uchiha Gen'yō's smile was more terrifying than any demon.
"Don't even think about getting any information out of me!"
Crow's body shook violently from the excruciating pain and fear. Yet he still gritted his teeth and glared at Gen'yō with eyes full of venom.
"Not one of us in Root is afraid to die!"
"Is that so?"
Uchiha Gen'yō smiled dismissively.
He walked up to Crow and slowly crouched down. Extending a finger, he lightly touched Crow's pure white mask.
"You're right. I don't expect to get anything out of your mouth."
"Because I prefer looking for myself to listening."
Hum!
A faint purple light glowed at Gen'yō's fingertip.
Three tomoe slowly emerged in his eyes and began spinning rapidly!
Genjutsu: Mind Reading!
"Aah!"
Crow's body abruptly stiffened, and then he let out a piercing, inhuman scream!
The pupil of his lone eye instantly lost focus. It was as though his soul had been sucked out!
He felt an irresistible mental power, as vast as the sea, brutally tearing through his cerebral cortex and invading the deepest reaches of his memories!
The mental defenses he took such pride in, forged through countless rounds of brutal training, were as fragile as a thin sheet of paper before this godlike mental power!
Childhood, training, missions, slaughter, secrets.
All the memories of his life, whether he wanted to remember them or not, were forcibly searched and extracted at that moment!
The process lasted only a few short seconds.
By the time Uchiha Gen'yō withdrew his finger, Crow had become a complete idiot, his mouth crooked, his eyes askew, drooling and capable of nothing but foolish giggles.
That overwhelmingly domineering mental power had utterly scrambled his brain into mush.
"So that's how it works."
Gen'yō stood up, a flicker of understanding crossing his eyes.
By searching Crow's soul, he had not only fully grasped how the Soul-Devouring Cursed Seal worked, but also gained an unexpected surprise.
Sure enough, this cursed seal was directly bound to the soul of its caster, Danzo!
More importantly, it had a hidden property.
To prevent outside forces from breaking the cursed seal, Danzo had added a trace of his own soul essence to it.
This meant that as long as the cursed seal existed, Danzo could sense its condition at any time.
And once the cursed seal was forcibly erased, that trace of soul essence would instantly detonate, inflicting irreversible, devastating damage on the target's soul!
What a vicious chain of schemes!
"You thought you could restrain me this way?"
"Danzo, you're still too naive."
The corners of Gen'yō's mouth curled into a cold, cruel smile.
He had already thought of a more entertaining way to play.
One Danzo would never forget for the rest of his life!
Having finished all this, Gen'yō turned to look at the Third Tsuchikage, who had witnessed everything from beginning to end and was already numb with shock.
"Lord Tsuchikage, sorry you had to watch that farce."
Gen'yō sounded so relaxed, as though he had merely swatted a few flies.
"Now the trash has been cleared away."
Ōnoki swallowed with difficulty.
A farce?
He called this a farce?!
Konoha's most elite assassination unit, dozens of Jonin-level fighters, had been slaughtered to the last man in just a few minutes!
If this was a farce, what did that make the Fourth Shinobi World War? Children playing house?
As he looked at the poised young man before him, dressed in robes whiter than snow, an emotion called fear welled up in his heart for the first time.
He had lived for nearly a hundred years and seen countless powerful figures.
The God of the Shinobi World, Hashirama Senju; the Asura, Madara Uchiha; the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze.
Yet none of them had ever given him such an unfathomable sense of pressure as the Uchiha Gen'yō before him!
His power had already transcended the realm of ninjutsu!
It was absolute control over the rules!
Gulp.
Ōnoki's Adam's apple bobbed. He tried hard to keep his voice from sounding so shaky.
"Uchiha... no, Lord Gen'yō."
He had unconsciously changed his form of address.
Before absolute strength, trying to pull rank based on age was nothing but foolishness.
"Your strength has earned my recognition."
"As for the conditions you proposed earlier, I-"
"There's no hurry."
Uchiha Gen'yō waved a hand, cutting him off.
He raised his head and glanced at the blood-red moon on the horizon, a hint of amusement flashing through his eyes.
"Before we discuss business, I'd like to send that old friend in Konoha a gift in return."
With that, he slowly extended his right hand.
A mass of purple chakra, radiating an ominous aura, slowly appeared in his palm.
It was precisely the mass of chakra he had separated from his body, with the Soul-Devouring Cursed Seal attached to it!
"Lord Tsuchikage, would you be interested in seeing for yourself how I sever the sinister hand an old dog has stretched out from hundreds of kilometers away?"
Ōnoki's pupils abruptly contracted!
Sever a hand hundreds of kilometers away?
What did that mean?
Could he be planning to...
An absurd and terrifying thought surfaced in Ōnoki's mind. It made every hair on his body stand on end!
What else was this madman planning to do?!