Chapter 450: A Fake is a Fake
Black Zetsu felt the corner of his mouth twitch uncontrollably.
Took the stairs?
What do you mean, you took the stairs!
These three nonchalant words felt like a more absurd insult and a more frustrating blow to his intelligence than any arrogant declaration or sophisticated description of an infiltration.
Are those Hidden Mist Village Ninjas outside all useless?
Is the Sensory Barrier just for show?
Is the Anbu just a bunch of wooden statues?
Are you saying that you, a Konoha Ninja, walked all the way from the front lines, entered the Hidden Mist Village as if no one was there, then walked into the heavily guarded Mizukage Building, and finally took the stairs all the way to the Mizukage's office without anyone stopping you?
This isn't just a successful infiltration; it's treating the entire defense system of the Hidden Mist Village as if it were thin air!
It's treating all the guards and barriers as if they were blind, deaf, and stupid!
It wasn't that he treated the guards as blind, deaf, and stupid—it was that in front of this guy, they all became blind, deaf, and stupid!
'What kind of Grand Assassin is this!'
Black Zetsu couldn't help but roar in his heart.
After the shock and sense of absurdity came a deeper vigilance and killing intent. The fact that the opponent could reach this place so easily meant his abilities were mysterious and unpredictable; he could not be allowed to live!
"Hmph... looking at your outfit, you must be from the Aburame Clan!"
Black Zetsu forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart and let out a cold, feigned laugh, trying to regain control of the conversation and his Aura. "Whether or not I am Uchiha Itachi is not for you to decide."
As he spoke, he quickly thought of a countermeasure.
The opponent had seen his face and realized he wasn't Itachi.
But it didn't matter; this body was Uchiha Itachi's, after all, and it possessed the powerful Mangekyo Sharingan.
Even if he couldn't unleash its full power, the most basic Dōjutsu would be enough to deal with the vast majority of enemies.
He noticed that although Shino's sunglasses obscured his eyes, the opponent seemed to have "looked" at him just now. This gave him an "inspiration"—perhaps he could use the Sharingan's Genjutsu or a direct-attack Dōjutsu!
"You dare to meet the gaze of the Mangekyo Sharingan,"
Black Zetsu's voice suddenly turned cold, carrying a deliberately crafted sense of majesty and killing intent.
"Then taste this technique of mine!"
Before his voice could fade, he suddenly raised his left hand and pressed it against the right side of his face, his fingers exerting slight pressure as if he were about to tear off his own skin.
This movement was extremely bizarre, and combined with his current half-human, half-monster appearance, it looked even more hideous.
He deliberately left only the eye on the right side of Uchiha Itachi's face exposed.
It was a crimson Sharingan with three tomoe.
Because Black Zetsu wasn't truly controlling Itachi—just as in the original story where Black Zetsu controlled Obito to use the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu simply by using hand seals to drive the flow of Chakra.
And since activating the Sharingan doesn't require hand seals, this meant Black Zetsu was unable to activate Itachi's Mangekyo.
He stared fixedly in the direction behind Shino's sunglasses, mimicking the posture and Aura from his memories of when Uchiha Itachi would activate that technique, and shouted in a low voice:
"Tsukuyomi!"
Inside the office, there was dead silence.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
Nothing happened.
"Hmph, did those specially-made sunglasses block the Mangekyo Sharingan's line of sight? As expected of Hidden Leaf Village, to have researched such a thing, but I still have a trump card!"
Shino tilted his head, wondering how much this guy in front of him was being paid to play the clown for a month.
Was someone like this really suspected of controlling the Hidden Mist Village?
In that case, the Hidden Mist Village might as well hurry up and perish!
After preparing for a moment, Black Zetsu even adjusted his voice to a raspy, vocal fry tone.
"Amaterasu!"
There were no black flames igniting out of thin air that would never extinguish; there was no sense of space being warped by heat; there wasn't even a slight abnormal fluctuation of Chakra.
Shino still stood there quietly, his face behind the sunglasses expressionless, as if he had just watched a low-quality slapstick performance.
Black Zetsu froze in place, his left hand still on his face, his posture appearing incredibly awkward and ridiculous.
He could feel that the Ocular Power belonging to Uchiha Itachi within this body had absolutely no reaction to his commands as an "outsider."
He, Black Zetsu, was merely a possessing consciousness; even if he controlled the body, he couldn't actually drive the power of these eyes, let alone perform an "Amaterasu" which required specific Ocular Power.
In this atmosphere that was so awkward it had almost solidified, Shino seemed to lose interest in this "Dōjutsu performance."
He ignored the frozen Black Zetsu and instead silently turned around, reached out, grasped the handle of the heavy wooden door to the Mizukage's office, and gently opened it fully.
The scene outside the door came into view.
The corridor was empty and abnormally quiet, as if the entire floor had been cleared.
And almost at the same time Shino opened the door, a cold voice, tinged with a hint of impatience and faint mockery, came from the shadows behind Shino:
"A fake is a fake."
The owner of the voice stepped slowly out of the shadows; it was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.
He was still wearing his Straw Hat and black robe, his body stained with some undried blood, and from the tip of the Ninja Sword in his hand, a drop of fresh blood was slowly dripping onto the carpet, blooming into a small dark red spot.
Sasuke walked to Shino's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, his cold gaze piercing like a sword toward the "Itachi" standing frozen in the office. His tone carried undisguised contempt:
"Even if you are controlling Itachi's body, you cannot control his Sharingan."
He paused and gave his final evaluation:
"You really are a pure piece of trash."
These words were like the final straw, completely shattering the disguise and Aura that Black Zetsu was trying to maintain.
Sasuke had actually been following behind Shino the whole time.
At first, he was also very puzzled as to why Shino, walking in front, was like a transparent person; all the guards completely ignored him, allowing him to stride forward arrogantly.
Sasuke had originally planned to use the chaos Shino created to infiltrate from another route.
After seeing that Shino hadn't been discovered, he thought Shino had found a safe path, but when he tried to move forward himself, the situation was completely different.
Almost instantly, he was spotted by the Hidden Mist guards, and a large number of Ninjas swarmed to block him.
Out of necessity, Sasuke could only choose the most direct and violent method.
Using the Ninja Sword in his hand, he instantly killed every enemy in his path, then forcibly carved out a blood-soaked path to quickly infiltrate the Mizukage Building.
This was the reason for the blood on his body and the blood dripping from his sword.
He had thought he would have to go through a fierce battle to reach the core area, but he didn't expect that in the corridor, he would see Shino standing "politely" at the door of the Mizukage's office, while the "imposter" inside was still putting on an act and shouting things like "Amaterasu"...
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