What's wrong with having a large harem if you're the emperor of the ninja world?

It rekindled the flame in the depths of her dormant heart!

However, Di Yan's next move...

But it extinguished the newly lit flame in an instant, leaving only cold ashes!

He didn't look at Kurenai again.

Instead, he strode straight toward the side hall where Kurenai and Hinata lived.

Kurenai's alarm bells rang in her mind, and she hurriedly followed.

Inside the side hall, Hinata Hyuga was washing up.

She stood by the basin of water, gently wiping her fair and delicate face with a damp towel.

Water droplets slid down her delicate jawline and dripped onto her clothes.

She looked exceptionally pure and alluring in the morning light.

When she saw Di Yan suddenly enter, she trembled with fright.

The towels all fell into the basin of water.

Like a startled fawn, she immediately hid behind Kurenai Yuhi, who had just followed her in.

Her little hands gripped the hem of Xi Ri Hong's clothes tightly, her body trembling.

"What are you doing here!"

Kurenai shielded Hinata behind her, forcing herself to remain calm as she questioned Teiyan, trying to conceal her inner turmoil.

"I have written the letter as you requested and sent it out!"

Di Yan seemed not to hear her question.

He strode confidently to the bed where they had slept and sat down without any ceremony.

The soft bed is slightly concave.

He was relaxed, but his gaze was like a cold searchlight.

Finally, the focus fell on Kurenai Yuhi's face, which was trying to maintain its composure.

"The letter is indeed very 'well' written."

Di Yan spoke slowly.

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a suffocating sense of oppression. "Every word was written with blood and tears, so sincere and heartfelt that even I almost believed it."

He paused, and the mocking smile on his lips finally became undisguised, sharp as a blade:

“Especially… that little trick you hid between the lines, using your last bit of pitiful mental energy to create… that trigger-based illusion mark.”

boom!

It was like being struck by lightning!

The last trace of color drained from Xi Rihong's face in an instant.

She was struck dumb, and her body swayed violently.

He stared wide-eyed in disbelief at Di Yan.

Her secret...

She used every last resort, risking everything... and yet...

It turns out they saw through it all along?

"You...how did you..."

Kurenai Yuhi's voice was completely distorted and broken by extreme shock and fear.

Di Yan chuckled softly.

The laughter sounded particularly jarring in the quiet room.

"My eyes are the Mangekyou Sharingan."

“Red, in front of your eyes, any fluctuation of spiritual power is like a firefly in the dark, ridiculously clear.”

He extended a finger and gently tapped his temple:

"Your little tricks were seen through the moment the letter fell into my hands."

Kurenai felt a chilling despair surge from her feet to the top of her head, and she lost all feeling in her limbs.

All her scheming, all her struggles.

Faced with an absolute disparity in power.

They all seem so naive, so vulnerable!

"But... now that you know... why... why did you still send the letter out?"

Kurenai Yuhi's voice was choked with sobs.

She couldn't understand.

Since you saw through the trap, why did you still send the letter to Asma?

Di Yan slowly stood up.

She walked step by step toward Kurenai Yuhi, whose face was ashen, and Hinata, who was hiding behind her, nearly fainting from fright.

His figure cast a huge shadow in the morning light.

It completely enveloped the two of them.

"why?"

Di Yan stopped in front of Xi Ri Hong, looking down at her condescendingly, "Because... I want you to see it with your own eyes."

"How did your last hope... become a death warrant that led your companions to their doom!"

He leaned slightly closer, whispering in Xi Rihong's ear, like a devil's murmur:

"Guess what, when your Asma hopefully opened that letter pleading for help, it triggered the illusion you left behind."

"Thinking that they were about to receive important intelligence..."

"Is what he saw the truth?"

Di Yan's lips curled into a cold and cruel smile.

"Or... what I want him to see... the 'truth'?"

Kurenai's pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size.

An overwhelming chill instantly froze her blood and mind!

She got it!

I understand completely now!

Di Yan not only saw through her illusion mark.

He even...

It was altered or overwritten.

The letter was sent out not as a distress signal at all.

But...

A carefully laid trap aimed at Ino-Shika-Cho and Asuma.

And she herself was the one who handed over that deadly dagger!

"no no……"

Kurenai let out a piercing, desperate scream.

The immense pain and self-blame overwhelmed her like a tsunami.

Her vision went black, and she could no longer hold on.

His body went limp and he collapsed to the ground...

The last glimmer of light was extinguished by Di Yan himself.

Di Yan coldly stared at Xi Ri Hong, who was lying on the ground, looking utterly dejected.

He glanced again at Hinata, who was hiding in the back, her face streaked with tears of fear.

A strange smile appeared on his lips. "Then... since you're disobedient, you should be prepared to accept punishment..."

20. Holding Hinata by the throat; in front of Hinata.

Di Yan's icy words fell like a sharp blade of judgment:

"If you make a mistake, you must accept the punishment."

His gaze swept over Kurenai Yuhi, who lay sprawled on the ground, utterly dejected.

There was no pity in those eyes, only the cold cruelty of a controller inflicting punishment.

"punish?"

Kurenai Yuhi's hair stood on end instantly.

An indescribable fear gripped her, making her heart pound.

She suddenly looked up, staring at Di Yan in horror.

He then subconsciously glanced at Hinata, who was trembling with fear beside him.

What does he want to do?

In front of Hinata?

The thought sent shivers down her spine.

"Do not..."

Kurenai Yuhi screamed.

Her survival instinct and her will to protect her disciples gave her the last bit of strength to struggle to her feet and fight back.

He had already begun forming hand seals.

However...

Di Yan didn't even give her a chance.

He merely raised his eyes slightly.

A crimson undertone instantly appeared in those deep eyes.

The eerie kaleidoscope pattern flashed by in an instant!

"Illusion Technique: Golden Binding!"

Kurenai felt an invisible, overwhelming, and terrifying spiritual force, like a cold shackle.

It instantly wrapped around her limbs and bones.

The last bit of chakra and the will to resist that she had just gathered.

Under the gaze of those forbidden eyes, everything melted away like ice and snow under the sun.

His body instantly stiffened like a stone, unable to move even a single finger.

All he could do was open his red eyes wide, filled with fear and despair.

They watched helplessly as Di Yan approached step by step.

"Teacher Hong!"

Hinata, who was standing nearby, saw Kurenai Yuhi freeze instantly, stiff as a puppet.