A week passed in the blink of an eye.
One morning, at Konoha Hospital, Uchiha Shūichi knocked on a door and entered a hospital room with a bouquet of carnations in his hand.
In the room, which smelled of disinfectant, Yūhi Kurenai was leaning against her hospital bed. Hearing the door open, she turned to look at her visitor.
"Captain Shūichi! What brings you here?"
"I was only a temporary captain. The team's disbanded now, so you can just call me by my name."
Uchiha Shūichi placed the carnations in a vase and smiled as he spoke.
"Hōmon was discharged two days ago. How's your recovery coming along?"
"Pretty well. I should be able to leave in another couple of days, and I haven't suffered any aftereffects. I have you to thank for saving my life, Shūichi."
Yūhi Kurenai sounded happy. Her injuries had been severe—she'd practically had one foot in the grave.
But medical care in the Ninja World was even more advanced than in modern society, especially when it came to treating injuries. Medical ninjutsu offered unimaginable convenience.
With injuries like hers, in modern society, she might not have left intensive care after a week. Even if she recovered, she'd surely have suffered many aftereffects. But here in Konoha Village, she'd avoided any complications and was nearly ready to go home.
"Looks like you're recovering quickly. That's a relief."
Uchiha Shūichi nodded. He'd come to visit Yūhi Kurenai on a whim, and it also helped him maintain his image.
The previous night, he'd once again used the Blazing Kirin Sword's power to temper his mind. After he'd regained consciousness, he'd gone to visit his temporary subordinate to dispel his negative emotions.
After chatting with Yūhi Kurenai for a while, Uchiha Shūichi was about to leave when she hesitated, then spoke up.
"Jonin Shūichi, I heard that members of your Uchiha Clan have to undergo intense mental trauma to awaken their Sharingan..."
Uchiha Shūichi's expression shifted slightly. He nodded.
"That's true... The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan is closely connected to Yin Release, and Yin Release itself corresponds to a person's spirit."
"When an ordinary person is stimulated, their mental fluctuations can also increase their Yin Release power. But without the Sharingan, that increase is only temporary. The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, on the other hand, can awaken once their Yin Release reaches the right conditions."
Yūhi Kurenai nodded. Now that she'd brought it up, she didn't hesitate any longer.
"Then the Uchiha Clan must have some way to treat the mental instability caused by excessively powerful Yin Release, right?"
Mental instability caused by excessive Yin Release? The Uchiha Clan certainly had that problem, but a way to treat it...
If they really had a treatment, the Uchiha Clan wouldn't have produced so many lunatics! Mangekyo users were all more unhinged than the last. Three Tomoe users were a little better—their thought processes were at least somewhat normal—but they still had plenty of psychological issues, big and small.
Still, Uchiha Shūichi did have a treatment: wasn't that what the Ice Heart Art was for? It couldn't cure lunatics at the Mangekyo level, but it could at least greatly alleviate their condition. After a Three Tomoe user practiced it, their mental state would be more or less indistinguishable from that of a normal person.
But the Ice Heart Art was a secret technique. Uchiha Shūichi wasn't about to teach it to just anyone. A cultivation method that could fundamentally strengthen Mental Power could easily create a powerful secret-technique clan in the Hokage world.
Seeing the troubled expression on Uchiha Shūichi's face, Yūhi Kurenai's heart skipped a beat. The Uchiha Clan really did have a secret technique like that?
"Red, why are you asking about this?"
Meeting Uchiha Shūichi's puzzled gaze, Yūhi Kurenai took a deep breath and answered.
"I... I have a student. She's a member of the Kurama Clan, and her name is Kurama Yakumo."
"She awakened the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai, Five Senses Control, but Yakumo is too young. Her condition is a lot like the Uchiha's: her mental state is unstable, and her immense Mental Power is putting a strain on her body, leaving her almost unable to train physically."
Kurama Yakumo? Uchiha Shūichi's mind turned, and he immediately remembered the terrifyingly gifted young girl.
The Kurama Clan had once been a Kekkei Genkai clan whose genjutsu could rival that of the Uchiha Clan. Unfortunately, while the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai was powerful, it was extremely difficult to awaken—harder even than opening the Sharingan.
On top of that, the Kurama Clan had few members and weak constitutions. After Konoha Village was founded, the clan gradually withdrew from the shinobi profession. Now, there were practically no Kurama Clan shinobi left in the entire village.
Perhaps it was a case of extremes giving rise to their opposite. Just as the Kurama Clan was dwindling and on the verge of leaving the shinobi profession altogether, an exception appeared in the form of Kurama Yakumo. Not only had she awakened the clan's Kekkei Genkai at a young age, but her Mental Power was so immense that it could even give rise to creatures formed from Yin Release.
The Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai was originally about controlling the five senses, which could be used to directly harm shinobi.
But in Kurama Yakumo's hands, it could even make the unreal real and turn falsehood into truth. Her genjutsu could destroy even inanimate objects!
Those were two entirely different things. When controlling the five senses harmed a shinobi, it was essentially the brain deceiving the body. But directly destroying an inanimate object with genjutsu meant that the art had surpassed illusion and begun turning fiction into reality.
With genjutsu that terrifying, she could rival Uchiha Shisui's Kotoamatsukami. She was a pinnacle of genjutsu in a different direction.
If Kurama Yakumo hadn't been held back by her constitution, even a little physical training that brought her up to Chunin-level fitness would have made her a Kage Level shinobi!
Unfortunately, in the original story, Kurama Yakumo couldn't even match an ordinary person's physical fitness, let alone reach Chunin level. No matter how powerful her genjutsu was, she couldn't be considered a qualified shinobi.
As mentioned earlier, taijutsu might seem basic, but precisely because it was fundamental, it was something no one could afford to lack.
In the Shinobi World, there were powerful fighters who couldn't use genjutsu and formidable shinobi who couldn't use ninjutsu—but there were no powerful fighters who couldn't use taijutsu.
Even shinobi whose physical condition made it difficult, such as Nagato Uzumaki and Sasori of the Red Sands, made up for their bodily limitations in other ways. They, too, had to train in taijutsu and combat techniques.
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