Sasuke Was Such a Warm Person

As soon as Sasuke spoke, the atmosphere grew somewhat awkward. Kurama Yakumo felt embarrassed and did not know how to respond.

Sasuke's calm voice continued, "Heaven gives every person a purpose. It means that since Heaven allowed me to be born into this world, there must be somewhere I am needed. Miss Yakumo, everyone has different talents. Where there is gain, there is loss. If Heaven deprived you of physical talent, it will compensate you in another area."

As he spoke, Sasuke casually glanced at a painting in the distance. It depicted a person alone on a raft, sailing across a raging sea. The terrifying, dark, bottomless ocean brimmed with oppressive, anxious emotion.

Ahead of the raft, violent winds and towering waves swept in, as if they would drown and crush the person at any moment. With one look, Sasuke seemed to feel the stormy sea burst through the frame and engulf him like a raging tempest.

Yet above the seemingly endless sea within the frame, the sky was clear and blue, flawless and cloudless, with the sun shining high overhead.

Light and darkness, the bright sky and the shadowy sea, formed a stark contrast.

As the saying went, one could know a person through their handwriting and understand them through their paintings.

Calligraphy, painting, sculpture, music—from ancient times to the present, countless forms of art had existed. Every one of them expressed what people saw and heard, as well as the joys, anger, sorrows, and pleasures in their hearts. That was why these arts had endured and flourished for countless years.

The dark ocean represented the resentment and darkness Kurama Yakumo had developed after persisting for years without obtaining what she desired. It was the negative side of her heart.

The high-hanging sun represented how, even if she had achieved nothing, Kurama Yakumo still diligently trained to reach her goal and firmly believed that she would succeed. It was the positive side of her heart.

Heaven gives every person a purpose?

Following Sasuke's gaze, Kurama Yakumo looked over. As if she had thought of something, her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Sasuke, do you mean that when Heaven closes a door, it will surely open a window for you?"

Kurama Yakumo recalled the Kekkei Genkai she had awakened.

Was it because Heaven had deprived me of physical talent that it compensated me in genjutsu?

If Sasuke was right, if gain always came with loss, then Sasuke's talent, what had happened to him...

It was too cruel!

The way Kurama Yakumo looked at Sasuke unconsciously gained a trace of pity.

Sasuke glanced at her and said blandly, "Not necessarily. Sometimes, when Heaven closes a door, it also closes the window while it is at it."

"Uh..."

Kurama Yakumo rolled her eyes. She felt that Sasuke always managed to say the most conversation-killing things in the calmest tone.

"However, your case should be the good kind, so do not worry." Sasuke looked meaningfully toward the painting in the distance.

"Paint more bright and sunny things in the future. How could a little girl have so many worries all day long?"

"Hmph!" Kurama Yakumo puffed out her cheeks and argued, "I am not little! Besides, I am clearly older than you!"

"I suppose so."

Sasuke nodded without any intention of arguing. He picked up a small stone tablet from beside him and continued carving.

Seeing this, Kurama Yakumo did not disturb him and quietly remained at his side.

A few minutes later, Sasuke examined the finished stone tablet for a while and said, "Miss Yakumo, your paintings are quite good. How about giving me one? Of course, I will not take it for nothing. How about this stone tablet in exchange?"

"Ah?" Kurama Yakumo froze. After considering it for a moment, she agreed. "Sure. Actually, I am also very interested in Sasuke's sculptures."

After exchanging their artworks, Sasuke saw that it was getting late and took his leave.

"Sasuke, will you still come to the back mountain in the future?"

At the moment of parting, Kurama Yakumo hesitated for a while before asking softly.

"Unless something unexpected happens, I will probably come here often."

Sasuke calmly pointed at the surrounding stones.

"Mm!"

Kurama Yakumo softly acknowledged him, a weight lifting from her heart.

"Then, see you next time, Sasuke."

"See you next time."

After Sasuke had been gone for a while, Kurama Yakumo picked up the stone tablet in her hand and began to read it.

"When Heaven is about to entrust a person with a great responsibility, it must first burden his heart and mind, weary his sinews and bones, starve his body and flesh, and leave him in want..."

Kurama Yakumo read softly. After only a few lines, she became lost in thought. The few words upon it contained profound philosophy, and she had never seen such a deeply meaningful passage before.

The words on it were in ancient literary language. Though she had been born into a ninja clan, as the family's eldest daughter, she had never fallen behind in her cultural studies, so she naturally understood it. Moreover, Sasuke had specifically translated it into the script of this world. (There was classical Chinese in Naruto as well. The Sage of Six Paths spoke it when he appeared, and Naruto had even complained about it.)

Burden his heart and mind, weary his sinews and bones...

Was Sasuke encouraging me?

As she continued reading, brilliance appeared in Kurama Yakumo's eyes. What it described fit her current situation perfectly, and it was even strikingly similar to Sasuke's circumstances.

Even after going through something so terrifying and cruel.

You still did not forget to show kindness to a stranger you had only just met?

Sasuke, you truly were such a warm person...

"Compared to you, what do my current difficulties even amount to?"

Kurama Yakumo murmured. It was as though weather covered by dark clouds had turned into a bright, sunny day, and the faint resentment in her heart vanished completely.

She smiled and picked up her brush once more.

The painting showed a handsome young man, with lush green grass and a slowly rising morning sun in the distance behind him.

The warm morning light shone upon the young man's face, faintly outlining the corners of his lips.

It was as though he wore a smile that pierced through the gloom and warmed people's hearts.

Although Sasuke had not smiled while speaking with her, Kurama Yakumo painted him that way anyway.

Sasuke walked alone along the mountain path back to Konoha, casually taking in the surrounding scenery while quietly thinking to himself.

Kurama Yakumo, that little girl had extraordinary talent.

Sasuke had noticed earlier that Kurama Yakumo's paintings could no longer be described merely as lifelike or vivid. They possessed their own soul, spirit, and life, as though they were tangible.

Such works generally only came from the hands of great masters of art and were passed down for a thousand years.

Yet Sasuke knew very well that Kurama Yakumo's painting skills were far from the level of an art master. It was only her overwhelming talent that gave her paintings a soul.

In the original timeline, Kurama Yakumo possessed the abilities Turning False into True, Illusionary Labyrinth, and Sealing the Five Senses.

When her talent went berserk, she instantly killed her two jōnin-level parents. Her uncle, a jōnin of the Kurama Clan, had also been utterly unable to fight back within her genjutsu and could only escape with his life by sealing his five senses.

Even Kurenai Yuhi, a genjutsu expert, would have died at Kurama Yakumo's hands if Uzumaki Naruto had not suddenly barged in.

The Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai was powerful, but it was absolutely not this powerful—not powerful enough to let a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl who had never undergone formal ninja training instantly kill jōnin.

Earlier, Sasuke had read an introduction to the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai in the shrine's books. It only mentioned Sealing the Five Senses and contained no abilities like Genjutsu: True Reality or Illusionary Labyrinth.

Yin Release created substance from the intangible, turning illusion into reality.

From this, one could see just how powerful Kurama Yakumo's spiritual talent was, given her ability to turn falsehood into truth!

It could be said that Kurama Yakumo's talent seemed to be the final cry of this family as it headed toward decline and extinction.