Fire Starts

While Tsunade was busy haggling with the Konoha high-ups, Kimura Takuya naturally wasn't about to sit around idly at the butcher shop; he had to officially join Kurenai Yuhi's team today.

They had made the arrangements to meet yesterday.

After giving some instructions to Oda Lang, he headed toward the Kurama Clan compound.

Because Yakumo Kurama was in poor health, they had decided that their first official meeting would take place at her home.

By now, he had already arrived at the location.

He had to admit, it was truly worthy of being a great clan that once rivaled the Uchiha.

The Kurama Clan's residential area was so vast it felt like it contained several entire neighborhoods.

Although they were all detached houses, with one building per household, the population was quite substantial.

With at least one ninja per family, there were likely hundreds of them.

This was what a great clan looked like!

"It's at the very end of this street; these big clans really do have a lot of people."

Following the address, Kimura Takuya found the street where Yakumo lived.

"Fire!"

"Hurry, put it out!"

"Where are the Water Style ninjas? Come and extinguish the flames!"

Thick smoke suddenly billowed from the deepest part of the street, and the fire burned with an eerie intensity.

It didn't look like a natural fire at all; it was as if the flames had simply manifested out of thin air.

"Damn it, it couldn't be that coincidental, could it?"

Kimura Takuya activated his Sound-Damping Technique, his movement speed increasing drastically.

He crossed several hundred meters of street in an instant and arrived at the scene of the fire.

He saw Yakumo Kurama standing alone outside the burning house, her expression dazed as if she had fallen into an illusion; she was unresponsive even when called, her mind clearly elsewhere.

Yet, within the flames, a monster flickered in and out of existence.

Ido—that monster had appeared!

Kimura Takuya made a split-second decision, reaching out to touch Yakumo Kurama's forehead.

"Ninja Art: Flesh Substitution Technique."

He directly severed Yakumo Kurama's five senses, and having lost them, she collapsed to the ground.

Because the host, Yakumo Kurama, had been incapacitated, the monster within the flames retreated back into her body.

However, the fire was still raging, so Kimura Takuya instantly transformed his clothes into a fireproof suit and charged into the blaze.

Inside the room, Yakumo Kurama's parents sat in the middle of the fire, their faces blank and vacant.

They allowed the flames to scorch their bodies, yet neither of them showed any reaction.

It appeared they were both trapped within Yakumo Kurama's genjutsu; no wonder in the original story, despite being Jonin, they couldn't escape the fire.

So they had been controlled to death by the monster in Yakumo's subconscious all along?

Kimura Takuya didn't attempt to break their genjutsu; the Kurama Clan were masters of illusion, and Yakumo's parents were both Jonin-level genjutsu specialists just like Kurenai Yuhi.

Yet, both were trapped so thoroughly that it was clear Yakumo's genjutsu was not easily dispelled.

He used two more instances of the True Transformation Technique to turn their clothes into fireproof suits as well, then threw them both out through the window.

After a quick search of the entire building to confirm no one else was inside, Kimura Takuya finally emerged from the fire.

By this time, the Water Style ninjas had finally arrived and began to extinguish the flames.

Kurama Unkai, the branch head of the Kurama Clan, also finally arrived with his men.

He looked at the strangely dressed clan head and his wife, the equally strangely dressed Kimura Takuya, and the unconscious Yakumo Kurama lying on the ground.

"Who are you? Why have you come to the Kurama Clan compound?"

"I am a student of Jonin Kurenai Yuhi and a teammate of Yakumo Kurama. Teacher Kurenai will be here shortly. These two fell into a genjutsu during the fire, and I must treat their burns first. Please, bring some curtains; I'm sure you wouldn't want your clan head and his wife to be treated in broad daylight, would you?"

As he spoke, Kimura Takuya dispelled the partial transformation on the clothes of the two on the ground, revealing the burns on their hands and feet.

Kurama Unkai made a prompt decision, gathering bedsheets and covers from nearby houses and ordering his men to surround them.

Kimura Takuya didn't waste any more words, using two applications of the Flesh Substitution Technique to instantly heal them.

He then severed their five senses to maintain control.

The reason he did this was because those trapped in Yakumo's genjutsu would have their brains perceive the damage sustained within the illusion as real, which would then be reflected onto their physical bodies through their five senses.

Simply put, it means that if one is injured within an illusion, the physical body will suffer the corresponding injuries as well.

However, if the five senses are severed in advance, the brain will be unable to relay the injuries from the illusion back to the physical body.

Yet, there is still one loophole in doing this.

That is the brain itself; if the brain suffers a devastating trauma within the illusion, then the physical brain in reality will likely suffer immediate brain death!

This is quite troublesome.

Yakumo Kurama's genjutsu can be said to be unsolvable.

In the original anime, Naruto and the others were trapped in Yakumo's genjutsu and thought of the method of sealing their five senses to escape, but in reality, they were merely released by Yakumo on purpose; they didn't escape on their own at all.

Just like now, Kimura Takuya had already severed the five senses of Yakumo's parents; if it were an ordinary genjutsu, it would have already failed by this point.

High-level genjutsu users, however, interfere directly from the brain.

Severing the five senses is useless.

Even so, after Kimura Takuya used the Flesh Substitution Technique just now, he had "refreshed" the entire bodies of both individuals.

Logically speaking, even the genjutsu of Kurenai Yuhi or the Sharingan should have been broken.

Yet, Yakumo's genjutsu showed absolutely no signs of being undone.

From this, it is evident that Yakumo's genjutsu likely acts directly upon the soul.

This is problematic; unless she undoes it herself, there is truly no one else who can.

This includes Kimura Takuya, whose research into the soul is currently limited only to the Immortality of his own soul.

He doesn't dare to conduct too much research, fearing he might accidentally kill himself.

He looked at the three members of the Kurama family lying neatly on the ground.

He shook his head helplessly; it seemed he could only wait for Kurenai-sensei to come and take a look.

When everyone had settled the Kurama family, Kurenai Yuhi happened to arrive.

Kimura Takuya informed Kurenai Yuhi of what had just occurred.

"I was afraid that if Yakumo woke up, she would lose control and set the entire village on fire, so I haven't restored her five senses yet."

"You are right, Takuya. That monster hasn't achieved its goal and must be extremely irritable right now. By sealing Yakumo's five senses, you have effectively trapped it within Yakumo's brain. If we were to rashly restore her five senses, I fear that monster would appear once again."

"Kurenai-sensei, do you have any solutions?"

Kurenai Yuhi shook her head; in the current situation, one must enter the illusion to break the illusion.

It cannot be dispelled from the outside.

If that is the case, they would have to restore Yakumo's five senses and release that monster.

"Move Yakumo to a safe location outside the village, then gather the Jonin and prepare to seal that monster together."

After deep consideration, Kurenai Yuhi proposed using sealing techniques.

She looked at Yakumo Kurama's frail body and couldn't help but feel a sense of pity. Although sealing techniques are reliable, the process of sealing would also be dangerous for Yakumo Kurama.

That monster would certainly not wait obediently to be sealed, and I fear Yakumo Kurama will have to suffer quite a bit this time.

Furthermore, maintaining a sealing technique long-term after the fact would also continuously drain Yakumo's chakra.

By then, Yakumo's already poor health would likely deteriorate even further.

"There is no need for that!"