A Fire Breaks Out

While Tsunade was arguing with the Konoha High Command,

Kimura Takuya naturally wasn't going to sit around waiting in the butcher shop. He still had to officially join Kurenai Yuhi's team today.

They'd agreed to meet today yesterday.

After giving Oda Lang a few instructions, he headed to the Kurama Clan's compound.

Since Yakumo was in poor health, their first formal meeting had been arranged at her home.

By now, he'd arrived.

He had to say, the Kurama Clan really had once been a major clan on par with the Uchiha.

Their compound was probably as big as several residential neighborhoods.

Although every family lived in a detached house,

there were still quite a lot of people.

If each family had even one ninja, there must have been hundreds of them.

That was what a great clan was like!

"It's at the very end of this street. There sure are a lot of people in a great clan."

Following the address, Kimura Takuya found the street where Yakumo's house was.

"Fire!"

"Put it out!"

"Where are the Water Release ninjas? Get over here and put out the fire!"

Thick smoke suddenly billowed from the far end of the street, and the flames were strangely intense.

It looked nothing like a natural fire. It was as if the blaze had appeared out of nowhere.

"Damn it, could it really be such a coincidence?"

Kimura Takuya activated the Sound-Damping Technique, greatly increasing his speed.

In an instant, he crossed several hundred meters of street and reached the fire.

Yakumo Kurama stood alone outside the burning house. She looked dazed, as if trapped in an illusion, and didn't respond when he called to her.

Inside the flames, a monster flickered in and out of sight.

Ido. The monster had appeared already!

Kimura Takuya acted at once, reaching out to touch Yakumo Kurama's forehead.

"Ninja Art: Flesh Substitution Technique."

He immediately severed Yakumo Kurama's five senses, and she collapsed to the ground.

The monster in the flames returned to her body after its host, Yakumo Kurama, was injured.

But the fire continued to rage. Kimura Takuya conjured a fireproof suit and charged straight into the blaze.

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

They let the flames burn their bodies, neither of them reacting at all.

It looked like they'd both fallen under Yakumo Kurama's genjutsu. No wonder her parents, despite being Jonin, couldn't escape the fire in the original story.

So the monster lurking in Yakumo's subconscious had controlled them until they died?

Kimura Takuya didn't try to break the genjutsu. The Kurama Clan was a great clan of genjutsu users, and Yakumo's parents were both genjutsu-specialist Jonin, just like Kurenai Yuhi.

Yet both of them were trapped so completely. That showed how difficult Yakumo's genjutsu was to break.

He used the True Transformation Technique twice more, turning their clothes into fireproof suits, then threw them out through the window.

After quickly searching the entire building and confirming there was no one else inside, Kimura Takuya finally emerged from the fire.

By then, Water Release ninjas had arrived and begun putting out the fire.

Kurama Unkai, the head of the Kurama Clan's branch family, finally arrived with a group of people.

He looked at the oddly dressed Main Family clan head and his wife, the similarly oddly dressed Kimura Takuya, and Yakumo Kurama lying on the ground.

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

"I'm a student of Jonin Kurenai Yuhi, and a teammate of Yakumo Kurama. Teacher Kurenai will be here soon. These two fell under a genjutsu during the fire, so I need to treat their burns first. Please find some screens. I'm sure you wouldn't want your clan head and his wife treated in full view of everyone, would you?"

As he spoke, Kimura Takuya undid some of the transformation on the clothes covering the two people on the ground, revealing the burns on their hands and feet.

Kurama Unkai acted at once. He brought over bedsheets and covers from a nearby home and had people surround them.

Kimura Takuya wasted no time. He used the Flesh Substitution Technique on them twice, healing them instantly.

Then he severed their control over all five senses.

He'd done this because those caught in Yakumo's genjutsu could suffer injuries in the illusion that their brains believed were real, causing those injuries to manifest in their actual bodies through their senses.

In other words, injuries sustained in the illusion would also injure the body.

But if the five senses were severed beforehand, the brain couldn't transfer the injuries from the illusion to the body.

There was still one flaw in this method, though.

If the brain itself suffered a devastating injury in the illusion, then the brain in the real world might die as well.

That was a serious problem.

Yakumo's genjutsu could be called impossible to counter.

In the original anime, Naruto and the others were trapped in Yakumo's genjutsu. They thought of blocking their five senses to escape the illusion, but Yakumo had simply let them out on purpose. They hadn't escaped on their own at all.

Just like now, Kimura Takuya had already severed Yakumo's parents' five senses. If it had been an ordinary genjutsu, it would have ended by now.

But a high-level genjutsu user could interfere directly with the brain.

Severing the five senses was useless.

Even so, after Kimura Takuya had used the Flesh Substitution Technique on them just now, he'd "refreshed" their entire bodies.

By all rights, even Kurenai Yuhi's genjutsu—or even the Sharingan's genjutsu—should have been broken.

But Yakumo's genjutsu showed no sign of breaking at all.

That suggested Yakumo's genjutsu might act directly on the soul.

That was a problem. Unless she broke it herself, no one else could.

That included Kimura Takuya. His research into souls was currently limited to his own Immortality.

He didn't dare study them much further. He was afraid he'd end up killing himself.

He looked at Yakumo Kurama and her parents, all three lying neatly on the ground.

He shook his head helplessly. It seemed they could only wait for Teacher Kurenai to take a look.

Once everyone had settled Yakumo Kurama's family, Kurenai Yuhi arrived.

Kimura Takuya told her what had happened.

"I'm afraid Yakumo might wake up, lose control, and set the whole village on fire, so I haven't restored her five senses."

"You did the right thing, Tuoye. The monster didn't get what it wanted, so it must be extremely agitated right now. By shutting off Yakumo's five senses, you've kept it trapped inside her brain. If we carelessly restore her senses, that monster might appear again."

"Teacher Kurenai, do you have a solution?"

Kurenai Yuhi shook her head. Given the situation, the only way to break the genjutsu was to enter the illusion.

It couldn't be dispelled from the outside.

That meant they would have to restore Yakumo's five senses and let the monster out.

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

After thinking it over, Kurenai Yuhi proposed using Sealing Jutsu.

Looking at Yakumo Kurama's frail, slight frame, she couldn't help feeling sorry for her. Sealing Jutsu was the safer option, but Yakumo would still be in danger during the sealing.

The monster certainly wouldn't wait quietly to be sealed. Yakumo would probably have to suffer once again.

And after it was sealed, maintaining the seal over a long period would keep consuming Yakumo's chakra.

Her health was already poor. It might get even worse.

"There's no need for that!"