Teacher Qiushui, what are you doing?

Yuhi Kurenai shook her head, her waist-length black hair swaying gently. "You could call it a mission, though it's taking place within the village." Seeing the slight confusion in Qiushui's eyes, she continued to explain, "The daughter of the Kurama Clan head hasn't been in good health. She withdrew from the Ninja Academy at the start of the year to recover at home. Her father approached the Third Hokage, hoping to find a tutor to help her with her studies. The Kurama Clan has always been renowned for their mastery of genjutsu, and since that happens to be my specialty, the Hokage assigned the task to me."

Qiushui nodded upon hearing this, the name Kurama Clan sparking a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Although in the original story, the official members of Team 8 led by Yuhi Kurenai were only Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba, she had one other student: Kurama Yakumo, who appeared in the anime.

According to the anime, the Kurama Clan was once a powerful ninja clan on par with the Uchiha Clan, but due to a long period without anyone awakening the clan's purest bloodline, they had gradually fallen into decline.

Kurama Yakumo had awakened the Kurama Clan's unique genjutsu Kekkei Genkai, which allowed her to turn the scenes she painted into reality. However, because this Kekkei Genkai was too powerful, it frequently caused her physical health to deteriorate.

While Kurama Yakumo's parents were happy that their daughter had awakened the Kekkei Genkai, they watched her health worsen day by day. For her safety, they had her withdraw from school to stay home, even spending a large sum of money to hire the jonin Yuhi Kurenai as a private tutor.

But Kurama Yakumo harbored an intense obsession with becoming a ninja.

After being repeatedly rejected by her family and her teacher, Yuhi Kurenai, she suffered a mental breakdown. A monster named Ido was born within her, and in a fit of loss of control, it killed her parents.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sensed the danger posed by the monster inside Kurama Yakumo and ordered Yuhi Kurenai to eliminate it. However, Yuhi Kurenai had her own ideas. She opposed the approach of treating people as problems to be solved through simple physical elimination. She believed in the power of communication, companionship, and emotion to heal the trauma in Kurama Yakumo's heart. She wanted her to understand that her very existence was loved and needed, thereby depriving the monster—which was composed of negative emotions—of the soil it needed to grow, eventually leading to reconciliation or allowing the host to tame it with her own strength.

The imagination was beautiful, but the process was harsh reality.

No matter what method Yuhi Kurenai used, Kurama Yakumo's problems remained unresolved until, in the end, it was Naruto Uzumaki and his group who finally helped her fully recover.

The two walked out of the gate side by side. Yuhi Kurenai turned her head to look at Qiushui and asked, "Qiushui, what are you doing up so early?"

Qiushui smiled and said, "I have a student who is struggling a bit, so I thought I'd take advantage of the day off to give him some extra lessons."

A flash of surprise crossed Yuhi Kurenai's eyes, which then turned into a look of admiration. "You really are a responsible teacher."

She recalled her own teachers back at the Ninja Academy—they weren't irresponsible, but they mostly held the philosophy that the master leads the way, but the cultivation is up to the individual.

If the students didn't ask, they wouldn't say much; as for sacrificing their own rest time for one-on-one tutoring, that was something that had never happened.

Qiushui paused his steps, turned to look at her, and said, "Being complimented by a beauty like you so early in the morning has put me in a much better mood for the day."

Yuhi Kurenai was stunned for a moment, then let out a soft laugh. She turned her head away, though her earlobes flushed slightly, and she chided softly, "When did you learn to say such flattering things?"

Qiushui said earnestly, "This isn't flattery; it's just the truth."

The smile on Yuhi Kurenai's face grew even brighter. She waved her hand and said, "I won't keep you any longer; I have to get going."

Qiushui performed a quality check on her retreating figure.

[Name: Yuhi Kurenai]

[Chakra: 8700]

[Quality: A]

After checking, Qiushui found it was consistent with her performance in the original work. He then turned and headed toward the school—not to attend class, but to meet up with Naruto Uzumaki.

He didn't dare let Naruto head to the meeting spot alone; given his sense of direction, he would likely get lost.

At the school gate, Naruto Uzumaki had been waiting for a long time, his gaze darting left and right. Upon seeing Qiushui's figure appear in the distance, he immediately trotted over and said excitedly, "Teacher Qiushui, where are we going to train today? What kind of powerful ninjutsu are you going to teach me?"

Qiushui liked punctual people. He smiled and patted Naruto on the shoulder, saying, "Follow me."

Naruto, filled with excitement, followed Qiushui through several streets until they reached the edge of a forest.

Qiushui scanned the area first, but didn't see Uchiha Sasuke, which left him a bit puzzled.

Could it be that he hadn't woken up yet?

Or perhaps this wasn't his only training spot, and he had gone elsewhere today?

But since they were already here, and this was indeed a suitable place for training, Qiushui decided not to change locations. At worst, he would just keep a closer eye on the places Uchiha Sasuke frequented next time.

Qiushui took a table and chairs out of his storage scroll, along with seven test papers.

A bad premonition arose in Naruto's heart. He asked, "Teacher Qiushui, what is this for?"

Qiushui pointed to the chair and said, "Do these papers. I want to see how you're doing in your theory classes first."

Naruto was dumbfounded.

He hadn't expected to encounter an exam even after leaving school, and it was fully equipped. If not for the fact that they were in the wild, it was no different from a school classroom.

But since Teacher Qiushui had already prepared everything, he didn't dare say much and had no choice but to sit down honestly and pick up his pen.

Naruto looked at the first question.

Which of the following is a basic method for dispelling genjutsu? ()

A. Biting your finger

B. Shouting loudly

C. Disrupting the flow of chakra in your body (e.g., having a teammate inject chakra, or causing yourself intense pain)

D. Spinning in place three times

Naruto chewed on the end of his pen, scratching his head, looking like he had lost all hope.

Just as Naruto was working on the questions, Qiushui noticed Uchiha Sasuke rushing out from a path by the river.

"So he was out doing physical training." Seeing Sasuke panting, Qiushui understood immediately.

Sasuke also noticed Qiushui and Naruto nearby. He was a bit surprised to see them together, but he had no intention of going over to greet them. After resting for a moment until his breathing steadied, he pulled three kunai from the ninja tool pouch at his waist and began practicing against several targets in front of him.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

The sound of kunai cutting through the air rang out, and all three shuriken hit the bullseyes of the three targets almost simultaneously.

Naruto was distracted by the commotion, looked up, and glanced over with a puzzled expression.

"Why is that guy Sasuke here?"