One Night (10)

As Yuhi Kurenai moved, the entire space began to tremble more violently than before.

Faintly, the light within the space grew brighter and brighter. Beads of sweat appeared on Yuhi Kurenai's forehead, yet her expression eased slightly.

Revealing a hint of joy, Yuhi Kurenai let out a sigh of relief, "It seems it's still effective!"

This technique was one her father had left behind in a scroll for her years ago; it was a viable method for breaking most genjutsu, capable of dispelling even many profound illusions.

After years of diligent study, it was only recently, upon being promoted to Jonin, that Yuhi Kurenai had gradually touched upon the core of this technique. She had only just been able to test it today, and fortunately, it was effective; otherwise, she truly wouldn't have known what to do.

Ueno Kei, standing to the side, was naturally unaware of the many thoughts that had raced through Yuhi Kurenai's mind in that instant.

He kept his eyes fixed on the quaking space before him. Should even the slightest fissure appear, he would strike without hesitation. With this strike, which condensed all his chakra, Ueno Kei believed that even a Chunin would not easily be able to withstand its edge.

"Now is the time!" Seeing that the space was not shaking as violently as expected and that no cracks had appeared, Yuhi Kurenai gritted her teeth and increased her chakra output.

Suddenly, a flash of brilliant light erupted. With a "crack," the space seemed to split open, and Yuhi Kurenai immediately signaled Ueno Kei in a loud voice.

As Yuhi Kurenai called out, Ueno Kei had already moved, his gaze locked onto the suddenly appearing fissure.

"Hah!" Ueno Kei leaped, striking the gap with all his might.

"Boom!" "Boom!" A series of sounds echoed, and the space was torn open as if by a blade.

In an instant, Yuhi Kurenai and Ueno Kei appeared in a long corridor. At the end of the corridor stood a door. Ueno Kei looked at this sudden hallway in astonishment; he hadn't expected such a scene to appear after he slashed through the space.

Beside him, Yuhi Kurenai's expression remained unchanged.

A look of reminiscence flashed through her eyes, but a moment later, she regained her composure and said, "Let's go."

Ueno Kei slung the Lingyu Blade onto his back and followed closely in Yuhi Kurenai's footsteps.

Arriving outside the door, Yuhi Kurenai placed one hand on the lock. Ueno Kei was slightly startled, for he noticed that Yuhi Kurenai's hand was trembling slightly.

Is she afraid? As soon as this thought crossed Ueno Kei's mind, he immediately dismissed it. That was simply impossible; a Jonin of a hidden village being afraid? It was too ridiculous.

It must be because of the special relationship between that girl and Yuhi Kurenai, Ueno Kei guessed to himself.

While Ueno Kei was lost in his wild thoughts, Yuhi Kurenai had already gently opened the door.

Ueno Kei's eyes brightened as a standard double bedroom came into view, and immediately, a pleasant, girlish laughter reached his ears.

"Teacher Kurenai, finally, I finally get to see you again. Yakumo has missed you so much."

The young girl wore a smiling expression, filled with the joy of finally seeing a loved one.

However, a look of shock appeared on Ueno Kei's face, laced with a trace of fear as he looked at the smiling girl in the room. Yet, in Ueno Kei's eyes, the girl now was even more unsettling than the expressionless girl he had seen before, because the feeling Kurama Yakumo gave him at this moment was that of a humanoid monster.

An invisible fear enveloped Ueno Kei. It felt as if a terrifying monster were hidden within the girl before him. Ueno Kei's body began to tremble uncontrollably, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He swallowed hard and averted his gaze from the girl.

Only when his attention was no longer focused on the girl did Ueno Kei feel slightly better.

It was then that Ueno Kei noticed the two figures in black robes he had been chasing earlier, now appearing on the other side of the room. Their black robes were already tattered and stained red with blood.

The hoods on their heads had been torn away, revealing two pale faces under the light of the room. Their bodies were covered in countless wounds, as if they had been brutally tortured.

These two were none other than the members of the Kurama Clan, Kurama Yeqiong and Kurama Yewu, who had appeared earlier.

Ueno Kei could feel that their breathing had become extremely weak, as if they could lose their lives at any moment. Ueno Kei couldn't help but gasp; after all, seeing them in such a miserable state...

It was definitely the work of that girl. To be able to reduce two black-robed men—who, in Ueno Kei's estimation, possessed the strength of Jonin (and indeed, they did)—to this state...

Wouldn't dealing with him be a piece of cake? If his previous fear of Kurama Yakumo had been a personal intuition, it was now a stark, objective comparison.

Although there was a genuine Jonin by his side, Ueno Kei felt no sense of security. He pondered internally how he could escape safely. Since they were neither kin nor friends, Ueno Kei felt he had done enough; preserving his own life was the most important thing right now!

On the other side, Yuhi Kurenai also glanced at the brothers Kurama Yeqiong and Yewu in the corner, then looked at her beloved student, Kurama Yakumo, with a complex expression.

As someone who had once been invited by the Kurama Clan to be Yakumo's teacher, Yuhi Kurenai knew the strength of Yeqiong and Yewu better than Ueno Kei did.

Moreover, Yuhi Kurenai was well aware of the relationship between those two and Yakumo—they were her own uncle and great-uncle. That Yakumo could strike with such cruelty was shocking.

The tragedy from two years ago was something Yuhi Kurenai had never forgotten for a single moment.

"Yakumo, stop this. Everything is not as you think. It's not too late; Teacher will explain everything to you!" Yuhi Kurenai said, looking at Kurama Yakumo.

But Kurama Yakumo remained completely unmoved. She pursed her lips and chuckled softly, "Teacher Kurenai, are you joking? Stop? Not too late? Yakumo doesn't understand what you're saying at all!"

"Hehe." After finishing, the girl let out another burst of cheerful laughter. However, Ueno Kei, standing to the side, felt increasingly creeped out. Was the girl before him really only ten years old?

A look of pain appeared on Yuhi Kurenai's face, "Yakumo, why, you..."

"Why? Teacher, you're joking again. Weren't you here to erase me? Wasn't Konoha going to destroy me? Weren't my parents killed by you people? And now? What are you saying here?"

The girl's expression changed abruptly, becoming ferocious. All traces of her previous smile vanished, and her eyes revealed nothing but intense killing intent and hatred.

Ueno Kei was slightly startled and stole a glance at Yuhi Kurenai beside him.

It seems the hidden truth runs deep, Ueno Kei thought, but he immediately cast the thought aside and stopped dwelling on it, because a scene appeared before him that forced him to be extremely cautious.

As the girl shrieked at the top of her lungs, Yuhi Kurenai could feel the violent fluctuations in the girl's heart and wanted to say something.

But the girl did not give Yuhi Kurenai any chance to speak. With a light wave of her hand, a pen and a drawing board appeared before her.

The girl began to draw rapidly on the board.

And the scene that chilled Ueno Kei to the bone began to unfold.