The next day, Kōki woke from his sleep and saw the brilliant sunshine outside his window, which could not help but lift his spirits.
After getting up and washing, Kōki left his room and headed toward Kurenai Yuhi's house.
Before going to bed the night before, he had already decided how to spend these days off.
Before the consecutive missions began, he had considered improving his proficiency in genjutsu, so he had asked Kurenai Yuhi to introduce him.
He had thought he would have time off after each mission to make arrangements, but he had not expected the missions to be so tightly packed, leaving every morning and only returning in the afternoon.
As a result, he had never had any free time to visit Kurenai Yuhi's father.
Now that he finally had time, he had to meet Yūhi Shinku and explain why he had not come by. He would also see whether he had a chance to ask him some questions about genjutsu.
Before long, Kōki arrived in front of a small Western-style house, at the address Kurenai Yuhi had given him for her home. He looked up at the house before him, walked forward, and knocked a few times.
A moment later, Kōki heard movement behind the door.
With a click of the lock, the door in front of Kōki slowly opened.
"Who is it?" came a question from behind the door, and a little red-eyed girl with slightly curly hair appeared before Kōki.
"I'm Kōki Itō. I spoke to you before, Senior Kurenai."
Hearing Kōki's voice, Kurenai Yuhi raised her sleepy eyes and rubbed them.
"Kōki Itō? That name sounds a little familiar."
Having just woken up, Kurenai did not recognize Kōki. It had already been more than three months since their previous meeting, and having only met him two or three times, her impression of him had already grown hazy.
"Senior Kurenai, I'm the one who wanted to learn genjutsu from your father," Kōki hurriedly reminded her when he saw that she did not recognize him.
"Oh, I remember. You're the one who said he wanted to learn genjutsu from my dad." Kurenai Yuhi had not caught on at first, but after hearing Kōki's words, she immediately remembered who he was.
He was the one who had said he would visit her father, only to leave them waiting for days without coming.
At that moment, resentment surged in Kurenai Yuhi's heart. After Kōki had agreed to visit her father, she had put in plenty of good words for him with her father, Yūhi Shinku, and had simply waited for Kōki to come.
But days had passed without him showing up, making her wonder whether Kōki was playing her for a fool, while also making her feel that she had lost quite a bit of face in front of her father.
Months had passed, and now he still dared to come?
"Hey, what are you even doing here now?" Unable to contain her anger, Kurenai Yuhi spoke to Kōki in a harsh tone.
Seeing Kurenai Yuhi's angry gaze, Kōki gave a helpless, wry smile and directly explained why he had not come to visit.
"Senior Kurenai, I'm very sorry. At the time, the village sensed signs of war, and there were endless missions every day, with no time to rest."
"It wasn't until yesterday, because... because my teammate died, that Lord Hokage gave me a few days off. That's why I finally had time to visit."
Kōki paused when he mentioned his teammate's death. Although he had already come to terms with it, his tone still changed when he spoke of it.
After hearing Kōki's explanation, especially the part about his teammate's death, the anger and resentment in Kurenai Yuhi's heart vanished at once.
Her father was also a Konoha ninja, and for a while before this, he too had come home very late every day. She had also seen her father's grief when his teammates died.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know your companion had..."
"Kurenai, let him in." Before Kurenai Yuhi could finish, Yūhi Shinku's voice came from inside the house behind her.
Hearing her father's voice, Kurenai Yuhi, who felt sympathy for what Kōki had experienced, no longer stopped him and led him into her home.
Once inside, the first person Kōki saw was Yūhi Shinku sitting on the living room sofa. Yūhi Shinku wore a solemn, serious expression, looking nothing like someone relaxing at home. Kōki could not help turning toward Kurenai Yuhi beside him and giving her a questioning look.
Kurenai Yuhi also noticed Kōki's confusion, but she herself did not know why her father wore that expression. Her father was always very relaxed when resting.
"Dad, you..." Kurenai Yuhi did not finish, but Yūhi Shinku understood what she meant.
However, rather than answering his daughter, he said to Kōki, "Itō-kun, I saw you at yesterday's meeting."
Hearing Yūhi Shinku say this, Kōki began thinking back, then recalled that someone standing in a corner during yesterday's meeting had looked much like the Yūhi Shinku before him. So that had been Yūhi Shinku?
In his previous life, Kōki had only known that such a person existed, but had no idea what he looked like.
"I was sitting in the corner then, so it's perfectly normal that you didn't see me, Kōki. On the other hand, I could clearly see you standing among the jonin, Itō-kun, and they didn't reject your presence. I imagine there must be something about you that they acknowledge, Kōki," Yūhi Shinku continued to explain.
At yesterday's meeting, he had seen Kōki standing behind Minato, and neither Minato nor the others had rejected his presence. Before the meeting began, Hiruzen Sarutobi had not told him to leave either. All these signs showed that Kōki was far from ordinary.
Moreover, after yesterday's meeting ended, he had specifically sought out a ninja he knew well to ask about Kōki. By coincidence, that ninja was someone who had witnessed Kōki's battle achievements.
That ninja had told him outright that Kōki was extremely powerful, already surpassing ordinary jonin. Even now, Yūhi Shinku could recall his friend's high praise for Kōki.
This had made Yūhi Shinku even more curious, but he had not expected Kōki to come straight to his house to see him today.
He wanted to know exactly why Kōki had come. Although his daughter had mentioned that a genin named Kōki wanted to ask him about genjutsu, now that he knew Kōki's strength, he did not believe someone with jonin-level strength would still come to him for advice on genjutsu.
Every jonin had their pride. Unless they were very close friends, they generally would not ask others for advice on their training.
But he did not know that Kōki lacked the pride of other jonin, nor that Kōki was unaware of this unspoken rule among them. Kōki believed his strength was still far from sufficient, and that he still had much to learn.
"Senior Shinku, I came this time to ask you about genjutsu. I've always felt that my abilities still have shortcomings and aren't well-rounded enough." Kōki did not conceal anything, directly stating his purpose in visiting Yūhi Shinku.
Kōki's words left Yūhi Shinku somewhat puzzled. He believed ordinary genjutsu posed very little threat to jonin-level ninja, except for certain special genjutsu.
But those genjutsu were essentially unique to individuals and were rarely passed on to outsiders. Basically, knowing how to dispel genjutsu was more than enough for a jonin.
"With your current jonin-level strength, ordinary genjutsu won't have much effect on you, and learning nothing more than ordinary genjutsu won't improve your strength."
"If you only want to learn techniques for dispelling genjutsu, I can teach you."
Yūhi Shinku's tone carried a faint hint of refusal.