A New Puppet, Rikuto No. 1

Her expression changed dramatically. "Genjutsu?"

The room had been somewhat dim to begin with, but as a battle-hardened elite Chunin, Kurenai Yuhi had no trouble seeing at night.

Yet suddenly, she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. It could only be Genjutsu.

And Genjutsu happened to be her specialty.

"Release!" She formed Hand Seals and gathered her Chakra, trying to break the Genjutsu.

But-

Nothing changed.

Everything before her remained pitch-black. She couldn't see a thing.

"How is this possible?"

Kurenai was utterly shocked.

She had spent years honing her skills and had extensive combat experience.

But she was still rather young, and she inevitably began to panic.

Cold sweat poured down her face.

Holding a Kunai, she stayed on guard. "Could this be the A-rank Genjutsu developed by the Second Hokage, the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique?"

"Hehe, Sister Kurenai... did I scare you?"

Just then,

Rikuto dropped his disguise.

He snapped his fingers, dispelling the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.

He knew when to stop and didn't continue teasing Kurenai.

Kurenai, drenched in cold sweat from the fright, stared at Rikuto with wide eyes, scarcely able to believe it.

"Rikuto?"

She was startled, but at the same time, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Gritting her teeth, she glared at Rikuto for playing a prank on her, both angry and annoyed. "Why is it you?"

"I've been waiting for you to come back, Sister Kurenai. I didn't think you'd be so late, so I decided to play a little joke on you, hehe..."

Rikuto jumped onto Kurenai.

He hugged her affectionately and kissed her pretty cheek. "Don't be mad, Sister Kurenai!"

"You nearly scared me to death!"

Kurenai rolled her eyes.

He really had scared her into a cold sweat.

If she hadn't spent these past years with him,

and become so familiar with this little brother of hers,

and if the way he'd leaped onto her hadn't been as practiced as ever,

she really might have suspected someone was using the Transformation Technique to deceive her.

"You brat, how do you know the Second Hokage's Bringer-of-Darkness Technique?" Kurenai asked, looking at Rikuto in surprise.

She smiled wryly to herself.

She, Kurenai Yuhi, had once been praised as one of Konoha's rare Genjutsu geniuses.

Yet today, an eight-year-old brat had played her like a fiddle with Genjutsu.

Still, the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique was different from ordinary Genjutsu. It was an A-rank Genjutsu that deprived its target of sight to create favorable conditions.

Ordinary ninja simply couldn't break it.

But at the same time, it was enough to show that Rikuto had astonishing talent for Genjutsu.

He had actually mastered an advanced Genjutsu like the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.

"It was in the Genjutsu scroll Grandma gave me yesterday. She said my great-grandmother Senju Toka gave it to her as part of her dowry back then!"

Leaning against Kurenai's back, Rikuto held nothing back.

"Senju Toka? You mean that legendary Genjutsu master?" Kurenai's pupils contracted sharply.

When she was young,

she had heard her father, Yūhi Shinku, speak of her.

In the Senju Clan's heyday, there had been a Genjutsu master named Senju Toka whom even the Uchiha Clan had feared.

Her Genjutsu had been so masterful that even the Uchiha's Sharingan couldn't easily see through or dispel it.

"So your grandmother had such an impressive background..."

Kurenai came to a realization.

But she quickly caught herself.

She pulled Rikuto off her in one swift motion.

Staring straight at him, she asked in disbelief, "Wait, you said your grandmother gave you that yesterday. Did you learn the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique in a single night?"

"Yeah..."

Rikuto nodded.

Thinking of his training with the Wood Clones yesterday, he couldn't help exclaiming, "As expected of an A-rank Genjutsu, it was pretty difficult!"

Compared to B-, C-, and D-rank Genjutsu, A-rank and higher Genjutsu were all quite difficult.

Every one of them had taken him considerable effort.

Especially the sound-based A-rank Genjutsu, Demonic Sound Illusion Realm.

After a whole night,

he had only just managed to grasp it.

He still needed to spend some time before he could use it proficiently.

"..."

Kurenai.

Dark lines covered her face.

She looked at Rikuto, who seemed utterly unconcerned and was practically begging for a beating.

Her fists itched, and she really wanted to beat the little brat up.

She knew he was exceptionally talented, but she'd never imagined he was this monstrous.

He had mastered an A-rank Genjutsu in a single night.

The little talent for Genjutsu she usually took pride in

wasn't worth mentioning next to his.

It was rather discouraging.

"Here, Sister Kurenai, this is for you!"

Looking at Kurenai, who was gritting her teeth and seemed somewhat discouraged,

Rikuto put on an innocent expression and presented her with a scroll as though offering a treasure.

"This is..."

Kurenai's pupils widened sharply as she looked at the scroll Rikuto held out to her.

"It's a gift for you, Sister Kurenai!"

Chapter 28: A New Puppet, Rikuto No. 1

"Phew, it's finally finished!"

"Sure enough, this kind of delicate work is exhausting!"

"The original really knows how to work us..."

Early the next morning,

inside the training room at Chiya's house,

several Wood Clones were complaining.

Looking at the newly completed puppet before them, they all broke into smiles.

It was a humanoid puppet, a little over 1.8 meters tall and entirely white. It looked unremarkable.

But in fact, its head, neck, chest, back, limbs, and every other part were fitted with intricate mechanisms and concealed countless hidden weapons.

It was a deadly weapon through and through.

"Let me try it!"

One of the Wood Clones stepped forward and spread the fingers of both hands.

Fine Chakra Threads shot out from his fingertips, one after another.

They connected to the puppet.

"Click... click..."

In an instant,

the puppet's eyes suddenly opened.

It began moving, stepping in place.

"Swish-"

The Wood Clone moved the fingers of his right hand.

The mechanisms in both of the puppet's hands opened.

Blades resembling Fūma Shuriken emerged.

"Whoosh-"

The blades suddenly spun at high speed.

Afterimages flickered as they sliced through the air, whipping up a fierce gale.

It was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

The next moment,

the windmill-like blades retracted.

"Click... click..."

The puppet's fingers curled.

Fine blades emerged at a speed visible to the naked eye.

They gleamed coldly, shaped like hooked claws.

The next moment, they fired out like rockets.

Thin, tightly wound steel cables connected them to the wrists.

Their targets were the other two Wood Clones, at whom they shot straight out.

But the two were quick to react, and masses of vines emerged from both their arms.

The vines wrapped around the incoming claws.

"Not bad!"

Looking at the restrained claws,

the two Wood Clones smiled and nodded.