"Souma-kun, you've successfully developed a mental attack technique?"
"Yes. I've already used it once."
Yagyū Souma didn't hide anything and briefly described what happened when he dealt with Danzō.
As they walked, Yūhi Kurenai thought it over carefully.
After a few seconds, she shook her head.
"It's not ideal. At this level, it can at most interfere with an opponent's jutsu. It can't deal fatal damage."
"That's expected," Souma replied calmly. "Unless the caster's mental energy vastly exceeds the opponent's, or mental synchronization reaches complete unity, directly killing someone across a distance with pure mental force is extremely difficult."
He'd reflected on it afterward and summarized the limitations.
"So I modified it later. Do you want to take a look?"
Power couldn't be increased any further, but the effect could be specialized.
If mental force couldn't outright kill, then—just like with Danzō—he could directly scatter the opponent's mental energy.
Chakra is refined from mental energy and physical energy in a one-to-one ratio.
If mental energy couldn't be gathered, chakra extraction and synthesis would be severely limited.
Against the Sharingan, Souma had an even more specialized countermeasure—
Strike the opponent's ocular power directly.
As long as the dōjutsu was offset, the power and effectiveness of their eye techniques would plummet. If the timing was right, it might even directly break the illusion.
Of course.
Timing was everything.
"I don't have any jutsu valuable enough to interest you," Kurenai said softly.
But she was very interested in this mental attack technique—because it involved one of her students.
After hesitating for a while, she said,
"Even if my genjutsu isn't useful to you, I can help research other techniques. Or—if you have any requests, you can tell me."
"For now, no conditions," Souma replied. "Just take a look first. It's not a particularly important technique."
He handed it over, already flipped to the right page in his notebook.
Kurenai shook her head.
"No… even if I learned this technique, I might not be able to do what I want to do. I'd rather exchange my genjutsu experience—or something else—in return for asking you to help me with one thing."
She felt deeply ashamed.
Souma was being extremely generous, showing her a self-created jutsu for free, yet she kept asking for more. It really did feel like she was pushing her luck.
But—
She didn't have Souma's level of mental cultivation.
Even if she mastered mental attacks, it might not solve Kurama Yakumo's problem. Rather than risk it, it would be better to let Souma intervene directly.
Souma's interest was piqued.
"Can I hear what you want me to help with first?"
"Of course. Once you take over Root, this won't be much of a secret anyway."
Kurenai explained Yakumo's situation.
They walked along the outskirts of the village. There weren't many passersby, making it easy to talk freely.
By the time they reached the Yamanaka clan compound, she had finished explaining.
Souma fell into thought.
"So Kurama Yakumo is a kekkei genkai holder?"
"Yes," Kurenai nodded. "Even I can't resist her genjutsu. If the 'monster' inside her awakens, I wouldn't dare approach her."
"Forgive my bluntness," Souma said. "Does Yakumo herself know about her condition?"
"…I don't think so," Kurenai said after a pause, shaking her head.
"Then that's bad. Her condition could worsen."
Souma frowned.
Yakumo's kekkei genkai was clearly tied to the mental domain—controlling the five senses, turning illusion into reality. That level of power meant her mental energy was terrifying.
Once her emotions and psyche destabilized, dissociation would naturally follow.
The 'monster' was likely born from that fracture.
Kurenai's face went pale as she listened.
"You mean—"
"Long-term confinement, the pain of abandonment, accumulated negative emotions… all of that will make the 'monster' inside her more dangerous."
For a moment, Kurenai panicked, her mind going blank.
"Don't rush," Souma said. "Let's deal with the Yamanaka clan first. I need some time to think."
"Thank you, Souma-kun! Whatever you need, just say it. As long as it's within my power, I'll do everything I can."
Her tone was grave.
"The problem isn't solved yet—it's too early to talk about that. But…"
Souma paused. "There is something I need your help with."
He explained the training manual.
The research institute and the ANBU training unit both needed genjutsu-related training. Souma himself couldn't use genjutsu, and Kurenai was the perfect candidate.
She hesitated slightly.
She still had three students.
"You don't need to worry about them," Souma said. "They'll also be included in the training plan. Though honestly, aside from Shino, the other two probably won't pass anyway."
"..."
Brutal—but accurate.
Shino was calm, intelligent, and patient despite his odd personality. He fit ANBU criteria well.
Kiba and Hinata? Not a chance.
One was too loud, second only to Naruto. The other was far too kind-hearted to ever suit ANBU work. Training for them would be more like casual exposure.
After understanding this, Kurenai bowed lightly.
"Thank you, Souma-kun. I'll do my best."
"Good. Let's go."
Souma wasn't visiting the Yamanaka clan for the first time, but Kurenai clearly wasn't familiar with their territory and looked a bit out of place.
That said, Yamanaka ninja all recognized Konoha's genjutsu specialist.
Souma brought Kurenai straight to Yamanaka Inoichi.
Inoichi was straightforward.
When Kurenai requested permission to learn the mental cultivation method, he agreed without hesitation.
Then came his deal with Souma—
"I'm willing to exchange the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques for your mental attack and defense methods."
"…What?"
Souma was stunned.
He only wanted insight into Sensory Transmission and Mind Transmission techniques, hoping to develop a more universal communication jutsu.
And Inoichi was just handing everything over?
Even if it was only usage rights, it was far beyond what Souma expected.
"Wait, Inoichi-senpai, that's not what I was asking for!"
"I know," Inoichi said, waving his hand. "Sit down first."
After Souma sat, Inoichi sighed.
"Honestly, there was a lot of internal debate in our clan about whether to give up our secret techniques."
"That's understandable," Souma replied. "They're inherited secrets. You can't just decide on your own."
"No," Inoichi shook his head. "Actually, I've always supported opening part of our techniques to you—even sharing them with the research institute. But internal resistance was strong."
He continued,
"That changed when you defeated Danzō using mental techniques."
"You might be overestimating that technique," Souma said, handing over the scroll.
It contained detailed notes on mental attack and defense, including auxiliary hand seals, as well as battle summaries.
Inoichi read carefully.
At first, he was a little disappointed. As described, mental bombardment over distance lacked lethal power.
Even with synchronization, it only increased piercing and disruption.
But when he reached the modified version, his eyes lit up.
Combining this with Mind Transfer…
"Souma-kun!"
"You want to integrate mental interference into Mind Transfer, right?"
"…Yes."
Souma finished the sentence for him, making Inoichi pause in surprise.
Inoichi smiled wryly.
"To be honest, our clan has been trying to develop new secret techniques lately. Every attempt failed."
Souma understood immediately.
Most of the Yamanaka believed they understood their own techniques best and didn't need an outsider's help.
Reality proved otherwise.
Judging by Inoichi's expression, he'd probably been waiting for exactly this outcome.
"Can I look at the secret technique scrolls first?" Souma asked.
"Of course."
Inoichi took out the Yamanaka clan's scrolls and handed them over.
The room fell silent as they exchanged scrolls.
After several minutes, Souma set the scroll down and fell into deep thought.
Inoichi had no interest left in reading—he leaned forward anxiously.
Another two minutes passed.
Then Souma pulled out paper and began writing rapidly.
Inoichi immediately dropped the scroll and rushed over.
What he saw was… a set of calculations.
He stared at Souma in confusion.
He wasn't bad at math, but he couldn't tell what Souma was calculating.
After hesitating, he asked,
"Souma-kun… what does this calculation mean?"
"Oh. I'm treating the total attacking mental energy as one unit. One-third is used to break into the opponent's mind, one-third uses your Mind Transfer technique to disguise itself as the opponent's mental energy and cause confusion, and the remaining portion is retained."
"???"
Inoichi's eyes went wide.
You're turning jutsu into math problems now?!
How could mental energy possibly be distributed with such precision?!
And—
Even within Mind Transfer, perfectly mimicking the opponent's mental fluctuations was extremely difficult. Not every Yamanaka could do it.
Yet Souma was stacking multiple techniques together.
"…Is it impossible?" Souma asked.
"…Mm. Yes."
After a moment of hesitation, Inoichi answered honestly.
"Then that's troublesome."
Souma frowned.
Knowing Souma as he did, Inoichi immediately took a deep breath when he heard the word troublesome.
"So… what kind of trouble are we talking about?"
"I originally wanted to retain part of the mental energy," Souma explained,
"so the user wouldn't be completely defenseless like with Mind Transfer."
He paused, then suddenly looked up.
"Well—recently, I've come across a rather interesting mental illness case. I could study that first and then refine the technique. Speaking of which, Inoichi-senpai, are you interested?"
"…What case?"
"Kurama Yakumo."
"…Her?"
Inoichi's eyes lit up.
A Kurama clan awakener had terrifying mental energy. And he himself had been one of the examiners when Yakumo's 'monster' first manifested.
If disguise and guidance could be used to temporarily split or mutate her mental state—
Wait.
Wasn't this becoming a completely new technique?
Inoichi froze, realization hitting him late.
Creating jutsu… was it really this easy?
"Souma-kun," he said slowly, "this doesn't feel like just mental interference anymore, does it?"
"…Now that you mention it, you might be right."
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