Chapter 73: Menma: What Gives You the Courage to Attack Me
"This..."
Kurama Murakumo looked around with a shocked expression.
He couldn't see any trace of ninjutsu being performed.
The flames seemed to have inexplicably ignited on their own.
"Yakumo, has she completely awakened?"
Kurama Murakumo instantly reacted, realizing this was the Kekkei Genkai ability "transforming genjutsu into reality" mentioned in the family records.
"This is Yakumo's doing?"
Yakumo's mother beside him looked incredulous: "Does she want to kill us? Why would this happen!"
Yakumo, though inwardly sensitive, has a gentle personality. She couldn't possibly do something like this!
"Yakumo, what are you doing? Snap out of it!"
Kurama Murakumo called out, his expression grave, but it had no effect at all.
He reached out his arm, about to touch Yakumo.
But he only heard Kurama Yakumo let out a sinister laugh. The next moment, the world before his eyes spun.
"Wh-what is this place?!"
Opening his eyes again, Kurama Murakumo saw the scene before him, the fine hairs on his body standing on end, his body tensing up.
Before him lay a boundless, distorted space. Paintings with bizarre styles floated in the air.
And beneath his feet, there was only a platform barely large enough to stand on; other areas were bottomless darkness.
"Did Yakumo pull me into her genjutsu?"
Seeing this, Kurama Murakumo immediately formed hand seals, attempting to disrupt his own chakra flow to escape the genjutsu.
"Release."
Everything before him remained unchanged. Murakumo's face instantly hardened.
"Release! Release!"
Watching her husband continuously performing the release seal, Yakumo's mother also broke out in a cold sweat.
She looked up around her but only saw deathly stillness.
However, when she looked towards the sky, she saw several stone slabs floating overhead.
Kurama Yakumo was on one of these stone slabs, gently sketching on a drawing board.
"Yakumo!"
Yakumo's mother called out loudly to her.
But Kurama Yakumo didn't even look at her. Her gaze was unfocused and blank, yet her expression was extremely spiteful, her features twisted.
"Yakumo, accept me! I will make you a ninja, possessing incomparably great power!"
The voice in her head appeared again, its words full of temptation.
Yakumo's breathing hitched slightly. Her pale face looked down towards her parents.
"They are not your parents."
That voice spoke again, its tone full of mockery: "Your parents place high hopes on you; how could they possibly stop you from becoming a ninja?"
As its voice fell, Yakumo's familiar parents seemed to suddenly change.
They transformed into two ugly monsters, spewing all sorts of vicious words.
"Kurama Yakumo, you've disappointed us greatly! You are unworthy of bearing the Kurama surname!"
"Kurama Yakumo, you trash! You've destroyed our clan's last hope of resurgence! You are the clan's sinner!"
Kurama Yakumo...
Kurama Yakumo...
Why... why stop me? Why be disappointed in me?
I'm clearly a genius! Mom, Dad, didn't you say I was a genius?
Am I not the hope of the clan? Mom, Dad, what did I do wrong?
I... I'm so weak... this body is so weak...
Soon, Kurama Murakumo below felt his expression change drastically.
The stone slab beneath his feet actually began to heat up faintly, clusters of flames erupting from it.
"Murakumo! What do we do?!"
Watching the flames continuously closing in on them, Kurama Murakumo formed hand seals again.
But it was still useless.
Amidst his shock, Kurama Murakumo recalled the records in the ancient texts.
This was Kurama Yakumo's genjutsu space; ordinary ninjutsu simply couldn't be used here.
As a genjutsu ninja, Kurama Murakumo knew very well that within a genjutsu space constructed by another, one could only rely on powerful spiritual strength to clash head-on with the opponent.
Only by withstanding all the opponent's damage and maintaining mental clarity could one ensure escape from the genjutsu world.
But...
The Kurama clan's Kekkei Genkai was different from other genjutsu. Attacks in the genjutsu world wouldn't just harm the spirit; they would also feed back onto the physical body in reality.
"What to do? How did it come to this?"
If...
If I hadn't put so much heavy pressure on Yakumo before, would this situation have been avoided?
The flames beside them flared up.
Just as Yakumo's parents felt despair and regret over this,
"Clearly just a painting, yet it can make one feel personally on the scene. This bloodline ability truly is interesting."
A voice tinged with amusement suddenly came from beside them: "But such painting skill, used only to draw these bizarre and twisted things – it's truly a pity."
Before Kurama Murakumo and his wife could react,
The next moment.
Boom!!
With only a loud crash, this genjutsu world began to shake violently.
The continuously burning, scorching flames also seemed to lose their substance, flickering constantly, appearing somewhat illusory.
Kurama Yakumo, who had her eyes tightly shut and a ferocious expression, instantly awoke as if from a dream.
"We meet again, Kurama Yakumo."
The voice suddenly appearing behind her startled Yakumo, nearly making her lose her footing and fall off the stone slab.
"You..."
Kurama Yakumo retreated a step warily, her breathing becoming rapid.
Menma stood before Yakumo. Even though his face couldn't be seen clearly, she felt an immense pressure.
Menma stroked his chin, looking at Kurama Yakumo's recent painting: "Seems you are quite a painting genius. The despair of the people in the painting practically seeps out."
In that painting, flames had consumed everything. Two charred figures struggled continuously within the fire, contorting their bodies wantonly.
They looked as if they were dancing, yet also as if praying.
"You... Are you also here to mock me?"
Menma's slightly amused tone directly provoked Kurama Yakumo's sensitive psyche.
She bit her lip somewhat timidly, yet a trace of hatred appeared on her pale face.
She directly focused her mind, wanting to use her genjutsu ability on this suddenly appeared masked man.
"...What?"
But she suddenly found she could no longer interfere with the genjutsu world she had constructed.
Instead, the other person slowly turned his head towards her, meeting her gaze.
Yakumo saw the ridicule in the other's eyes.
"What gives you the courage to attack me? Just your half-baked Kekkei Genkai?"
Menma spoke in a low voice: "Or perhaps, that monster called Ido is influencing your spirit?"
As his voice fell, Menma suddenly reached out his hand to touch the "burning" portrait.
The original portrait depicted Kurama Murakumo and his wife's tragic state of death.
But just as Menma touched the portrait, his arm actually extended directly into it.
"Ah!!"
The figures in the portrait actually began to twist and deform, even letting out horrifying, shrill screams.
A monster, the same size and hairstyle as Kurama Yakumo, but with bizarre, ghost-like features, was thus directly pulled out of the painting by Menma, who gripped its head.
(End of Chapter)
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