Chapter 148: Professional Treatment for Mental Illness
"You?! Don't stimulate Yakumo! You…"
Yūhi Kurenai hadn't expected Shiromo to be so blunt. She immediately became anxious, and when she turned back and saw that Kurama Yakumo's expression was clearly wrong, her worry deepened even further.
"Actually, I've never liked the concept of a 'white lie.' But I also won't deliberately expose certain so-called 'white lies' if, at the very least, they lead to good outcomes."
"But, Jōnin Yūhi Kurenai, the lies you told Kurama Yakumo very obviously did not bring about a good result."
"If the outcome isn't good, and it's still a lie, then just because your starting point was 'good intentions,' does that really qualify it as a 'white lie'? Hmm? Don't you agree?"
Shiromo threw the question back at her.
"..."
"What do you mean by 'the outcome wasn't good'?"
Faced with the look of confirmation in Kurama Yakumo's eyes, Yūhi Kurenai couldn't bring herself to continue lying. She could only turn her gaze away and look toward Shiromo.
"You lied to her, saying her parents died in an accidental fire. That only made her suspicious, created distance between the two of you, and ultimately worsened her psychological condition."
Shiromo walked over to Kurama Yakumo, bent down, and looked straight into her eyes.
"Come on. Tell your sensei what you've really been thinking."
"..."
Faced with Shiromo's near-interrogative manner, Kurama Yakumo felt frightened. She turned her head away, not daring to meet his gaze.
"He's asking you something. Are you deaf?"
Uchiha Hikari walked up behind Kurama Yakumo and grabbed her head, forcibly turning it back.
At the same time, she had already left the mark of Yachihoko on Yakumo's shoulder.
After being forced to look Shiromo in the eye for a moment, Kurama Yakumo finally couldn't hold it in anymore.
"It was the Third Hokage! He sent people to assassinate my parents!"
"Huh?"
Yūhi Kurenai, Tsunade, and the others were completely stunned.
"Me?"
Standing at the back of the crowd, Sarutobi Hiruzen pointed at himself with one finger. Under the gazes of the First and Second Hokage, he looked utterly bewildered.
Logically speaking, shouldn't this be the moment when Danzō stepped out to take the blame?
Come to think of it, did Yakumo even know Danzō?
Probably not.
Or rather, Yakumo didn't really know many people at all.
Good grief. She just picked one person out of the few she knew and designated him as the murderer?
"Yakumo, why do you think it was the Third Hokage?"
After snapping back to her senses, Yūhi Kurenai anxiously tried to explain, but didn't know where to begin.
"Don't come any closer! You already admitted just now that you lied to me! So my parents didn't die in an accident at all, they were killed by the Third Hokage, right?!"
Kurama Yakumo suddenly became agitated and shouted at Yūhi Kurenai.
Kurenai stood there helplessly, only able to cast a pleading look toward Shiromo.
"The one who killed your parents definitely wasn't the Third Hokage. That old man had no reason to kill your parents, he's not some deranged serial killer."
"The real culprit who caused your parents' deaths is a monster inside your body."
"Yūhi Kurenai was worried you'd think you killed your parents yourself and develop a psychological disorder, so she hid the truth. She just didn't expect it to backfire."
Shiromo stated the truth plainly.
"That's impossible…"
The momentum Yakumo had just built up instantly collapsed. She slumped weakly to the ground.
From the very beginning, Shiromo had been speaking up for her and even exposed Kurenai-sensei's lies. Subconsciously, Kurama Yakumo trusted Shiromo deeply, so she didn't doubt the truth he revealed.
Compared to people one knows well, family and friends, it is often easier to believe outsiders, assuming their words are more objective and truthful.
This mindset is actually quite common.
Kurama Yakumo was exactly this kind of person.
At least, she was, up to now.
Because inside her still lurked the inner demon, Ido.
The moment Shiromo declared that it was Ido who killed her parents, Ido immediately began whispering temptations within Yakumo's heart.
It started telling her that Shiromo wasn't a good person either, that he was acting on the Third Hokage's orders, putting on a performance to clear his name.
That these people claimed they needed her help, but were really planning to kill her once she let her guard down.
"Y-you're here to kill me? You too… you're all bastards! I won't believe any of you ever again…"
Kurama Yakumo suddenly spun around, grabbed her paintbrush, and was just about to act on the canvas when Uchiha Hikari snatched the brush from her hand, and slapped her across the face with a loud 'smack'.
That slap stunned Kurama Yakumo completely.
Even though Yakumo's life looked tragic, aside from losing her parents and having a frail body, she hadn't really experienced any bullying in Konoha.
Let alone being slapped.
"You can curse anyone else all you want, but why are you cursing Shiromo? He kindly told you the truth and even wants to help you solve your problem, and this is how you treat him? Repaying kindness with hatred? Huh?!"
Uchiha Hikari stood with her hands on her hips, glaring angrily at Yakumo as she scolded her.
"I…"
Hearing this, tears welled up at the corners of Kurama Yakumo's eyes. She turned to look at Shiromo, and guilt flooded her heart.
"The Uchiha are truly professionals when it comes to mental illness; they've become experts through long illness."
Watching this scene, Senju Tobirama muttered quietly to his older brother Hashirama.
"I was wrong… sob, sob…"
Kurama Yakumo suddenly rushed forward and hugged Shiromo.
This move instantly stunned everyone present.
Even Shiromo hadn't expected it.
What was this supposed to mean?
"Hmph, I… wait, why are you hugging Shiromo?! Let go of him!"
Uchiha Hikari was just about to boast about her own contribution when she noticed Yakumo's action. She immediately panicked, rushed forward, grabbed Yakumo's arm, and pried her off Shiromo.
After finally pulling Kurama Yakumo away from him, Hikari let out a breath of relief and plopped down onto the sofa.
"What did you do to Yakumo?"
Yūhi Kurenai stepped forward to check on Yakumo. As a master of genjutsu, she immediately sensed that Yakumo had been placed under a high-level illusion just now.
That was the only explanation for such drastic changes happening in such a short time.
"Wasn't the memory of her parents' deaths erased by the monster inside her? I helped restore it. While I was at it, I had her relive it repeatedly in the Tsukuyomi illusion space."
"As for that Ido, I tossed it into a corner and hacked at it with knives and axes for a few days. It's a bit more obedient now."
Uchiha Hikari pointed at her eyes, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.
Yūhi Kurenai: "..."
Was this really treating Yakumo's psychological issues?
Why did it feel more like she'd just been tortured?
In terms of mechanics, it was impossible to objectively compare Uchiha genjutsu with the Kurama clan's genjutsu.
But Uchiha Hikari versus Kurama Yakumo plus Ido, there was no doubt the former would win.
Setting mechanics aside, raw stats were what really mattered.
Hikari's own stats were already extremely high, and she could replenish herself at any time with the massive chakra of the Gedo Statue.
Let alone Yakumo's frail body, even if Yakumo had grown up normally and reached jōnin level, she still wouldn't be a match for Hikari in a genjutsu confrontation.
"…You definitely did more than just that. Otherwise, she wouldn't be like this after waking up."
Holding Kurama Yakumo in her arms, Yūhi Kurenai questioned Hikari's explanation.
"Oh. I also added a few insignificant side plots."
"Like how she trusted Ido, and then Ido brutally killed you, and Shiromo, and everyone else, leaving her to spend the rest of her life in regret."
Uchiha Hikari shrugged slightly and spoke casually.
Adding side plots in Tsukuyomi, Shiromo had personally demonstrated that to her before.
It was actually pretty fun.
(End of this chapter)