Yang Tao landed and canceled his invisibility.
Orochimaru immediately walked up to him. "Sir!"
Yang Tao nodded and looked at Sasuke lying on the ground, covered in wounds. "Is this okay? Can his body handle this?"
Orochimaru smirked. "No problem. Kabuto's medical ninjutsu is pretty decent, and besides, you already gave me those treasures, didn't you?"
Yang Tao blinked. He had completely forgotten about the golden apples and totems of undying he had given Orochimaru.
Oh well, no big deal. He didn't need them anyway.
Looking at Sasuke on the ground, Yang Tao suddenly remembered something from the anime. The Uchiha's Sharingan required strong emotional triggers to evolve—so why not try Genjutsu? Now that Sasuke was still weak, wasn't this the perfect time to test it?
"Orochimaru, can you use Genjutsu to put his mind under extreme stress and see if his Sharingan evolves?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "That won't work. I've tried before. Once an Uchiha awakens their Sharingan, their resistance to Genjutsu becomes very high. Unless you use another Sharingan to cast it, the best you can do is knock them out."
Yang Tao thought for a moment. So Uchiha had high resistance to Genjutsu? Then he just needed to find someone with stronger Genjutsu.
"Orochimaru, do you know about the Kurama Clan?"
…
Before long, the two arrived at a house deep in the forest.
Yang Tao glanced at the minimap and noticed several people appearing around the house.
He ordered Orochimaru, "Take care of them."
Orochimaru quickly returned. "It's done, my lord."
The two of them headed straight for the house. At this point, Kurama Yakumo wasn't as full of hostility as she would be later.
They walked inside without being attacked, moving through a long hallway lined with oil paintings on both sides.
Pushing open the last door, they saw Kurama Yakumo painting. The subject of her painting was the very house they were in, with Orochimaru approaching it.
Hearing the door open, Kurama Yakumo didn't even turn her head and continued painting.
Yang Tao smiled warmly and spoke gently to her. "Little Yakumo, can you do me a favor?" His tone and expression made him look like a creep trying to lure a little girl with candy.
Hearing his voice, Kurama Yakumo suddenly turned around, looking at him in surprise.
She asked quietly, "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
This whole area was her domain. She could sense anyone who entered, yet she hadn't noticed this man at all.
Yang Tao's expression remained unchanged as he stepped toward her. "Who I am isn't important. What matters is that you want to be a ninja, right? I can help you, but I need your help too."
Seeing him approach, Kurama Yakumo quickly picked up a nearby canvas and started painting. In no time, Yang Tao appeared on the painting.
"Stay back!"
But Yang Tao kept walking toward her, unfazed. Yakumo quickly drew ropes on the painting, binding him.
In reality, ropes suddenly appeared around Yang Tao, tightly wrapping around him.
It felt as if he had truly been tied up.
Kurama Yakumo's ability could manipulate a person's five senses, turning them into her puppets through a terrifying Genjutsu.
"My lord!" Orochimaru called from behind.
"Ignore it," Yang Tao said, stopping him. A mere Genjutsu wasn't enough to hold him.
Yang Tao put on the Revealer Goggles, and the ropes vanished. He looked at Kurama Yakumo again.
Behind her, a shadowy monster appeared, staring straight at him—it was Ido, the monster from her mind!
Since he could see it, that made things easier.
"Don't be scared. I won't hurt you." He had already reached Yakumo's side, looking at the painting of himself.
"Nice work," he said, admiring it.
He thought to himself, *If I had this skill in my past life, picking up girls would've been so easy. I've always liked figure drawing.*
Yakumo trembled. "What are you?"
"I'm here to help you. You've always wondered—how could your parents, both Jonin, die in an ordinary fire during the day? I can tell you the truth."
He wanted to get straight to the point. This was something she'd find out sooner or later, and if she couldn't handle it, well, there was always Orochimaru.
"The Third Hokage killed my parents! He wanted to kill me too! I have to get revenge!" Yakumo said with hatred in her eyes.
*If the Third Hokage really wanted you dead, your grave would be covered in grass by now.*
"Heh… Think again."
Yang Tao scanned the room and noticed a painting covered by a black cloth in the corner.
This had to be the truth Yakumo was too afraid to remember.
He walked over and pulled off the cloth.
As expected, it was a painting of a massive fire. Within the flames, the eerie face of Ido could be seen.
He turned to Yakumo and spoke loudly, "Look at this! Does it remind you of anything? Heh… Your parents weren't killed by the Third Hokage. They were killed by the monster inside you!"
Yakumo stared blankly at the painting.
Then, she clutched her head, murmuring, "I… I killed them? It was me?"
She raised a sharp palette knife and aimed it at her own heart.
Yang Tao wasn't worried.
Ido would never let Yakumo die so easily. They were one and the same—if she died, he would too. If he died, Yakumo would be fine, maybe even relieved.
Just as the knife was about to pierce her body, a hand reached out from the painting and grabbed her wrist.
Ido had taken advantage of Yakumo's ability to manifest itself in reality.
But Yang Tao didn't wait for it to speak like in the original story—he lunged forward and yanked it out of the painting.
*If you had stayed inside Yakumo, I might've had trouble dealing with you. But since you came out, I'll let you taste my treasure!*
He pulled out the Enma Blade and slashed at Ido.
The monster's body didn't show any wounds, but it became more translucent.
In the original story, Ido was immune to both physical and magical attacks because it was a Genjutsu creature born from Yakumo's soul. Only Yakumo could defeat it.
But Yang Tao's Enma Blade had the power to harm souls.
With Ido's scream, he was quickly taken down.
Looking at the stunned Yakumo Kurama,
he said directly, "Hey, pretty girl, want to hear about the revival package?"
---
Read 10 advanced chapters on my patreon
patreon.com/GustinaKamiya
---