Kurenai gave a small nod. "Yes."
"Then try using a Genjutsu on me."
Naruto remembered that Kurenai had received a very high rating for Genjutsu mastery in the official databook.
Itachi Uchiha was also rated a perfect ten.
Of course, Kurenai's "ten" might be because her Genjutsu just barely reached the highest mark.
While Itachi's "ten" was more likely due to the fact that ten was the maximum possible score.
Still, the point remained: Kurenai's Genjutsu skills were nothing to scoff at.
Kurenai hesitated. "Huh? Use Genjutsu on you?"
"Yeah. Go ahead."
"…Alright."
Seeing that Naruto was completely serious, Kurenai stood and began forming hand seals.
"Genjutsu: Demonic Illusion – Tree Binding Death!"
This was a Genjutsu that disrupted the target's mental state, tricking them into believing they were bound by tendrils or vines—thus losing the ability to resist.
Just hearing the effect, it sounded like a very serious and proper technique.
The technique activated—but to Kurenai's shock, she was the one who ended up bound instead.
Huge octopus-like tendrils wrapped tightly around her from all directions.
The sensation was incredibly realistic—the constriction around her limbs and body made it hard to breathe, and her breathing gradually grew heavy.
"W-What… what is this?!"
She had never experienced anything like it.
She tried to dispel the illusion—but nothing worked.
With a wave of Naruto's hand, the illusion shattered, and Kurenai collapsed to the floor, eyes wide, gasping for breath.
"This level of Genjutsu is too weak," Naruto said calmly. "If the opponent's spiritual strength crushes yours, the illusion rebounds like that—backfiring instantly."
Kurenai's pride in her Genjutsu suddenly seemed so fragile. She felt completely humiliated.
When she finally regained her breath, Naruto helped her back to the couch and gently laid her down.
She blinked in confusion.
'Why lie down?'
Naruto seemed to read her mind and explained:
"Now it's my turn to show you some Genjutsu. Just in case you pass out, it's safer to start lying down."
'Your Genjutsu?'
Kurenai's eyes widened.
'Will I survive this?'
Naruto released his ocular power, enveloping her in light.
Kurenai felt the world spin—and when her vision returned, the scenery had completely changed.
This was the illusionary realm of Kotoamatsukami.
Compared to when he pulled Ino into it, the illusion was now denser, more vivid, and far more potent.
Naruto had never even trained in Genjutsu formally, but with this kind of ocular power and Kotoamatsukami as a base, his Genjutsu was at Kage+ level.
Kurenai looked around in awe.
As a Genjutsu expert, she could immediately tell this was an illusionary space.
"But… is Genjutsu supposed to be this realistic…?" she muttered to herself.
"Training in here will boost your Genjutsu progress by a factor of hundreds, even thousands," Naruto said. "Try it. If you can't improve here, that just means you've hit your limit."
The moment she heard that—a thousand times faster training—Kurenai was completely stunned.
She didn't ask further and began meditating and practicing.
Over the past two years, she had sensed herself hitting a bottleneck in her Genjutsu.
No matter how much she trained, she couldn't move past it.
But now, in this illusion space, she felt as though she was already touching that bottleneck… and even being gently guided past it.
That guiding force—was Naruto's vast ocean of ocular power.
And ocular power and Genjutsu had a natural synergy.
As her training deepened, she noticed not only her Genjutsu advancing rapidly, but her spiritual strength and chakra reserves were steadily rising as well.
At this rate, her strength really might surpass her father's level—and reach the Kage tier, or even higher.
This sudden spike in her training progress was intoxicating.
In the days that followed, Kurenai came to Naruto's home each evening for personal guidance.
Naruto also used the opportunity to make up for his own gaps in Genjutsu and illusion-style ninjutsu.
They'd train for 30 minutes to an hour.
She always left right before sundown.
Until the seventh evening.
Kurenai once again arrived at Naruto's home.
She raised her hand to knock—
But a deep male voice called out sharply behind her.
"Kurenai! What the hell are you doing here every day?!"
The voice was full of suspicion and anger.
She didn't need to look—she knew exactly who it was.
Sarutobi Asuma.
Lately, she had felt herself about to break through into Kage-level power.
She was growing impatient and eager to train.
But now Asuma had intercepted her—she frowned in irritation and spoke coldly:
"Were you following me?"
Asuma, seeing her icy tone, grew more agitated.
"I don't need to follow you! You show up here at the same time every day and leave after an hour. What exactly are you doing?!"
His tone was aggressive and possessive, like she belonged to him.
That blatant male ego made her frown deeper.
"I never accepted your confession. What I do has nothing to do with you. Please leave."
Asuma gritted his teeth and pulled out a cigarette, trembling as he tried to light it.
He was furious.
He'd almost won her over—and now she was suddenly obsessed with someone else.
Worse, she was colder than ever.
He took a long drag, as if to burn away his frustration, and exhaled sharply.
"I want to see for myself who this guy is! Who turned you into this!"
He stomped out the cigarette and marched toward the gate.
Kurenai moved to block him.
"Asuma! Don't be reckless. He's not someone you can afford to offend!"
But Asuma saw her body tense up in front of the door—like she was protecting someone inside.
That made him even angrier.
Without thinking, he reached out and roughly grabbed her wrist, yanking her aside.
"What, is there someone in this village I can't mess with? Get out of the way!"
In his youth, Asuma had been rebellious enough that Hiruzen Sarutobi had sent him away to the Land of Fire's border to reflect.
It had helped. He'd returned more stable.
But now, in this blind fury—he was becoming that reckless young man again.
Kurenai hadn't expected this.
The man who had once treated her so gently, so carefully, in pursuit of her affection—
Was now hurting her.
She looked down at the forming bruise on her fair wrist and felt a sharp pain.
At that moment, she felt truly relieved:
'Thank goodness I never accepted his confession…'
Asuma also noticed the purple mark forming on her wrist—and a flash of regret passed through his heart.