"You?! Don't provoke Yakumo, you asshole..."
Yuhi Kurenai didn't expect Makoto to be so direct, and she immediately started panicking.
When she turned and saw Kurama Yakumo's face drain of color, her anxiety spiked.
"Look, I've never been a fan of the whole 'white lie' concept, but I can tolerate them if they actually lead to a good outcome. But Kurenai? Your lies about Kurama Yakumo are bullshit."
Makoto didn't hold back.
"When the outcome is bad, and it's still a lie, good intentions don't mean a damn thing. It's just a bad lie. Don't you agree?" Makoto threw the question back at the room.
"...What do you mean the outcome isn't good?"
Facing Kurama Yakumo's trembling questioning gaze, Yuhi Kurenai couldn't bring herself to keep up the charade.
She averted her eyes, looking at Makoto instead to avoid her student's stare.
"You told her that her parents died in an accidental fire. That only makes her suspicious, creates a wall between you two, and worsens her psychosis."
Makoto walked right up to Kurama Yakumo, crouched down to meet her eyes, and said.
"Go on. Tell your teacher what you really think."
Yakumo flinched under Makoto's interrogation.
She turned her head away, too terrified to maintain eye contact.
"He asked you a question. Are you deaf?"
Uchiha Hikari stepped behind Kurama Yakumo, grabbed her head, and forcibly cranked it back to face Makoto.
Incidentally, she had already planted her Eight Thousand Spears mark on Yakumo's shoulder.
Forced to look Makoto in the eye, Kurama Yakumo finally snapped.
"It was the Third Hokage! He sent assassins to kill my parents!"
"Huh?"
Yuhi Kurenai, Tsunade, and the others were utterly bewildered.
"EEEHHH, MEE?" Sarutobi Hiruzen, standing at the back of the crowd, pointed at himself in disbelief, sweating under the judgmental stares of the First and Second Hokages.
'Shouldn't Danzo be taking the blame for this kind of shady shit?'
Does Yakumo even know Danzo? Probably not.
Actually, Yakumo doesn't know many people at all.
She probably just picked one of the three people she knows and decided he was the culprit, huh?
"Yakumo, why on earth would you think the Third Hokage did it?" Kurenai regained her composure and tried to explain, but she was stumbling over her words.
"Stay away! You just admitted to lying to me! That means my parents didn't die in an accident at all—it was the Third Hokage who killed them, right?!" Yakumo suddenly went hysterical, screaming at Kurenai.
Flustered and out of options, Kurenai cast a pleading glance toward Makoto.
"It wasn't the Third Hokage who killed your parents. Why would that old man have any reason to kill them? He's a politician, not a mass murderer. The real culprit responsible for your parents' deaths is the monster living inside you."
Makoto dropped the truth bomb without blinking.
"Kurenai hid the truth because she was worried you'd think you killed them and completely lose your mind. Clearly, that backfired."
"How could that be..."
The angry momentum Yakumo had mustered vanished instantly, and she collapsed weakly onto the floor.
From the start, Makoto had been advocating for her and had even exposed Kurenai's lies.
Subconsciously, Yakumo trusted Makoto deeply, so she didn't doubt the harsh truth he revealed.
It's a common psychological quirk: people often trust strangers more than family or friends, believing the stranger is more objective.
Yakumo was in that exact state.
But that clarity was fleeting.
Because the Heart Demon, Ido, still lived inside her head.
Hearing Makoto pin the blame on it, Ido immediately started corrupting Yakumo's mind.
It whispered that Makoto wasn't a good person either—that he was hired by the Third Hokage to put on a show and clear his name.
It told her these people claimed they were here to help, but they just wanted to lower her guard so they could execute her.
"You... you're here to kill me? You too... you're all scum! I won't believe any of you anymore—!"
Kurama Yakumo suddenly snapped.
She grabbed her paintbrush, but before she could stroke the canvas and warp reality, Uchiha Hikari snatched the brush from her hand and bitch-slapped her across the face with a resounding smack.
The force of the slap left Yakumo utterly dazed!
Yakumo's life was tragic, sure, but aside from her parents' death and her poor health, she hadn't really experienced the real Konoha bullying.
Let alone getting slapped in the face by a stranger.
"You can insult the others, but how dare you insult Makoto? He kindly told you the truth and wants to fix your broken brain, and this is how you repay him? Biting the hand that feeds you? Huh?!"
Uchiha Hikari stood with her hands on her hips, glaring furiously down at Yakumo.
"I..."
Tears welled in Yakumo's eyes.
She glanced at Makoto, feeling a sudden surge of guilt.
"When it comes to mental issues, the Uchiha are indeed the professionals. Takes a crazy person to know a crazy person, I guess." Tobirama watched the scene and muttered quietly to Hashirama.
"I'm sorry... hiks!"
Kurama Yakumo suddenly dashed forward and hugged Makoto tightly, burying her face in his chest.
This move left everyone stunned.
Even Makoto hadn't expected it.
What the hell just happened?
"Hmph, I... wait, why the fuck are you hugging Makoto? Get off him!"
Uchiha Hikari was just about to brag about her good deed when she saw Yakumo's action and immediately panicked.
She rushed over, grabbed Yakumo's arm, and tried to pry her off.
After finally ripping Yakumo away from Makoto, Hikari let out a relieved sigh and flopped down onto the sofa.
"What did you do to Yakumo?"
Yuhi Kurenai stepped forward to check on her student.
As a Genjutsu master herself, she immediately sensed that Yakumo had been hit by a high-level illusion technique.
That was the only explanation for the instant personality shift.
"Weren't the memories of her parents' death deleted by the monster inside her? I just restored them for her. Then I had her repeatedly experience the truth in the Tsukuyomi illusion space."
"As for that 'Ido' thing? I tossed it in a corner and let it get hacked to pieces by blades and axes for a few days—it's become much more obedient now."
Uchiha Hikari pointed to her own eyes, a sadistic little smile curling at the corner of her mouth.
Yuhi Kurenai: "..."
Was this really therapy?
It sounded more like straight-up torture!
In terms of mechanics, you can't compare the Genjutsu of the Uchiha clan with the Kurama clan.
But setting mechanics aside, raw power is what truly matters.
Hikari's power was immense, fueled by the infinite Chakra of the Gedo Statue.
Even if Yakumo were a healthy Jonin instead of a sickly girl, she would have been crushed by Hikari instantly.
"...You definitely didn't just show her the past. Otherwise, she wouldn't be acting like this toward Makoto." Kurenai held Yakumo, eyeing Hikari suspiciously.
"Oh, I added a few insignificant little 'what if' scenarios, too. You know, like one where she trusted Ido, and the monster used her hands to brutally kill you, Makoto, and everyone else, leaving her to spend the rest of her miserable life drowning in regret. Stuff like that."
Uchiha Hikari shrugged, speaking as if she was discussing the weather.
Adding trauma scenarios with Tsukuyomi—this was a trick Makoto had personally taught her.
It was quite fun, actually.
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