Clap, clap, clap.
Makoto applauded slowly.
"Huh?" Uchiha Hikari looked over in confusion.
"Very creative. I'm actually impressed, Hikari-chan," Makoto praised.
"It's nothing, really. You gave me the inspiration."
Being praised by Makoto, Hikari felt a bit embarrassed and looked down.
"No, I mean it seriously. Back in the Warring States period, there was a female ninja from the Uchiha clan who developed a Dojutsu that could force people to loop inside a Genjutsu until they accepted reality. It was called Izanami, a psychological treatment Jutsu that requires permanently sacrificing the light of one eye."
"The only 'advantages' it brings are being fully automatic and being able to cast it without visual contact. But strictly speaking, being fully automatic isn't necessarily a good thing either."
"This lets the 'patient' heal themselves, sure, but if they can't fix their own head, there's no way out. If the 'patient' completely breaks down mentally and gives up thinking before they heal, the Jutsu backfires completely."
"But what you just did—using Tsukuyomi to actively curate the storyline and treat Kurama Yakumo's illness? That is different. Actively planning the scenario makes the treatment efficiency countless times higher than some automatic loop. Plus, it's impossible for them to escape the Genjutsu without recognizing themselves."
"At the same time, this is controllable. If you notice the 'patient's' spirit is about to snap, you can actively release the Genjutsu to stop them from getting worse."
Makoto's explanation made Uchiha Hikari pause in thought.
Clearly, Uchiha Hikari wasn't what the Second Hokage called "the inherently evil Uchiha."
On the contrary, just like her name suggests, her nature was full of light.
As long as Makoto didn't die, she wouldn't prioritize pursuing power above all else, nor would she use Amaterasu on every random dog she passed by.
At this point, Uchiha Hikari could be called "inherently kind."
So when Makoto said Tsukuyomi could be used to treat psychological illnesses, Hikari felt genuinely happy.
"Wow, even an Uchiha can become a medical ninja now..." Tsunade muttered quietly nearby, sounding skeptical.
"Excellent! The Senju treat the body, the Uchiha treat the mind! This is how the Shinobi World should be! So harmonious, I'm so moved! Boo hoo!"
Hashirama Senju started wiping his tears as he spoke, looking quite embarrassing.
Of course, no matter what he said, Uchiha Hikari ignored him completely—Hashirama had long been blocked and muted in her mind.
But Hashirama's rambling made Hikari suddenly think of something.
She turned her dead eyes toward Tsunade.
"I remember you have some kind of hemophobia, right? Senju Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage."
Gulp.
Being stared at like that by Uchiha Hikari, Tsunade instantly realized what was coming and quickly squeezed her eyes shut.
"No need! I can handle this minor condition myself!"
Although Tsunade didn't know where this Uchiha girl spawned from, just from how she addressed her with that surname no one had used for so long, she could tell this girl was part of the "nostalgia faction" that didn't get along with the Senju.
There was no doubt that Tsunade's surname was Senju.
Don't even start thinking about possibilities like "maybe Tsunade's mother was a Senju while her father was an outsider."
Because even if that were the case, Tsunade would still be surnamed Senju.
Just look at what surname Inojin had during the Boruto era to understand.
Even if the mother was a Yamanaka, if the father married into the family, the kid takes the clan name.
Especially since Tsunade's father married the First Hokage's own daughter, he wouldn't qualify to pass on his own surname unless his family was the Uchiha—who were equally famous.
But that was clearly impossible.
In any case, there was no doubt Tsunade's surname was Senju.
As for why she was never addressed that way? That was simply due to the First Hokage's policy.
By removing their surnames, the Senju clan would no longer operate as a separate unit, instead devoting themselves entirely to the shinobi village as a collective.
The Senju clan certainly still existed.
Hell, when Kiba and Shino were looking for wedding gifts, they were told about the Senju clan's tradition of giving mead and even found a mysterious Senju beekeeper.
—
"Enough, Hikari. Since you've already resolved Yakumo's psychological issues, let's focus on the main task."
Makoto placed his hand on Hikari's shoulder to stop her.
"Okay then." Hikari obediently shifted her gaze away from Tsunade.
Actually, to deal with a collective consciousness like the Heart Demon Ido attached to Kurama Yakumo, Makoto only needed to use his [White Snake] ability to directly extract Ido and turn it into a Disc.
However, Ido was essentially a part of Yakumo.
Direct extraction would mean weakening Kurama Yakumo's overall power.
That wouldn't benefit their future plans.
The best method was to let Kurama Yakumo overcome Ido herself and master this power.
This way, not only wouldn't she be weakened, but she could actually reach new heights.
Currently, Yakumo naturally hadn't completely resolved the Ido issue; the monster was just temporarily too traumatized to appear after being tortured by Hikari's Tsukuyomi.
Hearing Makoto stop Hikari, Tsunade slowly opened her eyes, sighing in relief... but feeling somewhat disappointed.
Based on previous situations, Makoto should have said "don't avoid treatment just because you fear the disease," and then forcibly subjected her to Tsukuyomi to torment her into a cure.
'Has his attitude really changed?'
It seems she really could only work on rebuilding his favorability from scratch.
Tsunade temporarily gave up on the idea.
"Wait! Yakumo's body can't handle it!" Yuhi Kurenai still stood in front of Kurama Yakumo, blocking the way.
"Kurenai-sensei..."
"Don't worry, we understand her physical condition. We're not asking her to complete everything in one go right now. We just need to conduct an experiment first to confirm whether our method is feasible. This experiment doesn't require much power and won't put much pressure on her."
Makoto's explanation made Yuhi Kurenai relax slightly.
"Moreover, it's not just her body that can't handle it—Hikari's body actually can't withstand the full process either." Makoto added.
"Huh?" Hikari was taken aback.
She hadn't considered that before; she had only thought about helping Makoto achieve his goal with all her might.
"So not only does Yakumo need to recover physically, but Hikari must also master the amplification of my natural energy to ensure everyone's safety. This isn't something that can be accomplished overnight, so let's start with an experiment first."
"If the experiment fails, it means the underlying logic of this method isn't applicable, and we can look for other approaches."
Makoto was well aware of the limits of Uchiha Hikari's Mangekyo.
In the original storyline, she had transferred the massive amount of Chakra collected by the Eight Thousand Spears to Boruto, which directly led to her overloading and sacrificing herself.
That's why he never intended to achieve everything in one step from the beginning.
"An experiment? How do we conduct it?"
"Simple." Makoto looked at Tsunade. "Can you call Kakashi here?"
"Mm? Huh? Oh. Yes."
Tsunade hadn't expected Makoto to suddenly speak to her.
She had been lost in her own thoughts and snapped back to reality.
"Shizune, you go."
"..."
Shizune felt like crying but had no tears left!
'Lady Tsunade, what exactly am I to you? A glorified pager?'