Chapter 104: The Kurama Record

"This is where we part," Tonbo said at Konoha's main gate. "You have been taught every method included in the agreement. Take your people home before I find another exercise."

Relief passed openly through the daimyō's guards. A month earlier, several had assumed a civilian-born instructor would treat them with excessive caution. Tonbo had answered that expectation with more varieties of genjutsu than they wished to remember. None seemed eager to test whether his farewell was a joke.

Asuma adjusted the strap of his pack. "Then we are leaving."

His attention remained upon Kurenai.

"Goodbye," she said.

One month had passed too quickly for him. He had trained beside her, shared meals after lessons, and found reasons to remain whenever his people no longer required supervision. At the capital, the Guardian Twelve had given him purpose, distance from his father, and a way to serve the Land of Fire on his own terms. Those reasons no longer felt sufficient.

Hiruzen spent his evenings caring for Konohamaru while Asuma's elder brother remained absent for long stretches. Kurenai was here. Asuma intended to resign from the Guardian Twelve once he returned to the capital and put his obligations in order.

He led the column away, looking back often enough that several subordinates began pretending not to notice.

The completed assignment returned Kurenai to her regular duties and freed Murakumo from the visitors' schedule. Tonbo had learned a great deal from both instructors during the month, but not enough to satisfy him.

Illusion Body was progressing quickly. Tonbo hoped an encounter with the Kurama clan's exceptional bloodline would give him enough insight to reproduce its effects.

"Murakumo," he said, "if you have time, I would value a longer discussion of the Kurama clan's approach to genjutsu. I have long admired your family's talent."

Murakumo considered him, then smiled. "I intended to make the same request. Your mastery probably exceeds that of most of our ancestors. Come with me."

The Kurama compound was quieter than Tonbo expected. He followed Murakumo through a long corridor and sensed only household staff in the surrounding rooms. No children trained in the courtyard. No younger chakra signatures moved within the residence.

"Is the family away?" Tonbo asked.

"My wife is at the hot springs. She will be away for a while."

Tonbo had expected to find Kurama Yakumo. No child had appeared anywhere within his perception.

"The Kurama clan is said to produce an extraordinary genjutsu user every few generations," he said. "Might that genius be your daughter?"

Murakumo's smile became strained. "My wife and I have no children. We have tried for years without success."

"You have no children?"

"I admit I envy you. A son and a daughter at once is rare good fortune." Murakumo opened the door to a reception room. "But the story you heard about our bloodline is not entirely true."

Tonbo sat across from him. "Which part?"

"The part everyone thinks they understand. Wait here."

Murakumo entered the adjoining study and returned carrying a heavy bound volume. Age had darkened its cover, while repeated repairs showed how often the family had preserved it.

"Our secret techniques cannot leave the clan," he said as he placed it between them. "This can. It contains theories, failures, and observations recorded by generations of Kurama genjutsu users. The methods are omitted, but the reasoning is often as valuable as a finished jutsu."

Tonbo opened the book. The first page listed its principal contributors. One name stopped him.

"Kurama Yakumo."

"The third head of our clan," Murakumo said. "She is the source of the recurring-genius legend."

He had expected that name to belong to Murakumo's daughter. He kept that reaction behind his bandages. "I thought the legend referred to future descendants."

"It refers to her. During the Warring States Period, the Kurama survived through genjutsu while competing with other clans for land and contracts. Losses threatened to erase us. Yakumo developed our clan's kekkei genkai, then created a forbidden technique intended to preserve that power."

"What technique?"

"Genjutsu Reincarnation."

Murakumo explained. So long as the Kurama bloodline endured, an exceptional genjutsu user would arise every few generations. Enemies who remembered what such a person could do would hesitate to destroy the weakened clan. The promise of another genius became a deterrent that outlived Yakumo herself.

The technique appealed to Tonbo. He would die sooner or later; he had never intended to live forever. He wanted to live well while he could, and leaving a lasting mark through his family would be better still. A guaranteed genius every few generations could not equal the numbers of the Senju, Uchiha, Sarutobi, or Shimura, but it would give his descendants far better prospects than the Fūma and Izuno.

Tonbo studied the old names beneath hers. The design exceeded the inheritance systems he had been considering since speaking with Chōza. A family might preserve lessons and techniques, yet talent still varied. Genjutsu Reincarnation appeared to guarantee the one element no archive could supply.

"That sounds less like a forbidden technique than a solution to succession," he said.

"It was a solution when clans stood alone," Murakumo replied. "Then the village system ended that world. We joined Konoha and discovered that Yakumo's protection could also become a threat to us."

"Why?"

He could not imagine creating such a technique with all his present knowledge. If he could learn it, though, his descendants would have a guarantee instead of waiting for luck to produce a genius. The idea pleased him more the longer he considered it.