Chapter 154 Crossdressing Icon and Illusions
After Uchiha Yashiro fainted once again, the Uchiha clansmen bustling around him failed to notice that a transparent shadow of a soul was drifting out from Uchiha Yashiro's tightly closed Sharingan.
The soul shadow looked at Uchiha Yashiro, who had fainted for the second time today, smiled with satisfaction, and then transformed into an obscure soul fluctuation, disappearing without a trace.
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On the other side, after leaving his experimental "little black mouse," Kato Yufeng encountered no further unexpected situations and quickly reached his destination: the old lair of Shimura Danzo, the headquarters of the Root organization—an ordinary-looking, completely inconspicuous three-story detached building.
The small building was situated in a corner of the Konoha Village commercial district, quite far from the Hokage's Mansion. If one were to look straight down from a high altitude, its location was right at the edge of the core area of Konoha Village.
Kato Yufeng did not know whether this location was arranged by Sarutobi Hiruzen or Shimura Danzo. Being both in the core area and at the edge, coupled with the status and primary duties of Shimura Danzo and the Root organization within Konoha Village at this time, the choice of location for this three-story building was truly marvelous.
At the entrance of the small building hung a large wooden sign with the single character "Inn" (宿) inscribed upon it.
That's right, on the surface, this three-story building was an inn—a normally operating inn. However, the ordinary Konoha villagers hurrying past on the street could not even see this inn.
Advanced illusions had been cast over the entire exterior of the inn building. Unless one knew the passphrase, or possessed a level of ninja strength that was too low, ninjas would fail to discover the building entirely, let alone come here to stay.
At this moment, Kato Yufeng was at the front desk of the inn, completing the check-in procedures and undergoing identity verification.
Although this was not the first time he had come here to see Shimura Danzo, every time he entered or left, he had to go through a strict identity verification process.
"Lord Kato Yufeng, please wait a moment. It will be ready right away," a sweet, delicate voice called out from the front desk, addressing Kato Yufeng.
The receptionist was a short-statured girl with short red hair and a slender figure. She was very pretty and clearly recognized Kato Yufeng. As she spoke, she smiled, and her tone was gentle and enthusiastic.
Although the receptionist appeared to be a pretty and gentle girl, Kato Yufeng had no intention of making small talk.
It wasn't because he had arrived at the Root headquarters and wanted to maintain a cold, aloof persona; rather, he knew that the person before him was not a simple woman. This individual was actually a man, and a master of illusions.
Kurama Yunshan, a ninja originating from the Kurama clan, was one of the foremost illusion masters under Shimura Danzo and was currently in charge of the defense of the Root headquarters.
The illusions shrouding the exterior of the three-story inn building and the appearance of the female receptionist were both the handiwork of his genjutsu.
When Kato Yufeng first came here, he had almost been fooled by Kurama Yunshan's illusions.
In Kato Yufeng's words, this fellow Kurama Yunshan was a genuine cross-dressing bigwig and a formidable freak. If illusions weren't precisely countered by his Soul-Nurturing Technique, it would be hard to say who would win and who would lose if he were to fight Kurama Yunshan head-on.
Unlike Orochimaru, although they both belonged to the ranks of cross-dressing bigwigs, Orochimaru fundamentally altered his physical gender and form, whereas Kurama Yunshan merely used supreme illusion and ninjutsu to play the role of a woman, achieving a degree of realism that could pass for the real thing.
The illusion-based Kekkei Genkai of the Kurama clan was truly formidable, losing nothing to the illusions of the Uchiha family, and even surpassing them in certain aspects.
*Damn it, why are all of Shimura Danzo's subordinates such heavy hitters? Having Orochimaru is one thing, since Orochimaru at least becomes female physically in the future, but this Kurama Yunshan is truly a cross-dressing大佬.*
While silently muttering internal complaints, Kato Yufeng coped with the rigorous inspection.
Receiving no response, Kurama Yunshan did not show any displeasure. Instead, he continued in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Heehee, Lord Kato, Lord Danzo has been waiting for you for a long time."
Kurama Yunshan stood up and walked out from behind the front desk. The identity token and passphrases had all been checked, and now she prepared to personally conduct a pat-down search on Kato Yufeng.
"Hmph!" Kato Yufeng let out a cold snort. "Put away that disgusting act and hurry up with the inspection. Every time I come over, it's such a hassle. Lord Danzo is still waiting for me downstairs."
A cross-dressing bigwig was fine to just look at from a distance; physical contact was out of the question. Kato Yufeng had no desire to let Kurama Yunshan touch his body—though if it were Snake-chan... cough, cough.
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Kato Yufeng's eyes flashed with spiritual light as he switched to soul vision, cutting off the illusionary interference Kurama Yunshan had placed on his five senses.
At the same time, his hands formed hand seals at high speed to cast Wind Release: Wind Severing. Four small tornadoes rapidly formed around Kurama Yunshan, enclosing him in the center. The sharp, piercing wind-attribute chakra disrupted the illusion chakra surrounding Kurama Yunshan.
The pretty receptionist girl in front of Kato Yufeng instantly transformed into a robust, pure-blooded man with short red hair and a sturdy build. Aside from his hairstyle and hair color remaining unchanged, the rest of Kurama Yunshan's appearance had been forged using his supreme illusion techniques.
Having broken Kurama Yunshan's illusion, Kato Yufeng originally intended to teach him a lesson along the way. Every time he came to the Root headquarters, Kurama Yunshan would try to test him with illusions, and each time he used different illusions to transform into various beauties.
As for the reason why Kurama Yunshan used illusions of different beauties to test Kato Yufeng, aside from his genuine eccentric quirk of being a cross-dressing bigwig, it was also because he had somehow learned the intelligence that Kato Yufeng was immune to illusions.
As one of the foremost illusion masters under Shimura Danzo—and an illusion master possessing the Kekkei Genkai of the Kurama clan—Kurama Yunshan naturally felt unconvinced and resentful toward Kato Yufeng.
Ever since he had almost tricked Kato Yufeng with an illusion the very first time, every subsequent time he saw Kato Yufeng at the Root headquarters, he would test him with a different illusion, simply wishing to prove to Shimura Danzo the strength of the Kurama clan's illusions and that he, Kurama Yunshan, was a competent ninja tool.
Just as Kato Yufeng was preparing to routinely discipline Kurama Yunshan, an obscure soul fluctuation drifted into his mind, and he happened to receive the news that Uchiha Yashiro had fainted once again.
Consequently, Kato Yufeng did not bother to entangle himself further with Kurama Yunshan. Compared to dealing with Kurama Yunshan, Uchiha Yashiro's Sharingan was far more important. Finishing his meeting with Shimura Danzo early would allow him to go find Uchiha Yashiro and check on the specific situation sooner.
Seeing that Kurama Yunshan had already inspected his identity credentials, Kato Yufeng broke the illusion to deny him any chance of physical contact, turned around, walked toward the hidden door inside the inn, and entered the true headquarters of the Root organization.
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Regarding illusions—one of the three major branches of ninja abilities alongside ninjutsu and taijutsu—although Kato Yufeng was not afraid of them, he still found them quite troublesome. To mention nothing else, the Infinite Tsukuyomi and Kotoamatsukami from the original story were extremely troublesome illusions.
To be honest, Kato Yufeng felt that his Soul-Nurturing Technique was a remarkably good match for illusions. Over the years, it wasn't as though he hadn't studied and practiced illusions; yet no matter how many illusions he learned, the ninja system consistently refused to open up an illusion category, leaving Kato Yufeng rather distressed.
However, having crossed paths with Uchiha Yashiro twice today and discovering that the man might "accidentally" awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan under his spiritual nourishment, and considering that most Mangekyo Sharingans in the original story possessed unique or immensely powerful illusion abilities...
This gave Kato Yufeng a glimmer of hope for unlocking the illusion category within the ninja system. Perhaps the reason the illusion category in the ninja system had remained locked was simply because the illusions he had learned together were not powerful enough.
Today, Kato Yufeng had secretly stimulated Uchiha Yashiro's Sharingan twice. While the first time at the Hokage's Mansion was due to an accidental situation, the second time earlier on the streets of Konoha was an intentional act initiated by Kato Yufeng himself.
Naturally, Kato Yufeng wasn't trying to torture or retaliate against Uchiha Yashiro—he wasn't that bored—nor was he simply trying to be a good Samaritan and enhance Uchiha Yashiro's strength.
Aside from wanting to see whether he could use the abilities of his Soul-Nurturing Technique to catalyze the Mangekyo Sharingan, Kato Yufeng also harbored the intent to leverage the Mangekyo Sharingan's abilities to activate the illusion category in his ninja system.
And the news transmitted from that obscure soul fluctuation just moments ago contained the information Kato Yufeng was most interested in; he could hardly wait to go back and study his little black mouse.
Once he shook off Kurama Yunshan's entanglement, the journey ahead went much more smoothly. Passing through several more security checkpoints, Kato Yufeng finally met Shimura Danzo deep in the underground levels of the inn.
Kato Yufeng bowed to Shimura Danzo and called out, "Lord Danzo!"
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Author's Note: Subscriptions requested.