Chapter 11: Days of Discoveries and Training (1)

I came back to my apartment after the disappointing sparring session with Teme. Stupid rules, I know I can dodge Sasuke's jutsu. I would have totally dominated the match if I could use genjutsu. Sighing, I unlocked the dull blue front door and went inside to see how my clones were doing.

They were still at the same places as before. Some that were gathered at the kitchen table turned around from their chairs to glance at what caused the door to open, but just waved at me before going back to their texts. On the other side of the living room lay 4 clones nap-"Oi! Lazy clones! What are you doing resting in that corner?!"

The clones instantly jumped up into the air in fright and were ready to chuck something at me before they realized who it was that awakened them.

"Oh, it's you, boss. We all have headaches from practicing the genjutsu on each other. We're still seeing messed up colors everywhere."

Seeing that I calmed down a bit, they continued, "How was training, boss? Put teme in his place?" They collectively smirked in anticipation for what should have been a beat-down.

I sighed and responded. No doubt, the clones could imagine nothing good happened from my slump. Before they could ask again, I told them about the ban on techniques even though Sasuke could still use that darn taijutsu style of his.

As all clones had heard me and were the same person, we all growled in a group chorus. With mutters of 'Stupid teme' and 'stupid sensei,' I gestured for them to slowly voluntarily dispel one by one. Last night, Asuma-sensei had told me that kage bushin could report acquired information back to the creator and had suggested that I use my abilities to learn at a faster pace; though he had severely warned me to use no more than 8 clones at once and to slowly dispel them over hours at a time. Clasping my head in a firm grip with both my hands, I could definitely understand why. My head was pulsing with fast hard thumps, like someone was jumping up and down on my brain from inside. That was all just from one dispelling too!

I shuddered at what would happen if I dispelled all of them at once. But why didn't this affect me in the forest after the fight with Mizuki-teme? I added that to my list of questions to ask Asuma-sensei next time I see him tomorrow. He had ordered a break for tonight, so I would be staying at home to practice and go over what I- or more like my clones- learned today. With such a rush of information still being organized by my brain, I know I'll have a long evening ahead of me.

Still, as bits of what the genjutsu-practicing clone had experienced started seeping into my consciousness, I realized that they really were hard at work trying to master my first genjutsu; and even trying to figure out how to adjust what pats of the vision would be affected with different focuses on each handsign!

Ruefully, I gave my apologies to the genjutsu-clones for underestimating them. Their smug grins, however, turned into worried frowns when I gestured for more time to the next clone that was about to dispel. My headache had not faded away and the flow of memories was just beginning to slow. No way could I afford to take in more memories. I shudder at what would happen if I turn into a vegetable from 'data overload,' as Asuma-sensei put it.

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'Oh that's interesting,' I thought to myself as I process another clone's memories. This clone spent the day reading a scroll on brain anatomy. While I realized that I had a lot to learn about the brain in order to be a successful genjutsu user, I had no idea there were so many functions that was carried in the brain. Processing time? Reflexes? Smell? There's so many possible ways to fool the brain! I just need to find how to turn the chakra into something that targets those points.

"Hmm, I guess that's the hard part, huh?" I asked a nearby clone lounging in one of the chairs. I had stopped my clones from studying as having them study more would just make a longer delay between each dispel; and I intended to sleep early tonight. I know I'm going to have a headache tomorrow morning once I try to remember everything that I 'learned' today. Instead, I asked them all to meditate on what they learned in hopes that it would make the memories more structures for easier organization.

The clone snorted, "You're telling me. I spent three hours trying to figure out just how one set of handsigns in one order cause one genjutsu to happen while the same set of signs in a different order cause a totally different genjutsu. It looks like we'll have to do a lot of experimentation," the clone replied as he looked around the room, "Guess it's a good thing we can make so many guinea pigs, huh?" He grinned at me. I matched his grin as I thought of how useful the kage bushin was in learning a genjutsu's effects.

Another thing I noticed while chatting with clones about the newly acquired memories was that it helped me understand just what my brain was being bombarded with. I noticed that even though I was getting information at a rapid pace, some of it would quickly be forgotten as I skipped to the next bit of memory. Because of this, I slowed down the rate of dispels to avoid wasting my clones' training time. No point in training if it's just going to be forgotten, after all.

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It was nighttime and almost time for bed when I finally dispelled the last clone. Rubbing my thoroughly abused head, I slowly added more notes to the scroll that I laid out in front of me to summarize the most important points that I learned from my clones. I started the scroll once I was past the fifth dispel and that I would have too much information in my head to remember every bit. So, I tried to write down what I remembered from the first dispels until I was caught up with my next dispels and the last. Wearily glancing through the summary, I gave up any further attempts to understand once the words started to blur and even taunt me.

I looked around the room to clear my head and saw that I still had a few ramen cups left from when the clones ate them in their hunger. I guess clones still feel hunger? Huh. Clones. Eating real food.

Oh crap.

Quickly getting out of my chair, I scanned the room with my eyes for what I feared. It was with great relief that I did not see hours old ramen lying around the apartment when my clones dispelled. The relief was fleeting for I then had another question. What happened to the real ramen after the clones dispelled? Clones weren't real, so how could they eat real food? Scratching my head, I absentmindedly scribbled the question down on the scroll of questions for both Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. At this point, the scroll was decently long; it was longer than some of my homework essays, actually. Not that surprising considering this was far more interesting, but still something to be noted.

Shrugging, I poured some water into my old water boiler for a bed-time snack. With all the thinking I did today, I felt surprisingly hungry. I thought about that hunger…and promptly poured some more water into the small burdened boiler. Pour thing has been through a lot of pours. I fondly patted the pale white device. It was a gift from Oyaji when he saw how much I loved ramen, even instant ramen. That was 4 years ago, and I have not spared it a single day's rest. I hugged it close to me.

"Oh water boiler, you're the only friend I need," I giggled as I murmured sweet nothings into the hole where precious hot water would come out. At last, after a long while, the boiler let loose bubbling sounds and then a satisfying click as the heat switch automatically shut off to signal the water was now ready to give life to my ramen.

Gratefully, I patted the top of the boiler to pour water into my cups of noodles. It would just be two cups tonight, but I'm going to save some hot water for tomorrow morning. No sense in wasting the precious life fluid.

Clapping my hands in a prayer of thanks, I dug into the first carton. It was a pleasure to short to enjoy and I found myself ravenously reaching out to the second one. With measured patience, I tried to slow down to savor this heavenly treat. Truly, this cup should be treated with more respect; it had just been reborn into food and I will treasure it.

Again, that cup was drained and its empty husk tossed back into a stack of old cartons that I would no doubt have to take out by the end of the week. Ramen smells heavenly, but old cartons still smell like trash. I felt my nose involuntarily wrinkle in anticipation of throwing the stuff out. Thankfully, it will be a while before the stink really hits the apartment, so I had plenty of time.

I climbed into bed and turned off the lights, letting my eyes adjust to the sudden darkness; my only light source a window that let in some of the moonlight that showed down on the village.

I happily yawned as I tried to remember all that I learned today. Today was a big step into learning genjutsu. With more of these days, I know I will bring my dreams out into reality soon.

Smiling, my thoughts slowed and darkness started overtaking the memories.

Gradually, I knew no more and slept.

A/N: Read and review 'tebayo! I need feedback!

LordOwl