Fire: Yay, the third chapter!
Sasuke: Finally! I'm in it!
Fire: (looking disinterestedly at Sasuke) That's because you won't stop annoying me.
Sasuke: And Naruto action, right?
Fire: No…this is rated T.
Sasuke: At least put me in the same room as him!
Fire: Hmm…no.
Kakashi: (walking up with the Big Bag of Reviews) Review call!
Fire: Reviews! Here! HERE!
Kakashi: (handing a window to Fire from the bag) Getting a little too enthusiastic, aren't we?
Fire: (reading the window) No. I just want to make sure that people are really reading.
Sasuke: Yeah. They might just be opening and closing windows to screw with your head.
Fire: Urusai, or I'll screw with your head!
Sasuke: …
Itachi: Wasn't I supposed to be in this story?
Fire: Uh…Yeah. I'll put more of you in the next chapter, if it fits in the storyline.
Kakashi: Well, what does it say?
Fire: I'm not reviewing reviews here. There's a reply button!
Sasuke: Then let's get on with the story!
Fire: And since someone asked about it, I've added an explanation of the genjutsu used by Itachi at the end of this chapter. It's going to be installed in several sections since it's fairly long so bear with me if you decide to read it.
Itachi: All my secrets…
Sasuke: Now, chapter three!
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Disclaimer: I've mentioned what I own and what I don't own. Well, here's another thing I own: Samehada's personality. I developed it the way I think the sword is like. Tell me what you think.
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Chapter 3: Facets of Discovery
Kisame was never a dependent man...so when he realized that he had actually considered asking for Itachi's permission to go out and kill something, he became disgusted with himself. Since when was he dependent on a boy who was three years his junior? He didn't need anyone's permission to go out and feed Samehada!
But he did leave a note...just in case.
"Arrgh!" Kisame swung his sword around to shave through several layers of a tree. He was too frustrated to see that he wasn't really doing anything to abate Samehada's complaints.
Chakra... Chakra... That way! Samehada pointed in a direction to Kisame's right. Big chakra! Which wasn't saying much considering how every chakra was a big chakra when Samehada was hungry, when there wasn't anyone around them for as far as the trees stretched.
And, there really was no one around them, so it was a choice between going to this allegedly big chakra, or...allowing Samehada to eat some of his chakra, which wasn't really an option because Kisame wasn't going to allow it to do that no matter how hungry his sword was.
Chakra.! Chakra! Samehada was acting like an impatient child.
"Fine," Kisame said after a moment so that it didn't seem like the sword was dominating him...but in actuality, it was. He didn't really have any other choice but to go toward this big chakra that Samehada was pointing to.
So he set off before Samehada could complain any further.
The medic-nin were surprised. Sakura was surprised. Everyone else in the room was surprised. It certainly didn't look as if Tsunade was going to wake up. But she did! The blond woman sat up as soon as Jiraiya came close...and punched him hard in the face.
He was trying to kiss her awake.
"Wow...I didn't think that was going to work..." Sakura stared amazed at the feat. She never knew that Jiraiya could wake a comatose patient just by trying to kiss her. That was amazing.
"That what was going to work?" Tsunade asked as she held her aching head with one hand while propping herself up with the other. She looked around for a moment before noticing Jiraiya's profusely bleeding nose. "Jiraiya, what happened to your nose?"
"What do you mean what happened! You punched me in the nose just a moment ago!"
'Then again...maybe not.' Sakura's illusions about Jiraiya were dispelled once more.
And she was just about to ask him to try that on Naruto too.
"He was going to kiss you, Tsuande-shishou," Sakura said plainly as she saw the blood pool at Jiraiya's feet. Not all of that could have possibly come from one punch. Some of that blood was from–Sakura stared at Jiraiya with unfazed eyes–the perverted thoughts that were running through the white-haired man's mind.
"What!" He was trying to kiss her? Tsunade punched Jiraiya again, sending him flying across the room. It was another moment before her anger subsided. "Now..." She took a quick peek at Naruto who was still unconscious on his own bed, adjacent to her bed. They were apparently lying in one of the wards of Konoha Hospital. "...how is Naruto?" The last time Tsunade had looked at Naruto, he was unconscious...and he was still unconscious.
"Still the same as last time," Sakura said, even as Tsunade looked in Shizune's direction. The Hokage had expected the dark-haired kunoichi to respond. As a result, there was a confused expression on the blond woman's face, and the pink-haired kunoichi saw it right away. "Shizune-senpai has also been affected by the genjutsu."
Tsunade waved a hand in front of Shizune's face, and sure enough, the dark-haired woman couldn't see. Her eyes remained lightless, empty...unmoving. "Shizune...?"
The dark-haired kunoichi tilted her head at Tsunade's call. "Tsunade-sama, nan des-ka?"
"It's only temporary," Sakura said reassuringly as she saw the worried look on Tsunade's face.
"The medical report states that the genjutsu user must have used Uzumaki Naruto-san as a medium in order to affect Hokage-sama and Shizune-taisho. The chakra signature found in all three patients, when carefully analysed with proper precautions in mind, all had similar distinctive properties." Kotetsu was reading off the document. "Since Hokage-sama was in the presence of familiar personages, and Shizune-taisho was alone during their respective incidents, it cannot possibly be because of a close proximity to the genjutsu user. As a result, we can only conclude that Hokage-sama's momentary contact with Uzumaki-san and Shizune-taisho's momentary contact with Hokage-sama while Hokage-sama was under the influence of the genjutsu must have brought about these events. Due to Shizune-taisho's contact with the secondary genjutsu victim, Hokage-sama, as opposed to the primary genjutsu victim, Uzumaki-san, the effects were delayed as opposed to Hokage-sama's incident where the effects appeared almost immedi–"
"Stop reading that out loud! You're giving me a headache!" Tsunade snapped at Kotetsu. She was in no mood for his stuffy reports at the moment.
Kotetsu was staring at Tsunade with glassy eyes. "Nani?" And he crumpled to the ground in tears.
With a sigh, Izumo took hold of Kotetsu and dragged him out of the room. He couldn't just let Kotetsu bawl in the middle of a hospital. "Kotetsu..." Izumo sighed. "You should have known better..." It wasn't the first time Tsunade had yelled at him, and he still reacted this way. He wished that Kotetsu would develop an immunity to it.
But that was one of the problems. It seemed as if the Hokage was only yelling at him. "B–b–but I..." Sniff. "...I was only..." The door closed after them before any more could be heard, but they could still hear the muffled explanation that Kotetsu was giving Izumo in the hall.
"Tsunade-shishou..." Sakura was a little disappointed in her shishou's behaviour. She had thought that Tsunade would be calmer at the moment...after all, she had just come out of a temporary coma. She has been unconscious for almost two days, and the pink-haired kunoichi had thought that her shishou would have been weaker, but she seemed to be the same as before. Somehow, that made her feel relieved.
But it still wasn't helping Naruto's situation, and that was nagging at her in more ways than one.
Sasuke watched Orochimaru for a moment before turning to Kabuto. He has been with the Oto-nin for almost three years now, and still there were no results...and he was disappointed. He had really thought that he would be able to become strong enough to defeat his brother by coming here. He had no illusions of that now. He was only as strong as Naruto was...as Naruto was now, as reported by the Oto spies.
'Chikusho! Stop thinking about him!' Lately, his thoughts had strayed to his blond friend more often than he would have preferred.
"Sasuke-kun...?"
Sasuke snapped his attention back to Orochimaru. The pale man was watching him. "Y–yes, Orochimaru?" He felt Kabuto cringe from the corner of his eye. Even after being here for so long, he still refused to call him 'Orochimaru-sama.'
Orochimaru was staring at him, and it was making Sasuke a little nervous. He didn't know when he began staring, but those gold eyes sent goose bumps throughout his body. And that was saying a lot, especially when it was the body of a boy who was almost completely unfazed by the idea of killing his best friend.
"You seemed a little disturbed, Sasuke-sama. Is something wrong?" Kabuto always voiced those kinds of questions when Orochimaru wanted to know. The pale man never personally asked about Sasuke's well-being.
"I want to become stronger," he said simply, the same reply he always gave whenever they asked a personal question of him. He didn't really see a reason why he should give them any other answer. It wasn't as if he was here to make friends. He had enough friends before...and it didn't really get him anywhere.
"But, you've already become a lot stronger, Sasuke-sama." Kabuto spoke with the same tone that he always used with him.
But Sasuke knew what he was trying to do. And it wasn't going to work. There was no way that the dark-haired shinobi couldn't have seen it. Sasuke was too determined not to see Orochimaru's weakness. He had fought against his brother, and his brother's partner before. Those were real members of Akatsuki...not like this reject. Orochimaru was nowhere close to the power they had exhibited.
"I'm going for a walk," Sasuke said as he turned out of the room. Orochimaru didn't say anything against it. With the seal on his shoulder, he still held power over him.
Kabuto watched the dark-haired boy walk away for a moment before turning to look at his master. He implicitly knew what his master wanted him to do. He had to keep an eye on the little container. He couldn't allow anything to happen to him.
Without another thought into the matter, Kabuto shunshin-ed away. He was going to follow Sasuke, but he didn't need to be right at his side to keep an eye on him.
It was amazing what one small walk could do. For the last few days, there has been such turmoil in Naruto's chest, and he thought that his mind was going to explode more than once. He really needed time to just sit around and do nothing although it wasn't as if he was doing anything special.
He was sitting on his hill again. Not the old hill where he had spent many useless hours watching the meanderings of lazy clouds with his friend, an even lazier chuunin. He was sitting on the new hill. Alone. But it was helping. Within Naruto's mind, there was only calm, even as he looked out into the bright world that surrounded him. From his hill, there was only the silent summer breeze to stir the hairs on his skin and the rare white cloud to entertain his eyes. From his hill, that black bird in the sky looked as if it was waving to him. That black bird almost looked like...
'Is that Sasuke...?' Naruto squinted his eyes, leaning a little forwards as if that would help him see better. That black bird almost looked like Sasuke, in the same black clothes he wore for awhile during the only chuunin exam that they took together.
But that was ridiculous. Sasuke can't fly. He couldn't be up in the sky somewhere like a black bird.
And the blond didn't have time to think about it as another Sasuke's face filled his vision. He dropped to Naruto's side like a lovesick fangirl, a faint smile on his face. It seemed as if he had time to spare for Naruto today. "Naruto..." After a short while, Sasuke hugged Naruto tightly, an arm around the blond shinobi's shoulder. "...what are you thinking?"
For a moment, as Sasuke sat silently at his side, Naruto thought that he had remembered something...something important. He knew that he had had this thought before. In fact, it was only a...few days ago, right? That was when he had last thought that he had forgotten something important.
"Naruto!" The silent call from the sky was unheard by the blond chuunin. "Naruto!"
"Naruto, you're thinking about me, right?" Sasuke's face looked serious.
Naruto blinked as Sasuke's face formed into the familiar dark expression that was always on his face. That was a strange sentence...coming from Sasuke. And for a moment, that behaviour was strange too.
But that couldn't be right. 'What am I thinking! We've been dating for almost a year! And we're even living together. His behaviour isn't weird at all!'
Naruto was apparently scolding himself inwardly, even as this Sasuke tried to hold back a smile. He knew that there was no danger here. The muffled protests of the Sasuke in the sky were currently covered up by Naruto's thoughts of him. And Naruto had never heard the cries of the Kyuubi, straining to tell Naruto that it was all an illusion.
End Chapter 3
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Itachi's Genjutsu Explained
Fire: Those of you interested can keep reading but not reading this won't affect the outcome of the story and reading this won't ruin the storyline.
Sasuke: I want to know how he did that too.
Fire: This is exactly like a medical debriefing so try not to get bored. Pretend that you're the Hokage and you have to read this after you've woken up from the genjutsu.
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The advanced genjutsu used by Itachi is one of the unknown techniques known by the nukenin. He personally created it out of several other techniques viewed in the past through his sharingan and used basic genjutsu knowledge to enhance the ability. Relative techniques are Nehan shouja no jutsu and Tsukiyomi.
Tsukiyomi is a well known technique and is Itachi's signature technique. If the Uchiha has to be associated with a technique, it will be Tsukiyomi. Because of the toll that it takes on the user, the only aspect taken from this technique is that it creates an illusion entirely in the victim's mind. In order to decrease the amount of chakra it requires from Itachi so that he can keep Naruto unconscious for a prolonged period of time—since the entire reason they want to put Naruto under a genjutsu is so that he can't fight back when they come to get him—Itachi has taken out the ability to control space and time within a one second interval. It is those abilities to control space and time within such a short time span which requires so much chakra in the first place. As a result, the advanced genjutsu uses less chakra over a longer period of time, but Itachi can't control what happens within the illusion or how quickly time passes. That is entirely up to the victim.
Originally, Tsukiyomi required the user to look into the victim's eyes in order to cast the spell however, that problem has been diverted through principles of Nehan shouja no jutsu. Nehan shouja no jutsu also known as the Temple of Nirvana was the technique used by Kabuto during Sandaime's last chuunin exam. Kabuto used it to render a large body of people unconscious; however, this technique doesn't have to be used against a large number of people. Nehan shouja can be used against one or many people at once. For the advanced genjutsu, Itachi uses this technique to target one person, hence the intense concentration required and the falling snow, which is a slight variation from Nehan shouja's falling white feathers.
Itachi's decrease in concentration is no great feat. The reason why he needed to concentrate so much in the first place is because he needed to target Naruto from a distance. Once Naruto was under the genjutsu, it was no longer required for Itachi to concentrate so intensely. If he was closer, he wouldn't have to concentrate as much since it would be less likely that he would cast the genjutsu on the wrong person. Once a genjutsu is cast, it no longer requires the user's constant attention. It might be at the back of the user's mind, but the majority of his mind doesn't need to be thinking about the technique. For example, after casting Nehan shouja, Kabuto gave information on Naruto through his nin-info cards to the Oto-nin before they chased after Naruto and his team—which not only required chakra from Kabuto but also a little of his concentration, so not only did he break his concentration, he also diverted chakra to the nin-info cards—but no one woke up. A brief break from the genjutsu won't really affect it in any way, especially if Itachi is still working on it in the back of his mind. The snow stopping is just a side effect, signaling a decrease in concentration.
Basically, the advanced technique can be used at any range (close range: 0m to 5m; mid range: 5m to 10m; far range: 10+) because of Nehan shouja's ability to target people from afar, and it will still render the victim completely unconscious. While under the genjutsu, the victim will see an illusionary vision of their choice—an effect from Tsukiyomi—usually something their subconscious mind has been thinking of lately since that is the easiest accessible source of information. The illusion ends, and the genjutsu is over when the user halts the genjutsu or if the user dies. Unlike Tsukiyomi, there is no time limit and if the user desires it, it can last indefinitely.
Unlike regular genjutsu, the advanced genjutsu can only be stopped through an outside source one other way. It is one of the basic abilities to combat the effects of a genjutsu and is not a mystery. The only way to stop it is for the victim to stop the flow of chakra in their body for a temporary period of time, then to apply an even stronger power to disrupt the flow of the user's chakra. However, since Naruto has horrible chakra control, this is not possible.
Another problem to this solution is that usually, the victim is so engrossed in the illusion—which consists of their innermost desire—that they wouldn't realize that he was in a genjutsu. Unlike Tsukiyomi, they are unaware of their false surroundings so it is highly unlikely that the victim will try to break out of the genjutsu.
The second way to stop a genjutsu is for an outside ninja unaffected by the genjutsu to make body contact and use their chakra to disrupt the flow of the user's chakra within the victim's body. This doesn't work against this genjutsu and it is highly recommended that this option not be used. It is a waste of chakra and a waste of time.
The reason why it is a waste of chakra and a waste of time is because of the advanced genjutsu's defensive ability. Those people who have studied genjutsu will note that in order to create a hallucination, the user must extend their chakra through the cerebral nervous system of the victim to control their mind's chakra and thereby affecting the victim's five senses. This is the basic definition of a genjutsu; however, Itachi has used this weakness—since if his chakra flow is disrupted, the genjutsu will fall apart—to his advantage.
How Itachi created a defense is simple, but he can only use it if he is in a state of intense concentration, since it uses the same principle that made genjutsu so easy to break, into a defensive capability. During a state of concentration, Itachi is at his full awareness of his chakra and the chakra in his victim's body. He can increase the flow of his chakra into his victim's body at any time—almost to the point where he is actually using the same amount of chakra as if he was using Tsukiyomi from a distance—in order to strengthen his hold on the victim. When an outside source of chakra is detected, Itachi will suddenly increase his flow of chakra into the victim to prevent the disruption of the genjutsu since the outside source cannot disrupt his chakra flow if it is not strong enough to do it. Secondly, the sudden increase of chakra within the victim's body will cause the internal chakra circulation system to overflow—like a cup overflowing with water—due to a lack of time for the victim's chakra system to adjust to the larger flow of chakra. (Imagine that a chakra system is like a balloon. If you try to blow a balloon up too quickly, air just escapes from the sides of the opening instead of going in.) As a result of this overflow, the user's chakra merges with the chakra of the outside source, gaining access to the new body. The shinobi who created this opening will then fall under the genjutsu's spell.
Depending on how much of the user's chakra the outside shinobi has been exposed to, the effects of the genjutsu varies. Tsunade was exposed to a stronger source—the primary source—for a slightly longer period of time than Shizune, so she actually fell victim to the genjutsu for a short period of time. During that time, she didn't see an illusion since she wasn't the target victim, and it was temporary since the user didn't want to keep her under the genjutsu. Shizune was exposed to a lesser source—the secondary source—for a slightly shorter period of time, so she experienced only the preliminary effects of the genjutsu which would be the suffocating whiteness before the actual illusion appears. As with Tsunade, this was also temporary since the user didn't wish to keep her under the genjutsu either. Itachi has the option of keeping them under the genjutsu or not since his chakra was already within their bodies; however, keeping them under his control would be a waste of chakra and would only serve to drain his stamina. Someone else might use this option if it serves their purpose.
There is another way for an outside source to break the genjutsu, and there is also a flaw to this technique, but that will not be disclosed here since it's in the story and you'll find out later anyway.
And there is a secondary ability to the technique, other than targeting a person from a distance and rendering them unconscious, then trapping them within an illusion. But that will also be disclosed later.
The advanced genjutsu can only be used by someone who understands genjutsu thoroughly—like Itachi—and also has full understanding of Tsukiyomi since it uses some of Tsukiyomi's abilities. As a result, the only person who can use this technique will be Itachi, and anyone else who has the mangekyou sharingan since only someone with the mangekyou sharingan can copy, understand and fully utilize Tsukiyomi; however, that is highly unlikely since the advanced genjutsu is Itachi's own unique technique. All others will fail to use this technique completely.
To summarize, the advanced genjutsu used by Itachi is of his own creation, created by taking properties of Tsukiyomi and Nehan shouja no jutsu and augmenting it with basic genjutsu knowledge. It has a defensive ability that prevents outside sources from interfering with the genjutsu as long as the user is concentrating—that's why Itachi became weary after Tsunade's trying to break the genjutsu—and it creates such a believable illusion that the shinobi is almost completely unaware of his false surroundings. The only person who can stop the genjutsu is essentially Itachi and the victim if he can figure out that he's in a genjutsu. The third option remains a mystery. There is an obvious flaw in this technique but that will also remain a mystery for now. And the only person who can use it is someone who is adept at genjutsu and has the mangekyou sharingan.
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Sasuke: There's no way to stop it? I say we kill Itachi!
Fire: Uh…sure. You do that. (turning back to the audience) I hope that answered some of your questions. For those who had to read that and for those who had to scroll past it, I'm sorry that was so long, but no one said that debriefings were supposed to be short. They just have to be thorough. I hope I didn't leave anything out. If I did, send me a review about this and I'll just add it on at the end of the next chapter, or send you a reply if the story is already over and you still have questions. As to the flaw in the technique, I'll add a supplementary to this report in a later chapter to explain it when it comes up in the story. The secondary ability comes up even later in the story, so that'll be in a separate supplementary.
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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:
I don't remember if I wrote this one already. It might have been in the first book so I think I'll write it again. It's something that has been nagging at me. "Anymore" and "any more" are two different phrases with their own meanings. I used "any more" in this story—I'm not sure if anyone noticed—and it is the correct usage in case anyone was wondering. "Any more" in this case meant "no more than this," which made sense because no more of the conversation was heard than was already said. "Anymore" would have been used if it referred to something that wasn't done "any longer." For example, Naruto didn't want to eat ramen anymore. What this sentence means is that Naruto doesn't want to eat ramen any longer than he already has. He has become bored of it. It's not very likely that Naruto will become bored of ramen, but if he ever does, he wouldn't want to eat it anymore. I hope this clarified that somewhat. Give me a shout if there's anything you want clarified.
Fire's babbling:
Naruto: I don't want to eat ramen anymore? Waah! You're spreading rumours about me. Now Kakashi-sensei won't buy me ramen anymore!
Fire: That won't happen. You ask him to buy you ramen all the time. Kakashi won't believe it.
Kakashi: I might.
Fire: (sweating) But you know that it's not true!
Sasuke: Back to the topic of me…
Fire: (still shouting at Kakashi) Why would you do that!
Kakashi: I'm cheap.
Fire: …
Sasuke: Oi! Here! Me!
Fire: (turning to Sasuke) Nani?
Sasuke: Why is Naruto making me into such a sappy baka in his stupid dream?
Naruto: It's not stupid!
Fire: Uh…that's not me.
Sasuke: …It's not me either.
Fire: …
Sasuke: …
Naruto: Then who is it?
Itachi: (sneaking away) …
Fire: Well…we might never figure that one out.
Sasuke: I don't want to know what you were on…
Fire: I was high on writing!
Kakashi: Isn't that illegal too?
Fire: No!
Kakashi: And about your advanced genjutsu…does that mean I can use it too?
Fire: (shouting at Kakashi) You don't even know Tsukiyomi yet! And what in the world will you need it for?
Kakashi: (cringing and speaking in a small voice) Something…?
Fire: Arrgh! (turning back to the audience with incredible composure) Review. Is this story getting too weird yet? Do you understand what's going on? Did you understand that explanation on what in the world Itachi's genjutsu is supposed to do and how it works?
Sasuke: Just review. Come back for the next chapter. You should stop listening to Fire now before you go crazy. It's just going to go on and on for another few hundred pages.
Kakashi: Ja ne!
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