(Thanks for coming back to read the seventh chapter of the series. This time Team 3 is getting training in the art of Genjutsu! How will they fare? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
"Good, it seems like the team is doing well," says the 8th after being briefed by Kayo Yuhi about Team 3's latest mission, "Their progression is about equal with the other teams from their class."
"Yes, well there is still room for a lot of improvement," Kayo adds.
"Don't worry, you are doing an excellent job in your first assignment as a trainer," the blonde says, "Now, is there anything else you would like to add?"
"After they saw me use some of my abilities they asked if I could teach them more about Genjutsu," reveals Kayo, "Do you think I should begin lessons on that subject?"
"I don't see why not," replies the Hokage, leaning back in her chair, "I don't believe they will advance very far considering their chakra types, but it would be beneficial to learn the basics. Go ahead and do as you see fit."
"Understood, is that all for now?" asks Kayo.
"Actually, there is one more thing," replies the leader of the village, her eyes sharpening and her tone becoming even more serious, "Are you familiar with the incident concerning Kuroda after the death of the 7th?"
"I think I know what you are referring to. He disappeared into the forest for a few days without any scent or trace, and then reappeared the day of the Genin team assignments?" the Genjutsu specializing Jonin recalls, wondering why this subject has been brought up.
"Yes, that is correct," responds the Hokage, "I am still concerned about that and the situation that occurred when Raj was assessing their capabilities. I would like you to use your special Jutsu to see if you can find out what actually happened in both circumstances."
"You want me to use that Jutsu on a Genin?" asks Kayo, a little bit puzzled by the request.
"Do you have any problems with that?" replies the Hokage, in a commanding tone.
"No my lady, it will be done," says Kayo, submitting to the Hokage's authority, with obvious discomfort still evident on her face.
"There won't be any unwanted side-effects because of his age, will there?" The Hokage inquires, her face like stone, showing none of her apprehension about this order.
"It won't be a problem," Kayo assures her.
"Good," says the Hokage satisfied, "That is all, you are dismissed."
"Over here," greets the dark-haired Jonin when Team 3 arrives outside her residence the next morning for their first lesson in Genjutsu.
"Wow, this is surprising," Jando thinks as he walks across the small bridge with the others, "I didn't know Kayo-sensei lived in one of the more affluent areas of the village like me."
"Wow this is so cool," Sakura whispers at Kuroda as they walk towards their sensei's open door, "I've never known anybody who lives in this part of the village."
"That isn't exactly accurate," Kuroda thinks involuntarily, quick to suppress the old memories. Kayo Yuhi's home is a small, single level Daibutsu-Style house in an older and more traditional area of the village. As opposed to the center of the village where the apartments are wall-to-wall and stacked four to five high, the houses here are more spread out and occupied by only a single family. Kayo's home even has a small pond with a bridge leading up to the front door, suggesting that whoever built it was very wealthy even after the Akatsuki incident that destroyed nearly all of the Village those many years ago.
"Welcome," says Kayo as the students arrive at her door, "Come inside."
"Hello Sensei," replies Kuroda.
"Your home is so beautiful," Sakura comments as she marvels at exquisite architecture and antique furnishings kept in pristine condition.
"Thank you Sakura," Kayo replies, closing the door once the last of her students entered, "I do my best to keep it in the same condition that my mother did, and her mother before her."
"So this house has been in your family's possession for a long time?" Kuroda inquires.
"Oh yes, since the day it was built," she replies, "Follow me to the training room." She leads them further inside, opening up the white sliding panels to reveal even more of the house.
"It reminds me of the Hyuga compound," Jando thinks as he follows along. Kayo opens the door to a large open room, more spacious than any they have passed through. Various weapons, like swords and shuriken, are hung on the solid oak wall to the left, and a large cabinet filled with dozens of scrolls is off in the back right corner.
"Please, sit down," says Kayo, pointing to the mats on the floor in the center of the room.
"So you really are going to teach us Genjutsu Sensei?" asks Sakura as she takes her place, obviously excited about learning. Kayo takes her place in front of the three students on the largest mat.
"Yes, I said I would, didn't I? We will be starting with the basics today," she replies.
"Awesome, let's get started then," says Jando. Kuroda remains quiet but leans forward with a hungry look on his face, eager to gain more knowledge of the ninja arts.
"Before you actually begin attempting Genjutsu you must first understand what it is," explains their teacher.
"Why do we have to do that?" complains Jando.
"You should always understand concepts before you attempt practical application," comments Kuroda.
"Precisely. Now in order to be considered human, a being needs to have three essential parts. Those are the mind, the body, and the spirit," says Kayo motioning her hands towards her head, torso, and then heart.
"What in the world does that have to do with anything?" asks Jando rolling his eyes.
"Why don't you let her finish before interrupting?" says Sakura giving him an insidious glare, "Continue please Sensei."
"Thank you. Now as I was saying, to be human you must have a mind, a body, and a spirit. As a ninja you have an additional part, and that is chakra. Jutsu are the tools that we use to manipulate our chakra to perform feats that normal humans aren't capable of," she explains.
"Oh, I get it now," comments Jando as his eyes lighting up with understanding as if the figurative light-bulb had gone on over his head.
Kayo continues, "As you know there are three types of Jutsu and as some of you may have realized, each one relates to one of those 3 essential parts."
"I'm not sure I understand," says Sakura frowning, now lost in the lecture.
"I will elaborate then," says Kayo, "First, there is Taijutsu, this is where a ninja focuses chakra throughout their entire body in order to increase their hand-to-hand combat abilities. Then we have Ninjutsu, this is where we extend our spirit using our chakra and tap into the natural elements of the world. By forming special seals with our hands we can manipulate the earth, water, fire, wind, and lightning elements. Finally we have Genjutsu, this is where we use our chakra to affect the mind."
"I see now," says Sakura, eyes lighting up with gleeful understanding, "Taijutsu relates to the body, Ninjutsu relates to the spirit, and Genjutsu relates to the mind."
"That makes sense," says Jando, nodding his head slowly, his hand under his chin.
Kuroda sits patiently with his legs crossed, having already been aware of the information due to his exploits in the library.
"As planned, we will be focusing on Genjutsu today," states Kayo, "A Genjutsu works by extending the chakra flow through the cerebral nervous system of the opponent to control their mind's chakra, thereby affecting the five senses. The opponent then becomes trapped in an illusion in which the mental pain and suffering is just as deadly as physical pain."
"So it's not real?" inquires Sakura.
"No, but it seems real to the victim," adds Kuroda.
"Yes, your attacker takes partial control of your mind and your senses tell you that the illusions are real," reveals Kayo, "However, in order to use Genjutsu you must have superb chakra control. From what I have observed none of you have the level of control required to be masters of Genjutsu, however you may be able to learn some simpler Genjutsu that can buy you a short amount of time. But we are not going to focus on that yet, instead I will start teaching you how to defend against Genjutsu attacks."
"I don't need defense, I want to attack!" exclaims Jando, puffing his chest up and folding his arms over each other in defiance.
"If you don't want to learn what I am teaching then you are free to leave Jando," Kayo says flatly.
"Fine," says Jando letting his shoulders hang down, folding to her authority.
"Okay, so we'll be starting with Genjutsu defense, but before you can defend against it you must know a little more about how it works," says Kayo, "There are two basic options when using Genjutsu. The first is to try and keep them occupied for a period of time so that you can follow up with a different attack. The second goal is to try and overload the victim's mind so that it shuts down and they either die or become incapacitated."
"I wasn't aware that Genjutsu could actually kill someone," Kuroda thinks, "But after witnessing Sensei's Jutsu on the last mission I guess I should have figured that out."
"Now, I said it affects all five of your senses, which means it can be induced by any one of those senses and it will affect all of them. The most common sense to attack is vision; the caster can activate the Jutsu when the opponent looks at a certain part of their body. This type has the most variety of techniques, and also the advanced techniques are the most powerful Genjutsu," the master explains, "Next is sound, where the caster creates a certain tone. Then there is smell, the caster makes a distinctive smell that affects the opponent. This type is easy to use, but its power level is the weakest of all of them due to the relatively poor capabilities of the human nose compared with other species. Then comes touch, this type is very hard to use because the caster is required to touch the victim's body in order to induce the illusion. Genjutsu induced by touch is the second strongest type. This type has also been adapted for defensive use. It can be sealed into an object, so that when someone touches the object they are instantly trapped in the Genjutsu. Finally, there is taste; this is the hardest Genjutsu to use because it requires the victim to eat something. It is very easy to detect, so most people do not use it, but it can be useful on assassination missions."
"Interesting. I knew that Genjutsu was complex, but I really didn't know just how intricate it was," comments Kuroda hungrily absorbing the information, soaking up every last detail and committing it to memory.
"I guess that is why there are so few Genjutsu specialists," says Sakura with a fake laugh, trying to hide the concern about whether or not she will be able to do any sort of Genjutsu.
"There are a lot more than you think, Sakura," warns the raven-haired woman, "And there are many ninja who don't specialize in it, but can still use it to great effect."
"Well then, we can just defeat them once you teach us the defense methods," says Jando jumping up and throwing a few punches at an invisible opponent only to have to sit again when Kayo simply looks at him unenthusiastically.
"Yes, back on topic," says Kayo, "Now, if you have a Genjutsu cast on you there are only four ways to defend against it."
"Only four?" inquires the curious pink-haired student.
"Yes, only four," confirms Kayo, "If you are skilled in Genjutsu you can counter attacks, but if you're not a specialist it's best to use one of the defensive methods."
"Okay, so what are they?" asks Jando still sulking from being shut down seconds ago.
"The first option is for the ninja to stop the flow of chakra in their body, then apply an even stronger power to disrupt the flow of the caster's chakra. That may sound like its easy, but you will see that it can be very difficult depending on the level of the Genjutsu. The second option is to have an outside ninja who's unaffected by the Genjutsu make body contact, and use their chakra to disrupt the caster's flow in your body. The third option is to have an outside ninja who's unaffected by the Genjutsu force the opponent to break the Genjutsu. This is the easiest way to deal with Genjutsu, but if the caster has an ally protecting him then it is smarter to resort to the second option. The fourth option is only to be used when you have no backup to assist you with the second and third options, or when you cannot successfully use the first option. The reason for your lack of success will most likely be that you are low on chakra, or their technique is so advanced that you cannot deal with it. The fourth option is to cause physical pain or injury upon yourself. This includes causing yourself to bleed by possibly stabbing yourself or breaking a bone. By injuring yourself you change the condition of your mind, since your mental status has internally changed, the Genjutsu is disrupted and no longer affects you. Now remember, this is a last resort only. If you use it you must immediately retreat, because it cannot be used two times in a row."
"So you are saying that pain causes the status of your mind to change, but there are a lot of different types of pain," Kuroda points out, "Why is it limited to only one use?"
"Yes, there are many different types of pain," Kayo agrees, "However, the nerve receptors in your body all carry the feeling of pain to the same part of your brain. The signal your nerves send activates this portion of the brain, thus changing your mental status. This part of the brain stays active long after the pain is gone. Thus you cannot reactivate it for a while. Most battles last minutes, while that portion of the brain can stay active for hours. So hurting yourself more than once is pointless."
"Wait, does that also mean we can't use the fourth option if we are already injured?" Sakura asks.
"An excellent question," the teacher says, "Remember, if a Genjutsu has been placed on you then your opponent's chakra has entered your mind and changed the status. Even if you are injured the status changes and will change again if you injure yourself. So you can use the fourth defensive option."
"Good to know," comments Kuroda.
"Now, today you will be practicing the first defensive technique I mentioned," announces Kayo, "I will use a low level Jutsu on you, and we will see how well you can do against it."
"Okay, I will try my best!" declares Sakura sitting up straight and eager to test herself.
"Yeah, let's do this!" pronounces Jando squaring his shoulders and preparing to overcome the obstacle.
"Are you ready as well Kuroda?" asks Kayo, her crimson eyes focusing on him, curious about his reaction.
"I am prepared," verifies Kuroda as he rolls his shoulders back to relax them and then primes himself for the task.
"Very well then, step into the realm of serpents," utters Kayo after her fingers tangled in swift signs that were formed too quickly for the Genin to make out what they are.
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? They have learned what Genjutsu is, but will they be able to overcome it? As usual, if you want more information on my characters you can see their bios on my profile page. Be warned, there may be some spoilers. Also I'm in the process of getting pictures drawn for the characters, but I have no idea how long that will take. If you're interested in drawing and have a DA account then send me a Message. Enjoy the next chapter, and please review.)