Genjutsu 101 - Illusions of the Mind [Class]

[Michinori Kato]

A little embarrassed that he thought of brute force but not visual contact. He looks doen and on its very own piece of paper he draws two eyes and some notes to show that visual contact is the number one way of genjutsu. "I thought it took less chakra...damn it! he thinks to himself frustrated. Kato looks around the room to see if he is the only one that is so frustrated on this.

He looks back forward as Natsu explains how each counter and what the strengths are. Kato is getting flustered and trying to understand but, some of the information is just not makeing sense. "Hey wait...if someone is blind does that mean genjutsu is extremely less effective to them?" Kato writes this down in his notes to ask as a question.

Suddenly Kato drops his pencil as Natsu explains the next assignment. If he can't get through this assignment, he falls. Kato starts feeling the dread and despair, some that was already there before the genjutsu. Kato looks down eyes wide as he starts freaking out if he can't do this he will fail. He will break his promise to his mom.

Kato seems close to breaking before the realisation hits him. "I promised i will get stronger and protect everyone i can." Kato's eyes start glowing bright red and his tattoo on his back starts glowing bright red as well. He looks at Natsu as his despair starts receading and his chakra stops for a second before distributing the jutsu. "I won't t fail this, i will learn and get stronger!" Kato says quietly to himself but loud enough that if someone was listening they could hear. Kato's chakra and will starts to overpower the jutsu as his tattoo and eyes glow a viscous red. After a second the red glow receads from both and he looks around slightly lost as to what just happened.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

Was it arrogance that goaded the chain of Tenko's replies? She hadn't spoken without thinking, but her ideas passed through only a haze of scrutiny before she pronounced them assured. It was the same thing when she followed up on what she assumed were Shiori's suspicions - it took at most a few seconds before her contemplation ended and her teeth were nicking her palm. This served no result, her eyes unwavering on the lines of chalk, so she eventually conceded that it either wasn't a Genjutsu or she wouldn't be able to break it without a more concentrated effort; something she wasn't allowed as their teacher continued to speak, presenting them with more obstacles.

Tenko had never considered herself prideful. Dedicated, yes, with the average amount of self-worth for a soldier like her - a tool that knew she could do her job lest she had no reason for existing. It was this perspective that led to her pragmatic way of thinking & speaking. This is how a Shinobi was supposed to be, wasn't it? Yet she had answered wrongly and was now being rightfully admonished for how she approached the problem. Now that Do was turning her words back around on her she could hear how self-important they might sound - even now, however, she couldn't bring herself to fully disagree with her previous assessment.

You either made it in this world or you didn't. Tenko was squarely of the mind that the former was all that mattered; and if you couldn't keep up, you'd be left behind. That was fine, really, just fine, because you couldn't reliably expect everyone to be able to - she fully expected it of herself, however. That's why she never let up. That's why she met her Sensei's gaze head on as he addressed her directly, an unwavering dedication in the angled lines of her expression. She didn't challenge him because he was their teacher and a respectable shinobi of the Hidden Cloud, but she wanted to show him that accepting his rebuttal didn't wound her pride or stall her determination. Yes, she did believe that if you lost you deserved your death. That's what they - she - had been taught all of their lives. The point was to not give up, knowing this.

Can she truly become a weapon, he asked her, if she clung to her view? It almost felt like he didn't understand, even if she didn't mean him any disrespect. Knowledge wasn't a singular tool within a tunnel - it was learning, growing, exploring: especially in a combat situation, where there were multiple avenues of offense & defense to pursue. She wasn't suggesting you know one thing and stick to it. She was suggesting you know more than your opponent or the battle had already been lost. Furthermore, it was easy to be afraid. It took strength to cast aside your fears to do your duty as a ninja.

She briefly flashed back to her encounter with Hideaki Nanami, a hand lifting as a reflex to the scars hidden beneath her jacket. Those angry, murderous eyes. That was real fear she had felt, back then, and why she now resolved that she wasn't incorrect. It was too easy to break under it. Maybe you couldn't ignore it, but embracing it gave it just as much control over you. As with anything, you could only do better. And, yes, you had to be able to because you had to be the best. You had no place here if you weren't. That was the sum of it all, wasn't it? "I understand."

She found the rest of his personalized replies almost disingenuous - if he had been lying to them up to this point, the class would have been a waste of their time. If he was asking to view this from a hypothetical, they had other tools at their disposal that didn't involve hurting themselves or waiting out their opponent. That might have been the point, considering the next assignment from his lips, but her head soon became a muddy battlefield too preoccupied to make any further sense of it. If they weren't under a Genjutsu before they definitely were now - this realization gave them a leg up, but that didn't make it any less of a battle to fight.

Tenko found she wasn't a fan of this particular technique, whatever it might have been. All she knew was viewed from the avenue of what she offered earlier: she was beginning to feel very afraid, and she did not entertain fear as a concept. Even knowing this it couldn't be helped just yet. It built, it mounted, and it surged throughout her system in sudden waves that only dragged her deeper. Her rigid posture remained as so, fingers clutching the rim of her desk until her knucles were white. She wouldn't focus. She couldn't focus. She stared wide-eyed ahead with a dilation to her pupils and kept her gaze painfully straight. Looking around would only fuel it. She didn't want to give this rush of emotion a detail to latch onto and devour into its ranks.

She had never felt dread before, even if she had those scarce moments of fear bred by shock & surprise. She had been training too long and pushing herself too hard in even the worst conditions to feel ... many things, let alone something this negative and severe. She refused. She swallowed. The frosty sheet over her stare cracked and splintered, wavering as her nervous system begged her to cower until the panic went away. She could almost feel the walls pressing in, alarms blaring across each of her senses as the illusion only continued. It was fabricating itself to its head, she realized. Her perceptions weren't weak but they were sensitive, making such an attack almost doubly more effective in the first few stages until she could rationalize herself through it.

Her nails pricked at the wood before her, a sharp breath inhaled through her nose. What did she tell him? Force of will? She wasn't going to fail after making that declaration. She had to prove herself right; more than that, she had to prove the ideals that had been jabbed, twisted and branded into her. She briefly recalled through this haywire trap of intimidation that she could probably pull off the Jutsu that would make this all go away. All she had to do was lift her hands and form the seal and it'd be over in a second. A part of her - the one that yearned and wailed under the effects of the Genjutsu - wanted so badly to take this way out. It would be easy, if the level of this technique was as low as she assumed he would be willing to use on his students.

It just wasn't the way she could personally allow, for herself. There was more at stake here than just breaking the illusion by whatever means possible. It had to be, specifically, the means she suggested. This is what she told herself, over and over, cycling her resolve in that dark storage space of her mind until the ladder became a train and it was barreling in circles. Breathe, she told herself. Remain calm. Knowing she was effected was a portion of the battle, and knowing she was above its effects was another. The last stretch was just ... fighting it. Wrapping her fingers around a [her she didn't want to accept] and squeezing until she was left only with the [her she knew she had to be.]

When she considered it that way, it was almost easy. Chakra pulsed through her veins, strained in bold lines across her neck and brow. She bit down on her tongue, another sharp breath from her nostrils until the tighten of her jaw left it sharp enough to cut through steel. She wasn't content with the amount of concentration it was taking - applying this in the middle of a battle would be significantly more difficult to the point of dangerous - but that was also a point of these lessons. Genjutsu was a powerful tool, moreso to those unaccustomed to its influence. She could only ... resolve ...

... to do better!

[Snap went the neck of the face of her fear.]

 

[Hameru Ren]

Do Natsu​

The students in front of him each dealt with the mental assault in their own ways. Natsu disliked the method of teaching, truth be told. But at the same time he conceded that it was a valuable experience. To witness firsthand just how difficult overpowering a Genjutsu was on pure willpower. To demonstrate that the ninja art could expose a weakness no matter how well you had disciplined yourself. If you'd be exposed to such tactics in live combat for the first time, the odds of coming out of it alive and well were drastically reduced. And so, it was deemed a necessary practice. Natsu distracted himself from his personal concerns with the curriculum by keeping a close eye on the students. The first cracks in their armor had begun to show. Tenko had dug her fingers into her desk tightly and Hanae had started shivering ever so slightly. The seconds ticked away.

As Shiori rose to her feet, Natsu raised an eyebrow. The others were still pouring over their textbook in search of an answer, or focused tightly on a fixed point - fighting a mental combat for control. The girl strode towards the door only the slightest hesitation revealing a hint of doubt. Natsu had to stifle a laugh as she exited the room. It was a great answer. Obviously, a real opponent would not let her leave so easily, but in this context, she answered his assignment with an admirable creative response. As the door slid shut behind her the feeling of fear would dissipate. Slowly at first, but as Natsu would no longer maintain the Genjutsu, Shiori would know she'd been succesful.

The man stood from his own desk - intending on retrieving her, as a flash of crimson made him pause. The drain on his Chakra lessened - indicating another student had overcome his Genjutsu. Looking about, he spotted the clear look in Kato's eyes. A faint trace of red disappearing from the boy's eyes Natsu wondered how the boy had managed it. He'd have to look into Kato's files and see if any bloodline ability could be linked to the child.

And as he considered those options - another broke free. Tenko this time. She had been the most difficult to afflict with the Genjutsu. Perhaps it was a natural strength of will. Or it had been the rigid discipline she had shown earlier. Tenko displayed all the traits the Academy hoped to instill in it's occupants. The harsh and sometimes outright cruel training, some called it indoctrination, of the youths served a multitude of purpose. Natsu was willing to wager that someone truly devoted to those principles would more easily identify when something tried to twist their mind away from that. That didn't necessarily mean it was easier to overcome however - so the girl succeeding was still something to be applauded.

With three out of seven students free from his Genjutsu, Natsu opened the door and motioned for Shiori to enter the classroom once more. The teacher sat back down at his desk and would wait in silence for the remaining students to finish. The other three could discuss their experiences among one another in the meanwhile. A minute or two later, Airi managed to perform the dispelling Jutsu as described in her study material. It had taken her a while to find the relevant pages in the first place and then some more until she successfully performed the Jutsu, fear eating away at her concentration. Another three minutes later, Natsu felt he was nearing his limit. With another hidden set of hand seals, he stopped the Genjutsu. " Shiori-san, Kato-san, Tenko-san and Airi-san. Good work." He complimented them, nodding. "This was no easy task, so you can be proud of yourselves. As for the others - I highly urge you to work hard on catching up. Each of you has now felt the effects of a single E-Class Genjutsu. I assume it self-explanatory why further training is recommended?"

Without waiting for much of an anwer, Natsu continued. "That said, I pray you apply sufficient caution when you train yourselves in the Genjutsu art. Only do so with peers or tutors you know to be sufficiently skilled to guide you. A badly performed Genjutsu can have nasty consequences if not treated swiftly. In the most extreme cases, it can permanently damage the nerve system or scar the mind of whoever you practice with. The Aesculapium has an entire wing dedicated to treating such patients. Remember how I mentioned earlier that Shinobi don't cast Genjutsu to influence politics and the likes? Less than one in one hundred thousand children born in this country possess the genetic mutations required to generate an excess amount of the biochemical energy referred to as Chakra. Keep in mind that all living beings generate Chakra’– if they didn’t they’d be dead – but that it is your capability to generate a surplus of it that differentiates Shinobi from non-Shinobi. Inflicting a Genjutsu on non-Shinobi - commoners to kings - is far easier than on a Shinobi. However, because of this, it is far easier to overdo it and injure them as I described before." With this warning, Natsu hoped they would realize the dangers well enough.

"Do any of you have more questions on the topic of Genjutsu? Or would you like a clarification on a subject we only briefly touched upon? Now is the time for it." If they had none, Natsu would release them from class to let them recover. Otherwise, he would answer as needed.

Round 5 as well as the class is over!

• You may ask Natsu any remaining questions your character might have, but for the purpose of rewards etc. the class ends here.
• Shiori, Kato & Tenko have officially passed this class and this can be recorded as such for Exam Requirements. Kenji, unfortunately you missed too many rounds and are thus not eligible for rewards.
• Please refer to >this link< for your rewards.

I hope you all enjoyed the class, I know I did. I will no doubt be organizing more classes & tutors in the future and you are always welcome to join. Otherwise I hope we can RP together outside of the academy setting. Thank you guys!

 

[Higeki Tenko]

It was over.

Her head tilted back, trailing her eyes from the chalkboard to the ceiling and letting them linger there as if trying to see through to the misty sky above. She waited for the rest of the foreign chakra to leave her system before she returned her focus to their "graduation", a stony impartiality recurred to her features. Being under the effects of the Genjutsu had proven to be an unpleasant sensation and it was this takeaway that grew her respect for their teacher; it was the exposure that steeled her resolve to be more prepared for the future. She wouldn't be caught unawares and unprepared in this same manner, left to beat the spell away within her own thoughts over far too much time. She would be training until it became as much a reflex as drawing her weapon.

She slid from her seat before giving him a nod, polite and deferential when it deepened into a short bow. Her notes were scooped into her bag along with her books, neat and orderly within the leather confine and then hidden beneath the umbrella she lifted up to tote over her shoulder. It took only a slight turn to study the rest of the room, catching each person either in the lens of her vision or the corner of her eye. Three other students seemed to have succeeded as well: Michinori Kato, Kimura Airi and Kita Shiori. She rarely formed more than a professional opinion of any ninja she trained with - and perhaps that remained true - but she had to pick out Shiori specifically after paying her respects with brief tilts of her head to the other two passing parties. She carried no opinion of the three that failed.

"Kita-san," she started, even and concise with her tone. She offered a bow now to her, straightening her back shortly after and meeting her gaze with that ascetic blue. "Your problem solving in this class was impressive. I would like you to accompany me in the future for training, if that would suit you. Genjutsu is not easy to apply without a partner." She would wait for a response in courteous silence before leaving the other kunoichi her information in either scenario, tidily scrawled across a piece of notebook paper. Afterwards she took her leave, stopping to address their teacher one last time.

Do Natsu did not let them leave without allowing that last bit of caution to hang over their heads. He was right, of course, as he tended to be throughout this session. This was no toy, no more than Ninjutsu. It could even have notably more drastic effects used wrongly, depending on your perspective - like if you believed there were things worse than death. The rest she knew - recruitment and education for the shinobi field was as harsh as it was because of the pool of recruits - but regarded ardently. There was always more to chew over. She clasped her hands, approaching a step further towards him. "Thank you for teaching us, Do-sensei. You have given each of us a great amount to think about and it was a pleasure to learn from you. I'll hope to see you again in the future." No infliction entered her words, though her appreciation rung true all the same. "Live well."

Sayonara, she waved, and strode to the door. Her umbrella tapped once against the side of the frame before she lifted it further above her head, spreading its crown to filter her further under the same melancholic shade of blue pervading her wardrobe. Tip tip tip went the rain, gentler than before yet still sloshing in rivulets down the sides. She didn't seem to mind. Her thoughts were preoccupied as much as they could ever be, picking out numbers and scenarios that'd bleed into a larger picture she was sure would chart an efficient course.

One step to lead towards more.

( Post # 6 | 4,901 WC
Until next time, exiting topic! Thank you for the opportunity! )

 

[Michinori Kato]

Kato looks around before starting to pack up putting everything away in his bag. His mind is a bit foggy to what just happened but, it seems he passed the test. Making sure he has everything he gets up and stretches from sitting for a second.
"Uh sensei thank you for the class was very informational one question.. you said you need visual contact to use genjutsu what if the person is blind?." Kato asks and after he gets his answer he thanks Natsu again before waving good bye to every heading to the door.
"The time will come soon,Kato."At the door Kato hears something in his head but doesnt know its in his head. He looks around confused completely, looking honestly lost to everyone else before shaking his head and heading out of the classroom, thinking it might of just been some excess genjutsu wearing off.

Outside, he puts up his hood and runs to his house ready to relax and get out of the rain.

[Exiting thread see you everyone, i had fun hope you all did too]

 

[Kita Shiori]

Shiori smiled shyly as their instructor opened the door, beckoning her to rejoin the class even as the last dregs of artificial horror washed from her system. It was impressive, in hindsight, just how effective that jutsu had been. Oh, it ticked many of the boxes, aligning with emotions she was already feeling. And yet Shiori had never even realized just how keen the despair had cut, her fear on full-throttle in a way that should have come across as abnormal.

She thought about that for a while as she returned to her desk, a few of the other students visibly more subdued than the rest. Shiori was pretty sure at least Kato and Higeki had also broken free, though she had unfortunately missed the how. Airi managed an impressive feat, overloading the illusion with a burst of chakra, and Shiori raced to copy down the book the other girl had been referencing. Overall half of them had come out the other side, and rather than belabor the point Do seemed content in letting his methods speak for themselves. It was a little strange, Fumiko-sensei, Shiori knew well, would have been castigating the whole room for the other’s failures. Trying to make it stick, just how big of a deal it was. Do, on the other hand, seemed almost understanding in his closing remarks, neither effusive in praise or critique.

She took a few last-minute notes, underlining the bits about Genjutsu use on civilians. It was less important to her that the art was dangerous than it was that it was labeled a no-go zone socially amongst the ninja. She was still struggling to understand these things, the polite niceties that separated ninja from soulless weapons. It wasn’t altogether disparate from what she had seen of the samurai, if less visible or talked about. Here they were learning to kill, talking day in and day out about how to be the most effective at dealing damage, and yet they were more than cold-steel. Whether the rest was an act or not, Shiori appreciated the knowledge. She’d never wanted to be the sword that cut, and somehow it was soothing to find another rigid limitation, another layer of civility that forged the distinction, however artificial.

As everyone else packed up their belongings, Shiori stalled, racing through her last remaining questions. She had so many, to be honest. A buzzing head full of thoughts and counter-arguments. This was one of those rare moments where she was certain she was actually meant to ask them, rather than try to research on her own. But that didn’t mean she was relishing the act itself. She was surprised, then, when Higeki paused by her desk with an oddly formal invitation to study together. Maybe it had been spurred by Do’s remonstrations about the need for safety measures.

The bow though, was far more shocking than the deft introduction, and Shiori hastily returned the gesture. Somehow Shiori was certain Higeki rarely bowed to anyone unless it was written down in a protocol book that she should. That thought softened a bit of her awe, and Shiori found herself smiling warmly at the other girl as she accepted the note. “Thank you, Higeki-san. I would be honored,” she slid the paper in amongst her notes, watching in amusement as the other girl approached their instructor so smoothly.

Higeki wasn’t someone Shiori had ever consciously thought much of. The girl was around her age, perhaps, but further along in most of their classes and thus not a common sight in her day to day life. Furthermore, she was a consummate student, living and breathing everything the academy sought to teach. Not the sort of person who often crossed paths with Shiori, who even now was still trying to catch up with all the missed curriculum. Perhaps all of that meant she should have found the other girl off-putting, too stiff, maybe, or too direct. However Shiori found that she liked that about Higeki, the way she spoke directly to her point, without trying to disguise her thoughts. If she was true in her offer, Shiori would enjoy training with her.

Shiori waited as a few other students went to ask their questions of Do or give him their regards, waving politely to Michinori as the boy departed, his face full of deep concentration and determination. Eventually though she could wait no longer, and she slipped her pencil up one long sleeve and held her papers to her chest as she trotted up to the man’s desk. Bowing politely, though a tad too hastily to be practiced, she nibbled at her bottom lip and launched into the most pressing question of hers. “The blackboard… That wasn’t a Genjutsu, was it?” The chalk was still there, mocking her, perhaps. Shiori realized a bit foolishly that her first sign should have been how long the words had remained. Even so, it had confused her, and she needed to be certain.

After digesting his response, she stood there, eyes lowered. “There was one other thing… You said that a Genjutsu user needs to have visual contact with their target to perform and maintain a Genjutsu… Is that… a hard-coded requirement?” Here she paused, staring up at her teacher as her thoughts settled around the deeper concern. “We were talking mostly about an unskilled opponent against a skilled one, but if you had two Genjutsu users couldn’t one remove the other’s ability to cast an illusion if they performed a visual illusion first? Or, later, perhaps to cancel one out.”