Genjutsu 101 [Private]

The next morning came too soon. As Azami rolled over in bed and opened her eyes, she could only be reminded of where she was. In a strangers dwelling. She wouldn’t exactly call it a home based on the neglect it had been shown over the years. Sure, she had cleaned it, stocked it, and was even considering freshening up the place with a new coat of paint of furniture; but that didn’t mean it was home to her. Home was still in Konoha.

While the Hidden Mist Village was surprisingly lush, it couldn’t be mistaken for her home village. The mist never seemed to clear in Kirigakure, unlike home. Every look out the window was just another reminder that this wasn’t home. With that thought in her mind, Azami prepared to head out for the day. Groomed and attired for shinobi training, she left the apartment to begin the walk across the bridge to the academy.

As she walked she couldn’t help but reflect on her time here. She had progressed more here in days than she had in years at home. Perhaps that talk of the Uchiha curse were real, and she would only excel if she was miserable. That didn’t seem right though. Here she had less distractions and more expectations. Perhaps more important, her instructors were hard. They expected success and punished failure. Or maybe it was that she wanted to impress her sensai. She certainly didn’t have any friends here. Was she doing it for recognition?

Her introspective walk came to an end as she reached the doors of the academy, arriving in the early hours before the usual students would. Her lessons were private after all: isolated. She pulled open the door, stepping inside just as a bell rang.

“That’s strange. I’ve never heard a bell at this hour before…”, she thought. In fact, was that even what the bell normally sounded like? She took one step forward before realizing that the hall had no doors anymore. Both in front and behind, the entire hallway was smooth wall with no exits, not even the one she just entered through. She realized this in a moment of panic, spinning to find the door gone. She ran her hands over the smooth wall where the door just was, before pounding on it with her fist.

“Let me out!”, she screamed, terrified beyond belief. That’s when a figure melted out of the wall, entering maw first. Pointed shark’s teeth bled out of the wall in neat rows, followed by the flak jacketed form of her instructor with his folding fan in hand.

“Genjutsu. A method of deceiving the senses too advanced for mere students to learn. What is complex though, is often fragile. You have the power to be free of the illusion, if only you knew how to use it! Genjutsu infiltrates the chakra network, thus controlling the user’s senses. But it’s a delicate thing. All you have to do is send ripples across the pond to disturb it, and once it is unstable it will fall like a house of cards.”, he explained as he circled Azami, invading her personal space with his closeness.

“Use the Tiger seal, and pulse your chakra, and this can all end. You can release yourself from this genjutsu, or suffer…”, he stated as he slid back into the wall, making it appear as if liquid before vanishing, not leaving a single trace behind. Azami shivered, feeling as if eyes were upon her from every direction, even though she was trapped and very much alone, or so she thought.

“I can do this. Tiger seal. Pulse chakra. Like ripples on a pond.”, she thought, forming her hands into the tiger seal. Release! Nothing. She tried again, again, and again. Still nothing.

“Let me out!”, she screamed once more, voice horse with mucus building in her throat. ”Screw this.”, she thought, letting one side of the tiger seal fall away. She wasn’t going to get trapped here, even if that meant burning a hole in the wall. She concentrated on the jutsu she was about to perform. The sensation of breathing in followed by heat in her chest. She was about to exhale when her body froze in place, the burning within her growing more painful by the millisecond. Pain unlike any she had ever felt before wracked her body as she felt the pain of burning from the inside out. Thoughts wouldn’t form. Frozen, she couldn’t even scream.

Then she was back standing in the hall. All the doors were back in place. There was no pain, only confusion. In front of her stood a man, but not her shark toothed instructor. He had a fan though. A fan just like his.

“What you just experienced is what we will teach you to do to others. You will control their senses, and they will be as helpless as you just were. This is the power of Genjutsu. Once more I want you to try the Release. Do it now.”, the new man finished.

“But, why? I’m not in it anymore.”, she responded, confused.

“Aren’t you?”, he asked, head cocking to the side as he began to grin widely, too widely.

Azami’s eyes became wide as it dawned on her. This was another trick! This wasn’t how he actually looked! He had done it on purpose to mislead her. She formed the tiger seal, once again focusing on sending ripples out across her chakra network. Instead her outrage poured out and it was like a tidal wave was sent out instead. Her vision swam as the chakra reached her eyes, the grin of her instructor growing row after row of teeth as the genjutsu faded away.

“Genjutsu isn’t just about fooling your opponent’s senses and manipulating their chakra network. It’s about misdirection and fooling their mind. You create the narrative and make them believe it. When you do it right, they will question everything if they are smart. That will be your opening to strike. If they are foolish enough not to… they will participate in their own demise. Do you understand?”, he asked looking down upon her.

“Yes, I think so, Sensai.”, she replied.

“Good, then study and contemplate my teachings. Your exam is tomorrow.”, he finished speaking only to disappear in flurry of leaves, leaving an empty spot where he just was.

Azami left that day wondering if she would ever know who her instructor truly was, or what he really looked like. She knew one thing for certain, she never wanted to get trapped like that again.

Back at home she spent the evening studying. Her Jutsu Encyclopedia had an entrance for the Genjutsu Release. Unlike her sensai it mentioned something very specific. The release can be performed without hand seals if the user’s concentration is strong enough. She remembered being paralyzed and the sensation of her flesh burning from the inside out. Lungs searing as fire swirled through her innards. She never wanted to feel like that again. And she wouldn’t, if she could help it. That evening she practiced the release as many times as she could, pulsing her chakra network like a wave machine until at last she could do it without the hand seals.

She’d show him. Never again.


[exit]

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