[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

It was a sunny Friday afternoon and Yoko was on her way to Akira's home. They'd previously agreed that he'd teach her in the ways of genjutsu and help her build upon the very elementary degree of knowledge she already possessed. It was Yoko's belief that she was very far from where she should've been with illusions, and who better to teach her than an expert?

She had struggled in the past against not just him but other specialists, and it was important to her that she gained a better grasp at identifying them and understood how to combat them more effectively than she'd been doing so far. And that would come with time and practice. But she had to start somewhere, and today was the day to do it.

Of course, she didn't want to show up empty handed. She'd spent yesterday morning making chocolates of different flavors and types and shapes. Each bite-sized chocolate was decorated as a different animal--rabbits, foxes, wolves, snakes, birds. The little features were drawn with brightly dyed ribbons of liquid chocolate that she'd been careful to let dry and been extra careful to package. Several dozen of these sat now in the white box she carried, which was lined with special paper and tied shut with an orange ribbon.

It wasn't a necessary gift and she certainly hadn't done it as payment for their session today. In fact, Akira had already stated it would be a trade of sorts for the poison training that she'd been helping him with. An exchange, training for training. The chocolates were simply because she wanted to give him something nice. She didn't know what his exact tastes were--maybe he really hated the combination of caramel and cocoa, or coconut, or nougat, or one of the half a dozen other flavors she'd included--but with such a wide assortment in the box, he was sure to like at least some of them. But hopefully all of them!

Yoko knocked on the door in a small jingle-type fashion and waited. She was wearing a simple knee-length white dress with a flared, pleated skirt and half sleeves. Her platform sandals were also white and had not a single scuff on them--she'd just bought them that morning, to match the dress. White wasn't something she wore often, but it felt like a good day for it. A fresh, bright, happy day. And that was very much the mood she was in, because she'd be greeting him with a cheerful smile as soon as Akira opened the front door.

"Hey there," she sang sweetly. "I'm a few minutes early, I'm sorry. But," she held up the box briefly, "I brought you a little something."

When she was let inside she was sure to slip off her shoes and keep them next to the others by the entryway. The scent of sweet jasmine perfume followed her in, as did her general optimism about today's purpose.

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: Much excite

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

He'd basically for the time being going out of his house to teach his team, then going home. It had been like that for a while as well. There was little else that he wanted to do: what with his punishment and all.

Just as he'd promised and traded with Yoko, she was due to arrive again today. She would've likely heard the commotion as well: the breakout where this time he'd nearly managed to destroy Iwagakure. It was hard to explain that how he was looked in the streets was less about disgust and more with fear.

People feared him more now. People were less talking badly to him and just not talking to him. Staring from afar, not offering up conversation with the Jinchuuriki. He could've destroyed them all. Thankfully, nobody had seen directly what had gone on, other than that he'd needed to be subdued by multiple Shinobi being called into action.

He hadn't been doing a lot for himself. Just washing, but he hadn't been eating well recently. Refused to see his regular therapist. Holed up inside his house so that he could just do reading and keep up with life - and had begun writing himself. There wasn't going to be much chance for him to leave Iwagakure for the time being. Though, he probably could if he wanted.

And the door went, with an exert of effort he would stand up from inside his study and down the stairs to the door - opening it up, and he would smile at her - but his eyes did not. He himself was dressed in a typical civilian outfit of blue jeans and a jumper over the top of his body. Black.

It would have likely become more pronounced to Yoko that his mental state likely reflected in the way he did or didn't take care of himself. For now, it was the latter. His face was a bit more gaunt and tired looking, with bags underneath his eyes: which was hard enough to tell by the red that already existed there. A growing beard: though patchy and a bit more than a five o'clock shadow. Even so, his energy was haggard and lacking.

"Hey, Yoko-chan. No worries. Please, come in." Akira would look down to the box as she moved past him. "Oh, very nice. Thank you..." she would have her scent of jasmine, but passing Akira she would smell the faint waft of spirits. Nothing special, just... spirits. If she offered the box Akira would take it from her: holding it lightly in his hands, and admired the orange on it.

"Uh. Yeah. Come on up, darling." He'd ask of her, his own shoes already off - his body would twist and they'd go upstairs into his study. Everything was better than when she'd last seen him in a bad place. It was clean, it didn't smell bad. But that was about all it had going for it.

Stepping into the study, the only difference is that one side of the wall was a bit more obscured because there was a blackboard in there. It didn't cover the entire wall: but was placed in front of the copious amount of weaponry. "Can I do you a drink?" Akira would regard back to her with his head flicking back to her briefly.

They were here to do Genjutsu training aided by him, and he had no problems in doing that. But he'd have to iterate a couple of practices first: go over some stuff. She would likely know it because that's what she had been reading and that's how she was concocting her own poisons. But his were of a special kind.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

Yoko offered up the box to him and didn't make any comments as she was let in. She noticed the way he looked, of course, and the way he sounded. She noticed the scent of alcohol. But he hadn't turned her away despite what was clearly weighing on him, and for now it seemed their plans were still on.

"Thanks," she said, following along to the study. He offered her a drink and she gave a small nod, mostly so that he wouldn't feel awkward at the idea of having been drinking shortly before she'd arrived--which was her assumption, not that he'd opened the door with a glass in hand. But a few sips wouldn't hurt. "Sure." He knew what she liked and she trusted him to retrieve something drinkable.

His lackluster aura was, she surmised, more or less from his recent reprimand. She couldn't blame him for being down. It was a huge blow to slip up on that scale and lose control. It put the village in danger, and there were always consequences for that, but he was still in one piece and she was grateful for that. She'd been present during the little rampage alongside Ryohei and it was simple to understand why the general mood toward him had shifted the way it had within the village. People were freaked out. And they had a right to be.

Still, none of that had stopped her from trotting over here today, and it certainly wasn't an obstacle to her in other respects. People made mistakes, they fucked up, they dealt with the aftermath. People moved on and the world kept spinning. Today was not a time for either of them to dwell on something that'd already passed. It would be filled with constructive learning with potentially the aid of a small buzz on Yoko's part. She was just grateful to be here at all and that he'd agreed to her request for training.

The pinkette observed the state of things in his home in silence, neither commenting nor making it obvious with her movements that she was doing so. She would take the presented drink with a "Thank you, darling," to mirror his term of endearment from earlier--and a nod to the fact she'd been fond of it.

She did want to ask what was first on his list, but she decided to let him get started without pushing him. He'd likely already planned out how today would go, what he would cover, and how he'd present the information. They would move at whatever pace he thought was best. He was the teacher this time, after all, and she'd already expressed prior to today that she was fairly unequipped with illusions in the first place. She wasn't exactly a blank slate, but there was a lot of room yet to fill.

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: No notes~!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

She was on the money with her assessment but it would go unspoken in his eyes. He didn't need nor want to talk about the subject playing on his mind because she would know of it already. Everybody had heard the piercing screams of a beast through Iwagakure.

With them in the study he'd place her box somewhat haphazardly on the tray around the globe in which the other spirits remained, and would quickly grab a wine glass from downstairs. So with a glass of wine for her placed on the table between the two leather chairs, Akira could sit down.

Playing off his last meeting with her he'd been a bit more thoughtful to keep his own fridge stocked with wines. Sweet wines, dry wines, red wines. Even a Château wine. It was the least he could do because he wasn't going to drink it.

Going through Genjutsu was always a tough call and it would depend on how far Yoko was going to go. Akira could tailor. But before they could get to any of that he could at least have a conversation with her. He'd sit himself down: a drink had already been set out - a rum, but it was darker than usual. A something something had been added to it, and it made it delicious to drink.

He'd sit himself down and place the box on his lap. "You didn't need to do this for me... but thanks..." he'd say, looking down at the box. But he'd ask her if it was okay to look, and then open up the box if it was. Chocolates. Akira wasn't really fond of sweet things but didn't turn the offer down. There was some serious amount of work (so Akira thought) to making all these little animals out of chocolate. His brow rose as he picked one up. A bird. A small pleasant hum came from his throat. "This is nice. Too nice." But he wouldn't refuse the gift and ate the chocolate in a single bite.

"Raspberry. Cream?" Confusion set across his face as he tried to identify the different tastes. Either way, it was still nice. He'd set the box down and between the two of them. Really. It was much too nice."Did you make all of these?" Akira would speak as his mouth was being cleared by the drink on the globe's tray between them. "Well. It's nice."

But he wasn't going to introduce her to Genjutsu without a little show of force first. "Yoko-chan, don't you notice anything strange about this room?" it was for good reason. The room looked absolutely normal: except for someone who'd been here before there would be a distinct differences in what was on the bookcases. Still, a mix of different items and colors and shapes: but largely, the books themselves were unintelligible if you looked upon the binders, darker in color: and Akira was not privy to changing them around. She might've seen it initially.

"Why don't you perform Kai for me," he'd ask of her, his eyes giving her the hint of the bookcases behind them. If and when she did, she'd find the illusion around them dropping and the appearance of the bookcases distorting as they changed into their regular appearance.

"Our lesson is about Genjutsu, about perception and how the body reacts. How the most effective Genjutsu is also the quickest, and the easiest to do- and will put into perspective how Genjutsu is effectively applied. And frankly: how primitive our minds are."

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

Yoko noted where he'd placed the box and took a seat near the globe. Her host would return with a glass of wine for her, and she received it with a brief smile. "Thank you." It smelled sweet. Tasted sweet. It would probably have paired well with the raspberry and blueberry chocolates, but of course those weren't for her. She took a sip and would give a nod when he asked about opening the box. It was an eager nod paired with a smile: she'd thought about what his reaction would be the entire time she'd prepared them.

Akira would voice it was "too nice" a thing, but she disagreed. Yoko absolutely loved little gestures like this, and she was adept in cooking. It only made sense to make the best use of that to show she cared. She smiled again when he guessed the flavor right. In particular, the raspberry- and espresso-flavored chocolates had been more of a challenge to get perfect, but it seemed by his reaction they'd turned out as she'd intended. Yoko had stolen a few for herself during the process to spot-check their consistency and such but the recipient tasting them was always the better indicator.

When asked if she'd made them herself, the pinkette gave a more enthusiastic smile. "Yes!" she chirped, clearly proud of them. It was so rewarding that he appreciated them, especially with all the time it'd taken her. She'd been up near dawn to begin the preparations, made multiple trips to the shops to fetch more ingredients, practiced drawing each animal on parchment paper before carefully adding the images to each piece, and then took forever deciding which paper and ribbon combo to decorate the box with. It'd been a half-day affair altogether and it had definitely paid off. She was thrilled.

"I'm so glad you like them," she said, and took another sip of wine. He soon drew attention to the rest of the room, however, and Yoko lowered the glass, confusion knitting her brow. There was something "strange" about the study? She admittedly hadn't been looking around all too much since she'd arrived, only followed him upstairs and taken a seat. But now, now she was actively looking for something. There was nothing obvious that stood out.

A tint of worry began to work into her expression. She wasn't seeing it right away--whatever it was--and felt at a loss. Akira requested she use Kai and then looked to the...bookcases? She turned her head to follow his gaze and set down her glass, performing the seal and then-- Oh. They'd been arranged differently. And the colors of the books had been off, too. And the words shifted around. What had they said before? She hadn't given them a good look when she'd walked in, but if she'd known Akira was going to try tricking her as soon as she'd walked in the door, she might have put more effort into her observations.

She turned back to him with a bit of embarrassment, her lips pressed together and an awkward smile tugging at them for a moment as he explained a bit about perception. Akira hadn't needed to make such a show of it not five minutes into her being here, but he had. His technique had been subtle. And while Yoko wasn't exactly pleased that she'd not noticed it, she did understand the point he was making.

"Quick and easy?" she repeated. "I didn't notice any obvious triggers when I walked in. How did you do it?" She wondered in the back of her mind if this education of his would only make her excessively vigilant in his home during future visits. Not even just the lessons, but in general. Yoko knew somewhere in her head that she could be a bit paranoid about certain things, and this seemed like potentially one of them. But she also knew she could trust him not to pull anything too crazy without warning.

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: No notes~!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

It was true. Akira had never been the sole chocolateer but he appreciated the gesture from her. That must've been a lot of work: and that was something he would grow to realise more and more as he tasted the chocolates, all with their different flavors and combinations.

Now sat down, Akira watched with interest if she would see what it was that had changed. But then again she was comfortable enough to not feel as though she was in the midst of a trap. So, kudos to himself. Perhaps. Perhaps she was embarrassed but that was actually fine. It was okay to not know things: as Akira had come to learn.

"Not all Genjutsu require a trigger. I'll explain why they're harder to do, or can't do much. To even further explain, this room was lined with chakra. It would be lit up to a sensor." Akira would give the easiest impression he could of how the technique worked.

But he would stand up: placing the box down in lieu of where he had been sat and bit the head off a fox. "Mm. mmm." he would savour the taste and even briefly point it at her. 'It's good.' is what it said. But in his other hand, a glass with drink.

He would go over to the blackboard: and would pull from the top so that it would swivel, revealing a three part section.

"This is what I'd effectively describe as my process toward understanding Genjutsu. I've simplified it as best possible, but we'll go into more detail before I do any actual illusions. Before we start, do you have any aversions to things? I know it's hard to talk about but I need to know any underlying conditions before we start." He would finish the chocolate and muddied its taste by finishing it off with the drink in his hand, and picking up the chalk that had been left on the bottom tray of the blackboard.

SPOILER: Click to show

Genjutsu	Descriptors	Mechanics
The (un)official classifications: what is Genjutsu, how does Genjutsu work, and which methods can be utilised?	The content: descriptors is the implementation of the vision of the illusion.	Mechanics are what make Genjutsu difficult. More complex, less stuff, vice versa.

They'd be able to have a small talk while Akira noted to himself what she would or wouldn't have a problem with. He was only suggesting it because he had some which could cause schizophrenia: some to make her last an eternity.

With that out of the way, he would begin to explain: going into much more detail than he would've with any of his Genin but he expected that she would know a lot more: especially about the brain and its nervous systems and the way they interacted, about how average people's brains were and nobody was really all that special. About how the individual classifications of Genjutsu would be perceptibly different by the nature of when they were used versus the imperceptible nature of slight changes in surroundings.

Akira spoke in detail about its effectiveness in combat, how it was really more of a one job solution, save for a few techniques. How they could do anything the mind could desire, but mostly had been appropriated as to allow to be used in combat. Then, mechanics. She would have the opportunities for him to answer any questions she would have or even provide examples if she wanted them. Nothing was off limits for his woman.

"Well... with all of that done, if you just keep with me... is mechanics. Mechanics is the quickest to explain. Mechanics are factors you introduced to an illusion. Mechanics can be used for, say, whenever a target sees red they feel the physical sensation to relieve themselves. Installing them, like a mechanical structure to interact with the remaining foundation of what you've built is the hardest. Both, because a successful mechanic is the difference between a nightmarish one, and a technique that gets released." He'd take a breath, and a breather when he went over to grab more of the drink and another chocolate which to her pleasure he'd been working through in their seminar. "I have a technique which... it's one of my strongest techniques. Like I said earlier, we can only artificially attack the senses. The mind is normal, and the brain can be tricked: but a brain can also tell when something is fundamentally wrong. That's why something too overt can be unreasonably dispelled quickly. The technique binds you, but gives the impression of time passing. It's done to a masterful standard: from drips in a cavern to well... everything. It's why it's one of my strongest techniques, and it's the one we're going to start with. My question to you, is if you were living uncomfortably as a prisoner... how long could you last?" Would it be a day? An hour?

Akira could adjust the technique for whatever it mattered, and his release of her would work like a charm - but only if he knew how long she could manage.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: Akira has effectively given Yoko the knowledge of: The types of Genjutsu Why Genjutsu works How they're used in combat (interwove with what appears to be regular ninja-stuff) EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

The room was lined with chakra? That's how he'd done it? If she'd had sensory abilities, it would've been an easy thing to detect, then. Unfortunate. Green eyes roamed over the blackboard as Akira went on to talk about his process with teaching genjutsu. He wanted to know about underlying conditions? Like cardiac problems? Psychosis? Was that what he meant?

"I've no conditions you wouldn't already be aware of," she said casually, and took another drink. What she had aversions to hardly seemed worth discussing. The point of training was to endure and progress. She couldn't do that if she kept herself inside a comfortable bubble. But as far as physical conditions went? She was golden and in the prime of her health. There wasn't anything that would reasonably hinder her.

The lecture that followed was eye-opening in many ways. The level of detail that Akira was giving her on the mechanics behind illusions and how they were made to function and trick the brain was fascinating and unlike any sit-down she'd participated in before. There was only so much that field practice could teach. Here and there she did ask questions to clarify examples and pose hypothetical inquiries, but most of her time was spent listening and soaking things in.

The way that genjutsu was "installed" as he put it was the toughest part of ensuring the illusions were successful but also had a bearing on the quality and believability. Yoko nodded slowly to this, piecing things together in her head similar to how she pieced together ideas for chemical combinations. As analytical as she was, it was an easy thing to take mental notes and arrange concepts into strings of bigger ideas and possibilities. Akira's examples helped a lot with that. It was easy to see why he did so well as a team leader. His manner of explaining things was very thorough and simple--easy enough for someone who wasn't a genjutsu specialist to comprehend.

The brain being able to tell when something was "fundamentally wrong" was correct in the case of illusions, since they only attacked the senses. This was where their specializations had fatal differences. The effects of toxins were actually physical in the brain's chemicals. When the brain was attacked directly, the sense of "wrong" was damaged or blinded--and that's exactly why, unlike a horrific illusion that Akira could've logic'd his way out of in her lab, the toxin had instead fucked over his body's ability to properly "sense" the problems of his recurring nightmare. Chemicals hijacked the brain, but illusions only hijacked the senses--they didn't quite get deep enough that a person couldn't intellectually fight or reason against what they were experiencing.

That was also what made the aspect of mechanics and trickery and subtlety so important. None of these were things that Yoko had ever gone into depth studying, and genjutsu would never be something she could strongly execute herself on other people. But her understanding today was easily tripling. She already felt like she had a much better grasp on things and it was only day one.

"There is more planning that goes into created techniques than I would've thought," she commented, wondering just how many hours Akira himself had spent on configuring the effects and install methods of his more potent illusions. Another sip of wine, though this one she would take a moment to swallow. He wanted to start with exposing her to one of his most powerful techniques?

But if that was his method of teaching her something, there had to be a point to it. She hesitated in responding, giving his questions some serious thought despite her own skepticism. "Uncomfortably?" she said. "It depends. If I am alone, I can endure much. If as a prisoner I must endure someone else's company, the time would be shorter. I'm not sure I can give you a realistic time frame. I've never done something like this." And his descriptor of the technique giving the illusion of time passing? How much time? In what environment? It was hard to make a call on it when she didn't know the technique he was referring to.

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: No notes~!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

Akira somewhat doubted that she was telling him the truth but it was intrinsic to a lot of Shinobi that they held some secrets. Even Akira didn't know which ones she'd chosen to kept from him. But he'd begin his lecture nonetheless.

"Yeah. A lot." Akira appreciated that she knew the difficulty that went to creating Genjutsu and effective ones at that. For every singular technique he had, he had five failures that didn't stand out. There was just a lot of toying - a lot of manipulating.

"Then a few hours. This technique will only take a few seconds on the outside world but everything is designed to mess with your internal clock. To you, it'll feel like a few hours." Akira would perform a handseal and look at her: when she would meet his gaze that's when the technique would begin for her.

It would only be a matter of seconds for him but a lot longer for Yoko. She would find her surroundings reapppear into something entirely new altogether: chained up. Like an elaborate cave: every sense being tricked to feel from the cold coarseness of the rocks beneath her feet to a the light being fabricated. None of it real. But her thoughts? They would be very much real and over the next few hours, realise the nature of how the technique worked through the different factors that came into play. But, knowing was completely different to understanding: Akira knew how his brain worked and how emotions worked, but yet it worked on him nonetheless.

Akira would be on standby, and after some seconds had passed he would release her from the technique. Her concept of time would be eschewed: but there would be no greater need to put her in the technique for longer. He would make sure she was okay first, keeping an eye out on her to let her recuperate. "Yo, you okay?" he would keep his hand over the top of hers that held the wine glass. He didn't want that spilling onto his carpet.

When she would be settled, he'd be able to take his hand off her. But he was going to guide her through all of it.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

A couple of hours? That was all? Either he was planning to go easy on her or it was going to be a hellish time. "Sure." She didn't bother averting her attention, instead allowing him to execute the technique as he wished with no further questions. It would, in reality, only be a few seconds...

The environment changed, and she was...chained up? "Kinky," she said with a smirk, tugging at the metal to test how much give her bindings had. She was pretty stuck and for the following few hours she'd only have the quiet and her thoughts. It was chilly, bound against stone, but that was all right. Akira had phrased this technique like it'd be something horrible, but her first impression of it was that it wasn't all that bad.

The minutes began to pass. Yoko let her mind wander to let the time pass quicker. She thought about Akira, thought about dinner plans, thought about shopping--anything to keep from being bored. Living alone meant that it wasn't totally foreign having to find things to keep herself occupied. And for a few hours? That was easy. She wasn't sure how she'd have done with several years, but that wasn't the plan today. As far as she knew.

By the the time she was released back into the present moment, Yoko had effectively zoned out into her own head and looked mildly dazed when she first realized where she was, only to snap her posture up and realize Akira was keeping her from letting go of the wine.

"Oh. Yeah. Fine." She looked around the room, glanced down at her body, and then cleared her throat. "That wasn't nearly as bad as I'd have thought. But it was very realistic. If you succeeded in convincing someone they'd been imprisoned for decades, you'd probably forcibly shatter a few parts of their psyche." The potential hadn't escaped her. But in smaller, bite-sized portions? The technique was rather tolerable.

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: No notes~!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

She didn't seem bothered by it. So when she came out - she was actually quite alright. But Akira had.. somewhat expected that. But she looked like she'd been out of a fresh field of roses even if she snapped upright and into motion. (Obviously he couldn't see inside her mind... but he was expecting more!)

He felt his Genjutsu skills being offended, but just smiled and nodded instead despite being upset about it. Her assessment was pretty spot on. "Good. A few hours is fine - but decades can pass in there." Akira didn't need to reiterate what that could mean: to live isolation, chained up, uncomfortably for what felt like that long? Truly insane.

It would've took a lot more chakra to sustain for the technique's length, though. That, and would you really want someone to be chained up for the same amount of time as their own lives? That was something that Akira couldn't wrap his head around, which was the time-space feeling.

"This next one will only last as long as you want it for. Best used in the heat of battle... because one person's demons can consume them. This is my personal technique. I spent a few months watching someone who had been sanctioned live out their life. Very simple..."

He would perform three handseals, and clap in front of her. The snapping sound of his hands broke through all the other noise, like setting off an audio cue. Because that's what it was. He would turn around, knowing it wouldn't start immediately. He would turn the blackboard around again, and write the words "Insanity Echo" on the board.


His own volume increased. "Now, its mechanic relies on the situation at hand. If it can be used subtly, fantastic - but largely its effectiveness depends on the situation: as well as subtly placing cues like someone's inner dialogue does, and drowns out the target's own inner voice. It forces your tongue to stop moving, like you do when you're reading and those micro-movements form your inner voice. Subdue that and replace it with this..." And Akira would face her again. The drawing on the blackboard would be of a feedback loop, showing how it would continuously go around in circles. By now she would likely have guessed.

"This goes back to the various type of Genjutsu and how certain Genjutsu are for certain things. Subtleties are for one thing, winning a fight is another. We'll go over some techniques shortly which will ruin combat capabilities."

The man would cross his arms, watching her as she did or didn't struggle with it.

Though they were incredibly strong techniques, they had their own uses. Party hats didn't belong at funerals, after all.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: NAME: Fuuten Hibiki [Insanity Echo] RANK: S CHAKRA USAGE: Very High, Low [Continuous] CLASSIFICATION: Genjutsu DESCRIPTION: A torture technique and an in combat technique designed to confuse and torment a target: upon the audio trigger of the user clapping after performing the (6) handseals, begins the Genjutsu. The Genjutsu begins to plant sounds, slowly but surely as to not rouse suspicion - like an audio loop that is indistinguishable from actual thoughts, just like a schizophrenic that grows louder eventually leads to a blinding rage of several different voices all telling the target varying different things depending on the situation, some saying to run: others saying to drop their weapon, others suggesting they kill their allies, another to go on a rampage; it is a cacophony of sound in the target's mind that is meant to cause psychological horror. It is incredibly effective as it is all in the user's own thoughts. If the user cannot feasibly dispel the technique, the voices won't ever stop: this doesn't limit it purely to a fight, but can be used out of combat too. The byproduct can actually cause psychological damage to a target, giving them actual schizophrenia when targeted by this technique over a prolonged amount of time. EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

The next one was better suited to combat? Did that mean it would be physically painful or restrictive somehow? She wondered who he meant with having watched someone "live out their life" but it wasn't her business, so she remained quiet.

She would take a sip of wine, watching him, seeing the seals, and hearing the clap, and set her wine glass down. What she expected was something visual, but that didn't happen. Actually, everything felt the same.

Seeing the words "insanity echo" on the blackboard was immediately concerning. Echoes were fine, but insanity? What was that going to feel like on her senses?

As Akira began to speak louder--why?--going into detail on the technique, Yoko sat at ease waiting for the effects. And she was paying perfect attention, too--as any good student--right up until she began hearing whispers. Just tiny ones. But they stung like bees.

"Fix your hair."
"Your posture is off."
"Your nails need filing."
"Pay attention."
"You're weak."
"Pathetic."
"Why are you here?"

Yoko did her best to ignore these things. Strange as it was to be hearing them, she put her focus into absorbing what Akira was trying to teach her, taking in the illustration on the blackboard and trying to visualize mentally what was happening.

"Situational?" she confirmed, her voice slightly louder than she meant it to be. "It doesn't seem so horrible yet, just sitting here." But maybe that would be different if they were fighting?

"You'd know if it was."
"Horrible."
"Like you."
"Failure."
"Murderer."

The woman brought her hands up to run them through her hair, combing her fingers through large sections of pink strands in front of her chest, looking between Akira and the blackboard. She willed herself to push them away, the nagging gnawing pressing voices. But they just kept getting louder.

"Have you used this a lot on other people?" It was a genuine question. This technique didn't feel like it would be a make or break element in the thick of combat. But Akira was creative, and if this was a personal technique of his then clearly he had seen opportunities to use it.

Despite looking at him attentively and clearly listening to his response, though, Yoko's focus was waning. The voices were turning into ones that weren't hers. And the more she listened, the more harsh they became, on some rapid escalation to the most malleable part of her heart.

"Stop looking at him."
"Don't talk to him."
"How dare you."
"Thinking about other men?"
"Liar."
"Be good."
"Apologize."
"Beautiful."
"Ugly."
"You're slipping."
"He knows."
"Everyone knows."
"Love him."
"Quiet."
"It was your mistake."
"Your fault."
"Your fault."
"Your fault."

Yoko continued stroking her hair but it was clear enough she was distraught by what she was hearing. She was trying her best to focus on the lesson but the voices were taking shots at her brain and she felt like she couldn't keep them out. They were all around her as much as within her: inescapable.

"How long do most last in a fight against-- against this?" she asked, tripping over her words as a particularly explicit jab sunk into her head. It was like the worst part of herself was talking to the best part and still winning. An unexpected side effect was nausea. It sickened her to hear the voices so intimately as they were, and the mental imagery they were drudging up... She hated it.

But she could endure it. Wasn't that the point? Understanding what the technique was doing and learning to combat it? But there was also the simple fact she was stubborn, and if she could hold out and seem just a little more capable in Akira's eyes, she would try.

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: No notes~!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

Akira had told her she could go on for as long as she wanted. Akira was seeing the motions that she went through, the pasifying behaviours in order to make the stress go away.

"That's because it's not about surviving against this technique. You can survive it easily: the point is that it's meant to distract people from what they're doing, and to leave long lasting psychological damage so even if that person survives the fight, they lose the war - if they aren't killed first due to missing a beat."

Akira could've mentioned that she could try to release the technique herself: but it was very difficult. With reason. Akira had wanted it so that it was all-consuming. It was similar to the ear ringing technique: the longer it went on for, the more painful it became, the more memory and attention it took to take care of. This one? Unless you were pretty good, or had someone else to do it for you... it would only keep coming at you.

"No, I haven't had the chance to use it on anybody properly." Akira was honest. She... was the first run out of the perfected technique. But he didn't lack any confidence despite stating it. He'd run it quite a few times beforehand on less than willing participants.

"In fighting, it really depends on the situation. For it to have any affect? Very quick. To damage? Depends. The individual person's capabilities, mental stability: current emotions. I used it to torture somebody and they crumbled quickly. Alternatively I used it on a thug and he turned on his friends, and for someone else: absolutely nothing. Though, I've not encountered that person just yet." It was really one of those "depends" situations, because it was situational. It would work just as well on a disgruntled person as it would on someone pure of heart.

So even if she was going to stand stalwart against the dangers they "told" her, they being the voices, she was showing the signs of it. Stuttering mentally: her voice not carrying through with as much conviction, her actions delayed. Even the smallest margin, and that would continue to grow.

It could cause people to attack their allies, to cause them psychological harm like Akira had almost done to himself under the influence of Yoko's poisons. But he would go and sit by her, to answer any questions she had, and most importantly so like herself: he could study her body, and would press at her wrist, checking her heartbeat.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

It was meant to be a distraction, and that she definitely believed. Trying to fight with multiple voices intruding on her thoughts would be more than a small hindrance. Most of Yoko's techniques required control and precision to execute--but she lost those things when she couldn't keep her head straight.

He hadn't used this on anyone properly? Just torture? Did that mean he'd only just recently mastered it or that he hadn't found enough people who warranted something so strong? It was hard to imagine someone who wouldn't be affected by it. Yoko was an experienced fighter and it was starting to drive her up the wall.

"That person will be either rock-brained or a vegetable," she joked, trying to push the voices away and still failing. The woman stiffened when Akira took a seat next to her. He was seemingly concerned for her health because he wanted to check her pulse. But the touch to her wrist had her flinch violently away from the contact.

"Hurt."
"Punishment."
"Do you want that?"
"Do you want to hurt?"
"Get away."
"Too close."

"I'm fine," she insisted. Except she wasn't fine, because the look of "disturbed" in her eyes was clearly broadcasting the war happening in her head. Her actual feelings were fighting the paranoid ones--latent fears she'd buried slowly coming to the surface by whatever means that used to spur them on in the past.

Another voice, another something. She touched at her left ear and shook her head softly. Her eyes were on him but seeing more than just him sitting there. She was becoming more unsettled as seconds ticked on.

"Even with more skill, I couldn't kai this one," she noted, more softly this time. "My chakra control is already hurting. I can feel it." She touched a few fingertips to the center of her chest. And her gaze wandered away from his, off to some other part of the room, the voices growing louder and angrier.

"You don't know the meaning of hurt."
"But I'm going to educate you."
"Too weak to fight."
"Too weak to win."
"Give in."
"You're breaking."
"Are you afraid?"
"No."
"You should be."
"You're vulnerable."
"He'll hurt you."
"Is that what you want?"

Yoko shook her head softly again as if to rid herself of the voices. She stood from her seat and hugged her arms around herself, beginning to pace in random directions. But, notably, she was keeping her attention focused on him--like someone who didn't fully trust turning their back. "Demons, huh?" she commented, sighing with obvious unease. "That feels accurate."

And then, after taking in a shallow breath, her right hand returned to stroking through her hair. "What is the best way to fight it in this stage?"

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: No notes~!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

She still hadn't asked him to be rid of it and it would only grow in severity and worsen - but she was a big girl, clearly uncomfortable and Akira kept a close eye on her. Placing a hand to the centre of her chest. The movement didn't go unmissed by him. If the situation were worse, the thoughts in her head would likely change as well.

It would reveal her own thoughts, as did the new pacing while clouded by the nature of the technique. They'd home in on her own base fears and thoughts and manipulated them for her own detriment. But Akira nodded. "The technique is meant to extended over a prolonged amount of time. Remember, the voices are fake and fabricated by me." Akira's voice went down a little bit for that. His reminder to her would help ease the blow of the voices, to remind her that they were in fact fake. It would hopefully give her some confidence aside from them beating her down.

Her question was not unwarranted nonetheless. Akira would breathe in, hold it for a second: then out. In thought.

"That's a good question. I don't know." Akira didn't have the resolution, or the weak link for her. Simply because: he didn't know what could be worse and how he could get rid of it. Then he'd stand up like her and placed a hand to his bottom lip. "My hypothesis would be that it's a case of will. You focus on whatever the original plan is at the time, and you fixate on it. Like a mantra: so you don't lose focus." That's what Akira would do.

His own style would be to let his voice be the loudest, to be the angriest: so venomous to cut through the other noises like dirt. That's what he would do. "I can stop it whenever you've had enough." Akira would again remind her. Though he absolutely didn't intend on doing it, he was treating her softly. Like the medic he thought her to be, a Jonin - but still a girl.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

@akira

#ef6799

The reminder that the voices were "fake and fabricated" wasn't as helpful for Yoko as Akira was probably intending. They wouldn't have been so bad if they'd just been random voices, but the voices in her head were familiar and vicious. Each word hurt and only added to her anxiety.

She was in a safe environment. She was with someone with whom she felt safe. And yet her paranoia and fear persisted. She couldn't help it. Hearing actual things perpetuate her latent thoughts wasn't something she could block out. But she was trying. She was trying to learn how to best combat it. But even Akira didn't know the ideal way to go about that, instead suggesting that it was a matter of will and focus. If she just tried hard enough, she could funnel what she was fixating on to be not the voices themselves but instead the task at hand.

That was much easier said than done. It was a difficult thing to just hold a conversation versus clutching at her ears and willing the noise to stop.

"I should be great at that, in theory," she said. Yoko wasn't even sure what kind of mantra she'd invent for herself if she was to use one. Trying to combat what was in her own head had always been an uphill battle. A losing war.

"Is it possible to build up a tolerance to..." But the pinkette drifted off on her train of thought. The voices were so, so loud. And what was happening in her head was getting so much worse. She began to wonder, how long could she hold out under this kind of stress? A few hours? A few days? What condition would she be in by the end of it? And what if it never stopped? How long would it take her to go truly insane if the voices never went away? Would it get to the point that she'd forcibly deafen herself? Could she eventually learn to just live with them? Just how potent was the technique at its maximum? Without having experienced it before now, she had no idea what the upper limits would feel like. All she knew was that as it was now, she was gradually becoming thoroughly miserable in her own head.

"Enough."
"You can do better."
"Going to tell him to stop?"
"Because that's worked out so well in the past."
"That wasn't him."
"You're not safe here."
"Or anywhere."
"You subjected yourself to this."
"You wanted it."
"You deserve it."

The woman shook her head more violently and clamped her hands over her ears. "Make it quiet again," she said softly, her voice strained as if she was on the verge of crying. "I don't want to hear it anymore."

"Doesn't matter what you want."
"You wanted him."
"You wanted it."

She knew the voices were coming from somewhere in her head. She knew it, but that didn't make them any easier to cope with. To her, in the moment, they were feeling more and more right. They hissed and condemned and insisted and roared. And a part of her just wanted to crumble to the floor and cry. The voices themselves were one thing, but the memories and thoughts they were digging up and throwing at her was a whole different horror.

OOC INFO

& NOTES!

SPECIAL ABILITIES ❖ Enhanced Chakra Control ❖ Medical Training ❖ Poisons ❖ Evasion ❖ Heightened Speed

TECHNIQUES [❖] (None)

❤ NOTES: No notes~!