[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

Well this had certainly been an interesting experience so far, and believe it or not Ouritsu might have been learning more than these genin were in so far as how few of them had any true genjutsu training. He was not expecting to run into those who specialized in it like himself --those people probably wouldn't be here anyway-- but there were so many who struggled with even noticing the signs of simple techniques or the different methods of breaking out of them. The chunin silently thanked his elders for pushing him towards the illusionary arts and he doubted that he would have even passed his own exams without his knowledge of genjutsu.

The area Ouritsu had set up shop in was pretty plain all things considered. It didn't show the wear and tear of various ninjutsu techniques having been loosed or beaten and bruised training dummies like the taijutsu sections; plenty of space and even some sitting areas for those who needed a moment to get their bearings back after experiencing an illusion that may have been a bit too much for 'em. Most were appreciative for the lessons and to be honest the young Nohime was happy to help out. His other specialty would be useless to everyone not related to him and he felt some satisfaction in bettering some's knowledge in a field they needed some help with. It was also a decent opportunity for the young man to shake off some rust outside of waiting for his next field assignment. Not like he was out here placing these genin under intense techniques or anything, but often times being more consistent with the smaller jutsu was better than spending a bunch of chakra on something big and flashy.

"Alright, who's up next?"

words - tags - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG Nōhime Ouritsu - - WORDS 322 - -

T

hough the major purpose of the Chuunin Exams was for students to prove their skills and find their place among the upper ranks of the shinobi world, there was a secondary, general purpose to show off and demonstrate a nation's skills and strength to others. This was done in many ways. The actual city in which the exams took place, the resources and space that could be dedicated to the examinations, the facilities provided to the participating shinobi. One element that Shuka found particularly illuminating and, as consequence, fascinating was the training that members of the home village might supply.

There were several stations here for the various arts. Many seemed very occupied, full to the brim with little students looking to shore up their skills in the final hours. One of the least populous of them all (though there were still a few young, intrigued shinobi) was the genjutsu booth.

This didn't surprise her. Genjustu was an underutilized and underappreciated art despite being, in her opinion, one of the most dangerous and most versatile.

Something Shuka had learned in her years as a shinobi was that there was no end to learning. If you wanted to keep your skills sharp and remain in touch with developments in a field, you had to continue to interact with new contenders. Maybe there would be something she could learn from this young man manning the station, and perhaps there was wisdom she could pass on as well.

Shuka approached the shop with her hands folded in front of her. She was a tall presence and surely stood out. Her daughter, Asa, stood a decent distance behind, half keeping a very wary eye on her, and half watching the bukijutsu station with a hunger, assessing the students there for knowledge.

"I am not a participant in these exams, but I was hoping I might be able to converse with another expert a while," she greeted.

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

This world was full of surprising moments and in his few years Ouritsu had experienced a handful but just when one thought they had seen it all the universe decided to throw a curveball. He had been half paying attention to the immediate area around him, it was easy to see that a lot of the participants focus was on the other more popular ninja arts whether to shore up their own knowledge or just show off to the onlookers, but it allowed the chunin to relax for a few moments. Then, a shadow.

The Nohime was by no means the tallest boy in the world but it was rare that someone could impose over him yet the woman before him did just that. Blue hues shifted upwards to the older woman who had come to speak to an 'expert'. Instinct told him to turn around and see if there was someone else she was referring to but Ouritsu held his station while wondering who this old lady was. She looked dressed for a snowstorm which was totally out of place in Rock Country's climate and only added to the mystery. "Ahh, thank you for the kind words but I wouldn't call myself an expert." The boy replied with a smile. "But I'll talk genjutsu all day! Nohime Ouritsu, nice ta meet ya." He added formally introducing himself.

"Nothing too wild going on over here but just trying to help the exam participants with some last minute training. Triggers to look for, how to get out of a technique, the basic stuff ya know, but also testing a couple theories of my own while I have willing uh... participants." In truth it was difficult to train genjutsu because so many were averse to even hearing the word and everyone had a different tolerance for it so judging an illusion's effectiveness was tough. You could see if a katon technique lit someone on fire or if a sealing technique trapped a person but with genjutsu it was all in the mind. When Taki had come looking for volunteers to man the stations Ouritsu couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some practice in of his own as he was still looking to better himself.

words - Yuki Shuka - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG Nōhime Ouritsu - - WORDS 240 - -

S

omehow the name Nohime Ouritsu was vaguely familiar, though she would be hard pressed to recall where she might have heard it before. Most likely in vague terms in genjutsu circles during one of the previous exams - given his age, it was likely he'd only passed in the last couple of years, after all. Perhaps he had even been in Asa's cohort? Ah, well. No point dwelling on it for now. So many things more easily slipped her mind with age that the time spent hunting the thought down wouldn't be well worth it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well. I am Yuki Shuka." Would he recognize the name or not? It would almost be amusing if he didn't. Despite the alliance between their villages, she doubted that publications sharing her name and visage were circulated widely through the populace. It would probably be common for most common shinobi to have little idea who she was. Maybe it would make a fun story for him later.

When Ouritsu mentioned testing theories, her eyes lit up somewhat, a sparkle of curiosity.

"If you don't mind my asking, could I inquire what sort of theories you're testing? I may be able to provide some insight." And she certainly wouldn't flinch at being target practice for genjutsu. Her and Dai Ri went back and forth enough in their younger days that she could stomach most that she'd seen so far.

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

Ouritsu would have been lying if he said the name didn't sound familiar. He knew the woman from somewhere, or her name at least, but couldn't quite put two and two together. The surname added to her attire probably meant she was from one of the colder villages and if his limited knowledge of village politics held true he could have swore that Iwa had some type of alliance with one of those cold places. Hmm, oh well, the chunin would make a note to look into it later as there was much more fun stuff to talk about!

Shuka would inquire as to what the Nohime had meant by theories and for once it was nice to see that someone wasn't immediately turned away by his genjutsu experiments. Most people's minds immediately went to torture tactics and while it was used for that sometimes there were plenty of other practical uses for the illusory arts. For Ouritsu it was more supplementary as he was a Nohime through and through which meant his first love was Jinton and nothing would ever change that. Powerful as it was, however, there were some obvious limitations that the chunin was looking to cover by bettering himself with genjutsu.

"So I've figured out how to set up a second technique to trigger after someone breaks out of the first one, and it's definitely cool and all but it almost feels like diminishing returns sometimes, ya know? Like once someone experiences one genjutsu they kind of get a little more aware, so what I've been trying to figure out is how to affect a person with two genjutsu at once; I guess you could say it's layering one on top of another, but using two jutsu at once has gotta be impossible, right? And if the senses they effect overlap but do different things I feel like they'd cancel each other out, too."

This may have been the first time Ouritsu had spoken his entire plan aloud to someone else and while it did sound a little silly in some parts if there was some way to achieve the desired result then that would surely give him enough the edge he needed in making sure his main techniques connected.

words - Yuki Shuka - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG Nōhime Ouritsu - - WORDS 232 - -

B

eginning to describe his conceptual experiments, Shuka's smile grew somewhat. It seemed like even without having a genjutsu mentor to guide him, he had independently reinvented a school of genjutsu study. The art of the layered genjutsu was old, but incredibly narrow. Not many were capable of producing the effect because of the incredible control it required, as well as the dedication to genjutsu to truly understand the ins-and-outs of its machinations.

"You're right to say that affecting the same sense twice would cancel out. If you push chakra into the same area of the brain twice, it's essentially the same as performing a very targeted kai on your own technique," she confirmed, tapping the side of her head. Genjutsu was, in a sense, a manipulation of how the brain processed the information it was intaking. The sensory organs couldn't have their schema overwritten twice without replacing the old one.

"However, you can utilize two genjutsu targeting two different areas of the brain at the same time," she went on to explain. Revealing her hand that she was capable of this trick, she went on to say, "It's a very difficult thing to do, though, as it requires a lot of control. It's all about synchronicity. You want to not only perform the techniques at the same time, but have them be perceived so closely together that they can't disrupt each other."

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

Hearing the older woman speak was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand she had confirmed his theory that using two techniques that hit the same sense would pretty much cancel each other out which was unfortunate but that also meant that he could stop worrying over that aspect of his research and could focus on other things which was a relief. It wasn't a great feeling to be wrong but using that denial as a stepping stone to greater heights was all part of research. Ouritsu was happy to hear that his overall goal could be done however but required a level of control and timing to pull off that sounded super difficult.

"Hmm, well I'm definitely happy to hear that it's possible but it does sound tough to pull off. By chance are you able to layer genjutsu? If so would it be too forward to ask to see it in action?" The chunin asked. Asking a stranger to put him under multiple genjutsu was not how he had planned this day to go but practicality was super important to understanding how concepts were supposed to work and there was no better teacher than experience. Having multiple senses afflicted at once by separate techniques that were performed so quickly together that they felt like one jutsu was bound to be a rollercoaster, but having a baseline of what he would need to work on was invaluable.

words - Yuki Shuka - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG Nōhime Ouritsu - - WORDS 270 - -

T

he sign of a student truly passionate about the art of genjutsu was a willingness to be subjected to it. That was Shuka's opinion. Ouritsu immediately making the request to be put under two techniques was an impressive level of commitment and showed how much he truly wanted to come to understand how this skill worked.

She nodded, bringing up her hands to crack her knuckles and warm up her fists, preparing for the hand seals she would need to perform.

"Of course. I would be happy to demonstrate for you. I'll try not to choose ones that will be too distracting for examining the technique."

Selecting those was a little difficult, as most of the techniques she'd learned had been for offensive purposes, but she did have a few at her disposal that were relatively harmless.

She needed to perform the next couple actions in a very specific order. Visual genjutsu landed just barely, almost imperceptibly, faster than audio genjutsu. At such a short distance it would barely matter, but she still needed to finish speaking just before making eye contact with Ouritsu, simultaneous with rendering the final hand seal.

Coordinating all of these things, she spoke,

"Is now a good time?" Right at the same moment she met Ouritsu with a sharp glare.

Two things would happen simultaneously. All the teaching stalls would melt away, replaced with the scenery of a busy teahouse, Shuka and Ouritsu seated together at a table in a very casual atmosphere. Contrasted with that, Ouritsu would experience the feeling of his body being surrounded by cement, as though he was incapable of moving.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kōsai-hō [Social Code]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: To Use: Medium | To Maintain: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Genjutsu
HANDSEALS: 3
TRIGGER: Auditory
DESCRIPTION:
The jutsu is activated by the user performing the requisite hand seals while asking "Is now a good time?" Once formed, it creates an illusion of a social environment where acting up would break the social contract, such as a quiet restaurant or a formal meeting place, in an attempt to coerce the target to talk politely instead of engaging in a fight. The target's usual locomotion is in no way restricted and behaving sporadically/attempting to leave the imaginary location can easily cause it to be dispelled. If only the casting chakra cost is expended, the duration is three posts.

NAME: Genjutsu Shibari [Genjutsu Binding]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: To Use: Medium | To Maintain: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Genjutsu
ELEMENT: -
HANDSEALS: 0
TRIGGER: Visual
DESCRIPTION:
As the name suggests, the user binds the opponent in a genjutsu by the opponent viewing the user glare, rendering them incapable of movement; and this genjutsu can be used on more than one target at the same time. Unlike other genjutsu that use illusory objects to stop movements, this genjutsu simply affects the target's sense of touch to make it feel as if every inch of their body surrounded by hardened cement, effectively paralyzing the target. Once the target(s) are bound, the user or an ally can rush up to the enemy and deliver a devastating killing blow.

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

Ouritsu was honestly a bit surprised that the woman had agreed to his request and one may have thought that the boy was putting too much trust in a person he just met, but if there was one area he would be able to counter should things so sideways it was genjutsu; to a degree at least. The Nohime knew his senses would be affected yet not which ones and in what order. It was going to be a first for him to experience multiple genjutsu at the same time and there were definitely some nerves building but he was also excited to see all the thinking he had done about this subject come to fruition... even if he technically wasn't the one doing it.

Before he could even begin to process a response to Shuka's question the entire training area around them melted away, and at once they were seated in a hustling and bustling tea house. Everything looked real but when he went to try and touch the table they were at he found himself unable to move as if he were stuck in place by some invisible force. The woman had, seemingly at once, affected both his sense of sight and touch without so much as an inclination of having used two different techniques.

"How did you.. I didn't even notice two triggers." Thinking back to moments before he landed on the question probably being one, but the second was still a mystery. It was clear that Shuka had mastered this ability to a scary degree and thankfully outside of struggling to move she hadn't performed anything that was too dangerous.

words - Yuki Shuka - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG Nōhime Ouritsu - - WORDS 277 - -

B

inding was one of those techniques that was incredibly subtle in its application, but also very specific. Landing it without being close enough for the opponent to register the glare was sometimes unlikely, but a conversational distance made it much easier and much more reliable. Splitting between an audio trigger and a visual trigger was a good way to be able to utilize two techniques at once, but using two differing triggers together was possible - just more... awkward. It got into the question of timing words with bells, or trying to combine activation phrases.

"I'm sure you gathered the first was the phrase I used. The second was the moment I made eye contact with you," she explained, motioning between the two of them. "I did it right at the end of my sentence, so you had little time to process it before being distracted by the visual effects of the jutsu, but just enough that it still seeded the effect of the genjutsu in you."

Though even with her chakra control, holding two genjutsu like this could get tiring pretty quickly. It was better to use something like this to decisively win a battle, not if one had to hold it for very long. So after a moment of letting Ouritsu explore the strange dual sensations, she would first dismiss the binding genjutsu - allowing him to get a little more familiar with the visual genjutsu - before finally dismissing the second as well. (If he tried again to touch the table, he'd find his hand went right through. This technique was all about the ambience and not at all about the substance.)

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

Clever. So very clever. He had been correct about the question being the trigger for the first technique but had to think back to the look Shuka had given him. Most would have believed that it was just a common courtesy to look someone in the face when talking to them, an inconspicuous triggers are what made genjutsu such an effective tool, but to even pull one over on someone who was looking for it was even more impressive. "Yeah I guess that look was a bit edgier than normal but that's still crazy to think it felt like one fluid sensation." Honestly it was difficult to put in words trying to process the fact that he was stuck in two genjutsu simultaneously but was perceiving them as one. It was both a little frightening and exhilarating.

After a few moments Ouritsu would feel the constriction of the second technique lift yet was still seated across from Shuka in the teahouse. This was an amazing skill and one the chunin needed to learn as soon as possible. He once again made an attempt to put a hand to the table but watched it slip through as this was still very much an illusion. Then came the end of that illusion and at once they were now standing back in the stall at the arena like nothing had changed at all, which, it hadn't. "Well that was certainly something. Don't know if I've ever been happier to be placed in a genjutsu but knowing this is possible is just great." Ouritsu spoke with more than a hint of excitement in his voice. Honestly he wanted to just close up shop and run off to practice for the rest of the day, or maybe even use some of these hopeful genin as test subjects though the latter may have not been looked upon too kindly by the powers at be.

"So how did you even learn to do something like this? A happy accident or was there someone you just really wanted to bury under a bunch of genjutsu?" A silly worded question but the interest was genuine. Ouritsu imagined that quite a bit of the shinobi arts was invented by mistake or spite, probably no better example than his family's own claim to fame because how else would you come up with a way to disintegrate people to the molecular level?

words - Yuki Shuka - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG Nōhime Ouritsu - - WORDS 233 - -

T

he young man enthused about the feeling of the technique, how it had come across as a single fluid technique and sensation instead of as the disparate one that it was.

"It's an interesting sensation, being placed under multiple techniques. It's often enough to thoroughly confuse an opponent, too. Though with some techniques it's more difficult to subtly combine them than that. Sometimes verbal triggers are slightly discordant and unifying them into one phrase becomes the question. Genjutsu binding is a very adaptable technique, but others are more difficult to turn into a fluid sensation. I'll be interested to see your progress when you start working on this," she hummed.

As for the question of how she'd discovered this ability...

"The implementation was... a bit of both, honestly. It was during the second shinobi war, in Shimogakure. My squad was backed into a very dire situation. The enemy captain had killed our leader and one of my close friends." It was a story she would've struggled to tell for years afterwards, but she had long since finished grieving. "I knew we needed to take him out and send his forces into a panic if we were going to survive, so I made it happen. I wasn't really sure myself how I'd done it for a while afterwards. I went back home to my village and worked with another genjutsu enthusiast to refine it."

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

The woman had hit on an interesting point that Ouritsu's mind was already buzzing about: synergy between the two techniques. The triggers had to make sense to be perceived as one fluid entity but genjutsu were just as varied as any other form of the ninja arts in how they worked. Thinking on the techniques he had learned over the years there were those that had audible triggers, those that required certain bodily movements, hell he even had one involving Jinton and just trying to figure out how he could make them flow together was already giving him a headache. "Yeah that may be more difficult than the timing if I'm being honest. There's so many different triggers it's definitely going to take some trial and error to see what works together." He replied already envisioning the hellish matching game he was about to embark upon.

Necessity was the mother of invention and the old woman's story further proved it. War, for all its givings, often brought out the resourcefulness in people when their lives were on the line. Ouritsu wished he had the same level of ingenuity during the civil war all those years ago and then maybe things would have turned out differently. Maybe not, but getting put out of commission after a single fight didn't help matters. However he couldn't let past failures define him, they were lessons and it was was his responsibility to learn and grow from them.

"Ah I see. I guess bittersweet is an understatement but if it's any consolation I'm glad you survived so we could talk about all this cool stuff!" He wasn't great at awkward small talk or even pivoting away from potentially heavy topics but figured a little silver lining couldn't hurt.

words - Yuki Shuka - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[Yuki Shuka]

Yuki Shuka --- TAG Nōhime Ouritsu - - WORDS 233 - -

S

he gave Ouritsu a smile, eyes crinkling along the corners, those weathered lines showing years of many such smiles. Even if she'd been through something so troublesome in the past, the story her bearing and expression told was that she had lived on, and lived well. Shuka mourned the friends she lost in the wars she'd fought in, but she allowed her consideration for them to drive her forward rather than remaining in the past with them.

"I'm quite glad as well. It would have been a shame, to miss out on meeting an up-and-coming genjutsu artist," she said. It was clear that the young man didn't know what to say about her story, and she wasn't one to linger on things that might be uncomfortable for others in a casual conversation. So she would return to the technical talk.

"I wonder what other advice I can give... Ah, when you're dealing with multiple triggers at once, how far you are from your opponent can have an impact on when you want to deliver them. A person picks up on visuals slightly faster than they pick up on sound, so you'll usually want to complete an audio trigger just slightly before you complete a visual one, with a larger gap between the two the farther out you get. By contrast, tactile triggers are usually ones you'll want to utilize simultaneously with other triggers."

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[Nōhime Ouritsu]

bleed it out

With all the advice being thrown his way Ouritsu silently cursed himself for not bringing a notebook though there was little way he could have known this day would have turned out as such. In fact, the chunin was expecting a relatively slow day all around since kids didn't really appreciate genjutsu all that much. It was a mental game and thus nowhere near as outwardly flashy as ninjutsu or what some people were able to do with taijutsu. There had been a few exam participants to swing by his station, most either trying to kill time to let the line die down somewhere else or overachievers trying to pack in every bit of learning they could, but compared to some of the other training areas it was a virtual ghost town.

The woman's next piece of wisdom was a familiar one but held new meaning when it came to combining techniques: distance. Trying to get someone to fall for the trigger of a genjutsu depended on their ability to perceive it and to that end Ouritsu had done well figuring out the optimal ranges for the techniques he knew and to a lesser degree multiple techniques at once but there was definite leeway since his lingering techniques didn't have to be applied as close together as what he was learning now. Shuka's advice was to finish audio triggers before visual ones since people perceived visual cues quicker; she had shown as such during her demonstration by ending her question right before locking eyes with him.

"Right right, not just enough to find triggers that work well together but getting their timing down is key as well." Ouritsu replied with a hum. He had learned quite a bit today but there was one thing that would put the icing on the cake for him to truly lock in the lesson. "If it's not too much trouble would it be ok if I gave it a shot? Getting a feel for the timing would be a huge help." The chunin asked. He could, of course, have used any of the genin who passed by his station as guinea pigs but getting some crucial feedback was most important to him.

words - Yuki Shuka - notes

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE