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The genjutsu lessons continued as usual. Neither Takuma nor Mikoto bought up the Ring part of his life, which was how Takuma preferred it. While he would've liked to create a close relationship with "Jonin" "Uchiha" Mikoto, Takuma was fine as long as he got genjutsu lessons out of it, which was the reward he asked for.
"Did you have a chance to look at the scrolls?" asked Mikoto.
"I did," he replied. Mikoto had given Takuma three days to look at the scrolls. Both of them realized that Takuma had a full-time job and thus took it into consideration while issuing her deadlines.
Takuma hadn't been able to do anything the day Fugaku informed him that the Commander-in-Chief and some higher-ups were aware of his Ring identity. The next day, he went to Chunin Yakumi and Setsuna to talk with them about the new revelation. While Yakumi was displeased and ended their talk with: "The results of your team better be good," Setsuna straightforwardly said he didn't care. He didn't have the authority to meet Jonin Uchiha Sayuri, the Head of Organized Crime, with no notice and had to schedule a meeting— her secretary had returned to him the next day saying that she knew Takuma wanted to talk about and there was no need.
With that matter bearing down on his mind during the day, Takuma had to pull an all-nighter to read the scrolls. The four D-rank genjutsu were reasonably diverse; clearly, Mikoto wanted to use the four genjutsu as a basis for further studies by using them as examples. The four genjutsu were:
Genjutsu: Flower Hill— a furious tornado of flower petals would cover the target, lasting a maximum of a few seconds, completely obscuring their view in all directions.
Genjutsu: Bell Sound Clone— the target's head would fill with overwhelming bell sounds with a light paralysis effect while they saw rudimentary clones would appear in front of them.
Genjutsu: Haze— the target's vision of the entire area turned hazy and blurry; the more the target looked around, the higher haze and blur would be, potentially having a nauseating effect.
Genjutsu: Poisonous Stomach Hell— the target would feel a sudden and acute onset of cramping, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. It was a simplified downgrade of a C-rank jutsu, which had more bodily effects with higher intensity.
"And what did you learn in regard to the connection component?" asked Mikoto.
"Flower Hill is a smell-based genjutsu, Bell Sound Clone is sound-based, Haze is touch-based, and Poisonous Stomach Hell is taste-based," said Takuma. "I have some questions regarding these."
"Correct on all four. Go for the questions."
"So, Flower Hill. It's smell-based genjutsu, but there needs to be a smell that can be used as the "carrier" of chakra. Does that mean I will always need to carry a smoke bomb with a scent to be able to use the genjutsu? Isn't that a big restriction? I mean, you don't need anything for a visual-based genjutsu like Mist Servant Jutsu."
"Not all five senses were made equal. Some of them are simply easier to use," said Mikoto with a small smile. "Your comment of visual-based genjutsu not needing any aid is incorrect. The light entering the eye is the carrier, and well, light is ever-present. The "carrier" is the user themselves because the target is focusing on them. But it also presents a restriction— you can't use visual-based genjutsu from hiding or when the target doesn't have sufficient focus on the user. It's well-researched that the difficulty rockets when the user is standing in the peripheral vision when compared to then standing in front of them."
"It's easy to get attention in a battle," said Takuma.
"It is," Mikoto said with a soft shrug. "As I said, not all senses are made equal. However, you're underestimating Flower Hill and other olfactory genjutsu. You don't require a smoke bomb. You can simply use perfumes, colognes, gels, and balms with distinct scents, which you can wear all day long, and once a target registers the scent, which they will once you get close enough, you can build a connection through that scent. If you're indoors, you can use incense and candles and cast a genjutsu from hiding without ever facing them directly.
"Of course, there are restrictions on what scents you can use. It can't be something they're so used to that won't work, but it can't also be too distinct, which sets off a target's alarms. Balance and care are needed. An expert olfactory genjutsu user can juggle the variables to make their genjutsu work with a high success rate."
Takuma repeatedly nodded as Mikoto explained and noted down her words. This is what he was looking for. The thought of applying a puff of cologne as he entered a battle or a party and using that scent to cast genjutsu on the enemy or target was an exciting prospect.
"My next question is about Haze," Takuma continued with his question. "As I was reading the scroll, the text strongly recommended targeting the neck or forehead as the point of contact for establishing the connection. From a practical standpoint, those are some difficult targets. No fighter is going to tilt their head up and give access to their neck, and the head is perhaps the most protected part of the body, not to mention that a lot of people wear their forehead protector… well, on their forehead— doesn't this make this genjutsu useless?"
Mikoto laughed; Her laugh was pretty and melodic. She said, "The touch receptors in our skin are not uniformly distributed. Skin with hair on it is much less receptive— torso, legs, hands, and the head— and most of the time, all of that is covered with clothes. The neck, forehand, and the front side of your hand are the most receptive as they lack hair. For shinobi, hands will be mostly covered in calluses, making them an undesirable location. It is true that the majority of shinobi cover their foreheads. Leaving the neck as the best position."
"You can't say touch-based genjutsu has any advantage in the field," said Takuma.
"I agree that touch-based genjutsu doesn't have much use in combat. But during sex, touch-based genjutsu is always the choice."
Takuma was stunned speechless. Even with both his lives combined, he would only be in his mid-twenties; not to mention, Takuma was currently going through full-bloom puberty, and Uchiha Mikoto was a stunning woman. Moreover, Takuma wasn't expecting the topic of sex to be part of his genjutsu lesson. If he wasn't as busy as he was, thinking about sex would be a good chunk of his day.
"Ma'am?"
"You need to widen your mind, Takuma. Combat isn't the only place where jutsu are used. Shinobi specializing in seduction and sexual espionage are one of the premier experts in genjutsu, and they use touch-based genjutsu extensively during sex. People let their guard down when they're in bed— and well, genital areas are much more sensitive than the neck and forehead."
"… T-That sounds about right."
"It is right," Mikoto seemed to be having fun seeing Takuma's reaction. "Next."
Takuma cleared his throat and quickly noted everything down, but before asking his next question, he asked, "So, Haze is useless in battle?"
"As it is right now, yes, Haze is useless in battle."
Takuma frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Leave it for now. We will discuss it later in a future lesson."
Takuma wanted to know right now because he really liked the potential of Haze in combat and really wanted to get it working, but he let it go. He noted Mikoto's comment and moved to his next question.
"I'm confused with Poisonous Stomach Hell— actually, with all taste-based genjutsu. Do they require the target to ingest a hallucinatory agent like a drug or something?" he asked.
"No, no, no. Please, don't confuse those two; they're different," Mikoto waved her hand in emphasis. "Genjutsu, which use taste as a connection component, require the target to eat something infused with your chakra. Your chakra needs to interact with the taste buds in their tongue for you to gain control of their chakra flow. The more chakra comes in contact with their tongue, the faster and stronger genjutsu works. As you would notice, taste-based genjutsu also doesn't have any presence on the battlefield, but it shines in other places. It's surprising how people check for poison, but they don't check for the presence of chakra in food and drinks."
"And drugs?" asked Takuma as he made notes.
"Drugs affect the brain and its functioning, which makes people much more suspectable to outside influence. Genjutsu becomes an extremely potent weapon when the target is not in their right mind. It doesn't need even need to be some rare drug— alcohol inebriation is enough for genjutsu to work better."
That made sense. Takuma made his notes and thought about how well his Mist Servant Jutsu worked on someone high on weed. He almost wanted to test the before and after— and who knows, he might actually conduct that experiment.
"Any questions on the Bell Sound Clone?" asked Mikoto.
"I'm sure the answer is in the scroll," Takuma hadn't read the text in its entirety; there was a lot more to read for every genjutsu, "but the scroll said to create the bell sound every five to seven seconds to maintain the genjutsu."
Bell Sound Clone required the user to produce a bell ring even after the genjutsu was successfully in place. And unlike Flower Hill, he couldn't apply a cologne and call it a day, he needed to continue ringing the bell every few seconds, which got in the way.
"If you don't repeat the bell, the genjutsu will weaken, and the chance of the target realizing they're in a genjutsu will rise. I understand where you're coming from, but every jutsu has its use," Mikoto answered patiently. "Combat often happens between groups. Imagine you trapping an opponent in a genjutsu while your teammate takes them out with zero danger. That's where genjutsu like Bell Sound Clone comes into play. Of course, not all auditory genjutsu requires recurring sound production, but it's a common trait because it allows the user to keep the genjutsu's hold on the target strong. Experts with high skill in auditory genjutsu are able to use their voice to cast genjutsu, which is extremely dangerous. You can close your eyes, but can you block all sounds when shinobi are able to modulate their voices?"
"I know how to modulate my voice," said Takuma, and his voice came out as highly distorted; it was the voice he used as Tobi. He could also increase the amplitude and pitch it up and down, and while he couldn't perfectly mimic someone's voice, he just needed practice to reach that level.
"Auditory genjutsu is an option you can explore," Mikoto said, and her voice sounded different. She sounded like another woman.
"Isn't that the anchor from the radio station?" Takuma asked.
Mikoto nodded with a smile.
She was more skilled at it than him.
"So, it's clear that Uchiha Clan specializes in visual genjutsu. I mean, with those eyes, it'd be illogical not to," Takuma looked at Mikoto, who nodded understandably. "But what about Yuhi Clan? They're dubbed as Hidden Leaf's premier genjutsu clan. Do they specialize in anything?"
"Hmm… as far as I understand, Yuhi Clan doesn't specialize in one connection component as a clan. But individual clan members do tend to specialize in one sense as it's naturally difficult to juggle multiple, and specialization provides a higher return on investment. If you look a little deeper, genjutsu users in the village follow trends— if a popular genjutsu user makes their name using auditory genjutsu, novice genjutsu users would look at them and get influenced. But I'd suggest that you don't fall into that and carefully research and use genjutsu to find what suits you."
Takuma had no idea which direction he would go, but he had five genjutsu, one from each sense, and an excellent teacher to guide him. He wasn't in a hurry, and eventually, he knew he would figure it out.
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