Genjutsu Training

At night, a cool breeze drifted gently by.

Two figures, one large and one small, sat facing each other on the grassy riverbank.

"Genjutsu is essentially a form of Yin Release. It uses Mental Energy to manipulate Chakra and disrupt the opponent's five senses, trapping them in an illusion!"

Although he still found Soseki unpleasant, Kurenai Yuhi did not hold anything back. When teaching Genjutsu, he explained everything to the best of his ability.

"So Genjutsu can roughly be divided into visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile types?" Soseki asked, propping his chin up with his little hand.

"Huh? That's one way of putting it?" Kurenai Yuhi's eyes lit up.

Ninjas generally did not have much foundational knowledge, with most of them barely reaching an elementary-school level. As a result, few people even bothered with the simplest work of categorization.

"That's true. We used to say it disrupts the five senses, but most Genjutsu is based on sight, hearing, and touch. Comparatively speaking, Genjutsu targeting taste and smell is nearly nonexistent. If we could develop techniques aimed at those two senses, perhaps in the next war we could make the other villages..."

"Senior Shinku, Senior Shinku!" Seeing Kurenai Yuhi sink into endless fantasies, Soseki had no choice but to speak up.

"Huh?" Kurenai Yuhi came back to his senses. Seeing Soseki's strange look, he felt a little embarrassed. To preserve his dignity, he could only forcefully explain, "See that? A truly powerful Genjutsu ninja has to know how to fantasize, just like me."

Soseki did not expose him and instead nodded in agreement.

Genjutsu really did require some imagination.

"Before I formally guide you in Genjutsu training, I'll first teach you how to break Genjutsu." Kurenai Yuhi's expression grew solemn. "Only by understanding Genjutsu's weaknesses can you avoid being targeted by enemies on the battlefield."

"There are two ways to break Genjutsu. One is to disrupt the flow of Chakra within your own body, and the other is to have someone else disrupt the Chakra flow in your body. However, when dealing with Dojutsu Genjutsu, only the second method works. Therefore, when the enemy is a powerful ninja who uses Dojutsu to cast Genjutsu, you must never face them alone."

Kurenai Yuhi's tone turned somewhat despondent. Though he was Leaf Village's strongest Genjutsu ninja, he would never reach the heights of those great Dojutsu users from history.

That was precisely why he had been so ecstatic upon discovering Kurenai's talent for Genjutsu. He wanted to prove that talent and hard work could break the dominance of bloodlines.

Soseki did not pay attention to Kurenai Yuhi's disappointment. Instead, he asked thoughtfully, "Disrupting the Chakra flow within the body? At its core, isn't that just control over one's body? If someone could perfectly control their own body, would that mean they were immune to the first type of Genjutsu?"

Kurenai Yuhi froze, then smiled and shook his head. "That interpretation isn't wrong, but perhaps only a ninja like the First Hokage, the God of Shinobi, could accomplish something like that."

Soseki neither agreed nor disagreed, but inwardly thought, Perfect control over one's body... the Eight Gates?

Unlike some of his "predecessors," Soseki was not particularly enthusiastic about the Eight Gates. He knew exactly where his advantages lay: talent, intellect, and learning ability—and those offered little benefit to the Eight Gates, which relied on grinding away over time.

Spending twenty years for a single moment of brilliance was not worthwhile for a genius. At least, in Soseki's view, he had many other ways to obtain power at that level.

However, that did not mean Soseki did not value the Eight Gates.

What he wanted to pursue was actually the Eight Gates' lower-level path.

For example, he could permanently keep two or three Gates open within his body—use Medical Ninjutsu to repair the damage caused by the Eight Gates, then store the excess Chakra squeezed out after opening the Gates within the Yin Seal. He could even use Creation Rebirth to open more Gates in a crisis.

The difficulty in realizing this perpetual-motion fantasy lay in continuously repairing his body at every moment. This required not only extremely high Chakra control, but also the mental control to nearly divide his focus in two.

Beyond that, physical training was also crucial. The stronger his body became, the less damage opening the Gates would cause, and the less Yang Release Chakra would be needed to repair it. Otherwise, the Chakra released by opening the Gates might not even be enough to heal his own body.

Kurenai Yuhi had no idea that Soseki was thinking about taijutsu during his Genjutsu lesson. After a brief sigh, he continued, "The strength of Genjutsu mainly depends on two aspects. The first is the strength of one's mental will, and the second is the realism of the illusion created."

"Do you know what makes the Genjutsu of those powerful Dojutsu users stronger than that of ordinary people?"

Soseki also gathered his wandering thoughts and answered without hesitation, "Dojutsu does not require hand seals, making it more convenient and stealthier than ordinary Genjutsu."

Kurenai Yuhi nodded approvingly and asked, "What else?"

After pondering briefly, Soseki ventured, "Could it be that the eyes serve as amplifiers, enhancing the mental strength of the Genjutsu?"

"Amplifiers? That's an interesting way to put it." Kurenai Yuhi sighed again. "Genjutsu ninja like us painstakingly weave realistic illusions one after another, yet in the end, they may not even compare to a crude illusion casually woven by those Dojutsu users. The reason is that their spiritual essence is far, far stronger than ours."

Soseki nodded lightly. Indeed, overwhelming spiritual essence was simply unreasonable like that.

Take Itachi Uchiha's Tsukuyomi, for example. The world it created clearly defied all logic, and the enemy clearly knew from the very first moment that they had fallen under Genjutsu, yet they simply could not break free.

By Soseki's understanding from his previous life, it was like the saying from those xianxia novels: one force could overcome ten thousand techniques. It did not matter how crudely constructed the illusion was; if your mental strength was insufficient, you could not escape.

But it would not be entirely accurate to say that the realism of an illusion was unimportant. The best proof was the Infinite Tsukuyomi—an ultimate Genjutsu that created a realistic illusion, drawing everyone in the world into it and immersing them within it!

Thinking of this, Soseki asked, "Senior Shinku, is there no way to increase mental strength?"

"Increase mental strength? I've never heard of one, but..." Kurenai Yuhi first shook his head, then said somewhat hesitantly, "Legend says that the First Hokage's mental will was powerful enough to interfere with reality. Yet he apparently did not possess such strength at the beginning. If we connect that with his experience of pacifying the Warring States era, perhaps the method is to experience war or brush against life and death, comprehending one's beliefs through it and strengthening one's capacity."

Soseki nodded thoughtfully. It was precisely because he knew more than Kurenai Yuhi that he valued spiritual growth all the more. The mental wills of Asura and Indra caused their Chakra to reincarnate across several eras, while the Sage of Six Paths remained between life and death in the form of a soul, even using his own power to pull the souls of the village Kage back from the Netherworld into the living world.

That level of mental strength was simply unimaginably powerful.

Chakra, spirit, soul... perhaps I need a technique that can touch upon the essence of the soul!

Seeing Soseki fall silent, Kurenai Yuhi assumed he had been discouraged by Genjutsu's limitations. "Ahem, actually, you don't need to be too dejected. Just like personal talent, the only one who can truly excavate your potential is yourself. Otherwise, why hasn't the title of Leaf Village's strongest Genjutsu ninja fallen into the hands of those Dojutsu clans?"

Although he had not really drunk the motivational soup Kurenai Yuhi was offering, Soseki still pretended to be encouraged. "I understand, Senior Shinku."

"Good. Next is beginner-level Genjutsu training: the D-rank Genjutsu—Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique. The hand seals are Rabbit-Snake-Ram. Come, properly experience the terror of Genjutsu..."