Nin-To-Five : Chapter 63

Sunagakure

Ryoma, Jonin of Sunagakure, Vice-Captain of the Puppetry Corps

The reception of the Genjutsu Corps was relatively modest. While they didn’t exactly need extensive supplies to research and train their chosen specialty, they also didn’t get the flashy, expensive jobs of the Ninjutsu Corps. It was largely bare, but made of quality material, with just a bit of choice decoration scattered about. 

The fanciest thing they had was a good sized fountain in the middle, which produced a constant stream of wafting vapors that humidified the cool interior chamber. At least, it would be doing that normally, currently it was nonfunctional on account of all of the normal water infrastructure of Suna being fucked up at the moment.

The essential utilities had been rerouted and repaired within a day or two, but everything else was still in a backlog, and had been for a week or so now. The Puppetry Corps’ own public drinking fountain still wasn’t hooked back up yet.

As it turned out, waterworks were predicated around expected flow rates and having all of the lowest chambers of their local aquifer dragged up to the surface fucked things a bit. There were talks about underwater canals being dug to another aquifer layer a few dozen kilometers away last time he spoke with the guys in logistics about it. 

Meanwhile, because it would be a waste to not use the new space, they were going to put something down in the empty aquifer chambers. What exactly, he didn’t know, but something big. 

“Hello. Do you have an appointment?” The ninja woman at the counter asked with a casual, almost bored drawl. She leaned back in her chair entirely, heeled feet propped up on the table, smoking from a long pipe. Grey haired, with a tight bodysuit under a loose black haori.

‘Vice Captain’ the badge on her shoulder said. Apparently they had the vice captain working the front desk here in the Genjutsu Corps, which was somewhat unusual. This was also someone he didn’t recognize, meaning it was a replacement for someone lost in the recent attack. 

Despite her apparent youth, there was a slight scratchiness in her voice that told Ryoma she was somewhat older. Middle aged at the very least. She wafted with the smell of cigarettes and daydrinking, and gave off a generally unprofessional demeanour.

Not that he cared. “40-064 Ryoma. I’m here to attend genjutsu resistance training sessions.” He spoke with a polite blandness.

“Huh?” His fellow Vice Captain perked up, leaning up slightly to get a better look at him, straight grey hair falling in long, messy locks. “Oh hey. You’re ‘That Guy’ aren’t you? You want to get drinks later?”

She was a bold one. “I’m flattered, but I have a girlfriend.”

“Tch. Too late again. Tell me if you two break up, alright?” She leaned over to tip the pipe out in an ashtray with several quick taps. “I’ll be happy to snatch you up.”

“My appointment?” He asked dryly, an unimpressed look expressed through his eyes at her. 

She huffed and gestured with her pipe down one of the side halls. “Last door on the right, Nazo will handle you.” With that she leaned back in her chair once more, seemingly returning to a relaxed nap of sorts.

“Thanks.” He offered, waving a casual hand over his shoulder as he walked past the desk and towards the indicated door. 

The hallway was fairly unremarkable, and after a few moments of walking he had reached the door that the woman at the entrance mentioned. There was a name on the front, ‘Nazo’, which lined up with the name she had referenced. 

He knocked on the door politely. 

Several long moments passed in silence. He stared at the door with a blank look on his face. 

Was this some sort of test? He raised his hands in the ram seal and pulsed his chakra. “Release.” He muttered, just in case.

His suspicions were confirmed instantly. The image of the door shifted, the name fading away from the front and being replaced with a sign that said ‘maintenance’. He turned his head, seeing that the hallway continued on for another few doors. The smell of cigarette smoke lingered, but the smell of alcohol faded. 

He had been put under a genjutsu the moment he entered the building, smell based attack vector, the smell of smoke and the lazy demeanour used to cover it up as normal. 

Pretty clever. Slightly irritating that the testing started immediately, but ninja were big on the ‘you must always be prepared’ mindset, so it was hardly unexpected. He walked down the hallway some more, knocking on the correct door this time.

“Come in.” A voice called out from inside the room. Ryoma opened the door with a chakra string extending from his pinky, not touching anything directly. 

The room was a relatively modest office with rows of shelves on either side of a smooth desk made of baked and polished terracotta. Each of the rows contained a number of human fingers that had been treated to preservatives and taxidermied. The far wall had a bookshelf and a filing cabinet, neither of which were particularly remarkable.

A man sat at the desk, patiently smiling at him. He was a handsome man, in a plain manner, with short hair combed smoothly back and round glasses sitting on the edge of his nose. He wore one of Suna’s military uniforms with a flak vest over top, both of which looked immaculately clean and pressed. There were a pair of swords in their sheathes stored on a rack next to the desk.

“Three point two seconds.” The man said, head leaning forwards slightly. “I see why the Lord Kazekage asked the Genjutsu Corps to step in, you have a critical weakness here, Vice Captain Ryoma.” 

Three seconds was about how long it took for him to dispel the illusion from the moment he knocked. “I have reason to believe that it’s not so glaring an issue in the field, but yes, my abilities with genjutsu are lacking.” Ryoma defended himself slightly, standing behind the guest chair.

“Oh? Would you care to reveal the reason or would you prefer to keep that a secret?” The man asked in a very polite, professional manner. He nodded and smiled, gesturing at the chair. “Please, feel free to take a seat.”

Ryoma kept his chakra cycling as he stepped around and sat down at the chair. “I have a technique that distorts my sight in nonstandard ways.” He offered.

“Ah, so you do have basic familiarity with genjutsu defenses. Excellent, that will make this process much simpler for the both of us.” The man raised a hand to gesture at himself. “Before we go any further- I am Nazo, Jonin of the Genjutsu Corps, 37-098. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” 

“Ryoma. Vice Captain of the Puppetry Corps. 40-064. Likewise.” Ryoma nodded politely in greeting. 

“Tell me, what do you think of my collection?” Nazo asked, gesturing towards the shelves on either side of the room.

“The fingers?” Ryoma asked, raising a brow and glancing across both shelves.

“Excellent, you have yet to stop cycling your chakra since becoming aware of the danger of genjutsu. That’s good, and demonstrates basic competency.” Nazo nodded and smiled. “As to the collection- I like to keep mementos of my missions and the enemies or targets I encounter upon them. I’ve been told that the collection is morbid and antisocial, but what do you think?”

Ryoma considered it for a moment, then shrugged. Collecting fingers specifically was pretty psychotic, but he collected whole corpses for processing, so he couldn’t say anything without being a hypocrite here. “I can understand the desire to collect mementos- I don’t do it myself, but it's pretty common.”

Nazo blinked, then smiled wider, a touch more genuine than before. “That’s great to hear. You can continue to cycle your chakra if you wish, but that’s the last of the tests for the moment. I have enough information to develop a basic profile at this point. To begin with, please tell me what you think genjutsu is and what methods exist to defend against them.”

Ryoma leaned back in the chair, maintaining the internal chakra flow. “Genjutsu is the category of techniques that involve illusions and sensory manipulation. There’s some debate about whether or not this is strictly regarding chakra inserted into a target’s mind to manipulate their perception or whether or not all illusions and trickery count but that’s largely scholarly and irrelevant.”

“Those that believe that Genjutsu covers all illusions are indeed incorrect.” Nazo smiled reassuringly.

Ryoma was in that group. He ignored it and continued. “Genjutsu, requiring the insertion of chakra into a target and then manipulation of their senses, therefore requires the User to be aware of the target and how that target normally perceives the world in order to be most effective. An illusion crafted with full color used upon a target with color-blindness would be immediately detected.”

He tilted his head to the side. “It also requires the chakra to be inserted at all- a target that is somehow resistant to this will not be subject to the illusion as effectively or at all. A target under the shrouding of a chakra barrier will therefore be largely immune to genjutsu. A target with their own chakra constantly flowing will be resistant to genjutsu, as their internal chakra flows and disrupts the inserted chakra.”

He rolled a hand. “All genjutsu need some sort of sense-vector to insert the chakra into the target’s coils, the most common being sight. Genjutsu can therefore be avoided if the vector-sense for the technique is disabled ahead of time. Genjutsu can be broken through extreme fluctuations in current sensory perceptions or chakra flow- the most common way to break free from a Genjutsu being inflicting pain upon the self or pulsing one’s chakra.”

He paused, then nodded his head from side to side. “More advanced genjutsu are resistant to being broken through one means or another, and therefore do not have to care so much about the target’s native perception to function, because noticing the genjutsu does not aid the target in freeing themselves as much as normal. Such genjutsu therefore must be avoided through vector-removal or chakra barriers.”

He shrugged. “And some genjutsu only need to last for a moment to be effective anyways, especially if properly coordinated, so being broken immediately isn’t as important.”

“Thanks about all I know off the top of my head.”

“You are surprisingly well informed about the practical theory of genjutsu function and defense, Ryoma.” Nazo complimented, fingers folded together on the desktop. “You are largely correct, and cover details normally only known to dedicated practitioners of the art. Very good.”

“I did a lot of studying in the academy.” Ryoma waved off. 

“You covered that more advanced genjutsu can take hold even if you are cycling chakra, so that’s a lesson that can be skipped.” Nazo smiled. Ryoma’s vision shifted, and Nazo’s form blurred.

A sword was being held at his throat, Nazo holding it in a relaxed grip from across the table. 

Ryoma hadn’t stopped cycling his chakra once that whole time. 

Politely, Nazo drew the sword back and sheathed it again, setting it down on the rack once more. “I apologize for brandishing a weapon at you, Ryoma, but I found it to be an effective way to make a point at prospective members of the Genjutsu Corps in the past.”

“Apology accepted. It was a pretty effective way to make your point.” Ryoma nodded, deliberately making his shoulders relax.

“The best form of passive defense against genjutsu, especially visual genjutsu, is some manner of distorted visual sense. As you pointed out earlier.” Nazo raised a hand and tapped at his glasses. “Whatever option you end up choosing, it's best to always have it available. An eye for fine details and a sharpened sense can detect when details are warped and, therefore, alert you to moments that you should pulse your chakra.”

He should mount some eyes on his armor, probably. Having access to the distorted vision without his helmet needing to be on was prudent now that it was being pointed out to him. “I have something in mind already.” He nodded.

“Our early lessons will train your senses and, therefore, your passive detection of genjutsu- which seems to be your weakness here.” Nazo reached behind himself and pulled a folder out of his filing cabinet, then turned back and laid a pair of pictures across the table.

“Please find all the differences between these two scenes, tell me when you have an answer. We will time your performance with the goal of decreasing the amount of time with each attempt.”

—

The lesson was a long, extended gauntlet of looking at pictures with squinting eyes and trying to find as many minute differences as fast as possible. His head hurt, his eyes were strained, and overall he was feeling pretty stressed and tense.

Which was impressive, because there had been nothing actually dangerous about that situation. The most dangerous thing he had experienced was getting a cramp in his back from being hunched over and looking at pictures for hours at a time. 

“Haah? Mister, mister, were you back there the whole time?!” A young voice asked incredulously as he passed the front desk of the Genjutsu Corps reception. Ryoma’s tired eyes drifted over to look at the speaker.

A young girl, barely pubescent, with long grey hair and an astonished expression. She was wearing an black haori that was too large for her and a loose bodysuit. Both of her hands were planted on the desk and she leaned forwards across it.

The smell of cigarette smoke clung to her.

He pretty quickly figured out the gimmick. “Yeah. I’ll be heading off now. Thanks for the directions earlier.”

“Hehe- totally unphased huh?” The young girl asked with a smirk, leaning back and crossing her arms over her flat chest. “That cool attitude is just going to lure more ladies, don’t you know?”

“I’ll be back in a month for the next session.” Ryoma ignored whatever she was saying and waved over his shoulder, making his way towards the door.

“See ya then, Vice Cap! Maybe you’ll see what I really look like next time!” The girl stuck out her tongue and pulled one of her eyelids down in an expression of lighthearted mockery.

He rolled his eyes and huffed in amusement, leaving the building and stepping out into the Suna streets again.

This study session had been scheduled for early in the morning, meaning that it was currently about lunch time. He didn’t have anything else scheduled for the day besides that, so maybe he’d draft some plans for redesigned bolters. A nice, quiet day alone…

He glanced back at the Genjutsu Corps building.

Oh yeah. He had a girlfriend now, didn’t he? He raised a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, stepping down the raised steps and onto the street, taking a turn towards the Puppetry Corps building. 

He’d go see if Toyoko wanted to help him with the drafting. If she didn’t, he’d just fall back on his previous plan of doing it alone. If she did, then it would be helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

That and spending time with her- that was pretty important to do from what he understood about dating. 

His stomach growled audibly, and he glanced down at it with a blank expression. It was about lunch time, and it had been a few hours since he had eaten, so he should probably get something to eat.

But he didn’t want spend a lot of money, and getting a ration from the distribution center would only help so much because he’d have to go back home and cook it first. And neither of the Honored Elders liked it when he ate rations instead of whatever fancy nonsense they had decided to eat that day…

“Maybe I should make a mobile grill puppet.” Ryoma huffed, reaching into the interior pocket of his haori and pulling out his wallet. It was just a small storage scroll with increments of Ryo in individualized seals across its length. “Then I can cook rations wherever and whenever I want, with no one being able to stop me.”

Oh, if he was getting food anyways, he should probably pick something up for Toyoko. She’d appreciate the gesture, maybe. Or she’d already have food and he could just eat the extra portion.

Or he’d buy her something she hated by accident and she’d be annoyed at him for getting it wrong, that was possible too.

What kind of food did she like again? Pockey and meat skewers? The only real commonality was that they were sticks. He made a note to actually ask her what food she preferred later, so he’d have something more detailed to reference for situations like this. 

He walked through Suna’s streets for a bit, eyes sharp for any street vendors that sold vaguely stick-shaped foodstuffs. 

Finding nothing after ten minutes, he eventually just waved at another person on the streets.

“Hey!” Ryoma called out.

The nondescript person pointed at themselves questioningly.

“Do you know any place that sells stick-shaped food?” He asked, feeling slightly awkward.

“Stick shaped?” The person asked back.

“My girlfriend likes stick shaped food.” Ryoma shrugged unsurely,

“Ah… Uh- there’s a yakitori place that’s pretty close. It's down two blocks and on the left, has a chicken on its sign.” 

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Nice guy for indulging the strange question like that.

Unfortunately, the yakitori place had a small line, so Ryoma had to wait a few minutes before it was his turn to order and get food. He chowed down on the skewer of chicken as he left, a take-out box in a bag in his other hand.

Did Toyoko even like yakitori?