Chapter 71: Kyōka Suigetsu
"I didn't expect to actually be able to do it..." Genichi raised his hand and touched his right eye. Although he wasn't very proficient yet. And, Genichi realized, this was related to his mastery of the Art of Zai and the Art of Kai.
"The Sharingan is the 'eye that reflects the heart,' and a person's eyes are the windows to the soul. Casting a genjutsu through eye contact goes straight to the core."
"This is probably the root of why Sharingan genjutsu often requires an outsider to break."
Feeling the power contained within his right eye, Genichi was secretly delighted. "I must make good use of this power and fuse it with my own genjutsu abilities."
"The results will surely be astonishing. My genjutsu ability can definitely be greatly elevated, and the effect produced will surely be far greater than 1+1=2."
At this time, opposite him, Yamanaka En was panting heavily. He had finally broken free from Genichi's Temporary Paralysis Technique (Kanashibari no Jutsu). If this were a real battlefield, he would have already died an unknown number of times.
"This guy... with the enhancement of the Sharingan, his genjutsu ability has become even stronger," En thought in shock. Genichi's genjutsu was already strong before; now it was even more terrifying. No hand seals, not even eye contact was needed. An enemy could fall for his jutsu without even realizing it. And the precision of the genjutsu had also clearly improved by a level. In their previous training and battles, Genichi's Temporary Paralysis Technique (Kanashibari no Jutsu) did not have such precision.
"Genichi, again!" En shouted, raising his spirits to their peak.
Genichi chuckled. "Alright!"
Swish! Swish!
En raised his hand and two shuriken flew towards Genichi's eyes. He also instantly vanished from his spot, moving horizontally to his left to charge at Genichi.
Genichi dodged the shuriken. As he turned, En was already upon him.
Suddenly, the charging En fell headfirst, then slid across the ground for some distance, appearing at Genichi's feet.
Hmm?
Genichi's eyebrow raised. His figure immediately leaped backward. The En who had fallen suddenly sprang up, attacking with a flying kick, and shouted with a laugh, "Genichi, don't underestimate me!"
Poof!
Genichi's body was kicked and exploded, sending water splashing everywhere.
"A water clone!"
"When?" En was shocked. He hadn't noticed Genichi forming any seals.
Just then, Genichi's voice came from his left. "En, how did you break the genjutsu in an instant? Was it the Mind Body Switch Technique (Shintenshin no Jutsu)?"
En turned, and chuckled lightly. "Your reaction is really fast, Genichi."
"It was indeed the Mind Body Switch Technique (Shintenshin no Jutsu). I used a pre-placed talisman. I can transfer my consciousness to a target locked by the talisman within my field of vision."
Genichi was slightly stunned. "Don't tell me you keep a pet at home for this?"
En shrugged, looking a little helpless. "Summoning animals aren't that easy to use."
"Besides, an ordinary pet is much easier to control. You just keep it in a cage and can use it whenever you need to."
"Actually, this is a dumb method for countering genjutsu that I thought of after spending so much time with that guy Namiichi."
So that's how it is. Genichi recalled that during the Five Kage Summit, one of Danzō's guards was a Yamanaka clan ninja. He had used a pre-placed talisman with the Mind Body Switch Technique (Shintenshin no Jutsu) to trap Ao of the Mist Village inside a scarecrow's body. This was remarkably similar to what En was using now.
"It seems you used a jutsu like the False Surroundings Technique (Koko ni Arazu no Jutsu) on me from the beginning, making me miss you forming the hand seals."
En, as he spoke, looked around to his left and right, then looked at Genichi and smiled. "I'm in an illusion right now, aren't I?"
"It's very realistic. But Genichi, my mind is very sharp. I can still feel that something is not quite right."
"By the way, what genjutsu is this?"
"It couldn't be the genjutsu you were planning to develop, could it?"
"When did you finish it?"
Genichi smiled. "It is a new technique. I just completed it a moment ago. This is the first time I'm casting it."
"Its name... is Kyōka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon)!"
The new technique had been just one step away from completion. But after receiving the Sharingan, he had smoothly taken that final step. Of course, it was only preliminarily completed and was still a bit rough.
En watched Genichi speak so casually and couldn't help but grit his teeth. "Kyōka Suigetsu... you guy, do you have to say it so casually? You really make people jealous!"
With that, he once again threw a shuriken as a feint, then looked for an opportunity to get close to Genichi.
This time, Genichi smiled and didn't dodge the shuriken. He allowed himself to be pierced by it, and then with a splash, his body turned into a mass of water and scattered.
"Another water clone?" En's brow furrowed. "No, that's not right. It's an illusion!"
"Everything is an illusion."
En turned to look at the Genichi who had appeared again, then stuck a finger in his mouth.
Crack!
He bit down on his finger, the sharp pain stimulating his mind. However, nothing changed. This move had failed to break the genjutsu.
En immediately understood. This body of his was probably also an illusion. The feedback of pain was a tactile illusion.
"You guy... this jutsu you just completed, although I saw through its flaws and its deception of the five senses isn't that refined and perfect yet, the overall framework of this jutsu is extremely profound."
En looked at Genichi helplessly. "This jutsu... I can't think of a way to break it."
"I think, even if I use the method I used to break your genjutsu before, it probably won't work. It would also become part of the illusion."
Genichi nodded.
The next moment, En saw the entire world tremble and twist, then shatter into pieces. When he opened his eyes again, En found that he was back in reality. There were traces of water on the ground, left behind by the water clone.
He looked up at the Genichi in front of him and said, "Kyōka Suigetsu... I fell into the genjutsu the moment I destroyed your water clone, didn't I?"
Genichi nodded. "That's right."
The principle of the Kyōka Suigetsu was very simple. The moment the water clone was destroyed, the countless splashing droplets of water would reflect the world, forming an extremely realistic illusionary world that was identical to the battle scene. The casting of this jutsu was extremely stealthy, and the enemy would often not realize they had been caught in a genjutsu. All their subsequent actions would take place within the illusion reflected in the water droplets.
Of course, in an environment without water, once all the water droplets landed, it meant the genjutsu would automatically be dispelled. This period of time was not long. So just now, it wasn't Genichi who had actively dispelled the genjutsu, but the genjutsu had dispelled itself, and the illusion had collapsed on its own.
The time Genichi and En had spent talking in the illusion was not short, but in reality, it was very brief. But even so, in an actual battle, this was more than enough to determine the outcome.
And this was just in an environment without water. With Genichi's fighting habits, he would often use Water Release to create an environment with water. If the water droplets from the clone fell into a larger body of water, the illusion would continue. He didn't even need a water clone to cast this genjutsu. As long as the enemy was standing on the surface of the water, or even just reflected in the water Genichi created, they would fall for the jutsu without realizing it.
En also realized this. His expression changed slightly, then he marveled, "What an exquisite genjutsu. You, my friend, are truly... an out-and-out genjutsu genius."
"A genjutsu like this must be at least A-rank difficulty, right?"
Genichi nodded. "A-rank."
But what he didn't say was that this jutsu had only just been developed. It was not yet its complete form. That was why it was A-rank. Once it was thoroughly completed, it would be S-rank.
But there was no need to say this, lest he demoralize En any further.
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