Starring:
Date: October 11, 2016
Summary:
After the twins have a relatively successful spar, depending on how you look at it, with their friend Hayase Kitaru stops by to visit them. It proves to be a perfect time to take the opportunity to try to teach them how to be more aware and touch on their lessons of how to better handle and prepare for Genjutsu techniques.
"Sore Minds' Workout"
Kirigakure Medical Center
As the day stretches on, it would seem that the twins do not have to worry about returning to the barrack before any sort of curfew; not for today anyways. After some rambunctious sparring with Hayase by the lake, it would seem that the twins bit off just a little more than they could chew. After suffering some cuts along with multiple bruises that are trying to swell, it was decided that they'd be looked after by some medical shinobi for the night. There was not much they could do, chakra could heal some of the damage but with injuries like this time was the best medicine, well, that and ice apparently. Both of the twins have a few ice compresses strapped to the worst of the spots and they sit in bed shivering while they try to wrap a cover around them in vain. "W-wish they'd let us take them off m-more often." Kasai gets out through chittering teeth as she snuggles in closer to Chiru who responds, "M-me too…"
Kitaru would happen to step into the room at that time, reading their chart with a small frown. Hmm. Well. Students would be students. Turning, he'd give the chart to the nurse who had followed him with a polite nod. The nurse would smile to the young Doihara and head on her way. Kitaru quietly walks to stand next to the twin's beds. "Well. It seems that your taijutsu lesson with Hayase went well. Since I have you here as a captive audience, it's time to work on Genjutsu."
"K-Kitaru-san!" The shivering twins greet Kitaru, both of them smiling widely despite looking rather battered. They note the nurse and try to call after her, "Can we get a snack sometime soon, please?" Whether or not that request was heard, their attention ends up glued back onto Kitaru when he talks to them. They both bob their heads quite eagerly, "It did! Naoya-sensei was pretty impressed we were able to nick her once. And it was the first time Hayase got to see us join and fight together. I think it kind of weirded her out, but think she's okay with it now." They stop talking about that lesson when Kitaru talks about Genjutsu, and while they both turn to face him, they both snuggle in closer to each other as if they were preparing to be read a night time story. "We're listening, Kitaru-san. What're we going to do first?"
Kitaru listens in turn, willing to hear what they say as well as talk to them. The Sphere (where did it come from?) would roll up to a stop behind Kitaru as he'd lean back against it. "Well. You are both very ground in reality. I've been thinking about how to assist that. As taijutsuist, you get a feel for your surroundings. You also get a feel of each other. So therefore, as a focused part of your taijutsu training, you will focus on the now. This area. Then you will close your eyes and tell me the number of different colors you see."
The twins both bob their heads in agreement and listen to the instructions carefully. When they have a basic idea of what to do, they both work on surveying the room curiously, trying to note all they can about it in the short time they were given. "Okay well, it's pretty neat looking, they keep it clean." Kasai notes to herself and Chiru nods her head in agreement, "Not really any other beds in this room, lots of tools and space to keep stff in…not really comfortable, but I guess they don't want you to stay for long…" When they're done noting some things about their surroundings they close their eyes and try to focus on the colors, "Umm…I think we saw…" Kasai starts before turning to conference with Chiru in a soft spoken whisper. When they do decide on a color, they pick, "Um…combining some of the colors together cause we know what they are but not by the shades…maybe…nine?"
Kitaru watched them patiently. Seconds ticked by as they'd look around. A mental clock accurate as only one of the Doihara brood could be. Quietly he'd speak. "Time." And so they would close their eyes, then confer with each other. Interesting. In the end they would state 9 colors. Kitaru glances around, nods slightly and looks back to them. "Alright. Correct for number 1. Number 2. How many senbon are facing east in the jar to your left?" Kitaru tilts his head to the side as he'd watch them. "You can not peek. This is off of your memory. Awareness of self and surroundings."
"Yes!" Kasai celebrates quietly, before she straightens up to a more proper posture when the next question is asked. Like Kitaru tells them, neither of them open their eyes when the next question is asked, but they do still whisper to one another. "There were senbon in here?" Kasai whispers to Chiru, who nods her head and quietly offers as explanation, "Maybe for acupuncture stuff or if the mednin have to defend themselves?…I think I got a guess at the number though…" Kasai nods and lets Chiru try to hazard an uncertain guess at what the answer might be, "I think that the number of senbon facing east was…fourteen?"
Kitaru shakes his head slightly. "Incorrect. There are 5 facing east. The 9 left are 4 facing north and 5 facing west." Kitaru muses. "Next question. Kasai, without your sister speaking, tell me how many icecubes are at the bruise on her side in the pack. Chiru, you may think it as hard as you wish, but do not speak."
"Aw darn.." Chiru mumbles, but Kasai does try to bump her sister's shoulder in an attempt to encourage her, "But hey, you got the total right, or at least close to it! It's hard to tell in those kind of jars." Kasai quiets down to listen to the next question, thoughtfully frowning to herself when Chiru's told she cannot speak. Still, they both nod, and Chiru does look like she's trying to concentrate or think a little harder than she normally does. Kasai wiggles and twists her lips from one side to the other in thought, humming audibly to herself as she tries to really think about it. "I think…I remember there being five ice cubes…the stinging feels kind of like there are five or six of them, but I'm going with five."
Kitaru nods slightly, then shifts against the Sphere. "Alright Chiru. Please state how many ice cubes are there." Kitaru thinks, looking around for a moment. "Then the next question. Which direction is your bed facing? As an added question, how many cabinets are on the wall across from your bed in the direction it is facing?"
Chiru reaches up to feel her compress to try to check how many were actually left. "I think that there used to be six, but all of them are kinda getting melted and one of them went faster than the other…I can still feel a little bit of it, so up to Kitaru if it counts." Kasai snaps her fingers and bobs her head, "I guess that's why I felt six lingering or something…umm…let's see. I think our bed faces uh…south if you count which way the end of the bed pokes out at…" Chiru nods her head and seems more than satisfied with her sister's guess before she tries to help cover up some of the slack by taking a stab at how many cabinets there are. "There are four cabinets on top and four on the bottom I think, with some drawers in between them above the bottom ones."
Kitaru studies the twins, an extra three seconds to make them wonder, before finally speaking. "Correct. I will accept the 5 to 6 due to the situation of the one. You are correct on facing and number of cabinets." He'd motion lightly. "You can open your eyes now. I would like to hear each of your thoughts in turn about the lesson and what it was trying to show you."
"Yes!" Kasai says, reaching out to squeeze Chiru who looks happy about finishing off on a higher note but keeps her actions a little more subdued than her sister's. She still reaches out to return Kasai's hug affectionately though before they both release one another as they open their eyes. Chiru rubs her palm against one of hers and they do both take some time to try to think about the lesson itself. Kasai starts with her own thoughts, "I think that the lesson was trying to help us focus more and be more aware about the stuff around us…that way we can notice anything unusual or off about the place we're in and focus on it if we ever need to really know what's real or what's just a trick someone's putting us through." Chiru nods her agreement with it and adds on a little, "Plus if we can answer all of those questions just from our memory, then we might still notice when things are out of place when we get better even if we've been trapped in a trick for a little while and just don't know it…or it just helps us get even better for the times that we don't have to work off of our memory so much."
Kitaru nods solemnly, then smiles. "Very good. The ability to be aware of your surroundings is critical to a shinobi. Not just for handling genjutsu. You should be aware of what you have on hand if for whatever reason you were to get stuck. Or attacked. A shinobi aware of their surroundings is never defenseless." Kitaru taps his temple. "When dealing with illusions, the basic truth of illusions is it's a fake. There is a reality. The faster you can become aware of the factor of fake and reality, the better. Illusions can attack all 5 senses. Or focus on only one. Most general genjutsu is focused on just one sense." Kitaru holds up his finger, then points at his eyes. "Vision is generally the biggest weakness. That is part of how mine attacks. Mine is also an audio based. Ticking." Kitaru taps the Sphere behind him then. "It ticks. That can carry the genjutsu to a person and let me affect them, despite the fact I may not be able to see them."
The twins listen to Kitaru and their eyes end up on the sphere with open curiousity. Kasai even goes as far as to try to reach a shivering hand out to try to touch it if only she could just get it within her reach. When it doesn't seem like she can sneak in a touch, she withdraws her hand just in time to nod with Chiru to show that they both understand. "Yes, Kitaru-san!" Chiru looks aside at Kasai and smiles at her, "We'll definitely try harder to do that. And me and Kasai will try to play that game more often with each other so we can get more practice in!" Kasai giggles and tells Kitaru, "Yeah, it isn't really like cheating if one of us closes our eyes…since we can't really hear each other's thoughts that well when we're seperate…so it'll still be a surprise?" Chiru does hum softly and admit, "I barely noticed the ticking, honestly. But now that you mention it, I can kind of hear it!"
Kitaru chuckles softly. "The only time it's easily heard is when I am charging it with chakra. Then it will eminate louder. My genjutsu style is called Kronos' Embrace. Papa-san says that means Time's hug." Kitaru shrugs. "It's based off the visual and sound of time. Everyone hears clocks so often, they don't even think about it. Most people's mind supress it as useless information. Thus why it is so easy to use as a carrier for the genjutsu."
"Ohh, that sounds cool!" The twin's decide together, giggling before Kasai says, "The sphere looks kind of huggable in a weird way. So that makes sense too." They think about it for a moment before Chiru asks Kitaru curiously, "So that's why whenever Naoya-sensei tries to do Genjutsu, we hear music? That's what we hear every time he tries to talk in our heads." Kasai lifts her hand and gently taps her knuckles against her temple before she lowers it back down. "And what other ways can that sort of stuff happen?"
Kitaru nods lightly in response. "Correct. I believe that is the spider harp genjutsu style. Okumo Sei, the old clan leader, had mastered that. Sensei was able to copy it and thus the music." Kitaru muses, then shrugs. "All 5 senses are a potential. Sight, sound, touch, smell, taste. Sight is the most common with sound being the next most common. Touch would require a taijutsuist to deliver it via touch, or potentially an earth user via vibrations in the ground. Smell would most likely be a chemical carrier in smoke, resulting in a connection for the illusion to be established and I suspect taste would be similar in nature."
Kasai and chiru nod with one another as they lay down in their beds to get more comfortable there. "We'll remember that and show him! Next time we won't be tricked so easily." They do consider each of the different potential types and the mention of taijutsu has both of the twins holdings their hands up so that they can get a better look at them. "Huh, didn't know Genjutsu could be like that. Maybe someday we can figure out how to do that kind, huh?" Kasai asks Chiru who smiles and nods, "That would be pretty neat. I'm not sure what we'd make people feel or see though if we were already up close to them…" Kasai sighs and nods her head, "Yeah, me either. I'd rather just hop around them and try to hit them some more…" The mention of taste has them both scrunching their noses at the thought of actually eating some cloud of smoke, "That'd probably taste really bad…now if they found a way to put it into candy…maybe. Or even just normal food…" Chiru mumbles before she decidedly shakes her head, "No, then it'd be a lot like poison I guess."
"Candy, normal food. Perfume. Just because there's a chemical addative, doesn't mean it has to smell or taste bad." Kitaru shakes his head. "My Mama-sama could make you the tastiest meal in the world. It'd also be your last as you'd proceed to try and puke and poop your guts out, venomously, at the same time." Kitaru tilts his head to the side. "As for touch.. You have felt what I did to you. What if a touch made them suddenly want to kneel? Leaving them wide open for a follow up hit that you can put more power into, since they are forced to kneel?"
"Yeah..I guess so." Chiru agrees with a thoughtful frown, before Kitaru's words have them both start giggling, "Ewww! That's pretty gross but pretty cool at the same time! She must be really good then at what she does. Umm, whatever it is that she does! Sometimes papa burns our dinners, but it never, ever makes us want to do any of that!" They both decide together through their laughter before it passes so they can consider what Kitaru brings up. "That's right!" Kasai says, turning to look at Chiru, "He did just pat you to do that. If somebody we were fighting did that, then it'd be real easy to punch or kick them…even though it wouldn't be very fair." Chiru nods her head slowly and chews on her bottom lip, "Yeah, but I think Naoya-sensei would be okay with stuff like that…I think he'd say something like we shouldn't worry about stuff like that when we're out facing real threats and stuff. And that it's whatever it takes to really survive."
Kitaru would stand up with a nod. "Animals it doesn't work on. For your final exam it won't matter. However, you are right. On real missions, there is not a matter of being nice. Of being fair." Kitaru muses for a second then shrugs. "I became a genin because I found a weakness in Sensei and exploited it for everything I was possibly worth. Not only that, I set him up to be hit by every single student around him, to the point that we did serious bodily damage to him. I tried to kill him." Kitaru frowns, looking back at the Sphere a moment then shakes his head and looks back to the twins with a small smile. "Thinking outside of the box. Using more than one method of attack. That is the way to be one of the best. My Mama-sama is Doihara Akane. You may know of her." Kitaru shrugs on his backpack (what backpack?) and would nod to the twins. "My time is up. Think about the lessons. Keep practicing. Next time it will be harder." With that, he'd turn and head for the door to slip out.
