User blog comment:Njalm2/The Beauty of Genjutsu/@comment-3087943-20130607230241

I must say, N, you have made a very competent attempt in deciphering the inner workings and nuances of genjutsu. The quality of work which is presented here is of a good quality and certainly befits a Mizukage such as yourself. That being said, however, I believe there are flaws in your reasoning, particularly with regards to the method with which a victim of genjutsu may dispel it, which I will attempt to expound on.

In the first place, genjutsu does not, as you suggested, necessarily diminish the mental perception and acuity of those on whom it is cast. You directly stated that one's "mind while under a genjutsu is not keen and refined, its in a chaotic heap of expressions." Not quite. Whether or not a genjutsu is capable of such control is determined only by the actual nature of the genjutsu? What do I mean by this? Well, let's scrutinize the description of genjutsu as provided by Narutopedia? "...Genjutsu techniques manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses." You might wonder why I am even bringing this up, as you have said much the same in the section of your blog which classified genjutsu by their effect on visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile perception. I raise this topic because it is crucial to the remainder of my argument, in that the majority of genjutsu are only capable of altering those five senses, not, as you postulated, the mental state of their victim.

Genjutsu has already been defined as the use of chakra by a ninja to produce an alteration in one or more of the senses of another ninja. I know you dislike that tendency of mine to look at everything from a scientific point of view, but please bear with me for just a few minutes. In the brain, very weak electrical signals are transmitted throughout its structure in order to transmit thoughts, as well as process information received from the various sensory organs. In Naruto, chakra is presumably the source of these signals, and thus, by injecting chakra into the brain through the use of genjutsu, it is possible to alter that neural electricity, and thus cause an erroneous perception of senses in the brain, by causing an imbalance of chakra. But you already know this, don't you? Well, what you probably didn't know is that genjutsu only affect the senses, not the level of mental clarity of their victims.

Let's examine just why I have said something entirely contrary to the content of your blog post. Based on what I've said, most genjutsu only affect, in and of themselves, what one perceives from the senses, not whether or not one can think clearly. This is because it would actually be counterproductive for the genjutsu caster, whose aim is to cause the most detrimental effect on the recipient of the genjutsu, if his victim were to be rendered incapable of thinking coherently. Why do I say this? In order to give you a better comprehension, let us first examine the analogy you made in which you compared the effects of genjutsu to a dream. Dreams are caused by the rapid movement of the eyes during sleep, and are obviously much less vivid to a human being than one happens in reality. A person cannot perceive as well in a dream as he can in reality, ergo, the psychological effects of experiencing something would be much less potent in a dream than in reality.

Let's use an example to illustrate what I just said. If you dream that, say, someone stabs you in the gut multiple times, you will, no doubt, experience fear. I would expect you to wake up with accelerated heart and ventilation rates, signs indicative of the fact that you were terrified in your dream. You're probably thinking that things are going so far in your favor. Right? Wrong. While it is true that you will experience fear in that dream, that fear pales in comparison to what you would feel were someone to actually stab you in your gut multiple times. This is because there is a diminished level of perception in dreams in relation to reality, and hence, diminished fear. Now, let's apply this reasoning to genjutsu, using your own example of the Hell Viewing Technique, and let's assume that your version of the workings of genjutsu is correct. Let's assume that Kakashi used the genjutsu not on the inexperienced, genin-level Sakura, but on the Sakura of the current times.

If what you say is true, from the instant Sakura is placed under the effects of the genjutsu, she enters a trance-like state, and hence, she is unable to think with any degree of clarity. Now, assume she follows your advice, and she attempts to reach the "lucid dream" state of which you speak. Have you connected the dots yet? The mental shock which she experienced would increase by an order of magnitude, going from merely a distasteful fantasy of Sasuke being impaled by numerous kunai to a horrifyingly vivid fantasy of Sasuke being impaled by numerous kunai. This, of course, would be severely detrimental to her. This same logic can be applied to any genjutsu whose purpose is to inflict trauma upon its recipient. If genjutsu could cause sufficient shock to actually render people unconscious while they are in a mental state comparable to a dream, then by that logic, they would experience utter, abject and unadulterated agony if they significantly raise the level of awareness of that which they are perceiving.

Conversely, the ninja who casts the genjutsu would want his victim to be able to experience every bit of the horror to which that victim is subjected. For that to be effected, the target of a genjutsu would have to have the same level of mental acuity under the effects of the genjutsu as they would under normal circumstances. If we go back to the Hell Viewing Technique, Kakashi would want Sakura to notice every grotesque and macabre detail of Sasuke's sanguine corpse, in order for it to inflict the maximum level of shock which is dealt to her. So no, N, I cannot believe that a person, while under a genjutsu, is in a dream-like state.

With that said, how does a genjutsu actually cause shock? It's quite simple, actually. All it does is use chakra to cause someone to see something that is not there, by causing some irregularity in the flow of chakra within the brain. This, in turn, causes that person to experience something which is indistinguishable from reality through the use of the senses alone. For example, suppose someone had a fear of zombies, and suppose a genjutsu was used to make them see a real-life, true-blue zombie walking right up to him. Would it make him faint? Absolutely. This is because his brain would process the image of the zombie, note that it's a zombie, and produce fear signals, simply because he's afraid of zombies. Of course, that person knows that zombies are just a product of human myth, and he logically knows he has no reason to be afraid, but that logic cannot counteract the simple fact that a zombie is apparently right in front of him. Still not convinced? When someone watches a horror movie, they're likely scared shitless, in spite of the fact that they are perfectly aware that whatever obscenities they view on the screen are entirely fictional. So, to sum up this point, a fear-inducing genjutsu works by forcing someone to see something which is not real, but is vivid enough to cause them mental shock.

Aha, you might say. What about those "generic" genjutsu which might not necessarily induce pain, but are aimed at misdirection or another effect instead? Well, the same general reasoning applies. It would be detrimental to the overall purpose of a genjutsu of that type if the level of deduction of its victim were to be lowered. Let's take the example of Sasuke and Danzou. The whole purpose of that genjutsu was to convince the latter that Izanagi was still functioning when in fact it was not. For that to have happened, Sasuke would have had to reproduce the effects of Izanagi while it was active within Danzou's brain, in order for him to have thought that the technique was working. This means, therefore, that Danzou would have had to examine each of the stimuli that were presented to him and come to the conclusion that Izanagi had not expired, something which he could not have done if he were in a mental stupor. He would have had to notice the open Sharingan eye (which in reality was closed), feel the drain of Izanagi on his chakra (which was nonexistent), and come to the conclusion that his technique was working. This logic, also, can be applied to "generic" genjutsu as a whole. For someone to be misdirected, that person must be presented with a range of experiences, and logically come to the conclusion that those experiences suggest. Of course, the misdirection is effective because those experiences are erroneous, and thus the victim is subjected to the will of the caster in that way. Let's take Naruto's fight with Itachi as another example. You know that Naruto was tricked into attacking "Itachi", who was really just an illusion produced by making his brain register something that was not there. In order for that to have happened, he would have had to "see" Itachi, realize that Itachi was where the image registered by his brain said he was, and then attack him, something which he could not have done were he to be mentally diminished.

Now, it would appear from my previous statements that I have said that it is impossible to put someone in a trance by the use of genjutsu. This is not so! Of course it is possible, as evidenced by the Temple of Nirvana technique and numerous others falling into the category of sleep-inducing genjutsu. However, those genjutsu are entirely different, and since I know you are intelligent enough to know why, I'll leave the explanation unsaid.

So, there you have it. My view on how genjutsu works. You're free to agree or disagree with what I have said, and I would certainly enjoy reading a counterargument.

On a side note, I believe I have invented a means with which to nullify all genjutsu except those involving direct physical contact between the caster and the target. I won't tell you anything of it now, except that it involves electricity and was inspired by the components of a mechanical wrist-watch, since I know you will be tortured between now and when I write the article trying to figure out why :P