I've looked at various articles on this fanon, and there seems to be an overwhelming majority of Kekkei Genkai users, Dojutsu users and perhaps above all else, Ninjutsu users. I've tried to come up with a suitable answer as to why you craft your characters around these abilities and not other abilities like Taijutsu and, to an even lesser extent, genjutsu – what allure does KG, Dojutsu and Ninjutsu have that make them so much more desirable in a character than taijutsu and Ninjutsu?
I've eventually come to a conclusion in regards to this matter – its easy, its simple, and its boring. its laziness pure and simple, as well as a general lack of understanding, while canon goes to great lengths to iron out the ifs and hows of Ninjutsu, Kekkei Genkai and Dojutsu – its not been quite as receptive towards concepts like Taijutsu and genjutsu – although in regards to the former, we've been shown how it might be highly effective, and most characters have a good understanding of Taijutsu to give them the ability to move at superhuman speeds, cause that's cool!
But what about genjutsu? Have we ever seen some good examples of that? Well – both yes and no, most genjutsu on this site is employed by using the Sharingan as a medium: most frequently in the form of ridiculous and poorly explained abilities designed to inexplicably torture and mutilate the opponent within their own mind, in essence, Tsukuyomi-inspired bull-crap™. Now, there's nothing wrong with using the Sharingan for genjutsu – in fact, that's basically how its meant to be used, but its easy to overlook the potential of the Sharingan when you look at its “empowered” counterpart, the Mangekyo Sharingan. Here's how a typical “genjutsu” is cast over the course of a roleplay on this site, your character attempts to use some arbitrary genjutsu, your opponent answers with an “arbitrary” defense (I'm sensing a theme here somewhere), including, but hardly limited to “Due to his immense willpower, Bob-tha-dumb effortlessly dispels the genjutsu!”. This results in your character wasting Chakra, because of that a lot of you people think that genjutsu is less useful, or at the very least, impossible to employ as a characters primary weapon. Well my ladies and gentlemen I'm here today with Nanja's personal Curriculum “The Beauty of Genjutsu!” to prove you wrong.
The Curriculum[]
Below I'll go over each of the major points I'm trying to convey with this guide of mine, in essence its the oversight of what my Curriculum will include, and a brief explanation about what I'll go over in each section.
Notable Genjutsu Users – This is the introductory section of the Curriculum, and it will detail notable characters in canon whose fighting style has involved impressive uses of genjutsu. I'll provide an analysis on these characters and talk a bit about them in this section.
Genjutsu Classification – There are two primary categories in which you might classify genjutsu, these categories are generic and specified genjutsu – these are concepts I'm going to refer back to and use extensively in the rest of this guide, so its strongly suggested that you read this part. For comparison, I'm going to provide examples on both of classifications in this part of my guide.
The Basics of Genjutsu – This is where I go indebth about what genjutsu actually IS, important decisions you have to think about before eventually making use of it in a roleplay or story, and what questions you need to ask yourself before making a Genjutsu Specialist. I'll also explain how to properly respond to genjutsu, and what you may expect of your character if and when the genjutsu is broken. I'll also hopefully challenge some contrived notion on how easy it is to defend against genjutsu.
Genjutsu: The Do's and Don'ts – This is basically a reference section which describes what you should and shouldn't do with genjutsu. This is particularly true for generic genjutsu, I'll also mention a few other important points as well in this section. As well as enlighten genjutsu users about what they shouldn't accept when roleplaying against someone while using their characters genjutsu skills.
Afterword – Finally, this is where I end my guide and give you all a few words of advice.
Notable Genjutsu Users[]
And here we come to the first section in my guide, I'm so excited! So, lets take a look at some of the noteworthy examples of genjutsu users in Canon, and that'll probably only take us a few moments cause after what I can remember, there's not too many of them to go around.
Itachi Uchiha: This is probably that one example which everyone thinks about whenever someone mentions the word genjutsu User – and its not really that bad an example to be honest. Itachi is an Uchiha, which obviously means he's got the Sharingan – this means that he's also got access to its ability to cast genjutsu by eye contact (generic genjutsu by the way). But beyond the abilities given to him by his Sharingan – Itachi is actually extremely good at genjutsu, and this skill is NOT as a result of his Sharingan, but rather stems from his great intelligence, wisdom and knowledge and excellent chakra control. An example of this is his ability to cast genjutsu merely by pointing his finger, this is by the way not related to Ephemeral in any sense, but is rather a testimony to his actual skill in genjutsu.
I want to direct your attention towards Itachi unique flavor of genjutsu, the kind which he's shown in pretty much every appearance where we've seen him make particular use of genjutsu. I'm obviously talking about the crow-like motif of his illusions, which I kind of see as an artistic expression of who he is, and a significant part of his character. The reason that Itachi's “genjutsu Motif” is crows, is probably because the animal holds great symbolic value to him, therefore they're commonly seen in his genjutsu (I personally think that its related to Shisui). Now, lets compare him to my next example.
Kurenai Yuhi: This woman has sadly not gotten much development or a role within the story, and seems to be a supporting character for the support-characters Shikamaru and team 8. However, in part 1 she was portrayed as a powerful genjutsu user, capable of fighting Itachi on an even ground, although Itachi, possessing the Sharingan was capable of overcoming her nonetheless. However, its worthy of note that the only reason his technique worked on Kurenai was because they were of similar levels of skill, had an inferior genjutsu user tried to reverse the effect of her genjutsu, his own genjutsu would blend together with her own to enhance the illusion cast towards HIM, in much the same manner as elemental techniques. In a straight up battle of genjutsu, Itachi and Kurenai would probably be evenly matched.
Quite like Itachi, Kurenai employs her own kind of genjutsu, whose illusions typically make liberal use of illusionary flower petals and other similar illusions to incapacitate the opponent. Kurenai is portrayed to have a love of flowers and is likewise shown to have great skills at botany, this has clearly influenced her so much so as to make them blend into her illusions perfectly.
Sasuke Uchiha: I've never been much of a fan of Sasuke, but his use of genjutsu is commendable enough to afford him a place in this guide, while most people tend to remember Sasuke for his excellent abilities within the field of Ninjutsu, and for his many variations of the Chidori technique, Kirin, Blaze Release, all that stuff. For me however, some of his most impressive moments is when he's made use of genjutsu successfully in combat, unlike Itachi or Kurenai, Sasuke's use of genjutsu is largely inferior to that of true experts, he's incapable of utilizing genjutsu in its purest form and can likewise not fight with it exclusively. Some of Sasuke's greatest feats include casting Tsukuyomi (although the produced effect was hardly more powerful than standard genjutsu), taking control over Manda by means of genjutsu, entering Naruto's subconciousness and forcibly supressing Kurama's chakra, replaying memories and perhaps most impressive of all, turn Orochimaru's own technique against him. In addition to these talents, Sasuke also make good use of genjutsu in his battle against Danzo, indeed, he won by employing a genjutsu at the very proper moment, and the illusion itself was very minor.
Genjutsu Classification[]
In my previous section, some of you probably noticed how I at certain points used the term “generic genjutsu”. If you guessed that this was a classification, then you were entirely correct in your assumption, but before I get into detail about the classifications themselves I'm gonna talk abit about typical things that genjutsu affect.
As we know, genjutsu affects the five senses of the target, and this sense is usually sight, simply because that's the kind of effect which seems most powerful. Because of this, there's been quite a few misconceptions about it requiring sight to work, this isn't the case, a genjutsu can be cast at you with or without direct eye contact, infact, the target doesn't even need to face you to use a genjutsu if they're particularily skilled as Itachi has demostrated several times. There are thus five main categories which you can divide genjutsu in depending which of the senses you wish to affect. Powerful genjutsu commonly affect several of these at once, or affect a single sense with immense focus – such as the Bringer-of-Darkness technique which basically “drowns” the targets sense of sight.
Sight: This is one of the simplest and most common applications of genjutsu, making someone see something which isn't actually there, this allows the user to disguise Ninjutsu, weapon attacks, stage ambushes, show the target events such as memories and create terrifying images to disturb the target. This is the form used most commonly among Shinobi, and its often combined with other senses to produce more powerful genjutsu. A particularily powerful genjutsu which deals with the sense of sight might be capable of removing it altogether, temporarily blinding the subject – such as with the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique. This form of genjutsu would be highly effective at shutting down Dojutsu, which, despite common belief also includes the Byakugan, as no matter how refined its abilities of insight is, if the brain believes that the eyes are blinded, then they are indeed blinded – its a simple way to shut down the Byakugan, provided you can do it quickly and without the Hyūga noticing, which is probably easier said than done, but its entirely possible if applied through the correct medium.
Touch: This one is very rarely employed for some odd reason, despite the fact that its quite powerful when employed in a genjutsu. The sense of touch dictates a lot, one of these things include sensation. By having a genjutsu affect the sense of touch, you can either amplify or even outright remove the ability to feel pain in the subject; but wait, isn't inducing intense agony the whole purpose of genjutsu? No, not at all, the purpose of genjutsu is hard to define, because its a very extensive as an artform, no less so than Ninjutsu. By suppressing the ability to feel pain in your opponent you can have them ignore very dangerous injuries as they're not alerted to them until its far too late, this is particularily true for internal injuries which aren't visible on the body itself. I'm gonna give you an example on how I used a genjutsu to mask both the sense of pain and sight to effectively “remove” the symptons of my earlier attack. My character Isamu Yamanaka infected Yu Nakatomi with sort of super-accelerated form of cancer by breaking down Yu's Hayflick limit and causing the cells to divide at extremely accelerated rates, spreading through his body and invading neighbouring tissue and organs. This would ordinarily be extremely painful but through a powerful genjutsu employed by Isamu the symptons were perfectly masked. So, what happened? Due to his inability to understand his predicament, and his inability to deal with the problem, Yu actually succumbed to Isamu's technique and died.
Hearing: This is probably the second most employed way of using genjutsu, by affecting a targets hearing you can disable one of the most important forms of sensory perception of a human being. Rendering them deaf, this could destroy teamwork and thus destroy even a properly prepared squad of enemy Ninja, as they're rendered incapable of conversing with one another, properly coordinate their attacks and their ability to react is severely inhibited, as they'd be unable to hear the sounds of charging Shinobi, Ninjutsu or weapons such as kunai and shuriken. It also makes assassination a breeze, as no matter how much of a fuzz you make, your enemy still won't hear you. It can also be used to turn people against one another by twisting a targets interprentation of words. And, as demonstrated by Itachi's use of Ephemeral – it can make your target psychologically torture themselves.
Smell: I can understand how this might be understimated, I can, in comparison to the senses of Sight, Touch and Hearing, this one is used much less frequently – but it does have quite a few uses, however specialized they may be. A genjutsu like this could mask the aroma of poisons, drugs and other things and could even make them mistake the smell for something else entirely, perhaps making them confuse a lethal acid for being a deliciously sweet and tasty delight? Or perhaps making the bodyguards of an important official fail to recognize a lethal poisonous gas by its smell? It can also be used to shut down or weaken the sense of smell in canines, due to them being suspectible to the same genjutsu that humans are, it could also be used to great effect against an Inuzuka for instance, counteracting their abilities as Sensor-types.
Taste: This is likely the most overlooked sense that a genjutsu might affect, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't understand why. But even the sense of taste, as minor as it might seem in the face of other genjutsu attacks is still quite powerful if its used in an intelligent and clever manner. We've already talked abit about smell, and taste, oddly enough is quite distinctly related to smell through aroma, which is known to accent the taste of something. Anyway, that's enough explanation, now to put some suggestions into your head about what you could achieve by manipulating an opponents sense of taste. The most obvious thing you could do, would be to mask the taste of poison and drugs in food or drinks, by using genjutsu to have it taste entirely normal, you could potentially make a poison taste extremely good, to the degree that the target would willingly commit suicide due to being intoxicated by the taste. While this would normally seem impossible, this is indeed possible through the use of genjutsu, whose influence often allows the caster to manipulate a single sense if used with a certain degree of grace and skill.
Now, that was the five senses, I've left each of these categories intentionally short so as to not give away too much information, I've only made a few suggestions to get your mind working. Now, I'll go into detail about the two main classifications, which are rather obviously taken from my perspective. Some may not nessecarily agree with them, but for the purpsoe of this blog I'll employ them to describe and explain some later points I'll make. genjutsu can typically be classified into two distinct classifications – these being generic genjutsu and specified genjutsu. Before I begin with these, let me just debunk a few common misconceptions here, these classifications have little to do about the actual effects themselves, nor are they any indication of their relevant power.
Generic Genjutsu: Despite the name, and as previously alluded to before, generic genjutsu isn't simple, weak or any less useful than its counterpart. In fact – most of the cleverest uses of genjutsu have been generic in nature. My reason for using the term generic is because genjutsu of this type is generally undefinable and entirely fabricated and original. In short, its an illusion projected into the mind of the victim directly, it thus has no predetermined purpose or “specified” course of effect, but is simply an illusion as dictated by the genjutsu casters themselves. generic genjutsu are problematic in that while in most cases they can be dispelled rather easily, they're often quite subtle and very hard to detect, a character whom uses illusions in this manner will most certainly have to employ them cleverly, precisely because of how they're so simple to dispel. I'll begin with some basic examples of generic genjutsu employed in canon, the first one who springs to mind is Sasuke himself, who used precisely such an illusion to defeat Danzo, making him believe that Izanagi was still active. Other examples of generic genjutsu include Itachi's failed genjutsu on Kakashi's shadow clone – and indeed, every genjutsu as performed through the use of the Sharingan. This extends to Tsukuyomi as well, which is really a vastly empowered version of the former genjutsu.
So, what are the uses of generic genjutsu? Unlike their specified counterpart, generic illusions and suggestions are rarely effective at bringing down an enemy alone, and when they do, its almost always by creating the illusion that the target is subjected to which includes immense physical pain (Tsukuyomi or similar genjutsu) or alternatively by simpler methods. However, in reality, these illusions are best employed as diversions, preemptive attacks designed to set up a possible ambush, or to provide misdirection, misinformation or paralyzis. Through generic genjutsu, its possible to seemingly accomplish anything, although depending on the feats performed it will get progressively harder to maintain it over time, which is why its generally used for very short periods at a time. It does however have a limitation in that generic genjutsu, being decided entirely by the caster, without any “cooperation” from the subjects own mind is incapable of using their own feelings, memories and deeper emotions against them, as the genjutsu is unable to delve that far. Because of this inherrent weakness, all generic genjutsu deals with constant which are true to pretty much everyone, such as everyone being suspectible to torture, everyone having at least one of the five primary senses to exploit and mold to the casters liking. Unlike specified genjutsu, which are commonly predetermined genjutsu Techniques: generic genjutsu are generally transmitted through some independent medium – such as via the Sharingan, mist or telepathy.
In summary, generic genjutsu may be defined as “genjutsu which may interact with the body and senses of an opponent, but is otherwise limited to the casters knowledge and imagination”
Specified Genjutsu: Since we've already gone through generic genjutsu, its time to introduce the second prime classification of genjutsu, namely specified genjutsu – now as you've hopefully understood by now assuming that I've actually managed to give you a decent understanding of what generic genjutsu is, the latter is pretty much an illusion as decided by the caster, an illusion without strings attached only sustained by the casters chakra, knowledge and imagination. Any element or concept employed in a generic genjutsu is something the caster is aware of, because they were the one who implanted the suggestion in the first place. But, they may only draw upon their own knowledge to accomplish this. specified genjutsu lack this limitation in that they're closer to common Shinobi techniques, often requiring hand seals and other components in order to affect their target, this is because they're often much more specific in their effects and most commonly see greater use due to their vast potential. Because, unlike generic genjutsu – specified genjutsu are actually tailored for a particular effect in much the same way as Ninjutsu is, and their uses are equally diverse and varied. Noteable examples of specified genjutsu include the Hell Viewing Technique, I'll give you an exerpt of its effects.
“This is a genjutsu that reveals the fears that dwell inside people's hearts. Everyone has an image of the one thing they wouldn't want to ever see. This genjutsu is a technique that draws forth such an image from within the heart and has one mistake it for reality”
Notice the difference in effect here, special focus needs to be directed towards the very first sentence “This is a genjutsu that reveals the fears that dwell inside people's hearts”. Obviously, this is quite a feat, considering that most people don't truly know what they fear the most, or what their most horrifying image would be. This would obviously imply that the caster of the genjutsu themselves wouldn't be aware of this, and indeed this is precisely the case, for the prime difference of specified and generic genjutsu does precisely lie in the relevant scope of the former – as it affects the targets subconciousness and empowers itself with the targets own mind. This makes specified genjutsu on average much more potent in terms of how hard they are to dispel when properly used, not to mention how strong the psychological effects would be. However, their weakness is that they're specified in terms of effect, which while it doesn't make people see the same thing (due to their nature, what every particular individual would see would vary immensely), it does however make certain genjutsu techniques unfavorable due to how they often go against logic. generic genjutsu may easily be tailored to suit the environment and situation, making them more immediately useful.
specified genjutsu can thus be summarized as “Prescripted genjutsu, that beguiles the opponents entire mind, spirit and body: to produce powerful phantasms of impeccable detail”
And that, sadly, concludes the introductions to the various classifications of genjutsu, if some of you find these things to be confusing, you're free to ask me any questions in the comments, or alternatively just ask any relevant questions on my message wall. Time to move on!
The Basics of Genjutsu[]
Right, moving on to the main course, all of this has merely been to give you basics, so that I can uhm... teach you the basics. That doesn't make sense, whatever, this is about genjutsu so it doesn't have to make sense at all, because its surreal. Anyway, I'll try to keep things abit simpler in this part of the guide, so that I can more adequately express my opinion and possibly give you guys a better understanding of genjutsu in its entirety.
So, what exactly is genjutsu? - I'm fairly lazy, so I'll just give you abit of Narutopedia's information on this particular subject. “Instead of attacking the victim's body, like taijutsu or ninjutsu, genjutsu techniques manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses.”
That's the jist of it, that's how genjutsu generally works, but don't let that stop you from reinventing it for your character if you believe you can pull it off successfully, not every character should make use of genjutsu in the exact same way, some use mediums such as sound, external conditions or similar things in order to work their genjutsu. Others still use it differently.
Remember, that all things considered, this is a fanon, and being unique and inventive with your characters genjutsu. Even if that mean that you're expanding on the subject, is not only possible, but I'd even go as far as to encourage it, provided that you can do so in a meaningful and clever way. Keep in mind, that whenever you do something that would otherwise be at odds with the Narutoverse, you need to make sure to give it its own little niche in order to properly integrate it into the world of Naruto. Anyway, I digress, lets get back to the point.
The first thing I want to tell you guys, is that to use genjutsu, quite abit of intelligence is required, while most don't think this is a big issue considering that they can just write a character down as intelligent, this is a grossly inaccurate assumption. Genjutsu doesn't require an intelligent character, it requires an intelligent player in order to use, your character could be smarter than Albert Einstein and it wouldn't matter one bit if you yourself ain't capable of properly backing this up. If you're the kind of player who prefers pouring just the minimum amount of effort into each of your posts, then I can safely say that genjutsu is absolutely not for you. You need to be detailed, expressive and enthusiastic to be able to use genjutsu effectively – if you're not, then this is probably the least suitable option for you.
How to use Genjutsu – Alright, there's tons of ways to misinterpret and misunderstand how to employ and use genjutsu effectively. Many people who use it in a way which others would consider “poor” and several others who utilize it in a way which they themselves consider to be “pro” all misunderstand genjutsu on the fundamental level. So, what the heck am I talking about here? Well, most whom employ genjutsu on this fanon, use it as previously mentioned in an attempt to psychologically harm the opponent. Is this a viable option of genjutsu, is this an example of how genjutsu should be used? Absolutely! Genjutsu is a weapon as well, and is capable of inflicting as much, and alot of the time even MORE damage than a Ninjutsu of equal rank. An example of this is the Hell-Viewing Technique, which while D-rank, had enough strength and power to instantly incapacitate an opponent through shock, on its own. D-rank Ninjutsu are generally unable to yield that great results on their own. Are there weaknesses with this approach though? Well, obviously, the first one is that genjutsu which target the mind for psychological damage or ill-effect are generally rather obvious in their intent and creation. However, its by no means a bad thing, it simply means that if you intend to use genjutsu as a weapon, as opposed to merely as a tool, you need to come up with some pretty clever ways of employing it to full effect. The first and to this date only example I have, is my very own Fuyuki character; as he, by combining his aptitude for the element of water (gaseous or liquid form) with a genjutsu is capable of making his illusions extremely hard to resist. Indeed, depending on the illusions themselves, Fuyuki's genjutsu might even become irrestible – as the water vapor, mist or the water itself in the sorroundings regularily “refresh” it, causing it to completely ignore all the common methods of dispelling genjutsu. This is an example of how you can employ genjutsu as a concentrated and powerful offence despite its apparent limitations.
Others still, particularily those whom are veterans of roleplaying, believe this previous approach to be going against what genjutsu is meant to do, and thus inferior to their own beliefs in the matter. They uphold that genjutsu should be used as a cover, as a deception and as an indirect attack by having it disguise and mask something else. What about this, is this a good way to use genjutsu? Once again, absolutely, genjutsu is excellent as a means to deceive the opponent and to mask things which you don't want them to notice. My previous example of Isamu Yamanaka which I used much earlier in this guide, is an example of this, and I'll give him a secondary mention here to strengthen my point, during my roleplay against Yu, Isamu employed a genjutsu to mask the fatal infection he had placed in Yu's body previously. I accomplished this by meticolously making the symptoms unknown to Yu himself, and thus had him mistake his condition as unharmed – this, combined with several other factors lead to his demise, as Isamu's infection was given room to grow and propagate; once Isamu dispelled his own genjutsu, it was much too late for Yu to respond to it.
Now, when it comes to genjutsu, there's infinite possibilities and there's truly no right or wrong way to employ it, that's simply it. A true master of genjutsu, a true specialist would employ both of these approaches in combat, both the offensive and the deceptive part. Genjutsu, despite what many would believe, is indeed a powerful offence if used correctly, cause while its possible to train your body, in many cases its very difficult to train your mind to resist intrusion, especially when that invasion happens to be initiated by an individual with at the very least decent genjutsu abilities.
While we're on the subject, its NOT possible to resist genjutsu simply by force of will, this is because genjutsu, no matter how obvious the illusion is or how weak the technique is, will always cling to the targets mind on its own, through chakra. If you're affected by genjutsu you need to break it in three fundamental ways.
Regaining Control: The first step to defeating a genjutsu is ultimately the hardest one, and it requires excellent mental conditioning, overall good knowledge of the way genjutsu works and quite abit of dumb luck. I've inspected various applications of genjutsu all over the wiki, and I've reached an understanding that there seems to be a misconceived notion that while under the genjutsu, a character is still capable of making astute and calm judgements and carefully analyze the world around them, even while under its effects. I'll correct that here, genjutsu affects your brain and the caster uses it to acclaim a measure of control over your mind, forcing it to see things which aren't there, manipulate a targets other perceptions to even actual mind control. If you hadn't gathered by now, no, your mind while under a genjutsu is not keen and refined, its in a chaotic heap of expressions – your character would be as helpless as you were in a general dream. Yes, lets use dreams as an example here, most of the dreams you experience are normal dreams, and in those you've got no say whatsoever, you're reduced to merely being an observer of the dreamscape itself, forced to go along with whatever your subconcious has in mind. However, there exists another state of dreaming, which is called a “lucid dream”, and the first part of combating genjutsu is to reach this state. If not, your character will believe anything the illusion shows him and mistake it for reality. I've understood that there's a few people whom have misinterpreted what I meant to say here, what I'm saying is, that you're not make your character enter a state of lucid dreaming necessarily. Rather, you need to ensure that your character enters the "lucid state", which allows them to regain their self-awareness from the genjutsu.
Belief: The second step to breaking a genjutsu is to become aware that it IS a genjutsu, which would require a deceptive amount of logical thinking and intelligence, because the genjutsu itself constantly tries to force you into believing that it is infact, reality. Your character needs to be astute enough to figure out the particularities and point out the weak point in the genjutsu, but this isn't nearly enough. YOU as a roleplayer must know precisely what those relevant details are, and you must be willing to inform your partner about what you discovered and how your character could break out of the genjutsu. However, this case merely applies to generic genjutsu, specified genjutsu are by their very definition flawless, because they actively rearrange and adjust themselves based on your characters very perception. its impossible to distinquish specified genjutsu from reality by examining them; but they do have weaknesses – that weakness is as previously stated their propensity for their illusion being random. Specified Genjutsu typically targets a single specific concept, such a your innermost fears, your desire for something, or anything else entirely that could grant the user an edge in battle, the possibilities are simply endless.
Breaking: So you've come this far have you? Congratulations! So this is where you just put your palms together, make a weird face and bibidi-bobidi-bo, you're as good as new and free to go about your roleplay right? Wrong, the process of breaking genjutsu is simple, but it ain't by no means easy. Firstly, to break out of genjutsu you need mature and developed chakra, this is why Genin as a group are quite a bit more susceptible to genjutsu than others, they simply lack the refined chakra necessary to properly refute the genjutsu itself. Beyond this, some genjutsu, particularily those of greater complexity and rank release a massive amount of chakra into your characters cerebral nervous system, this makes it much harder to refute them, as in doing so you will invariably leave yourself wide open and exhausted, and in most cases, the genjutsu itself will severely inhibit your attembs at resisting it. Sometimes the stream of genjutsu within your character will be so torrential and raging that it becomes extremely difficult to calm it (a step that must be completed before you can proceed with the actual dissipation). Obviously, you require a great deal of chakra control to overcome such a fierce stream, preferably at least on par with that of the actual caster him/herself, if your character has large chakra resserves but poor chakra control then you're kindly informing every genjutsu user that you're an easy target, and indeed, you are. Then there's the actual Genjutsu Dissipation – this involves a sudden release of chakra correspondent to the amount of chakra forcibly injected into your characters cerebral nervous system, depending upon the power and rank of the offending genjutsu, this may require small or huge amounts of chakra – and this amount will be spent on counteracting the genjutsu. Counteracting a genjutsu of B-rank with Genjutsu Dissipation will probably demand great chakra control, an intelligent mind and a fair amount of chakra, the exact amount would wary – from small to large depending on the illusions onset time, scope and power. But wait, in the cases of higher-ranked genjutsu users, they're often capable of sabotaging your attembts at resisting the influence of their genjutsu, or attempting to use Genjutsu Dissipation, a prominent and hopefully well-known example is when Naruto was cast into a genjutsu by Itachi during the Kazekage Rescue arc. When Naruto understood he was in a genjutsu, he immediately tried what any “sensible” person would do, namely jumping straight to the third step of breaking the genjutsu (clearly someone didn't pay attention in class, no surprise there), Itachi immediately countered by having Naruto's left hand forcibly rip apart from his right one, breaking the Dissipation seal and ruining Naruto's attempt to break free.
This Sounds Cool! Should I use Genjutsu?[]
In six out of ten cases, the answer to this question would be no, firstly, merely using something based upon whether you think it cool or not, isn't really a very good idea eitherway, even less so with genjutsu. Most people do not possess the proper mindset to use genjutsu efficiently, nor do they actually try to understand it as an artform and in so doing expand their own horizons and truly optimizing their characters ability within genjutsu. In most cases, genjutsu can be used just fine as an accented tool for your character to employ in the event that he need something more subtle and elegant than a roaring fireball. I'll now go into detail about what you need to employ genjutsu effectively, and these are all requirements that I would impose on the roleplayer and not the character. These are but my own personal opinions though, and while they should be considered, they're nothing final.
Mental Flexibility: Many of us, particularily veterans such as myself all have particular opinions about particular subjects, within these categories we tend to enforce our viewpoints rigidly, speaking our mind with assumed authority. We're often so stubbornly submerged within our own viewpoints that we defend them at every turn, and argue their veracity whenever appopriate, this is quite obviously not mental flexibility. But the problem doesn't lie in stubbornness, it lies in something very simple. This being common sense and cold logic, normally, one would assume that anything would need to follow logic, that it is demanded and necessary, genjutsu however only follows logic as long as it needs to, it doesn't follow it all the way and sometimes it defies your logic and common sense entirely to turn into something entirely surreal. This is where someone who follows logic strictly tends to take a step back and reevaluate their options, this is actually something of a mistake as by imposing an imaginary restriction upon yourself based upon what you think is feasible or otherwise would ultimately believe is actually to limit the potential of both yourself and your character. While someone without this mental flexibility might prove excellent at the more obvious forms of genjutsu, the undiscovered potential of genjutsu will probably elude them in the long run. They'll basically be “Alice” in Alice In Wonderland.
Intelligence & Willingness to Write: Genjutsu is ultimately an artform which depends on the intelligence of the caster, and given that the characters on this fanon are largely tools to be wielded by the roleplayers and storywriters behind them, the intelligence needs to be within the adminstrative force – in this case, the people behind the screen. It won't matter if your character is the most intelligent and clever shinobi of their village if you yourself is unable to properly make them fulfill that position by making use of several writing techniques. The character isn't the one who's actually making use of genjutsu in a roleplay, that would be the roleplayer behind it, therefore you're the one who decides its complexity and ultimately how easy it is to look through, depending upon whether or not you're elaborate or half-hearted in this endeavour. You need to be prepared to write paragraph upon paragraph of elaborate scenes where you carefully tilt the odds in your favor with a subtle illusion, likewise you must also be able to convey an illusion with the bare minimum amount of text if so necessary, without taking away from its quality or purpose. You must be willing to use it directly, in an obvious manner, and you must be willing (and capable) of using it in a way which is hard to immediately distinquish.
Understanding Genjutsu: As I've stated several times in this guide, one of the foremost motivations any roleplayer would have for making use of genjutsu is to make it into an unrefined form of offence, while I fully believe that genjutsu makes for a very powerful offence, I also believe that particular precautions and preparations must be made before its effective when employed in such an obvious and direct manner. But I won't go into detail about those, that's not what my point is. My point, is that genjutsu is every bit as versatile as ninjutsu if you've got the right mind to understand it, many things that can be performed with ninjutsu can likewise be performed through the use of genjutsu with some effort. Unlike ninjutsu however, which is usually used almost exclusively for combat, genjutsu has some extremely useful applications which makes it extremely valuable to sensor-nin, interrogation-experts and other shinobi whose main line of duty does not necessarily lie on the front lines. Genjutsu users naturally tend to make good spies, sensors, interrogators, therapists and a bunch of other things in addition to fighters.
Genjutsu: The Do's and Don'ts[]
Alright, time to start with what to do and not do with genjutsu in a roleplay. As you may have understood, the ability to freely manipulate and mess with your opponents mind is a pretty powerful ability which can completely decimate an unwary opponent if used correctly, however, its also a power which is prone to being misused and at times even outright abused.
Here's a few general rules you should abide by at all times in roleplays. The following three rules are prone to change over time, but these are the ones I could come up with at the top of my head.
- 1. Remember the Source of Generic Genjutsu! Generic genjutsu is usually transmitted by some peculiar medium as opposed to simply being used like an ordinary technique. This can be virtually anything but genjutsu users typically convey it through only one or two select mediums, an example of this is how the Sharingan is only capable of casting genjutsu upon those who meet the wielders gaze. Therefore, if you use the sharingan to cast a genjutsu, eye contact must have been established sometime during the roleplay, however briefly, that would be the condition necessary to cast the genjutsu. Similarily, if your partner inquires upon when the genjutsu was put in place, you must be willing to answer the question, this is to assume good faith.
- 2. Foreshadowing Is Obligatory! I've heard how some have complained about their roleplaying partners, when faced with an attack they cannot respond to they go with the ridicolous “Was An Illusion All Along” approach. Essentially wasting the entire post of their roleplaying partner without due reason. Foreshadowing is extremely important when it comes to this, as otherwise your partner won't feel appreciated at all. Foreshadowing can be done by writing a few extra sentences describing an action your character takes before they truly head into the fray, this could be weaving a few handseals, using a medium connected to their genjutsu or anything else which corresponds to their ability to cast genjutsu as dictated by their article. However if you referred to something on their article and your opponent hasn't bothered to read the characters article, then that's entirely their fault.
- 3. Don't Use Absolutes! No genjutsu is in and of itself irrestible or impossible to break, and that is something that you should keep in the back of your head at all times if you plan to make use of genjutsu. Stating that a genjutsu is impossible to break is bullshit as there's always a way to break even the most powerful of genjutsu, even Tsukuyomi, as powerful as it is, isn't unbeatable by any means; its just that its extremely resilent against the most common methods of breaking genjutsu. Though even this doesn't mean that Tsukuyomi cannot be broken by mundane means, it simply means that trying to do so and succeeding is an extremely difficult endeavour. Its important to note however that while no genjutsu is on its own absolute, it can be made into something very close by complementing it with secondary mediums and tools, such as my aforementioned example of Fuyuki using mist to empower his illusions.
- 4. Be Patient! Many roleplayers are uncertain about how to respond to genjutsu, due to how its rarely employed to great effect in this fanon – with most choosing instead to rely upon ninjutsu. As a result, mistakes in regards to their responses are quite common and you must be willing to gently correct them if you feel they don't adequately respond to your post. You'll probably have to explain a lot of things as you go on, and you'll probably have your share of discussions too as people try to incorrectly worm their way out of your genjutsu by attacking your argument.
But what about your partner, surely they too have something they should accept? Of course, and these are defined below. I'll probably change these over time.
- 1. Respect The Genjutsu! This is probably one of the most widely broken rules when fighting against a genjutsu user, the obvious “Resists It By Virtue of Sheer Willpower” excuse, this is cowards way out of an amusing exchange and its also highly invalid to boot. Firstly, while you're under the effect of a genjutsu, you've got about as much control over your mind as you do while you're drunk or drugged, your self-awareness is probably greatly inhibited. Your so-called willpower, or your innermost and hidden sense of courage won't avail you in the least, see my basics on how to break out of genjutsu to find out the proper procedure to defeat the genjutsu.
Afterword[]
And that my dear fellas and fellies concludes my “The Beauty of Genjutsu” guide, I think all of you should try to listen to what I've said and strive to improve your characters performance with genjutsu. By the way, make sure to always write Genjutsu sections even if your character doesn't use genjutsu, because without those sections your character has no valid defense against it. I hope my guide has been helpful though, feel free to ask any questions in the comments!