[Mission] Illusion

[Mendokuse]

Konohagakure's special investigations unit was located on B1 of a sleet-gray, imposing fortress of a building. The men who had checked Makoto's belongings for contraband and admitted her into the clanking, rusted elevator were stern and dressed in plain gray scrubs. All in all, the building didn't seem very welcoming, much less very interesting. However, the mission today was of interest to Makoto because it involved Genjutsu.

Her briefing reported that an ANBU who had been patrolling an area of the forest west of Konoha had been discovered in a comatose state when a squad was dispatched to search for the missing man. Only a powerful genjutsu could render the man so delerious and unable to even use Kai upon himself.

It was important to rescue this man from his dementia not only because his skill was a valuable assett to the village and military force, but because after all, it made sense that whoever had performed the technique on the man still lurked near Konoha, and finding out as much as they could, as early as they could, could help them combat the unknown enemy in the future.

The door to the special investigations unit was a large double door made of bronze. Two armed guards stood outside of it, hoods draped over their ashen faces. They gave her a disinterested glance and pulled the door outward as she approached.

There was little light within the room, and what light was visible came from an artificial source: A lamp chained to the ceiling, which case an ill light over a large rectangular table. Around that table sat several jounin and a woman with a tight ponytail, red horn-rimmed glasses, and a sour expression on her pale face.

"Good of you to join us. And your name is?" Like the building, this woman was all business, and by the looks of her fellow Jounin, so were the people who she would be working with.

[Jeviherei]

The atmosphere around was tense and dark. It was depressingly suffocating, however there was one person in the entire area who didn't notice that hint of darkness. That person was rather the complete opposite, cheerful. That person was completely and utterly cheerful to an insane extent in which slowly rose over the definition of 'hyper'.

Her family name was Koujaku and her name was Makoto, or simply Mako for short. She was eighteen, rather old to be in such a mood. Her goggles were propped upon her head and a yellowish stick was sticking out from her mouth as the result of her sucking on a strawberry lollipop. A light smile was pasted on her face as she couldn't stop moving at all.

While her items were checked in front of the grey building, she had to be told constantly to stay still. She tried, she really did, however failed. To think that this hyper girl was one of the jounin made the guards shake their heads in dismay. She, however, had enough sense to stay quiet and still as possible inside the building. It wasn't as if she was stupid enough to go around doing her usual stuff in this building anyways.

So what was it again? Why was she called here? Apparently an ANBU had felled for a genjutsu and was in a pretty bad state. Sucking on her lollipop, her face went uncharacteristically serious as she walked down the forbidding corridors. She didn't see it though, she was more focused on the possibilities of event occurrence. Now, where did they find the man again?

She bumped lightly into the guard before entering as the result of her thoughts. She blinked for a while then...
"WAHHH!!!! I AM SOO SORRY!!!"
Her eyes were teary as she yelped, unnecessary over the logical volume.
"I know! I know!"
A smile was on her face, the change almost spazzmotically abrupt.
"I'll give you a lollipop!"
With quick and deft fingers, she unwrapped a pineapple flavored lollipop and stuck in the puzzled guard's mouth. She smiled charmingly and entered the room.

Mako didn't hear the sour woman's words. Mako, however, noticed the woman and stopped abruptly on the entry way. Her smile twitched and she was quite certain that this woman will never take a liking to her. The same will go for Mako as well. The lollipop stick actually dropped in her mouth as she mock saluted hello and spoke in a formal tone that didn't match her twitching smile.
"Koujaku, Makoto. At your service ma'am."
She took the liberty of looking around. Everyone looked all serious and business. She wanted to cry, this wasn't going to be fun at all!

[Mendokuse]

"Mmhm...Well...have a seat, then." The stern woman waited for Makoto to have a seat before turning and walking stiffly to one bare wall and running her fingers lightly across its surface, causing some sort of light to appear beneath her fingers, turning into words and shapes.

"Now...This is Sector A-6, directly west of Konohagakure. Leaf ANBU: Codename "Zeus" was found in a comatose state at the foot of a tree. As you genjutsu specialists know, Genjutsu usually effects a person's senses. Their vision, sense of touch, and all of that. However this man's mind appears to have been completely wiped. We've tried to tap into his memories to recount the events of that day, but there's nothing to analyze. It's the most powerful genjutsu I have ever encountered and that's why I am going to assign a task to each of you: Information gathering, if you will, to help me investigate this technique." The woman created more streaks of light along the wall, drawing as she spoke in a line from Konoha to a small village in the northeast.

"Makoto, was it? There's a man in this file named Haruki Areta. At one point, he was a well-respected genjutsu specialist. But several years ago he went into hiding. Reports indicate that his illusions just...got too real for him...and he had a mental break down. This seems like it could be connected to Zeus, so I need you to leave right away and see what you can learn from him."

She tossed the Jounin a map with a flick of her wrist and turned back to the wall, creating more fringes of light to show the next Jounin where he'd be going. She wasted no time, and made it clear that neither should Makoto.

[Jeviherei]

Makoto obeyed, feeling somehow annoyed and depressed. However she listened since the woman didn't seem as if she'll repeat her words once more. However she had to wonder, couldn't they just simply break the genjutsu? Or was it that the genjutsu itself wiped out the man's memory? She growled lightly under her breath, they wanted her to figure it out, yet they didn't give her much information. Haruki Areta... Now there was a nostalgic name.

Makoto took a glance at the map and the file. She was interested in the man after all. She had heard about him on several occasions, however never got much information on the man. She did ponder as she made her way out, on how the man' mind could have been broken. A sudden thought chilled her, the man most likely self-destructed since genjutsu toyed around with the minds of humans. It slowly ate away at the user's own conscious. That was why genjutsu user had to have a strong mind, otherwise they too would deteriorate. The nagging thought that it could also happen to her chilled her.

The outside was rather windy as she once more took glance at the map. It was a physical map with approximated location of her target. She sat against the wall and pulled her goggles down. Somehow that relaxed her as she closed her eyes, seeing the very area in a clear sky view. Within seconds, she had reduced the approximate location boundary to the land in which was the best to survive from. She would search the area first, then increase the boundary line as she went.

She pulled the goggles up and straightened up. She would take a look at the file later. Hmm, so which was the shortest route? She sighed and walked left of the building. She was in no hurry, it wasn't as if the broken down man was right in front of her running away. She preferred to take her time on this.

[Mendokuse]

Though it took Makoto a few hours, she eventually reached the quaint, secluded village where the man was reported to spend his days in peace. It wasn't much of a village, though: Rather, a square fence of tall trees with one open side that was entirely unguarded. Within the "village" were tents, small shacks, and off by itself near the back of the village, a single straw mat with an old, white-bearded man lying down on it. It seemed this was a very poor and simple village without any Shinobi and nothing of value to draw thieves...The people were a motley crew who appeared like they wanted nothing in their lives...No trouble, and by default, no joy.

The written description told Makoto that the old man on his single mat was Haruki Aketa. He appeared to be sleeping on his side with one bony hand under his head and the other cluthing something against his hip.

[Jeviherei]

When she arrived she couldn't help but to stare around at her surroundings. The lazy and hazy air seemed to chain her down. Pardon the word choices, however her thoughts were simple three words; 'what the hell'. She couldn't get her eyes off of this... lazy, hopeless, GAHHH!!! She wanted to beat some of these people to their senses. They were completely hopeless, to the point in which she almost wanted to eradicate the entire village.

Either way...

Makoto found the man fast enough. The old man was sleeping on an old and dirty straw mat. The white beard ran down his face in a dirty impossible mess of matted hair. She squatted down in front of the man. He reeked of certain acidic smell along with all things natural. She pitied him, however a mission was a mission.
"Hey, old man! Wake up!"
She shouted rudely after creating a makeshift megaphone with an empty scroll she carried.

Her voice was tired, her expression was tired, this place just made you wish that you could just die!
'Hey, old man... Will I self destruct too?'
She asked the question within her mind. She had had plenty of time to think about it during her walk. Perhaps too much. Her normally cheerful face was a blank depressing one now. She looked down at the old man with such... what was it? Pity? No, that wasn't it. It was something more in between feeling sorry and 'what can I do to get you out of this'.

"Neeyaaa! Old man! Haru Haru! Areta-san! Haruki-sama! Wake uppppp~!"
Makoto yelled in an ear blasting volume when the old man didn't wake. She swallowed her thoughts, mission was mission, therefore she needed to focus. However she couldn't help but to wonder if she could help this old man. It wasn't her responsibility, however... Genjutsu users were unstable after a certain skill level was reached. That couldn't be helped, after all genjutsu put too much strain mentally. Even thought she was aiming for the highest point, this was something she didn't want to go through. She gulped that feeling down. The self-pity can wait till later, first, some information will be helpful.

[Mendokuse]

The village's limited activity seemed to stop even more (if possible) as the loud voice on the megaphone blared through the still, stale air.
The people who had previously just been sitting around, mumbling to themselves or speaking in hushed tones, or moving this way and that, were all completely silent now.
The man still would not wake - as if his lethargy were a chain binding his consciousness in too distant a dimension to be reached. But when Makoto tried again, the bearded man reacted.

He reacted by lashing out at Makoto with the flat of the palm of his hand, trying to smash her in the nose. Without even opening his eyes, he had aimed a direct blow to her face. It was unknown weather or not he was attacking her or just reacting to the loud noise, but weather or not the attack was deliberate, it was accurate and powerful enough to break her nose despite the man's evident frailty.

[Jeviherei]

'Uh oh...'
She thought as her scream silenced the area even more. She smiled at them apologetically and was about to say the word equivalent, however...
"Ku!"

She noticed the strike from the corner of her eyes and managed to block it with her left arm. Although the cloth and the senbon darts blocked most of the impact, damn, it hurt. She was stunned, this old man... What the hell was he? She couldn't place how and where that strength and accuracy came from. Her eyes were wide with surprise as she sat there, stunned. Absolutely and completely stunned.

"Old... man?"
She piped. The strike was definitely not normal. A drop of cold sweat ran down her face as the result of the sudden encounter. What the heck was he? He was not normal, sane, no, no! He was freakin' insane! She gulped, her head spinning as she attempted to make logic of the situation. The old man still had his eyes closed. Suddenly a thought wondered into her head.

'No freakin' way.'
She thought. The very idea of it was absurd. There was no way it could have been possible. What was her idea? That this entire lazy village was the man's genjutsu. The idea was absurd. Completely insane, absolutely impossible. However was it? She actually wouldn't have been surprised if it was. However that sounded so off from the logic. Ah, but genjutsu overrode the logic... She nearly held her breathing. What if this truly was a genjutsu? Ah, that would have been marvelously amazing.

[Mendokuse]

The man vanished, the weight of his arm erased from Makoto's guard in an instant. He reappeared in a blur of speed and a tornado of red dirt several yards away, near the far wall of the village. His hands were already being brought together to form a single seal.

A voice, impossibly old, frail, and trembling, could be heard booming at Makoto as if from a megaphone of its own.

"I hate...to be...disturbed...little girl..." The swirling sands around the skeletal frame of the bony old man suddenly shot directly into the air as if geysers below his feet were shooting them out like jets. However, his clothes did not stir from any wind; no, the dirt was being controlled by the man, or so it seemed. Forming snakelike tendrils, the whip-like chords of dirt rocketed through the air, threatening to bind Makoto in place - or leave several nasty gashes.

[Jeviherei]

Makoto couldn't help but to tremble slightly. Was it excitement as it usually was for her? No, the jounin was trembling because of pure terror. She didn't think that she could even go against someone like this. There just was no freakin' way she could stand against him. First of all, she was almost scared to hit him. He looked as if he would scatter the moment her impact landed upon him.

Ah, however what was up with his speed? Was this a genjutsu after all? She desperately searched her mind for a probing chakra, anything. Either she wasn't skilled enough or there wasn't anything. It almost frightened her. Even so, she have made it a habit of questioning what she felt. Somehow she moved quickly to the reaction from the hand seals. The gulped again...
'Woah... This is a freakin' nightmare from my dreams.'
She thought.

"Woah! Wait wait!"
She yelped as she ran to hide behind the falling house. She doubted that it'll stand up for so long. She would have loved to use a technique, however apparently genjutsu doesn't fair well with this man. Wasn't this supposed to be a C'rank that wasn't life threatening? She cried innerly.

[Mendokuse]

With a cacophony of sound, a tendril of dirt struck through one of the walls of the house a few inches from Makoto's face, punching through the wood as if it was paper and curling around as if seeking her out, attempting to wrap around her throat.

However...she noticed something odd about the dirt. It was no longer red, but...white. Like the color of the paint on the house. That...shouldn't have happened. Even if it had the power to break through the walls of the house, it couldn't take on a perfectly white color like that, as if fresh paint had been applied...

[Jeviherei]

She was utterly startled when the dust came through the wall. She stared at it wide eyed for a moment, however then took a nervous chuckle. How nice, to have been fallen for a trap in which she specialized at. She let out a strangled laugh. This was just amusing, wasn't it? She bit her lip, she needed to focus on something as to now allow this thing to get to her mind.

She closed her eyes, well aware of the dust particles near her, almost catching onto her. She took a deep breath as she formed a single hand seal, visualizing her own chakra paths within her body. Slowly, she stopped the flow, gentle as she didn't want to force her chakra flow to stop as that would take too much chakra itself. Now the dust arm thing was around her neck, forcing small gasps of breath.

Ah, so there it is. She could feel that chakra now, something that wasn't hers and yet similar to her own chakra. A light smile crept upon her face. She counted to three and on the third mark, instantly released her chakra to that target point. She completely submerged the chakra with her own, detaining and corrupting the pattern in which programmed it's purpose. Or so she hoped.

The chakra was similar to hers, therefore she couldn't feel if it disappeared due to her chakra overriding it or not. She was also well aware that this genjutsu she was trapped in was made up of several layers, thus she couldn't use pain to escape from it. If she had a teammate, she could have him or her inject chakra into her as for her to escape, however she didn't. So practically, this was her last method and if it didn't work, well... It was to say that she is doomed in that occasion.

SpoilerShow

*Kai [Release]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Kai is a Ninjutsu technique which allows the ninja to avoid the effects of a Genjutsu illusion. After forming the needed handseals, the Genjutsu technique will not affect the ninja. The ninja can also use the technique on another individual who was unable to avoid the attack. After forming the needed hand seals, the ninja touches the one affected to end the affect of the spell.

[Mendokuse]

(OOC: Post the jutsu please.)

[Jeviherei]

[ooc: Sorry, kinda forgot to include it. For some strange reason of mine, I didn't want to say that Mako used Kai... Just put what Kai is and does... Nothing else... Anyways, edited and sorry. ^^"]

[Mendokuse]

As if nothing had ever happened, the tension evaporated from the air like water into steam. It was quiet, then, and suddenly, Makoto would find herself standing in at the side of a bed. In that bed was an old man of at least 80, his knuckles bony and liver spotted, his face gaunt with skin pulled too tight. The eyes, however, were crystal clear, as if they saw through all lies.

In a weak voice, the man uttered "Impressive...I havent ... seen anybody escape...my genjutsu in fifty...years..." He coughed softly, but with whatever strength he had, managed to bring his frail arms up and clap several times.

Then, Makoto would remember what had happened before the genjutsu had taken control of her mind: She'd simply entered the village, which in hindsight was nothing like the village she'd thought she'd wandered into, located the house, and been invited in by a caregiver.

"Well...you win...But tell me, before you kill me...how much...ryou...is this...wretched man...worth..."

[Jeviherei]

Makoto blinked as the surrounding changed and the old man was fragile as he should have been. It was so strange, she could still feel that hint of strength around her neck. She questioningly looked at the old man. She had known about the genjutsu, however...

On the first clap, her memories flooded in. She flinched as the normally non-overwhelming data came at such weight as to crush her. One side of her thought struggled to make logic of it, however the other side was marveling at the skillfully woven genjutsu. Finally, took her a few seconds, however she made logic of everything. She took some moments to blink.

Her body somehow felt lightly numb and the gentle sweetness of her lollipop gathered around her. She shook her head and blinked, as if shaking it off. Then as the old man spoke again, she paused lightly in a stunned silence before speaking.
"Why in the world would I kill you old man?"
She asked.
"If I had intention of killing you, wouldn't I have attempted to kill your... ummm..."
She pondered for a correct word and came up with nothing.
"Genjutu-conjured image?"

This thought might be considered treason, however she probably wouldn't have killed him anyways. Killing an old man was too much already. Killing one that she was interested and amazed at was impossible. Perhaps she didn't make such a good little kunoichi after all.

"I think I can remember the mission... I hope..."
She muttered and sat on the floor.
"Ohh! Yea, there is this ANBU guy knocked unconscious and apparently wiped due to a genjutsu."
She paused slightly.
"I'm pretty sure that was it."
Another pause.
"Do you know what it is old man?"

She grinned up at him in her own goof ball way. However the old man was sure to see that hint of struggle and that hint of seriousness that no one else probably could notice. It wasn't that her grin wasn't different, it was the same thing always, just no one noticed those elements. Even so, with those strangely vibrant eyes, she was certain that the old man could just see through it.

[Zangy]

(OOC: Mendo timed out. You passed. <o/)