"Long live the King."
It seemed those words which her very lips had uttered but her own will had not produced were destined to haunt the young Nanjirou for some time. Genjutsu had always been her greatest downfall, evident since even before that first sparring match with the young Uchiha all those years ago. It seemed only fitting that her attempt to use the ability she'd gained from Katsu's mental connection was what had led to the predicament she found herself it. And yet, for all the trouble it wrought… perhaps there was in fact some benefit to be found. If she were still speaking to Hayate, the older Nanjirou spirit would have told her about the form of Genjutsu that Taijutsu experts were often able to tap into even when illusions were not usually their strength. Perhaps it would have been a more controlled, practiced, peaceful discovery that way.
"Come on, can't you land even one hit?" Reicheru's voice bounced off the bark of the trees in the Ancient Forest, as she too leapt from tree to tree above her opponent. The bear oozed the same way the King had, one of the slime symbiotes catching a ride before finding a new home. They hadn't quite achieved synergy with each other, and Rei would see to it that they never would while inside the village walls. How it had gotten inside in the first place was beyond her. The Nanjirou, whose ability to dodge rivaled that of the Sharingan, danced around the wildly swung paws and finally came down with a strike of her own.
"Honestly, if you want a chance of landing anything, you should just hit yourself," she grinned as her blade connected.
Suddenly, an unpleasant but familiar sensation overtook her. It wasn't the same experience as when she looked inside the Monster King's mind, but the feeling was the same - the sense that her touch had opened up a world beyond the physical, right into the psyche of her presumably mindless opponent.
After a short pause, hit itself the bear did - claws and all. Slowly lowering her blade, Rei could only watch in horror as the bear repeatedly dug it's claws into its own eyes. When nothing remained, the onslaught continued until the beast's form slowed and finally slumped lifeless on the ground.
'I just wanted the slime… Kumo was your home too…' An odd mourning welled inside of her at the site of the downed ursa. Anger boiled up from her chest as she watched the black fungus retreat from it's downed host, apparently having detached itself upon realizing the bear's fate. It was odd, the conflicting emotions she felt towards these creatures. She knew they'd been manipulated by the King, that they too were only pawns. Additionally, she unexplainably felt protective of the child she knew to be not too dissimilar to herself, saved and changed by the blood of these creatures. Yet she had to desperately fight daily to keep in check all of the anger and paranoia and bloodlust that the Mark in her chest radiated with, and as she stared down this invader, it threatened to spill over.
"That's it's power, you know." The slime creature 'spoke' to her thoughts, catching Rei off guard.
"That mind game you played on that bear. It was locked away behind a mental barrier, the lie that you told yourself you had no knack for illusions. In a proper symbiotic relationship, which that thing mimics, all sorts of potential is unlocked. Two minds are better than one and all. There just has to be… some compromise." Truly, even the slime wasn't sure why it was sharing all of this with the kunoichi. Perhaps it was the King's signature that compelled it so. But it was wasted breath. Channeling one of the few fire jutsu she knew into her blade, Rei plunged it down into the amalgam and watched as it was set ablaze.
"I don't negotiate with things that decide my body get's to be theirs." Still, she wondered about this new potential. Would it be worth it, to investigate further the powers of this Mark…?
