Chapter 13 – Illusions
Author’s notes:
This chapter is about illusions, but it’s also a bit of a twist. Katsuro is controlling the genjutsu, but instead of getting just information about her, it’s his history that’s made a little clearer. Also, this chapter stands alone. It’s the perfect little shimmery bubble for them, not touched by the darker aspects of the chapter before…or the chapters ahead.
Chapter notes:
• “You’re the demon container. Didn’t you know? They’d never let trash like you be a ninja,” a silver-haired man sneered. — Don’t worry, this is not Kakashi. More on this whole exchange in flashbacks to come.
• This girl shook his beliefs about that wretched village to the core. And if he discovered that Sasuke was like her, someone totally different than what he’d been led to believe, then it was going to be hard to fulfill his mission. — Katsuro is revealing that he is not truly bad like the rest of Akatsuki. Right now, he’s not so jaded and bitter that he couldn’t change if he saw someone — even Sasuke — differently that he couldn’t change.
• Katsuro kicked his legs out in front of him comfortably, imagining it. They would make a brilliant team. — Katsuro has switched roles with Sakura in the genjutsu. Now he’s swinging his legs, feeling into its warm, reassuring effects, and letting his imagination roam.
• Sakura…. The bare threads of thought fell away from him, slipping by like those pale petals her name conjured up. — reference to the cherry tree, her name and the genjutsu he applied to Sakura in the very first chapter. Now it has come back to him in a very different way. Appropriate finish to a chapter where the illusion has revealed as much about him as it has about her.
Spoiler Notes:
• The shape of an illusion — For this story, there are two types of genjutsu illusions: happier, feel-good kinds and terrifying, destructive kinds. Interrogating vs. intimidating, respectively. Katsuro’s genjutsus not as good as Itachi’s. Itachi prefers intimidation because it is quick and he doesn’t spare time for anyone. But what Katsuro lacks in jutsu he makes up for in personality. Some of Naruto’s characteristics show through here too: he’s learning to read the people around him, but with an inherent kindness; he’s interested in the intricacies of what makes the genjutsu work; and when he’s safe, like in the genjutsu with Sakura, he’s naturally happy. These aspects try to preserve some of his nice characteristics in an environment where none of them show. The illusion itself is a hazy meeting area in the middle for the two, like the cherry tree in the paneled room, it’s a safe place for both of them.
• The shapes were still there, or at least the memory of land, the log and the grey fire circle, but the rest disappeared beneath a shimmery golden haze. — The genjutsu is a color cue for woven throughout the rest of the story. Things that involve the two of them, and a perfect harmony that they can sometimes reach, is golden. So this little bubble that they are in, that is made of the two of them is uniquely golden too.
• This girl shook his beliefs about that wretched village to the core. And if he discovered that Sasuke was like her, someone totally different than what he’d been led to believe, then it was going to be hard to fulfill his mission. — Right now, Katsuro is revealing that he is not truly bad like the rest of Akatsuki. He’s not yet so jaded and bitter that he can’t change if he saw someone — even Sasuke — differently. Tiny foreshadowing his future discoveries about Sasuke. When he learns that Itachi had woven stories for him to believe that weren’t true.
• “You’re the demon container. Didn’t you know? They’d never let trash like you be a ninja,” a silver-haired man sneered. — It’s Mizuki from the original story. He treat Naruto the same way, and let’s out the secret of Naruto being the demon container. More on this whole exchange in flashbacks to come.
• However the genjutsu itself would live in her memory, a lingering signpost that someone else was there. If someone was looking for wisp of information, scanning her thoughts for something specifically related to him and what he contained, then anything he revealed might lead them right to him. — Foreshadowing a few chapters ahead, when Sakura returns home, and there are people in her village looking specifically for information about Naruto.
• Perhaps he could tell her something. Just a little. The thought of it was like opening a window on a closed room. It was a shaft of light in the darkness…. — This is a reference to the closed room in the temple, where the painted screens are hidden. Katsuro is opening a window to possibility, to trust, and remembering how good that feels.
<< Return to Chapter 13 • Go to Chapter 14 >>
06 Jul 2010 No Comments
Chapter 13 Notes
Chapter 13 – Illusions
Author’s notes:
This chapter is about illusions, but it’s also a bit of a twist. Katsuro is controlling the genjutsu, but instead of getting just information about her, it’s his history that’s made a little clearer. Also, this chapter stands alone. It’s the perfect little shimmery bubble for them, not touched by the darker aspects of the chapter before…or the chapters ahead.
Chapter notes:
• “You’re the demon container. Didn’t you know? They’d never let trash like you be a ninja,” a silver-haired man sneered. — Don’t worry, this is not Kakashi. More on this whole exchange in flashbacks to come.
• This girl shook his beliefs about that wretched village to the core. And if he discovered that Sasuke was like her, someone totally different than what he’d been led to believe, then it was going to be hard to fulfill his mission. — Katsuro is revealing that he is not truly bad like the rest of Akatsuki. Right now, he’s not so jaded and bitter that he couldn’t change if he saw someone — even Sasuke — differently that he couldn’t change.
• Katsuro kicked his legs out in front of him comfortably, imagining it. They would make a brilliant team. — Katsuro has switched roles with Sakura in the genjutsu. Now he’s swinging his legs, feeling into its warm, reassuring effects, and letting his imagination roam.
• Sakura…. The bare threads of thought fell away from him, slipping by like those pale petals her name conjured up. — reference to the cherry tree, her name and the genjutsu he applied to Sakura in the very first chapter. Now it has come back to him in a very different way. Appropriate finish to a chapter where the illusion has revealed as much about him as it has about her.
Spoiler Notes:
• The shape of an illusion — For this story, there are two types of genjutsu illusions: happier, feel-good kinds and terrifying, destructive kinds. Interrogating vs. intimidating, respectively. Katsuro’s genjutsus not as good as Itachi’s. Itachi prefers intimidation because it is quick and he doesn’t spare time for anyone. But what Katsuro lacks in jutsu he makes up for in personality. Some of Naruto’s characteristics show through here too: he’s learning to read the people around him, but with an inherent kindness; he’s interested in the intricacies of what makes the genjutsu work; and when he’s safe, like in the genjutsu with Sakura, he’s naturally happy. These aspects try to preserve some of his nice characteristics in an environment where none of them show. The illusion itself is a hazy meeting area in the middle for the two, like the cherry tree in the paneled room, it’s a safe place for both of them.
• The shapes were still there, or at least the memory of land, the log and the grey fire circle, but the rest disappeared beneath a shimmery golden haze. — The genjutsu is a color cue for woven throughout the rest of the story. Things that involve the two of them, and a perfect harmony that they can sometimes reach, is golden. So this little bubble that they are in, that is made of the two of them is uniquely golden too.
• This girl shook his beliefs about that wretched village to the core. And if he discovered that Sasuke was like her, someone totally different than what he’d been led to believe, then it was going to be hard to fulfill his mission. — Right now, Katsuro is revealing that he is not truly bad like the rest of Akatsuki. He’s not yet so jaded and bitter that he can’t change if he saw someone — even Sasuke — differently. Tiny foreshadowing his future discoveries about Sasuke. When he learns that Itachi had woven stories for him to believe that weren’t true.
• “You’re the demon container. Didn’t you know? They’d never let trash like you be a ninja,” a silver-haired man sneered. — It’s Mizuki from the original story. He treat Naruto the same way, and let’s out the secret of Naruto being the demon container. More on this whole exchange in flashbacks to come.
• However the genjutsu itself would live in her memory, a lingering signpost that someone else was there. If someone was looking for wisp of information, scanning her thoughts for something specifically related to him and what he contained, then anything he revealed might lead them right to him. — Foreshadowing a few chapters ahead, when Sakura returns home, and there are people in her village looking specifically for information about Naruto.
• Perhaps he could tell her something. Just a little. The thought of it was like opening a window on a closed room. It was a shaft of light in the darkness…. — This is a reference to the closed room in the temple, where the painted screens are hidden. Katsuro is opening a window to possibility, to trust, and remembering how good that feels.
<< Return to Chapter 13 • Go to Chapter 14 >>
by tricksie in Chapter Notes