(Fūinjutsu Ψ Ninchi Fukyōwa) Sealing Art Ψ Cognitive Dissonance
Type: Supplementary
Rank: A-Rank
Range: N/A (Self)
Chakra: N/A (30 (Paradigm Shift)
Damage: N/A
Description: Derived from the concept of an existing Fūinjutsu whose purpose was to bring order to an already chaotic mind, Cognitive Dissonance is a body seal that takes advantage of existing flaws within the user's psyche to intentionally split the user's mind to save it from itself. This is done through the techniques namesake, Cognitive Dissonance, which is a psychological phenomena that occurs when a person person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideals or values, or performs an action in contradiction to one of these, which results in psychological stress. For example, if one promised that they would never harm another living being, but also swore to never let harm befall one they loved no matter what, and had to choose between killing someone to abide by the latter belief, or allowing the latter to die in service to the former belief, regardless of which one they chose, they would experience Cognitive Dissonance.
Cognitive Dissonance, when applied, identifies conflicting beliefs, ideas, values, etc, targeting these aspects as one would memories and other metaphysical aspects, then forcefully separates them, sealing them independently from one another. Visually the seal takes the form of a kanji, sigil, glyph, etc unique to the user, with branching paths that break off from the original design forming a script that can encompass a wider area on the user's body. As each separate "target" of the seal's effects naturally have their own heavily ingrained beliefs, they develop into an "Alter Ego" of the user's original persona, which can deviate heavily in all aspects, however most importantly they can develop entirely opposing interests in combat style. While the original persona might prefer ranged, Elemental attacks, one Alter Ego might have an affinity for close quarters combat and identify as a Taijutsu/ Kenjutsu specialist, while another might specialize in Medical Ninjutsu due to a desire to bring no harm to others. This results in each Alter Ego becoming classified as "Specialists" for a given field, which must be specified within the user's biography per each Alter Ego. While an Alter Ego is the active persona, any specialties the biography possesses that are applicable with that Alter Ego's chosen field are automatically converted into a specialty for that field. For example if the original persona is a single handseal Fire Release specialist, and one of their Alter Ego's identify as a Lightning Release specialist, while that Alter Ego is the active persona, they can perform Lightning Release with a single handseal instead of Fire, and are otherwise treated as a specialist of that Element, field, etc. Regardless of the chosen field(s) the specialties themselves remain unchanged, as the change stems from the Alter Ego's personal preference, and not the feats the user is actively capable of. In instances where an Alter Ego's chosen field are incompatible with a biography's specialty, it is rendered useless and provides no benefit to the user. The seal can be controlled at the user's discretion via their own Chakra, allowing them to perform a "Paradigm Shift", allowing them to swap between their Alter Ego's. When in combat this can only be done once every 3 turns, and at the cost of 30 Chakra. Outside of combat the Shift can be performed without cooldown, but requires the same 30 Chakra per Shift.
Note: Requires Advanced Fūinjutsu, and can only be used by Imperfect.
Note: The user can have up to 4 Alter Ego's, not including their "original" persona.