Two days later, early in the morning, Akaisen landed outside the Tsuchigumo Fortress on top of Mount Tsuchigumo, and all ten of them frowned at the sight.
The Tsuchigumo Fort was in ruins, so devastated that it looked like some natural disaster had struck it.
"Kakashi, Yamato, Tokuma, Torune, Shin, Hana, Sasuke, and Yugao. The eight of you are heading to the Tsuchigumo Village, and you are going to give the Hokage's scroll to the Village Chief. Stay there, guard the Clan. Kakashi is in charge of your group."
"What about you, Captain?" Shin asked, furrowing his brows.
"I am taking Izumi with me to find Utakata."
"Will that be alright?" Hana frowned, a little worried.
"Yes, the more people we have, the more targets Rokubi will have. It will make the fight tricky." He smiled. "There's a residual Chakra of the Tailed Beast in the air here, and I am curious what kind of enemy the Jinchuriki of the Six-Tails was up against."
His words turned their expressions very solemn.
"So, you are going to have all the fun, eh?" Sasuke grinned, and Enma smiled at his words.
"Yes. Go now. The enemy could be attacking the Village." He said and created a Shadow Clone, who went together with them.
Enma kept his link with his Shadow Clone, and when the Team left his Sensory Radar, he slowly pulled the blindfold down and opened his eyes.
Izumi, who was standing by his side, gasped in surprise, but the next instant, he grabbed her hand, and her mind blanked.
The two saw a vision where two Tailed Beasts were fighting.
Iwa had sent their Jinchuriki of the Five-Tails, Han, to bring them the Tsuchigumo Clan's Kinjutsu, and Utakata was protecting a girl with golden hair, who seemed to be around thirteen or fourteen years old. Enma, however, could tell that she was older than she looked.
Izumi did not see much of the fight, just glimpses of it, and then her consciousness locked onto Rokubi's Chakra and flew towards it. A couple of thousand kilometres were covered in the blink of an eye, and they finally saw the Kiri Jinchuriki, who was their target, unconscious inside a cave, and a very concerned and anxious young girl sitting by his side, helping him control his body temperature with wet cloth strips that she was putting on his forehead.
The scene changed and she saw a glimpse of the Iwa Squad, where Han was nursing his wounds. They were about a thousand kilometres away from Utakata's location.
Izumi felt a little dizzy when her consciousness returned and she opened her eyes, but she quickly grabbed Enma's shoulders and stared right into his eyes, subconsciously activating her Sharingan and then her Mangekyo.
"Your eyes, they are different from Kushina-sama's eyes." She frowned.
"Are they?" He smiled at her.
"Yes... you have an octagram in place of the pupil, at the centre of the vortex. It's bluish-silver, and it keeps blinking..." she frowned. "Her eyes don't have this octagram, there's just a wormhole..." She stopped speaking when she saw the octagram suddenly disappear, and now his eyes were the same as Kushina's eyes. "This..."
Izumi stopped again when she saw him deactivate his Dojutsu, and now, his eyes were beautiful violet, just like how his aunt's eyes normally were.
Her mother believed that the eyes of the Uzumaki Matriarch were a sign of her Sage Mode, but Izumi knew better. She was certain that they were a Dojutsu, and when she had once asked Kushina about it, she had not answered. Importantly, she had not denied that her eyes were a Dojutsu.
"What are they called?" She hopefully asked, and Enma curiously stared at her beautiful face and her brows that were furrowed. She looked cute, but he was entranced by her beauty right now.
"Zennogan. It's a Dojutsu unique to Pureblood Uzumaki."
Izumi was shocked at his words.
"What?"
"It has been kept sealed for the last fifteen hundred years, which is why there are no records of it, not even in our Clan. Its knowledge was only passed down from the Clan Leader to their Heir or a person closest to them; their most trusted."
"Why this secrecy?" She frowned.
"It's dangerous." He harmlessly said. "For the user."
Izumi frowned at his words.
"How?"
"It gives you a God Complex." He grinned, and she narrowed her eyes at him before she tapped his head.
"Right."
"Your eyes are incomplete, Izumi."
The sudden words froze her, and she furrowed her brows.
Seeing her reaction, he curiously tilted his head.
"You know?"
"Yes." She met his eyes and then smiled. "And I would rather not think about making them compete."
"Why?"
Izumi kept looking into his eyes, and a few moments later, told him the truth.
"To make my Mangekyo complete and eternal, I need to replace my eyes with the Mangekyo of my closest blood relative. I already tried replacing them with Mama's eyes," she informed him, and he surprisedly looked at her, "It did not work."
Enma frowned and then understandingly nodded his head.
"You need Akane's eyes. She is your closest blood relative."
"Yes, and she does not have Mangekyo Sharingan. I would rather she never awakens it." She whispered and lowered her eyes, but then glared at him when he chuckled at her words.
"Because in order to awaken them, one needs to go through the feeling of loss. Right?"
"Yes. I awakened my Mangekyo on the eve of the massacre... when I saw Mama and Akane..." Enma placed his finger on her lips, quietening her.
"I know." He gently said.
Izumi pulled away and raised her brow at him.
"So, what does Zennogan do?"
"A lot. After all, my eyes are complete." He grinned, and when she narrowed her eyes at him, he apologetically smiled.
She watched him close his eyes, activate the seals on his eyelids again, and put the blindfold back on.
"Let's go. We are going after Utakata," He said, and she nodded her head before following him.
"Enma."
"Yes?"
"Are your eyes the reason you are able to copy the Jutsus people use?"
"Yes, and they are the reason why my Mind's Eye of Kagura is no longer a technique. It's the power of my eyes."
"Oh..."
"Your ability to peek into the future is interesting."
"H-how did you..."
"I figured. Sometimes, you fake your emotions, almost as if you already knew what was going to be said and happen, and I sensed your Uzumaki Blood healing your Left Eye when we were looking into each other's eyes earlier. You have started to subconsciously use it."
She furrowed her brows and remained quiet.
"Don't worry. I don't know what your other eye can do or about your other abilities..."
"My right eye has the power called Kazenokami. It's an all-powerful Wind Release attack. My target gets instantly caged inside a sphere where Microscopic Wind Blades are raging, and they enter the body and destroy it from the inside, targeting the cells. I can, however, decide to make the blades bigger and cut the body into pieces as well."
"Nice." He smiled. "That's terrifying."
"It is," she smiled at him, "now, tell me about one of your abilities."
"I can cast a Genjutsu so strong that even you would lose the sense of reality."
"Really? Does it have a name?"
"No." He shook his head.
"Use it on me." She activated her Mangekyo and asked, and instantly, the world around her distorted.
When her mind cleared up, she froze. Her body went cold, and her lips trembled as she watched her left arm, covered in Wind Chakra, piercing Enma's chest.
A fleeting voice whispered to her that it was not real, but then she felt his warm blood drop on her arm from his mouth, watched his life disappear, and tears started leaking out of her eyes, where her Mangekyo was constantly revolving, trying to protect her mind and understand this Genjutsu and break out of it.
As soon as she pulled her arm out of the Uzumaki's chest, he fell over, and she instinctively reached forward to grab him, but the world started distorting again.
Izumi stared at Enma's smile, who was standing unharmed in front of her, and then stepped forward and gently wiped her tears.
"Sorry about that."
She narrowed her eyes at him and pulled back before continuing to move.
"You did not need to do that. You could have shown me something else."
"Yes, but I was trying to check how your eyes would react to trauma."
At his words, she grabbed him and pinned him against the tree they were close to.
"You are not using this on Sasuke and Akane!" She raised her voice, understanding his intentions or perhaps already knowing what he wanted to say.
"It might help them awaken their Mangekyo..."
"No!"
"Izumi..."
"No." She coldly said, and he sighed.
"We will talk about it later..."
"I said no."
"Your love for your sister clouds your judgement right now. And ironically, you would rather have her go through a painful experience than have her grow stronger in a safe environment."
"I do not want her to go through it at all!"
"So, you don't want her to grow stronger."
"She..." Izumi froze when he pulled her in a hug.
"She will be fine. Trust me. Sasuke will be fine too." He gently said. "Do you think I would harm them?"
She pressed her forehead against his shoulder, and he tightened his arms around her waist as her body quivered.
"What are you going to show them?" Her voice trembled as she asked that question.
"Their greatest fear." He lightly said. "I will show Sasuke what he fears the most. Itachi killing Akane. And she will witness him being killed..."
"Please don't..."
"It will be like a dream, Izumi. Not a real loss, but a sense of it. After waking up, hopefully, with their Mangekyo, they will just treat it all like a nightmare."
"And if they don't awaken their Mangekyo this way?"
"It's worth a shot." He gently said. "Sasuke needs those eyes if he ever wishes to stand a chance against Itachi."
At those words, she turned quiet and stayed silent for the next few minutes.
"I have a name for your Genjutsu."
"Yes?"
"Amanoyume."
Enma smiled at the name.
"I will take it."
Izumi nodded her head and then slowly separated from his arms.
"Let's go." She rushed ahead, and the Uzumaki quickly caught up with her.
A while later, when her mood improved, she finally asked a question that was making her very curious.
"Do these eyes help you with Sage Mode?"
"They help you master it, yes. I haven't been able to do it yet though. Kushina gets all those vortex seals all over her body when she uses Sage Mode and activates Zennogan. She can use it without activating Zennogan as well, but that Sage Mode does not last for long, and only one Vortex Seal appears on her body. The one on her forehead."
"How long does it last?"
"30 minutes without Zennogan."
"And with it?"
"I don't know, but it's a very long time."
She fell into a deep thought, and he glanced her way when he sensed her grow a little hesitant.
"Yes?"
"I have a request." She did not look at him as she spoke.
"Yes?"
"I want the Snake Contract." She shyly said, and he smiled at her.