Danzo sat in his office, his one visible eye fixed on the Root operative kneeling before him. He had been waiting for this report ever since he had sent a special team on a secret mission — a mission to quietly eliminate five Uchiha and bring back their Sharingan for his own use.
Even after the extermination, he hadn't gotten his hands on many of the Sharingan. Someone had destroyed most of the eyes. Fury burned inside him, half-believing that this was none other than Itachi himself.
Who could it be if not him?
However…
The result was nothing short of unacceptable. None of his Root shinobi had returned. And, to make matters worse, three out of the five Uchiha targets had somehow come back to the village alive.
"Damn those evil Uchiha…" he cursed out loud.
Danzo's expression darkened. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened. Those Uchiha must have killed his men.
"Tobirama-sensei was right, Uchiha are the clan of devils."
The thought made his blood boil. The shinobi he had sent were elite Root members — trained to kill without hesitation, stronger than most ANBU. For all of them to die was unheard of. And the Uchiha they had targeted weren't even part of the clan's elite fighters. Most of the truly dangerous ones had already been killed by Itachi.
'Something doesn't add up,' his mind had been warning him from the beginning.
How could those few Uchiha have been able to kill his Root operatives so easily? Even if they were stronger, his Root were trained to complete the mission even at the cost of their own lives. Danzo refused to believe that, even at the cost of their lives, those Root shinobi couldn't kill those damn Uchiha.
"No…" He wasn't buying it.
So, he ordered more Root operatives to investigate the site where the battle had taken place. If the Uchiha thought they could hide the truth, they were mistaken.
Now he was waiting for that very report.
"Danzo-sama, the investigation report has arrived," one of the Root members kneeled down in front of him.
"Go on," Danzo replied, devoid of any emotion. He just wished to know the report now.
The report they brought back, however, was frustrating.
The entire area had been burned to ashes. There were no bodies — no trace of the dead Uchiha or the Root members.
Still, there was one detail that caught Danzo's attention. The Root scouts had detected signs of massive ninjutsu being used.
Signs of the ground and trees being uprooted and missing large chunks of their mass.
The destruction was so great that parts of the forest had been wiped out completely. The fire that followed had erased almost all physical evidence.
Danzo's fingers tapped slowly against his desk. Large-scale ninjutsu of that level wasn't something just any Uchiha could perform.
Fire made sense — this was the Uchiha they were dealing with, after all — but such large-scale jutsu? Which Uchiha even had that?
It wasn't even common among the best fighters in the Uchiha clan. Most Uchiha used precision, throwing shuriken or kunai for long-distance takedowns. And in terms of high-damage jutsu, they relied on fire style.
However, there was one thing knocking at the back of Danzo's mind.
'More than half the Uchiha clan had been wiped out recently. It was only natural to assume that in such chaos, someone might have awakened a higher level of power.'
Danzo's eye narrowed as the pieces began to fall into place.
"A Mangekyo Sharingan…" That was the only explanation that made sense.
And if one of these survivors truly possessed it, then they would have to be dealt with — carefully, and without failure.
"Bring me all the information on the five Uchiha who went out."
"Yes, Danzo-sama…"
…
Kiyomi sat on the wooden floor of the small training hall, her eyes fixed on Izumi. She had been waiting for this moment ever since she first asked Izumi to teach her Genjutsu.
Just like Sukuna, she too had realized that she couldn't go on like how most shinobi cultivated here.
Not being able to perform Ninjutsu, she was almost crippled — first, her monstrous CE-consuming curse technique on top of her relatively small reserves, and now this.
It was like the world was just against her or something. However, then she realized that she could still use Genjutsu. Not like how others did it, but she wasn't like others either. For the first time in both her lives, her bloodline and clan heritage had really given her any tangible benefit.
She was an Uchiha, and she already had a three-tomoe Sharingan. To her surprise, she found that through the Sharingan she could still do Genjutsu.
Since then, she was elated. Now she had a way to get stronger.
Izumi stood in front of her, arms crossed. "Alright, Kiyomi. We'll start from the basics. Genjutsu is different from Ninjutsu or Taijutsu. Instead of attacking the body, you attack the mind. You create illusions so real that the target believes them.
It works by carefully manipulating a person's chakra network and creating an interference."
Kiyomi nodded, listening carefully.
Izumi continued, her tone calm but serious. "Most Genjutsu work by interfering with your opponent's senses — sight, sound, touch, even smell. If you control their senses, you control their perception of reality."
She knelt down so they were at the same eye level. "Now, our Sharingan gives us a huge advantage. With it, you can trap someone in an illusion just by making eye contact. Not even hand signs are needed. Meaning anyone fighting against a Uchiha will have a huge disadvantage. The stronger your Sharingan, the easier it will be for you to execute a Genjutsu, especially the more complex ones."
Kiyomi's eyes widened slightly. "So, it's not about how strong my chakra is?" Her question arose from her own lack of Curse Energy reserves. While she didn't understand how Curse Energy and chakra were co-related to the point that she could use both Genjutsu and also her own Curse Technique, her original problem still existed.
She just lacked enough blue to make any difference.
"It is," Izumi replied with a nod, crushing Kiyomi's high hopes.
"But with the Sharingan, it's also about precision. You weave chakra into their nervous system through sight. It's like planting a seed in their mind. If you do it right, they won't even realize they've been caught.
In Genjutsu, most of the time the quantity of chakra doesn't matter as much as the quality of chakra. You must have stronger spiritual energy than your opponent so they can't break your Genjutsu easily. Of course, most of the time, not letting the enemy know they're in a Genjutsu is for the better — as long as you can end them quickly."
Izumi straightened up and motioned for Kiyomi to stand. "We'll try something simple first. A basic visual Genjutsu — making your opponent see something that isn't there."
They faced each other. Izumi's eyes shifted into her Sharingan, the crimson pattern swirling slowly. "Remember to control your breathing. Focus your chakra into your eyes, and think about the illusion you want them to see. Unlike Ninjutsu, especially elemental transformation, Genjutsu typically doesn't need hand signs as long as you can project whatever Genjutsu you have in your mind into another's mind.
This is where we Uchiha have a huge advantage due to our Sharingan. Our Sharingan gives us the ability to do it without hand signs. Meaning even without knowing a particular Genjutsu, we can project whatever is in our mind into another's mind. Of course, it won't be as strong without training, or it will just be useless since the Genjutsu will be unfocused."
Kiyomi activated her own Sharingan. Three tomoe spun in each eye, making Izumi pause for a moment in surprise before she continued.
She was still amazed at how Kiyomi was able to unlock a three-tomoe Sharingan at such a young age.
"Good. Now, try to cast the illusion on me."
Kiyomi took a deep breath, focusing her chakra. For a moment, the air between them seemed to shimmer. Izumi smiled faintly. "Not bad for a first try. But you need more control. We'll work on that until it's second nature."
"Yes…" Kiyomi nodded.
Izumi taught Kiyomi for another two hours, helping her fix her Genjutsu technique and prepare her mindset for Genjutsu. Just as Kiyomi completed her first training under Izumi and, after thanking her, went out — Izumi heard a voice.
"Ah, seems like I have a classmate, and she's a cute girl. Cool."
Izumi paused. This voice… she knew exactly who this person was.
xxx
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