Konoha.
After many days, Takuno once again walked the roads of Konoha.
This time, he could say he had stayed outside for an extended period, following the request of Minato.
Although Minato wanted him to rest for a while longer, he hadn't been idle for a single moment while he was out.
"Hokage-sama, the mission is complete."
"Senpai, long time no see." Minato was momentarily stunned when he saw Takuno, then chuckled and replied.
"These are specialties I brought back for you from the Land of Rivers." Takuno took out some items and handed them to Minato.
"Senpai, you are too kind." Minato smiled. Although the items were not particularly valuable, they represented the other party's goodwill.
"In that case, I will return to the Sealing Team first." Takuno intended to leave after setting down the items.
"Aren't you going to rest after just completing a mission?" Minato was taken aback.
"No need, I rested while I was out." Takuno said this as he was already leaving the Hokage Office.
Minato watched the retreating figure, smiling and shaking his head. He placed the specialties aside, deciding to take them home after work; Kushina should like them very much. As for him now... he had to continue working.
The duties of the Hokage were numerous.
After Takuno returned to the Sealing Team, many members greeted him and reported the events that had occurred during his absence.
Overall, just as Takuno had expected, this year had been relatively peaceful. No major incidents had occurred, and there were no signs of any barrier-type seals being broken.
Takuno stretched, then resumed his research on that combination Sealing Jutsu.
He had reached the final stage and needed to hurry up and complete the research!
...Two months later.
Takuno looked at the technique formula in his hand, a sharp glint flickering in his eyes.
Finally, after lowering the difficulty, he successfully researched this set of Sealing Jutsu.
However, the specific effects still needed to be tested.
Calculating the time, his last mission was two months ago, so taking on another mission now was within the normal range.
Therefore, the next day, Takuno accepted a mission from Minato and left Konoha.
Why the next day? Naturally, because the mission he needed to accept required his subordinates to route the assignment to Konoha, which took some time.
In reality, those missions would sometimes be taken early by others. At that point, the assignment would become a normal mission, and even the ninja performing it usually wouldn't notice anything amiss.
After leaving Konoha, Takuno did not immediately go to the experimental base.
Although there were still some materials in the culture tanks there, they were becoming scarce, and he needed to capture more.
Moreover, when experimenting with this combination Sealing Jutsu, it was better to use 'fresh' materials.
After locating the materials through his subordinates' channels who were acting as bandit leaders on remote mountaintops, Takuno wasted no words and packaged them up one by one before taking them away.
Inside the experimental base.
Takuno looked at an experimental chamber.
This chamber was covered in carved incantations, which were the combination Sealing Jutsu he had inscribed.
It included a memory seal, the creation of an illusionary realm based on the inputted memories, and automatic deduction for blank intervals. The deductions might be slightly fabricated, but they should be sufficient.
At this moment, a person inside the experimental chamber was already trapped within the illusionary realm.
The flow of time within the illusionary realm was incomparable to reality. The strongest Genjutsu, Tsukuyomi, tortured Kakashi for three entire days within the illusionary realm in just an instant, and that might not even be Tsukuyomi's limit.
Takuno's Genjutsu naturally couldn't compare to Tsukuyomi, but it was sufficient for his use.
Soon, the illusionary realm ended. The material inside the experimental chamber opened his eyes in confusion. When he saw Takuno, his eyes lit up like a dog seeing its master. He then dropped to all fours and crawled around Takuno, displaying the behavior of a fully domesticated dog.
Takuno observed the subject's behavior. The subject had not originally been a dog. In the original technique formula, the memory seal was supposed to be immediately released after the illusionary realm ended, but since this was an experiment, he wanted to see the effect of the illusionary realm.
Now, the subject's original memories were completely sealed, leaving only the memory of being a dog.
This result indicated success.
Takuno nodded, then placed one hand on the subject's forehead, releasing the memory seal.
At this point, the subject looked confused. He gazed at Takuno, his eyes showing both fear and affection.
The fear stemmed from his previous memories, while the affection came from the dog memories.
However, fear ultimately gained the upper hand, and the subject tried to escape, only to be immediately subdued by Takuno and thrown into a culture tank.
Takuno was not surprised by this. After all, an extra segment of memory had been introduced, and even if this memory seemed somewhat fabricated compared to the original, it would still impact the original memories.
If the effect was particularly severe, it could lead to consequences like split personality.
If the memories created within the illusionary realm deviated too much from reality, a new personality might form.
Takuno had anticipated this side effect long ago, but gaining something always involved risk.
He couldn't possibly open the Mangekyo Sharingan without paying any price, could he?
Although he wished he could, it was clearly unrealistic.
Subsequently, Takuno performed several more experiments, and also modified the memory seal in the technique formula to release immediately after the illusionary realm ended, testing it a few more times.
Some subjects emerged timid as mice, while others believed they were supreme under heaven. The result was that the Jutsu and techniques they learned within the illusionary realm were naturally fake.
They could only be used inside the illusionary realm.
Once he confirmed that the effect essentially met his requirements.
Takuno created a Shadow Clone to watch outside. He then pressed his hand onto the technique formula outside the experimental chamber, inputting Chakra while also feeding in the memories he intended to simulate.
Following that, he also entered the experimental chamber, closed his eyes, and lay down.
The technique formula then activated. Countless incantations surged into Takuno's body, and the memory seal flowed into Takuno's mind.
The Shadow Clone watched outside, relieved that everything was proceeding exactly as in the previous experiments.
It wasn't entirely impossible that all previous experiments succeeded, only for it to fail when it came to him.
Next, he just had to wait for his main body to wake up. He knew that the main body was simulating the memories concerning Sasuke, primarily focusing on the Night of the Clan Downfall and his 'love-hate relationship' with Naruto.
That person successfully awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, and his memories were relatively complete. He hoped this would help the evolution of the Sharingan.
He could also sense that the main body's Chakra seemed to genuinely be gathering toward his eyes... After some time, Takuno slowly opened his eyes inside the experimental chamber, revealing his Sharingan.