No, You Can't

Uchiha Clan Grounds.

On a bench outside Uchiha Hospital.

Although Sasuke had said he wanted to wait for Itachi to come out.

Shamu still used a simple genjutsu to put Sasuke to sleep.

Then he had Iori take Sasuke back.

Shamu also used a Ninja Crow to send word to Shisui, telling him to remain at Four-Way Road and stay stationed there until he received further orders.

He did not sleep either, instead returning to the hospital.

By then, Itachi's treatment had already ended.

In truth, Itachi had simply overexerted his body. Once he had been put on various nutrient infusions, the treatment should have been finished.

However, Tsunade was deeply concerned about the condition of Itachi's eyes.

There had not been much time between the last examination of Itachi's eyes and this one.

Yet Itachi's eyes had already deteriorated into an extremely bad state.

Tsunade was certain that Itachi's vision would decline drastically this time.

But since he was unconscious, she still could not determine exactly how much it had worsened.

It seemed Shamu really had not lied to her. The Mangekyō Sharingan truly did have such a drawback.

Tsunade sighed.

"Tsunade, how is Itachi?" Shamu pushed open the door and entered.

Tsunade looked at Shamu with a complicated expression. "Itachi's life isn't in danger, but his eyes..."

Shamu sat down beside the bed.

His expression darkened slightly. "Mm, I know."

"Great power always comes with risks. If Itachi's eyes hadn't restrained space-time ninjutsu, both of us would have been in grave danger."

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. Wasn't her Strength of a Hundred Sealings Technique the same? If she fought at high intensity...

"Itachi will probably need to recuperate for a while this time."

"But these nutrient infusions will help his body recover faster."

Shamu nodded. "I understand. Thank you for your hard work, Tsunade. Go get some rest."

Seeing Shamu's expression, Tsunade guessed that he wanted to stay here and wait for Itachi to wake up, so she said nothing more.

She stretched and yawned. "I'll sleep for a while. Have Shizune cover my morning class."

"Understood. I'll arrange it."

After Tsunade left, Shamu sat by the bed and closed his eyes to rest.

He was not too worried about Itachi, since he could check Itachi's condition through the faction panel.

He simply needed to work out the plans ahead with Itachi the moment he woke up.

He had sent word to Orochimaru last night. Orochimaru should be making his move soon.

With nothing to do but wait, Shamu closed his eyes and began simulated combat training in the Dream Realm.

After beating everyone down in the Dream Realm, Shamu left Sasuke behind, tied him up, and set him aside.

Then he began training his Susanoo.

Ever since he had retrieved the divided ocular power from Fugaku, Shamu's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan had finally become truly complete.

With the ocular power of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and the Chakra of the Uzumaki Clan augmenting him.

Shamu theoretically already possessed the ability to unleash a Complete Body Susanoo.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had the hardware and could use it directly.

But in reality, shaping a Complete Body Susanoo was far more difficult than Shamu had imagined.

To materialize such an enormous amount of Chakra and ultimately shape it into the Martial God Form required an astronomical amount of ocular power and Chakra.

And a Susanoo that failed to take shape would quickly collapse.

Madara could do it because he had fought countless battles and lived through a second life.

But why Sasuke could manage it was something Shamu could not figure out.

In the end, he could only guess that it was because Sasuke was Indra's reincarnation.

After failing several times in his training, Shamu killed the Sasuke in the Dream Realm and returned to reality.

Seeing that Itachi had not awakened yet, Shamu sat beside the bed and began thinking.

Training in the Dream Realm consumed nothing, so unlike reality, there was no need to wait for ocular power to recover after it had been used up.

Shamu had trained his Susanoo even more than Obito had.

Yet under these circumstances, the form Shamu was most familiar with was still the third-stage Susanoo.

And in that stage, he could rapidly activate the Ama-no-Murakumo Style and Susanoo-Mikoto's Eye.

Shamu had now set two paths of advancement for himself. One was to continue training his Susanoo until he could stabilize its Complete Body form.

And after reaching the Complete Body form, to become proficient in using the Ama-no-Murakumo Style and Susanoo Eye.

At the same time, he would simulate the cultivation of three kinds of Sage Mode in the Dream Realm, seeking the Sage Mode most compatible with the human body.

And master all seven Chakra natures.

The term "Chakra nature" was not actually precise. More accurately, it was the nature transformation of Chakra.

Only by possessing a certain nature could one specifically train its transformation.

Shamu originally had only lightning and fire natures, with fire as his main nature and lightning as his secondary one. Many advanced ninjutsu involved nature transformations.

Without the corresponding nature transformation, it was impossible to perform such advanced ninjutsu.

Natures were generally innate. Acquiring them through training was extremely difficult, nearly impossible.

Few people would do something so laborious and unrewarding.

Because both specializing in the nature transformation one already possessed and developing an entirely new nature transformation from scratch required a considerable amount of time.

With the former, one could see one's progress. With the latter, one might spend an enormous amount of time only to achieve disappointing results.

But once Shamu gained elemental affinity, he could turn the impossible into possible when training that nature.

That was why whenever there was a mission that increased elemental affinity, Shamu would consider whether he could complete it.

As long as he obtained elemental affinity, training ninjutsu of that nature would yield twice the result with half the effort, and developing its nature transformation would come naturally.

At present, Shamu still lacked wind and yang in terms of elemental affinity.

However, the Uzumaki Clan physique already included yang. If things went smoothly and Nagato was brought over as well, yang should be enough.

Although Shamu possessed lightning himself, he intended to begin training it only after obtaining elemental affinity, which would make things much easier.

For a Kekkei Mōra like that of the Otsutsuki Clan, the minimum requirement was the fusion of all seven nature transformations.

Shamu had never thought that he absolutely had to become an Otsutsuki.

But he could strengthen himself according to the Otsutsuki path of evolution.

Therefore, the fusion of all seven nature transformations was the minimum requirement.

Shamu's most precious ability now was undoubtedly the Six Paths Mode he had obtained from Naruto.

But the value of Six Paths Mode was not merely its combat power. The power of the Six Paths could transform the body.

With the foundation of possessing every nature, what would his body become after being strengthened? Shamu was greatly looking forward to it.

As he pondered, Itachi's body moved slightly on the bed.

He showed signs of waking up.

Shamu snapped back to attention. Sure enough, Itachi had already opened his eyes.

Itachi shifted his body and discovered that he felt as though he had been pricked by needles all over. It was the aftereffect of excessively overtaxing his body.

His eyes in particular were in excruciating pain.

The people beside him all appeared doubled, but Itachi could still make out that it was Shamu.

"Is that you, Senior?"

Shamu took Itachi's hand.

"Can you still see me clearly?"

Itachi gave a quiet response.

"Somewhat."

Shamu shook his head. "No, you can't."

"You can no longer see people clearly."

Itachi froze for a moment, then nodded.

Shamu smiled faintly and began explaining the arrangements to Itachi...