The Path to Strength

As his vision grew blurry, Izuna couldn't help feeling weighed down by the drawbacks of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

At that moment, he couldn't help thinking of someone—Obito Uchiha.

That future quasi-big bad who used the name "Madara Uchiha" and Kamui to show off everywhere.

But what gave Izuna even more to think about was the BUG of how he could use Kamui almost without limit with just one Mangekyō Sharingan.

Although Obito Uchiha couldn't use Susanoo because he had only one Mangekyō Sharingan, he used his Mangekyō ability, Kamui, far too often.

After all, he was able to deceive so many powerful people in the Shinobi World and make them firmly believe that he was "Madara Uchiha" thanks to his peerless Kamui.

Every time Obito appeared wearing the Spiral Mask, he used Kamui.

For example, Izuna, Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha, and others all had Mangekyō Sharingan.

If they used their Mangekyō abilities—Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and the like—that many times, without even using Susanoo, their eyes would inevitably go blind.

Kakashi was an even better comparison. Though they had the same person's eye, he was exhausted, even completely drained, every time he used Kamui.

Obito Uchiha, on the other hand, acted as if nothing had happened.

Why could Obito Uchiha use Kamui so casually? He used it so often that the number of times rivaled Naruto's Rasengan practice.

After pondering for a long time, Izuna reached one conclusion—Hashirama Cells.

When Obito Uchiha had been on the verge of death, Madara had implanted Hashirama Cells in him, allowing him to use some simple Wood Release techniques.

And Hashirama Cells had been put to use countless times in the future.

Danzo, Orochimaru, and others had all tried to awaken Wood Release by implanting Hashirama Cells.

Even Naruto Uzumaki, who had lost an arm, had a new one rebuilt using Hashirama Cells.

In other words, Obito Uchiha might have been able to use Kamui without limit because he had Hashirama Cells implanted in him.

That stuff could at least greatly counteract the side effects, if not eliminate them entirely.

But Izuna didn't really want to use that method.

First, he didn't want to turn into something neither human nor ghost like Danzo, or end up with a disgusting Hashirama face embedded in his chest like Madara later did.

Second, he had no way to get Hashirama Cells right now.

And even if he did, he wouldn't know how to use them.

Even so, this had given Izuna a breakthrough in reducing the side effects of the Mangekyō Sharingan—Senjutsu Chakra!

Hashirama Cells contained Senjutsu Chakra, so it was quite possible that Senjutsu Chakra could counter some of the Mangekyō's side effects.

Besides, his Wind Release: Rasengan would also need Senjutsu Chakra to evolve into Wind Style: Rasenshuriken.

"Senjutsu Chakra, huh..."

Izuna murmured to himself.

The most famous places for senjutsu training were, of course, the training grounds of the Konoha Sannin: Mount Myōboku, Shikkotsu Forest, and Ryūchi Cave.

Unfortunately, he had no idea where any of them were.

He would also need that group of toads to lead him to Mount Myōboku.

Izuna closed his eyes and pondered again, then thought of another source of senjutsu.

A brat named Jugo, who served Sasuke Uchiha.

His clan could absorb Natural Energy and enter Sage Transformation from birth, but they could also easily lose control of their emotions.

Orochimaru had studied Jugo's Sage Transformation and developed the Cursed Seal. Sasuke Uchiha had also learned senjutsu through the Cursed Seal.

"I remember that clan lived on a small island in the north... Had they emerged during the Warring States Period?"

As Izuna pondered, Uchiha Soshu appeared again.

This time, instead of using the Body Flicker Technique, he strode in through the main entrance. "Vice Clan Leader, the victory banquet is about to begin."

Izuna came back to himself and realized that, without him noticing, the day had already turned to night.

"Soshu, help me look into some personal matters."

"Yes. Just tell me what you need."

The victory banquet was held at Madara's residence, in the center of the clan grounds.

When Izuna entered the main hall, Madara, as the host and clan leader, naturally sat in the central seat.

The three elders, whose opinions were aligned and who held enough power to even oppose the clan leader's orders, sat in the three foremost seats on Madara's right.

Farther down sat elite jonin and above, including Uchiha Shin and Takihiko Uchiha, who had supported Uchiha Gakugyo's bid to become clan leader in the past.

On Madara's left sat Uchiha Soshu and Uchiha Enko, who were of the same generation as Izuna and Madara, along with representatives of the younger generation, such as Ise Uchiha, whom Izuna had brought back from the north.

The empty seat at the very front of the left side was, without a doubt, Izuna's.

Once everyone was seated, Madara stood and raised his cup. "First, I want to thank Izuna and the many clansmen from the northwest for fighting so bravely and defeating the Five Allied Clans..."

Madara wasn't much of a speaker, but a few words of congratulations weren't beyond him. After offering some pleasantries, he drained his cup first.

After Madara, the Great Elder and the others took turns making speeches. They were clearly much more eloquent than Madara, and had Ise Uchiha and the others who had returned from Northwest Stone City laughing throughout.

After several rounds of drinks, Ise Uchiha suddenly said, "On the northwestern battlefield, things were too urgent for us to look into this at the time..."

With that, Ise Uchiha stood and faced Takihiko Uchiha, who was in charge of affairs and responsible for transporting provisions. "When supplies were running low on the northwestern battlefield, the clan leader sent us a shipment of food. The Vice Clan Leader said it was attacked by the Shimura Clan, and all the food was destroyed. Lord Takihiko, did you know about this?"

Takihiko Uchiha was taken aback. Everyone at the banquet turned to look at him, and the Great Elder, Kōshi Uchiha, frowned. "Oh? This happened?"

The Shimura Clan had ambushed a food convoy—such a major incident, and he, the Great Elder, hadn't even heard about it?

Takihiko Uchiha was at a loss for words. He really hadn't known. The convoy had been ambushed?

Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, Izuna smiled faintly and raised a hand. "Forget it, everyone. This matter was handled in secret, so it's only natural that Director Takihiko didn't know."

In an instant, everyone's attention shifted from Takihiko Uchiha to Izuna.

"Izu... No, Vice Clan Leader, what exactly happened?"

The one who asked was Uchiha Shin, a peak-level jonin and a former supporter of Uchiha Gakugyo.

"This matter was also key to defeating the Five Allied Clans. There's no need to go into every detail. The important thing is what the Uchiha should do next."

Halfway through, Izuna gave Uchiha Soshu a look.

At that, Uchiha Soshu immediately stood and said, "According to our Intelligence Department's investigation, yesterday the Shimura Clan leader, Keizou Shimura, and thirty Shimura shinobi headed for the western region."