After his Shadow Clone returned, Ensei Uchiha felt awful for quite some time.
Having three or four days' worth of memories crammed into his mind was genuinely unpleasant. If the duration had been any longer, it could have been dangerous.
As expected, the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu had been classified as a forbidden jutsu.
With so many vast and varied memories flooding back, Naruto would probably have suffered a mental breakdown long ago if he hadn't been so carefree.
After setting a time limit for how long he would use Shadow Clones, Ensei Uchiha summoned a Ninja Cat and asked him to report the general details of Fugaku Uchiha's latest trip.
Soon afterward, Ensei Uchiha received the scroll delivered by the Cat Ninja Village and began working busily in the Laboratory.
This was the first sample of flesh and blood from a Mangekyō Sharingan. He had to cultivate it carefully and make sure it didn't grow wrong.
If he could cultivate a Mangekyō Sharingan with Kamui...
Just thinking about it made Ensei Uchiha feel a little excited.
Meanwhile, when Fugaku Uchiha heard the Ninja Cat's report, his expression grew grim.
After that, the Uchiha Clan began a series of intensive training sessions, focused mainly on learning a forbidden jutsu that had been sealed away for a long time—Izanagi.
At the same time, Fugaku Uchiha established a rule: anyone who used Izanagi without facing a life-or-death crisis would have their eyes gouged out and be imprisoned for life.
He had set this rule because, historically, the Uchiha Clan had nearly been wiped out because of Izanagi. That was why the jutsu had been designated forbidden.
But now, for the safety of the clan members, even a forbidden jutsu had to be used.
Still, every ninja who used Izanagi would have their reasons judged by the Council of Elders.
If they judged that someone had broken the rules and used the forbidden jutsu without authorization, the outcome would naturally be having their eyes gouged out, their Chakra crippled, and being imprisoned for life.
Perhaps because he hadn't managed to find Shisui Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha, the clan leader, seemed extremely anxious. He had even spread the forbidden jutsu Izanagi throughout the clan.
But without any leads, there was nothing he could do, no matter how worried he was.
As time passed, almost everyone accepted that Shisui Uchiha was dead.
The only one who still held out hope was probably Itachi Uchiha.
At that point, Itachi Uchiha didn't have a very good reputation within the clan. It wasn't that anyone else had ostracized him; rather, he had isolated himself from the entire clan.
It all stemmed from the Sharingan. To the Uchiha Clan, awakening the Sharingan was a source of pride.
No one cared what had happened during the process of awakening it.
Because of this, Itachi Uchiha believed that the entire Uchiha Clan was narrow-minded, a bunch of people who pursued power and stopped at nothing to get it.
Ironically, Uchiha who truly didn't understand love couldn't awaken the Sharingan at all.
Faced with this white-eyed wolf, who had quietly grown up, Ensei Uchiha had no intention of trying to educate him.
He knew very well that some idiots simply couldn't be reasoned with.
What he hadn't expected was that Itachi Uchiha would come to him and ask him to rescue Shisui Uchiha.
"No! I don't have time! I'm not rescuing him! I can't save him!"
Ensei Uchiha brushed him off with a few casual remarks, but Itachi Uchiha clearly wasn't so easily dismissed.
"My father once said you're the strongest person in the Uchiha Clan."
"Why? Why would even you give up on him?"
Faced with Itachi Uchiha's accusation, Ensei Uchiha couldn't help but laugh coldly.
"Oh, you know that, do you?"
"How do you know I didn't go save him? And how do you know the people in the clan only care about power?"
"Educating a foolish kid like you should be your father's job, but unfortunately, your father has failed you."
"Since that's the case, I'll let you learn about the origins of the Uchiha Clan."
With that, Ensei Uchiha cast a genjutsu on Itachi Uchiha.
The gap in their ocular powers was enormous. Though Ensei Uchiha wasn't particularly skilled at genjutsu, he could still make Itachi Uchiha experience what true power meant in the illusion.
The genjutsu was simple. It merely made Itachi Uchiha experience the events of the anime's original storyline.
If it could make Itachi Uchiha awaken the Mangekyō as a result, that would be very useful for his later research.
Several hours later, Itachi Uchiha finally woke up.
Unfortunately, even after experiencing the entire original anime storyline in the genjutsu, Itachi Uchiha still hadn't awakened the Sharingan.
"Impure World Reincarnation... No, I was just caught in a genjutsu? It felt so real. That kind of power..."
Itachi Uchiha was confused for a moment, but soon recovered. Even so, he still couldn't quite believe what was real.
"After going through all that, he still didn't awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. Looks like genjutsu really won't work. He has to experience it for real."
"No wonder my attempts to clone the Mangekyō keep failing. I probably need a genuine experience, too."
Ensei Uchiha murmured, paying no attention at all to Itachi Uchiha.
After a while, Itachi Uchiha finally came to his senses. A trace of fear showed in his gaze as he looked at Ensei Uchiha.
"Th-that genjutsu just now..."
Itachi Uchiha wanted to ask something, but when he looked at the person across from him, who was the same age as he was, he felt as if heaven and earth lay between them.
"If I hadn't been here, what happened in the genjutsu would have been something you experienced in real life."
"Is that the kind of future you wanted?"
Hearing Ensei Uchiha's question, Itachi Uchiha couldn't answer.
The memories felt so real, as if he had truly lived through them himself.
"Now that I've punished you, I can also answer the question you asked me in the first place."
"The Uchiha Clan won't abandon any of its members. But sometimes, there's only so much anyone can do. Even I can't see every possible future."
"Shisui had only been missing a short time when definite news arrived."
"I knew it was a trap, but I went anyway."
"Unfortunately, while it was indeed a trap, there was no bait in it."
"If you want to bring Shisui back, think of a way to increase your own strength."
Itachi Uchiha left in a daze. Ensei Uchiha didn't care what effect the genjutsu might have on him.
This world really was bizarre. A few years ago, he had worried about the Night of the Clan Massacre and feared he wouldn't grow strong enough to keep up with Itachi Uchiha.
But now, he could completely ignore those threats.
Cloning the Mangekyō Sharingan had run into a few snags. But he had successfully cloned the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, so next...
It was time to learn a forbidden jutsu. Izanagi seemed like a good choice.
Fugaku Uchiha was currently making a big push to teach forbidden jutsu within the clan, so learning it should be easy.
As for where to put those cloned Sharingan...
Simple. All he needed was Sealing Jutsu. He had to admit, Sealing Jutsu really was a remarkable invention.
However, since his body already had one seal, he wanted a second kind of seal as well.
It looked like it was time to talk to Konoha's higher-ups.
The Uchiha Clan's Sealing Jutsu wasn't comprehensive enough. What a shame the Uzumaki Clan had disappeared.
Asking Fugaku Uchiha for Izanagi went smoothly. Ensei Uchiha barely had to say a word, and Fugaku even taught him carefully.
That made sense. Ensei Uchiha was now the clan's most important prodigy. As clan leader, Fugaku would never allow anything to happen to him.
In Fugaku Uchiha's eyes, Ensei Uchiha's standing probably surpassed Itachi Uchiha's by now.
Otherwise, why hadn't Fugaku noticed that Itachi Uchiha hadn't been home for several days?
Before you continue