After dozens of death-row inmates had contributed their lives over the past while, the Emotion Serum developed by Ensei Uchiha had finally yielded its first results.
The next thing he needed was a test subject.
He'd only just made it, and it hadn't been tested. There was no way he'd risk using it on himself.
After a brief moment of thought, Ensei Uchiha took the serum and went to see Fugaku Uchiha.
That night, Fugaku Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, and Itachi Uchiha came together to Ensei Uchiha's Laboratory.
When the three arrived, Ensei Uchiha was conducting an experiment to clone Sharingan.
By now, Ensei Uchiha had mastered the technique of rapid cell growth and had successfully made the cloned Sharingan awaken.
Unfortunately, the cloned eyes were all Single Tomoe Sharingan. Ensei Uchiha had yet to figure out a way to increase the ocular power of the Sharingan.
Perhaps cultivating them with Hashirama Cells would work, but that would take far too long. They were only Three Tomoe, after all. There was no need to go to such trouble.
As the Single Tomoe Sharingan in front of Ensei Uchiha suddenly withered, a trace of pain flashed across Fugaku Uchiha's face.
But he quickly realized something. Where had this Single Tomoe Sharingan come from?
Ensei Uchiha did have Sharingan in stock, but they were basically all Three-Tomoe Sharingan. He didn't even have any Two-Tomoe ones, let alone Single Tomoe.
"Ensei... that eye..."
Fugaku Uchiha couldn't spare a thought for anything else and hurriedly asked.
If Ensei Uchiha really could clone Sharingan, would that be a good thing or a bad thing for the Uchiha Clan?
"It was just a failed experiment..."
"Anyway, now that all three of you are here, does that mean Itachi has decided to be my test subject?"
Ensei Uchiha looked over the three of them and asked calmly.
"I wouldn't pass up the chance to obtain the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"But, Ensei... there's something I want to ask you. The genjutsu you showed me some time ago..."
Itachi Uchiha asked Ensei Uchiha about the question that had been troubling him all this time.
"Oh, that. Didn't I tell you? That was your future. It's just that I've already changed it."
"Honestly, I don't like you very much. You're too stupid. What could possibly have made you join forces with a traitor and wipe out the entire Uchiha Clan?"
"If I hadn't awakened the power to see the future, I would probably have been one of the people you killed."
Ensei Uchiha's words left Fugaku Uchiha standing nearby utterly stunned. This was the first time he'd heard that the Uchiha Clan's future could turn out like this.
He couldn't bring himself to believe that his own son would make such a decision.
Faced with Ensei Uchiha's accusations, Itachi Uchiha remained silent and offered no response.
Ensei Uchiha didn't care about his reaction. As he adjusted the dosage of the Emotion Serum, he continued:
"Never mind. Maybe I've seen too many futures. Sometimes, I don't care much about things like this anymore. In any case, as long as I'm here, if you make that decision again, I'll kill you first."
"Do you know why I chose you for this experiment?"
"It wasn't because you awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan in the future I saw. It's because you have the potential to awaken it."
"Don't think I mean talent or anything like that. In the Uchiha Clan, potential for the Sharingan has nothing to do with mastery of ninjutsu. It has to do with... emotions!"
At the word "emotions," Itachi Uchiha abruptly raised his head and stared intently at Ensei Uchiha.
"You really are... incredibly stupid. But people like you, foolish as you are and so devoted to those you care about, are more likely to awaken the Mangekyō."
Ensei Uchiha shook his head helplessly and reminded him:
"If you're still alive later, go read the clan's history. Don't focus on the names of the Mangekyō. Look at what their owners went through before awakening them."
"You've always thought the Uchiha Clan was a clan that valued power."
"But in reality, the more someone values power and dismisses emotion, the less likely they are to awaken the Mangekyō. Some can't even awaken the Sharingan."
"Meanwhile, those who care less about the Mangekyō Sharingan are more likely to awaken it."
"Everyone says the Uchiha Clan is easy for others to misunderstand. But in truth, even members of the clan have misunderstood it."
After saying this, Ensei Uchiha injected a dose of the serum into Itachi Uchiha. He watched him for a moment, then instructed Shisui Uchiha, who stood nearby:
"Now it's your turn. Your job is to draw Itachi Uchiha into his inner memories. Use genjutsu on him, and use the power of Kotoamatsukami."
At Ensei Uchiha's words, Shisui Uchiha nodded and used Kotoamatsukami on Itachi Uchiha.
"Your job isn't to control Itachi Uchiha. You need to make him believe that the world in the genjutsu he saw before is real."
"Only if he's completely immersed in that world will he have a chance of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Once he awakens it, he'll be able to break free of the illusion on his own, so you don't need to worry about his safety."
Under the influence of Shisui Uchiha's Kotoamatsukami and the serum, Itachi Uchiha began to sink into the world of the genjutsu.
Ensei Uchiha had already tried this. No matter how tragic the experience, ordinary genjutsu shouldn't be enough to make someone awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
So even with Shisui Uchiha's Kotoamatsukami, Ensei Uchiha still wasn't entirely reassured. During their conversation earlier, he had already used a Three-Tomoe Sharingan to cast Izanami.
Izanagi's effect was to cast genjutsu over the entire world, changing reality according to the caster's will.
Izanami, on the other hand, used several key points to trap an enemy in a real illusion that could loop endlessly.
Within Izanami's real illusion, the victim's perception of time and the outside world was weakened, causing them to sink into that reality.
As for the idea that great enlightenment or sincere repentance could let someone escape Izanami, that was merely a condition imposed by the caster.
After all, Izanami had been created to save people.
Naturally, that condition could be changed.
In other words, Izanami could trap someone in an eternal illusion.
Everything was ready. The experiment to awaken Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan had officially begun.
No one knew how it would end.
For now, the most important thing was to record everything happening inside Itachi Uchiha.
So Ensei Uchiha quietly activated the X-ray vision of the Byakugan and closely monitored everything inside Itachi Uchiha.
As far as he knew, the only side effect of using the Byakugan's abilities was fatigue. He felt safe using it, and there shouldn't be any problems in the short term.
If anything went wrong, he could always do what Orochimaru did and switch bodies.
He had prepared so many Clone Bodies precisely to guard against all kinds of accidents.
Time passed quickly in the genjutsu, and Ensei Uchiha soon collected data on the changes in Itachi Uchiha's brain.
The changes weren't in the brain itself, but in a special kind of Chakra produced within it.
It turned out Ensei Uchiha had gone down the wrong path. Awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan didn't require some kind of hormone. It required a special kind of Chakra produced in the brain.
This Chakra seemed to appear under extreme emotions.
Once it appeared, it acted directly on the optic nerves, changing the eyes and forming the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"I've been paying far too much attention to Kekkei Genkai lately. I even forgot something I've always known."
"Chakra is the root of everything."
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