At night, a full moon hung in the pitch-black sky. Its bright light spilled across the land, as if draping it in a silver veil and giving it an air of mystery.
"Ah..."
At that moment, a pained scream rang out from a dimly lit secret chamber in Konoha.
Danzo, leaning on his cane, clutched the bandage covering his left eye, his face twisted in agony.
"Lord Danzo!"
Seeing him like this, two masked members of Root hurried forward.
"Don't mind me. The Mangekyō Sharingan in my right eye is already useless!"
After breathing heavily for a long while, Danzo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, raised his head, and grinned.
The Mangekyō Sharingan was an evolved form of the ordinary Sharingan. Only Uchiha who experienced intense negative emotions, such as witnessing the death of someone they loved, could awaken it by producing special chakra in their brains.
The Mangekyō Sharingan not only greatly enhanced the abilities of the ordinary Sharingan, but also possessed powerful, unique techniques.
The Mangekyō Sharingan was an immensely powerful dōjutsu, but that power came at a great cost. Its techniques all carried side effects to varying degrees, and each use damaged the user's eyesight. The more often it was used, the sooner blindness would set in.
"How is the intelligence I asked you to gather coming along?"
Leaning on his cane, Danzo slowly made his way to a stone chair and sat down. Then he asked one of the members in a low voice.
"According to our informant within the Uchiha Clan, Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan can indeed use an extremely powerful Genjutsu—Kotoamatsukami. It can invade a target's mind without being detected and alter their will."
Hearing Danzo's question, the masked member answered at once.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
At that, a glint flashed in Danzo's left eye, and excitement flickered across his face. He gave a sinister laugh. "Heh... Such tremendous power is exactly what I need."
"Is Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan really that powerful?" the other masked member asked quietly.
"Heh heh. The Mangekyō Sharingan is the most powerful dōjutsu, and it holds countless secrets!"
Having experienced its power himself, Danzo laughed greedily.
"Tomorrow, I'll arrange to meet Shisui. Inform the members of Root to prepare for battle. We must not let him escape."
Perhaps he was too eager to get his hands on Shisui's eyes, because Danzo immediately began giving orders.
"Yes."
The two members nodded.
"Mm."
Danzo nodded slightly. His withered fingers tapped against his cane as he suddenly said, "Keep a close watch on the Uchiha Clan as well. Report any information to me immediately."
"Yes."
They dared not take Danzo's words lightly and promptly answered with respectful bows.
"All right. Go prepare. There must be no mistakes tomorrow," Danzo ordered gravely.
The two members nodded, then rose and quietly left the room.
"Once I get Shisui's eyes, who in Konoha will dare oppose us? By then, even Sarutobi won't be able to do anything to me."
In the dim room, Danzo's twisted face wore a faintly savage expression.
The next day, as dawn broke through the clouds and cast its light upon the land, Konoha came to life in an instant, the lively atmosphere spreading quickly.
"I have good news for you all. Next month, we can take on D-Rank Missions!"
"And we don't have any missions today, so you can relax!"
At the Training Ground, Kakashi looked over Sasuke and the others and smiled.
"That's great! We finally don't have to do those boring missions anymore!"
Naruto was the first to shout excitedly.
Ever since something had gone wrong during the mission for "Uncle Qianwei," they had spent nearly another month doing D-Rank Missions. If Naruto hadn't been able to practice the Rasengan in his spare time, he would have gone to argue with Sarutobi Hiruzen long ago.
"All right, I have some things to report to Lord Hokage. You can spend your time however you like!"
Kakashi gave the excited Naruto a light laugh, then quickly left.
"Sasuke, Naruto, I'm going to the Ninja Hospital. If you need anything, you can come find me there!"
After Kakashi left, Haruno Sakura smiled sweetly at Sasuke and Naruto and prepared to go.
Naruto practiced the Rasengan, Sasuke trained with the Gale Sword, and Haruno Sakura was just as determined to improve. She spent her spare time learning Medical Ninjutsu.
Haruno Sakura thought Medical Ninjutsu was extremely important, as it could sometimes save a teammate's life. So even though she really wanted to spend the day with Sasuke, she still decided to go to the hospital and continue practicing.
When they heard that Haruno Sakura was going to study Medical Ninjutsu, Sasuke and Naruto both nodded.
After Sakura left, Naruto used the Shadow Clone Technique to summon a clone, then grinned. "Sasuke, check out how far I've come in my training!"
As he spoke, Naruto held out his right hand. The Shadow Clone rapidly rubbed its hand over Naruto's palm, and in an instant, a beautiful sphere of chakra formed.
"Take a look at my Rasengan!"
As soon as the chakra sphere, like a miniature typhoon, appeared, Naruto shouted and held it up before slamming it into a nearby tree.
"Thud!"
The chakra sphere tore into the trunk, leaving behind a swirling cavity.
"That's incredible!"
Seeing the Rasengan's terrifying destructive power, Sasuke couldn't help exclaiming. If Naruto had hit a person with it, they would have been gravely injured, if not killed.
"Heh heh!"
Hearing Sasuke's praise, Naruto grinned proudly.
"Congratulations, Naruto. You've finally learned the Rasengan!"
Sasuke was sincerely happy for Naruto. He patted him on the shoulder and smiled.
"Haha! Kakashi-sensei said I've mastered about ninety percent of the Rasengan. Once I've got it down completely, it'll be even more powerful!"
After all that hard training, Naruto was delighted to have made progress. He laughed loudly.
Hearing Naruto talk about its power, Sasuke thought of another form of the Rasengan—the Big Ball Rasengan—and suggested, "Naruto, your Rasengan is too small. You could try adding more chakra. Then your new Rasengan would be more destructive and have a wider range."
"Right! I can add more chakra..."
Naruto had a sudden flash of inspiration and readily agreed with Sasuke's suggestion.
"The Rasengan I'm making now is already pretty hard to control. If I make it even bigger, I'm afraid I won't be able to control it!"
Naruto furrowed his brow, suddenly thinking of another problem and growing worried.
"Heh heh. If you can master a ninjutsu as difficult as the Rasengan, you'll definitely be able to solve any other problems."
Hearing this, Sasuke chuckled.
"Haha, that's true. As long as I keep training, I'll overcome any difficulty!"
Hearing Sasuke's words, Naruto's unwillingness to give up showed itself at once. He spoke with confidence.
"Keep it up! I'm sure you'll succeed in developing a new technique of your own!"
Sasuke smiled and encouraged him, hoping Naruto would do just that.
(Thanks to AK Mo for the tip, and to Brother Pengge for the six recommendation votes!
A quick note about how Danzo got his right eye and whether it was a Mangekyō Sharingan: there's no official answer. Everyone knows that in the Naruto story, Danzo used Izanagi to break Shisui's Genjutsu, and that Sharingan went blind afterward, so there's no need to get hung up on this point!)