Izanagi

After the shadow clone returned, Uchiha Ensei felt quite uncomfortable for a long time.

Having three or four days of memories crammed into his mind was indeed rather unpleasant, and it would have been dangerous if the duration had been any longer.

As expected, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was classified as a forbidden jutsu.

With so many different and massive memories returning, if Naruto Uzumaki were not someone of a carefree nature, he probably would have developed mental problems long ago.

After setting a time regulation for himself on using shadow clones, Uchiha Ensei summoned a ninja cat and had him notify Fugaku Uchiha of the general situation regarding this trip.

Immediately afterward, Uchiha Ensei received the scroll transported from the Cat Ninja Village and began getting busy in the laboratory.

This was, after all, the first piece of flesh and blood from a Mangekyō Sharingan; it had to be cultivated properly and not allowed to grow crooked.

If he could cultivate a Kamui Mangekyō Sharingan...

Just thinking about it, Uchiha Ensei could not help but feel a bit excited.

On the other side, upon hearing the ninja cat's report, Fugaku Uchiha's expression turned very ugly.

Next, a series of special training sessions commenced within the Uchiha Clan, with the primary objective being to learn a forbidden jutsu that had been sealed away for a long time—Izanagi.

At the same time, however, Fugaku Uchiha also established a rule: unless facing a life-or-death crisis, anyone who used Izanagi would have their eyes gouged out and be imprisoned until death.

The reason for establishing such a rule was that in history, the Uchiha Clan had nearly been wiped out because of this Izanagi, which was why the technique had been classified as a forbidden jutsu.

Right now, for the safety of the clansmen, even a forbidden jutsu had to be used.

However, the reason for every ninja who finished using Izanagi would be judged by the Council of Elders.

If it was judged that someone had defied the rules and used the forbidden jutsu without authorization, the end result would naturally be having their eyes gouged out, their chakra crippled, and being imprisoned until death.

Probably because he failed to find any trace of Shisui Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha, as the clan head, appeared extremely irritable and had actually disseminated the forbidden jutsu Izanagi.

Yet with no news whatsoever, no matter how anxious he was, it was of no use.

As time passed, almost everyone defaulted to assuming Shisui Uchiha was dead.

The only one still holding onto hope was probably Itachi Uchiha.

At this moment, Itachi Uchiha's reputation within the clan was not very good; it was not that others isolated him, but rather that he isolated the entire clan.

The root of all this was simply the Sharingan. For the Uchiha Clan, being able to awaken the Sharingan was a glory.

As for what happened during the awakening process, no one cared at all.

Precisely because of this, Itachi Uchiha believed that the capacity of the entire Uchiha Clan was too narrow-minded, consisting entirely of people who pursued power by any means necessary.

Ironically, members of the Uchiha Clan who truly did not understand love were fundamentally unable to awaken the Sharingan.

Facing this ingrate who had already quietly grown up, Uchiha Ensei had no intention of educating him whatsoever.

He knew very well that some fools could not be communicated with using words.

Yet what he did not expect was that Itachi Uchiha would actually seek him out and ask him to rescue Shisui Uchiha.

"Go away! No time! Not saving him! Can't save him!"

Uchiha Ensei offhandedly brushed him off with a couple of perfunctory remarks, but it was clear that Itachi Uchiha was not so easily dismissed.

"Father once said that you are currently the strongest person in the Uchiha Clan."

"Why? Why are even you giving up on him?"

Facing Itachi Uchiha's accusation, Uchiha Ensei could not help but let out a cold laugh.

"And what would you know?"

"How do you know I didn't go save him? And how do you know the people in the clan only care about power?"

"For a foolish brat like you, educating you should be your father's job, but it's quite a pity that your father is not competent."

"Since that's the case, then let me give you some understanding of the origins of the Uchiha Clan."

Having said that, Uchiha Ensei cast a type of genjutsu on Itachi Uchiha.

Under the huge gap in pupil power, even though Uchiha Ensei was not particularly skilled at genjutsu, he was still able to let Itachi Uchiha experience what so-called power was within the illusion.

The content of the genjutsu was very simple; it merely had Itachi Uchiha experience the plot from the anime.

If this could make Itachi Uchiha awaken his Mangekyō as a result, it would be very useful for his subsequent research.

Several hours later, Itachi Uchiha finally regained consciousness.

But unfortunately, although he had experienced the entire original plot of the anime within the genjutsu, Itachi Uchiha still failed to awaken the Sharingan.

"Impure World Reincarnation... No, did I just fall under a genjutsu? It was too realistic, this kind of power..."

Itachi Uchiha remained dazed for a while, but quickly recovered, though he still found it hard to believe what reality was.

"After experiencing a thing like that, he still hasn't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. It looks like genjutsu really doesn't work; he must experience it for real."

"No wonder my Mangekyō cloning always fails; I probably still need real experiences."

Uchiha Ensei muttered to himself, completely ignoring Itachi Uchiha at the moment.

After a long while, Itachi Uchiha finally came to his senses, the gaze he directed at Uchiha Ensei carrying a trace of fear.

"Th... The genjutsu just now..."

Itachi Uchiha wanted to ask something, but looking at this existence of the same age as himself seated opposite, he felt as though heaven and earth lay between the two of them.

"Without me, the things in the genjutsu would have been your personal experiences."

"Is this kind of future just as you hoped it would be?"

Listening to Uchiha Ensei's inquiry, Itachi Uchiha was entirely unable to formulate a response for a moment.

The experiences in his memories were so real, as if he had truly lived through them himself.

"Since the punishment has already been delivered, I can also give you an answer regarding your initial question."

"The Uchiha Clan will not abandon any clansman, but sometimes human strength is limited, and even I cannot perceive all futures."

"Not long after Shisui went missing, clear news came in."

"At that time, I knew it was a trap, but I still went there anyway."

"It's just a pity that while the trap was indeed a trap, there was no bait inside it."

"If you want to rescue Shisui, think of a way to increase your own strength."

Itachi Uchiha left in low spirits. As for what kind of impact that genjutsu might have on him, Uchiha Ensei simply did not care.

This world was truly quite mystical. A few years ago, he used to worry about the arrival of the Clan Massacre Night and fret that his own strength growth would not keep pace with Itachi Uchiha's.

Right now, however, he was already able to completely ignore these threats.

The cloning of the Mangekyō Sharingan, although it had encountered some trouble, had already succeeded with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and next...

It was time to go learn a forbidden jutsu; Izanagi would be quite good.

As it happened, Fugaku Uchiha was currently promoting forbidden jutsu education heavily within the clan, so learning it should be very easy.

As for the locations for those cloned Sharingan...

It was very simple; he only needed to use sealing jutsu. He had to admit that sealing jutsu was truly a great invention.

However, while already having one seal inside his body, he still wanted a second kind of seal.

It looked like it was time to communicate with the higher-ups of Konoha.

The Uchiha Clan's sealing jutsu was still not comprehensive enough; what a pity that the Uzumaki Clan had vanished.

Extracting Izanagi from Fugaku Uchiha went very smoothly without expending much effort, and he even received his careful instruction.

Naturally, Uchiha Ensei was now the most important genius in the clan, and as the clan head, he would absolutely not allow any accidents to befall this genius.

In Fugaku Uchiha's eyes today, Uchiha Ensei's status probably surpassed even Itachi Uchiha's.

Otherwise, why else would Itachi Uchiha not have come home for several days, yet he had not noticed it in the slightest?