"You noticed," Itachi Uchiha said, a faint hint of approval in his tone. Sasuke had grown.
"Who is he?"
Sasuke Uchiha asked, pushing the Kusanagi Sword deeper into Itachi's chest.
Itachi's expression didn't change. He simply spoke a name.
"Uchiha Madara."
Sasuke's pupils shrank slightly. He immediately recalled what the Nine-Tails had said inside Naruto about that name.
"Uchiha Madara… one of Konoha's founders. The man who first awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan," Itachi said slowly.
"A founder? Madara should've been dead a long time ago," Sasuke snapped. "Are you messing with me?"
"Madara is alive. Whether you believe it or not is up to you."
Itachi's voice remained calm, as though he were merely stating a fact.
"Cut the crap!" Sasuke shot back, refusing to accept it.
"People rely on what they know and understand, and they bind themselves to it, calling it reality."
"But knowledge and perception are vague things, and the reality built on them may itself be an illusion. People live within the limits of their own understanding. Don't you think that's true?"
Sasuke frowned, impatience flashing across his face. "What are you trying to say?"
"You believe Madara is dead. That's just your assumption," Itachi said, a faintly provocative smile appearing. "Just like how you once believed I was a kind older brother. I only played that role to measure your capacity."
"That night… for the child I was back then, the only way to endure it was to treat everything as an illusion. I wanted to believe it was just some cruel genjutsu, but there's no doubt about it. It was all real."
Sasuke's composure cracked. "My eyes aren't what they used to be. My Sharingan can see through genjutsu now!"
"It's just like before," Itachi replied coldly. "You love to put on a brave front. Still… I'll accept that statement."
Only then did everyone realize the truth.
What had looked like Sasuke piercing Itachi earlier had been nothing more than another illusion—and Sasuke's Sharingan had seen through it in time.
Genjutsu layered over genjutsu, one after another, leaving no room to guard against them.
Even the seasoned shinobi watching felt a chill crawl up their spines. Their strength was formidable, and their resistance to illusions was high, but this… this was on another level.
The two brothers had been locked in a silent battle of genjutsu the entire time.
Against opponents like them, simply making eye contact could be fatal. It wasn't that they couldn't fight, but maintaining that level of constant vigilance would be exhausting.
There was no buildup, no warning. The illusions came instantly.
It was absurd.
"Let's drop the act," Sasuke said in the video, his tone laced with mockery as he withdrew the Chidori Current in his hand.
"Confidence isn't a bad thing," Itachi replied evenly, "but Sasuke, it seems you still haven't obtained eyes equal to mine. Haven't you killed the one closest to you yet? Or did you come here still clinging to that naive idea?"
Those words revealed a crucial piece of information.
To awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan… one had to kill the person they cherished most.
At that realization, several people immediately thought back to how Itachi himself had awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan—witnessing the death of Shisui Uchiha.
In other words, it didn't necessarily require killing with one's own hands. As long as the emotional shock was intense enough, the Mangekyō could awaken.
"Then hurry up and kill me with your Mangekyō Sharingan," Sasuke said bluntly. "Or is the current me still not enough to measure your capacity?"
Itachi let out a quiet sigh and rose to his feet.
"What impressive confidence."
At that moment, on the wall nearby, White Zetsu observed the two from above, his thoughts drifting aloud.
"They haven't moved at all since earlier. It's just been a battle of genjutsu."
That single remark exposed the truth.
Everything—the movements, the clashes—had been nothing more than illusions, born from their mental battle.
But the sight of White Zetsu merging seamlessly into the wall made Jiraiya, Tsunade, Minato Namikaze, and Kakashi Hatake all frown.
They were already wary because of Uchiha Kenji's space-time abilities, and now there was another with such a strange power.
The Akatsuki truly was filled with dangerous and unpredictable individuals.
And their goal—collecting the Tailed Beasts—made their ambition obvious.
If not for what Kaede Kitahara's diary had revealed about their leader leveling Konoha with a single attack, the village might have already issued a bounty, even seeking cooperation from other villages.
After all, targeting the Tailed Beasts crossed a line no nation could tolerate.
To the great shinobi villages, the Tailed Beasts were strategic weapons—walking forces of destruction. Without them, a village's standing would drop significantly.
In one-on-one combat, a Kage Level shinobi might match a weaker Tailed Beast, but in a full-scale war, their value far exceeded that of any individual.
That was why every village guarded its jinchūriki so fiercely.
It was an absolute red line.
If the Akatsuki's plans were exposed, it would undoubtedly trigger a joint campaign by the Five Great Nations—and possibly other villages as well—to eliminate them.
That was also why, despite their strength, the Akatsuki kept a low profile.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan… from the moment it awakens, these eyes begin walking toward darkness. The more you use them, the closer they come to being sealed," Itachi said.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked immediately. This was clearly the first time he had heard of it.
"The Mangekyō… will one day lose its light."
"Blindness? So that's the price for gaining the power to control the Nine-Tails?" Sasuke muttered, finally beginning to understand.
"What? The Mangekyō Sharingan leads to blindness?"
Kakashi Hatake was the first to react in shock.
According to Kaede, he himself possessed a Mangekyō Sharingan, entrusted to him by a close friend.
If that power inevitably led to blindness, it was terrible news for him.
He hadn't even properly used it yet, and now he was being told it would eventually cost him his sight.
"So that's the drawback… no wonder Fugaku never used his," Minato said, deep in thought.
From what Kaede's diary had revealed, Fugaku Uchiha and his sons had all awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. Their bloodline was clearly exceptional.
Yet Fugaku had never displayed it, even until his death.
Meanwhile, Itachi, who had used his Mangekyō at a young age, had developed what Kaede called a Kekkei Genkai Disease.
Was it related to overusing the Mangekyō Sharingan?
Minato realized just how little he had known about the Uchiha and their abilities. Coming from a civilian background, even with Jiraiya as his teacher, his understanding had been limited.
The Uchiha hadn't produced a Mangekyō user for generations, so even Jiraiya hadn't been aware of its existence beyond the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Now it finally made sense why Fugaku had hidden his power.
Use it too much, and blindness would follow.
Minato also recalled the battle between Sasuke and Danzo Shimura. Sasuke's vision had wavered, and when he used Amaterasu, blood had streamed from his eyes.
The strain was immense.
Every use came at a steep cost.
Among everyone present, only Tsunade already knew.
As a member of the Senju Clan, which had opposed the Uchiha for generations, her clan possessed extensive records on the Sharingan and the Mangekyō. Many of its abilities had been documented over time.
That was why, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, when the Second Hokage had been revived through Impure World Reincarnation, he had immediately recognized Sasuke's Flame Control and even remarked on how powerful it was. He must have seen others use it before.
That was the depth of knowledge Tsunade carried as a descendant of the Senju.
"Even so… you chose this way to tell him, huh? I hope he remembers it."
Watching the diary, Itachi understood his future self's true intention.
On the surface, he was answering Sasuke's questions.
In reality, he was passing something on.
The more one used the Mangekyō Sharingan, the closer it came to blindness.
And if Sasuke wanted to escape that fate…
Then he would have to take Itachi's eyes.
That was the message.
A final gift.
"I'll go blind…?"
Sasuke repeated, hearing it for the first time.
The reality of it settled heavily in his mind.