Seeing Izumi's distress, Homura reached out and ruffled her hair gently.
"Don't worry. What I told you before is true. Killing someone close to you can awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. That's a fact. But there's another method. It just takes more time."
Izumi's eyes lit up immediately. "What method?"
If she could gain the power of the Mangekyō without doing something so horrible, of course she wanted to try it.
"You'll understand once we begin."
Homura led her to a large piece of equipment in the corner of the laboratory. It looked like something between a medical scanner and a chakra manipulation device. Complex sealing formulas covered its surface. Next to it stood an operating table with restraint straps and what looked like a helmet covered in wires.
"Lie down on the table."
He gestured toward it.
Izumi climbed onto the table obediently, though she couldn't hide her curiosity. "What's this thing for?"
"Do you remember how your Sharingan first awakened?" Homura asked while making adjustments to the device. "And how it advanced to three tomoe? This works on a similar principle. Just more complicated."
Izumi turned onto her side to watch him work, her head propped up on one hand.
"You helped with that, right? But I was never brought here before. And the process wasn't like this. I just remember falling asleep, having some dreams, and then when I woke up my Sharingan had activated."
She stuck out her tongue sheepishly. "Actually, I can't even remember what those dreams were about anymore. I just know they weren't pleasant."
Homura smiled slightly at that. The reason she couldn't remember the dream content was because he had blurred those memories using Yamanaka techniques afterward.
The human brain had a natural self-defense mechanism. It would gradually fade traumatic memories to prevent a person from being trapped in perpetual suffering. He had simply accelerated that process, letting her forget the artificial scenarios he'd implanted to trigger her Sharingan evolution.
When Izumi graduated from the Academy, the Third Great Ninja War had already ended. Her team's experiences were similar to Naruto's generation in the original timeline. They'd started with finding lost pets and helping with farm work, then progressed to escorting merchant caravans and protecting clients. Nothing particularly dangerous compared to wartime conditions.
She'd never experienced the kind of trauma that naturally awakened the Sharingan. The only events that might have triggered it were her father's death and Enma's death, but she'd been too young at the time for her eyes to respond.
From Academy graduation to the present day, she simply hadn't encountered situations intense enough for a natural awakening.
The fact that she'd activated her Sharingan at all, and advanced it all the way to three tomoe, was entirely due to Kenji's research. The artificial stimulation he'd developed using Yamanaka mind techniques combined with genjutsu.
"Everything's ready," Homura said finally. He walked over to her. "Lie flat on your back."
Izumi complied, settling into position. Homura pressed down gently on her shoulders to make sure she was properly centered, then reached for the restraint straps. He secured them across her chest, waist, and limbs, checking each one to ensure they were tight enough to hold her but not so tight they'd cause injury.
Finally, he picked up the helmet.
It was a strange piece of equipment. The outer shell looked like standard protective gear, but dozens of thin wires extended from it like the tendrils of some mechanical creature. Sealing formulas had been etched into the metal surface.
He placed it on Izumi's head and adjusted the fit.
The visor came down over her face, blocking out the light. She tried moving her arms and legs, but the restraints held her firmly in place.
"It's really dark in here," her voice came out muffled through the helmet. "And I can't move..."
"Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. We're about to begin. Just try to relax."
"Okay."
Izumi took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. The darkness was disorienting, and being restrained made her instinctively want to struggle, but she trusted Homura. If he said this would work, she believed him.
She heard his footsteps moving away, then the sound of him positioning himself at what must be the control console.
Homura stood before the device's main interface. It was a flat panel covered in sealing inscriptions, designed to accept direct chakra input. He placed both hands on either side and began channeling energy into it.
The moment his chakra made contact, golden light began spreading across the console's surface. Seal after seal activated in sequence, glowing brighter as the system came online. The inscriptions formed complex patterns, pathways for chakra to flow through the device and into the helmet Izumi wore.
The wires connecting the helmet to the main console began to pulse. Inside the helmet itself, hundreds of smaller seals activated.
At the same time, a mechanical arm extended from the side of the operating table. A syringe emerged, positioning itself near Izumi's arm. It pierced her skin and began injecting a clear liquid.
The drug was a crucial component of the process. It amplified emotional responses, making the subject more susceptible to the artificial scenarios the genjutsu would create. In simple terms, it lowered psychological defenses and made the brain more reactive to external stimulation.
Izumi's breathing slowed as the helmet's seals took effect. Her conscious mind began to drift, consciousness sliding into the constructed mindscape Homura was preparing for her.
Homura's own awareness split. His body remained at the console, maintaining the steady flow of chakra into the device. But his spiritual presence entered Izumi's mental landscape.
What he found was the familiar structure of an Uchiha mind. It was orderly, with clear boundaries separating memory from imagination. The Sharingan shaped cognitive development in subtle ways, making Uchiha naturally adept at distinguishing real experiences from false ones.
Which made what he was about to do significantly more difficult.
He began constructing the scenario. Piece by piece, the scene took shape around her. Familiar faces and people she cared about appeared one by one, as ordinary moments twisted into something horrific, pushing her emotions to the brink.
From the outside, he watched her body begin to react.
Her breathing quickened, and her muscles tensed against the restraints. At first, the movements were small, almost reflexive. Then they grew sharper as the trauma took hold in her mind.
She thrashed against the restraints, but the straps kept her pinned securely to the table. Homura maintained a steady flow of chakra, stabilizing the scenario while monitoring her vitals through the seals.
Minutes passed.
Izumi's struggles grew more intense, then gradually weakened as her chakra was drained resisting the mental assault. Her breathing turned ragged, each breath coming in uneven gasps. Sweat soaked through her clothes.
Ten minutes after the procedure began, Homura withdrew his consciousness from her mindscape and ceased channeling chakra into the device.
He walked over to the operating table and removed the helmet from Izumi's head. Her face was pale and damp with sweat. He undid the restraints one by one.
Izumi's eyes fluttered open. She stared up at him with a blank, unfocused expression, like she wasn't entirely sure where she was or what had just happened.
"It hurt so much..." Her voice came out weak and trembling. She swallowed, trying to find words for what she'd experienced.
"It felt like... like my heart was being crushed."
"That's just the drug's effect," Homura said calmly. He understood exactly what she'd gone through. The amplification serum didn't just enhance emotions, it made them feel physically real. Mental anguish became pain. "It'll fade once you rest for a while."
Izumi lay there for several minutes, waiting for the worst of the aftereffects to fade. The artificial memories he had implanted were already beginning to blur and fragment as her mind's natural defenses worked to contain the false trauma.
Eventually, she felt stable enough to sit up. The soreness in her muscles from struggling against the restraints made her wince, but excitement quickly overrode the discomfort.
"Did it work? Do I have the Mangekyō now?"
She activated her Sharingan immediately, not waiting for an answer. Her eyes turned crimson, and three tomoe appeared around each pupil.
"How could it be that simple? It requires multiple attempts."
Izumi's face fell slightly, but she nodded in understanding.
The process of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan was entirely different from progressing from one tomoe to three. The level of mental stimulation required was vastly greater, intense enough to drive an ordinary person into madness.
In a very real sense, every awakened Mangekyō Sharingan marked the birth of someone burdened by psychological trauma. Its power came at a cost, one that left lasting scars on the mind.
Shinobi possessed stronger mental resilience than civilians. Some Uchiha were able to recover from the awakening and gradually return to a semblance of normalcy. Others were not so fortunate. A significant number experienced drastic personality shifts, falling into patterns of thought and behavior that could only be described as madness, much like Obito in the original timeline.
The device Homura had created combined Yamanaka mind techniques with genjutsu to artificially stimulate the brain. It effectively deceived the Uchiha body into believing it had endured trauma severe enough to trigger the evolution of the Mangekyō.
However, tolerance to mental strain varied from person to person. The intensity had to be calibrated, beginning at low levels and increasing over multiple sessions until it reached the precise threshold. Anything less would fail to awaken the Mangekyō, while anything more risked pushing the subject beyond recovery into permanent insanity.
"Alright." Izumi started to lie back on the table. "Then let's try again. Keep going until it works."
"No," Homura said, stopping her before she could settle back into position. "You need to rest first. This procedure can't be repeated too frequently."
The drug alone would cause cumulative damage if used multiple times in quick succession. Pushing too hard would guarantee failure.