Wind Release and Lightning Release clashed in a blur of blades, sparks scattering as the two forces tore at each other. When the struggle finally ended, Uchiha Sasuke struck first, driving his attack straight through Shimura Danzo at the last possible moment.
"Sasuke's strength tops out at about this level?" Uchiha Obito watched calmly, offering nothing more than a cool assessment.
"You rushed. Your eyes are still open." Even with Sasuke's blade through him, Danzo didn't panic. "Go join Itachi for your lecture. I win."
"You think you've seen through Izanagi…" Danzo kept talking, ready to preach again, when something felt wrong. Izanagi hadn't triggered. That alone made his stomach twist. "What's going on? Why isn't Izanagi activating?"
Sasuke stared at him without blinking, breath heavy and sharp.
Danzo had already fallen into Sasuke's genjutsu. He thought he still had one Sharingan left, but in reality, every single one of them had already burned out. He no longer had the eyes required to activate Izanagi.
"You're the one who's going to see Itachi." Sasuke forced the words out between ragged breaths.
"Danzo, like you said, Sasuke's genjutsu is far weaker than Itachi's. Compared to Tsukuyomi, which manipulates time and space, this one is brief and fragile. But the key is how it was used." Obito's voice carried from the distance, dissecting the entire fight. "Izanagi requires sacrificing a Sharingan. One eye lasts around sixty seconds. Sasuke's suicidal attacks weren't desperation, they were calculated, forcing you to burn through your eyes one by one. By the time he delivered the final blow, the last Sharingan in your right arm had already closed."
"Sasuke is a member of the Uchiha Clan, a Mangekyo Sharingan user. His perception surpasses yours. Before you even realized it, he cast a brief illusion over you, making you believe one more eye on your arm remained open. You kept checking your arm to estimate Izanagi's unstable duration. Sasuke never missed that habit. He only needed a moment, and once he confirmed he could trap you instantly, he took advantage."
"You underestimated another Sharingan user simply because you possessed the Sharingan. That arrogance is what defeated you."
Hearing Obito's explanation, the three people reading the diary finally understood the full picture. Uchiha Itachi, especially, remembered all the subtle details. At the start of the battle, Sasuke used genjutsu to create a copy of himself. Danzo fell for it instantly, even if he broke it just as quickly.
That alone proved something: even if Danzo could dispel illusions fast, he still got caught. His resistance to genjutsu simply wasn't high.
True genjutsu required an unshakable mind. The more resolute the ninja, the harder they were to trap. Danzo looked cold and ruthless from years spent molding Root in the shadows, but that cruelty was aimed at others. His own heart wasn't nearly as iron-hard as he pretended.
And then there was the matter of his right eye. He'd mentioned using it at the Five Kage Summit. That implied another Sharingan was hidden there, but it likely already performed a technique similar to Izanagi. Which meant it had long been spent.
"You've grown, Sasuke."
Itachi's voice held nothing but relief. Early on, just as Kaede Kitahara mocked, Sasuke had been reckless enough to fling Amaterasu at anything that moved, even a stray dog crossing the road. His fighting style had fallen apart after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, overwhelmed by his own power.
But in this battle, Sasuke rediscovered his discipline. He fought, analyzed, and created a brilliant strategy mid-combat. He reversed the entire fight by his own hands.
Itachi could finally rest easy. Sasuke had the talent needed to restore the Uchiha Clan's glory.
"So that eye is called the Mangekyo Sharingan? It's an evolved form above the three tomoe?" Hatake Kakashi finally realized the Sharingan didn't end with the standard form.
Very few people had ever known. The price to awaken it was enormous. Hardly anyone could reach that point. And unlike the pair Uchiha Itachi once had, Sasuke's version looked truly deserving of the name Mangekyo.
But the video revealed far too much. Danzo held two major clans' Kekkei Genkai at once, played a direct role in the Uchiha Clan massacre, and even had ties with Orochimaru. And Itachi's secret… and his cooperation with Danzo… any one of these facts would cause a political earthquake if exposed.
"This is a headache." Kakashi's chest tightened as he thought of his own team. Both Uchiha Sasuke, the last scion of the Uchiha Clan, and Uzumaki Naruto, the Fourth Hokage's son, were targets everyone coveted.
Uchiha Itachi. Danzo. Orochimaru. Akatsuki. Every single one of them was Kage Level. For the first time, Kakashi felt the full weight of how outmatched he really was.
For years he'd coasted through life, thinking being alive was good enough. He hadn't trained seriously in a long time.
In the past, he believed he could hold his own against anyone. Kage Level opponents were supposed to be rare. Yet now it felt like they were everywhere. His title as the strongest ninja below Kage Level didn't mean much anymore. Even Sasuke three years from now would surpass him easily.
"I really have let myself go," Kakashi muttered.
And when he remembered Kaede Kitahara teasing him as Hatake 50/50, something inside him crumpled. For once, he felt like maybe Make-Out Paradise could wait. He needed to train, and fast.
Kage Level.
It was time to reopen his father's old notes. The Hatake Clan's kenjutsu once terrified the entire ninja world. His father had been so strong that even the Legendary Sannin backed away from him. Yet when Kakashi, at a similar age, faced Orochimaru, he'd been frozen with fear, unable to fight, unable even to die properly.
What a disgrace to his father's name.
"This is what it means for battles to be decided by eyes." In the video, Sasuke gasped for breath as he answered Danzo's last taunt. "Don't underestimate the Uchiha."
"Even if Shisui's eye no longer works, being able to push Danzo this far is enough. Sasuke, it's about time you returned Shisui's eye. It belongs buried in the earth."
Obito's words sent shockwaves through Itachi, Kakashi, and Sasuke all at once.
[A/N: Enjoying the story? You can read more chapters early and support me here:patreon.com/Aeroscissors]