Chapter 62: The Unbreakable Illusion
The small clearing in the shattered woods was heavy with tension as Kankuro finished recounting his harrowing ordeal. The Konoha shinobi listened, their expressions a mixture of horror, disbelief, and dread.
"An illusion?" Temari repeated, voice tight with incredulity. "What kind of illusion could possibly hold both you and Gaara? You're both powerful shinobi—you should be able to break any standard genjutsu!"
Kankuro’s eyes were haunted, his voice rasping as he spoke. "That’s the terrifying part… there is no breaking it. The illusion—it pulls you into a separate space. In that space, you have no control. You’re completely at the caster’s mercy. Uchiha Sasuke… he tortured me there for seventy-two hours straight. When it finally ended, the mental strain was too much. I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up here with you. I don’t know how I got here."
"Seventy-two hours? That’s impossible!" Temari snapped. "It’s only been about twenty hours since I left for Konoha! You met Sasuke at noon—it can’t have been more than an hour or two! Your sense of time must have been warped by the trauma!"
The other Konoha rookies nodded uneasily. The concept was too alien, too horrifying to comprehend. Only Kakashi’s reaction was different. His visible eye widened slightly, his posture stiffening. A name escaped his lips in a low, grim tone.
"Tsukuyomi?" Kankuro’s head snapped up. "Yes! That’s what he called it—the 'Tsukuyomi dimension!'"
"Tsukuyomi?" Shikamaru stepped forward, analytical mind latching onto the term. "The name of the jutsu? I’ve never heard of it. Kakashi-sensei, if you know something, you have to tell us. A confrontation seems inevitable. If that’s Sasuke’s power now, we need to understand it—and find a countermeasure."
All eyes turned to Kakashi, the weight of their expectation pressing on him.
"Yes," he admitted, voice heavy with memory. "I know Tsukuyomi. I have been its victim."
A collective gasp rippled through the group.
"Even you, Kakashi-sensei…?" Sakura whispered, stunned.
"It was not long ago," Kakashi continued, gaze distant. "Naruto, you remember when you and Lord Jiraiya went to find Tsunade-sama? The two who intercepted us?"
"How could I forget?" Naruto clenched his fists, recalling the ambush. "One of them was Sasuke’s brother! The one he wants to kill… Uchiha Itachi."
"Correct. Uchiha Itachi. He used Tsukuyomi on me. My experience was identical to Kankuro’s. Seventy-two hours of unending torment, condensed into a single instant. The damage to my psyche was immense. I was incapacitated—confined to a hospital bed until you and Jiraiya returned with Lady Tsunade to heal me."
"That… that’s too powerful," Ino breathed. "Not even you could break it?"
"No. It is not a standard genjutsu. It is a kinjutsu—a high-level ocular illusion unique to the Sharingan. It transfers the target’s consciousness into a fabricated world controlled entirely by the caster. Time, space, physical sensation—all are manipulated. And because the ordeal lasts only a split-second in the real world, there is no time to counter it. It is considered inescapable—the most powerful illusion in existence."
Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, mind racing. "If that’s true… it’s practically invincible. How do we fight it?"
"It has a weakness," Kakashi replied, pulling them back from despair. "Like all ocular genjutsu, it requires eye contact to initiate. The moment Itachi—or Sasuke—activates it, you must avoid looking directly into their eyes."
"But if you close your eyes or look away mid-fight, you’re defenseless!" Shikamaru countered.
"You don’t need to close your eyes," Kakashi explained. "Focus elsewhere—their hands, feet, shoulders. You must predict their movements by reading body language alone."
"Who could possibly do that?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Someone has," Kakashi said, a faint smile brushing his masked face. "Your fellow Jonin instructor—Might Guy." Official source is novel·fıre·net
Naruto shuddered, imagining Guy-sensei, teeth gleaming, thumbs up. "Guy-sensei… of course."
"Nearly impossible for anyone else," Shikamaru muttered.
"It is specialized, yes," Kakashi admitted. "But it’s our only option. There’s one more clue: the user cannot activate Tsukuyomi without a sign. If you notice it and avoid their gaze immediately, you can escape being pulled in."
"What sign?" Naruto pressed eagerly.
"Their Sharingan will change form," Kakashi said, tone grave. "The Mangekyo Sharingan. Even within the Uchiha clan, it is a secret. Tsukuyomi is a power of the Mangekyo."
"So Sasuke’s eyes have evolved," Shikamaru mused. "This Mangekyo Sharingan… its abilities must go beyond just Tsukuyomi."
"Almost certainly," Kakashi confirmed. "Our Sasuke is not the boy who left the village. He is exponentially stronger and infinitely more dangerous. When we confront him, follow my orders without question. Understood?"
A solemn chorus of "Hai!" echoed among the trees.
"Good." Kakashi’s commanding tone returned. "We’ve wasted enough time. Temari, get Kankuro back to Sunagakure. Gaara is our responsibility now."
"I understand," Temari said, worry for her brothers warring with duty. "Please… be careful. And bring Gaara back."
"Don’t worry. We will." With a final nod, Kakashi signaled the team.
In a series of soft shunshin sounds, the Konoha shinobi vanished, leaving Temari alone with her injured brother amid the eerie silence of the devastated forest.
"I hope they’ll be alright," she whispered to the empty air, a prayer for her brother and a warning for the friends rushing to his aid.
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