"Yes, sir." Uchiha Zuoxiu vanished in an instant.
Izuna took another sip of his tea and began to contemplate another matter: how to increase his own strength.
After the recent annihilation of the Hagoromo clan, his Skill Points had increased from 155 to 180.
He was now more than halfway to the 300 Skill Points needed to unlock the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Izuna could already feel his eyesight deteriorating. By the standards of his previous life, his prescription would be over 3.00 diopters.
Therefore, until he obtained the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, Izuna had no intention of spending his Skill Points on any other jutsu.
That meant he had to find a way to enhance his power without relying on the system.
The blurriness in his vision made him weary of the Mangekyo's drawbacks.
Just then, he couldn't help but think of one person—Uchiha Obito.
The near-final boss of the future who ran around acting tough under the name "Uchiha Madara," using his Kamui.
But what gave Izuna more pause was the bug-like way Obito could use Kamui almost without limit with just a single Mangekyo Sharingan.
Even though Obito couldn't use Susanoo with only one Mangekyo, the frequency with which he used his Mangekyo ability, Kamui, was simply too high. One had to remember, he managed to deceive so many powerful figures in the ninja world and make them believe he was "Uchiha Madara" precisely because of his masterful use of Kamui.
Every time the spiral-masked Tobi appeared, he would use Kamui.
By contrast, other Mangekyo Sharingan users like Izuna, Uchiha Itachi, and Uchiha Sasuke would undoubtedly go blind in one eye if they used abilities like Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi that many times, even without activating Susanoo. A better comparison was Kakashi. He had the very same eye, yet every time he used Kamui, he would be left exhausted, sometimes even collapsing.
But Uchiha Obito always seemed completely fine.
Why could Uchiha Obito use Kamui so casually? The frequency rivaled the number of times Naruto could create a Rasengan.
Izuna pondered for a long time and came to one conclusion—Senju Hashirama's cells.
Uchiha Obito had been on the verge of death when Madara transplanted Hashirama's cells into him, allowing him to use simple Wood Release techniques.
And in the future, Senju Hashirama's cells would be used to death. Danzo, Orochimaru, and others had all transplanted his cells in an attempt to awaken Wood Release. Even Naruto, who had lost an arm, had it reconstructed using Hashirama's cells.
In other words, Uchiha Obito's ability to use Kamui so freely was very likely due to the transplanted Senju Hashirama cells. That stuff could, if not eliminate, at least greatly mitigate the side effects.
But Izuna wasn't keen on using this method.
First, he had no desire to become some inhuman creature like Danzo, nor did he want to end up with a grotesque Hashirama face tattooed on his chest like Madara later did.
Second, he had no way of obtaining Senju Hashirama's cells right now. And even if he did, he wouldn't know how to use them.
Nevertheless, this gave Izuna a breakthrough for reducing the Mangekyo's side effects—Sage Chakra!
Senju Hashirama's cells were infused with Sage Chakra. It was highly probable that Sage Chakra could counteract some of the Mangekyo's negative effects.
Besides, to evolve his Wind Release: Rasengan into Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, he would need Sage Chakra as well.
*"Sage Chakra, huh..."* Izuna muttered to himself.
The most famous training grounds for Sage Arts were, of course, the three known to the Sannin of Konoha: Mount Myoboku, Shikkotsu Forest, and Ryuchi Cave. Unfortunately, he had no idea where they were. And getting to Mount Myoboku required the guidance of those toads.
Izuna closed his eyes and thought for a while longer, then remembered another source of Sage Arts.
A kid under Uchiha Sasuke's command named Jugo. His clan was naturally able to absorb nature energy and enter a Sage Transformation, but they were also prone to losing control of their emotions. Orochimaru had developed the Cursed Seals by studying Jugo's transformation, and Uchiha Sasuke learned to use Sage Arts through his Cursed Seal.
*I remember that clan was on a small island to the north... Did they even exist during the Warring States period?*
As Izuna was lost in thought, Uchiha Zuoxiu appeared again. This time, however, he didn't use the Body Flicker Technique but walked in through the main gate. "Vice-Clan Head, the celebration banquet is about to begin."
Izuna came back to his senses, realizing that while he had been thinking, day had turned into night.
"Zuoxiu, I need you to investigate a personal matter for me."
"Yes, sir. Please give your orders."
***
The celebration banquet was held at Madara's residence in the heart of the clan's territory.
When Izuna entered the main hall, Madara, as both the guest of honor and the clan head, was naturally seated at the center.
The three elders, whose unanimous opinion could even override the clan head's orders, held positions of immense authority and were seated at the head of the row to Madara's right.
Further down were elite Jonin like Uchiha Shin and Uchiha Takahiko, who had previously supported Uchiha Gakugyo for clan head.
On Madara's left were Uchiha Zuoxiu and Uchiha Enka, contemporaries of Izuna and Madara, as well as representatives of the younger generation whom Izuna had brought back from the north, like Uchiha Ise.
The empty seat at the head of the left side was, without a doubt, Izuna's.
Once everyone was seated, Madara rose and raised his cup. "Today, we must first thank Izuna and all our clansmen from the northwest for their bloody battle and their victory over the five clans..."
Madara wasn't a man of many words, but he could handle a congratulatory speech. After a few pleasantries, he drained his cup.
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