Orochimaru found Sasuke in the library three days later.
"Kabuto tells me you've been researching Mangekyo awakenings obsessively."
"Is that a problem?"
"Not at all. I'm curious." Orochimaru sat down across from him. "You have a theory, don't you? About how to awaken yours."
Sasuke considered lying. Decided against it. Orochimaru would see through it anyway.
"The Mangekyo reflects the soul. Everyone knows that. But what they don't understand is that it can be directed. Shaped. If you understand yourself deeply enough."
"Fascinating. Continue."
"Traditional awakenings are reactive. Something terrible happens, the Sharingan evolves in response. But that's inefficient. Random. What if you could understand yourself so completely that you could predict what abilities would manifest?"
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with interest. "You're talking about engineering your own evolution."
"Yes. Every Mangekyo awakening involves loss, but the loss is just a catalyst. What matters is the moment of clarity. Understanding what you truly are." Sasuke leaned forward. "I know what I am. I'm a collector. A thief. Someone who takes power and makes it his own."
"And you believe your Mangekyo will reflect that nature."
"I know it will. The question is how to create the right conditions for awakening."
Orochimaru pulled out a scroll. "Then perhaps I can help. This is a record of an experiment I conducted years ago. An Uchiha test subject. I tried to force Mangekyo awakening through controlled trauma."
"What happened?"
"He died." Orochimaru said it casually. "His Sharingan tried to evolve, but he lacked the clarity you mentioned. The chakra backlash destroyed his optic nerves."
Sasuke took the scroll. Read through it carefully. The experiment had been brutal. Systematic psychological torture designed to break the subject's mind.
"This won't work for me," Sasuke said. "This approach is about breaking someone. I need the opposite. Perfect clarity. Perfect understanding."
"Then what do you propose?"
Sasuke was quiet for a moment. Then: "I need to confront the truth of my existence. Really confront it. Not just acknowledge it intellectually, but feel it. Accept it completely."
"The truth being?"
"That I'm a ghost wearing someone else's skin. That everything I am is stolen. That my very existence is an act of theft." Sasuke's Sharingan activated. "And that I'm going to steal everything else this world has to offer."
Orochimaru laughed. Actually laughed, delighted. "You're more interesting than I thought, Sasuke-kun. Most people would be disturbed by that level of self-awareness. You embrace it."
"Because it's power. Understanding yourself is power."
"Indeed." Orochimaru stood. "Very well. I'll support your experiment. Tell me what you need."
Sasuke pulled out his journal. Showed Orochimaru specific pages.
"I need to hunt a dojutsu user. Someone with active Sharingan or another bloodline limit. Defeat them. And in that moment of victory, when I'm standing over their power, unable to take it—that's when I'll awaken."
"Unable to take it?"
"Without the Mangekyo, I can't absorb dojutsu. I can only copy techniques. That limitation, that frustration—combined with perfect clarity about what I am—should trigger the evolution."
Orochimaru smiled slowly. "You're going to create your own trauma. Engineered loss."
"Yes. The loss of potential. Standing before power I want but can't have. Yet."
"Brilliant. Disturbed, but brilliant." Orochimaru pulled out a mission scroll. "I know just the target. There's a rogue Uchiha. Minor branch family member who escaped the massacre. He's been causing trouble in the Land of Hot Water. Low-level criminal. Weak. But he has Sharingan."
He handed Sasuke the scroll. "Hunt him. Defeat him. And awaken your Mangekyo while standing over his eyes."
Sasuke took the scroll. "When do I leave?"
"Tomorrow. Take Team Taka. They should see what you're capable of."