Kakashi was frozen in place, dazed. Sasuke, standing beside him, only now realized what had happened.

"Why did you do that?"

For him, it was no longer surprising that Ethan could trap Kakashi in a genjutsu. What he was curious about was Ethan’s reason for doing it.

Did Ethan have a personal grudge against Kakashi?

"You’ll see why in a moment."

As soon as Ethan finished speaking, Kakashi had already awakened from the genjutsu. He stood in place, dazed, taking a moment to recover. Ethan didn’t disturb him and even stopped Sasuke, who wanted to keep asking questions, telling him to wait quietly.

After recovering for a while, Kakashi emerged from the painful memories. At the same time, he noticed that something about himself had changed.

Reaching up to touch his left eye, which was covered by his forehead protector, Kakashi casually pushed it up, revealing the Sharingan that was usually hidden.

"This is..."

Sasuke gasped as soon as he saw Kakashi’s eye.

He looked a bit flustered, which Ethan understood. It was natural. Because Kakashi’s Sharingan was no longer the three-tomoe form, but had evolved into a strange new shape.

Sasuke’s shock wasn’t just from the transformation itself, but because he knew what this state meant.

"Mangekyo..."

The Mangekyo Sharingan, something even most Uchiha couldn’t awaken. And now, Kakashi, an outsider, had achieved it?

Having experienced the power of the Mangekyo from Itachi, Sasuke felt a surge of jealousy. Then he suddenly realized Ethan had cast a genjutsu on Kakashi, and then Kakashi awakened the Mangekyo. Did Ethan know how to awaken the Mangekyo?

"Yes!"

"Then, does that mean you can help me awaken the Mangekyo too?"

At this moment, Kakashi was still adapting to this unfamiliar sensation. He had already realized why Ethan had used genjutsu on him earlier. Though it had forced him to relive the most painful memories buried deep in his heart, he also understood that Ethan hadn’t done it out of malice, but rather to help him awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.

After adjusting for a while, Kakashi turned to look at Ethan, who happened to be answering Sasuke’s question.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Kakashi’s Mangekyo had already awakened a long time ago. He just hadn’t realized it."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi and saw the confusion in his eyes, which soon turned to a look of disappointment. He had already guessed when it had awakened.

"Also..."

Ethan’s voice once again drew their attention. "You’ve only just reached the three-tomoe stage. Your ocular power still has room to grow. You’re far from reaching your limit... and your current chakra isn’t sufficient to awaken the Mangekyo."

The method to awaken the Mangekyo sounded special, but in the end, it still came down to chakra. Sasuke’s current strength just wasn’t enough.

Sasuke clenched his fists again. Ethan’s words made him clearly understand the huge gap between himself and Itachi.

"There’s no other way?"

"Strength is always built up little by little. If you want to gain immense power out of nowhere... You already have something inside you that could do that. You know what price you’d have to pay."

Sasuke touched his neck. He understood what Ethan meant and didn’t press further. He turned his gaze back to Kakashi, as if encouraging himself silently. Kakashi, who wasn’t even part of the Uchiha clan, could awaken the Mangekyo. So he, the rightful heir of the Uchiha bloodline, could too. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"No, I must awaken it."

After that, Ethan wasn’t in a hurry to continue traveling. Instead, he helped Kakashi adapt to the Mangekyo dōjutsu as quickly as possible.

This form of the Sharingan is called the Mangekyo because it grants the user various unique abilities, shaped by their personal traits, experiences, and nature. Kakashi’s Mangekyo dōjutsu was Kamui (strictly speaking, Obito’s ability), a powerful space-time technique that could teleport distant targets into another dimension.

While Ethan helped Kakashi adjust to his new dōjutsu, Sasuke also contributed greatly.

Although Kakashi had more experience using the Sharingan, he didn’t have access to the vast notes passed down through the Uchiha clan. That theoretical knowledge had been studied by Sasuke for a long time.

Now, Kakashi could verify those theories using his own experience and help explain things Sasuke didn’t fully understand.

At this point, Sasuke finally understood why Ethan had brought him and Kakashi out together. Just as Ethan had said before, it was indeed a training journey—specifically for the Sharingan.

So, Sasuke and Kakashi ’helped each other’, shared their ’experiences’, and the abilities of both their Sharingan improved rapidly.

By this point, Ethan had already taken them around the outskirts of Konoha but had yet to find any of Orochimaru’s hideouts.

It seemed even Orochimaru didn’t dare to build a secret base so close to the village. So Ethan and the others began searching farther out.

Tsunade had sent him away to prevent him from causing trouble within the village, and specifically told him to cool off outside.

Although there was no specific time limit for the mission, it wasn’t meant to be a short stroll. So, he had enough time to roam around freely.

As for Itachi? Ethan wasn’t in a rush. Ever since their last encounter, Ethan could lock onto his position at any time. If it weren’t for needing to keep a low profile, he could have teleported straight to him.

For now... he would take his time, destroy a few of Orochimaru’s secret bases, and bring Sasuke to meet Itachi when the time was right.

Ethan’s plan was flawless. In the following months, they gradually approached the border of the Land of Fire, and even left it several times.

By this point, they were no longer returning empty-handed. They had found several of Orochimaru’s secret bases, along with numerous experimental records and data left behind. Unfortunately, they didn’t encounter Orochimaru himself or any of his important subordinates.

Even Kimimaro, who had appeared briefly before, was nowhere to be seen. Could it be that Orochimaru had already given up?

"Too bad. We didn’t find anything more."

"This should be enough, right?"

After a period of ’special training’, not only had Sasuke’s strength increased again, but Kakashi’s power had improved significantly as well. At this point, he could be considered fully developed in terms of combat ability, roughly on par with Kage level by previous standards.

"It’s a shame we didn’t find evidence of Orochimaru colluding with Danzo."

"Evidence like that... how could it be found so easily?"

"This just proves Orochimaru doesn’t know we’re here. Otherwise, he’d be more than happy to leave evidence of Danzo for us."

Kakashi was speechless. He hadn’t heard of any grudge between Orochimaru and Danzo. But thinking about Orochimaru’s personality, that might not be far-fetched. He would love nothing more than to see Konoha thrown into chaos.

"In any case, with these results, we should be able to return now, right?"

Although Kakashi had gone through worse situations before, being on an extended mission outside the village was still exhausting. Especially when the one in command kept making such unpredictable moves.

To avoid the situation spiraling out of control, he felt it was necessary to advise their ’Captain’ to head back to Konoha soon.

Unfortunately, Ethan had no intention of going back. After confirming that Kakashi could effectively use his Mangekyo, he led the two of them toward Uchiha Itachi’s location.

Aside from Pain and Konan who remained in the Hidden Rain Village long-term, Obito (under the alias Tobi) who roamed freely, and Zetsu who moved around alone using his abilities, the rest of the Akatsuki members operated in pairs, traveling across various regions to gather intel and prepare for future plans.

Because these individuals were so powerful, tracking their movements was extremely difficult. They rarely entered the core territories of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, so under normal circumstances, finding a specific person was nearly impossible.

But none of that mattered to Ethan. After locking onto Itachi’s location, he continued dismantling Orochimaru’s bases while gradually closing in on him. Itachi had no idea this was happening.

It was Zetsu who first noticed that Konoha ninja were drawing closer, and he informed Itachi and Kisame.

"To think we’d run into Konoha ninja here?"

He didn’t believe it was a coincidence. Based on Zetsu’s description, these ninja were clearly targeting them.

"Do you need help?"

Itachi remained calm, expressionless, and answered coldly, "No need. I can handle it."

After hearing that, Zetsu quietly sank back into the ground, leaving only Kisame and Itachi.

Not long after Zetsu disappeared, three figures appeared in the distance.

The terrain here was barren, with no large elevation changes. It was easy to see far into the distance—which also made it hard to escape. But Itachi wasn’t planning to run. What puzzled him was why these people had come.

"Oh? That’s the guy you lost to... and the brat who caused you trouble."

Kisame stood to the side, clearly recognizing the newcomers.

"And another kid... hmm? He looks a bit like you!"

"..."

Itachi’s expression didn’t change, but he was far from calm inside. He couldn’t figure out what Konoha was up to. Why had they sent these three here? Especially since Sasuke was among them.

"In any case, first I need to determine whether they’re after me... or the Akatsuki."

(To be continued.)

◇◇◇

◇ One bonus Chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.

◇ You can read the ahead Chapter on Pat if you’re interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)