Be Careful Where You Walk

"Itachi, do you know Breathing Styles?" Nagasawa asked Itachi this question in the first training after his graduation.

"I do. It's a technique you created, Sensei," Itachi nodded in acknowledgment.

Although Itachi hadn't learned the technique, he had heard about it as it was constantly publicized in the Academy and Konoha. On top of that, he had also heard about it from Kabuto.

In Itachi's opinion, Breathing Styles was a mysterious technique that could enhance physical strength and worked in tandem with chakra to perform many powerful Ninjutsu. 

Despite starting training later than Itachi, Kabuto quickly caught up and even surpassed Itachi, particularly in physical strength.

Now, Itachi preferred to keep some distance from Kabuto during their spar, as Water Breathing's relentless attacks were hard to shake off.

"As my disciple, you should inherit my Sun Breathing. The Sun Breathing is the origin of Breathing Styles, possessing unparalleled strength. It is the strongest Breathing Style in every sense of word," Nagasawa declared.

"The strongest Breathing Styles..." Itachi's eyes lit up with excitement.

Itachi aspired to become stronger, and this commitment to training was not easily deterred, not even by his beloved younger brother. However, everyone has different reasons for seeking strength.

Some aim to become high-ranking Shinobi, taking on more advanced missions to earn more money and live a luxurious life. Others pursued power for higher status, seeking dominance and influence.

Itachi's goals were different. He didn't desire wealth or authority. Even if he was poor and had no authority, he wouldn't mind as long as he could be together with his family. His pursuit of strength was driven by the sole desire to end wars and bring peace to the world.

Itachi acknowledged that his ideals were unusual, but he had no intention of changing them. This was his ninja way.

The more Itachi talked with Nagasawa, the more he understood how arduous his path ahead would be. He must become stronger, surpassing everyone, even Nagasawa. If Nagasawa said Sun Breathing was the strongest, then it was undoubtedly true.

If he could obtain this breathing technique, it would undoubtedly lead to a significant improvement for him.

"However, as the strongest Breathing Style, learning it is extremely difficult. Even the three Flame Breathing mentors from Special Combat Division have attempted to learn Sun Breathing before, but they all failed," Nagasawa explained.

"I want to give it a try," Itachi said.

Being able to become a mentor in Special Combat Division was enough to prove that they were exceptionally skilled individuals, and if such people failed to learn Sun Breathing, that just went to prove how hard it was to learn Sun Breathing.

However, Itachi was not one to easily give up. Regardless of whether he could learn it or not, he must try it out first.

"Well, let's leave it at that. If you fail, I'll develop some derivative Breathing Techniques based on your experience practicing Sun Breathing," Nagasawa nodded, not surprised by Itachi's answer.

In the world of Naruto, many powerful characters possessed something called "conviction" or "belief."

For the sake of his belief, Kisame would summon sharks to bite to death so that he wouldn't reveal any secrets because he also wished to see the world with no lies like Obito said. Even Black Zetsu was no different. Despite lacking godlike power like Hashirama or Madara, he devised a foolproof plan in order to resurrect his mother, and it was all thanks to his belief.

Itachi, too, had a strong belief. While Uchiha Clan saw him as a murderer during Uchiha Downfall, he was Konoha's savior!

If a civil war involving Konoha and Uchiha Clan occurred, the ultimate victors wouldn't be the Uchiha or Danzo's Root, but the other Four Great Shinobi Countries. After all, war would occur again once Konoha was weakened.

Itachi made a painful decision to sacrifice his Clan to save Konoha after considering various possibilities.

Of course, there were many other factors at play, including the relentless Uchiha pressure, Shisui's sacrifice, Danzo's final ultimatum, and the threat of the masked man.

In this timeline, Itachi didn't have to make such complex decisions. Now, he only had to focus on mastering Sun Breathing.

After a brief thought, Nagasawa handed Itachi a small book. "For now, follow the training menu in this book. I'll also provide further guidance."

This book is similar to the one he gave Naruto earlier, which contained a part of methods for practicing Sun Breathing. While simpler than the complete version, it was remarkably challenging regardless—a good test to see if Itachi had the potential to master Sun Breathing.

If Itachi could do everything in the book, even if he could not immediately learn the full version of Sun Breathing, Itachi should be able to mix it with other Breathing Techniques to enhance his strength. Afterward, he could then transition to the full version of Sun Breathing gradually.

However, that was Nagasawa's personal though, and he was unsure if it would actually go well. After all, he had only made Breathing Styles public in this world recently. Everyone was essentially his guinea pig at this moment.

Itachi nodded, accepting the small book.

After a few hours of teaching Itachi Sun Breathing, it was already noon. Nagasawa went home to prepare a simple lunch of red bean rice before heading out again to meet Orochimaru.

Orochimaru should be engrossed in his research with the Mangekyō Sharingan that the experimental subject had awakened, and Nagasawa was quite curious about it.

Based on what happened that day, the Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities seemed quite potent. It exhibited powerful healing capabilities and seemed to have another ability that was somewhat similar to Hidan's Curse Technique.

Nagasawa swiftly entering Orochimaru's secret laboratory as he was used to it, Nagasawa saw Orochimaru with the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Orochimaru's pale face combined with the Mangekyō Sharingan certainly gave off a somewhat eerie vibe.

"Nagasawa-kun," Orochimaru greeted in his hoarse voice.

"How's the research on the Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities going?" Nagasawa asked directly.

Orochimaru thought for a moment before explaining, "The ability of the left eye is called Sokushinbutsu, which allows the user to heal themselves. The more severe the injury, the more strain it would place on the eye. It also had an additional purification effect.

"The ability of the right eye is called Amatsunohuki, which basically returns the injury you receive to the person that inflicts, but there's a restriction in this ability. The target must be within the user's line of sight."

"As I suspected," Nagasawa said, rubbing his chin.

The abilities were not as flashy as the likes of Tsukuyomi, but they certainly were effective.

"It's just that Mangekyo Sharingan is not very kind to non-Uchiha. Even I cannot use it for long, and I can't deactivate it on my own," Orochimaru sighed.

The power of the Mangekyō Sharingan was indeed formidable. For a brief moment, Orochimaru had the idea of implanting Hashirama Cells along with these eyes to his body, creating a potent combination. However, that thought quickly faded. 

In the past, he might have done it and considered obtaining Mangekyō Sharingan and Hashirama's cell power a success. However, he now saw an even greater power.

Nagasawa was like a towering mountain that he could only look up to now.

Orochimaru seriously suspected that Nagasawa had reached the realm of God of Shinobi, and it was impossible to surpass him, even though Orochimaru lacked evidence.

So, his current research is not enough; he needed a more powerful body.

A perfect body, coupled with the Mangekyō Sharingan and Hashirama Cells are Orochimaru's current obsession.

"Well, they belong to Uchiha Clan, after all."

"By the way, since you can't deactivate it, you should be cautious. If you leave the lab, either cover your eyes or use normal ones," Nagasawa advised.

Although he could cover up this information and tell the Uchiha that this was not the attempt to harm an Uchiha Shinobi, it's not a good idea to experiment on someone else's Kekkei Genkai. No one liked to be a guinea pig.

Moreover, Nagasawa believes that some Uchiha would make bold speculations. They might think that the information given by Konoha was a false information, and the truth was that Konoha secretly killed an Uchiha Shinobi because of their desire to obtain Mangekyō Sharingan and used them for shady experiments.

Some of them might have an even more outrageous speculation and thought that Konoha might have captured an Uchiha and subjected them to inhumane experiments.

Nagasawa did not want his efforts to go to waste after doing so much.

"I know this. I only transplanted them to secure better research result. Besides, transplanting Mangekyō Sharingan without Hashirama Cells is simply too taxing on me," Orochimaru replied.

Orochimaru was not dumb. After seeing Nagasawa's actions, he realized that Nagasawa wanted to resolve the conflict between Uchiha Clan and Konoha.

If he were to stroll around the village with a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, Orochimaru suspected that he might encounter Nagasawa before leaving the forest. An accident might occur to him, such as accidentally falling and getting scorched from the top of his head to the bottom of his toe.

Their cooperation has been nothing but pleasant, and Orochimaru certainly wouldn't do something that would put him at a loss in the future.