From the night of genocide, marching towards the strongest.

However, at that time he appeared more indifferent.

But the child remained calm!

Seeing Kakashi remain silent, the Third Hokage continued, "Sasuke has been under your tutelage for about a year now, hasn't he? What do you think of Sasuke's current strength?"

Kakashi calmly said, "Sasuke is the most talented genius I have ever seen. When I was his age, I was not as strong as him."

"It seems you think highly of that child."

He knew that Kakashi became a Jonin at the age of twelve, and Kakashi's evaluation meant that Sasuke's strength had already reached the Jonin level.

I must say, they truly are brothers.

The older brother's talent was exceptional, but the younger brother was in no way inferior.

I remember becoming a Chunin at 10, joining the Anbu at 11, becoming an Anbu squad leader at 13, and then at 14...

The Third Hokage sighed inwardly, then said calmly, "Sasuke is now your student, and his brother was once under your command. In your opinion, how does Sasuke's current strength compare to Itachi Uchiha's back then?"

鼬?

Upon suddenly hearing the Third Hokage mention Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi's gaze darkened slightly.

He is currently unaware of the truth behind the massacre of the Uchiha clan.

They were even more unaware of the agreement reached between Itachi Uchiha and Konoha.

He also believes that the truth behind the Uchiha clan's massacre is as rumored among the village's Jonin.

It was Itachi Uchiha who took extreme actions in pursuit of extreme power.

Even now, he still can't understand why that seemingly calm and collected young man would do such a thing.

Kakashi was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's hard to say. Both Itachi and Sasuke are ninjas who are proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, and they don't have any obvious weaknesses. Sasuke has an advantage over Itachi in taijutsu, physical fitness, and swordsmanship back then, but Itachi is stronger than Sasuke in genjutsu and combat experience. Plus, he has the Sharingan..."

"It's about 50/50."

Kakashi concluded with a single sentence.

"It mainly depends on how much strength Sasuke can unleash in a life-or-death battle."

A life-or-death battle is different from a regular sparring match.

Some people, when faced with life-threatening danger and the fear of death, can unleash strength and potential far beyond what is usually available.

Some people will tremble with fear, unable to unleash even half of their full potential.

The Third Hokage nodded, pondered silently for a moment, then smiled gently and said, "I understand. Kakashi, you can go now. Oh, and don't forget about becoming a Jonin next month. Remember to prepare."

"Yes, Third Hokage," Kakashi replied respectfully, then turned and left the office.

"Why....."

After Kakashi left, the Third Hokage sighed and took out a stack of files on this year's graduates from his drawer to look at them.

----------------------

Uchiha clan territory, Sasuke's home.

After dinner, Sasuke did not immediately begin his training. Instead, he left a shadow clone at home and went into the basement of his newly built house.

Stepping into the basement, you find a spacious and clean room with a small laboratory table in the center.

The surrounding area was also filled with various medical instruments such as surgical scalpels, razor blades, small tweezers, small needles, syringes, gauze, and microscopes.

Sasuke first went to a corner of the room, took out a small cage, placed it on the experimental table, and then opened it.

Before me were two lively, agile, and energetic white mice.

However, when the two white mice saw Sasuke, they immediately panicked and started squeaking incessantly.

Sasuke smiled slightly, revealing a kind smile, and took out one of them, beginning to carefully observe the changes in the white mouse's body, or more precisely, to observe the white mouse's eyes.

"Mice No. A have normal pupil size, shape, and color."

"The color of the conjunctiva is normal, the surface is smooth and the transparency is normal, with no obvious congestion, edema, follicles and new masses."

"The cornea is the correct size and has normal sensation. There is no obvious cloudiness, hemorrhage, pus, or foreign body."

Sasuke picked up the white mouse, examined its eyelids, pondered for a moment, and then wrote in the experimental logbook beside him.

As soon as he finished writing, Sasuke picked up a small flashlight and shone it on the white mouse's eyes.

"The slight sluggish response to light may be because the eyes have not yet fully adapted to the new eyes."

Sasuke gently pressed the tear duct socket above the mouse's eye socket, and after seeing the mouse shed a few tears of regret, he nodded.

"Are there any redness, swelling, tenderness, or fistula in the lacrimal sac area? The amount of secretion is normal when the lacrimal sac is squeezed. There is no narrowing or obstruction of the lacrimal duct."

After examining the mouse A more carefully and finding that it did not show any obvious signs of discomfort, Sasuke picked up the other mouse, B, and began to examine it.

.............

After a long while, Sasuke put the two white mice back into the cage and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So it seems my eye transplant surgery was a success!"

These two mice were specially selected by him for the eye transplant surgery. Not only did they have the same blood type, but their iris diameter and pupil size were also extremely similar, with minimal error.

"Medical ninjutsu is truly a bug-like existence; it's simply unbelievable."

Keep in mind that Sasuke had just performed the eye swap surgery on two mice yesterday, and in just one day, both mice had already begun to adapt to their new eyes.

However, there is a precedent. During the Third Shinobi World War, Rin Nohara underwent a hot-swap transplant surgery, which was a plug-and-play procedure.

Chapter 48: The Blade of Fire and Armor.

'The transplant surgery issue is resolved; now all I have to do is awaken the Kaleidoscope!'

Sasuke stared blankly at the experimental files in his hand.

After a moment, he turned around, looked at the two lively white mice again, shook his head, and chuckled softly.

He then tidied up the tools in the basement and left.

A moment later, Sasuke returned to his living room. As soon as he entered the living room, he found that a lovely guest, Tahi, had arrived. His shadow clone was talking to Tahi.

"Well then, young master Sasuke, I've delivered the goods, so I'll be taking my leave now, meow."

As soon as he finished speaking, a cloud of white smoke suddenly billowed into the room, and Tian Huo disappeared from the room.

When Sasuke arrived, the shadow clone didn't say anything, but simply handed him a storage scroll. Then, the shadow clone was deactivated, and the memories returned to Sasuke's mind.

"Has my weapon finally been successfully forged?"

Because this was the first time Granny Cat had crafted a weapon of this caliber, and the materials were extremely precious.

So Granny Cat kept revising the weapon's design and plans until two months ago, when she finally decided to forge the sword.

Sasuke eagerly opened the storage scroll, and after a puff of smoke, a delicate and beautiful Japanese katana appeared in his palm.

Sasuke gently stroked the blade. Even before it was drawn, a sharp and scorching aura emanated from it, revealing its extraordinary nature.

With his hand gripping the hilt, Sasuke could clearly feel a strange resonance between the hilt and the blade, and the fire chakra within his body!

This is the place where the fire-style chakra crystals, which have been worshipped by the Uchiha clan for generations, are embedded!

Sasuke took a deep breath and drew his sword, revealing a blade that was entirely black.

But upon closer inspection, the dark sword actually had a crimson halo, radiating a crystal-clear light, making it look mysterious and beautiful.

After examining the blade for a moment, Sasuke had an idea and channeled fire-style chakra into it.

In an instant, the originally jet-black sword body turned crimson, and a crimson flame suddenly emerged from the sword body and surrounded it.

Sasuke didn't pour in much chakra; it was only enough to light a small flame.

However, the katana in front of them had greatly increased the power of its fire-style chakra, and it seemed to be absorbing the heat from the room's lights, with the flames showing a tendency to burn even more intensely.

In an instant, the surrounding air felt scorching, and the sweltering heat filled the entire living room!

Such an increase!?

Sasuke was taken aback when he saw this.

"And this is only with a tiny bit of fire-style chakra I've infused. If I were to use it to unleash a Fire Release: Blade Technique, the power would be..."

Just thinking about how he used this sword to unleash the Blazing Sword and the Gale Sword made Sasuke feel a surge of excitement.

"I'll call you Fire Kagu!"

Kagutsuchi is another name for the fire god Kagutsuchi in mythology. Kagutsuchi is also known as the Fire Night God, the Fire Hyunbi, and the Fire Kagutsuchi.

Legend has it that when Kagutsuchi was born, his body was engulfed in flames, which burned his mother Izanami to death. His enraged father, Izanagi, killed Kagutsuchi with the divine sword Ame no Hanabira. The eight drops of blood that flowed out transformed into eight gods, one of whom was Kento Raigin.

Naming this fire-attribute artifact after the mythical fire god seems quite fitting to Sasuke.

——————————————————————————————

The back mountain of Konoha.

Sasuke held his sword level, took a few deep breaths, and entered a state of emptiness and tranquility before swinging his sword.

The sword flashed and moved swiftly, Sasuke's wrist was extremely flexible, and a simple short sword in his hand was like an extension of his arm.

He swiftly and continuously shaves away at various parts of the boulder, completely removing chunks of rubble, creating a pleasing and natural aesthetic.

Especially with Sasuke's handsome face and serious expression, simply watching it is a pleasure.

Swish swish!

Sasuke's hand suddenly stopped, and at this moment the giant stone carving was about ninety percent complete. A flash of red light appeared in his eyes, and his whole body regained its light. He could hear the sounds of nature.

"Oh...."

Looking at the horrific, barely recognizable human-shaped model before him, Sasuke chuckled softly.

The carving he did just now was many times more difficult than it was two years ago, because his five senses—form, sound, smell, taste, and touch—were sealed at the same time.

You can't look with your eyes, you can't listen with your ears, and you can't even touch the texture and grain of the stone.

It all depends on the heart to carve.

Sasuke had a premonition that if he could complete the sculpture in front of him solely based on his heart and imbue it with divine power...

Not only did his chakra sculpting training method undergo a qualitative change instantly, but his Mangekyou Sharingan would also awaken naturally.