Akshi looked at everything around him with satisfaction.
With a thought, he reappeared on the training ground where he was training with Tetsuma this morning.
In front of him were the projections of himself and his grandfather standing on the training ground.
"They look identical," he said, walking around the two projections.
In addition of his sealing training, Akashi devoured every book that the Uchiha elder had in his library on illusion.
The collection was extensive, but with the photographic ability that the Sharingan gave him, it was more than enough.
Another thing that he had realized was that the Sharingan was literally wired to weave illusion.
He didn't know if it was because he had the perspective of another life, because he was part Uzumaki, part Uchiha, or something else, but for him the Sharingan was more than enough of a cheat.
His gaze turned toward where the vegetation should be in his field of vision a void was there.
Akashi looked into his memories to remember how everything was.
In front of him, the void slowly started to disappear.
Earth appeared, then grass, then trees, followed by birds and small creatures filling the estate on ordinary days.
Even though it was a static image, Akashi was ecstatic
"Hahaha," A wild laugh escaped his lips as he looked at that
Slowly using his memories, he filled the illusion with vegetation and wildlife, making it seemingly alive.
"I can't believe that those idiots have such a cheat and they never really use it,"
He said arrogantly, his old otaku soul started vibrating once more.
"The things I can do with the Sharingan, ouch"
In the middle of his jubilation, a sharp headache took him making him nearly fall.
"Looks like I am getting carried away," he said. He had realized that the headache was a sign that he was exercising too much mental strength.
It took a few seconds for the headache to disappear, leaving him once again calm and lucid.
"This is like the sharingan is an innate video editing app," he thought, turning to the immobile projection of himself and his grandfather."
"Start," he said, and in an instant the two started to fight and trade blows,
It was the exact memories of what happened this morning when he was training.
From a third-person POV, he looked at himself getting beaten up, again and again and again, for a long time until he couldn't get up anymore.
"That's a strange feeling. to see yourself get beat up like that,"
Another thing that he realized was that in the training this morning he couldn't see every move that his grandfather was making.
At times it looked like he disappeared, here he could see him.
"Is it an illusion or is it my subconscious working?" he wondered
He knew from his past life that somethime ths subconscion notice things that you consciously can't see or don't notice, and thought that it could be it.
With another thought, the two projections disappeared, and they reappeared on the training ground in the same position they were before the fight.
But this time something was different.
"How was it again?" Akashi said, looking once more in his own head, "Here it is?"
As he said that, the image of his grandfather disappeared.
No, he became somehow transparent, and his meridians became visible.
It wasn't something that he pulled out of his ass.
That is what he see, when one uses the Sharingan on someone, it is something that is sometimes forgotten, but the Sharingan, like the Byakugan, is an eye of perception.
Not as performant in that aspect, but it is a very useful ability, and Akashi was ready to make the most of his advantages.
"Start," he said,
"..."
At his surprise, nothing happened
As he was about to force it, another sharp headache struck him, and the illusory world he created shook.
All the static vegetation around him disappeared, he only managed to keep the image in front of him intact.
"What the fuck was that?" he shouted, holding his head in pain.
"What happened?" he asked himself, his mind was running at full speed to understand what went wrong.
After a few seconds, he found the solution.
"Of course," he said, massaging his temple
He looked at the projection of his grandfather in understanding
"I didn't start the fight using that vision," he said
In an instant, the projection changed and reappeared in the exact position they were when he opened his Sharingan to observe
Whoosh
As he expected, the battle started without an itch
From the side, he looked at his double being beaten up by his grandfather.
While it was happening, he could observe not only the meridians of his grandfather but also his movements.
He observed how he breathed, he observed the footsteps, he observed the swordplay.
Akashi observed and memorised everything he could.
Once the fight was over.
He smiled, having learned a lot from that experience.
"I need to try to imitate that," he said, moving to stand beside his grandfather
"Let's go," he said
But the moment he was about to move
Whoosh
Everything around started to slowly fade away.
"What is happening?" he asked in confusion,
In an instant, Akashi found himself in his bed once again.
"What happened?"
Looking around him, he realized that no one had woken him or anything.
But the fatigue that assailed him immediately after made him realize what happened
"My chakra reserve is empty."
"This isn't the first time," he thought, a little sad that his training was interrupted
"Well, it was more than enough for tonight," he said, looking at the moon
"About one hour has passed"
It was about the same amount of time he had spent in his illusory world.
"I need to find a way to make time flow faster in the illusory world, like in this crazy Itashi Tsukiyomi."
"I am sure that there are techniques that will help me do that."
"Yeah, we will analyse all that tomorrow," he said, letting his head fall back on his pillow and nearly immediately fell asleep
.....
Land of tea
In an underground shelter
Mikado Uzumaki,
Akashi's grandmother sat cross-legged, her gaze was cold as she looked at the old dying man on the bed. It was her own father, Tomura Uzumaki
"Why are you looking at me like that, daughter?" the old man asked, but there was nothing in his tone
"So you are finally going to die!" she said coldly. There was no warmth in her tone, instead, there was some eagerness.
"Yes... I am going to die any minute now,"
"..."
She remained silent for a long time before she opened her mouth again
"It's unfortunate that you are only dying now. If you had kicked the bucket a few years ago," She said. There was some venom in her voice.
"Yes, it was my venom, my hatred that sent her away from Uzushiogakure when she was helpless," he said,
With pain, he remembered how a few years ago it was he who had thrown away Miyo Uzumaki, his granddaughter, and her and her husband Uchiha Seki from Uzushiogakure when she was still pregnant.
"I did not wish them any harm," the old man croaked,
"You know, nearly all the important people that I lost, I lost at the hands of Uchiha, which really was quite unusual, after all the Uchiha were not our usual enemy,"
"It planted the seed of hatred that I had for them. This is why I refused to accept their union, this is why I took advantage of your absence to send them away at that particular time," he voiced
"I am ashamed to say it, but seeing them so happy together far from healing my wounds was reopening them. But I never wished them any harm, I wanted them to leave and to return to Konoha. I wanted them out of my sight, just for a while...I didn't expect them to meet any accident on the road." his voice cracked at the end
Mikado didn't answer, silence filled the room as she looked at the frail old man dying on the bed.
"I know," she admitted coldly, "it doesn't change a thing."
"I understand," the old man nodded, he knew that he wouldn't get any forgiveness
"Still, I thank you for sending that message to warn the others. This is because of you, because of Akashi's dream that we, that they still live,"
"You saved them, they are at your service,"
"I stole some of the clan's legacy before leaving. Gave them to him,"
The old man slowly closed his eyes "I lived far too long..."
And just like that the long life of Tomura Uzumaki ended.
Mikado looked at the lifeless corpse of her father and a tear quitly sliple from her eyes beofre she wiped it away.
Cough cough
Suddenly Mikado let out as series of coughs, from her lips a tricke of blood escape.
"This is getting worst..."