Gains
Sasuke looked at Tōma for a moment, then spoke again.
"If you run into problems later and need my Mangekyō, just come find me."
Tōma smiled. "Then I won't hold back."
Even as he said that, he knew he likely wouldn't need to borrow Sasuke's eyes again. What he'd gained this time was already more than enough.
Sasuke returned the smile. For once, it felt like he'd genuinely helped Tōma instead of the other way around.
"Keep pushing forward," Tōma said calmly. "Your path doesn't end with revenge. Your future is much longer than that. And like Itachi said, the enemies ahead are only going to get stronger."
"I know," Sasuke replied, cold resolve flickering in his eyes. "That masked man who calls himself Uchiha Madara is still out there. I've already told Kakashi about his role in the Nine-Tails incident. I'll finish this together with him."
Tōma paused, a strange expression crossing his face.
If Sasuke only knew.
The masked man was Obito—Kakashi's former teammate, the original owner of that Sharingan, the shadow that had shaped much of Kakashi's life ever since. Revenge wasn't going to be simple.
For a brief moment, Tōma considered telling Kakashi the truth. Part of him even wondered what Kakashi's face would look like if he learned that the man he sought to avenge was once his closest friend.
But that kind of curiosity crossed a line.
Kakashi was one of his own. Twisting the knife like that wasn't his style.
Besides, explaining how he knew would be a headache. Then again… he was Hokage. Since when did a superior need to justify his intelligence sources to a subordinate?
Tōma shook his head and set the thought aside. He'd deal with Kakashi later.
For now, he turned inward.
Natural energy flowed smoothly as he refined it into a flawless state of Sage Chakra. His pupils shifted into a calm, golden hue.
"This is… perfect Sage Mode?" Sasuke asked, staring at Tōma's eyes.
"Yes. Mount Myōboku's perfected Sage Mode," Tōma replied casually. "By the way, Naruto's already mastered the perfect version too."
Sasuke blinked, surprised but not shaken. "That idiot actually pulled it off?"
"He did," Tōma said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "I learned Myōboku Sage Mode from him."
In truth, Tōma cheated more often than he liked to admit. He could learn these things on his own—but time was the one thing he couldn't afford to waste. Yang Release, Sage Mode, Yin Release… all of them followed the same pattern.
Hand seals flashed.
These days, Tōma rarely needed more than three. One for simple techniques. Two for complex but familiar ones. Three only when something was both advanced and newly learned. Not quite Hashirama's clap-and-go level—but more than fast enough for real combat.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
A clone appeared.
Two more seals followed, and Tōma activated the Spirit Transformation Technique.
Watching closely, Sasuke finally understood. That abnormal shadow clone wasn't just a clone—it was Sage chakra, spiritual projection, and shadow clone techniques layered together.
No wonder it was impossible to replicate.
Before Sasuke could dwell on it, the spiritual clone grabbed him, and both vanished in a flash of Flying Thunder God.
Left alone, Tōma began sorting through his gains.
The greatest reward was Yin Release.
Before today, he could barely sense it. Now, it felt like standing before an endless ocean. His spiritual power had always been immense—he'd simply lacked the key to open the door.
Sasuke's Mangekyō had given him that key.
Even without deeper refinement, the sheer amount of Yin Release now at his disposal opened countless possibilities.
A dangerous thought surfaced.
If Yin Release was enough… did he really need the Sharingan to manifest Susanoo?
Curiosity won.
He mirrored the process he'd observed through Sasuke, drawing on chakra and spiritual force.
Golden chakra flared around him.
Then—nothing.
Tōma opened his eyes, unsurprised. For now, it was impossible. He had the quantity of Yin Release, but not the precision.
The Mangekyō Sharingan, he concluded, functioned like a specialized processor. It handled forms of Yin Release that would otherwise require absurd levels of control.
Even if he eventually succeeded without it, what he created probably wouldn't truly be "Susanoo." Just a Yin Release construct that looked similar.
He dropped the thought.
The second major gain came from Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode.
As he converted natural energy, Tōma realized he'd underestimated it. Its drawbacks were severe for a reason—it leaned almost entirely into nature itself.
If Mount Myōboku sought balance between chakra and nature, Ryūchi Cave pushed relentlessly toward the latter. The closer it came to perfection, the further the user drifted from humanity.
In return, it offered greater raw power and near-limitless duration.
For Tōma, though, that advantage was meaningless. His Sage Mode already lasted effectively forever.
Which meant Ryūchi Cave didn't need to reshape his body at all.
As he examined its abilities, his expression turned odd.
Its sensory range overlapped heavily with his own—useful mainly for detecting things without chakra. A blind spot, now covered.
More interesting was its manipulation of life energy.
Shikkotsu Forest enhanced life force passively, turning regeneration into a constant state. Ryūchi Cave, on the other hand, allowed active control.
Combined with Myōboku's balanced approach…
The synergy was obvious.
Even without full fusion, the compatibility was undeniable. Offense, defense, ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, perception, vitality—no glaring weaknesses remained.
Mental strength might have been a concern.
If it were anyone else.
Tōma let out a quiet breath, suppressing his excitement.
Fusion would come later. First, Shikkotsu Forest and Ryūchi Cave both needed to reach perfection.
Step by step.
There was no need to rush.