Said to be one of the most powerful genjutsu in the shinobi world of Naruto, Tsukuyomi is one of the Mangekyo Sharingan kekkei genkai abilities wielded by Itachi Uchiha, allowing him to completely subdue opponents of vastly greater strength in no time. As Itachi himself was a pacifist who preferred to use genjutsu to prevail in combat before taking up arms against any adversary, this is a technique that is ideally suited to his fighting style. With Tsukuyomi, Itachi has completely overwhelmed immensely powerful shinobi such as Kakashi Hatake, leaving him bedridden for an extended period from the sheer trauma he went through. This was one of the most powerful displays of Tsukuyomi's potency in Part I or Naruto.
Unlike Itachi's other genjutsu, which he can cast with a mere movement of his finger, Tsukuyomi requires direct eye contact, although even a moment is sufficient. On falling prey to Tsukuyomi, Itachi can transport his victims to a realm of his choice, where he freely manipulates time, dilating it to an extreme degree, while subjecting his opponents to extended torture or making them relive harrowing events from their own lives. This is why Tsukuyomi is so exalted among the plethora of genjutsu shown throughout Naruto. Falling under the banner of Yin Release, Tsukuyomi is one of the highest forms of projecting one's imagination through ninjutsu, completely altering a victim's perception of reality beyond what they could ever have imagined, and maybe even kill them if enough chakra is infused into the technique.
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Named For The Moon God
Derived from the Shinto religion and Japanese mythology, Tsukuyomi gets its name from Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the god of the moon. Very little is known about this deity, including their gender, although they have been referred to as male in certain texts. This tradition of naming is much like other Mangekyo Sharingan abilities such as Amaterasu, Susanoo, Izanagi, and Izanami, who are all named after deities in the Shinto religion.
Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto was created when Izanagi-no-Mikoto, the creator deity of the Shinto religion, cleansed himself of his sins when bathing, after fleeing from the underworld and the wrath of his sister Izanami. In this version of the tale Tsukuyomi was born when Izanagi washed his right eye, although another version explains that they were brought into the world from a mirror of white copper that Izanagi held in his right hand. In a similar vein, Amaterasu — goddess of the sun and the ability of Itachi's right Mangekyo Sharingan — was born when Izanagi washed his left and eye, whereas Susanoo, the god of storms was born when he washed his nose.
Unending Pain In An Instant
When activated, Tsukuyomi alters the environment around a target, morphing it to an illusion of Itachi's design. Inside this domain, Itachi is able to subject his targets to intense torture, as in the case of Kakashi, who was made to feel as if he was continually being stabbed while restrained to a cross, unable to do anything to defend himself. Besides the actual sensation of pain, it is the feeling of helplessness that gradually overwhelms someone subjected to this genjutsu, rendering them comatose or maybe even close to death once the ordeal is over. In the anime, Tsukuyomi's illusions are generally rendered in an inverted gray scale with a red moon looming over a blood-red sky — a world of horrors to say the least. Victims are generally rendered comatose once the illusion is complete, and while most Sharingan users can resist falling unconscious for a short period, very experienced users such as Sasuke can break free of its control — although the potency of the genjutsu Itachi used on him when they fought is not entirely certain.
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The most terrifying aspect of Tsukuyomi is its ability to completely change an individual's ability to perceive time, dilating it to an unfathomable extent. For instance, Itachi can subject his victims to days' worth of torture in seconds, or even smaller periods of time, incapacitating them without so much as raising a finger. It is also virtually impossible to counter due to the speed with which Itachi can cast it, and the potency of the Mangekyo Sharingan, which makes it extremely difficult for even normal Sharingan users to dispel it. Few, if any members of the Uchiha clan are able to overcome such an experience, those who emerge from it without any long term damage, are left in a broken state for a fairly long period of time after falling victim to this genjutsu.
Both Kakashi and Sasuke fell into comas, and they would not have been able to recover from the psychological strain of the genjutsu if not for the intervention of a medical-nin as skilled as Tsunade. In Sasuke's case, Itachi made him relive the events of the Uchiha Clan Downfall when he saw him a second time, indicating that Tsukuyomi can be used to make targets experience the worst moments of their lives in full clarity. On the other hand, Itachi also used this ability on Izumi Uchiha during the Uchiha Clan Downfall in Itachi Shinden: Book of Dark Night. Instead of subjecting her to torture, he made her experience her entire life with him in the span of a few moments, where they got married, had children, and even grew old, such that her death in the illusion made her pass away in the real world in his arms.
The Pitfalls Of Overuse
Considering all these factors, it would be easy to class Tsukuyomi among the most fearsome abilities in Naruto as a whole, and if not for some of the drawbacks associated with its use, it would have been almost impossible to counter in any form. To begin with, Tsukuyomi requires the use of a Mangekyo Sharingan, which gradually loses its vision over time with continuous use. Itachi suffered through this in the years he spent with the Akatsuki, and was quite close to going blind at the time of his death. It is important to note that the terminal illness he was suffering from did not help him either, but even a clean bill of health would have only delayed the inevitable in his case. He even bled from the eyes each time he used it and Amaterasu in quick succession, attesting to the strain it put on his eyes.
Furthermore, casting Tsukuyomi even a single time requires a great deal of chakra, so it is not advisable to use it against swarms of opponents. Ideally, this genjutsu should be reserved for surprise attacks against very strong opponents when fighting one on one or in small teams, where it would be most effective in neutralizing threats. For Itachi, using Tsukuyomi meant that he would find it extremely difficult to continue fighting afterward, as his chakra reserves would be severely drained by it. Hence, there is a major caveat to this technique, despite how powerful it is, and Itachi did have to be quite mindful in how he deployed it against opponents. However, this did not stop shinobi from all across the world living in fear of his name, as he came close to being regarded as the strongest genjutsu user of his time.
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