adminIf there’s a downtrodden clan in Naruto, it is the Uchiha clan without a doubt. They may have been oppressed for decades, yet they carried secrets within them. Secrets so potent that they could have ended their foes.
Sharingan is a perfect example of that. It could completely shift the course of a battle. The blindness, however, was the only drawback of this, and while eye swap could have prevented it, there’s a caveat to that as well.
To put it simply, there’s a logical explanation as to why Masashi Kishimoto did not choose this route. There’s a reason why the eye-swap sounds ideal but doesn’t work, and it all makes sense. How? Well, let’s unpack this!
Why didn’t the Uchihas swap their Mangekyo Sharingan?
Naruto unpacked the dark history of the Uchiha clan, and it is unlike any other. The clan carries with it the Curse of Hatred. It is the power that is admired yet feared so greatly that they were subjected to immense oppression.
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The power, being their unparalleled dojutsu, Mangekyo Sharingan. The ability gave them an unfair advantage in war and battles. Itachi used Tsukuyomi on Kakashi, and Obito used Izanagi to reshape his reality, but it doesn’t end there.
The MS is a nuclear weapon in more ways than one. But its biggest drawback is the blindness, and the only way to counter it is to transplant another Uchiha’s eyes. But there are reasons why the clan didn’t swap their eyes.
Itachi’s Mangekyo Sharingan in anime | Credit: Studio Pierrot
Ideally, eye swaps could potentially save the clan from the debilitating effects of strain and even blindness. But the reason why it wouldn’t work was because of the rarity of the Mangekyou Sharingan.
Let’s be real, it was so rare that only a few could potentially awaken the ability and use it to its full extent. The awakening itself stemmed from a painful and traumatic event, and this is something that most fans collectively agree on:
Couldn’t Uchiha siblings swap eyes to cure their blindness without killing each other? byu/AyuMiyu_Chan inNaruto
Comment byu/AyuMiyu_Chan from discussion inNaruto
Comment byu/AyuMiyu_Chan from discussion inNaruto
Comment byu/AyuMiyu_Chan from discussion inNaruto
Comment byu/AyuMiyu_Chan from discussion inNaruto
Interestingly, the eye transplant that we see in the series looks convincing. It looks the part and it most certainly seems like the ultimate solution for the blindness, yet the method is a trial and error when we come to think of it.
The eye-swap is a trial-and-error method in the Narutoverse
Sasuke and Obito in anime | Credit: Studio Pierrot
Now you may think, where is this coming from? Well, eye compatibility is the real deal here. One cannot cherry-pick an eye to attain an Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, and Masashi Kishimoto explained it better through Madara.
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Madara was the first one to achieve it and rid himself of the pitfalls associated with the Dojutsu. It was Itachi who guided Sasuke to walk down that path to shelter him from Madara, and hence he was able to do so.
It wasn’t merely the rarity of Mangekyo Sharingan but also the knowledge that was highly gatekept. Not everyone understood or could make sense of the Uchiha secrets, and yet only a few within the clan were deemed successful.
Madara’s Mangekyo Sharingan | Credit: Studio Pierrot
The fact that only Sasuke and Madara were able to unlock the Sharingan’s full potential was made possible by others. Others who knew the clan’s true powers and abilities were a handful.
Precisely why it makes sense that mindless eye swapping wouldn’t necessarily work in this case.
Naruto: Shippuden is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The manga is currently available for reading on Shueisha’s Manga Plus app.
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