The Sharingan: Why You Don't Need To "Activate" Genjutsu
By TheVivas 24 Comments
The Sharingan is a unique dojutsu (eye technique) from the manga and anime series Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. This technique allows the user to copy ninjutsu and taijutsu (to some extent), see through illusions, and put people under hypnosis/illusions themselves. A lot of people believe that the basic Sharingan Genjutsu is an active ability, where the user has to actively want to use and capture a target in an illusion for it to be possible. I believe, based on evidence from the manga, that that isn't the case at all.
In this blog, I will talk about how a victim without any sort of illusion-resistance feats or any training whatsoever at noticing and seeing through illusions is caught in a Sharingan Genjutsu simply by making eye contact.
Evidence 1 - Kakashi vs Zabuza
My first piece of evidence is from the first time we see a Sharingan in use in a battle-situation in the Naruto manga. In this instance, Kakashi, who had a Sharingan transplanted into him when he was a teen (more than 16 years ago) was facing off against the rogue Jounin of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza. When the fight started, Zabuza opened up by surrounding the area with mist and was able to maneuver around Kakashi to try and attack a client he was protecting. The two of them then tricked each other with feints, Zabuza kicked Kakashi into a nearby lake and trapped him in a large water bubble. After some nice teamwork from both Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi is able to break free and engage Zabuza in a regular, mist-less fight. It was at this time that Kakashi was not only able to copy Zabuza's jutsu and movements down to the letter, but also hit him with a jutsu that Zabuza was preparing to fire and hadn't even cast yet.
Their fight ends when Haku, Zabuza's partner, takes him away before Kakashi could kill him. After recuperating for a week and being told intel on Kakashi from Haku, Zabuza engages Team 7 on a large bridge for a rematch. This time, he opens up the fight with the Mist and also closes his eyes, all in order to prevent himself from making eye contact with Kakashi's Sharingan:
By watching their fight, Haku deduced that Zabuza was put under a hypnotic spell simply by looking at Kakashi's Sharingan. That is why Zabuza used even thicker mist this time, to the point where you have to be literally about right in front of a person to see them, and even then, Zabuza elected to shut his eyes during the fight. Notice how Haku didn't tell Zabuza to be wary of Kakashi's Sharingan Genjutsu, but literally told him to close his eyes so that he wouldn't run the risk of locking eyes with the Sharingan.
Let's compare this to a time where a Sharingan user actively uses a Sharingan Genjutsu:
Evidence 2 - Itachi and Kisame vs Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy
During the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru attacked Konoha and managed to kill the Third Hokage. In the aftermath of that event, Akatsuki members Itachi and Kisame visited the village so that Itachi could (unknown to Kisame) talk to Homura and Komura and remind them to keep his secret safe. While walking around the village, however, Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai notice the two and attempt to take them down after heading away from a crowded area. Kakashi arrived a little late to the fight, but as soon as he did and as soon as Itachi made mention of unleashing the power of the Uchiha on the trio, Kakashi immediately told them to close their eyes and to not look at his Sharingan, no matter what. Kakashi knew Itachi was going to use the Mangekyo Sharingan, but this isn't the point I wanted to get at. After Kakashi is caught in Itachi's Tsukuyomi, he collapses and is saved by Guy arriving the kick Kisame away from his body. Guy then tells Asuma and Kurenai a strategy to fighting against the Sharingan and that's to look at their body, not their eyes:
The translations on this site might make it a little confusing, but Guy basically told Asuma and Kurenai that through the years of countless spars and fights with Kakashi, he developed a system to fighting him that would prevent Kakashi from catching him in a Genjutsu, and that was to fight by looking at his body/feet. This only further drives home my point that you don't need to activate a Sharingan Genjutsu in order to catch someone in a Genjutsu.
Just the fact that Guy, who can't even perform ninjutsu in the first place to be copied, fights by avoiding eye contact with the Sharingan should tell you something.
Evidence 3 - Itachi vs Deidara
This set of scans honestly proves my point for me. When Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori track down Deidara and offer him a spot on Akatsuki, he refuses and gets angry at them insulting his definition of art. Since it was an order from above, Itachi makes Deidara a proposition where if Itachi wins, Deidara will join the Akatsuki, and if he loses, then they'll leave. Deidara accepts, and begins to attack Itachi. After believing to have trapped him in a centipede clay bomb, Deidara prepares to blow Itachi up, only to find that he had coiled the centipede around himself instead of Itachi. He is shocked and asked how he was caught in Genjutsu, as he didn't see Itachi cast any, and Kisame flat out says that "The moment you looked into Itachi's Sharingan, you were caught in his illusions". There's not much room for debate there.
Evidence 4 - Sasuke vs Sai
Another instance of looking into a Sharingan and being affected. Sai is a member of Root, a division of the ANBU in Konoha where they are trained from young shinobi to be without any emotion whatsoever so that they could put the mission first and make certain that any emotion whatsoever wouldn't interfere with that. All Sai did was literally look into Sasuke's Sharingan and fell to the floor after witnessed the illusion illustrated in the scans:
In the third scan you can even read "Just by looking into his eyes". This is Sai's own thoughts, so from his point of view, he literally looked into the Sharingan, was hit with that illusion, and was forced to fear Sasuke and ended up falling to the floor.
I have more examples, so if anyone would like me to provide more, I will.
Further Context
I've mentioned the ability to see through basic illusions in this thread before, so let me give an actual example of what that would look like. In the beginning of the Chunin Exams, teams of Genin had to report to a room at a certain time so that they could take the first part of the test, which was written. The room was on the third floor, but some of the Chunin Proctors used a Genjutsu to disguise the second floor as the third floor. Both Sasuke and Sakura were able to see through this illusion:
So if you read this blog and think to yourself "But Hashirama fought Madara all the time and looked in his eyes and he wasn't caught!" or think "What about the times Naruto looked right into Sasuke's eyes and wasn't caught!" that's the reason right there. Certain ninja in Naruto have the ability to see through and/or defeat basic illusions.
Conclusion
With the feats provided above, it's clear to see that Sharingan users don't have to actively "use" a Sharingan Genjutsu to catch an enemy/target in a Genjutsu. One look at the Sharingan itself, if you don't have the proper or high enough resistance feats, you're getting put under a Genjutsu.
From now if you read a user comment in a thread "He never starts off with Genjutsu though" or anything related to that topic or that follows that logic, refer them to this.