Named after the Shinto Moon god, Tsukuyomi is one of the most powerful genjutsu in existence. It is unique to the Uchiha clan and only those with the Mangekyo Sharingan can perform it. It is said to represent the Spiritual World and Darkness (Seishinkai to Yami), the antipode to Amaterasu, a ninjutsu of similar power and fellow Mangekyo Sharingan doujutsu, said to represent the Material World and Light (Busshitsukai to Hikari).

Tsukuyomi requires eye contact to be performed. When executed, the jutsu traps the target in an illusionary world that is completely controlled by the user. While it only takes a few seconds to complete in the real world, the user can make it seem as if days have passed for the target. Depending on the user’s whim, they can either torture their target for what seems like days on end, or make them relive a traumatic event over and over. When the jutsu ends the resultant psychological trauma will render the target unable to fight for an extensive period of time, and possibly suffer a complete mental breakdown. An example of this is Kakashi, who had to be hospitalized for quite some time after Itachi performed the Tsukuyomi on him.

A common feature of illusions created by Tsukuyomi is a red moon that casts a red light throughout the illusion, giving the background a blood-red appearance while the figures within the illusion are in a grayscale, inverted color. This feature is not present when Itachi uses Tsukuyomi against Sasuke Uchiha in Part II.

Such a powerful technique is not without its disadvantages, however. Due to the complexity of the illusion and the quickness with which it is executed, an enormous amount of chakra is necessary but had little to no effect on the stress that is put on the eyes, leaving Itachi perfectly fine after performing it despite his loss of chakra. Though Kakashi says that Tsukuyomi cannot be escaped, Sasuke has been able to break out of Tsukuyomi by using his own Sharingan.

Although Sasuke has not been seen using any genjutsu specifically labeled as Tsukuyomi, his usage of both Amaterasu and Susanoo suggests that he is able to. Both Itachi and Sasuke have noted that in order to use Susanoo, both Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi must have been awakened, further reinforcing that Sasuke can use Tsukuyomi.

Tsukuyomi-induced comas are however, curable, as shown when Tsunade quickly and easily countered its aftereffects affecting Kakashi and Sasuke, though admittedly, no one but she was able to, hinting the mental damage it causes is considerably high, and the victims had to stay in bed for a little while longer, looking rather disoriented after being healed.

Uchiha Madara’s Moon’s Eye Plan involves acquiring the Ten-Tailed Beast’s power and body in the moon, which allows him to cast an Infinite Tsukuyomi (Mugen Tsukuyomi) throughout the entire world, effectively letting him conquer it.