Chapter 69: A New Use for Making Fake Become Real!
By this point, Makoto had already returned to the surface outside Konoha with Yukinoshita Yukino.
The fighting inside the village seemed to have erupted again, and the destruction felt even more intense than before.
Looking toward the village, Yukinoshita couldn't help asking, "Where do we go next? Which side are we supporting? The enemy is so strong that Konoha's shinobi might not be able to hold out."
Makoto frowned deeply. Based on what he knew about Naruto, Konoha's situation was probably already terrible.
Judging from his clash with the black-robed man, Makoto could probably count on one hand the number of Konoha shinobi capable of avoiding that man's absorption.
His speed combined with Kamui wasn't something an ordinary person could evade simply by concentrating harder.
If he wanted, he could easily throw every major fighter into the Kamui Dimension, then lead his subordinates in slaughtering the rest of Konoha.
'So what should I do?'
'Find him and fight to the death, or find some way to distract him so he can't interfere with Konoha anymore?'
At that moment, a spatial ripple appeared in the distance. Makoto's gaze instantly snapped toward it, and a second later, the black-robed man emerged.
He noticed Makoto as well, but instead of attacking, he continued chasing something in another direction.
Makoto's eyes brightened.
'At this point in the timeline, there's only one thing outside Konoha more important to him than me. Uzumaki Naruto.'
Makoto had just been worrying about how to break the deadlock, yet his opponent had already rushed off to act.
'What happened inside Konoha to make him this impatient?'
Before Makoto could speak, Yukinoshita said, "That's the Veteran from before, right? He looks like he's in a hurry to do something. Kitano-kun, follow him. I'll find something I can handle on my own."
She had already noticed something during the previous battle. "I know you want to keep protecting me, but keeping me inside your storage space limits your cursed technique, doesn't it?"
When Makoto used Cursed Technique Reversal: Wedge earlier, his storage space had only compressed by half.
If he were free to collapse the entire space, the technique's power would undoubtedly increase several times over.
Seeing how determined Yukinoshita was, Makoto decided not to argue.
She wasn't some sheltered flower that needed constant protection. She was a Veteran with more mission experience than Makoto himself, and forcing her to remain hidden would only insult everything she'd worked for.
"I understand. We'll regroup inside Konoha afterward."
Yukinoshita nodded firmly. "All right!"
Neither wasted another word. They split up immediately.
Makoto stopped suppressing his strength, stepped through a Spatial Gate, and began pursuing the black-robed man at full speed.
The two crossed a considerable distance in their chase before both noticed a violent battle farther ahead.
A gigantic toad leaped high into the air and fired Water Release: Gunshot. Below, One-Tail Shukaku slapped its stomach and unleashed Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet.
The enormous projectiles collided in midair and exploded violently. The shockwave swept through the surrounding area like a storm, whipping Makoto's clothes around him.
From this distance, Makoto could finally see the Fate Values above Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.
Naruto had 60.
Sasuke had only 40.
Makoto couldn't say the numbers surprised him. Both of their lives were miserable in different ways.
Naruto lost his parents early, was bullied throughout childhood, and spent his early years suffering alone. Even after finally becoming Hokage, he ended up living like an overworked wage slave before dying young at the hands of the Otsutsuki clan.
Sasuke's life was arguably even worse. His clan was massacred when he was a child, his brother died later, and even after marrying, he barely had a home he could return to before ultimately dying young like Naruto.
Makoto didn't immediately enter the battlefield.
The black-robed man had landed on a treetop on the opposite side, and the two stared at each other across the chaos.
Clearly, under these conditions, the other man wasn't confident he could simply snatch Naruto away while Makoto interfered.
Since his opponent didn't move, Makoto saw no reason to make the first move either.
Instead, he formed hand seals for the first time and used the Shadow Clone Technique. He sent the clone toward Uchiha Sasuke, intending to test whether a Shadow Clone could trigger Making Fake Become Real.
Unfortunately, Sasuke didn't have much Makoto could exploit right now.
Uchiha Sasuke possessed exceptional talent and was even Indra's reincarnation, but Sasuke himself didn't know any of that yet. His limited understanding meant Makoto couldn't manifest those facts through him.
Right now, Sasuke was still stunned by the battle between One-Tail Shukaku and the giant summon.
He probably didn't even understand how powerful a Kage-level shinobi truly was.
Makoto could explain everything to him piece by piece, but there wasn't enough time.
Then Makoto suddenly had an idea.
His Shadow Clone appeared beside Uchiha Sasuke without warning, its Three-Tomoe Sharingan rotating in its eyes.
Sasuke jumped in shock before blurting out, "Who are you? Why do you have our clan's Sharingan? And why is your Sharingan that color?"
"My identity doesn't matter, and neither does the color of my eyes. I only want to ask you one thing. Do you want to take revenge on Uchiha Itachi sooner?"
Sasuke's pupils contracted. His entire body became guarded, yet his desire for revenge still forced the words out. "What exactly are you trying to do? Say it!"
"I don't want anything from you. In fact, I'll give you a chance to awaken the ultimate form of the Sharingan. Do you want to try?"
Makoto waited expectantly for the system notification.
Nothing happened.
'As expected. A Shadow Clone speaking on my behalf can't directly trigger Making Fake Become Real either.'
After a second of silence, Sasuke raised his voice. "You think I'd believe some scam like that? Nobody can do something like that!"
Yet Makoto could see the truth in Sasuke's rapid breathing and dilated pupils.
He desperately wanted the claim to be real.
At this point in his life, Sasuke would pay almost any price if it meant gaining the power to take revenge.
Makoto had no interest in Sasuke's body, unlike Orochimaru, but Sasuke was an excellent experimental subject.
Makoto transmitted his voice directly into Sasuke's ear and repeated the offer himself.
"You really don't want to try? This is your only chance. I'll give you three seconds to decide."
[Ding! Making Fake Become Real has activated.]
[Uchiha Sasuke: Fate Value 40. Trust: 30%. Manifestation Points: 12%.]
[Manifestation Result: Uchiha Sasuke has learned how to awaken his eyes and briefly experienced the existence of the Mangekyo Sharingan, but he remains far from actually awakening it.]
The moment the ability succeeded, Makoto's Shadow Clone extended an index finger and tapped Sasuke's forehead.
Sasuke's Two-Tomoe Sharingan instantly split into three tomoe, then began changing toward the pinwheel pattern of a Mangekyo Sharingan.
Before the pattern could fully connect, Sasuke let out a piercing scream, clutched his head, and fell straight from the branch.
Makoto formed a slanted spatial barrier beneath him, allowing Sasuke to roll safely toward the ground.
At the same time, Makoto excitedly evaluated the result of his experiment.
Until now, Making Fake Become Real had mostly followed one pattern.
'I possess this level of strength.'
'I possess this Talent.'
'I possess this ability.'
But now Makoto had confirmed that Making Fake Become Real could also be used to grant changes to other people.
On the surface, that sounded like he was simply giving away benefits.
But with the right person, both sides could strengthen each other.
'If I meet Sasuke again after he awakens the Mangekyo Sharingan, I could help him improve it further, then simply claim that I'm stronger than him.'
'Wouldn't that be like stepping on my own feet to climb into the sky?'
And because the other person had benefited from Makoto's help, their Trust would probably rise as well.
Still, Makoto believed the greatest value of this method lay in strengthening the people around him.
Yukinoshita was the obvious example.
The problem was that she already knew quite a lot about Makoto's Talents and background.
'How am I supposed to find a believable excuse to use Making Fake Become Real to raise her attributes?'
While Makoto considered the problem, the battle in the center of the field changed dramatically.
Uzumaki Naruto and Gamabunta transformed together into the Nine-Tails. Gamabunta used its claws to restrain One-Tail Shukaku while Naruto leaped high toward Gaara.
Naruto's fist slammed straight into Gaara's face and woke him with a brutal friendship punch, breaking the Feigning Sleep Technique.
With the sealing technique active again, Shukaku was unwillingly dragged back into Gaara's body.
Both Naruto and Gaara, completely exhausted, began falling from the sky.
That was when the black-robed man moved.
Makoto finally realized his opponent's goal wasn't Naruto alone.
He wanted both jinchuriki.
"What ambition."
Makoto and his Shadow Clone immediately stepped through Spatial Gates and rushed toward the black-robed man.
Makoto could activate his cursed techniques extremely quickly, but he still couldn't match an opponent who could teleport anywhere within his line of sight.
The black-robed man grabbed one jinchuriki in each hand and immediately began using Kamui to pull Naruto and Gaara into his dimension.
But the same weakness from before remained.
No matter how fast the man himself was, absorbing two people required at least half a second.
That was more than enough time for Makoto.
His Shadow Clone reached them first, brought both hands together, and spoke without hesitation.
"Domain Expansion: Mustard Seed Killing Array!"
This was another experiment Makoto had wanted to perform.
In theory, Domain Expansion only trapped targets who possessed cursed energy.
But this was another world. If his Domain Expansion could only affect people with cursed energy, then the technique would become almost completely useless here.
That was why Makoto had ordered his Shadow Clone to use the Domain Expansion.
It would also test another question.
'If my Shadow Clone uses Domain Expansion, will my real body suffer Cursed Technique Burnout?'
Makoto now possessed chakra and ninjutsu as alternatives, so even temporary burnout was something he could tolerate.
Sensing danger, the black-robed man immediately made his entire body intangible.
That caused Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara to begin falling again.
Makoto ignored them.
A huge mass of sand lay directly beneath them, so neither was in danger of dying from the fall.
Instead, Makoto focused entirely on the intangible black-robed man, ready to follow up with Spatial Slash at any moment.
What happened next surprised him.
The Domain Expansion successfully dragged the black-robed man inside.
'It worked?'
'Did I actually win?'
Before Makoto could understand what had happened, the Domain Expansion vanished.
The black-robed man, who had been intangible moments earlier, was nowhere to be seen.
Makoto's Shadow Clone immediately explained, "He entered the Kamui Dimension."
Makoto's smile stiffened slightly.
Being able to trap the enemy inside his Domain Expansion was excellent news.
But the fact that Kamui still worked inside the Domain was definitely not.
'Is this because of Adaptability?'
Makoto thought that was very likely.
He had previously assumed Adaptability offered little benefit to his spatial abilities, but apparently he'd been thinking too narrowly.
Without sufficient Adaptability, perhaps his Domain Expansion wouldn't have been able to pull the black-robed man inside at all.
Makoto raised a hand and dismissed his Shadow Clone.
The clone's chakra and cursed energy returned to him, and Makoto immediately felt his connection to his Innate Technique become noticeably sluggish.
If he had to quantify the effect, his jujutsu efficiency had dropped by roughly half.
The result was neither particularly good nor particularly bad.
His hope of bypassing Cursed Technique Burnout completely by having a Shadow Clone use Domain Expansion had clearly failed.
Still, Cursed Technique Burnout wasn't a particularly serious problem for Makoto anymore.
After all, he could use Black Flash whenever he wanted.
Makoto immediately clenched his fist and opened a spatial passage in front of himself.
Then he unleashed Consecutive Black Flash Fists with full force.
A blackened fist suddenly emerged from the sand below and smashed toward a hand that had quietly risen from underground, reaching for Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara.
The black-robed man emerged from the earth with a dark, oppressive aura around him and looked up at Makoto.
"Who the hell are you? I've never heard of anyone who can use Domain Expansion, Sky Manipulation, and Black Flash this skillfully."
His hoarse voice grew increasingly irritated. "You can even throw out Black Flash whenever you want. What are you, Emperor Yuji?"
The exasperated complaint made Makoto laugh.
For the first time, the man actually sounded like a Player rather than some mysterious villain hiding in the darkness.
Makoto teasingly replied, "And what about you? Wrapped in black from head to toe, too scared to show your face or even give your name. You think that makes you impressive?"
"Heh... Give you my name? You clearly haven't been screwed over by a Death Note before."
That single sentence sent a chill down the back of Makoto's neck.
'Someone actually has a Death Note?'
"Judging by your reaction, you're still a newbie."
The black-robed man's hostility seemed to fade. "How about this? You and your teammate abandon this mission, and our team will compensate both of you at double the value."
"Afterward, we can even invite you into our Guild and promote you from outside affiliates directly into development prospects. What do you think?"
Makoto frowned at the man.
The hostility genuinely seemed to have disappeared.
'Can Players actually sit down and negotiate over missions peacefully?'
At that exact moment, the world before Makoto abruptly changed.
The sky and earth turned blood-red.
Four enormous iron stakes pierced Makoto's body, pinning him in place so completely that he couldn't move.
Only then did the black-robed man's voice reach him.
"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!"
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