The more powerful a ninja, the greater the negative emotions they might accumulate within them. If they failed to overcome their darker half, it was even possible for their main personality to be completely replaced. This was especially true for jinchuriki. Bolstered by the Tailed Beast's chakra—which was itself a manifestation of negative emotions—their dark side had an even greater advantage.
So what about him? Uchiha Nagi was looking forward to finding out.
But before that, it was better to help his companions first. He would let his teammate enter the Waterfall of Truth.
"Eighth Form: Spatial Perception," Nagi murmured, scanning the area. He confirmed that all the ninja had left the island, leaving only the summoning beasts behind.
Honoka opened her eyes and nodded. Her Kagura Mind's Eye couldn't sense any remaining ninja on the island either.
They arrived at a waterfall, and Honoka immediately felt that something was different here. The place gave her a very strange feeling.
"It seems this is the place. The Waterfall of Truth." Nagi looked on with excitement.
It was as beautiful as the Milky Way falling from the heavens. A river flowed down from a high cliff, cascading into a small valley below, where it dispersed into a fine mist. The sunlight refracting through the water molecules created a beautiful seven-colored rainbow.
Stealing this Island Turtle was definitely worth it...
"You go first. I'll stand guard," Nagi said, turning to Honoka.
Honoka nodded, and with a nervous heart, she walked towards the Waterfall of Truth. In front of it was a flat, smooth stone, likely worn down from the many people who had sat on it over the years. It was completely free of moss.
She glanced back at Nagi, gave him another nod, and sat down on the stone.
From Nagi's perspective, the red-haired girl had simply walked to the waterfall and sat down. But the moment she did, she entered the waterfall's spiritual world. A short while later, another red-haired girl, identical to her in every way, walked out from behind the waterfall...
Nagi fell into thought. While the most valuable thing on the Island Turtle was the Waterfall of Truth, the Land of Lightning had also built a sealing chamber behind it. That chamber was used to control the Tailed Beasts. After a perfect jinchuriki from the Hidden Cloud defeated their dark side at the waterfall, they would enter the secret room for a tug-of-war with their Tailed Beast. If the beast didn't consent, they would use force to seize its chakra, ultimately becoming a perfect jinchuriki.
Later, Naruto would also come here to train and become the Nine-Tails' perfect jinchuriki. At that time, the Nine-Tails had no intention of acknowledging him; Naruto had to forcibly take its chakra. The purpose of this secret room was to seal the Tailed Beast if the jinchuriki failed the tug-of-war, and then await the next host...
But now, it all belonged to Nagi. He had originally planned to spend a fortune on a furnace to forge his sword, but it seemed he could save a lot of money now. After all, if this room could seal a Tailed Beast, modifying it to forge a sword would be no problem at all.
The giant turtle floated lazily on the sea. Contrary to what Nagi had thought, it spent most of its time asleep, drifting with the currents, only waking at fixed intervals to feed. But then again, turtles were known for their longevity... And whenever it ate, it chose small fish and shrimp, much like a whale. It couldn't catch faster prey anyway.
All the Land of Lightning's ninja did was anchor it while it slept to keep it from drifting aimlessly, and occasionally turn it around to prevent it from wandering into the Land of Water's territory and getting intercepted by the Hidden Mist.
But now, it was his.
Nagi's thoughts turned to bringing Kimimaro here, and then finding other children with talent and potential. Jugo was probably already in Orochimaru's hands; Orochimaru had placed a curse mark on Anko's neck before leaving the village, and the curse mark seemed to be based on Jugo's abilities.
He shook his head. That only left Karin. At this time, Karin should be about the same age as Sasuke. What a headache. Maybe he should just do what Orochimaru did and start taking in orphans to train from a young age. He was bound to find a few good prospects that way.
"Island Turtle..."
The surprise had come so suddenly. In an instant, Nagi had two bases: a mobile one, the Island Turtle, and a stationary one, the summoning beast island. Neither was particularly large, but they were sufficient as bases. However, if he wanted to establish a hidden village like Orochimaru's Otogakure, the foundation was insufficient. Orochimaru had a small country backing him. Without it, the source of ninja, food, funds, and various other supplies would all be a problem. He could never support a whole village just by doing missions himself...
An hour later, Honoka walked out from under the Waterfall of Truth. Although she looked the same on the outside, Nagi could sense that her spiritual energy had grown significantly. It seemed that every time she grew stronger, a trip to the Waterfall of Truth to sever her dark side would grant her a boost in spiritual power.
"Nagi-nii, I'm done. It doesn't seem as hard as you said..."
Nagi smiled. "That's probably because you have very few negative emotions accumulated in your heart, so the dark version of you that was born wasn't very strong. It might not be the same for me..."
Although Honoka had experienced famine and seen the darker side of life as a child, she had grown up in isolation, far from the conflicts of the world, and had always had her mother's company. Naturally, her dark side was weak.
After a moment's hesitation, Nagi said to Honoka, "If I don't come out within a day, pull me out of the waterfall."
Honoka nodded. "Okay."
Nagi took a deep breath and walked towards the waterfall. He was also very curious... what was his dark side like?
As per Nagi's instructions, the giant eagle set off to return the two ninja to their comrades.
A few of their fleeing companions were using Wind Style to power their boat, speeding across the sea towards the Land of Lightning, hoping the village would send someone to reclaim the Island Turtle in time. The perfect jinchuriki of the Land of Lightning were all dependent on the training on the Island Turtle. If it was gone, then the next generation of perfect jinchuriki...
"Birusu, look! In the sky! It's that guy's eagle!"
Several ninja looked up in terror as a giant eagle dove towards them.
"He's changed his mind! He's going to silence us! Attack!" the panicked leader shouted. He was so terrified that he assumed the eagle was sent by Nagi to kill them, completely failing to notice the two people clutched in its talons.
Of course, the eagle was half the size of Gamabunta. Without the Byakugan, they couldn't possibly see the two humans wrapped in its giant claws, so...
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu!"
"Water Style..."
"Lightning Style..."
The eagle wasn't just a beast; the reason Nagi had chosen it as his summon was because it possessed a certain level of intelligence. Before it had even fully descended, it was met with a barrage of ninjutsu. It hastily dodged some of them, but a few of its feathers were singed.
[SKREEE!]
Soaring back into the sky, the eagle forgot all about Nagi's instructions. It had a temper, too. You attacked first, so don't blame me! It flapped its wings, whipping up a furious gale that capsized the boat.
Seeing the ninja all fall into the water, their fates unknown, it nodded in satisfaction. It circled in the sky for a while before finally leaving.
On the way back, it looked down at the two ninja in its claws.
It tossed them into the air and opened its massive beak...
[CHOMP!]
Gulp.
Then, it flew back to its nest with a sense of satisfaction to continue raising its kids.
A long time later, two or three surviving ninja floated to the surface, gasping for air. They were lucky. Humans needed to breathe; if that eagle hadn't left, they wouldn't have been able to hold their breath in the water for much longer.
"We were lucky to survive. Come on, let's go back and report to the Raikage-sama! That damn Uchiha Nagi!" the vice-captain spat, gritting his teeth.
One of the other Kumo ninja opened his mouth, but in the end, chose not to say anything. As he was falling into the water, he had seen the two people in the eagle's claws. It meant that their opponent hadn't intended to kill them. But they had angered the eagle, and now a grudge had been formed...
Sigh. The Kumo ninja sighed to himself. Well, it doesn't matter. Even if Nagi didn't kill them, by taking the Island Turtle, he had already made an enemy of them. A little more or a little less made no difference now. The Island Turtle's importance to the Land of Lightning was no less than that of a Tailed Beast...
[Who are you?]
[I'm you. Who else could I be?]
Nagi had already walked under the waterfall and was sitting in meditation, having entered his spiritual world.
In this world, he saw another version of himself. What shocked him was that this version of him wasn't wearing traditional clothes or ninja attire, but a modern tracksuit and a pair of sneakers that probably cost a few hundred yuan.
For a moment, it was as if he had returned to his life before he had crossed over.
"Hey, bro, thanks a lot. If you hadn't come to this Waterfall of Truth, I might not have been born. Whoa, whoa, don't draw your sword! We can talk this out!"
Nagi's dark side hastily held out a hand to stop his original self from drawing his blade.
The original Nagi thought for a moment and sheathed his sword. He wanted to know what negative emotions his dark side was composed of.
"That's more like it. A gentleman uses his words, not his fists. Besides, even Naruto couldn't beat his dark side, let alone you. You're Kage-level now. Don't be surprised; you and I share memories. We're the same person."
Nagi sneered. "Just tell me what you want. I am the dominant personality. Even if I leave the Waterfall of Truth, you can't get out."
The dark personality smiled. "You're also curious about what dark emotions I'm made of, aren't you? Let me tell you. Back when you were watching Naruto before you crossed over, what were you planning to do?"
"Didn't you fantasize about getting with Hinata? And Kurenai? And Tsunade? And Kaguya? Suppressing the old Sage of Six Paths? Kicking Madara's ass? And then when you actually came to this world, you've been living so uncomfortably, haven't you?"
"So, unless you can truly get with all the women in Naruto, become the strongest, and achieve a state of perfect clarity, you'll never be able to completely eliminate me. Otherwise, I will always exist..."