Chapter 628: Dark Naruto's Great Crisis
Just as Obito had expected, the moment Dark Naruto was teleported out, he did not have the slightest suspicion.
He genuinely believed that, as the owner of Kamui's space, it was only natural for Obito's sensory abilities to be stronger than his. Besides, his attention had been focused entirely on Obito at the time, so it was perfectly normal that he had failed to notice Isshiki.
Obito must have sensed Isshiki launching an attack toward them, which was why he had teleported Naruto away at the very last moment.
Naruto was still marveling at how reliable Obito was. After all, he was a naturally kind-hearted Uchiha who had already been corrected by Madara's personality.
He was always willing to sacrifice himself for others.
At the same time, Naruto finally understood why the Uchiha clan had never been able to produce many Mangekyō Sharingan.
Compared to the world where his original self came from, the Engraved Tsukuyomi world seemed much more reasonable.
In the world of his original self, the Uchiha were a naturally evil clan. They awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan after suffering the shock of losing someone they loved.
But the problem was, if that were really all it took, then considering how chaotic the shinobi world was, the Uchiha should have had a huge number of Mangekyō Sharingan users.
Especially during the Warring States Period. Losing someone precious was practically a daily occurrence.
Yet the number of Uchiha with the Mangekyō Sharingan remained extremely small.
That made no sense.
It was said that Orochimaru later gave an explanation: awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan was not determined by how close someone was to the person they lost. The key was the degree of mental trauma they suffered.
During the Warring States Period, people died so frequently that everyone had long since become accustomed to it.
As a result, even if someone lost their parents or siblings, the psychological shock was not necessarily that great.
Put simply, the stronger an Uchiha's mental resilience, the harder it was for them to awaken their eyes.
The more emotionally fragile they were, the easier it was.
And that created a paradox.
The more fragile someone was, the easier it was for them to awaken their eyes. Once they awakened their eyes, their strength increased. With greater strength came fewer setbacks. With fewer setbacks, it became harder to awaken their eyes.
So the easier it was to awaken the eyes, the harder it became to awaken them.
But the Uchiha of this world made much more sense.
The more good deeds they did, the easier it was for them to awaken their eyes.
Yet the more good deeds they did, the more likely they were to encounter situations like the one today, where they sacrificed their own lives to save others.
Naturally kind-hearted Uchiha often sacrificed themselves for others before they could even awaken their eyes.
That was why there were so few Mangekyō Sharingan.
Naruto looked around and realized that Obito had not followed him out.
What did that mean?
There was a very good chance that Obito had encountered Isshiki's attack inside!
Tragic!
All Naruto could do was silently pray that the immortal Black Zetsu attached to Obito would be able to keep him alive.
Although Dark Naruto leaned toward darkness and had killed many people, he actually had reasons for every one of his actions.
The villagers he had dealt with were all inheritors of the Will of Bullying.
The only one who seemed like an innocent victim was Gaara.
Gaara was frequently bullied in Sunagakure as well, but the Gaara of this world was simply too weak-willed.
The Gaara of the real world had originally been someone who killed people at the slightest provocation.
But after being bullied in this world, this Gaara would instead try to please his tormentors.
That was clearly encouraging the spread of the Will of Bullying.
Moreover, for someone like this Gaara to live in such a world was simply too painful.
So Naruto had chosen to put him out of his misery.
"Uzumaki Naruto, why are you the only one who came out?"
Just as Naruto was lamenting over Obito's uncertain fate, a gloomy voice came from behind him.
Naruto immediately felt his skin crawl.
He and Obito had spent so much time inside Kamui's space, yet the people outside still had not left?
Had they been hiding nearby the entire time, waiting for them to appear?
How did they know the properties of Kamui?
How did they know that the two of them had not simply escaped using some other space-time ninjutsu, such as Flying Thunder God?
There was no time to think.
The next second, Naruto was enveloped in golden Tailed Beast Chakra.
But in the very next instant, several chains appeared from behind him and wrapped around his hands and feet, pinning him in place just as he was about to flee.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains?"
Seeing the chains around him, Naruto immediately thought of the Uzumaki clan's special ability.
He had never expected Uzumaki Karin to have awakened so many abilities of the Uzumaki clan.
She was far stronger than him, a half-baked Uzumaki who only carried a trace of Uzumaki blood and was, in reality, the Nine-Tails' son.
Adamantine Sealing Chains were the natural enemy of Tailed Beasts.
Everything in the shinobi world originated from the progenitor of chakra.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains were essentially another form of the chains used by the Gedo Statue to drag and seal Tailed Beasts.
Just like Wood Release, they naturally suppressed Tailed Beasts.
The only good news was that the First Hokage did not merely crush the Nine-Tails through ability mechanics; his actual stats crushed it as well.
The Uzumaki clan's Adamantine Sealing Chains only had the advantage of mechanics. In terms of raw power, they were still far inferior to the Nine-Tails.
So Naruto had to seize the opportunity.
While the other side was underestimating his strength, he would suddenly erupt with Nine-Tails Chakra and break free of the chains.
"Fire Release: Heavenly Prison!"
Naruto suddenly felt a palm strike his back, causing the suppression on his chakra to increase another level.
Naruto's expression immediately changed.
He suddenly remembered that this was Kusagakure, and Hōzuki Castle was also in Kusagakure.
As the current head of Kusagakure, it was hardly surprising that Karin knew the Blood Prison's signature Fire Release: Heavenly Prison.
This was bad.
If it were only a single layer of restraint, he could still try to break free.
Under the double restraint, he was already powerless to resist.
Naruto watched as Karin and Fū walked over to him.
Suddenly, Naruto thought of something.
"Friend, weren't we supposed to become friends? Why are you treating me like this?"
Naruto placed his hopes on Fū.
He hoped this Seven-Tails jinchūriki would be like the energetic girl from his original self's memories, someone who loved making friends. If so, perhaps she could save his life.
"Yes, friend."
Fū touched her cheek with one finger. Her head tilted strangely, while the insect wings of the Seven-Tails appeared behind her.
Then her eyes suddenly transformed into the Seven-Tails' compound eyes. She stared at Naruto with an extremely terrifying and greedy expression.
"Friend. Tasty."
"..."
Fuck.
Dark Naruto felt his scalp go numb.
Wasn't darkness supposed to make someone three times stronger?
Why was he still the one getting beaten up after becoming evil?
Why was he still so innocent-looking in this dark shinobi world even after turning to the dark side?
One wanted to offer him as a sacrifice to the Stick of the Sage of Six Paths.
The other wanted to eat him directly.
The two did not conflict with each other. They probably knew that he possessed Uzumaki blood, which would allow him to survive until the sacrifice was complete, after which he could be eaten.
What was he supposed to do now?
Dark Naruto racked his brain.
Then he suddenly thought of a method.
Neither Fire Release: Heavenly Prison nor the Adamantine Sealing Chains could restrain natural energy.
If he could enter Sage Mode, then even if he could not fight back, he would at least have a chance to escape.
But…
Although he possessed his original self's memories of training in Sage Mode, he did not actually possess the qualifications to enter Sage Mode.
As his dark side, he had stolen all of the Nine-Tails' chakra from his original self, but that was all he had stolen.
He had no way to enter Sage Mode normally unless he could absorb an amount of natural energy comparable to the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Forget whether there was even that much natural energy in the surrounding environment. By the time he finished absorbing it, it would already be far too late.
(End of this chapter)