Chapter 608: Naruto Meets Obito

"What is this supposed to mean?"

Obito stared at the strange object floating inside the Kamui dimension, utterly confused.

Then he suddenly slapped his palm.

He understood!

Could this be some kind of beginner bonus the system had given him after restarting?

After all, this world's version of him had also been crushed beneath rocks just like his real-world self, leaving half his body ruined and certain important functions permanently damaged.

And this second world was clearly far easier than the first.

Obviously, the first scenario had been specifically designed to torment and restrict him.

Now things were finally looking up.

He had even received an upgraded version of Kamui.

So getting a beginner reward on top of that seemed perfectly reasonable.

With that thought, Obito eagerly reached toward the floating object, intending to claim it for himself.

Sure, anything he obtained inside an illusion would still be fake.

But even a fake restoration might at least fill that lingering psychological void and restore some of his confidence.

Except…

"Why can't I take it?"

Obito frowned.

"Was I wrong?"

The differences between his first and second Engraved Tsukuyomi worlds were so enormous that Obito simply couldn't figure out what was happening.

For the moment, he became a little girl wandering around picking mushrooms—

except instead of mushrooms, he was trying to investigate the strange things that had suddenly appeared throughout his Kamui dimension.

…

Meanwhile—

Naruto, who had been on his way home, suddenly stumbled.

He looked equally confused.

What was going on?

Hadn't he already received the punishment?

He had accepted that he might never be able to use Sage Mode properly again.

So what was this sensation now?

Was the feedback from earlier somehow delayed?

Or…

Naruto suddenly thought of something.

He raised his hands and created two shadow clones.

The system's punishment clearly couldn't be bypassed.

Even the clones inherited the same permanent Kamui intangibility affecting Naruto's "equipment."

Yet strangely enough—

One of the shadow clones suddenly began receiving the same feedback Naruto's real body felt.

Even stranger, only Naruto himself and that one particular clone could sense it.

The other clone felt absolutely nothing.

What kind of mechanism was this?

Naruto pondered for a long time.

Then his eyes suddenly lit up.

Not because he had figured out the mystery.

Because he had entered Sage Mode.

Only then did Naruto realize something important.

This world's version of him didn't possess the Uzumaki clan's powerful bloodline, so his human body was physically little different from an ordinary person's.

On top of that, he had endured all kinds of ridiculous bullying and humiliating pranks since childhood.

That meant his body reacted to external stimulation much faster than his real-world self.

He didn't even need the elaborate shadow-clone feedback tricks he used in reality to accelerate Sage Mode.

"So that's it!"

Naruto's eyes widened.

"It's the masked man!"

"Kakashi-sensei's best friend—Uchiha Obito!"

Now that Naruto had entered Sage Mode, he could follow the strange chakra connection and sense Obito's location.

It was similar to how Naruto had once used Pain's black receiver to trace Nagato's position.

Earlier, Naruto had lost track of the masked man.

Now fate had handed him another chance.

There was no way he was wasting it.

Naruto immediately took off at full speed, following the direction of the chakra link.

To confuse the masked man and make himself harder to identify, Naruto used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique along the way—

Creating two thousand shadow clones.

…

Inside the Kamui dimension, Obito suddenly witnessed something horrifying.

The exact sight was better left to the imagination.

The important part was that Obito immediately became certain of one thing:

This was absolutely not a beginner reward.

If anything—

It looked more like a curse.

Obito felt as though he were staring directly at some incomprehensible ancient god.

Ancient gods were usually depicted with countless mouths, tentacles, or eyes.

This particular ancient god…

Well.

It had a different kind of repetition going on.

But the principle was disturbingly similar.

"This is bad!"

Naruto, who was racing toward Obito's position, suddenly paled.

A shadow clone's memories had just returned to him.

Obito had recovered from his shock.

And after deciding that some unknown eldritch entity had invaded the Kamui dimension, he had drawn his weapon and begun clearing everything out.

Losing a few shadow clones didn't matter.

But if Obito eventually reached the connection tied to Naruto's real body—

Naruto really didn't want to find out what would happen.

There wasn't enough time.

He needed another way in.

Naruto had barely made it outside the village when he abruptly turned around and sprinted back toward Konoha.

He raced straight to Kakashi's house and kicked the door open.

The sudden intrusion startled both Kakashi and Yamato.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Naruto rushed inside.

"Use your Mangekyō ability on me! Hurry! There's no time!"

Kakashi was loyal enough to act without hesitation.

Even though he had already consumed a huge amount of chakra from his earlier… vigorous activity, and this world's Kakashi had never received a convenient infusion of Hashirama cells from some generous benefactor, he still decided to repay Naruto's earlier help.

"All right."

Kakashi lifted his forehead protector.

"Come closer, Naruto. My vision's blurry."

Naruto hurried toward him.

Kakashi immediately activated Kamui.

A moment later, the massive strain of chakra and ocular power overwhelmed him, and he collapsed unconscious.

That was despite the Nine-Tails chakra Naruto had previously given him.

There hadn't been much of it in the first place.

Naruto hadn't provided it for combat, after all.

It had merely been a thin Nine-Tails "filter" designed to make Kakashi more appealing to Yamato.

The instant Kakashi used Kamui, the remaining chakra was completely exhausted.

Yamato abruptly came back to his senses.

He stared blankly around the room.

Then his gaze fell on the unconscious Kakashi.

Yamato sighed.

Well…

He was already here.

He had already endured all that nonsense because of Kakashi.

It would be a shame to have suffered for nothing.

…

Inside the Kamui dimension—

Obito was still swinging his blade, desperately cutting away at the strange intrusions around him.

Then Naruto suddenly appeared.

The instant he arrived, Naruto dispelled every remaining shadow clone.

Obito immediately noticed him.

For one terrifying second, Obito thought the strange curse had somehow gained consciousness and transformed into a human.

Then he looked more carefully.

Naruto.

Obito relaxed slightly.

He remembered Kakashi mentioning more than once that Naruto reminded him strongly of Obito.

Specifically—

They both had a habit of standing in front of memorial stones and talking to themselves.

Uchiha Itachi had supposedly spent years working undercover and never sent Konoha a single useful report.

Kakashi, meanwhile, was completely loyal to Konoha—

yet had practically leaked every secret the village possessed by talking to Obito's memorial stone.

Whenever Obito wanted to learn something, all he really had to do was lurk nearby on the anniversary of his supposed death and wait for Kakashi to start talking.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Obito turned toward him.

"I never expected you to come into my Kamui dimension entirely on your own. You really are—"

He almost said a Nine-Tails jinchūriki walking straight into my hands.

Then he remembered that this world worked nothing like reality.

Naruto wasn't the only Nine-Tails jinchūriki here.

Kushina and Minato were both alive and carried Nine-Tails chakra as well.

And extracting a Tailed Beast from its jinchūriki in this world didn't even kill them.

If anything, it gave them an extra revival effect.

On top of that, after speaking with Tsunade earlier, Obito had already concluded that this world's Naruto might actually be an ally.

So he smoothly changed what he was about to say.

"I never expected you to enter my Kamui dimension by yourself."

Obito nodded with impressive seriousness.

"As expected of the younger generation."

"What a genius."

Naruto, who had been preparing to demand an explanation for why Obito had been swinging a sword around inside Kamui, immediately froze.

"Wait."

His eyes widened.

"What did you just call me?"

"A genius."

Obito repeated it without hesitation.

"You're one of the rarest geniuses I've ever seen."

Internally, Obito was completely speechless.

Kakashi had always said Naruto resembled him.

If that was true, then dealing with Naruto should be simple.

Just use the same methods that worked on Obito himself.

And sure enough—

One compliment about Naruto being a genius…

And his favorability immediately started climbing.