Chapter 624: Dark Naruto in Grave Danger

Everything went exactly as Obito had planned.

When Dark Naruto was suddenly teleported out of the Kamui dimension, he didn’t suspect Obito of anything.

After all, Obito was the owner of Kamui. It was perfectly reasonable for his sensory abilities inside that dimension to be superior to Naruto’s.

Besides, Naruto had been concentrating entirely on Obito at the time, so failing to notice Isshiki approaching wasn’t particularly strange.

Obviously, Obito had sensed Isshiki launching an attack and teleported Naruto away at the last possible moment to save his life.

Dark Naruto couldn’t help feeling impressed.

As expected of a naturally kindhearted Uchiha whose personality had been corrected by Madara! Obito really was dependable, always ready to sacrifice himself for someone else’s sake.

At the same time, Naruto finally understood why the Uchiha clan in this world had produced so few Mangekyō Sharingan users.

Compared to the real shinobi world, Engraved Tsukuyomi’s version of the Uchiha actually made much more sense.

In the real world, the Uchiha were supposedly a clan naturally predisposed toward evil. They awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan after suffering the emotional trauma of losing someone they loved.

But that explanation had a rather obvious problem.

If losing a loved one was all it took, the Uchiha should have produced countless Mangekyō Sharingan users throughout history.

Especially during the Warring States Period, when losing someone close to you was practically a daily occurrence.

Yet even then, Mangekyō Sharingan users had remained extraordinarily rare.

It simply didn’t add up.

Apparently, Orochimaru had eventually proposed an explanation.

The important factor wasn’t how close someone had been to the person they lost. What mattered was the intensity of the psychological trauma they experienced.

During the Warring States Period, death had been so commonplace that everyone had become accustomed to it.

Even losing parents or siblings might not have produced a sufficiently powerful emotional shock.

In simple terms, the stronger an Uchiha’s mental resilience, the harder it was for them to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Conversely, the more emotionally fragile they were, the easier it became.

But that created another problem.

Someone emotionally fragile would awaken their Sharingan more easily. Awakening their Sharingan made them stronger, and becoming stronger meant experiencing fewer setbacks.

With fewer setbacks, they would have fewer opportunities to awaken the Mangekyō.

In other words, the easier it was for someone to awaken their Sharingan, the harder it eventually became for them to awaken their Mangekyō.

What kind of ridiculous system was that?

The Uchiha of this world, on the other hand, made perfect sense.

The more good deeds they performed, the more easily their Sharingan evolved.

Unfortunately, the more good deeds they performed, the more likely they were to encounter situations like today’s, where they sacrificed their own lives to save others.

Naturally kindhearted Uchiha often died helping people before they ever had the opportunity to awaken their Mangekyō Sharingan.

No wonder Mangekyō users were so rare!

Naruto looked around.

Obito still hadn’t emerged from Kamui.

What did that mean?

There was a very real possibility that Obito had been attacked by Isshiki after sending Naruto away.

How tragic!

All Dark Naruto could do was silently pray that the immortal Black Zetsu attached to Obito would somehow keep him alive.

Although Dark Naruto had embraced his darker nature and already killed countless people, he hadn’t actually committed those acts without reason.

The villagers he’d eliminated had all been inheritors of the Will of Bullying.

The only seemingly innocent victim was Gaara.

Gaara had frequently suffered bullying in Sunagakure too, but this world’s Gaara was simply too weak-willed.

The real-world Gaara had originally been the sort of person who killed others at the slightest provocation.

This world’s Gaara, however, responded to being bullied by desperately trying to please his tormentors.

Wasn’t that practically encouraging the spread of the Will of Bullying?

Besides, living in such a cruel world must have been absolutely exhausting for someone like Gaara.

That was why Naruto had decided to free him from his suffering.

“Uzumaki Naruto… Why did you come out alone?”

Just as Naruto was mourning Obito’s uncertain fate, a quiet, unsettling voice sounded behind him.

Goose bumps immediately spread across his skin.

He and Obito had spent so long inside Kamui, yet the people outside still hadn’t left?

Had they really been hiding nearby all this time, patiently waiting for them to reappear?

How did they know how Kamui worked?

More importantly, how could they be certain that Naruto and Obito hadn’t simply escaped using some other space-time ninjutsu, like Flying Raijin?

Unfortunately, Naruto didn’t have time to think.

Golden Tailed Beast chakra immediately erupted around his body.

He was about to flee when several chains suddenly shot out from behind him, wrapping around his arms and legs.

His body was violently restrained before he could even take his first step.

“Adamantine Sealing Chains?!”

Naruto stared at the chains binding him and immediately recognized the Uzumaki clan’s special ability.

He hadn’t expected Karin to have awakened so many of the Uzumaki clan’s extraordinary abilities.

Compared to her, Naruto was practically a half-baked imitation. He possessed only traces of Uzumaki blood and was technically the Nine-Tails’ child.

These sealing chains were a Tailed Beast’s natural enemy.

After all, everything in the shinobi world ultimately originated from the progenitor of chakra.

The Adamantine Sealing Chains were essentially another manifestation of the same principle behind the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path’s chains, which were used to capture and seal Tailed Beasts.

Much like Wood Release, they possessed a natural advantage against Tailed Beast chakra.

Fortunately, there was one important difference.

The First Hokage had possessed both techniques that countered the Nine-Tails and raw power that completely overwhelmed it.

The Uzumaki clan’s Adamantine Sealing Chains, however, merely possessed the advantageous mechanics.

Their users’ raw power generally remained far below that of the Nine-Tails.

That meant Naruto still had a chance.

If Karin underestimated his strength, he could suddenly release an enormous amount of Nine-Tails chakra and forcibly break free.

“Fire Release: Heavenly Prison!”

A palm suddenly struck Naruto’s back.

The restrictions on his chakra immediately intensified.

Naruto’s expression changed dramatically.

Of course!

This was Kusagakure!

Hōzuki Castle was also operated by Kusagakure, and Heavenly Prison was its signature sealing technique.

As the current leader of Kusagakure, it wasn’t particularly surprising that Karin had mastered it too.

Now he was in serious trouble.

If he had only been restrained by the Adamantine Sealing Chains, he might still have been able to force his way out.

But with Heavenly Prison reinforcing the chains, he no longer had the strength to resist.

Naruto watched helplessly as Karin and Fū walked toward him.

Then an idea suddenly struck him.

“Friends!”

He looked desperately toward Fū.

“Weren’t we supposed to become friends? Why are you doing this to me?”

Naruto placed his hopes on the Seven-Tails jinchūriki.

If Fū was anything like the cheerful girl from the original Naruto’s memories, someone who genuinely loved making friends, perhaps appealing to that desire would save his life.

“That’s right.”

Fū smiled.

“Friends.”

She gently pressed one finger against her cheek and tilted her head.

A pair of the Seven-Tails’ insect wings suddenly emerged behind her.

Then her eyes transformed into the terrifying compound eyes of the Seven-Tails.

She stared at Naruto with naked hunger and greed.

“Friends… delicious.”

“…”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Dark Naruto felt his scalp go numb.

What happened to the supposed rule that turning evil made someone three times stronger?

Why was he still the one getting beaten up after embracing his dark side?

And how the hell was it possible that even after becoming Dark Naruto, he still seemed ridiculously innocent compared to everyone else in this godforsaken shinobi world?

One woman wanted to sacrifice him to the Sage of Six Paths’ sacred relic.

The other wanted to eat him outright.

Apparently, their objectives didn’t even conflict.

They probably knew Naruto possessed Uzumaki blood and an extraordinarily powerful constitution, allowing him to survive the sacrificial ritual long enough for them to extract everything they wanted.

Then, once the ritual was over, Fū could eat whatever was left.

What was he supposed to do now?

Dark Naruto desperately searched for a solution.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.

Neither Heavenly Prison nor the Adamantine Sealing Chains could prevent him from absorbing natural energy.

If he could enter Sage Mode, he might have a chance!

Forget fighting back. Simply escaping would be good enough.

Unfortunately…

Although Dark Naruto possessed all the original Naruto’s memories of training in Sage Mode, that didn’t mean he could actually use it.

As Naruto’s dark side, he had seized control of all the Nine-Tails chakra.

But that was the only power he had taken.

He couldn’t enter Sage Mode through the original Naruto’s usual method.

Unless, of course, he somehow managed to absorb an amount of natural energy comparable to the Nine-Tails’ enormous chakra reserves.

And that presented two rather significant problems.

First, who knew whether the surrounding environment even contained that much natural energy?

Second, even if it did, by the time he finished absorbing it—

He’d already be completely screwed.