He now stood at the center of a rocky valley, surrounded by several towering stone pillars that resembled an arena for rituals.
Under the moonlight, Naruto crawled out of a lake, soaked through and clothed in tatters.
"What a terrible idea… I must've been out of my mind. This was the worst decision I've ever made, but it actually worked—because he let me live. But damn…"
"You're kidding, right? Kid, this is the most incredible thing I've seen in years!" The Nine-Tails' voice echoed in Naruto's mind, filled with excitement. "If you could've seen it yourself… those chakra pathways lit up like a freaking light show! Haha! And that explosion? Not quite as impressive as my Tailed Beast Ball, but still solid work! You know what? You totally ripped a hole in the sky! There isn't a single cloud left up there!"
"Why are you so excited?" Naruto asked painfully, sitting down on a large boulder to inspect his injuries, tearing away the remaining shreds of his shirt. The sword's sheath was still slung over his shoulder. Damn, this thing actually held up.
"I've always loved massive destruction on this scale—you know that," the Nine-Tails replied.
Naruto coughed a few times before continuing,
"We survived that blast only because we got flung away instead of blown into pieces… and we landed in water instead of crashing into the surrounding rocks."
"Right. Maybe that masked bastard had a point—luck really is on your side." Suddenly, the Nine-Tails stopped laughing as it realized where they were. "We got flung this far? Hey… kinda ironic…"
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, trying to stand up as his head sagged to the side weakly.
His blood ran cold when he sensed Tobi's chakra once again.
He was still in Sage Mode, so he could clearly sense the other's presence. Then, he heard that same familiar voice.
He was alive. And since Naruto could hear him speak, it meant he wouldn't be able to sneak up and attack unnoticed.
"A scene straight out of déjà vu. Seventeen years ago… all our fates were bound together… right here."
Naruto drew his sword, circling the boulders and spotting Tobi sitting on a rock resembling an altar, with his knees hugged to his chest.
He hadn't come out entirely unscathed from that massive explosion either. Most of his cloak had been blown away, leaving only the right half and one sleeve intact.
Half his mask had shattered open, revealing his left eye and short, spiky black hair. He looked shockingly young—probably early twenties, maybe late twenties at most.
Strangely enough, his Sharingan eye…
Now Naruto could see it clearly. Tobi's left eye was a normal Sharingan, while his right eye was a Mangekyo Sharingan. Yet something was off. The left eye had gone dim, no pattern visible at all.
"How can you still be alive?" Naruto asked, pointing his sword at Tobi. "I hit you—I know I did!"
"You'd barely stepped out of the portal when I activated my jutsu. There's no way you could've performed space-time shifting while simultaneously turning intangible," he said calmly.
"You didn't miss. Not even once," Tobi admitted frankly. He spoke casually, as if chatting with an old friend. "I can confidently say your timing was… spot-on. Sage Mode is indeed terrifying." He clapped his hands together slowly. "I can't believe you actually possess such overwhelming power. It might not be suited for fighting, but it's still astonishing. I've underestimated you again and again. This time, I admit defeat."
"Then why weren't you turned to ash?" Naruto demanded.
"Thanks to this," Tobi said, pointing at his patternless Sharingan eye. "You know nothing about the secret behind these eyes. The most powerful genjutsu—one that can even be used on the caster himself—turning illusion into reality and reality into illusion. Within the world of Izanagi, the boundary between these two completely dissolves. Against eyes usable only by descendants of the Sage of Six Paths, even actual death becomes no more than a passing cloud. The cost? The eye used to cast this jutsu is lost to eternal darkness forever."
Naruto burned with fury but held it in, resisting the urge to punch through the ground. He had succeeded—he'd carried out his plan flawlessly. He hit that masked bastard and blasted him away—yet the enemy somehow warped reality itself, erasing his own death.
Facing this enemy who still stood tall before him, Naruto felt pressure unlike anything he'd ever known.
"Do you feel despair? Do you understand that all this is meaningless?" Tobi asked. "I gave you the best chance I could. You almost defeated me. Unfortunately, when you attacked using my right eye, my left one was already prepared to sacrifice itself."
"Why do you have two Mangekyo Sharingans? That doesn't add up."
Itachi had two Mangekyo Sharingans. From the Uchiha clan's stone tablet, Naruto learned that the method of awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan varied from person to person, just as the patterns of tomoe within the Sharingan differed.
"The reason is similar to yours," Tobi answered.
"That makes even less sense! You're part of the Uchiha clan! Those Sharingans should naturally belong to you!" Naruto exclaimed in confusion.
"One of them was mine originally," Tobi said, tapping his empty left eye socket—the prosthetic eye. "The other belonged to another Uchiha who died long ago. Before his death, I gave him my original Sharingan as a final gift. Over the years, he made excellent use of that eye. I've heard tales of him. But none of that really matters anymore."
Naruto couldn't understand at all. He comprehended nothing. A genjutsu capable of warping reality, even reversing death—and this enigmatic Uchiha truly intended to destroy the world.
Why? Just to enslave the world? What was the point?
This plan, along with the cold-blooded resolve he displayed, seemed far beyond what someone younger than thirty should possess.
"This place stirs up memories," Tobi continued, trying to change the subject. "The last time I saw the Nine-Tails with my own eyes was right here—just after I ripped it from your mother's body."
Naruto's gaze instantly turned sharp. "What... did you just say?"
"I assumed you already knew," Tobi feigned surprise. "You seem awfully fond of that monster inside you. Surely it's told you by now. Your mother was the previous Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. It was me who extracted the Nine-Tails from her body. Haven't you ever wondered how the Nine-Tails came to attack Konoha?"
"You bastard!" Naruto roared.
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