At the Falls of Truth—
"Naruto, you can release your dark side, but you absolutely have to defeat it within seven days. Otherwise, something extremely terrible will happen."
Killer B had repeated the warning several times on the way here, and once they finally reached the waterfall, he said it yet again.
Naruto swallowed.
His imagination immediately filled with all kinds of horror stories.
"S-Seven days… What exactly happens after seven days?"
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Naruto finally asked.
"Seven days from now, our New Year holiday begins."
"…"
The fear and anticipation on Naruto's face froze instantly.
"What the heck, Uncle B? You just mean everyone goes on vacation, so nobody will be around to supervise this place?"
Naruto looked deeply disappointed.
He had expected something terrifying, like his dark side completely replacing him after seven days and becoming the real Naruto.
"No, Naruto. You misunderstood me."
Killer B's expression remained grave.
"When I said New Year, I meant the Land of Lightning's actual New Year festival."
Naruto scratched his head.
"What difference does that make?"
"The first day of our New Year comes from an ancient legend passed down in this land."
Killer B spoke solemnly.
"Long ago, before chakra had even appeared in the world, there was a ruler in what would later become the Land of Lightning. His name was Yemanba."
"Yemanba had already mastered senjutsu in that ancient era."
"He could turn water into milk, grass into bread, and even fly freely through the sky."
"He was also incredibly hardworking. Every morning at four, he would fly far into the distance and bring fresh food back for his people."
"Then one day, while Yemanba was flying through the sky, two meteors fell from the heavens and struck him."
"He crashed straight to the ground and died."
"The ancient people of the Land of Lightning wept for their benevolent ruler and prayed for the heavens to return him to them."
"Then someone remembered something."
"The milk and bread they had always eaten had been transformed by Yemanba's divine power."
"So if they returned that power to him, perhaps he could come back to life."
Naruto listened more intently.
"The villagers gathered the less glamorous results of daily life and fed them all to Yemanba."
"And miraculously…"
"On the seventh day after his death, Yemanba came back to life."
"The people sang and danced in celebration."
"And from that day onward, the anniversary became the Land of Lightning's New Year."
Killer B paused.
"Because of the method they used to revive Yemanba, we also developed the traditional New Year custom of eating the so-called Grand Bento."
Naruto's expression slowly stiffened.
Killer B turned toward the Falls of Truth.
"The reason I told you to defeat your dark side within seven days is simple."
"If you fail, then when our New Year arrives—the anniversary of Yemanba's resurrection—your dark side might take advantage of the festival, consume enough of the Grand Bento, and become a genuinely living being."
Naruto's eyes widened.
"Once that happens, you won't be able to simply make it disappear anymore."
"You'd have to kill it for real."
"And the power you separated from yourself would never return."
"From that day onward, it would become a completely independent individual."
"Oh!"
Naruto finally understood.
"So it's kind of like my shadow clones?"
"If I dispel a shadow clone within seven days, it's still just a shadow clone."
"But if I somehow leave it around longer than that, it turns into a real second version of me?"
"Exactly."
"Got it!"
Naruto immediately walked toward the center of the pool beneath the waterfall.
"Then let's start!"
He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.
"We should leave."
Once Naruto entered meditation, Killer B quietly gestured for everyone else to go.
"I'm staying."
Obito shook his head.
After his previous two mistakes, he had made up his mind.
From now on, he was going to watch Naruto's every move personally.
No more unexpected disasters.
"Then be careful."
Killer B gave him one final warning.
"The dark side created by the Falls of Truth doesn't necessarily attack only the original."
Obito paid no attention.
Outside the Kamui dimension, he still had intangibility.
As for Isshiki inside Kamui, Obito wasn't worried about that either.
If Isshiki had been the only thing sealed inside the dimension, phasing parts of his body into Kamui might indeed have been dangerous.
But now an entire Konoha was sitting inside there too.
Whenever Obito became intangible, the phased portions of his body would most likely appear inside some random building in the village.
Perfectly safe.
Besides—
If there really was danger, Naruto would encounter it first.
Part of Naruto had been permanently sealed inside Kamui by the system penalty.
Whenever Naruto entered the Kamui dimension, his real body automatically appeared wherever that phased part was located and reassembled itself.
When he left Kamui, it was almost like logging out of a game.
That intangible part remained behind while Naruto himself exited.
In other words, when Naruto and Obito had escaped from Kamui earlier, it had been equivalent to Naruto suddenly vanishing right in front of Isshiki—
while leaving one unfortunate piece behind.
At the time, Obito had admittedly harbored a slightly dark thought.
He had deliberately chosen not to warn Naruto.
Part of him wanted Naruto to end up like him.
Then maybe Naruto would finally understand the pain Obito had suffered.
Even if this Naruto wasn't the real-world Naruto, Obito still felt a small urge to drag him into the darkness and make him share the same misery.
But after all this time—
Naruto hadn't reacted at all.
What did that prove?
The deranged Isshiki clearly wasn't attacking everything indiscriminately inside Kamui.
Which meant Obito's own intangibility was completely safe.
…
One full day passed.
The Island Turtle fell into near-total silence.
Just as Killer B had said, the Land of Lightning's New Year was approaching, and everyone had already gone home for the holiday.
Important facilities still had a few people working overtime, but the Island Turtle was mostly untouched wilderness.
Without a guide, outsiders would have trouble even entering.
There was no reason to leave guards behind.
So now—
Only Naruto and Obito remained on the entire island.
After maintaining the process for a full day, Naruto finally succeeded in separating out his dark side.
He opened his eyes.
Then froze.
Standing in front of him was—
a blond fox-girl with fox ears, wearing the same furry appearance Naruto took on whenever he activated Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
Naruto stared.
Wasn't that literally what he looked like in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?
A terrible realization struck him.
He immediately checked inside himself.
Sure enough—
All of his Nine-Tails chakra was gone.
Separating his dark side hadn't merely divided his personality.
It had split away his entire "other side," including all of his Nine-Tails chakra.
The good news was that Naruto now looked completely human again.
The bad news was—
How the hell was he supposed to defeat a dark version of himself who possessed all his Nine-Tails chakra?
Naruto struggled with that problem for a moment before deciding to deal with the important matter first.
He glanced toward Obito, who was waiting in the distance.
This world had plenty of people willing to help him.
Worst case, Naruto could ask someone else to deal with the dark side later.
"Um…"
"I already know what you want me to do, Uzumaki Naruto."
The dark fox-girl's eyes glowed crimson as an evil smile spread across her face.
Then her form twisted.
She transformed into Naruto's normal appearance, suppressing the visible Nine-Tails chakra completely.
"You don't need to explain anything."
"I have all your memories."
She smiled.
"I'll help you lure Namikaze Minato into Kamui."
"…"
The dark Naruto agreed far too easily.
And somehow—that made Naruto feel even more uneasy.
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