The Waterfall of Truth was just a waterfall.
At first, Jie thought it might be troublesome to find. Other than its name, he had no real clues.
But when he flew into the air and looked over Turtle Island, he found only one waterfall on the entire island.
"That easy?"
Jie arrived in front of the waterfall and looked at the ordinary stream of water with some doubt.
No matter how he sensed it or studied it, the waterfall seemed completely normal. If the island had another waterfall, Jie would have ignored this one completely.
But when he saw the small platform in the pool below, he was a little more convinced.
In his memory, the Waterfall of Truth did look like this.
There was no better way to confirm it than testing it himself.
Jie untied the teapot from his waist and set Shukaku on the shore. Then he walked across the water, reached the small platform in the middle, and sat down.
"As long as I sit here and focus, I should be able to see my true self?" Jie silently recalled how the Waterfall of Truth worked, then closed his eyes and emptied his mind.
On the shore, Shukaku stared at him in confusion.
What was this human doing?
Wasn't he supposed to go capture Kurama? Why had he suddenly sat down here?
Could it be that this human was not as strong as he looked?
Had the attack against Gyūki injured him?
Shukaku's mind quickly filled with guesses, but it no longer dared to assume anything about Jie.
Every time Shukaku thought it had understood this human, Jie would pull out something even more terrifying.
This time was probably no different.
Just then, Shukaku saw Jie frown slightly, as if he had seen something unpleasant.
But from Shukaku's point of view, everything was calm.
Nothing had happened at all.
After closing his eyes and sinking into his mind, Jie found that the darkness before him had somehow turned into the same waterfall.
Then, behind the falling water, a figure slowly appeared.
A familiar voice followed.
His own voice.
"Why protect those foolish natives?"
"You are a transmigrator. You are different from everyone here. This world had nothing to do with you in the first place."
"With your strength, you could conquer every ninja village whenever you wanted and become the only ruler of the ninja world."
The voice was his, but there was a strange violence in it.
Hearing it, Jie grew irritated.
So this was his inner darkness.
Jie had never thought of himself as a saint. He had never acted purely out of kindness, so having a dark side was normal.
He just had not expected his dark side to focus on this.
When Jie first arrived in the Naruto world, he had seen himself as different.
He knew the future of the ninja world. He knew where the opportunities and disasters would appear. Even when he was still weak, the system had given him the confidence to set his sights on the Nine-Tails.
Part of that confidence came from the system. But part of it also came from the fearlessness of someone who knew he did not belong to this world.
Because of that, Jie had grown faster than any ordinary ninja.
Just as his dark side had said, if Jie wanted, he could conquer every ninja village and become the sole ruler of the ninja world.
But what was the point?
Jie knew himself too well.
Just being Hokage of Konoha had already been exhausting enough. He had even borrowed the Three Departments and Six Ministries system from his previous world to reduce his workload in Konoha.
Adding several more villages would be torture.
Besides, what would ruling the ninja world give him?
Would it make him stronger?
He had already reached the top of this world.
Strength without an opponent had no meaning.
So although his dark side sounded reasonable, to Jie, it was not much different from nonsense.
The dark version of Jie stared at him. It seemed confused by his lack of reaction.
Then Jie's expression suddenly changed.
A hint of excitement appeared on his face.
"They say the dark side reflected by the Waterfall of Truth is supposed to have the same strength as the original."
Jie stretched his shoulders.
"I've wanted to know how strong I am now anyway."
"So let's test it."
If the darkness reflected by the waterfall had human emotions, it might have cursed on the spot.
Had they not been talking just now?
How had this suddenly turned into a fight?
Unfortunately, the darkness had no real human emotions. Its only purpose was to drag Jie into his own darkness.
And as Jie's dark side, it naturally inherited his pride.
Facing Jie's sudden attack, it did not back down.
"Rasengan!"
"Rasengan!"
Two ordinary blue Rasengan collided in an instant.
The impact surged outward, and for a moment, even the Waterfall of Truth seemed to split apart.
Jie felt the force coming from his dark side and nodded slightly.
At least from that Rasengan, the dark version did have the same chakra and strength as him.
If it could copy the rest of his abilities as well, he might really get a proper fight today.
Even if it was only inside his mind.
"Hatake Sword Art: Chasing Wind!"
"Hatake Sword Art: Chasing Wind!"
In the next instant, both figures drew their blades and moved.
After that, Jie tested more sword techniques, taijutsu, and ordinary ninjutsu one after another. No matter what he used, the dark version answered with the same move and the same strength.
The more Jie fought, the wider his smile became.
The Waterfall of Truth really was strange.
It felt like training against a perfect sparring partner.
That feeling was new to Jie.
Because of the system, Jie's growth had never followed common sense. Most ninja improved through sparring with comrades, but Jie had long since left his comrades far behind.
A calm fight against an equal was rare.
After testing ninjutsu and taijutsu, Jie wanted to see if the Waterfall of Truth could copy his kekkei genkai as well.
If it could, then he would no longer need to hold back.
Jie released the full power of his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Susanoo.
Golden light rose around him, forming the complete armored giant. But this time, the dark version of Jie only stood there.
Its black-red eyes stared at him without making any move.
Jie understood.
"So it can't copy kekkei genkai."
"Or perhaps the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan is beyond what the Waterfall of Truth can reproduce."
Either way, the Waterfall of Truth was not all-powerful.
Still, being able to copy his ninjutsu and taijutsu was already impressive enough. With Jie's current level, those alone were among the strongest in the ninja world.
Jie lowered Susanoo and charged at his dark side again.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Shukaku stared at Jie, who was still sitting motionless on the platform, and yawned.
Nearly half an hour had passed.
Jie had not moved at all.
But soon after Jie sat down, Shukaku had noticed something strange.
Jie's chakra had begun to surge violently.
If Jie had not been sitting right in front of it, completely still, Shukaku would have thought he was fighting someone.
"That damn human left a summoning mark on me. Otherwise, Lord Shukaku would have run away long ago."
Shukaku yawned again and glared at Jie from the shore.
"Just wait until I gets a chance."
Just then, Jie suddenly opened his eyes.
A powerful burst of chakra erupted from his body and shot into the sky.
Shukaku nearly jumped out of the teapot.
"No way. Does this human know what I'm thinking?"
"That shouldn't be possible. I've never heard of a summoning mark that can read a summoned beast's thoughts."
While Shukaku was panicking, Jie looked toward the waterfall in front of him.
The dark side had stopped moving.
Seeing that, Jie felt a little disappointed.
The waterfall in front of Jie had stopped flowing at some point. Behind it, cracks spread across the stone wall.
A moment later, the whole section of rock collapsed, and large chunks of stone crashed into the pool below.
Shukaku stared.
"Did his chakra scare the waterfall to death?"
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