Chapter 630: The Sage of Six Paths Appears
"Ah?"
Naruto's original self was somewhat stunned by the sudden refusal from his dark side.
What was that called again?
He had heard Shiromo mention that term before.
Oh, right.
Contrarian Personality.
At a time like this, instead of immediately taking his Sage Chakra and using it to save himself, his dark side was actually acting cool and saying something like, "My favorite thing is saying No."
What else could that be besides his contrarian personality kicking in?
The problem was that Naruto had only heard the term before. He had no idea how to deal with someone like this.
"Sigh."
Naruto sighed.
Since his dark side refused, then so be it.
After all, he wasn't the one suffering.
He wouldn't feel anything while inside the mental world anyway.
As for his body?
Just like he had said before, his body was in the real world. What did he have to be afraid of?
His mind wouldn't be harmed, and his body wouldn't be harmed either. So from Naruto's perspective, wasn't he completely fine?
However, was it really that simple?
When his dark side ignored the danger outside just to contradict his original self, it actually meant that he had already gotten carried away and was starting to lose his mind.
Once someone had gotten that far gone, anything the dark side did was possible. How could it possibly be limited to simply refusing his original self's goodwill?
Just as Naruto sighed and prepared to continue idly skipping stones in the mental world out of boredom, his vision suddenly went black.
When he opened his eyes again, he had already arrived somewhere both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.
Wasn't this the Kusagakure he had seen in the Waterfall of Truth inside his mental world, where his dark side had been?
How had he ended up here?
Wait!
Had he come out?
Naruto tried looking into the mental space.
At this moment, his dark side was standing in front of the Waterfall of Truth inside the mental world.
The condition Killer B had mentioned, returning to the Waterfall of Truth within seven days, had already been fulfilled.
Dark Naruto was currently being submerged and swallowed by the waters of the Waterfall of Truth.
Yet Dark Naruto was not panicking in the slightest. Instead, he was laughing loudly.
"Hahahaha! Original me, enjoy yourself! I won't disappear. I am your future! I'll wait for you in the darkness until you bring me back again!"
Dark Naruto said something Naruto couldn't understand before he began to be erased by the Waterfall of Truth.
The Waterfall of Truth in the mental world also slowly began to disappear.
But none of that could compare to the cruelty of reality.
Naruto was stunned.
Wait, you sent me out and went back yourself, but you could at least give me back my Sage Chakra, couldn't you?
The good news was that his dark side had chosen to disappear voluntarily, so the Nine-Tails chakra would return after a while.
The bad news was that not only would the Nine-Tails chakra have to wait until the dark side and the Waterfall of Truth in the mental world disappeared before returning, even the Sage Chakra he had kindly lent to his dark side would be the same.
Now that Naruto had regained control of his body, he was still restrained by the Adamantine Sealing Chains and Fire Release: Heavenly Prison.
His only way to escape was to use Sage Chakra.
This...
Naruto was dumbfounded.
Seeing this scene, the spectators immediately felt extremely satisfied.
'That's what you get for always trying to be such a saint! Now you're screwed, aren't you?'
He had given every bit of his Sage Chakra to his dark side without holding anything back, only for his dark side to throw his own life away and pull off a complete reversal.
What was he supposed to do now?
Naruto was completely at a loss.
Right!
Obito!
If Obito appeared in time, perhaps he could save him...
But after thinking about it, Naruto dismissed the idea.
Obito had sent him out precisely because they had encountered an attack from Isshiki.
Obito could barely protect himself. He might not even still be alive.
Hoping that Obito would come and save him was simply wishful thinking.
While Naruto frantically thought about how to save himself, he had already been bound by the Adamantine Sealing Chains and dragged into the cave where the sacrifice would take place.
The cave was magnificent and decorated in gold and jade. At its very center stood an altar.
What was placed upon the altar was not an ancestral tablet, but the relic of the Sage of Six Paths.
Karin removed the chains from Naruto and fixed them to the wall of the cave. Then she left the cave and closed the stone door.
"These chains can actually be removed?"
Naruto's eyes lit up when he saw this.
He couldn't break free from Fire Release: Heavenly Prison, but Karin had removed the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
That meant the chains no longer had a continuous supply of chakra maintaining them.
In that case, he had a chance to break free!
But... did he really have a chance?
The moment the stone door came down, the relic of the Sage of Six Paths moved like the legendary stabilizing pillar of the sea.
As Naruto watched the relic fly toward him, memories of the past surfaced in his mind, filling him with regret.
He really shouldn't have gotten the idea to play that prank back then and helped Shiromo carry out that crazy operation of turning the septic tank into fertilizer with Crazy Diamond's hammering.
That day, the villagers of Konoha suffered the pain of sorrow flowing backward.
Even Kakashi would have suffered terribly if Kamui hadn't transferred the poop away in time.
Only Naruto had watched the whole thing with great enjoyment.
Now, had he finally received his punishment and was experiencing the same suffering as the villagers?
As expected, karma never fails; it simply takes time.
At this point, even if he wanted to condense Sage Chakra again, he no longer had the chance.
His Sage Mode activator had been permanently sealed inside the Kamui space.
Unless Obito helped him from inside the Kamui space, there was no way to activate it.
Naruto despairingly closed his eyes.
Time passed second by second.
Naruto's life force was growing weaker and weaker.
After all, the original plan had been to absorb the Nine-Tails chakra from Naruto, let Naruto survive through the vitality of the Uzumaki bloodline, and then give him to Fū as an extra meal.
But now, the dark side possessing the Nine-Tails chakra had switched places with Naruto.
The Naruto being drained only had his own chakra.
As Naruto slipped into a near-death state, his consciousness entered a dim mental space.
The scene was incredibly familiar.
—Wasn't this the scene at the beginning of the game, when he created his character and met the old man, the Sage of Six Paths?
"Have I already died? Did I restart?"
Confused, Naruto climbed to his feet and looked around.
He thought the game had restarted.
"Naruto."
A familiar voice came from the darkness.
Then the Sage of Six Paths appeared, floating in the void while sitting cross-legged and holding the Six Paths Staff.
"Don't come any closer!"
The moment Naruto saw him, he immediately backed away in fear and covered himself.
"?"
The Sage of Six Paths was extremely confused by Naruto's reaction.
This was the Sage of Six Paths from the Engraved Tsukuyomi world.
The condition for his appearance was the Child of Prophecy reaching the brink of death.
Therefore, whenever Naruto was on the verge of death, he would appear and grant Naruto his power.
The only thing the Sage of Six Paths couldn't understand was why Naruto was so afraid of him.
Could it be because the person who killed Naruto also possessed the Rinnegan?
"Naruto, don't be afraid. I mean you no harm. I'm here to give you something."
The Sage of Six Paths did his best to speak to Naruto in a gentle tone.
"No! Don't give me anything! I don't want it!"
Naruto suddenly remembered something. He shook his head in terror and continued backing away.
(End of this chapter)