Obito kept himself intangible as he approached Dark Naruto, just in case getting killed somehow let Naruto stack even more power off him.
"What exactly are you doing?"
He looked over the devastated area.
"Getting revenge on the villagers?"
"No."
Dark Naruto shook his head.
"I'm carrying out the mission the original gave me."
"?"
Obito frowned.
The answer itself didn't make much sense, but what confused him even more was why Dark Naruto cared so much about keeping his promise to the original Naruto.
Judging by what had happened earlier, Dark Naruto seemed perfectly content to leave the original consciousness trapped inside that mental world forever.
If so, why bother honoring the agreement at all?
Was there some hidden connection Obito didn't know about?
Maybe Dark Naruto had to fulfill the original Naruto's deepest wishes before the original could truly "rest in peace"?
"If I want to become someone strong enough to give Namikaze Minato the same kind of trouble Isshiki did—enough that he has no choice but to seal me inside Kamui—then the Nine-Tails alone isn't enough."
Dark Naruto began explaining in a grave, patient tone.
"…"
Obito was skeptical.
Was the Nine-Tails really not enough?
He had tested that personally.
Forget a perfect Nine-Tails jinchūriki. An ordinary Nine-Tails had already been enough to get Namikaze Minato killed in Konoha.
Then again, this world's Minato had absolutely no bottom line, so maybe that really was different.
If necessary, he might value his own life even more than the village.
On top of that, this world's Hokage, Kushina, was a perfect jinchūriki, and according to the original Naruto, there was also a Tenseigan-wielding Hinata around.
Against people like that, Dark Naruto's ordinary Nine-Tails Chakra Mode really might not be enough.
"So what exactly are you planning?"
Obito tested the waters.
"I can tell your strength increased quite a bit just now."
Dark Naruto apparently bought his act too, still assuming this was the naturally kindhearted Uchiha Obito who had been reformed by Madara.
So he answered directly.
"You know about the progenitor of chakra, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, right? Even if you don't, Black Zetsu attached to you should."
"The method for resurrecting Kaguya requires gathering an enormous amount of chakra from across the shinobi world."
"The Tailed Beasts are essential, but they aren't enough. You also need chakra from countless ordinary people."
"Infinite Tsukuyomi exists to absorb everyone's chakra and feed it to Kaguya."
"If I want to fulfill the original Naruto's wish and become an opponent troublesome enough for Namikaze Minato, I need much greater power too."
"So I—"
"I'm asking how killing those people made you stronger."
Obito interrupted impatiently.
"Is it some kind of special kekkei genkai?"
Dark Naruto gave him a contemptuous look.
"Heh. Uchiha Obito, have you gone stupid?"
"There are countless ways to absorb chakra in the shinobi world."
He turned and started walking.
"Come on. I'll demonstrate another one."
Dark Naruto headed toward the road as though he were expecting someone.
And sure enough—
A figure appeared in the distance.
Obito narrowed his eye.
"That's…"
"The One-Tail's jinchūriki?"
"Gaara?"
He was genuinely surprised.
Wasn't Konoha currently at war with Sunagakure?
Why would the One-Tail jinchūriki show up here?
And he clearly wasn't sneaking in to attack Konoha's rear. Otherwise he wouldn't be walking straight down the road in broad daylight.
Wait.
Could Dark Naruto be planning to—
"Gaara. You came."
"Naruto!"
Gaara hurried forward and embraced him.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't convince Father."
"No matter what I said, he refused to abandon the attack on Konoha. I…"
"It's okay."
Naruto smiled gently.
"I don't blame you."
He reached up and rested a hand on Gaara's head.
Then—
"…"
Obito's eye widened.
Uzumaki Naruto really was a naturally shameless demon fox.
So what did this situation even count as?
Bond-type shinobi?
Or furry shinobi?
Gaara, meanwhile, was overwhelmed with surprise and delight.
But only for a moment.
Then something began to feel wrong.
Obito suddenly remembered what Dark Naruto had just told him.
There were countless techniques in the shinobi world capable of absorbing chakra.
Could it be—
Yes.
This was a technique used in the real shinobi world by a kunoichi named Fūka.
A secret jutsu known as Reaper Kiss.
Through a special form of contact, the user could drain another person's chakra until the target was completely emptied and died.
Obito had heard of the technique before.
He simply hadn't expected Dark Naruto to know it.
By the time Obito finished processing that realization, Naruto had already drained Gaara to death.
In the real world, Gaara had escaped having his Tailed Beast extracted.
Inside Engraved Tsukuyomi, however, Naruto personally drained away both Shukaku and every last bit of Gaara's own chakra.
Normally, losing a Tailed Beast in this world wouldn't kill a jinchūriki.
It would actually grant them an extra life.
But Naruto hadn't stopped after taking Shukaku.
He drained Gaara's personal chakra dry as well.
Then, after Gaara revived—
Naruto drained him a second time.
Double rewards.
Obito finally understood why this was Naruto's dark side.
This was genuinely dark.
Obito himself had never seriously considered killing Kakashi.
Dark Naruto, meanwhile, had just murdered his close friend Gaara without the slightest psychological burden.
"You saw it."
Dark Naruto spread his arms wide.
"I don't only need ordinary chakra."
"I need Tailed Beast chakra too."
"Just like the progenitor of chakra, I'm going to gather enormous amounts of chakra into a single body."
"I will become the second Sage of Six Paths!"
"…"
Obito stared at him in silence.
Kakashi…
Just how far had that eye of yours seen?
Kakashi had always said Naruto resembled Obito.
Obito just hadn't expected them to be this similar.
Even Dark Naruto's ultimate goal was practically identical to his own.
And at the same time, Obito finally understood where the real difficulty of his mission in this world lay.
Someone else had the exact same objective.
But there was only one set of Tailed Beasts.
"I can use the first method on weak villagers."
Dark Naruto continued.
"But against people with large chakra reserves, I have to use the second."
He turned toward Obito.
"Come on. We need to collect as much chakra as possible before Mom and Dad return."
After all, Obito possessed space-time ninjutsu.
He was an excellent way to travel quickly.
"All right."
Obito decided to play along for now.
"Where are we going next?"
As long as Obito secured the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails, first, he would still hold the decisive advantage.
As for Dark Naruto—
There was no way he could collect every Tailed Beast in such a short time.
Dark Naruto grinned.
"Let's wipe out a few small shinobi villages to warm up."
"…"
One day later—
Obito had gone numb.
At this point, he no longer felt like the villain.
Naruto was clearly the villain.
Using his status as the Hokage's son, combined with the masked man's excellent reputation for traveling the shinobi world doing free good deeds, Dark Naruto had recreated exactly what he had done outside Konoha.
He gathered people together in lines.
Claimed he was going to give them protective chakra.
Then eliminated everyone in one shot.
"Hey, Uncle Obito."
Dark Naruto glanced back at the emotionally exhausted man following behind him.
"Do you know anywhere around here where we can get something to eat?"
"I'm getting kind of hungry."