Chapter 333: Me, and My Resolve!
"Bro, what about my five hundred million!?"
That voice, brimming with confusion, helplessness, fury, and despair, suddenly echoed—
Uchiha Ci's eyes snapped open.
It felt like a dream. His face filled with shock as he saw... himself—before the transmigration.
No, to be precise, this was the state of his soul three months ago when he left Konoha.
Back when he had sealed his emotions on the day he was hit and killed by that dump truck, choosing to reject all kindness from the outside world. He had completely shut down emotionally, burying himself in mindless D-rank missions like a penitent monk, trying to die of exhaustion or drop dead on the job.
"Ah, this…"
Confronted by that heartfelt accusation, Uchiha Ci found himself momentarily speechless, at a complete loss for how to explain the situation to… himself.
In that brief instant—
Thanks to the combined perception of his Sharingan and Sage-enhanced body, he fully grasped how this "Falls of Truth" operated.
In theory,
This was a pure Yin-Style Sage Art technique. The spiked stone pillars of Turtle Island disrupted the natural energy in the area while drawing on the mental energy of those seated before it. By fusing the two, it formed a unique manifestation.
Uchiha Ci gave it a simple name:
Sage Art: Two Sides of One Self.
It extracted the caster's chakra, then used natural energy to divide this chakra—infused with mental will—into Yin and Yang aspects. Inside this strange barrier, it reconstructed an identical version of the caster with the exact same level of strength.
But in this moment—
Uchiha Ci could clearly feel that the duplicate had only a pitiful sliver of chakra. It wasn't even enough to perform a single Great Serpent Flow Substitution Jutsu.
One casual attack from him would be enough to physically obliterate this doppelgänger.
Because—
The Sage's Heart, crammed to the brim with an overwhelming volume of natural energy, couldn't be copied.
After all, even Turtle Island didn't have that much natural energy.
However, triggering the mechanism of the Falls of Truth—entering this so-called "Hall of Truth"—didn't require a physical victory.
The requirement… was self-recognition.
In other words—
Uchiha Ci had to earn the recognition of this "version of himself from three months ago"—the darkest side of him!
Realizing this gave him a pounding headache.
After all, no one knew him better than himself. And the him from three months ago? That was a classic case of a "headstrong youth who'd rather die smashing into a wall than ever turn back."
Still, he had to try.
"Bro, I—"
But before he could even finish the fourth word, the larger Uchiha Ci—his past self—furiously yanked the steel rod impaled in his forehead, hurling it to the ground.
"Shut up!"
"You're done for, Uchiha Ci! You've been corrupted by the evil forces of capitalism!"
"Is there even one shred of you left that still remembers our five hundred million!?"
Clang!
The steel bar clattered onto the ground with a crisp metallic ring, and a spurt of blood immediately gushed from the younger Uchiha Ci's forehead.
Seeing it, Uchiha Ci's scalp tingled in panic. He rushed forward, trying to use Cellular Regeneration Discharge to heal "himself," terrified that this version of him might die right before his eyes.
"Wait, bro—calm down! Let's be reasonable!"
"Hah?!" The younger Uchiha Ci raised his eyebrows in rage, slapping away his older self's hand.
"Reasonable? Reason with this, asshole!"
"Uchiha Ci—"
"Have you already forgotten the price we paid to earn those terms!?"
"Ever since the day disaster began raining down on us out of nowhere—
Signboards fell, ceilings collapsed, bridges crumbled, bank robbers took hostages, fires, chain explosions, buses nearly slammed by trains, trains bursting into flames because some idiot lit a cigarette, and even just sitting at home for a drink nearly got us electrocuted from faulty wiring—"
"That stupid-ass company, Heavenly Dao Corp, stuffed their sugar-coated bullets down your throat and you didn't even realize it!"
"At the beginning, there was no damn Heavenly Dao Insurance!"
"We had to fight that idiotic company for three whole days and nights to carve out that one path to survival!"
"Now you tell me—"
"You tell me, dammit—!"
The younger Uchiha Ci's face darkened with a twisted rage that bordered on despair. He grabbed his older self's collar, blood smearing all over as his expression contorted into something nearly demonic.
It was the gaze of someone who'd had every effort overturned and every sacrifice betrayed—
The look of a man pushed to the brink.
No Sharingan. No Blood Dragon Eye. No golden serpent-pupiled Sage Mode.
But no gaze could be more terrifying or more haunting!
Under that crazed stare, under that deranged interrogation—
"Tell me. Do you still remember our five hundred million!?"
Faced with that question, Uchiha Ci suddenly fell silent.
He had no words.
Time ticked by slowly.
Watching the current Uchiha Ci, standing there in a younger form shaped by full recognition of this body and soul—
The youth's eyes went blank, as if all the strength had been drained from his body.
He released Uchiha Ci's collar and staggered two steps back.
He knew now: even if someone cast Edo Tensei, they'd summon this new version—not him.
A cruel betrayal. A cosmic joke.
The younger Uchiha Ci tilted his head back, his face breaking into a chilling, mad smile.
"Heh… heh heh heh…"
"Hehehehahahahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha!"
The next second—
His expression turned fierce. He yanked a long blade-shaped bumper fragment from his shoulder and pointed it straight at his throat.
Uchiha Ci's face changed. He instinctively stepped forward to stop him.
But—
The youth coldly pressed the blade to his own neck, staring daggers at him.
"Don't move!"
"You know this body. I have plenty of ways to kill myself right now."
Then he asked coldly,
"This is the Falls of Truth, right? I never expected… you've made it this far."
"Choosing to defect to the Hidden Cloud, huh? Not a bad move. You'll dodge the Uchiha Massacre and have time to grow."
"And now—"
"You want to become a perfect Jinchūriki, don't you? Let me guess. Which Tailed Beast have you caught?"
"Is it the Seven-Tails? Or did you strike during The Tale of Minato and take out Uzumaki Kushina for the Nine-Tails?"
"But no matter what you've chosen—"
He let his face sink into the shadow cast by the waterfall, eyes locking coldly onto Uchiha Ci.
"I have nothing but despair for this world's future."
Raising his chin with a twisted, maniacal smile, he rammed the long blade toward his own neck without hesitation!
"So listen carefully—"
"I won't let you succeed!"
"No matter what reasons you have, don't even think about stopping me!"
"Don't think you can stop me from going home!!!"