Chapter 334 – Sun and Moon Mural, the Headless Hungry Immortal!
Hearing those kinds of words coming from "his own" mouth, seeing such extreme actions being taken—
Uchiha Ci looked utterly helpless.
Still, it wasn't that he feared the other would actually kill himself. With his current abilities, even if the younger Uchiha Ci decapitated himself on the spot, Ci could use Forbidden Jutsu: Body Revival, Forbidden Jutsu: Inorganic Reincarnation, and regenerative cloning to revive him again and again, right then and there.
Solving this situation was actually very simple.
He could just use the Sharingan to replay the events of the past three months in genjutsu form before his younger self.
Once the past version of him gained the present memories, at every critical turning point, Ci believed he would make exactly the same choices as himself, and gradually come to understand.
Reconciling with "himself" wasn't hard.
However—
He neither needed to, nor wanted to!
Why should he have to reconcile with "himself"?
That sliver of fragmented soul—only a partial extraction of Uchiha Ci's spiritual energy, knowing nothing but a handful of trivial intel—what right did it have to represent him?
To Uchiha Ci, these three months of memory were far more precious than Turtle Island itself!
Even if the person standing before him was "himself," there were still things he would rather not share!
Just to walk through this gate, he was supposed to hand over the most precious parts of himself?
And in this unfamiliar environment, to surrender not just his dearest memories but also the kind of intel that could forcibly bend the entire shinobi world to his will?
That would be the true betrayal—of everything he had endured and dreamed of on this long path!
So—
"Whatever. If you want to die, then go ahead."
Uchiha Ci raised his head and looked calmly at the other party.
He paused for a moment, then spoke in a mild tone:
"Ninjas climb walls because it's the easiest way."
"And if jumping over is harder—"
"Then smashing through is also an option."
The young Uchiha Ci, who had the bumper bar held across his neck, froze. "What did you say?"
However—
Even as he spoke, the older Uchiha Ci had already raised his head. His crimson Sharingan gleamed as he stared at the towering waterfall ahead and the illusory border all around, glowing with white light as if slicing the world in two.
"A strange formation has absorbed the natural energy within a kilometer radius, forming a refined barrier technique that only accommodates spiritual force."
"This waterfall—it's just like the one I once saw in Yagura's secret Water Release: Water Mirror Technique… The same underlying principle. Huh, are Sage Arts and Ninjutsu rooted in the same origin?"
"As I suspected… This is the civilization of the sages, predating the shinobi era!"
With that thought, Ci's expression subtly tightened. He slowly closed his eyes.
Just then, the younger Uchiha Ci couldn't help but look at him in astonishment.
"What are you even talking about?"
"Weren't you here to become a perfect Jinchūriki?"
"Even with an intel advantage, how could you have progressed so far in just three months?"
"Uchiha Ci, just what the hell—"
But before he could finish, Uchiha Ci simply shook his head.
"Tailed beasts?"
"No need to travel this far just to enslave those beasts."
He then stepped forward, standing before the "Falls of Truth," turning his back to the younger version of himself.
"Let me put it this way…"
"I'm far stronger than you imagine."
As the words left his mouth—
Uchiha Ci suddenly opened his crimson, snake-pupiled Sharingan. He raised his fist toward the waterfall.
The veins in his right arm bulged, throbbing wildly with frenzied Sage markings that suddenly appeared!
The next second—
A dazzling golden beam burst forth like a geyser, instantly filling the younger Ci's entire field of view!
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"What the hell is that?!"
"——BOOM!!"
In a deafening explosion, the barrier shattered!
—
Meanwhile, in the real world—
Uchiha Ci stood in the exact same pose as his spiritual projection within the mental realm.
White Sage markings coursed over his arm, a wisp of smoke curling from his knuckles.
Before him, the massive "Falls of Truth" had vanished without a trace.
The entire mountain peak had been obliterated by a single punch. Even the barrier that manifested the dark side of his inner self had disappeared with it.
Water now trickled from the edges of the massive crater, forming a half-curtain that faintly revealed a vast, mysterious space beyond.
"Phew…"
Uchiha Ci opened his eyes, exhaled slowly, then flexed his right arm. He used Sage Art: Heaven's Baptism to soothe the extreme muscle fatigue.
Lifting his head, he stepped into the opening.
"This should be the second layer of Turtle Island's training grounds."
What entered his eyes—
Was a vast underground palace, filled with towering Buddhist pagodas.
Behind the pagodas, on a wall over 600 meters high, was a mural of a massive beast with a bull's head and eight octopus tails, locked in combat with a gigantic cat wreathed in flames, twin tails raised high.
From the entrance, stretching all the way to the beast-headed gate at the palace's far end, sat rows of statues—eleven on each side, twenty-one in total—all of headless humans seated cross-legged.
Only one statue, the one by the gate, still had a head.
The statues wore monk robes. Though headless, their necks bore stone prayer beads. Some clasped their hands in a variant of the Ram seal—or…
Eh?
One of them seemed to be giving a thumbs-up?
Uchiha Ci lingered a moment on that statue's hand gesture, then continued toward the massive beast-headed gate, bloodstains still fresh at its maw.
"According to the original story, as described by Killer Bee…"
Ci scanned the underground palace, frowning slightly.
"Each of these statues supposedly represents a Jinchūriki who failed in their training."
"But Kumogakure, in the Land of Lightning, doesn't have the same monastic tradition as the Lands of Fire or Wind—no Fire Temple or monks like those from Benpuku. Kumogakure itself doesn't even practice Buddhism. Killer Bee's predecessor seemed like a regular shinobi too."
"So, clearly, that story is a lie—fabricated to scare Naruto into sticking his head in the mouth to open the gate."
"When Naruto, Bee, and Yamato entered this place, what Bee said during the introduction—that's what was real."
"There's more to this place than meets the eye."
With that, Ci approached the beast-headed gate, eyes narrowing at the dry, black blood caked in its fangs.
This was the entrance to Turtle Island's true training grounds, the place where Jinchūriki encountered their tailed beasts and learned to seize their chakra.
Killer Bee once said—
All it took to enter was to stick your head in.
If one harbored inner darkness, the statue would instantly decapitate them. Only those free of darkness could open the gate.
Later, when Naruto put his head in and joked with Yamato, he said there was just a switch inside the gate. Bee laughed, claiming it had all been a joke.
But—
Ci looked at the fanged stone maw again, the lingering smell of blood hanging in the air like rotten snake flesh…
Was it really a joke?
Naruto passed the Falls of Truth trial and met the stated condition—so naturally, he wouldn't trigger the mechanism.
But what if it had been Yamato who stuck his head in?
Ci arched an eyebrow.
And then—
Without hesitation, he shoved his head right into the beast's mouth!
He hadn't reconciled with his dark side like Naruto had—but that was fine.
Uchiha Ci had his own advantages!
Darkness swallowed his vision.
Inside the beast's maw, unlike Naruto's experience, Ci saw no switch to open the gate—
But through his mutated Sharingan, he did see—
Natural energy swirling in a very specific pattern.
"This is… a visual genjutsu powered by natural energy?"
In the next moment—
As if triggered by his awareness, the beast's eyes lit up bright red, and its jaws snapped shut!
CRUNCH!!
Blood sprayed as Uchiha Ci's head was instantly severed, hitting the ground with a thud!
Fortunately, this wasn't enough to kill him.
Controlling his body, Ci reached out, picked up his head, and reattached it. The bowl-sized wound on his neck healed in an instant.
Once restored, Ci stood up, a look of delighted curiosity spreading across his face.
"Huh? A Sage Art genjutsu… This is a good one!"
But before he could stick his head back in to study it and try recording the technique with his Sharingan—
Suddenly—
"——RUMBLE!!"
The entire underground palace began to quake!
Rrrsh!
Massive chunks of stone fell from the 600-meter wall, revealing a gigantic, unlit mural: a brilliant sun in eclipse, its light swallowed into darkness.
Above the solar carving—
Hung an even larger scarlet moon, spiraling with nine black tomoe, its power siphoning from the sun below through a connecting tree trunk.
The statues flanking the path began to stir.
Clutching their chests, clawing at their throats, tearing open their bellies…
Twenty-one headless statues posed in agony.
The lone statue with a head at the very front—
Clutched its ears, stared vacantly ahead, and silently screamed.
Though no sound came out—
Ci could tell by the way its teeth moved:
It was straining to scream three words—
"Hun…gry…so…hungry!!"