The thick fog covered every corner of the world.
A faint white light hung over everything, thin as a veil—like some kind of boundary.
Naruto had been inside the passage for quite a while. At first, he didn't dare to move. He kept his body cloaked in chakra for protection and was ready to retreat into his storage space at any moment.
But even after all that time, nothing dangerous had happened.
There were no violent storms like Mabui had warned—storms capable of pulverizing people and objects—nor was there the intense friction one might expect from traveling at the speed of light.
Instead, the most unsettling thing was how utterly quiet and still the world had become.
It felt as if someone had pressed the pause button on reality itself.
The air didn't move. The trees didn't sway. Not even a whisper of sound could be heard.
Even Mabui, who had been behind him, remained frozen in place, wearing the exact expression she had when Naruto first entered the passage.
It was the same world, yet completely intangible, untouchable. It didn't feel real anymore—or maybe it was Naruto himself who was becoming unreal.
"What's going on? Why did everything stop?" Naruto looked around.
Not only had the world stopped—his own chakra had as well.
Normally, his chakra constantly flowed, especially when he was in Nine-Tails Mode. But now the chakra clinging to his body was perfectly still, as if it had turned to stone.
"Selector, come out."
"I want to activate manual selection."
[Ding!]
[Manual selection triggered!]
[You are now trapped in one of the three fundamental rule-based channels of the world. You don't know which direction leads out. Your options are:]
Option 1 – Remain still: Stay here and wait for your physical energy to run out. Reward: All Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limits).
Option 2 – Proceed cautiously: Feel your way forward slowly. Reward: Random C-rank Wind Release jutsu.
Option 3 – Move boldly: Charge forward recklessly. Reward: Random C-rank Earth Release jutsu.
Option 4 – Break through limits: Open the Death Gate of the Eight Inner Gates, activate the strongest Nine-Tails Mode, and match the speed of the channel to escape. Reward: Chakra affinities: Lightning, Earth, and Water.
Naruto exhaled. A bit of the tension eased from his shoulders.
"Higher difficulty equals better rewards, as always. But based on the choices, it looks like none of these paths will kill me."
"On the contrary, standing still is probably the most dangerous."
"'All Kekkei Genkai,' huh? That's tempting... but too risky. I'm not gambling with my life over a stat boost."
He decided to prepare himself thoroughly before making any bold moves.
Following the requirements of Option 4, Naruto immediately activated his strongest Nine-Tails Mode, then channeled chakra toward the Death Gate within his body.
Thankfully, his version of the Eight Gates was perfected. Opening the Death Gate would come with a cost—but not death.
The world still seemed half-illusion, wrapped in dense fog. Naruto could only see a short distance ahead.
He took one light step forward.
Suddenly, his body launched forward involuntarily, his footstep unleashing a violent gust. The sheer speed caused flames to ignite around him from the air friction.
Fortunately, the Nine-Tails' chakra protected his body completely—no damage whatsoever.
That was a relief.
But something was strange.
Despite the supersonic speed, the ground beneath him remained completely undisturbed. Not a single crack.
The world remained silent, unchanged.
Gazing down at the faint white mist covering everything, Naruto muttered, "Could it be... this passage separates me from the real world?"
"So no matter how fast I go, I can't affect anything?"
To test this theory, Naruto took another step—again, the speed surpassed anything he could consciously track.
Another shockwave. More air friction igniting flames.
Yet still, nothing around him was affected.
Everything was exactly as before.
"...Hm?"
"Wait a minute. Mabui moved."
Naruto's sharp eyes caught it—though subtle, Mabui's body had definitely shifted.
Her hair, her skirt, her limbs... tiny movements, barely visible.
"What the hell is this Heaven's Sending Technique really doing?" he whispered, brows furrowing.
He tested it again—this time walking in a full circle around Mabui.
[Ding! Option 2 completed. Reward issued: Wind Style – Fierce Wind Palm.]
He didn't care about the reward. C-rank ninjutsu meant nothing to him now.
What mattered was understanding this strange passage the Tensō Technique had pulled him into.
It's syncing with me, Naruto realized.
The whole world moved when he moved. Not just Mabui—birds in the air, snakes on the ground. Every creature reacted subtly each time he took a step.
It was as if the entire world was stuck in a slow-motion ripple, triggered by his actions.
Knowing it was safe to move, Naruto glanced at Mabui's body and found himself... tempted.
The idea of frozen time brought up certain thoughts.
"Ugh... no. Better not."
Although he seemed immune, he didn't know if interacting with Mabui would hurt her—so he decided against using her as a test subject.
Instead, he turned toward a small green snake on the roadside.
He reached out and tried to grab its head.
"If I can catch this thing, I'll be invincible. No one—Ōtsutsuki, Kaguya, Jiraiya, Itachi—none of them will matter."
His thoughts spun with excitement. The dream of total domination seemed just within reach.
No more slow grinding for power. No more missions. Just... freedom.
Unfortunately, the fantasy shattered quickly.
His hand passed straight through the snake's body.
Gone.
"Ah..."
So it wasn't the world that was fake.
He was the one who had become unreal.
Naruto sighed and made hand seals, meditating to calm himself.
According to Mabui, the user should receive mental feedback after sending something into the Tensō channel, guiding them to a "white dot" where they could throw the object out to a destination.
But no white dot ever appeared.
At first, he thought his perception was simply poor.
But after bursting his chakra dozens of times with no results, he knew something was wrong.
Wait... maybe you can only see the white dot from outside the passage?
The realization hit him like a hammer.
"Oh no..."
"I've trapped myself."
The longer he thought about it, the deeper his frown became.
He'd only entered because Mabui said the Raikage had done it. He didn't think it would be dangerous.
"Dammit! Am I going to die in here?"
No way. He had to find a way out.
But how?
For the first time in a while, Naruto felt... dumb.
He was used to punching his way through problems, not thinking his way out.
Should've studied more space ninjutsu theory...
Then it hit him.
The Demonic Mark!
He quickly tried contacting Orochimaru.
No response.
"Bastard!"
Next, he tried contacting Yubokuto—also no response.
He moved on to Bai.
Nothing.
"...Tch."
Last resort—he tried Sasuke.
But even before he finished, Naruto felt the mark on his hand heat up again.
Even Mabui's subtle movements had shown how slowly everything moved here.
Even if I could contact them, I'd be talking a mile a minute and hearing back at a snail's pace...
Useless.
It was all on him now.
Naruto searched thoroughly, tried dozens of methods—none worked.
He had no way of tracking time here. No sky changes, no clock. Just endless fog.
The only thing that still functioned normally was his storage space.
At least Izumi was safe inside, though she didn't know space ninjutsu.
Uzumaki Chiana was still hiding, and as the embodiment of the Nine-Tails, Naruto doubted she knew any space techniques either.
Eventually, his stomach grumbled.
So that's what "waiting until death" means...
Even if food and water were available, this place would still kill him eventually—by age or despair.
He looked again at Option 4.
"Faster than light"?
Does escape mean from the passage... or from reality?
Naruto took a deep breath.
"I've really messed up this time."
"Gotta stop being so arrogant just because I've got power."
He calmed himself and prepared.
His last backup plan was the storage space—where he'd spend the rest of his life with Izumi and Chiana.
Izumi would always be loyal. Chiana was his chakra. No way she'd betray him.
Still... there were others.
Yugao. Hazuki. Bokuto. Temari. Tsunade. Mabui. Shiro. Kurenai-sensei. Even Hinata.
Would they mourn him?
"I hope Shiro lets Kurenai-sensei and Hinata go if I don't come back."
Even Naruto—the greedy, dominant, manipulative Naruto—lost all interest in the reward from Option 3.
He went straight to Option 4.
He opened the Death Gate.
A violent force ripped through his body, surging through his organs, blood vessels, and meridians.
It was chakra born from overdraft—power unleashed at the cost of everything else.
His tendons snapped as the surge overwhelmed him.
"Damn... is this what the immortal version feels like?"
He whispered, then jumped—
—and vanished in a streak of gold.
A blazing inferno erupted in his wake.
The entire world trembled...
But Naruto Uzumaki was nowhere to be seen.
No one knew whether he had surpassed the speed of light.
Except him.
[Ding! Option 4 completed. Reward issued: Lightning, Earth, and Water chakra natures.]
.
"Mikoto, there's a ninja here—he's still alive."