382. Limited Tsukuyomi
"Wasn't I supposed to be in the Land of the waterfall? As far as I could remember, I was fighting the bad guys who attacked us. Then how did I end up here?"
Naruto quickly jumps up and takes a combat stance with full guard.
"Eh! Naruto-kun, what are you doing in the middle of the street?" Hinata, Ino, and Karin stare at him in amazement.
"Who are you? You can't fool me with your disguise." Naruto lunges at Ino and Karin with his blade.
"Nar… Naruto-kun!" Hinata panics at the sight of Naruto's blade.
"Ah… Hinata!" Naruto's blade stops a few centimeters away from Hinata's neck.
"H… HINATA! You are the real Hinata. That characteristics look and voice, there is no way the enemy can replicate Hinata to such an extent." Naruto slightly lowers his guard.
"Naruto! What's the matter? Why are you pointing your kunais at the girls?" An angry voice sounds in Naruto's ears.
"Ah… M… Mom!" Naruto slowly turns around and notices Kushina's angry face.
"Is this what I taught you? You should be a gentleman to ladies like your Izuna Nii-san. But you… sigh… You need some punishment."
Kushina grabs Naruto's ear and pulls him towards their house.
"Aww… aww… it hurts. It hurts so much. This isn't a dream."
"Huh! What nonsense are you mumbling? Are you alright?" Kushina places her hand on Naruto's forehead.
"Hmm… your temperature is fine. Did you hit your head or something?" Kushina pulls Naruto in her arms and ruffles his hair to check his head.
"Looks fine to me. So… so… could this be your rebellious phase?" Kushina stares at Naruto with wide eyes.
"No! It's not like that. I am fine, Mom!" Naruto argues with her.
"Let's go home. Your father must be making preparations for the dinner." Kushina drags Naruto with her.
'All of this feels real! And even Kurama is sure this isn't a Genjutsu.' Naruto exits from his mindscape after consulting with Kurama.
'Still, I will keep my guard!' Naruto cautiously walks towards his house.
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In a different place,
Bang…
Itachi's wooden sword hits Sasuke's head.
"Sasuke, what's the matter? Why are you spacing out?" Itachi asks Sasuke with worry.
Swoosh…
Sasuke swiftly jumps back and activates his Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Who are you?" He warily stares at Itachi.
"Sigh… It's me, Itachi, your elder brother." Itachi lowers his sword and stares at Sasuke.
Hmm…
Sasuke inspects Itachi's chakra with his Mangekyo Sharingan.
'His chakra is the same as Itachi Nii-san. Can someone replicate someone's else chakra to such an extent that they can even fool the perception of Mangekyo Sharingan? I will test him out.'
Sasuke releases his killing intent and disappears from his place.
Swoosh…
He reappears behind Itachi with his blade slightly piercing through the outer skin of Itachi's neck.
Drip… drip…
Blood drips from Itachi's face. Except for a frown, Itachi doesn't show any negative emotion.
Swoosh…
Sasuke jumps back and retreats.
"Why didn't you dodge that? You could easily avoid that attack?" He questions Itachi.
Sigh…
Itachi sighs and replies.
"Sasuke, you are my younger brother. Even with all your bloodlust, I didn't sense any killing intent from you. I am not sure why are you doing this, but you must have your reason." Itachi turns around and walks towards the Uchiha clan compound.
"Mom must be waiting for us! It's almost time for dinner." Itachi wipes the blood from his neck and disappears from Sasuke's vision.
'What's going on? Is it some powerful genjutsu?'
Sasuke makes some hand signs and touches his forehead.
'Hmm… nothing changed! Looks like it's an extremely powerful genjutsu. I have to use the dispel technique from the Ryuchi cave.'
Sasuke sits down with his crossed legs. He enters the Sage Mode and circulates the nature energy through his body to expel almost all of his chakra.
'This particular method of dispelling a genjutsu is unique to Ryuchi cave. Ordinarily, if a person expels all of his chakra for nature energy, the balance of chakra and nature energy will break and the person will turn into stone. However, the Ryuchi cave has a technique to bypass that effect. It rapidly circulates nature energy through the chakra system and expels it from the tenketsu points of the body. In this way, the body attains equilibrium with the surroundings.'
Sasuke dispels the Sage Mode and eats a chakra pill to restore his chakra.
'I am still in the same place. This doesn't seem to be a genjutsu. Then is this reality? Then was my mission at the Land of the waterfall a dream.' Sasuke looks around in suspicion.
"For now, I will maintain my guard and slowly figure out the situation."
Sasuke walks towards the Uchiha clan compound.
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A similar situation happened with the rest of the group.
At a slightly faraway distance,
Swoosh…
A crystal ball appears in Obito's hands as he glances at the Escort group.
"Looks like all of them fell prey to my Limited Tsukuyomi. Although I can't interfere much with the world, I can still manipulate a few things according to my wishes."
He turns to Kabuto, who is standing beside him.
"It's time for your puppet to make a move. Order him to send all of those rogue shinobis and root members to attack the Konoha members. I will manipulate the small world to let them recall their memories and identify their targets."
"Very well!" Kabuto makes some hand signs.
On the other side of the estuary,
"Damn! Those Konoha bastards survived that attack." The masked bandit smashes a nearby tree with his fists.
"At this rate, I will lose all of my men." He grits his teeth and turns to the cloaked figure.
"So, where is the help you promised? I am sacrificing my men to take them down, and you have yet to make a move."
Suddenly,
A blinding light encases the area around the estuary. A gigantic transparent barrier envelops the surroundings. The masked bandit and the cloaked figure are just outside the range of the transparent barrier.
"This… what's this?"
The masked bandit stretches his hand to touch the transparent barrier, but the chakra from the barrier repels him.
"Hehe… this is the help I was talking about."
The cloaked figure smiles. Several anbus gather beside him.
"Woah!" The masked bandit is startled by the sudden appearance of the anbu members. He jumps back with a blade in his hands.
"There is no need to be wary of me. We are allies, after all. I will open a passage in the barrier and my men will assist your men to take down those Konoha bastards. This barrier is meant to contain them and prevent their escape."
The masked shinobi waves his hand and a pitch-black gate opens in the barrier.
"Alright, I will trust you."
The masked bandit waves his hand and dispatches his remaining men inside the barrier together with the Anbus.
"Not. Let's just wait for the good news." The cloaked figure cackles.
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"Alright, it's done!" Kabuto lowers his hand while glaring at the crystal ball in Obito's hand.
"Now that's one powerful jutsu. The ability to create an isolated dimension with the rules of the real world. It's worth researching."
Hiss…
The snake behind Kabuto hisses as Kabuto's eyes narrow at the sight of the crystal ball.
Swoosh…
Obito waves his hand and then stores the crystal ball.
"You shouldn't bite more than you can chew," Obito warns him.
"Kuku… the power of the tailed beasts is pretty interesting. However, this doesn't fascinate me. I want to seek a power, much, much higher than this." Kabuto adjusts his spectacles and chuckles.
'A power similar to the one I witnessed in that battle!'
Kabuto recalls the final battle between Izuna and the Abyss Centurion. Back then, he was also present within the confines of the hole. The giant barrier blocked his path, and he was unable to get out of the Hole.
Later, he was caught in the crossfire between Izuna's and Abyss Centurion's battle and suffered grievous injuries.
'However, I was able to survive thanks to the regeneration factor of the Hashirama cells. Hashirama's cell contains a much higher power than just the wood release. Their vitality and life force are so powerful that it feels like even the world assists in their sustenance.
'However, that battle! Those powerful attacks! That chaotic energy! It opened my eyes to a new world; the world of Gods! And now I want to witness the creation of a God with my own eyes. If I can study that process, then perhaps I can create much more powerful.'
Kabuto licks his lips.
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