Naruto and his team continued their journey toward Kumogakure.
Maki walked up beside Naruto, examined his left arm—surviving the flames of Amaterasu—and performed a quick chakra scan. After confirming there were no serious injuries, she asked:
"Naruto-senpai, why don't you remove the Amaterasu flames from your arm?"
"Then I'd be pretty weak, wouldn't I?" Naruto replied with a smile. "Inside my arm is sealed the actual Amaterasu flames. If I can't even handle a little burn like this, how could I chase after something even stronger?"
He could release the seal at any time, unleashing those flames. Yes, it hurt—but he had mastered wind-natured chakra, which naturally enhanced fire-based techniques. Plus, he could reseal them again. Even if just a spark remained, he could use his wind chakra to amplify it into even greater flames, which made it a new weapon from Itachi Uchiha.
Who cares if he didn't know the long-term effects? Maybe nerve damage or something else—so what? He still had both hands. Even if one became useless, he could manage. Didn't Jiraiya manage just fine with one hand?
Sai watched as Maki inspected Naruto's arm while they kept walking toward Kumogakure so Naruto could replenish his chakra.
"So, you'd rather keep Amaterasu sealed inside yourself just to use it in battle?"
Naruto pulled his left arm back from Maki's grasp and raised it high.
"I'm someone who actually has the chance to learn how to control this power. Get real—you guys know we need every trick and strategy we can get right now."
******
##Naruto's Shadow Clone - Konoha##
To his shadow clone's surprise, he returned to Konoha without a scratch.
He had traveled the entire distance in less than two days, pausing occasionally to recharge his chakra. Now, all he needed to do was go straight to the Naka Shrine to see whether he could uncover any useful information.
Sneaking around within his own village felt terrible, but orders were orders—Naruto had specifically instructed him not to be seen by anyone. Once he got what he needed and finished the mission, he was to vanish immediately. So instead, he used Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself before heading toward the shrine.
The shrine lay within the area once occupied by the Uchiha clan. Naruto's clone knew very well that this part of the village would have almost no people—since Sasuke left, few ever came here anymore.
It looked more like a wasteland, like a museum trapped in time. Ever since the night of the massacre, everything remained exactly as it was.
He quickly reached the island-bound shrine. Based on information revealed during Sasuke's and Itachi's fight, he lifted the tatami mats inside the main hall, discovered the secret entrance, and located the stone tablet needing translation.
Naruto's shadow clone lit a torch, entered the tunnel and stepped into the hidden chamber. After lighting the remaining torches inside, he saw the last stone tablet engraved with the Sharingan script.
"Okay, let's begin."
He released the Transformation Jutsu to conserve chakra, focused his chakra into his right eye, and released the seal on his contact lenses, beginning to decipher the content of the stone tablet.
Even Kakashi-sensei had never seen this tablet, yet now he could witness its inscriptions with his own eyes.
He didn't need to learn how to make the Sharingan evolve more tomoe, because when he received these eyes, they already had three.
He also had no desire to learn about the Mangekyo Sharingan—he'd never kill someone close for power.
But as he read, he uncovered something incredibly significant—answers to questions that had haunted him for years.
The Shadow Clone began murmuring to itself:
"The Sharingan is a manifestation of the Sage of Six Paths' physical power, handed down through our bloodline. Therefore, our eyes possess the power to suppress powerful tailed beasts. As long as the user is strong enough and their will firm enough, they can impose their own will upon the tailed beast. In some among our clan, their eyes possessed an even greater ability—they could embed powerful subconscious commands directly into a target's mind without the target ever realizing it. Unlike our standard Genjutsu techniques, this ability was closer to true mind control. The victim would never suspect afterward that they had been manipulated at all. It was one of the most dangerous powers of the Sharingan, even by Mangekyo standards. Anyone who could understand this part of the tablet possessed the potential to use this mind-control technique."
This revelation shocked the Shadow Clone, though perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised.
"Guess I really hit the jackpot," he muttered under his breath, clearly amused by his luck, before continuing to decode what he could understand.
But then, he couldn't help but recall everything that had happened since gaining these eyes—especially during the battles against Itachi and Sasuke.
"No! I'd rather you die here than let those eyes control you!"
"Damn it Nine-Tails, give me your power! Let me live—I just want to survive!"
Naruto still remembered the words exchanged during his final conversation with the Nine-Tails. He hadn't yet entered his inner sanctum to find out what had gone wrong there, but he knew something definitely had.
The Nine-Tails' power wasn't sealed away—it simply no longer communicated with him. Now, at last, he could start piecing together the truth of what had truly happened. "Oh damn…"
During the battle, when Sasuke unleashed a lightning-based Ninjutsu attack so powerful it was meant to finish him off in one strike, Naruto pleaded with the Nine-Tails to give him more chakra—more than he thought he could handle.
The Nine-Tails refused, claiming Naruto would lose control, and a berserk Naruto wouldn't be able to use the Sharingan to resist Itachi and Sasuke's attempts to control him.
Then, in anger and despair, Naruto had roared at the giant beast, demanding it give him the strength to survive.
Eventually, he got that power. Reflecting on it now, the chakra he gained was just enough to survive that deadly strike—even if only for a fleeting moment—but it was enough.
Although he had never stopped to wonder how he had obtained that power, he now understood—it was through the Sharingan. Instinctively, he had forced the Nine-Tails to give him exactly what he wanted.
So, he had found the answer to the puzzle.
"Damn it..." muttered the Shadow Clone internally, choosing to continue reading even though he'd already found what he needed. There was still a mission he had to finish. "Boss is going to lose his mind when he finds out why the Nine-Tails... completely blew him off."
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