Longing Is the Emotion Furthest from Understanding

Naruto watched Daren Yi leave with excitement in his eyes. It took him a long while to finally calm his thoughts.

Looking at the four remaining fruits in his hand, Naruto thought for a moment, then returned to the Sealing Space and tossed three fruits to the Nine-Tails.

"Kurama, I'll give you back three. How about you promise to forgive Ancestor of Shamate?"

The Nine-Tails had been dejectedly resting his head on his paws, questioning his entire fox life. The moment he heard Naruto's words, he nearly exploded with rage.

"That bastard planted two trees on me and picked nearly a hundred fruits, and now he gives me back three and expects me to forgive him?

You idiot human brat, what kind of dream are you having?!"

The gale stirred up by the Nine-Tails' furious roar nearly blew Naruto away.

Naruto raised an arm in front of his face, hunched over, and staggered back two steps. With a helpless bitter smile, he asked, "Then do you want them or not?"

The Nine-Tails was speechless. Awkwardly lowering his head, he carefully pinched up the three tiny fruits with his enormous claws and tossed them straight into his abyssal mouth.

"Of course I want them! I'm not stupid, but forgiving that guy is impossible!

Compared to that bastard, even Hashirama Senju seems reasonable, and Madara Uchiha practically looks like a good person!

Brat, you're still too young and too naive. You simply have no idea how dangerous, terrifying, and evil that guy really is!"

"Nine-Tails, you're prejudiced against Ancestor of Shamate."

Naruto had not cared in the slightest when the Nine-Tails roared at him, knocked him down, or scolded him. But those words made him somewhat angry. Patting his chest, he assured the Nine-Tails, "Ancestor of Shamate is absolutely a good person. He just usually looks unserious, likes joking around with others, and pulls pranks to watch people embarrass themselves.

"But his heart is absolutely kinder and more upright than anyone else's, even toward Tailed Beasts whom everyone hates and detests.

"After all, he could have directly taken everything he needed, yet he still chose to make a deal with you."

The Nine-Tails was a little choked up, but he still insisted on his opinion.

"That guy is extremely, extremely dangerous. From him, I sensed something like an ocean condensed from all of humanity's negative Emotions and Desires.

"He is practically the will born from the collective mass of all humanity's negative Emotions and Desires.

"Could a being like that possibly be kind and upright? I don't believe it!"

Naruto was completely disappointed in the stubborn Nine-Tails. He lowered his head, sat cross-legged, and sneered.

"Nine-Tails, you always say humans hate and detest you because they're prejudiced against you.

"Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, Mito Uzumaki, and even my mother, Kushina Uzumaki.

"None of them believed you. They thought Tailed Beasts were irrational wild beasts who would definitely harm this world and bring disaster to humanity.

"You felt wronged and furious, believing it was humanity's prejudice and discrimination against you.

"But what about you now? Haven't you become just like them? In truth, you're no different from them at all!"

"I'm truly different from that guy!"

The Nine-Tails stubbornly forced out that retort, then could not think of a reason. He froze, even beginning to doubt himself. What this brat said seemed to make a little sense. Could he really have been wrong?

Just as the human and beast both fell silent,

Within the Sealing Space, in another layer of "reality" that neither could see nor sense,

Daren Yi silently watched them. Unlike his usual teasing expression, as though he were watching a show and playing through the Human World,

Daren Yi's face was calm, so calm and cold that not the slightest emotion could be seen. Around him, countless tree roots like writhing tentacles danced wildly, burrowing and spreading in every direction.

The two small transparent flame trees growing on the Nine-Tails were actually just two saplings that had sprouted from roots extending out from a towering tree.

And this towering tree, which had been planted at some unknown time, had already grown so enormous that it packed the entire Sealing Space full.

Its top held up the sky and its bottom connected to the earth. Its lush canopy completely covered the upper half of the Sealing Space, while countless thick roots, coiled like dragons, extended from the base of the tree and spread madly through the lower half of the Sealing Space like living creatures.

On the ground, upon the Nine-Tails, upon Naruto, roots of all sizes continuously branched, silently growing and taking root. The seeds left behind by the fruits they had just swallowed also silently sprouted, merging with the roots extending in from outside...

The dominion over this Sealing Space, this spiritual world, had long since changed hands without their knowledge. Thus, their perceptions having been altered, they noticed nothing that was happening.

Daren Yi slowly walked toward Naruto. Within this Mind Realm, from a perspective of a higher dimension than the spiritual world, he could clearly and directly see Naruto's dazzling will and sincere, radiant heart.

Like a brilliant star glittering in the darkness!

"Everything I said was true.

"Naruto, I have completely felt your will and your heart!

"Sorry. To suppress the turmoil of the ocean of Emotions and Desires, I need to borrow the light of your hearts and wills.

"Perhaps I should tell you all the truth?

"But if someone else completely controlled your Mind World, who could accept that? And how many people could accept it?

"And I need a great many of them. At the very least, enough to piece together a Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array, right?"

A faint ripple crossed his expressionless face. Daren Yi shook his head, then denied his own words.

"Forget it. I shouldn't make excuses.

"I merely want to hold the initiative completely in my own hands. I'm unwilling to risk this secret being exposed and causing others to become wary of me!

"Naruto, the perfect and selfless Ancestor of Shamate you know and admire never existed from the very beginning.

"The Nine-Tails' suspicions are correct. It's just a pity no one is willing to believe him.

"Longing is the emotion furthest from understanding...

"Still, doesn't this scene look a little too ugly?"

Daren Yi waved his hand, and everything in the spiritual world changed accordingly. The tree roots filling the Sealing Space transformed into faint, colorless, transparent lines of fire.

These slender fire lines, formed by stretching out Deep Blue's colorless transparent flames, slowly drifted through the air, underground, inside the Nine-Tails' body, and inside Naruto's body.

They connected this other person's Mind World with Daren Yi's own Mind World.

Seeing that everything was proceeding smoothly, Daren Yi took a step forward. Following that connection, he directly appeared above the boundless ocean of Emotions and Desires within his own Mind World.

Looking up at the sky, he saw a star flickering in the air, blooming with brilliant starlight. Under the illumination of that light of heart and will, the restless ocean of Emotions and Desires became slightly calmer.

Daren Yi nodded in satisfaction. Good. Everything was proceeding according to plan.

The next moment, he silently appeared in the deepest part of his own Mind Ship upon the sea.

Throughout this process, Izumi Uchiha, the girl who had likewise merged her Mind World into it, noticed nothing at all—neither Daren Yi's arrival nor the suddenly appearing flickering star in the sky.

In the deepest room of the Mind Ship, Daren Yi silently looked into a mirror, his face expressionless.

Yet the reflection in the mirror was smiling at him.

"Why? After all this time, why haven't you simply devoured Izumi Uchiha? As long as you completely merge everything about her into yourself, you will..."

"Ah!"

With a scream, the reflection in the mirror was yanked out by Daren Yi.

"You talk too much!"

Daren Yi kneaded it with his expressionless hands. In this idealistic spiritual world, he soon skillfully molded his other self from the mirror into "a bottle of soda."

He forcefully twisted off the cap and took a drink. A satisfied expression appeared on his impassive face, and he let out a refreshed breath.

"Wicked thoughts? Evil thoughts?

"Could they be wickeder than me? More evil than me?

"Not bad. Ice-cold, with a faintly acidic corrosiveness. It tastes like carbonated iced cola, and it even has that fizzy sensation. Not bad, not bad..."

Amid his satisfaction, he also felt a little regret.

Daren Yi remembered that in the beginning, he had often been able to drink "alcohol." Back then, on this ocean, the wicked and evil thoughts born from his influence transformed into "beverages" with truly potent flavors.

Then, gradually, they went from high-proof liquor to rice wine, beer, and then alcoholic drinks...

And now, it had been a long time since he had drunk a beverage containing "alcohol." He could only rely on all kinds of carbonated drinks to satisfy himself a little...

"Weak! Weak!

"The wicked and evil thoughts these days are far too lacking in purity!"

Let me emphasize this: this novel really is not a "nanny story." Surely no one actually thinks the protagonist is a "nanny," right?

Right from the beginning, it was repeatedly emphasized over many passages that the protagonist himself thinks he is a "mental patient"!

He is the kind of "severe case" who can naturally activate the Three-Tomoe Sharingan while calmly eating at home.

A potential lunatic!

So there were foreshadowing clues earlier on. This chapter should not feel too abrupt, right?

I'm rather uneasy and would like to hear everyone's thoughts.