(This chapter's order has also been adjusted, so the paragraph comments were cleared. Looking forward to everyone filling them back in~)
In the deep sea of consciousness.
Crack! The Susanoo formed from the pure white aura burning around Chen tore apart the dark demonic tentacles piercing through his heart!
Chen stared at Jin's sinister face. "Black is the base color of my Susanoo. White is Jin's."
The fusion of Jin's and my Dojutsu Power... was a mithril shade close to dark gray.
"So, you impostor, stop pretending to be Jin here and getting in my way!"
The White Susanoo's skeletal fist swept through the seawater in fury, smashing through the Dark Susanoo around Demon Jin and blasting half his body into dark, ghostly aura.
Blood still seeped from the empty eye socket on half of Demon Jin's face, and his voice grew ever more shrill. "Big Brother, why are you lying to yourself? Why are you telling yourself that I'm your Inner Demon?"
Chen's expression suddenly trembled. "Shut up!"
Demon Jin's voice carried grievance. "Big Brother! I am Jin! The will of Uchiha Jin, residing in the eyes you transplanted! Why won't you admit it!"
"Shut up!"
"Is it because, when I was alive, I was the little angel in your eyes? Because I never blamed you? So after I died, I don't even have the right to complain anymore? Big Brother, do you think that's fair?!"
Chen repeatedly warned himself that the figure before him was an Inner Demon. It claimed to be the incarnation of Jin's will, born from the deepest "doubt and delusion" in his heart. He absolutely, absolutely could not be deceived by it!
Its very existence meant he had already been deeply poisoned—or perhaps it only existed because he had been deeply poisoned. That was the terror of an Inner Demon.
The Flower pattern in Chen's left eye began to tremble chaotically.
He was beginning to lose track...
"My little brother's... Jin's will... what do you want your big brother to do? Would you be at peace if I died here?"
Jin shook his head. The savagery on his face was replaced by complexity and sorrow. "No, how could I want Big Brother to die?! I know my death wasn't Big Brother's fault!"
"It's just that Big Brother mistakenly took me for an Inner Demon and sealed my true body deep within your Samadhi Meditation Sea!"
"I... I still want to lend Big Brother a hand, help Big Brother heal his wounds, and unlock the power of the Rinnegan! But I can't do any of that with this projection alone!"
"So, so please undo the seal on the Meditation Sea, Big Brother. The two of us brothers can be like before... like before! Okay?"
Even that submissive tone before him, and that coy way of speaking, were beginning to overlap perfectly with Jin.
The scales in Chen's heart tilted once again.
Whoosh! The pitch-black aura reassembled into the half of Demon Jin's body that had been blown apart.
The beguiling voice rang out again. "That's right, Big Brother. As long as you undo the seal on the Meditation Sea, we brothers can be just like before..."
"Okay." Chen imagined that beautiful possibility and nodded gladly.
Knock, knock, knock! Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking on a table came from deep within his mind.
This was the trigger-based psychological suggestion he had given himself before completing the seal on the Samadhi Meditation Sea!
If the Inner Demon ever reappeared one day, this suggestion would awaken his last shred of reason.
"..."
The trembling eyeball stilled. Chen's single eye stared at Jin like a pool of stagnant water.
"But if you say you're Jin's will lingering in these eyes, then tell me: what exactly did you see before you died? And who killed you?"
The warmth on "Jin's" face froze in an instant, turning sinister and violent. He stared at Chen gloomily without speaking.
Chen said, "Can't say it, can you? Of course you can't, because you're Jin created by my Inner Demon! Naturally, you can't know what Jin saw before he died, much less who killed him!"
"Heh, interesting..." Demon Jin murmured coldly.
But when someone needed to use "deduction" to prove something obvious, it already proved the uncertainty in their heart.
As long as you were still wavering, I had an opening to exploit!
"How nice would it be if you just obediently undid the seal on the Meditation Sea! Then you wouldn't have to suffer so much, Big Brother!"
"You're still calling me Big Brother! You really won't give up, will you?!"
"It's true that I'm merely a projection of the will Jin left behind! Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't pose any threat to you at all! But with your severely wounded, dying body and that left eye you're desperately sustaining, how much longer can you resist?!"
The Dark Susanoo rose again, and the dark demonic tentacles gathered force.
"Oh, right~ We share the same body, so this move should work nicely!"
Demon Jin grinned viciously, bringing his hands together in the Snake hand seal!
"Dark Wood Style: Wood Dragon Technique!"
The dark wood dragon roared as it lunged at Chen to kill him!
The pure white Susanoo skeleton around Chen simply lacked the strength. It was crushed by the wood dragon in a single clash!
"Die!!" The black tentacles came savagely crashing down!
But at that moment, Chen raised his palm.
Clatter, clatter, clatter! Golden chains rose and tangled from every direction, breaking through the Dark Susanoo's barrier and weaving around Jin's body!
The dark tentacles that had reached Chen froze, then shattered inch by inch!
Demon Jin was stunned. "Adamantine Sealing Chains! That's an ability of the Uzumaki Clan! You can actually use this technique?!"
Ah, back when I was negotiating with Orochimaru, I took the chance to use Twin Flower to copy Karin's body as well.
During that time, I stored her Adamantine Sealing Chains in Toyomiketsunomikoto.
Just before my right eye activated Izanagi, I released this technique...
For the Rinnegan, I had decided to gamble with my life!
It was precisely because my life was so important that I had to do everything possible to protect it!
"The strength of these Adamantine Sealing Chains has nothing to do with my current condition... With a projection like yours, you can't resist them! Give it up!"
Demon Jin knew that he had lost.
"Heh, truly worthy of you, Big Brother. But right now, we are one. The stronger you become, the stronger I become... Deep within the Meditation Sea, I will watch you with my resentment!"
Was he my Inner Demon, or Jin's will?
No! Without question, he could only be an Inner Demon...
Chen struggled to firm up his resolve... then clenched his hand tightly!
Crack!! The constricting Adamantine Sealing Chains tore Demon Jin's projection into four pieces of black aura, which scattered into the dark sea.
That was right. An Inner Demon.
As Demon Jin dispersed, the confusion in Chen's heart dispersed with him.
"Next..."
The light shining down from above began to drive away the darkness. Chen knew that he had won this battle against himself...
After the darkness was completely dispelled, he saw a white landscape.
The Otsutsuki Time Zone?
No, it wasn't the Otsutsuki Time Zone, because this land was a vast expanse of pure white, without any of those white cubical rooms.
"Oh, you survived."
"So? My descendant is impressive, isn't he? He relied on his own strength. Unlike your descendants, who all had to be propped up by others."
"What era is this? You're still talking about yours and mine... Big Brother, can't you keep up with the times?"
"Wh... who's talking?" Chen wanted to shout, but no sound came from his throat. Through the blurry white light before him, he vaguely saw the outlines of two people standing to his left and right!
Both wore the white haori from the era of the Six Paths Sage Art.
When he saw their faces clearly... Chen's pupils suddenly contracted!
Impossible... How could these two people possibly appear before me at the same time?!
That makes no sense! Absolutely! Impossible!
As if answering Chen's doubts, the conversation between the two figures began again.
"The entanglement of the Reincarnators came to an end with Naruto and Sasuke's generation..."
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