Boiling, Sublimation, Transcending the Self!

For the first second, nothing happened. Riu showed no signs of discomfort; on the contrary, he felt both body and mind becoming immensely pleasant. After all, beyond death, an even loftier and brighter future awaited him.

Watching Riu, Orochimaru thought, That is only natural. Yu's right half was once implanted with a Hashirama Clone, which proves that the First Hokage's power does not reject this young body of Uchiha Obito. The question is whether Yu's soul, dwelling within Obito's shell and lingering between life and death, can withstand this unknown trial...

Worthy of Orochimaru indeed. With the knowledge he possessed and from his limited perspective, he had actually discerned the truth behind the existence known as "Uchiha Riu"!

Over the next minute, the Hashirama Original Cells injected into Riu's veins dispersed throughout his blood vessels along with his circulation. His blood boiled, his blood pressure skyrocketed, and his vessels ruptured!

Thump!! With a hammer-like heartbeat, Riu's eyes suddenly flew wide open!

"Aah!!!!!!!" His gut-wrenching scream pierced the thick walls and echoed throughout the underground base.

"Yu!!!" In the corridor, Yūhi Uzuki heard the scream and tried to rush into the room without a second thought, but Tobi pressed a hand to her shoulder and shook his head at her...

Xiyang bit her lip, clenched her fists, and waited anxiously.

"Aaarghhhhhhhhh!!!" Riu's hands crushed the steel armrests of the chair flat!

The skin all over his body reddened like heated iron, while scorching steam erupted from every pore. Everything reflected in his eyes turned blood-red!!

Suddenly... his eyes rolled upward, leaving only the whites visible, and the scream finally stopped.

Thump! Thump... The heartbeat in his chest grew weaker and weaker before stopping completely. His eyes gradually closed, his head drooped limply, and all signs of life ceased. Riu entered a state of suspended death.

"Has it begun..." Orochimaru took out a pocket watch. Staring at its moving hand, he waited solemnly.

A vast azure expanse stretched endlessly beneath a sky occasionally crossed by shooting stars. This was the Sea of Mind, the deepest layer of Riu's subconscious.

Riu wandered here aimlessly...

Drip. Suddenly, ripples spread across the water beneath his feet, revealing one of Riu's memories from before he transmigrated.

It was nighttime. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled outside the window. A pale, thin boy hid beneath his blanket, covering his ears tightly. That was Riu as a child, but he was not afraid of thunder.

In the living room beyond the door, Riu's parents were fighting fiercely over trivial matters of daily life. The sound of a thermos being smashed, a table being overturned, pots and bowls shattering—those sounds left far deeper shadows on a young heart than thunder ever could...

The urge to urinate came over him, and Riu was desperately holding it in. Helpless, he lifted the blanket, slipped on his slippers, and was about to open the door to go to the bathroom...

Crash!!!

Just as his hand gripped the doorknob, a glass cup smashed heavily against the door...

That night, Riu stayed in his room and never went out.

Scenes like that accompanied Riu throughout his entire childhood, until he entered middle school. His parents found new lovers of their own, divorced, and abandoned him...

To him, that was a relief instead.

But the nightmare did not end. The scene shifted to his high school years.

Riu went to and from school alone, and ate in the cafeteria alone.

During PE class, while the other students ran, jumped, and played ball, he sat by himself in a corner of the field.

He had no friends and did not speak with others. Wherever he went and whatever he did, he was alone.

What was wrong with being alone?

Riu liked peace and quiet.

But why was it that simply because he wanted to be alone, without bothering anyone, he still invited beatings and humiliation? The scene shifted again.

The boys in the back row threw gnawed chicken bones at the back of his head and tossed scattered sunflower seed shells into his face.

When it snowed, boys he barely knew stuffed huge snowballs directly down the back of his collar.

A soccer ball struck him in the face, and people still ordered him to fetch it. If he did, they mocked him; if he did not, they ganged up on him...

Being beaten was commonplace. It was not as though he had never gone to the teachers, but they said, "Why don't they hit anyone else? Why do they only hit you?" They told him to look for the reason in himself...

Fine. He was timid and weak. Then he would fight back, wouldn't he? The first time he struck back, the teacher called him into the office, severely criticized him, and said they would notify his parents. But both parents were busy and said they would not come, telling the teacher to handle it as they saw fit.

Was I never supposed to live in this world?

Riu developed depression and began to grow pessimistic and weary of life.

He remembered that time when he spent a week collecting more than a hundred sleeping pills from various pharmacies. Alone in his rented apartment, he swallowed them.

I can finally leave now, right?

But his landlord found him and called an ambulance. He was sent to the hospital to have his stomach pumped.

His divorced, perpetually busy parents finally came to the hospital, split the medical bills, and then left. They did not even enter his ward to say a single word to him—not even a harsh one!

It was utter indifference. They fulfilled only their legal obligations, without the slightest warmth of family affection!

Perhaps most parents in the world were not like that, but Riu had lived in such a cold-blooded family. The warmth of familial love was a luxury beyond his reach.

After he was discharged and returned to school, his life remained the same. Fortunately, no classmates dared provoke him anymore. They were probably afraid he would kill himself again and drag them into trouble. Yet those cold and contemptuous gazes remained everywhere.

Until one day, when he bought a pirated Naruto manga collection from a roadside stall. He came into contact with the world of anime and manga, and there was no stopping him after that...

He sincerely felt that reality itself no longer mattered.

In the eyes of teachers and parents, he was one of those hopeless shut-in losers poisoned by anime and manga, destined to be eliminated by the cruel competition of society.

Maybe that was true. Riu did not want to argue, nor could he be bothered to, because nothing in the real world mattered to him anymore!

The reflection on the water vanished because it had frozen over.

This spiritual world was gradually shrouded in darkness. Riu stopped walking, crouched down, and buried his head in his knees. His consciousness blurred and drifted away.

He knew that he was about to die...

Riu murmured, "So this is how it is. In the end, I still failed? Come to think of it, why did the me from the real world transmigrate here?"

"Because, to you at that moment, the real world was Hell. To Uchiha Obito at that moment, the ninja world was Hell. At the point where the two dimensions intersected, your souls resonated because both of you believed yourselves to be in Hell! Thus, your souls crossed dimensions and exchanged bodies. You became Naruto's Uchiha Obito, while he became Riu in the real world!"

At that moment, a voice sounded before Riu. He raised his head... and saw another version of himself!

Riu did not care what the other him was or how he knew these things. He only asked impatiently, "Then what will happen if I die here?"

The version of himself before him gazed into the distance. "Probably, you will return to your original body. Obito has not let go of all his obsessions, after all. He still has his obsession with Rin..."

"In other words, I will return to that unbearably boring reality?"

"Yes. There are no Sharingan there, no Kamui, no Susanoo, no Chakra, no ninjutsu. There is only a reality so crushing that it suffocates you—a reality you have no power to break!"

"I absolutely refuse that kind of reality!!!"

"Then wake up. I am the will within your heart that refuses to admit defeat!" The other him extended a fist toward him.

Riu smiled as well and raised his fist, bumping it against the other's.

Whoosh! Before him, the embodiment of Riu's will turned into golden light and scattered. This dim Sea of Mind was illuminated once again, blooming with radiance even more brilliant than before!

Outside, fifteen minutes had passed. Orochimaru closed his pocket watch and looked at Riu, who still sat with his head lowered and body motionless. His heart darkened. Has Yu's gust of wind come to an end as well?

But my pursuit of truth cannot stop. Yu, I will take your eyes...

Orochimaru stepped forward and reached out toward Riu...

But Riu's lowered head lifted at that very moment. Those Mangekyo Sharingan swirled with a soul-stirring light!

What powerful ocular power... Power unlike anything before! Orochimaru abruptly stopped, cold sweat soaking his entire body.

"Orochimaru, what are you trying to do?" Riu asked calmly, his gaze unfathomable.

"Nothing, Yu." Orochimaru lowered his hand and answered respectfully.

"Stay there and watch quietly." Riu lowered his head and controlled Hashirama's Power, rapidly repairing his necrotic organs. Scorching vapor rose from his skin, but the furnace-red color had vanished.

"Yes!" Orochimaru retreated to the side, thoroughly convinced. Yu is far more outstanding than I imagined...

The transformation continued!