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In his room, Naruto saw himself sprawled on the floor, fast asleep and drooling!
"Huh?!" Naruto's consciousness jolted, and he snapped fully awake.
He looked down and discovered he was translucent! Worse, he was floating weightlessly above his own body!
"Wh-what's going on?! What happened to me?!" He flailed his arms and legs in panic, only to find he could move freely.
A terrifying thought struck him like lightning.
"D-don't tell me... I... I worked myself to death?!" The possibility sent Naruto into a panic.
"Did training that jutsu kill me?! No way!!! I just graduated! I just got my forehead protector! I haven't become Hokage yet! I haven't made everyone in the village acknowledge me!!!"
Naruto kept screaming, but no one could hear him.
He stared at his sleeping body below, seized by a desperate will to live.
"Go back! Hurry up and go back! My body's still warm! Maybe I can still save myself!" Thinking as hard as he could, he swam through the air toward his body on the floor.
But the instant his soul touched his body, he felt none of the reunion he had expected.
Instead, it was like breaking through a thin film of water. The world spun before his eyes!
Whoosh!
An extremely powerful sensation of falling came over him. The Light around him dimmed at once, and the air turned cold and oppressive.
He was no longer in his little room, but in a vast, damp, dark space filled with pools of water.
Cold water covered his ankles. A chilling Chakra presence filled the air, so thick with hatred and violence that Naruto could barely breathe.
"Wh-where am I?!" Naruto's soul trembled as he looked around in terror.
He found himself standing before a massive iron cage. Its bars were frighteningly thick, and a sealing tag was affixed to them.
Then, deep in the darkness beyond the bars, two enormous lanterns lit up like blood moons!
A closer look told Naruto they weren't lanterns at all. They were eyes, brimming with malice and rage!
A tremendous roar shook the entire space and made Naruto's soul quiver.
"Hm? How did you get in here, brat?!"
Boom!!!
With that roar, a gigantic Kurenai-colored fox slammed into the iron cage that sealed it away.
"The D-Demon Fox!!!" Naruto screamed in utter terror.
Without thinking, he turned and frantically swam upward. All he wanted was to escape that dreadful place!
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!!"
Another dizzying wave of vertigo hit him, as though something had yanked him back.
"Haaah!!!"
On the floor, Naruto's body sucked in a sharp breath. Like a drowning person pulled from the water, he snapped his eyes open.
He gasped for air, drenched in cold sweat. His heart hammered so hard it felt ready to leap out of his throat.
He sprang upright and, still shaken, felt his face, arms, and chest to make sure he was alive and safe in his room.
Warm Sunshine was already streaming through the window.
Morning had come long ago.
He whipped his head around and looked beside his hand.
The Sheep Talisman lay quietly in his palm, as if nothing had happened.
"Was it a dream?!"
In the full light of day, the Canopy Screen began its usual broadcast.
[The True Person appeared on the screen once more.] [He lounged against a twisted tree, idly kneading the soul of an unfortunate passing fawn into a contorted, agonized shape as though it were clay.] [At its faint cries, his face spread into that familiar, inhuman smile of delight.] [Suddenly, the shadows around him began to boil unnaturally!] [Several black-clad ninjas with glowing red eyes swiftly emerged from the shadows.] [Far from frightened, the True Person was thrilled to see them.] [He let them drag him into the shadows.] [The scene changed. The black-clad ninjas had brought the True Person to a strange place.] [There was no earth, no sky, no boundary.] [Emptiness lay beneath his feet and above his head.] [Only dark Kurenai-colored veins of energy occasionally formed and shattered, flickering through the space like a crimson sky.] [A line of small text appeared on the Canopy Screen.] [The land where no living thing may enter—the Shadow Kingdom.] [A huge stone floated into view, bearing an enormous Obsidian Throne.] [A figure sat upon the throne, clad in a noble, ancient white Six Paths Hunting Robe, its sleeves embroidered with mysterious black tomoe.] [But most unnerving of all were his eyes: a pair of Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan!] [Nine black tomoe slowly revolved within deep purple ripples, which seemed to hold immense power.] [He gazed down at the True Person with indifference, like a Deity judging an insect.] [More striking still was the half-tiger fragment hanging from a black cord around his pale, slender neck.] [A line of text appeared beside him on the Canopy Screen.] [Lord of Nine Nether—???] [For once, the True Person did not immediately laugh. Instead, he called up to the figure on the throne in a voice brimming with pride and eagerness for praise:] ["Boss! Boss! Look! I found the Snake Talisman!"] [He held the Snake Talisman high, showing it off proudly.] ["Boss, a guy called Danzo Shimura had this hidden away in Konoha Village. I even fought the village chief over it!"] [On the throne, the Lord of Nine Nether slowly opened his half-closed eyes.] [The Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan appeared again, his indifferent gaze fixing precisely on the Snake Talisman in the True Person's hand.] [All the darkness in the Shadow Kingdom seemed to tremble beneath his gaze.] [The True Person felt its pressure, and his grin faded a little. But he remained excited and kept holding out the talisman.] [The Lord of Nine Nether said nothing. He merely raised one pale, slender hand and made a grasping motion toward the Snake Talisman.] [**Hum!**] [The Snake Talisman shuddered in the True Person's hand, broke free, and streaked toward the throne in a flash of Light!] [The Lord of Nine Nether looked down at his newly acquired talisman. At last, a hint of satisfaction seemed to ripple through his indifferent Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan.] [The half of the Tiger Talisman around his neck seemed to resonate faintly with it.] ["You did well, True Person."] [That simple praise made the True Person's grin stretch wide again, as though he had received the finest reward.] ["It's my honor to collect these interesting toys for you, Boss!" The True Person gave an exaggerated bow, his voice full of twisted delight.] ["But Boss! Why are we collecting these talismans, anyway?" Confusion was written all over the True Person's face.]
Before you continue