Chapter 265: Power over Consciousness

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 265: Power over Consciousness

"Mmm… interesting." Naruto moved his head to look around. "These Sharingan abilities don't cease to amaze me. Have you ever wondered about their origin?"

Itachi raised his blade toward him. "Do you not understand the situation you are in?"

"This pocket dimension you've created inside our minds is affecting space and time, twisting it and compressing it." Naruto's eyes went back to Itachi. "I don't think that you or any of the other Uchihas can truly comprehend that these abilities can only have originated from a higher plane of existence… the source that the Sharingan came from…"

"You are speaking about the Rinnegan," Itachi said. He didn't understand most of Naruto's rambling, but he did understand what he was referring to at the end.

"That's right, the Rinnegan! And even more so, the origin of those eyes. What do you think that is?" Naruto asked.

Itachi shook his head. "I don't care about any of that! I brought you here to show you pain… But you are correct about one thing. This place is able to compress time. Just an instant in the outside world would feel like an entire year in here. And when your body and mind are under severe distress, it would feel even longer… an eternity of pain. That's what you will find in this place." As he said that, Itachi drove his sword into Naruto's stomach.

His robes were cut open, and blood poured from his wound, dripping onto Itachi's sword.

"This is the problem with those born with the label of 'genius.' You think that you know everything already, so you lose your sense of wonder and discovery," Naruto continued, completely ignoring his wound.

Itachi was surprised by his tolerance to pain but did not let it show on his face. He retracted his sword and drove it back into Naruto's chest, piercing one of his lungs.

Once more, Naruto didn't seem bothered at all by Itachi's attack and continued speaking. "Well… it's not like you could do anything with that knowledge. It would be wasted on you. Sooner or later, I will get my answers anyway," Naruto responded.

Itachi frowned. "This…" He was surprised but couldn't stop now.

Duplicates of Itachi manifested all around Naruto. Every single one of them held a sharp sword in their hands… all of them aimed at him.

Without hesitation, all the copies of Itachi stabbed Naruto's body simultaneously, inflicting terrible wounds all across his body.

They repeated this over and over until Naruto's body was a bloody mess of torn flesh and bones.

But Itachi noticed that the light in his eyes never diminished.

Naruto's face healed instantly, and he grinned. "You are wasting your time, Itachi."

"What?!" Itachi exclaimed in shock. This, he couldn't believe. No matter how much tolerance to pain one had, no one should be able to brush aside so much trauma as if it were nothing.

"Then again… time is being compressed in here, so you're not wasting much, I suppose," Naruto added.

"How are you doing this?" Itachi asked.

Naruto broke the restraints that were securing him to the cross and let his body touch the ground. All of a sudden, his body was completely healed, and his clothes were restored. Not a drop of blood could be seen on him.

"Impossible…" Itachi took a step back. "I am in full control of this space. You shouldn't be able to do this."

"Wrong." Naruto made a dismissive gesture with his hand, and all the clones of Itachi disappeared, leaving only the original one. "You are not in full control. We both are."

"No… this is my ability!" Itachi summoned more ropes to restrain Naruto again. These ones wrapped around his wrists and legs before pulling him up. "This is my genjutsu." He tried to stab him again.

Just as his sword was about to touch Naruto's body, his figure disappeared, along with the wooden cross and ropes.

Another Naruto reappeared behind Itachi. "Then you don't understand how your ability works. This space is creating a bridge between our minds and pulling our consciousness in here."

Itachi made another attempt to bring more copies of himself to attack him, but Naruto sent them all away with a simple hand gesture.

"No… this can't be… You say that I don't understand how my ability works? That's ridiculous."

"Hmph… you're the one being ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned. Trying the same thing over and over, despite the fact I've proven to you that it won't work."

Itachi remained silent after that.

So Naruto continued. "If you could comprehend what the human consciousness truly is, then you would begin to learn the flaw in this technique of yours."

The consciousness and the soul were connected in an intimate way, to the point where they could not be separated.

When Itachi pulled him here and created that connection, he also opened the possibility for Naruto to wrestle control over this temporary dimension by sheer brute force.

Itachi had no way to be aware of that weakness because this world had no cultivators, so the idea of someone having enhanced the power of their very own soul was not something that existed before Naruto's arrival.

But now, Itachi was facing someone who had entered the realm of the Nascent Soul Stage, the point when a cultivator begins to empower their soul with all the energy they had previously accumulated.

At this moment, Naruto's soul must be hundreds, if not thousands, of times mightier than any normal mortal's.

Because of this, anyone who attempted to affect his consciousness with a jutsu such as this was going to have a very hard time.

Itachi had no way to understand why his jutsu was not working, but he was at least smart enough to know when to stop. After all, the Tsukuyomi was placing an incredible strain on his eyes with every fraction of a second he kept it operating.

"Enough!" Itachi roared, and the jutsu was canceled, allowing their minds to return to the real world.

Not even a second had passed in reality. Naruto was still floating in the air, looking directly into Itachi's eyes in a defiant manner, as if saying, 'Go ahead… try again.'

"I hope you have something better prepared for me, Itachi."

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