"I'll give it a try. Black Zetsu's memories are a complete mess, though. I can't stay connected to them for too long, or I might end up losing my mind."
Obito fell silent for a moment after hearing Dark Naruto's suggestion, but eventually agreed.
On the surface, he was simply maintaining his persona as a naturally kindhearted Uchiha who had abandoned evil and returned to the righteous path.
In reality, however, his concerns were completely genuine.
He really was a little afraid.
People often said that genjutsu created false realities, but there was one thing inside an illusion that remained perfectly real: memories.
If someone suffered psychological trauma inside a genjutsu, that trauma would follow them back into reality.
Just look at Sasuke.
Whenever Sasuke was on the verge of recovering from his childhood trauma, Itachi would conveniently appear and hit him with another Tsukuyomi, ensuring that his younger brother remained firmly committed to the path of psychological instability.
Ever since Black Zetsu had possessed him, Obito had developed the uncontrollable habit of calling random women "Mom."
That alone was enough to terrify him.
In the previous world, he had been forced to use Kakashi's identity, and the resulting loss of his familiar Kamui abilities had left him deeply uncomfortable.
But compared to losing control of his own mind, that physical discomfort was nothing.
Black Zetsu had already gone insane.
Sharing memories with a lunatic could easily allow that madness to infect him.
He had to be extremely careful.
With those concerns in mind, Obito cautiously began examining Black Zetsu's memories.
While Obito was occupied, Karin returned to the guest room carrying several dishes.
Accompanying her was Fū, the Seven-Tails jinchūriki whom she had mentioned earlier.
"Naruto, let me introduce you! This is Fū, the Seven-Tails jinchūriki you wanted to befriend."
Karin then turned toward her companion.
"Fū, this is Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails jinchūriki. You two actually have the same hobby. He loves making friends too!"
As their mutual acquaintance, Karin enthusiastically introduced them.
"Hello."
"Hi! You like making friends too? That's awesome!"
Fū excitedly shook Naruto's hand.
At first glance, the scene looked perfectly harmonious. It was simply a cheerful, outgoing girl who had finally met someone who shared her interests.
Yet Dark Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
He was perfectly capable of pretending to be a good person.
So why couldn't someone else do exactly the same thing?
Still…
Naruto carefully studied the expressions on both girls' faces.
No matter how closely he examined them, he couldn't identify anything suspicious.
Unfortunately, Obito still hadn't finished searching Black Zetsu's memories.
"Um, what's your friend doing over there?"
Karin pointed toward Obito and looked at Naruto curiously.
At that moment, Obito was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his head twitching and swaying from side to side.
Anyone who didn't know better might have thought he was Doctor Strange examining fourteen million possible futures.
"He's…"
Naruto was just about to invent an explanation when Obito abruptly stopped moving and opened his eye.
"Mom!"
He stared directly at Fū and blurted out the word in front of everyone.
The entire room fell silent.
Fū was especially bewildered.
She had come here to make friends, not to adopt a son!
What the heck was going on?
However, the moment Obito regained his senses and noticed Karin and Fū standing there, he didn't hesitate.
Taking advantage of everyone's stunned reactions, he lunged straight toward Naruto.
"Kamui!"
Both of them disappeared instantly, sucked into the Kamui dimension.
Upon landing, Naruto stood there in confusion for a moment before quickly recovering his senses.
He immediately examined their surroundings.
Only after confirming that nothing seemed dangerous nearby did he lower his voice and question Obito.
"Why did you bring us in here? No matter how dangerous things are outside, can they really be worse than Ōtsutsuki Isshiki being in here?"
"Well, you're not wrong about that."
Obito began explaining.
"But you have to understand something. Isshiki might be dangerous, but we've got all of Konoha's buildings blocking his vision and interfering with his ability to locate us. The danger isn't immediate."
"Outside is different."
"Those two were standing right beside us. If we hadn't escaped, we would've been in serious trouble immediately!"
Hearing that, Naruto understood.
"So you really did find something relevant in Black Zetsu's memories?"
"Exactly. I—"
"Wait!"
Naruto suddenly interrupted him.
He glanced worriedly toward the buildings outside.
"You just said Konoha's buildings can block Isshiki's vision, but isn't Ōtsutsuki Isshiki supposed to have the Byakugan? Are those buildings really going to help?"
"…"
Obito fell silent.
"Ōtsutsuki Isshiki does possess the Byakugan, but because he's inhabiting Old Man Ichiraku's body, he can't freely switch between his eyes anymore."
"Besides, he's already insane. His dōjutsu are permanently stuck in their two special forms, and he can't revert them to an ordinary Byakugan."
"Even if his current dōjutsu still retain some of the Byakugan's abilities, we should be safe as long as he doesn't actively use them."
Obito patiently explained his reasoning.
However, while he spoke, an entirely different thought began forming in his mind.
Something about Naruto suddenly seemed extremely suspicious.
First of all, Dark Naruto had inherited the original Naruto's memories.
That was an established fact.
But if that was the case, there was one rather important question.
According to all the intelligence Obito had gathered in this world, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had never once demonstrated the Byakugan.
From beginning to end, he had exclusively used Daikokuten and Sukunahikona.
Furthermore, the two eyes he used for those techniques had always retained their distinctive black-and-gold appearance.
Logically speaking, his other eye—the one he kept closed—should have been the Byakugan.
But there was absolutely no mention of it in any of the available intelligence.
Even the shinobi world's existing records merely identified Ōtsutsuki Kaguya as the progenitor of chakra.
They never mentioned that she possessed the Byakugan either.
So where exactly had Naruto learned that the Ōtsutsuki clan possessed the Byakugan?
On the other hand, things were very different in the real shinobi world.
Before Obito had been imprisoned, those people had revealed a great deal of information to him in an attempt to give him an opportunity to repent.
Among other things, they had told him about their previous battles against members of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
And Naruto had participated in those battles.
In other words, the only Naruto who should have possessed information about the Ōtsutsuki clan's Byakugan was the Naruto from the real shinobi world.
So what exactly was happening here?
Had the developers made some kind of mistake when constructing Engraved Tsukuyomi?
Or…
Was this Naruto actually the real-world Naruto?
Obito finally understood why something had felt strange all along.
Kakashi had repeatedly told him that Naruto resembled Obito.
But that had been the real Kakashi talking about the real Naruto resembling the real Obito.
Why would a Naruto created inside Engraved Tsukuyomi possess exactly the same personality as his real-world counterpart?
Looking at the situation now, there was clearly something wrong.
And suddenly, Obito realized something else.
The absence of a mission interface in this world didn't necessarily mean his objective was to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi, as he had assumed.
Nor did it mean he was supposed to eliminate the Ōtsutsuki threat.
Perhaps the reason he hadn't received any missions…
Was that he wasn't the person supposed to be completing missions in this world at all.
Those people had originally thrown Obito into the first Engraved Tsukuyomi world because they wanted him to experience an awakening and sincerely repent.
Then why had they brought Naruto into this world?
Wasn't the answer obvious?
The greatest value of Engraved Tsukuyomi lay in its ability to change people's perspectives and allow them to accumulate experience.
Those people had most likely sent Naruto here to gain practical combat experience and become more mature.
As that realization settled in, an increasingly sinister idea began taking shape inside Obito's mind.
"Oh, I see!"
Meanwhile, Dark Naruto remained completely oblivious.
He looked at Obito with an innocent expression and eagerly urged him to continue.
"Anyway, Uncle Obito, you were about to tell me something! What exactly did you find out from Black Zetsu's memories?"
Dark Naruto had absolutely no idea that he had just accidentally exposed the most important secret belonging to his original self.