Chapter 505: A Bold Idea
On Turtle Island, right in front of the Falls of Truth.
Naruto sat cross-legged on the protruding stone segment in the dead center of the cascading currents. His eyes were tightly sealed, his expression contorted into a fierce, agonized grimace.
Standing with his hands tucked casually behind his back on the shore, Ryo called out: "Killer Bee, exactly what parameters govern the inner darkness?"
"Oh, yo~! The dark side is essentially just another manifestation of your own self."
"Another manifestation of oneself?" Ryo knit his brows, "Then... can the Great Ancestor stand upon that stone coordinates to test it?"
"Senior, didn't you explicitly state just a moment ago that your vessel fundamentally lacks a dark side?" Mabui inquired with a subtle smile.
Ryo tilted his head to trade a playful glance, peering down at the ground beneath his boots: "It newly sprouted just a fraction of a second ago—pure greed."
Mabui: "..."
At this exact junction, she could strictly place her sovereign trust in the giant turtle's baseline loyalty, desperately praying it wouldn't be so effortlessly enticed to relocate.
"By the way, Secretary, you must undeniably command the precise data regarding what a turtle prefers to consume, correct? The Great Ancestor has fundamentally never fed a specimen of this nature. It has strictly consumed fish; is there zero requirement to diversify its culinary palette?"
"...I possess absolute zero data regarding that matter!"
Ryo blinked his dual eyes: "Killer Bee?"
Killer Bee's face twisted into a thoroughly bitter knot. One operated as the absolute personal secretary to his older brother, while the alternative entity functioned as the supreme executive sponsor backing his future concert blocks... neither was an entity he possessed the capacity to provoke!
"Oh, yo~! I similarly lack the data regarding whether its matrix holds a preference for wild boar meat."
Mabui cleanly rolled her dual eyes straight toward the canopy.
Ryo smiled with deep satisfaction, refocusing his absolute sight back onto Naruto's coordinates.
Ordinarily, Naruto spent his timeline either projecting silly grins or executing rowdy comedy blocks; a contorted, ferocious countenance of this tier was something Ryo was witnessing for the absolute first time, explicitly proving that Naruto was encountering severe friction in his high-powered clash against his inner darkness.
"This child is naturally endowed with an exceptionally optimistic disposition; exactly why on earth is his inner darkness this formidable? Could it be that he genuinely harbors an intense, visceral envy toward Sasuke?" Ryo smoothly shook his head. "Or could it possibly be triggered because the Great Ancestor has administered far too many continuous slaps against his backside?"
As the duration steadily marched forward drop by drop, the sun gradually climbed to hang directly over the cluster's heads, causing a dense layer of fine perspiration to slowly seep across Naruto's forehead.
Ryo's brow furrowed to a deep degree: "Killer Bee, if the Great Ancestor steps straight onto that stone coordinates this exact millisecond, can I comfortably assist Naruto in flattening his inner darkness?"
"That is fundamentally unworkable, Senior. The inner darkness is an entity that must be conquered strictly utilizing one's very own independent willpower!"
"One's very own independent willpower?" Ryo's brow twisted into an even deeper knot. Over these past years, driven entirely by his heavy intervention across the timeline, Naruto's journey had been exceptionally smooth and seamless, missing out on a vast array of grueling refinements that played out across the original story... barring his absolute inability to flatten Sasuke in a straight fight.
"If he fails to cleanly scale past the absolute very first trial node, it will turn into a monumental comedy block."
The absolute millisecond that thought settled, the cross-legged Naruto violently vaulted straight into the air from the stone segment: "Absolute success!"
Ryo paused for a fraction of a second, a broad smile blanketing his face. Passable, when all is said and done, he failed to shed a single shred of the Great Ancestor's dignity.
"Securing success is brilliant. Comfortably log a brief rest window; it happens to align perfectly with our lunch schedule. Subsequent to refueling, we shall execute the next phase of your cultivation! Earth Release: Stone Slab Jutsu!" 10. Before Ryo's position, ten perfectly smooth, flat stone slabs slowly levitated out from the dirt.
"At high noon, we shall consume slate-roasted wild boar meat, and the Great Ancestor shall personally execute the culinary rotation!"
"To think you actually carry raw wild boar meat directly inside your personal inventory?" Mabui let out a helpless sigh, massaging her temples.
Ryo chuckled smoothly: "The raw ingredients packed inside my pocket space are monumentally vast; whatever a giant turtle prefers to consume is highly likely to be found within the repository."
Ten massive slabs of wild boar meat materialized, flattening themselves perfectly atop the stone slates. Ryo manipulated his Wind Release chakra to cleanly slice and score incisions across the flesh.
"Fire Release: Heated Slate Jutsu!"
An identical template of formula, yielding an identical template of premium aroma. Half a minute later, a rich, mouth-watering wave of roasting meat fragrance dynamically rippled across the clearing.
"Naruto, what exact form did your inner darkness manifest as? Why on earth did the execution consume this monumental volume of duration?"
Naruto offered a scratch of his hair loops: "It manifested strictly as a pitch-black, shadowy monstrosity. Its raw capability sat perfectly level with my baseline, but fortunately, its tactical intelligence parameter wasn't high-tier. Ultimately, I successfully locked onto an opening to shatter its stance."
Ryo fell into brief calculation: "Its raw capability sat level with your baseline, which structurally implies the darkness and the radiant light occupying your heart parameters are perfectly matched... how on earth is that logically possible? As for its tactical intelligence parameter not being high-tier, however, that aligns flawlessly with your baseline reality."
"Oh, yo~! Senior, the logistical parameters don't map out down that track," Killer Bee shook his head to clarify. "The raw capability of the inner darkness is inherently cast as a perfect reflection of our independent strength tier. Discerning the absolute volume of darkness dwelling within a person's heart matrix is strictly evaluated by analyzing the difficulty curve mandated to conquer it... which means it relies heavily on tracking the combat intelligence of the darkness. Naruto's execution is exceptionally stellar; back in the day, my vessel expended a solid day and a half to successfully flatten it."
A brilliant, radiant smile instantly blanketed Naruto's face. Snapping his head around to lock his gaze onto Ryo, his expression was entirely packed with a desperate plea for validation and praise.
Ryo pursed his lips: "Refrain from harboring intense arrogance. The absolute second we conclude our lunch block, the Great Ancestor shall personally escort you to expand your baseline horizons!"
As he delivered those words, Ryo's internal cognitive parameters actually experienced a minuscule trace of guilt. After all, the Great Ancestor's independent intellectual capacity was monumentally high-tier; even assuming his heart matrix housed a mere tenth of absolute darkness, conquering an entity wielding that tier of tactical intelligence would likely be an exceptionally grueling chore...
"Commence the feast!"
Subsequent to the conclusion of the lunch block, Ryo stared down at the completely immaculate, hollow stone slates, his mind plunging into an absolute, speechless void.
The volumetric mass packed into these ten individual portions of roasted wild boar meat heavily mirrored the ten massive fish from the previous evening, yet every single scrap had been thoroughly and cleanly consumed...
Driven by his intense internal stamina expenditure, Naruto had consumed a supplementary portion compared to his baseline last night, while the remaining two portions...
Ryo shifted his gaze to lock onto Mabui, whose abdomen parameters were currently visibly distended: "Does the meat roasted by the Great Ancestor taste spectacular?"
"Spectacular... hiccup..."
"Did consuming an excessive volume trigger a trace of internal swelling?"
"Mmm, it feels a fraction swollen... hiccup..."
"Tsk!"
Ryo shook his head with a gentle laugh. He genuinely hadn't anticipated that this exceptionally precise, highly efficient Chief Secretary of the Hidden Cloud Village could concurrently manifest a trace of this adorable baseline, quite literally expending her absolute limits for the cause of the Hidden Cloud, prepared to eat herself to absolute demise on location...
"Consider this round an absolute victory for your parameters. This evening, the Great Ancestor shall systematically prepare fifteen individual portions; I desperately hope your matrix possesses the clearance to accommodate the volume!"
"Hiccup... Senior, didn't your presence intend to practically test the Falls of Truth?" Mabui frantically shifted the conversational coordinates.
"Great Ancestor, unleash your absolute power!" Naruto was snickering cheekily, his face entirely packed with an absolute desire to enjoy a comedy show.
Ryo shot him a fierce, sidelong glare. His physical frame flashed out of existence, materializing straight atop the protruding stone segment. Facing the cascading currents of the Falls of Truth, he subtly closed his dual eyes to a narrow slit.
The turbulent water currents boomed and thrashed against the surface lake, and Ryo's conscious awareness sustained a sharp tug, materializing straight inside an alternative pocket dimension. Stationed directly before his position loomed an identical waterfall, and resting securely within the cascading currents stood a humanoid silhouette enveloped in shadow.
The silhouette was entirely pitch-black down to the letter, with strictly its teeth manifesting a pure white coloration, while its dual eyes carried a grayish-brown hue. Its baseline outline shared a non-negligible similarity alongside Ryo's parameters, yet concurrently diverged across certain structural attributes.
"This constitutes the dark side of the Great Ancestor's parameters? Exactly why on earth does it remain completely immobile?" Ryo knit his brows, tentatively flicking his wrist to unleash a sharp blade of wind. The shadowy silhouette violently shattered into absolute fragments upon impact!
A singular micro-second later, Ryo's conscious awareness cleanly snapped back into his physical vessel. Ryo opened his dual eyes, staring blankly straight toward the cascading currents of the Falls of Truth before him.
"Eh?! Great Ancestor, the sequence has already reached its terminal conclusion?!"
Ryo offered a confused scratch of his hair loops: "It should structurally be considered concluded, I assume. Exactly how much duration ticked away across the outside world?"
"...A mere half a minute!"
Ryo was briefly startled, before a look of profound realization smoothly blanketed his face. It was highly probable that his independent strength tier had violently scaled past the absolute maximum threshold the Falls of Truth possessed the technical capacity to replicate, rendering his inner darkness exceptionally effortless to flatten.
"The Great Ancestor explicitly declared from the absolute beginning that his vessel housed fundamentally zero darkness. Had it not been for this specific giant turtle..."
Mabui was entirely swimming in a fog of absolute bewilderment. Looping the narrative back down that track, does it structurally imply our Hidden Cloud Village is retroactively at fault for wronging your parameters? Causing your matrix to cultivate a layer of inner darkness, our deepest, most absolute apologies!
Naruto sustained a monumental blow to his academic confidence: "Hey, Great Ancestor, let's commence the subsequent phase of our cultivation rotation! Uncle Killer Bee, what exact parameters govern the next milestone?"
"Directly behind the Falls of Truth sits a prehistoric, ancient ruin. Residing within that interior, an individual can exponentially more effortlessly map and perceive the raw kinetic energy of their tailed beast. Your primary logistical objective demands that you violently wrestle the Nine-Tails' chakra pool away, pulling it straight over to your side of the matrix!" Killer Bee responded firmly.
"Violently wrestle...?"
Killer Bee hesitated for a brief moment: "Step inside to practically test the parameters, and you shall smoothly parse out the mechanics."
Naruto snapped his head around: "Great Ancestor?"
Ryo pursed his lips: "The trio of you advance inside first. The Great Ancestor parses that the water currents filtering through this coordinate are exceptionally refreshing; I intend to execute a quick shower block first."
"A shower block?!" Naruto's face was entirely packed with absolute dazed confusion.
"Hurry up and step inside, I am already dismantling my clothes down to the half-way mark!"
The trio stared at one another in complete, blank bewilderment. Mabui offered a bitter, helpless smile. I am fundamentally, absolutely incapable of deciphering your cognitive processes, Senior... Catching sight of Ryo having already stripped his robes down past his torso parameters, she frantically executed a leap to slice straight through the waterfall.
"Oh, yo~! Senior, care to execute a shared cooling shower block collectively together?"
"You absolute bastard!" Ryo driven a sharp kick straight against Killer Bee's backside, sending him flying cleanly through the waterfall currents... Naruto frantically accelerated his pace to track behind them.
Verifying that the perimeter was completely clear of alternative entities, Ryo wove his hand to cleanly strip every single fabric layer of his apparel from his body. Refraining from activating his repulsive barrier shield, he took several direct paces forward to stand squarely right within the cascading currents of the Falls of Truth, letting the rushing water boom and thrash against his bare flesh.
The exact facial aesthetics of that inner darkness from a moment ago... Ryo continuously parsed out an instinctual premonition that it carried a highly familiar visual profile, and his cognitive processing couldn't resist generating an exceptionally bold idea...
"The Sixty-Four Hexagrams Seal (Rokujūyonchō Fūin): RELEASE!"
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