Team Seven's gathering came and went quickly. In less than ten seconds, all four had left the island.
Naruto found the closest room to the Box on the map, calculated the distance and direction, then personally killed a clone to transmit the order for the clone in the prison to start digging.
Now that he had the Box's location, he could dig straight. Otherwise, he would have to dig blindly and rely on luck. However, given Hozuki Castle Prison's location, if he dug to the sea, the surging waves would pour in. That would be even worse than opening a sea valve; it wouldn't even take nineteen minutes to flood the entire city.
The Uzumaki construction team might not be good at other things, but their expertise in civil engineering was unmatched in both worlds. All those Earth Release techniques and tunnel boring machines could rest.
Early the next morning, Naruto teleported into the tunnel dug near the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
The Box was hidden by Mui in a stone cave dug underground. Apart from the front facing him, the other sides were tightly against the walls. And Naruto was directly behind the Box.
Breathing air delivered by a cylindrical container through a soft tube in his mouth, and holding a flashlight, Naruto stroked the entirely black, cold Box. He realized that he could seemingly teleport inside...
"Game view" is a term referring to the illuminated range, just like warding in League of Legends and Dota allows one to see the surroundings. Naruto's game view covered a five-meter radius around him. This distance was unaffected by any obstacles, not even the Four Purple Flames Formation that had trapped the Third Hokage back then.
Now, touching the Box, Naruto could clearly feel that he could open a teleportation gate inside the Box.
At this moment, Naruto's death-seeking soul suppressed his rationality. Emmm, should I go in and play around?
I have to try, I must try.
How can I not play something this fun?
However, his main body couldn't go for this kind of thing. Who knew what the situation inside was like? If it was solid, wouldn't he get stuck in the wall? That would be much worse than being stuck on calories.
Releasing a clone, Naruto quietly asked, "Which one of you wants to try?"
"Me first..."
"I'm first..."
The clones scrambled, afraid of missing the chance to be the first to court death.
Naruto slapped his forehead. Damn it, they all act like quails when learning sealing jutsu, but when it comes to courting death, they're more eager than anyone else.
He wrote a few small notes, held them in his hand, and said, "Since you all want to go, let's draw lots. The one with the smallest number goes to receive Tenten."
The Box was too big for Naruto to seal it currently.
Several clones looked at the notes, hesitating whether to make a move. Finally, one of them had a flash of inspiration and immediately contacted an "in-arena guest": "Big Fox, for a special dragon steak, which one is the biggest?"
"The one on the left."
"Thanks."
Ultimately, this clone successfully gained the first opportunity to court death through cheating.
Sending two clones separately to the Box and Konoha, Naruto sat in place, waiting.
Three minutes later, all the clones went silent.
It's so dark inside. I'm so scared.
This was the message sent back by the clone after it committed suicide.
Accompanying the message was a deep sense of fear, a fear that didn't seem to belong to humans, as if it had been forcibly implanted into the brain.
This fear made Naruto, a person whose entire life was defined by the word "reckless," slump against the wall, his hands trembling like someone with a stroke.
In his mental space, Naruto even leaped from Kurama's belly, rushed to the furthest corner of the wall, and crouched down.
Kurama, using his buoyancy, gave Naruto a "fox spirit emerging from water" benefit. Half his body rested on the edge of the bathtub, his eyes fixed on Naruto: "Brat, what's wrong?"
After ten years of living together, it was the first time he had seen Naruto so afraid.
"Nothing, I just need to calm down." Naruto waved his hand, indicating he was fine. That feeling of fear made him instinctively choose to flee. The source of the fear was Kurama and his bathwater.
These two things were dangerous.
"A broken box can scare you like this? Truly embarrassing."
"This is not a broken box..." Naruto murmured softly.
"This old man used it as a pillow back then, then threw it away because it was too hard. So, is it a broken box?" Because of the different names, when Naruto mentioned the Box of Ultimate Bliss, it didn't know. Now that it saw it, it remembered the Box.
Naruto: "..."
Can't you just let it have some dignity?
Kurama's joking tone made Naruto feel much better. After a short while, he slowly got up, suppressing his trembling legs, and climbed back onto Kurama's belly.
"Brat, go again," Kurama said, lying back down.
This brat had a strange adaptability. As long as he didn't die, he could adapt to even the harshest conditions. And Kurama wanted Naruto to adapt to this fear.
As this old man's jinchuriki, he must be fearless. To be scared by such a small fear, wouldn't that be an embarrassment to this old man?
Naruto lay on the soft fur, his hands pressed against his forehead, taking deep breaths, as if drawing courage. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Alright, I'll do it."
Fear was not shameful. Everyone had fear, and overcoming fear required courage.
"Go," Kurama's face revealed a smile. He liked this kind of reckless courage.
Outside, two more clones were released. One was killed to prepare the other clones in Hozuki Castle Prison mentally. Naruto sent the second one into the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
If he hadn't left for work yet, that earlier large tremor would have already exposed all the clones.
While the clone was still alive, Naruto also sat down and seriously pondered.
Mui's son, Innocence, who came out of the Box, said that the Box would inflict boundless fear on those inside. After coming out, he could perceive everyone's fear, including his own. This perception allowed him to sense everyone's attack movements and intentions, as long as that person harbored fear of him.
This miraculous ability allowed him to even dodge the high-speed combined attacks of Guy and Rock Lee.
Then, if I let a clone stay in the Box of Ultimate Bliss for a long time, will it gain this ability?
If so, coupled with his status as the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki...
While Naruto was pondering, the second clone also died. Even though he was prepared, the fear transmitted back still made him want to flee from the source of danger beneath him.
Then, he was suppressed by a fleshy paw: "Don't move."
Naruto painfully squeezed out a word from his mouth: "Okay."
While enduring the fear, Naruto focused his attention on the memories transmitted back by the clone.
The first clone was swallowed by fear as soon as it entered. The second one was prepared. It immediately took out an oil lamp to observe the surroundings, and even stepped out of the teleportation gate to look back.
Through its memory, Naruto could see the people the Box had devoured. They floated quietly, their eyes closed.
And taking that step made the clone feel as if it had entered a different dimension. One step took it dozens of meters away, and at the same time, it saw more floating people. But it permanently lost the qualification to approach the teleportation gate. It could see it, but couldn't reach it.
Naruto speculated that this space might overlap with reality, otherwise the clone wouldn't have been able to look back and see the teleportation gate.
The thoughts in his mind continuously suppressed the fear. Naruto recovered much faster than last time.
Feeling the person under his paw stop trembling, Kurama was too lazy to lift his paw. He continued to press down: "Go again."
"Okay."
The third time, Naruto wanted to experiment with something. He saw the clone disappear into the teleportation gate, then reappear in an instant.
Naruto smiled. It can actually teleport out? Then can I pull someone out from inside?
Thinking of this, Naruto took out a rope and iron ingots, and spontaneously fashioned two grappling hooks, which he gave to two clones. He had them teleport in one after the other.
Inside the Box of Ultimate Bliss, the first clone handed one end of the rope to the second clone, who remained stationary. Then it took a step, looked back, and saw the rope still connected. According to the pre-planned strategy, it swung the grappling hook towards the floating people.
Seeing someone hooked, the second clone quickly pulled the rope, pulling both of them back. Before fear could consume him, he grabbed the hooked person and activated teleportation.
Leaving the first clone to continue experiencing the fear.
"Help me tell the main body... 'motherf*cker'..."
He had a "motherf*cker" he had to say twice.
Outside the Box, Naruto paid no attention to the clone's message. He looked at Innocence, who had been teleported back, and grinned.
Mui, your son is in my hands. If you know what's good for you, hand over that guy named Vary.
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