Ren traveled nearly fifty nautical miles north across the open sea.
A thin mist gradually rose from the surface, refracting the moonlight into fractured beams. Through the fog, a gargantuan, suffocating shadow loomed over the racing Ren Uchiha.
It was a massive island, roughly ten kilometers in diameter, its surface bristling with jagged stone pillars like a forest of spears.
A living island!
"So, this is the Island Turtle?" Ren slowed his pace, reaching into a sealing scroll to summon a lantern-like object.
Inside was a specialized Genjutsu elixir crafted by Orochimaru. It emitted a unique scent designed to ward off the turtle's hostility. To prevent the Cloud Village from reclaiming the beast, Orochimaru had used Genjutsu pills to suppress its will; the turtle was programmed to go berserk the moment it sensed a shinobi within a thousand meters. With its 10km-long body, it would whip up "S-rank" tidal waves before using other countermeasures left by Orochimaru to flee.
In the original story, the Island Turtle looked massive and moved at a snail's pace, but that was only relative to those who could fly, like Onoki or Deidara. In reality, a standard ship couldn't even see the turtle's "taillights."
This was why Ren needed the lantern.
After another mile, he finally made landfall. Ren headed straight for the turtle's head, entering through a mountain-sized mouth. Following the map provided by Orochimaru, he located the "brain room."
The area resembled a massive limestone cavern. In the center of the crimson brain matter sat a cluster of spikes forming the Four Black Snakes Formation. It functioned much like the rudder of the lightning ship he had piloted earlier; with this, he could override the turtle's direction.
Fortunately, Orochimaru hadn't made the controls too difficult. The interface was practically "idiot-proof." After a tense few minutes of following the diagrams, Ren finally successfully changed the island's course.
"Phew..."
"With this, I won't run into Madara Uchiha again."
Relieved, Ren stowed his scrolls and made his way toward the interior of the island—to the place known as the Falls of Truth.
Before leaving the battle site, he had performed a series of "creative" maneuvers in Byaran's mind to deter Madara. It was a bit convoluted: to prevent Madara from tracking him, Ren first erased the traces of his appearance from Byaran and Guruguru's memories. Of course, a Sharingan-based erasure would be full of holes to an expert like Madara.
However, Ren then intentionally altered Byaran's memory to create a fake trail, leaving a landmark that looked like a trap if one didn't look closely enough. Given Madara's arrogance, once he saw through two layers of deception, his first thought would be to crush whatever trickery lay beneath with sheer power.
In Madara's view, Ren shouldn't even know he existed. At most, Ren would guess there was a mastermind behind the Third Mizukage—but no normal ninja would guess that mastermind was a long-dead historical figure.
In truth, even though Madara's image in Byaran's mind was blurred, Ren's knowledge of the original plot allowed him to reconstruct the events perfectly. Using a Sharingan to leave a "flawed" trace served to satisfy Madara's ego; once Madara "saw through" the cleverness of the trap, he would dismiss it as "petty tricks."
It was a gamble—a "petty trick" specifically tailored to Madara's personality.
"Man, playing Genjutsu games with a hundred-year-old geezer is intense!"
Ren had been worried the whole time that Madara wouldn't take the bait and would instead catch him mid-flight, knock him out with a Susanoo, and drag him off to be an "Eye of the Moon" slave.
"Sigh..." He let out another long breath, his back still feeling chilly from the sheer terror of his own plan. After all, that was Uchiha Madara—the boss of bosses. Even if the old man took a liking to him, there was always the risk that if the "merchandise" didn't meet expectations, he'd just kill him and find someone else.
The Falls of Truth were located on the turtle's "shell"—the island's exterior.
Amidst a forest of stone pillars pointing toward the sky sat several buildings constructed by the Cloud Village. The architectural style was realistic and rugged, built into the mountainside and incorporating Tailed Beast motifs.
A giant ape named "Goki" guarded the area, but for some reason, after catching a glimpse of Ren from the stone forest, it fled as if it had seen a demon.
Ren arrived smoothly at the sacred site: The Falls of Truth.
"According to the story..." Ren looked up at the hundred-meter-high waterfall for a moment, his eyes landing on a protruding stone platform in front of the basin. "As long as you sit there, you can see your 'True Self.'"
"This is the first step to mastering the Perfect Jinchuriki mode—defeating yourself."
"But... what does the 'True Me' actually look like?"
With that thought, Ren walked across the lake's surface and sat cross-legged in the center of the platform, closing his eyes.
The moment he shut them, his Sage-enhanced body felt a strange power manifesting. The natural energy of the lush environment flowed in a specific pattern through the jagged stone pillars, forming a barrier covering a thousand meters.
Then, based on his Sharingan's sensitivity to spiritual energy, Ren realized his consciousness was being slowly peeled away from his body.
Suddenly, he heard a voice exactly like his own:
"Ren Uchiha!"
The voice was urgent, tense, trembling, and laced with extreme fury.
"Have you already forgotten!?"
"The reason you came to this world!!"
"What the hell are you doing?"
"If you keep going like this, damn it, even the aliens won't be able to kill you!"
"I'm asking you—"
An eighteen-year-old version of Ren Uchiha—covered in blood, wearing a tattered T-shirt, and riddled with shards of glass and twisted steel—staggered out from the waterfall. He looked shocked and incredulous. His hand trembled as he pointed at Ren's nose and demanded:
"Three months! In just three months, how the hell are you already almost at 'Beyond Kage' level!?"
"And another thing—"
"Bro, where's my five hundred million!?"