Naruto: Unlocking Kaido Template

As Zixu pushed open the stone door, a familiar sensation washed over him once again. Unlike the previous illusory teleportation, this time, it was real. A wave of discomfort settled in his stomach, making him slightly nauseous.

He had already figured out the truth about his so-called "reincarnation" in the previous space. From the very beginning, there had never been any real reincarnation—everything had been an illusion. The scenes he had witnessed, from start to finish, were nothing more than fabricated visions.

He had merely been trapped in an endless cycle of illusion.

As for whether the emotions displayed by the people in that illusion were genuine, he couldn't say. After all, those individuals had nearly been reduced to complete stone statues. He also had no way of knowing whether Tagorihime (天心神姫) possessed the ability to seal a person's consciousness within an illusion permanently.

"Hmm? This place actually looks normal—no weird buildings, no suspicious people... Wait, where the hell is Orochimaru? I forgot to ask Tagorihime. Tch, it'd be best if he just died here..."

Zixu raised an eyebrow as he surveyed his new surroundings.

The space beyond the stone gate wasn't particularly vast, and a thick fog limited his visibility. Slippery rock walls and stalactites jutted out from above, their surfaces smoother than expected. At the very least, it confirmed that he was still within Ryūchi Cave (龍地洞).

This time, it didn't seem like he was caught in another illusion.

"System, oh system... Damn, I really didn't expect a guy like you with your 'thick eyebrows and big eyes' to set a trap for me. Guess I need to be more careful when accepting missions from now on."

Zixu muttered sarcastically, though he knew full well it wasn't really the system's fault. He had simply developed the habit of cracking jokes at it whenever he needed to lighten the mood. At the very least, it helped him stay composed.

As he ventured forward, he created a Shadow Clone (影分身, Kage Bunshin) to scout ahead.

Then, as a precaution, he sent out even more clones.

But that's when he noticed something unusual.

In an instant, Zixu dispelled all of them.

When a Shadow Clone is released, its chakra and accumulated memories are supposed to return to the original body. Normally, if his total chakra was 100, and he split into multiple clones, each one would share the chakra evenly with his main body. After taking the energy loss from splitting into account, he should be able to recover around 90%.

But this time, something was wrong.

The chakra he recovered was only 50.

Not only had more than half of his chakra vanished into thin air, but even the memories transferred back from his clones contained nothing unusual. They had just been moving forward—nothing more.

"Something's off..."

Zixu narrowed his eyes and carefully scanned his surroundings, searching for any abnormalities. Finally, his gaze locked onto the mist.

"That's the only anomaly here..."

It was an obvious trap.

"But breaking it isn't gonna be easy..."

Zixu knew that the fog was absorbing his chakra. Unfortunately, he had no solid method to counter it yet. If he could use his Silence Fruit (沈黙の実, Chinmoku no Mi) to halt the fog's effects, he would—but his mastery over it wasn't advanced enough.

"Thinking too much won't solve shit. If I can't retreat, then I'll just push forward."

Watching as the fog gradually spread toward him, Zixu gritted his teeth and charged straight in, planning to sprint through it in one go.

You never know until you try.

The moment he entered the fog, he immediately felt its effects.

Normally, when running at full speed, a person would feel light—almost like they were flying. But inside this mist, it was the opposite. It felt as if his entire body was being weighed down by invisible chains, like a bird with lead-filled wings trying to take flight. Every movement required an enormous amount of strength.

But for Zixu, this was nothing.

His body was far beyond the limits of an ordinary human. While others would find it impossible to move, his speed hadn't even dropped. He simply felt that the air around him had thickened slightly—aside from that, there was no difference.

However, he did notice one problem.

"It doesn't drain much stamina, but it's devouring my chakra at an absurd rate...!"

The sensation of his chakra being siphoned away was alarming. Still, rather than letting his anxiety get the best of him, he used his Silence Fruit to force himself into a calm state.

Then, up ahead—

A fork in the road.

It was the first one he had encountered so far.

"Tch. One of these two paths has to lead to safety... which means the next choice is crucial."

His breathing, which had become somewhat uneven, gradually stabilized. As his senses sharpened, he became acutely aware of the symbols etched into the rock wall at the intersection.

Zixu halted his steps and carefully examined them.

He touched the paint on the mural. Although he couldn't make out the details at first, when he brushed his fingers across it, a small piece of black paint chipped off, staining his hand. While silently critiquing the quality of the paint, he focused on analyzing the mural in front of him.

"It looks like a snake mural...? And there's another snake painting ahead at the fork..." Zixu observed carefully. On the left and right sides of the fork, there were depictions of a purple snake and a black snake, with a massive green snake in the center. Each of these serpents was intricately detailed, painted with a level of craftsmanship that made them seem almost lifelike.

The purple snake was particularly well-rendered. Every scale was carefully outlined, and under a bit of light, its body even reflected a realistic sheen. The snake's body coiled tightly, with only one massive eye visible, its tongue frozen mid-flick as if observing something with curiosity.

The black snake, however, appeared miserable. Its half-lidded eyes made it look drowsy, and its dull, dark scales absorbed all light, making it seem lifeless. Its tail drooped limply, resembling someone weak and sickly.

The green snake, in contrast, seemed full of life. Unlike the other two, its slender body wasn't coiled in a solemn stance but twisted loosely, as if it had no concerns. Its head was raised high, its eyes glinting with curiosity, and its tail slightly lifted as though anticipating something.

In front of each mural, a set of distorted words had been carved into the stone:

Purple Snake: The Black Snake is lying. The road on the right is a dead end.

Black Snake: I never lie. The road on the right is the way to life.

Green Snake: One of the Purple Snake and the Black Snake is lying.

Zixu narrowed his eyes. "If the Green Snake is telling the absolute truth, then let's assume the Purple Snake's statement is correct, meaning the Black Snake is lying. That would mean the Black Snake's words—'I never lie, the road on the right is the way to life'—are false. But if that's the case, then the right path is actually a dead end... which contradicts itself."

His brain worked rapidly, analyzing the puzzle in front of him.

"Now, if the Black Snake is telling the truth, then the right side leads to life, and the Purple Snake must be lying. That would mean the Purple Snake's words—'The Black Snake is lying, the road on the right is a dead end'—should actually mean 'The Black Snake is not lying, and the road on the right is the way to life.' But if that's true... then both the Purple Snake and Black Snake are technically speaking some form of truth, which contradicts the Green Snake's statement that only one of them is lying."

Zixu felt a thin layer of sweat forming on his palms. His chakra was being drained at an alarming rate, his heartbeat becoming slightly irregular.

"No matter how I look at it, both choices lead to contradictions... Wait." His gaze dropped to the black paint on his hands. A bold thought crossed his mind.

Without hesitation, he pressed his hands against the mural of the Black Snake, rubbing them vigorously against the surface. The dark pigment smeared across his palms, staining them completely. Then, he turned and smeared the same black paint over the Purple Snake and Green Snake murals, covering their once-distinct features in a mess of darkness.

For a moment, the once-regal Purple Snake and the mischievous-looking Green Snake were reduced to nothing more than blackened, indistinct figures. Zixu almost felt as though he saw a hint of grievance in their snake-like eyes, but he quickly dismissed it as his imagination.

A deep rumbling echoed through the cavern. The walls trembled violently, dust and debris cascading from the ceiling. The strange mist swirled chaotically. Through the dense smoke, Zixu caught a glimpse of something moving—something emerging from the murals. His sharp eyes tried to track it, but whatever it was moved too fast to follow.

"It actually worked," Zixu muttered, his pulse racing with excitement. "Looks like my guess was right... though I have no idea if this was the intended answer."

The situation, however, was getting worse. The cave entrance ahead was collapsing at an alarming rate. The destruction was spreading rapidly, and Zixu had a growing feeling that maybe—just maybe—he had made a very, very bad decision.

Suddenly, a high-pitched, furious voice cut through the chaos.

"Big sis, don't stop me! That brat dared to smear dirt all over my beautiful scales! Do you have any idea how long I've taken care of those? Hundreds of years! And he just ruined them with his filthy hands—AHHHH!"

The voice belonged to a girl, but her tone was dripping with pure rage. She sounded exactly like a noblewoman who had just gotten a perfect manicure... only for someone to immediately scratch her nails.

Zixu blinked. Who the hell pissed her off this bad?

Then he realized.

...Wait. I'm the only person here.

His expression stiffened. Just as panic crept in, another voice—much calmer and more mature—spoke up.

"Third sister, calm down. This is a trial. If he fails, you can deal with him however you like. Kill him, tear him apart—I don't care. But you can't break the rules before the trial is over."

The second voice was deep and rational, filled with an authoritative presence.

"But what about that other guy?" the first voice grumbled. "The one who looked like us? He failed too. Why didn't you let me eat him? I swear, if I ate him, I'd grow stronger—"

"He is already half one of us," the older voice interrupted. "Great Sage wouldn't allow it. And besides... his body is strange. Are you sure you'd even want to eat him? If things went wrong, he might be the one who ends up eating you."

As their conversation ended, the dust finally settled, revealing two figures standing before Zixu.

Their outfits were strikingly similar to those of Tagorihime.

The first was a petite girl with long, sky-blue hair, a golden crown resting atop her head, and jade earrings dangling from her ears. She wore a flowing light-blue robe, a green jade pendant on her chest. Her sharp teeth and pink tongue peeked out as she spoke, making her look both adorable and dangerous.

The second woman stood taller, exuding a mature and composed presence. She had long brown hair, a white robe, and similarly sharp teeth—though her tongue was a deep shade of blue. Compared to the short girl beside her, she gave off an aura of authority.

The brown-haired woman nodded slightly toward Zixu before addressing him directly.

"Welcome, trial taker. We are Ichikishima-hime and Tagitsu-hime, the divine princesses who oversee this trial."

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