That Time I Got Teleported into Naruto But in the Past

Raymond's feet felt heavy as he took in the destruction before him. The forest was no longer a forest, it had been torn apart. The ground was cracked, the trees were either splintered or completely uprooted, and jagged rocks jutted out unnaturally. It was as if the earth itself had been shattered by something inhuman.

"What the hell happened here...?"

Raymond muttered under his breath.

Jigen stood beside him, eyes wide in shock. But instead of fear, his expression shifted to concern as he spotted something in the middle of the wasteland.

"Someone is there!"

Jigen suddenly ran forward.

"Jigen, wait!"

Raymond rushed after him, his gut twisting as he saw the figure at the center of it all was a man, dressed in a white cloak, kneeling in a pool of his own blood. His lower body was nowhere to be seen, torn off from his bleeding upper half with his spine sticking out like a tail.

Raymond stopped in his tracks. He recognized that outfit.

(No way!)

It was Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.

His robes were torn, his pale skin bruised and bleeding. His breath was slow but controlled, as if even in his wounded state, he was still in absolute command of himself. But what disturbed Raymond the most were his eyes. Even bloodied and weak, they remained sharp, calculating.

Jigen, ever the kind monk, moved to help him.

"Sir, are you alright?" Jigen knelt beside Isshiki, reaching out his hand.

Raymond's instincts screamed.

"JIGEN, GET AWAY!"

Without thinking, Raymond lunged and shoved Jigen backward. The monk hit the ground with a startled grunt.

Isshiki smirked.

And then, he vanished.

(Where-?!)

Before Raymond could react, he felt a tiny movement near his ear.

Then, a voice, cold and quiet, whispered directly into his skull.

"This body… will do."

Something crawled into his ear.

A sharp, stabbing pain exploded in his head as his entire body locked up. He collapsed onto the cracked ground, clutching his skull as a dark mark began spreading across his skin. The last thing he saw before his vision went black was Jigen's horrified face.

---

Raymond opened his eyes to darkness.

The air was damp, thick with the smell of rot. A slow, endless drip echoed around him.

He knew this place.

It was the sewer where he died.

He swallowed hard, his breath shallow as he took in the filth around him, the murky water, the wet, decaying walls, the overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

A voice echoed through the tunnels.

"So this… is your mind?"

Raymond turned.

From the darkness, Isshiki stepped forward, his white robes pristine despite the filth around him. His odd eyes glowed faintly, analyzing everything around him with an unreadable expression.

"You must be truly pathetic,"

Isshiki said, voice calm.

"For this to be your reality."

Raymond clenched his fists.

"Get out of my head!"

Isshiki took another step forward.

"No. You will give it to me."

Raymond barely had time to react before Isshiki struck.

A blur, then pain.

Isshiki's fist slammed into Raymond's gut, sending him skidding back across the wet stone floor. He barely had time to breathe before Isshiki was already on him again, foot aimed straight for his ribs.

Raymond twisted his body just in time, barely avoiding the impact. He stumbled back, coughing.

(Shit! he's fast!)

Isshiki didn't wait. He dashed forward, throwing a precise punch at Raymond's head.

Raymond blocked, barely. His arms rattled from the force.

"You're too slow," Isshiki said. His knee came up.

Raymond's vision flashed white as the blow connected with his ribs, launching him backward.

He hit the ground hard. His ears rang. His body ached.

(Th-this is inside my mind ugh... But I'm being beaten like this)

He tried to stand, but his resolve was slipping.

The smell of the sewer, the filth clinging to his skin, the cold, damp air, it was getting to him. It was like reliving his death all over again.

His body felt heavier. His movements, slower.

"Now do you understand?"

Isshiki asked, standing above him.

"You are nothing. Your will is weak. Your soul is fragile."

Raymond coughed, his arms shaking as he tried to push himself up.

Isshiki knelt beside him, gripping his chin.

"I will break you completely. And then, this body will be mine."

Raymond's breathing grew ragged. His mind was drowning.

(Am I… really going to lose?)

But then, a faint light shine above him, as if hinting at him.

His gaze flickered upward.

Beyond the manhole above them, something was there. A sky, open, free.

(Wait… that's not part of the sewer.)

Something clicked in Raymond's mind.

(This isn't my real mindscape. The real one is above, it's my previous world, my previous home.)

Summoning the last of his willpower, he focused. And suddenly, a pulse of spiritual energy surged from within him involuntarily, shocking both him and Isshiki.

The air shifted. The sewer walls trembled.

Isshiki's eyes narrowed. "What…?"

Raymond's eyes glowed white, like some divine power emerged out of him.

The surrounding sewer collapsed like a shattered mirror.

---

Raymond gasped as he looked around, it was his neighborhood. Surrounded by similar English-style houses, he smiled gleefully.

"I'm back!"

The world had changed.

The endless filth and decay were gone. Instead, an open sky stretched infinitely above and below him. The air was clean. The heaviness on his soul had vanished.

Chains started conjuring and protruding from Raymond's chest, snaking it's way to Isshiki.

He turned, and saw Isshiki.

The Ōtsutsuki wasn't smiling anymore.

Golden chains swiftly wrapped tightly around the Ōtsutsuki's body, pulling him downward.

Isshiki struggled, but they only grew tighter. Both his Byakugan and Kokugan flared. "You....how?!"

Raymond exhaled. He felt different. Lighter. Stronger.

"You can't break me here," he said simply.

The Chains jerkingly yanked into Isshiki's chest.

Isshiki lurched forward. He realized his body was being absorbed.

"NO!"

Isshiki roared, thrashing violently.

"I AM A GOD! YOU CANNOT CONTAIN ME!"

Raymond watched, unmoving, as Isshiki was pulled into him.

"The real God himself bestowed me this power, YOU are nothing against him"

His voice echoed and amplified, blaring his words into Isshiki's ears as the latter melded into his spiritual body. Like different colored play dough fusing with each other.

And then...

The sky, and everything below, shattered again like a mirror. Replacing the background with pure white, and a similar echoey voice sounded within the white space.

"You found it Raymond, my gift, this will help you spread my name and conceal your knowledge of this world. You're welcome-"

"You!! Back then you didn't even let me-"

"By the way this is pre-recorded so I can't really respond to any violent reactions hehe, and now to give it a proper name...ill call it 'Astral Domain'. It's an ability that grants you a moldable mindscape, and any soul who enters it is therefore within your dominion"

"What-"

But darkness descended upon him again and then silence.

---

Raymond gasped awake. His body ached, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

Jigen was beside him, relief washing over his face.

"Sir Raimon! Y-you're awake!"

Raymond groaned, trying to sit up.

"What… happened?"

"You collapsed after that man disappeared! I thought-I thought you were gone,"

Jigen said, voice shaken, his black irises quivering.

Raymond blinked. His vision was clearer. His senses felt sharper.

Something was… different.

He glanced at his reflection on the bowl of water beside his futon.

His hair, slightly lighter in color. His skin paler. And his eyes...

A deep, golden hue of what seems to be eight radial spokes surrounding a golden spherical glow within the center.

Not only from the outside, but something inside him had also changed.

And deep within his soul, a whisper lingered.

"This… is far from over."