stonecrandall Chapter 362 Hitomi
Chapter 362 Hitomi
Minato stood a short distance away, intently sensing this spiritual world belonging to Naruto. He forced himself to ignore the enormous, almost "tragic," commotion constantly emanating from the other side.
The Nine-Tails and its enraged mother are relentlessly and furiously "torturing" Urashiki's consciousness, which has lost all its power and become a mere "punching bag."
His attention was entirely focused on perceiving the changes in the world itself.
That enormous aura of alien chakra, or rather, the aura of Otsutsuki chakra, was now spreading at an unsettlingly "smooth" pace, permeating every corner of Naruto's spiritual world, and engaging in a deeper entanglement with Naruto's own chakra and life force.
"As expected..." Minato thought heavily. Urashiki's consciousness had been successfully sealed, which meant that the 'soul' and 'personality' controlling this power had been temporarily separated.
However, the power itself did not disappear. Instead, because it lost its master's resistance and consumption, it was forcibly 'fused' with Naruto's body at an even faster speed.
He didn't know whether this accelerated fusion was a good thing or a bad thing. He could only silently pray that the forced infusion of this external force would not cause irreversible damage or distortion to Naruto's consciousness, personality, or even the essence of his life.
On the other side, Otsutsuki Urashiki, enduring a barrage of attacks, was now experiencing a humiliation and despair far greater than physical annihilation.
It cannot be destroyed. This is a characteristic of the consciousness relying on the [Wedge] data, but at this moment it has become the source of endless torment. No matter how brutally the Nine-Tails and Kushina beat it up above, the tearing, burning, and crushing pain felt by the consciousness is incredibly real, yet it can never find relief in "death".
However, more than the constant physical pain that could break any mind, there was a deeper fear, just as haunted Urashiki's soul—the fear of an unknown end.
There is no record of a similar situation in the records of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
The caster's entire power essence has begun to be forcibly merged with the "weapon", but the caster's soul, personality, and consciousness have been completely isolated, imprisoned, and completely cut off from the source of power by a strange technology called "sealing technique" in the target world!
In a little while, the fusion will probably be completely complete. What will happen to me then?
The power is transferred to the "vessel," but the soul of the "vessel" may not necessarily become the Otsutsuki. What should become of the "original personality" that has been sealed away?
Will it completely dissipate upon completion of the fusion? Or will it forever remain as a sealed, useless piece of data, imprisoned deep within this body?
In less than a day, the thawing and fusion process of the [Wedge] is about to be completed. This in itself is an extremely abnormal phenomenon.
A normal "Karma" is created when the caster highly compresses and refines their own data before inserting it into a "vessel." Then, through a long period of adjustment or under the stimulation of intense battle, the Otsutsuki's power is gradually "thawed," gently modified, and adapted to the body of the "vessel."
As for this "wedge" from the Urashiki style... calling it a "half-finished product" would be an understatement. It's a completely shoddy, brutally made "inferior product"!
To put it simply, when other Otsutsuki use the "Kuwaku" technique, it's like patiently feeding the "vessel" bite by bite of carefully prepared, easily digestible food, gradually completing the transformation.
And what about Urashiki? He rudely and forcefully shoved a whole, uncut, hard watermelon down the throat of "Qi"! No, it's probably not that gentle.
More specifically, it was as if he directly used brute force to cut open the "stomach" of the "vessel" and then stuffed all the unprocessed, violent "ingredients" in haphazardly!
It was only thanks to Naruto's abnormally vigorous vitality and even his bizarre ability to replenish his life energy that he was able to barely withstand this extremely brutal indoctrination.
"Make way! Kushina, it's my turn!!"
After Kushina vented her anger and stepped back slightly, Kurama, still burning with rage and resentment, growled. Its massive tail rose high, then slammed repeatedly into the ground where Urashiki's limp consciousness lay!
"BOOM!!!" "BOOM!!!" "BOOM!!!"
Each strike caused the entire mental world to tremble violently, producing a dull, resounding thud.
Although Kushina also wished she could grind Urashiki to dust, she was more concerned about the true situation of her son outside. Since she couldn't completely eliminate this menace here, she had to turn her energy to something more practical.
"Minato," she said, walking towards her husband, "that fluctuation of foreign chakra... it's getting stronger, closer and closer. How much longer... will it take for the fusion to completely end?"
Unable to directly stop the fusion process, Minato could only speculate based on the speed he sensed, replying in a low voice, "It'll be soon... Because there's no interference or use from Urashiki's consciousness, the fusion process has lost its biggest 'consumption point' and 'unstable factor,' and the speed is accelerating... It should be... almost here."
"...Then I'll release this chakra body first." Kushina made the calmest decision without hesitation. She glanced deeply at Urashiki, who was being repeatedly "ravaged" by Kurama, then looked at Minato. "Send all the memories and situations here back to my real body. Let's see if I can do anything more for Naruto outside..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Kushina Uzumaki's chakra body began to slowly become transparent, carrying all the information she had experienced here, flowing towards the connection between the spiritual world and reality, returning to her original body.
Minato watched his wife's chakra dissipate, then turned his solemn gaze back to the depths of the rapidly merging, increasingly strange and unpredictable spiritual world, the Nine-Tails still venting its fury, and the "prisoner" on the ground, a symbol of defeat and the unknown.
When the soul, personality, and consciousness of the Otsutsuki are completely sealed and isolated...
After the power of the [Karma] is completely and forcibly integrated into Naruto's body and life essence... what will happen?
------
"...You mean, this time the enemy is a race from outer space called 'Otsutsuki'? The target is the Tailed Beasts, and this attack is targeting the Nine-Tails inside Naruto?"
Inside the makeshift meeting room outside Konoha Hospital, Jiraiya listened to Sasuke Uchiha's concise yet information-packed explanation, and couldn't help but rub his throbbing temples with his fingers, his face filled with disbelief and absurdity.
"If that battlefield were still outside, I'd probably say... even if you were to make up an explanation, there's no need to make it this... 'outrageous'."
"Um."
Sasuke Uchiha's voice was low and somber. "I understand this is hard to accept right now. But I have no reason to lie to you at a time like this. Please... believe this fact. Their threat is real."
"...Alright." Jiraiya let out a long breath, temporarily suppressing any further probing into their identities. "We can discuss your specific origins later. Right now, the most important thing is—how can we save Naruto?"
He pressed for answers, his eyes fixed on Sasuke and Boruto, who stood beside him, equally worried.
However—"Bang!"
An abrupt sound of a chair moving interrupted the inquiry.
Kushina Uzumaki, who had been sitting quietly to the side with her hands clasped tightly, suddenly stood up from her seat!
"Kushina?!" Jiraiya was startled and exclaimed in surprise.
Kushina did not respond immediately. She closed her eyes, and the expression on her face quickly changed from worry to astonishment.
The next second, she spoke rapidly, "It's over! No, it's almost over! Naruto... he's about to wake up!"
Her words instantly stirred up a storm in the room!
Kushina took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady, "It's me... it's the part of chakra I left in Naruto back then that's working! The 'battle' over there... is under control for now."
Uchiha Satsuki reacted the fastest, rushing out of the meeting room almost the instant Kushina finished speaking and heading towards Naruto's hospital room!
Jiraiya abruptly stood up, his solemn expression replaced by urgency. "Let's go! Let's go see Naruto first!" As long as Naruto could wake up safely, all other questions, including the identities of these two mysterious people, could be put on hold for the time being.
The group hurriedly left the conference room and returned to the oppressive intensive care unit as quickly as possible.
On the hospital bed, Naruto's violent trembling had completely stopped, and his tense posture, which had been in pain as he struggled against something invisible, had relaxed.
His breathing became steady, his chest rose and fell rhythmically, and although his face was still somewhat pale, it no longer looked deathly; instead, it regained some color.
"Naruto..." Satsuki was the first to rush to the bedside, almost instinctively. She wanted to hold Naruto's hand, which was placed beside her, as if she wanted to gain a sense of security through this real touch and confirm that he was really getting better.
Just as her fingertips were about to touch Naruto's hand—on the hospital bed, Naruto's eyes, which had been closed for a long time, suddenly opened!
His pupils were initially somewhat unfocused, filled with a bewildered sense of disorientation, clearly indicating that he was somewhat confused about his situation.
"Naruto! You..." Satsuki was overjoyed and immediately called out, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.
However, her calls and movements suddenly stopped at that moment, and she stared in astonishment at Naruto's open eyes.
Boruto Uzumaki, who rushed to the bedside right after, also saw Naruto wake up. He breathed a sigh of relief at first, but then, when his gaze fell on Naruto's eyes, he was instantly stunned.
When Naruto opened his eyes—his left eye—it was still the familiar, clear blue like the clearest sky, just like always.
but……
The right eye, where the whites should have been, had turned into a deep, dark black! And the pupil in the center of this blackness was no longer blue, but had turned into a dazzling gold that radiated an inhuman light, like molten gold!