Naruto exited the realm of consciousness.
Karin asked anxiously, "How's the situation with the Nine-Tails?"
Once the Yin side of the Nine-Tails was fully transferred into Naruto, the "little Nine-Tails" that had been active outside vanished without a trace.
This disappearance made her uneasy.
"They're fighting," Naruto replied simply.
Karin was momentarily stunned, uttering, "Ah," and stood there confused.
Fighting?
Is the conflict that intense?
But why does Naruto appear so relaxed about it?
"Haven't the Nine-Tails' powers merged?" After a while, she gathered her thoughts and cautiously probed, "Are they trying to establish dominance now?"
"Naruto, aren't you going to intervene?"
Naruto chuckled, "This is how they communicate. There's no need to worry; it's not a bad thing."
"There's no negative impact, let them sort it out on their own."
Karin nodded, relieved.
In this context, "fighting" sounded more like a form of play.
Naruto stood up, closed his eyes, formed seals, and fully deployed the "Mind's Eye of the Kagura," searching for the "laboratory" mentioned by the Second Hokage on this mountain.
It's hidden within a natural cave on the mountainside.
Even after several decades, the barrier left by the Second Hokage remained effective.
However, the sealing techniques forming this barrier were based on the knowledge of the Uzumaki Clan.
For the two of them, breaking it wasn't difficult, just excessively varied and somewhat cumbersome.
"The Second Hokage's sealing techniques are indeed impressive. Even after so many years, no one has found it." Karin glanced back, faintly seeing the village of Konohagakure from where they stood, "If the Second Hokage hadn't said anything, who would have thought Madara Uchiha's body was hidden here?"
She took out a scroll, grasping it firmly, her eyes filled with anticipation.
Madara Uchiha
He was a formidable ninja capable of fighting the 'God of Shinobi', Hashirama Senju.
There might be something on his body that could assist Naruto.
Finally, the last seal was broken.
Naruto pushed the door open and entered.
The space inside was small and the furnishings were sparse, consisting only of a lab table, some dirty equipment, and an upright, intact cultivation pod.
The two individuals stared at the incubator, their expressions one of surprise.
"Where is Madara Uchiha?" Karin asked.
Through the glass, one could see the incubator was empty, with less than half the level of nutrient solution remaining.
The "person" who should have been inside was completely gone.
Naruto shook his head.
Karin stepped forward and tapped on the glass.
A clear "clink" sound echoed twice.
The nutrient solution inside trembled, sending ripples across its surface.
The incubator was intact.
She turned her gaze to the other corners of the room, but besides this incubator, there seemed to be no other place to store Madara Uchiha's body.
"Did it decompose?" she murmured, voicing a thought.
Naruto also frowned, his mind in turmoil.
Decades were enough time for a body to decompose.
But even if the incubator malfunctioned and led to complete decomposition, there would still be some bones left, wouldn't there?
Or did someone secretly learn that Madara Uchiha's body was hidden here, and after receiving news of the Second Hokage's death in battle, transferred and took away the body?
If that were the case...
Why go to the trouble of making it seem like the barrier was never broken?
With the Second Hokage dead, no one else knows about this place.
Forcing it open would be more straightforward.
The possibility of "someone intruding and taking Madara Uchiha's body" is minimal.
The possibility of "decomposition" is also almost nonexistent.
Eliminating all impossibilities, the only conclusion is...
"Madara Uchiha is not dead." Karin gradually regained her clarity, arriving at the same conclusion as Naruto, which was the understanding they had from the start.
"But if Madara Uchiha isn't dead, how did he leave here?" She stared at the empty incubator, placing her hand upon it.
"Illusion." Naruto softly offered an answer, "The Sharingan excels at illusions."
"Madara Uchiha surely would too."
"Perhaps from the beginning, the First Hokage was deceived by Madara Uchiha. The person he killed was not Madara Uchiha, or he thought he killed Madara Uchiha." He analyzed, "And the body the Second Hokage obtained was not Madara Uchiha's."
"It was just a shadow clone,"
"After Madara Uchiha learned of the Second Hokage's death, he dispelled the technique."
"Or perhaps, from the beginning, there was nothing at all."
"The Second Hokage might have thought he got something and put a nonexistent entity into the containment chamber."
"Can genjutsu achieve such a level?" Karin was dumbfounded, incredulous.
Is this... is this still ninjutsu?
Naruto nodded, "Deceiving the five senses, distorting perception."
"This is the pinnacle of genjutsu."
He thought of Aizen.
That man had the ultimate ability to deceive.
If it were him, he could easily achieve this level.
Karin nodded in agreement without questioning, since Naruto said it, such an incredible genjutsu capability must exist.
"If Madara Uchiha isn't really dead," she tilted her head, impressed, "he must be over ninety or even a hundred years old now?"
"Quite the longevity."
Naruto wasn't surprised.
It wasn't uncommon for normal people to reach eighty, and with other methods, ninjas could live even longer.
One of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade, was said to possess the ability to maintain her youthful appearance.
"But what's his purpose for living so long and hiding from the First and Second Hokage?" Karin pondered more deeply.
Naruto shook his head.
He hadn't interacted with that man, how could he know his thoughts?
However, the Akatsuki's goal was to collect the Tailed Beasts.
Could it be related to 'uniting the ninja world'?
"We can ask him directly once we catch him," Naruto whispered, "He killed my parents, he won't escape."
"But for now,"
"Let's tidy things up. Since there are facilities here, we should rest for a while."
"Besides, there's something I want to study."
With a flip of his hand, he summoned a scroll.
It was the same one that had sealed the 'Shinigami' just now.
They meticulously cleaned the experiment table.
Karin went out to gather firewood and prepare for dinner.
Naruto unfurled a scroll, releasing a seal.
The entity referred to as the "Grim Reaper" drifted out from the seal, maintaining its original vacant appearance.
"Can you communicate?" Naruto addressed it.
There was no response.
It stretched its arms, retaining its initial state, blank and listless.
Naruto raised his blade and cut off one of its arms.
The ghoul showed no reaction, as if it felt no pain.
Naruto stared at it.
Completely different from the living "god" he had envisioned, it seemed dumb and dull, like a stone with a distinct form and existence but devoid of self-awareness.
What sort of existence was it?
For a week, he had been focused on this matter.
Until the final conclusion was reached, concluding the last study on this "ghoul," Naruto dispersed it.
"Have you figured out what it is?" Karin completed the last line of notes and asked, looking up.
Though she was the one keeping the experiment records, the content was almost incomprehensible to her.
Most of the vocabulary combinations seemed unfamiliar, foreign.
She couldn't decipher what those numbers signified, nor the meaning of those bizarre techniques.
It felt like a different knowledge system.
"It's not a living deity," Naruto shook his head, "I thought it might be a soul, but it wasn't."
"It's similar in essence to the Nine-Tails, a pure energy form."
"Except the Nine-Tails is chakra."
"As for that ghoul..."
"It's a mix of natural energy and chakra."
Regarding its soul, it had none. What he previously perceived as "soul power" was the "spiritual power" mobilized by the person performing this technique.
Karin nodded, deep in thought.
"It once had consciousness." Naruto picked up a record, frowning in thought. "But for some reason, it lost its awareness, its soul was obliterated, and it transformed completely into a ball of energy."
The results of the research puzzled him.
"A soul was something it should have had."
"Natural energy predates chakra by far." Naruto spoke softly.
"When it possessed only these two powers, it could have been called a 'deity'."
"But once chakra replaced the soul..."
Although lacking evidence, it was just a gut feeling, Naruto suspecting that the transformation of the ghoul might very well be due to this energy called 'chakra'.
To put it bluntly, Naruto had a feeling that 'chakra' had parasitized and eroded this ghoul.
"Chakra is indeed a peculiar energy." Naruto didn't draw any hasty conclusions, merely shaking his head with a sigh.
He genuinely believed this.
The applications of chakra, upon closer reflection, were quite astonishing.
Especially concerning 'souls'.
Take, for instance, the technique "Reanimation Jutsu", the Second Hokage never studied the Pure Land, yet he could execute the technique smoothly, pulling souls from the Pure Land without provoking the hostility or resistance of the Sage of Six Paths.
As for himself, Merely setting up a three-layer barrier to temporarily detain spirits
prompted the Sage of Six Paths to intervene, forcefully breaking his seal.
The difference here
was that his power to retain souls had nothing to do with chakra.
Whereas "Reanimation Jutsu" was a jutsu performed based on chakra.
Karin nodded thoughtfully.
"Let's go." Naruto glanced at the empty cultivation chamber.
Karin gathered their belongings, sealed them in a scroll, and followed behind: "Where are we heading next?"
Naruto thought for a moment, "To the Land of Lightning."
"To find the True Falls Dad mentioned."
"While also inquiring about that organization called 'Akatsuki'."
"Oh, how I wish I could meet Madara Uchiha right now."
"You wanted to learn the knowledge used for documentation, didn't you? I'll teach you."
Karin responded cheerfully.
(End of Chapter)