443 The Shimura Has Ice Release

"Shimura Takeshi…"

"Shimura Takeshi..."

"Shimura Takeshi...…"

The voice kept echoing around his ears, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, sometimes distant, sometimes close.

After it lasted for a while, Takeshi finally couldn't stand this annoying noise anymore. He cursed as he opened his eyes:

"Who the hell is that? Don't you night-shift people sleep? Why are you yelling here?!"

When he opened his eyes, what entered Takeshi's vision was a strangely soothing, dark green atmosphere.

Gloomy, dim, yet somehow healthy-looking—no matter how he looked at it, it didn't resemble the living world.

Just as Takeshi was confused about why he appeared here, the voice that had been calling his name sounded again: "Nice to meet you, Shimura Takeshi."

Following the direction of the voice, Takeshi saw an old man sitting cross-legged, floating above the ground.

Seeing the old man's face clearly, Takeshi frowned and subconsciously took two steps forward, a splash sounding beneath his feet.

Hearing the sound, he looked down and realized he wasn't standing on solid ground at all, but on a strange water surface that reflected no light.

"Sage of Six Paths?"

Takeshi halted and stared at the old man's Rinnegan as he spoke the identity aloud.

"Correct, outsider."

The Sage of Six Paths floated closer, carefully observing Takeshi.

Takeshi felt uneasy under that gaze, so he initiated the conversation:

"If I can see you, that should mean I'm dead, right? But you actually know I'm not from this world… don't tell me you have a system or something?"

"System? What is that? Something from the world you came from?" The Sage could not understand the unfamiliar word. After a brief contemplation, he gave what he believed was a reasonable answer.

"I have no system. The reason I know your past is because of chakra. Chakra is the link between this world and the next. However, I should point something out—you are not dead, Shimura Takeshi."

The Sage pointed out the mistake in Takeshi's words.

"I'm not dead? Then why am I seeing you?"

Takeshi raised his hand—solid, strong, not transparent.

But if he wasn't dead, then what was with this old man?

He wasn't a reincarnation of the Sage's sons' chakra or anything; there was no reason for the Sage to pay special attention to an ordinary ninja like him.

"This place is indeed the Pure Land, but your presence here is due to other reasons. How should I explain this to you…"

The Sage furrowed his brows and thought for a moment before finally finding an explanation.

He waved his staff, and as it traced an arc through the air, a massive light screen appeared before Takeshi.

"According to ninja world chronology, it is currently Allied Year 17."

As he spoke, an image of Momoshiki Otsutsuki appeared on the screen.

Beneath Momoshiki's feet lay Naruto and Sasuke, unconscious, fate unknown.

Obito struggled to stall Kinshiki with Kamui, while Uchiha Itachi—wearing the divine robe—launched a surprise attack on Momoshiki, seeking a chance to retrieve Naruto and Sasuke.

"Thanks to you, the reincarnations of Ashura and Indra now get along well. The cycle of brothers killing each other has finally ended. For that, I must thank you."

The Sage floated beside Takeshi, watching the screen with him.

"No need to thank me, bros and all that…"

Takeshi was about to ask what this had to do with his arrival here when what happened next on the screen made his jaw drop.

Naruto and Sasuke, moments ago barely alive, suddenly erupted with power. Especially Naruto—golden light covered his entire body, and several Truth-Seeking Balls orbited behind him.

Sasuke activated his Rinnegan, swapped positions with Naruto using Amenotejikara, and slashed through Momoshiki with his Kusanagi blade.

"Holy crap—they awakened?!"

Takeshi was stunned.

How did these two just explode with power in the blink of an eye?

"Before speaking with you, I already met them and split my power evenly between them."

The Sage said this as if it were perfectly normal.

"When I fought Isshiki, why didn't you give me a cheat too?"

Takeshi really wanted to smack this old man across the Pure Land.

He had struggled desperately against Isshiki, and it wasn't remotely like the ease these two now enjoyed.

They suffered first and celebrated later—he just suffered, then suffered again, and in the end only won through mutual destruction… if it could even be called a win.

"My power would be useless to you. Even your presence here is an accident."

The Sage lowered his staff and closed the screen.

"Why'd you turn it off? I wasn't done watching!"

Takeshi had just reached the exciting part—Naruto and Sasuke beating Momoshiki with an entire team—and the Sage cut it off, leaving him hanging.

"Right now, even without the screen, you can see everything. But it won't last long."

He motioned for Takeshi to close his eyes and sense everything around him, silently picturing the scene he wished to observe.

Following his guidance, Takeshi truly sensed the events happening there. He could even zoom in and out at will. It felt as if he—

"Don't tell me…"

Takeshi snapped his eyes open.

A theory was forming in his heart.

"Correct."

The Sage saw through his thoughts and returned to the timeline of Takeshi's battle with Isshiki.

"In your fight against Otsutsuki Isshiki, you used some method to detonate a massive amount of extremely compressed natural energy. In that moment, both you and Isshiki completely vanished from this world.

However, unlike Isshiki, because you had trained in natural energy, after the explosion your body, will, and soul all transformed into part of nature itself. You are everywhere and nowhere.

Life and death no longer apply to you, and your soul naturally would not appear in the Pure Land."

Takeshi was not surprised.

Everything just now already made him aware of his current state.

"But if I entered that state, I shouldn't be able to maintain my sense of self or preserve my will. Something must have helped restore it… was it the Kāma?"

Takeshi vaguely understood the source of the anomaly.

"You're even smarter than your friends claimed," the Sage nodded. "Though it was carved onto you temporarily, it still contained fragments of Otsutsuki genes and chakra. With that energy, your will gained an anchor in the ninja world, and its restoration accelerated. Without the Kāma, you might have needed hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years before regaining your will."