Chapter 376: The Four-Tails, Son Gokū
The shrine in front of Ishiro hadn't been abandoned for long, probably only a few decades. It was likely deserted around the time the hidden village era began. To have a shrine survive this long, it might truly hold something special.
Ishiro asked Natsuki, "What did you sense?"
Natsuki said, "I can't quite describe it, but after I went inside, I kept feeling like someone was talking to me, but I couldn't hear what was being said."
Ishiro recalled Natsuki's special sensory ability. The first time they met, when she was just a child without chakra, she had been able to detect him even when he was using the Chameleon Jutsu to hide his form.
Ishiro did not enter the shrine directly but stood at the entrance to observe. The shrine's door was long gone. Inside, a stone statue was enshrined. The statue resembled a monk, but its form was exaggerated and somewhat different from a normal monk. The statue was somewhat damaged; a large piece was missing from the right side of the monk's head.
Ishiro stood outside the entrance and carefully sensed the area but found nothing strange. Then he called over Little Saiken and once again entered his Six-Tails Chakra Mode.
Before entering, Ishiro said to Ōnoki, "Third, I'm going in to take a look. You all provide support from the outside."
"Mm, be careful. If something's not right, just retreat. If it comes to it, we'll just destroy it with a Kekkei Tōta," Ōnoki said.
Ishiro nodded, then, boosted by Little Saiken's chakra, he cautiously walked into the shrine alone.
The shrine, which showed no abnormalities when viewed from the outside, changed the instant Ishiro stepped inside.
What Ishiro felt was similar to what Natsuki had described. He also "heard" a lot of messy voices. However, the prepared Ishiro was much calmer than the inexperienced little girl, Natsuki.
Ishiro carefully tried to distinguish the content he was "hearing," but he discovered that he wasn't hearing it at all, but sensing it with his S-rank ninjutsu, the Mind's Eye. It was just that before, his Mind's Eye had always sensed things related to chakra, but this time, what it sensed was more like "sound." This was why Ishiro had also initially thought he was hearing it.
Since he had confirmed that his normal five senses were of no help, Ishiro simply closed his eyes and focused all his attention on his Mind's Eye.
This method was indeed effective. Although he still couldn't make out the content of the noisy voices, after concentrating, Ishiro found the source of the sound.
Although his eyes were closed, the layout of the shrine was simple. From its position, Ishiro knew it was the stone statue, or more precisely, the broken part of the statue's head. The source of the voices was that broken section.
It seemed there really was something to this.
Ishiro did his best to block out the chaotic voices and focused his senses on the location of the stone statue.
"It seems there's something on the statue?" Ishiro thought as he approached.
When he reached the front of the statue, Ishiro sensed that the thing on it was likely a seal, locking something inside and preventing it from getting out.
But why is this thing invisible to the naked eye and only discoverable through the Mind's Eye?
Wait, why is this situation so familiar?
Ishiro felt as if he had encountered this situation somewhere before. After a moment's thought, he remembered. It was just a short while ago, when the Six Paths of Pain were splitting the Seven-Tails, the Human Path had extracted something from it. At that time, Ishiro had vaguely sensed the existence of that thing, but he couldn't see it with his naked eye.
Could it be a soul? Ishiro was alarmed and uncertain. In this domain, Ishiro was a complete blank slate. If any accident were to happen, he might not even have the ability to defend himself.
Should I retreat? Ishiro wondered.
But after some thought, Ishiro still decided to take a look first. Although this stone statue was incomplete, from the looks of it, it should still have a certain restraining effect. As long as he didn't do anything reckless, he should be fine.
Thinking of this, Ishiro began to study the stone statue directly.
Ishiro's knowledge of souls, or rather, Yin Release, was limited to two areas. The first was genjutsu. Ishiro knew some simple genjutsu, up to B-rank. At his level, B-rank genjutsu was completely unable to shake his opponents.
The second was the Spirit Transformation Technique. Although Ishiro had seen the technique, he had never learned it, mainly because there were no low-level Yin Release jutsu he could use to progress gradually. To start with something so profound was too much for him. He only had a copy of the insights his student, Katsumata, had written about the Spirit Transformation Technique.
This was something Katsumata had written after being promoted to Quasi-Jonin. But although Katsumata had advanced by studying the technique, he had not fully mastered it either. This was equivalent to a layman guiding another layman, so one could imagine the value of this document.
Ishiro was now relying on this bit of knowledge, which was miles away from even an introduction, to analyze the thing on the stone statue.
He used his already blurry senses to carefully distinguish the things on the statue that resembled sealing runes.
This research lasted for a whole day.
Ishiro only stopped when he felt mentally exhausted.
Ōnoki and the others had been waiting outside the shrine the entire time. They had seen Ishiro enter and then stand there in a daze as if possessed, and they had all been a little worried. Fortunately, Ishiro soon started to move. He cautiously approached the statue, then continuously circled it with his eyes closed, as if analyzing something. Only then did everyone relax a little.
Ōnoki breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he was okay. He didn't really care if Ishiro had made any discoveries. He was now regretting it a little; he shouldn't have let Ishiro go in in the first place.
Finally, after a day, Ishiro came out.
Leaving the shrine, the voices his Mind's Eye sensed immediately disappeared, which left Ishiro feeling a bit disoriented for a moment.
Ōnoki hurriedly asked, "How is it? Are you okay?"
Ishiro shook his head. "I'm fine." He paused, then added, "I probably understand what Natsuki was hearing. It should be related to the spiritual domain. If we study it properly, perhaps the gap in the village's Yin Release can be filled a little."
Ōnoki frowned. He felt that Ishiro's current state was not right. "You should rest for a while. We can talk about the research later."
Ishiro nodded. His condition was indeed not good; his mental energy was severely depleted. But he still said, "Third, I'll be fine after a short rest. But I can't study this thing alone. I need Katsumata's help."
"Third, make a trip back to the village and bring Katsumata here. I'll take a rest in the meantime."
"Also, help me bring Akino Atsumi and the other two over. We'll probably be here for a while, and their studies can't fall too far behind."
"Oh, and get another blank ninja registration card and a forehead protector. Little Chōmei will need it."
"Oh, and one more thing, have Saka and the others keep an eye on the situation in Takigakure. Be careful of Konoha acting recklessly."
Ishiro said a lot in one breath. Ōnoki did not agree directly but first looked at Ishiro. Seeing that he was really just a bit tired, he then nodded in agreement.
After Ishiro began to rest, Ōnoki immediately set off back to Iwagakure.
The next day, after a night's rest, Ishiro finally recovered.
Since he had begun his training, because his spiritual energy was stronger than that of ordinary people, he had rarely encountered such a situation of excessive mental consumption. Experiencing it once in a while was really a bit much to bear.
Seeing Ishiro wake up, Little Saiken immediately came closer and said, "Ishiro, we saw Son Gokū. He's locked up and can't get out. Can you let him out?"
Ishiro really didn't know how to answer this. The Four-Tails' current state was a typical case of being locked in a dark room. When Little Saiken had just gained consciousness, Ishiro had used this state as a negative example to brainwash it. But as the Tsuchikage, Ishiro clearly had to side with Rōshi, not with the Four-Tails. This made it difficult for Ishiro to know how to explain it to Little Saiken.
After thinking for a moment, Ishiro said, "Little Saiken, let's go see Son Gokū together first."
Ishiro walked over to Rōshi's side. "Senior Rōshi, I'd like to chat with the Four-Tails. I ask for your cooperation."
Rōshi's relationship with Ōnoki was not good, and by extension, he also held a grudge against Ōnoki's successor, Ishiro. But he had heard that Ishiro's attitude towards Jinchuriki was different from that of ordinary people. So, although Rōshi was very reluctant, he still grudgingly agreed.
After getting Rōshi's permission, Ishiro formed a seal and tore an opening in the Four-Tails' seal on Rōshi's body. Then, he called for Little Saiken and Little Chōmei to enter the sealing space together.
Because this seal on Rōshi was not completely undone, Son Gokū in the sealing space was still locked in a cage.
Son Gokū had actually sensed Little Saiken and Little Chōmei long ago. He was not too surprised to see Ishiro bring the two little ones in.
Ishiro patted the two little ones' heads, signaling for them to go and chat with Son Gokū for a while.
Although Little Saiken had seen Kokuō before, it had never entered Kokuō's sealing space, so it had never seen Kokuō's enormous body. Little Chōmei was even more so; it had never seen a single Tailed Beast besides Little Saiken. So, the two little ones were a bit dumbfounded when they saw the Four-Tails, which was so much larger than them. For a moment, they did not go forward immediately, but looked at Ishiro, as if to say, Why is it so big?
Ishiro patted the two little ones' heads and said, "Actually, you were originally this big too. But you are not complete now, only a part of your main body, which is why you are so small. So, it's not that Son Gokū is strange, but that you two are."
"Is that so?" Little Saiken was still a bit doubtful, but it still believed Ishiro's words.
Then, the two little ones went forward to start brainwashing Son Gokū. But Son Gokū was clearly not as naive as the newly formed Little Chōmei. It instead felt that Ishiro had deceived Little Saiken and Little Chōmei.
However, when Ishiro told it that the complete Kokuō had also already given its power to Han, Son Gokū fell silent.
After a long while, Son Gokū said to Ishiro, "I don't care what Kokuō thinks. In any case, I will not give my power to that guy outside. And don't even think about it. I don't like you either."
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