Chapter 340: The Nine-Tails as an External Brain
It had to be said, Kaguya truly lived up to her status as the progenitor of chakra, the 'true' ancestor of the Uchiha clan, and the origin of the tailed beasts.
At the same time, she possessed both the Uchiha trait of "once conquered, absolute trust, willing to die for you, placing you above the entire world," and the tailed beasts' trait of "tsundere, once won over, also willing to die for you."
…Wait. Why do those two traits overlap?
Don't ask. Just look at Naruto's two "close friends" during the Boruto era and you'll understand.
Think about it, aren't the Nine-Tails and Sasuke exactly like that?
And looking at Boruto's "Momoshiki Kurama" he probably has similar tailed-beast traits as well.
What Kaguya had just done, if an outsider saw it, they might think Shiromo had done something.
For example, using something like Killer Queen to blow Black Zetsu's body into ashes, leaving only a single hand behind.
But in truth, Shiromo was completely innocent, he hadn't done anything at all.
Before acting, Kaguya had already made it clear that she understood how Shiromo obtained his abilities, and that she intended to help him.
Her intention was obvious, she wanted Shiromo to come into contact with the Ōtsutsuki power within her.
So she gathered all her remaining strength and manifested a portion of her sealed true body.
That was the hand that had gradually turned white.
As for the rest, it collapsed because it ran out of chakra and could no longer be sustained.
But where did the "concentrated" power come from?
Didn't Black Zetsu supposedly have no power of its own?
The answer lay in the question itself.
The power came from Kaguya.
A soul also possesses power.
Even the masked man who had been reduced to ashes in countless battles had managed to use his soul to pass his Sharingan to Kakashi, who was little more than a scarecrow at the time. As the origin of chakra, Kaguya could naturally achieve something similar.
The soul itself is deeply bound to chakra.
After understanding Shiromo and this world, Kaguya chose to give up on immediate revival. At the cost of letting her soul fall into slumber, she used up the chakra that Black Zetsu had originally gathered when attempting to revive her, chakra that had only managed to summon her soul.
That energy was used to manifest a single hand.
If she had been in her Ten-Tails Jinchūriki form, losing a hand would have been nothing, she could regenerate another instantly.
If her soul weren't uniquely bound, and if she had learned the technique of the Second Tsuchikage from the Iwagakure Village, she might even have been able to split herself into another being using just that hand.
Unlike other members of the Ōtsutsuki clan, Kaguya, being the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, and a particularly unique one at that, possessed special abilities within her body.
Because of this, even before Black Zetsu's body had completely turned to ash, when only the hand in Shiromo's grasp had transformed into Kaguya's, Shiromo had already gained a new ability.
It was an ability related to life and creation.
It seemed that Kaguya had understood what he meant earlier, recognized what kind of power her body could grant, and made a decisive move.
With this new ability, the progress of the plan could advance significantly.
For example, Orochimaru's "Ship of Theseus" resurrection plan could now begin immediately.
Originally, the plan was to implant cells and partial organs into a reanimated body, then gradually replace everything piece by piece until the entire Impure World Reincarnation body was substituted.
In theory, it was feasible, but in practice, it came with many complications.
For instance, at a certain critical point, the properties of Impure World Reincarnation might fail. Without chakra to sustain them, the transplanted organs and cells could lose vitality, and even the soul might begin to ascend as the binding contract broke.
Another issue was that, since the organs and cells were introduced gradually, even with medical ninjutsu stitching them together, the result could resemble something like Frankenstein, a patchwork construct.
And there were many more problems like these.
But with this new ability, all of those issues could be resolved.
"Thank you."
Shiromo looked at the hand in his grasp and expressed his gratitude.
Kaguya's soul had fallen into slumber, but it hadn't returned to the moon, it remained within this hand.
Moreover, without the regenerative ability of a Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, and with her soul no longer present, the body sealed on the moon must now remain in a state of having a missing hand.
So Shiromo needed to preserve this hand carefully.
…Well.
It could only be said that Shiromo was still quite pure, he hadn't even considered using the hand for anything inappropriate.
After putting the hand away, Shiromo turned his attention to Naruto, who was running toward him.
Right. Things should be seen through to the end, he needed to finish what was started here.
"Shiromo-nii, let's stop fighting. I wish Kakashi-sensei happiness."
As soon as Naruto arrived, he quickly made his stance clear.
"No, Naruto. Even if not for Kakashi, you should accept my test for the sake of your mother."
"My mother?"
"That's right. I'll only use one move. If you can touch my forehead before I touch yours three times, you win."
Shiromo nodded.
"Okay!"
Naruto immediately agreed.
As long as it wasn't a life-and-death battle but just a test or spar, Naruto was always willing.
Besides, in his mind, this test was tied to his mother's fate.
Even though Shiromo hadn't explicitly said what would happen if he won, Naruto assumed victory meant he would be reunited with her.
"Then… shall we begin?"
"W-wait."
Naruto hurriedly called out, then ran back to create some distance before shouting, "Okay, I'm ready, start!"
Under the guidance of his "mentor" Kurama, Naruto didn't charge forward impulsively like usual.
The Nine-Tails had told him that Shiromo understood Naruto's abilities, but Naruto didn't understand Shiromo's.
At close range, it might seem advantageous to both sides, but in reality, it wasn't equal.
Naruto had three chances for error, so the best strategy was to keep distance, observe how Shiromo attacked, and then respond accordingly.
After all, if Shiromo wanted to touch Naruto's forehead, he would have to approach.
"First time."
Before Naruto even realized it, Shiromo had already appeared beside him and lightly tapped his forehead protector.
"What?!"
Naruto had already entered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, with sensory abilities far beyond normal, but he hadn't detected Shiromo at all.
More importantly…
In this mode, he could sense malice.
And yet, he hadn't sensed 'anything' from Shiromo.
Which was perfectly normal.
Sensing malice was like a weaker version of Daemon's reflection ability.
Even if Daemon himself were here, Shiromo could ignore that reflection and kill him without the slightest hint of malice, let alone something as vague as detecting ill intent.
The concept of "malice detection" was too broad.
Even if Kushina was here, beating Naruto up while thinking "this is for your own good", Naruto wouldn't perceive any malice.
"Kurama, did you figure it out? How did he do it? What should I do?"
Naruto frantically asked the Nine-Tails for help.
At this point, the Nine-Tails wasn't just his source of power, it had become his source of intelligence as well.
An external brain, essentially.
[Calm down. I'm thinking!]
(End of this chapter)