The light from the previous world faded, leaving Naruto standing on what looked like an endless plain of pale stone. There was no sky, yet there was light. No wind, yet he felt movement—like reality itself was breathing.
Naruto clenched his fists out of habit.
"I can still feel my chakra," he said quietly. "But… it's wrong. It doesn't respond the way it used to."
"That's because you're no longer standing inside the rules of the living world."
Minato's voice came from behind him.
Naruto turned. His father stood calmly, cloak unmoving, eyes sharp but gentle. Kushina and Jiraiya were there too, but they stayed back, watching in silence.
"Dad," Naruto said. "If I still have chakra… why does it feel useless?"
Minato stepped forward. "Because chakra was never meant to exist here."
Naruto frowned. "What?"
Minato raised his hand, palm open. A familiar instinct flared inside Naruto—chakra control. But when he reached for it, the energy scattered like mist.
"No matter how hard you try," Minato said, "chakra will not obey you in this place. Not because you're weak—but because this world exists beyond it."
Naruto exhaled slowly. "Then how am I supposed to survive here?"
Minato smiled faintly.
"You don't survive," he said. "You evolve."
The ground beneath them shifted. The plain dissolved, replaced by a vast ocean of light—countless threads moving through one another, intersecting and separating like flowing thoughts.
"This is existence without chakra," Minato continued. "Life before it was shaped into power. Before it was divided, weaponized, or named."
Naruto stared. "So… all those battles, all that chakra we used—"
"Were expressions," Minato said. "Not the source."
Jiraiya finally spoke. "Kid, you always thought strength meant doing more. More chakra, bigger techniques, louder resolve." He chuckled softly. "Turns out, the real challenge is doing less."
Minato looked directly at Naruto now. "You never relied on chakra the way others did. Even in battle, it wasn't what defined you. Your strength always came from something deeper."
Naruto swallowed. "…My will?"
"Your existence," Minato corrected. "Your consciousness. Your ability to remain yourself no matter how the world tried to shape you."
Minato stepped closer and placed two fingers against Naruto's forehead.
"Close your eyes."
Naruto hesitated—then obeyed.
"Don't reach for chakra," Minato instructed. "Let it go. Don't suppress it. Don't control it. Simply… stop identifying yourself with it."
At first, Naruto felt panic.
Without chakra, he felt naked—empty.
Then something shifted.
He felt lighter.
The weight he'd carried for years—expectations, power, responsibility—began to loosen. Beneath it all, something quieter stirred. A presence that wasn't energy, wasn't power… but awareness.
"I feel… something else," Naruto whispered.
"That is you," Minato said softly. "Not the Hokage. Not the jinchūriki. Not a shinobi. Just Naruto Uzumaki."
The light around them responded, rippling gently.
"For a moment," Minato continued, "I touched this state too. When I sacrificed myself. When I stepped outside life and death. I couldn't remain—but you can."
Naruto opened his eyes.
The world looked different.
The light had depth now. Layers. Meaning.
"But Dad," Naruto said, voice steady but emotional, "if I transcend chakra… what happens to my body?"
Minato's expression darkened slightly.
"It remains sealed," he said. "And you must accept that you cannot return the way you were."
Naruto clenched his jaw.
"And Hinata?" he asked.
Kushina looked away.
Minato answered gently. "For now… you will not see her."
Naruto nodded slowly. It hurt—but it didn't break him.
"Then teach me," he said. "Teach me everything."
Minato smiled—proud, calm, resolute.
"This is only the first step," he said. "Others will come. Those who mastered chakra… and those who learned to rise above it."
The light around them began to shift again.
Far away, unseen but unmistakable, something ancient stirred