Minato stood a short distance away, focusing his senses on this mental world belonging to Naruto. He forced himself to ignore the massive, 'catastrophic' commotion constantly coming from the other side.
The Nine-Tailed and the enraged mother were mercilessly and furiously 'abusing' the consciousness body of Urashiki, who had lost all his power and become a pure 'punching bag,' to vent their anger.
His attention was entirely focused on the changes occurring within the sensory world itself.
That immense foreign Chakra, or rather, the Ōtsutsuki Chakra presence, was currently spreading and permeating every corner of the mental world at an unsettlingly "smooth" speed, accelerating its deep entanglement with Naruto's own Chakra and life force.
"As expected..." Minato's heart sank. The successful sealing of Urashiki's consciousness body meant that the 'Soul' and 'Personality' controlling this power were temporarily isolated.
But the power itself had not disappeared. Instead, having lost the resistance and consumption of its owner, it was undergoing a forced 'Fusion' with Naruto's body at an even faster rate.
He didn't know whether this accelerated Fusion was a good thing or a bad thing. He could only silently pray that the forceful infusion of this external power would not cause irreversible damage or distortion to Naruto's own consciousness, personality, or even the essence of his life.
On the other side, Otsutsuki Urashiki, enduring a storm of attacks, was currently tasting a flavor more humiliating and despairing than physical annihilation.
It could not be destroyed. This was a characteristic of the consciousness body relying on the Kāma data, but now it had become the source of endless torment. No matter how much the Nine-Tailed and Kushina thrashed it from above, the agony of tearing, burning, and crushing felt by the consciousness body was intensely real, yet it could never achieve the release of "death."
However, compared to this continuous physical pain—enough to break any mind—a deeper fear was wrapping around Urashiki's Soul: the fear of the unknown outcome.
Such a situation had never been recorded in the annals of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
The entirety of the caster's power essence had begun a forced Fusion with the "vessel," yet the caster's Soul, personality, and consciousness were completely isolated, imprisoned, and severed from the source of power by a strange technique in the target world called Sealing Jutsu!
In a little while longer, the Fusion would likely be completely finished. What would happen to him then?
The power would belong to the "vessel," and the "vessel's" Soul might not necessarily turn into an Ōtsutsuki because of it. Where would his sealed "original primary personality" go?
Would he completely dissipate when the Fusion was complete? Or would he be forever imprisoned deep within this body, sealed away as a piece of useless data?
The unsealing and Fusion process of the Kāma would be complete in less than a day. This in itself was an extremely abnormal phenomenon.
A normal Kāma involves the caster compressing and refining their own data before implanting it into the "vessel." Then, through a long period of acclimatization, or stimulated by intense combat, the Ōtsutsuki's power is slowly "unsealed," gently modifying and adapting to the "vessel's" body.
And Urashiki's Kāma... calling it a "half-finished product" is being generous. It was a completely crude, violent, and "defective product"!
To use a crude analogy, when other Ōtsutsuki apply the Kāma, it is like patiently feeding the "vessel" carefully cooked, easily digestible food, bite by bite, slowly completing the transformation.
And Urashiki? He roughly crammed an entire uncut, hard watermelon straight down the "vessel's" throat! No, it probably wasn't that gentle.
More specifically, it was as if he had forcibly sliced open the "vessel's" "stomach" and then haphazardly shoved all the raw, violent "ingredients" into it in one go!
It was only thanks to Naruto's 'freakish' Physique—whose vitality was so abnormal that he even possessed the strange characteristic of being able to spontaneously replenish his life energy—that he barely managed to "withstand" this extremely violent infusion.
"Get out of the way! Kushina, it's my turn!!"
After Kushina finished venting her round of anger and stepped back slightly, the Nine-Tailed still roared, consumed by rage and unquenched hatred. Its giant tail lifted high, then slammed down, again and again, onto the ground where Urashiki's limp consciousness body lay!
"Boom!!!" "Boom!!!" "Boom!!!"
Each strike caused the entire mental world to shake violently, emitting deep, muffled thuds.
Although Kushina also wished she could grind Urashiki's bones to dust, she was more concerned about her son's actual condition in the outside world. Since she couldn't completely destroy this menace here, she had to turn her attention to a more practical direction.
"Minato," she walked toward her husband, "the fluctuation of that foreign Chakra... is getting stronger, getting 'closer.' Roughly... how much longer until the Fusion is completely finished?"
Minato, unable to directly stop the Fusion process, could only estimate based on the speed he sensed, answering in a low voice. "Very soon... Because there is no interference or usage by Urashiki's consciousness body, the Fusion process has lost its biggest 'consumption point' and 'instability factor,' and the speed is accelerating... It should be... imminent."
"...Then I will dismiss this Chakra body first." Kushina made the calmest decision decisively. She took a deep look at Urashiki, who was being repeatedly "trampled" by the Nine-Tailed, and then looked at Minato. "I will synchronize all the memories and information from here back to my physical body in reality. Let's see if I can do anything more for Naruto outside."
As her voice faded, Uzumaki Kushina's Chakra body slowly began to turn transparent, carrying all the information experienced here, flowing toward the connection point between the mental world and reality, returning to her physical body.
Minato watched his wife's Chakra dissipate, then turned his solemn gaze back toward the depths of the mental world—where the Fusion was accelerating and the aura was becoming increasingly strange and incomprehensible—as well as the Nine-Tailed, which was still venting its fury, and the "prisoner" on the ground, symbolizing failure and the unknown.
When the Ōtsutsuki's Soul, personality, and consciousness were completely sealed and isolated... after the power of the Kāma had thoroughly and forcibly Fused into Naruto's body and life Origin... what exactly... would happen?
——————
"...Are you saying that this enemy is a race from outer space called the 'Ōtsutsuki'? Their target is the Tailed Beasts, and this particular attack was aimed at the Nine-Tailed inside Naruto?"
In the temporary conference room outside Konoha Hospital, Jiraiya listened to Uchiha Sasuke's concise yet information-packed explanation, unable to stop himself from rubbing his throbbing temples, his face etched with disbelief and absurdity.
"If that battlefield outside were still intact, I might say... even if you had to fabricate an explanation, there's no need to make it sound so... 'outlandish'."
"Mm."
Uchiha Sasuke's voice was low. "I understand this is difficult to accept immediately. But I have no reason to fabricate lies and deceive you at a time like this. Please... believe this fact. Their threat is real."
"...Alright." Jiraiya let out a long breath, temporarily suppressing further inquiry into their Origins. "We can discuss your specific backgrounds later. The most urgent thing now is—what can we do to save Naruto?"
He urgently pressed, his gaze fixed on Sasuke and Boruto, who looked equally worried beside him.
However—"Bang!"
The sudden sound of a chair moving interrupted the questioning.
Uzumaki Kushina, who had been sitting quietly nearby with her hands tightly clasped, suddenly shot up from her seat!
"Kushina?!" Jiraiya was startled and called out in surprise.
Kushina didn't respond immediately. Her eyes were closed, and the expression on her face quickly shifted from worry to astonishment.
The next second, she spoke rapidly. "It's over! No, it's almost over! Naruto... he's about to wake up!"
Her words instantly caused a massive stir in the room!
Kushina took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady, "It was... the portion of Chakra I left inside Naruto back then that took effect! The 'battle' over there... has temporarily stabilized the situation."
Uchiha Satsuki reacted the fastest, rushing out of the conference room almost the instant Kushina's voice fell, sprinting toward Naruto's hospital room!
Jiraiya also stood up abruptly, the solemnity on his face replaced by urgency. "Go! Let's go see Naruto first!" As long as Naruto woke up safely, all other questions, including the identities of these two mysterious people, could be postponed.
The group hurried out of the conference room and swiftly returned to the special care room with its oppressive atmosphere.
On the hospital bed, Naruto's violent trembling had completely stopped, and the tense posture he held earlier—the painful struggle against an unseen force—also relaxed.
His breathing became steady, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. Although his face was still somewhat pale, it no longer carried the Death Qi, having instead regained a hint of color.
"Naruto..." Satsuki was the first to rush to the bedside, almost instinctively. She reached out to grasp Naruto's hand lying by his side, seemingly wanting to gain a sense of security from the real touch, confirming that he was truly getting better.
Just as her fingertips were about to touch the back of Naruto's hand—on the bed, Naruto's eyes, which had been tightly closed for so long, suddenly snapped open!
His pupils were initially somewhat unfocused, filled with the confusion of one awakening to a different world, clearly bewildered by his situation.
"Naruto! You..." Satsuki's heart swelled with joy, and she immediately called out, her voice filled with uncontrollable excitement.
However, her call and actions suddenly froze at that moment, and she stared fixedly at Naruto's open eyes in astonishment.
Uzumaki Boruto, who arrived at the bedside right after her, also saw Naruto waking up. He first breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately afterward, when his gaze fell upon Naruto's eyes, he, too, was instantly stunned.
In Naruto's open eyes—his left eye was still the familiar, clear azure blue of the brightest sky, no different from usual.
But... his right eye, where the white of the eye should have been, had now turned pitch black, as deep as the dark night! And the pupil located in the center of this blackness was no longer blue; instead, it had become a brilliant gold, like molten metal, radiating an inhuman light!
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