After listening to Uzumaki Ashina's detailed explanation of the precautions, Naruto Uzumaki formed hand seals and released the Impure World Reincarnation.
As he felt the connection between himself and Naruto gradually weakening, Ashina also removed the sealing technique on his body. His already cracked and filthy Edo Tensei body began to crumble piece by piece.
Soon, a faint white light appeared, and Ashina's soul rapidly ascended into the sky.
Naruto stared at the white light. If his guess was correct, that was the passage to the Pure Land—the bridge to the world of the dead.
Just as Naruto wanted to observe further, Ashina's presence completely vanished.
Retracting his gaze, Naruto quietly waited. According to their agreement, he would perform the technique again after half a day to summon Ashina's soul back.
While waiting, Naruto couldn't help but wonder what kind of place the Pure Land really was.
Long ago, he had suspected that the Pure Land might be connected to the God Tree, but a guess was still just a guess. The truth would only be known once the old patriarch returned.
Aside from the Pure Land, there were many strange phenomena in the ninja world that might also be related to the God Tree.
For example, the dragon veins in the ancient country of Rōran, located in the Land of Wind, had the power to send people back in time. It once allowed Naruto to meet Minato Namikaze before he became Hokage, and together they defeated a sand ninja trying to alter the past.
Thinking of this, Naruto glanced at Minato inside the sealed space and frowned slightly.
Would Minato, as a chakra remnant, retain knowledge of the future? And if someone used the dragon veins to travel through time, would they return to this world's past—or a parallel one?
Shaking off the thought, Naruto began training his taijutsu. Compared to others at his level, his physical combat skills were still a bit lacking—yeah, even with all his hacks, he wasn't exactly punching like a god yet.
In the blink of an eye, half a day passed.
Naruto randomly selected a sacrifice from storage. After setting up the formation, he performed the Impure World Reincarnation again, attempting to locate Ashina's soul through DNA.
But the attempt failed.
Naruto frowned.
The technique had three steps: locate the soul, summon it to the ninja world, and bind it to the sacrifice using a control seal.
After several repeated attempts, Naruto still failed to summon the old patriarch.
This made him wonder—did something go wrong in the Pure Land? Could danger even exist there? Or… was something preventing them from probing into it?
Over the next few days, Naruto continued trying.
It wasn't until noon a week later that he finally locked onto Ashina's soul and successfully performed the technique, bringing him back into a White Zetsu sacrifice.
Ashina glanced at Naruto and smiled.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I just stayed in the Pure Land for a few extra minutes."
"A few minutes?" Naruto caught the key point instantly.
Then he quickly asked, "Did you gain anything? Did you meet other souls? Is there any kind of order or rules in the Pure Land?"
Ashina thought for a moment.
"I sensed many powerful souls, but no matter how I moved, I couldn't get close to them. Sometimes I could feel them clearly, sometimes barely at all… it's like the distance between us kept shifting."
Naruto fell into deep thought, then said slowly:
"Old patriarch, you think it was only a short time—but a full week has passed in the ninja world. I suspect time flows differently in the Pure Land… or maybe it doesn't have a concept of time at all."
Ashina stroked his chin and smiled.
"That makes sense. Time didn't feel real there. But it is the world of the dead—being weird is kind of its whole thing."
Naruto nodded, then suddenly said:
"Old patriarch, remind me of the experiment details again. I seem to have forgotten."
"Forgotten?" Ashina narrowed his eyes and stared at him.
"Brat, are you testing me? You think I'm not myself anymore, but some imposter?"
Naruto chuckled.
"Just a precaution. This is the world of the dead—we can't be too careful."
"Fair enough," Ashina said. Then he asked, "But why are you so obsessed with the Pure Land? Power?"
Naruto paused, then replied honestly:
"I'm preparing for others using this technique. I'm not the only one who can perform it."
After a moment, he added,
"And I have a bold suspicion… are souls in the Pure Land truly 'dead'?"
Ashina gave him a strange look.
"Of course they're dead. Didn't you dig up my corpse yourself?"
Then he thought for a moment and added:
"Well… technically, the soul still exists. But for most people, once the body dies, that's considered death."
"If someone strong like me didn't go to the Pure Land and instead stayed forcibly in the ninja world, the soul would probably dissipate in a few days."
Naruto pressed further:
"But what if someone changes their body before dying? Could they keep living?"
"Maybe," Ashina said, "but that kind of technique shouldn't exist in this era."
Naruto shook his head.
"It already does."
Some shinobi had already achieved a form of immortality by changing bodies.
One was Orochimaru, who developed body-switching techniques. Another was Sasori, who turned himself into a puppet core.
As long as their souls remained intact, they were practically immortal—yeah, stubborn cockroaches who just wouldn't die.
Based on Ashina's observations, the Pure Land seemed to be a separate space—one without time, and highly stable for souls. It could slow the dissipation of the soul.
That might explain why Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki had remained there for so long.
For beings at that level, the line between life and death was already blurry as hell.
While Naruto was thinking, Ashina was also deep in thought.
After a long silence, Ashina finally sighed and said:
"Naruto… are you researching the Pure Land to revive the dead?"
"I won't stop you. But don't resurrect me."
"Living too long isn't a blessing… and neither is dragging the dead back into this world."
"The boundary between life and death… shouldn't be broken."
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