Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 237 "The Cliff"

The preparations for a sea voyage are always troublesome, but fortunately, the port of the Land of Waves has a well-developed industrial chain, and all the necessary needs for the trip can be met. The film crew's ship was specially customized, and it was even chartered by Dongfeng. In order to meet the filming requirements, it was loaded with many exquisite backdrops, and only Dongfeng could transport these items in perfect condition and at the fastest speed.

So, the leaders immediately adjusted the crew configuration, replacing everyone with ninjas, specifically Senju clan ninjas. The reason was that there were three Sharingan users on the ship, and if any of them accidentally used their Sharingan, it would only increase Naruto's workload, so it was better not to use them at all.

With their own people controlling the route, at least the necessary delaying work wouldn't be a problem. Even so, they could only delay for three or four days at most, since there was a ship with a familiar guide named San Taifu.

"This is where the anomaly was discovered." Tobirama, carrying Naruto's true form, flew to the distant Land of Snow and landed directly in the legendary forbidden area where a secret treasure was said to be hidden. The snow-covered mountain peaks were extremely unsuitable for long-term human habitation, so there weren't even any sentries. They seemed very confident that the secret treasure here could not be taken away by anyone.

This wasn't the first time Naruto had seen a special cliff, but he used to think it was a masterpiece of nature. Now, he realized how incredibly naive he had been when he was young.

With just a slight application of his super perception, he could see the orderly structure inside the "cliff," but those structures belonged to no technology he recognized. Looking further down, he saw something completely unprecedented buried in the earth. The cliff extended nearly fifty meters downwards, connecting to a colossal, mountain-like structure that plunged vertically into the ground, with only about one-tenth of it visible above ground. And that was only its vertical length; while its horizontal width wasn't as exaggerated, it was still more than twice the width of the "cliff" at its widest point.

He was so shocked that he was speechless for a moment, completely unaware of the probing gazes around him.

"The Land of Snow must be taken." After observing the underground cavity, the leader, whose stance was not so clear before, made his position definitive.

"What did you see?" Tobirama asked tentatively.

“Something that will revolutionize human history.” Naruto’s eyes remained fixed on the ground, as if he could see something different in the snowflakes. “I can’t describe it. It has signs of damage, but most of it is still intact. It can even form a cavity nearly a thousand meters underground.”

"There was a strong energy reaction about 400 meters above the ground, but the energy didn't feel like chakra. It felt extremely hot to me, and even just probing it made me feel burned. There were pipe-like things connecting the energy source to the ground, but these pipes were... solid? In short, they were definitely not things that could be made with current human technology."

"What you're describing, let's call it a relic for now. Can you find any remaining writing within it?"

"...I haven't seen anything yet, but there are some similar symbols that I've never seen before. I've seen things that look like guns and cannons, and other strangely shaped weapons?" Naruto was already going all out, but it was still too difficult to process all the information about an entire ruin at once. The human brain has limited processing speed, so he could only look at it layer by layer. Even so, it was somewhat difficult; his head soon began to ache, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

"Naruto!"

Tobirama, who almost never mispronounces someone's identity, called Naruto by his name, which jolted Naruto back to his senses.

"Your chakra just overflowed significantly. Has this happened before?" Tobirama was genuinely worried. Unintentional chakra overflow was no small matter; he'd witnessed it far too often in his brother's final days. For someone with an abundance of chakra and incredibly strong control, this symptom only occurred when their meridians were riddled with holes!

Naruto was stunned for a moment, and at that moment, Tobirama had already begun to use ninjutsu to check his physical condition. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found that it was a false alarm.

"I just have a bit of a headache. It happens every time I use 'sensory' too much. I'll be fine after a rest." Naruto tried to comfort Tobirama, but was met with a cold stare.

“I already felt something was off about your ability to monitor the Konoha high-level meetings in real time. You’ve never told us that your ‘sensory’ can penetrate a thousand meters into the ground. Although we can’t be sure of the principle you’re using, were you completely oblivious to the situation on the surface just now?”

Naruto slightly shrank his neck and muttered, "Aren't you standing on the side?"

Tobirama took a deep breath, suppressing his impending outburst of emotion, and said, "You know, I have done a lot of research on the soul."

"hold head high."

"Research has shown that there is a strong connection between the soul and chakra. Taking the Spirit Transformation Technique as an example, after the technique is performed, most of the chakra in the body will disappear as the soul leaves, and the remaining chakra will not continue to flow unless the soul returns to the user's body."

Naruto had actually read all of what Tobirama said, but he wasn't exactly good at research and still didn't understand why the Second Hokage would suddenly bring these things up. Faced with those eyes gleaming with ignorance, Tobirama sighed even louder.

"You know the Impure World Reincarnation technique, right? It's the most common jutsu you've ever seen. Do you know why the chakra of an Impure World body automatically regenerates?"

Naruto blinked even faster, cautiously replying, "Because... there's no binding force of a living body?"

"...That's just the least important reason!" Tobirama managed to restrain his outstretched hand and continued, "The soul is real. The living can't observe it directly with their naked eyes, but the dead are already in a soul state. I've always believed that the Pure Land is real, and death is merely the moment the soul returns to it. The souls of the living cannot draw energy from the Pure Land, but the dead can. The Impure World Reincarnation is a technique that recalls the souls of the dead and allows them to possess bodies. Those recalled are essentially still dead, so their souls still use the power they obtained from the Pure Land, a power that remains inexhaustible to this day."

"But if a person's soul is strong enough to break through the barrier between life and death, would there also be a situation where chakra is inexhaustible?"

Naruto's dazed look vanished instantly, his eyes widening and slowly, uncontrollably, becoming tinged with gold. Tobirama calmly watched him, posing a question at a leisurely pace.

"Naruto, where are you from?"