The Nature of Chakra

Seeing the obsessed expressions on the crowd's faces, Hancock raised an eyebrow and showed a look of disdain. "Another bunch of ill-mannered fools. Fine, I'll get rid of you quickly!"

"Bewitching Sweet Breeze!"

Just as the pink glow enveloped Kazahana Dōtō, strange flashes of electricity flickered. Kazahana Dōtō instantly snapped out of his infatuation with Hancock. When he came to his senses, he discovered that all his ministers had already turned to stone.

"Bastard! Who are you? What are you trying to do?!" Kazahana Dōtō was both furious and anxious, with lingering fear mixed in. Deep wariness showed in his eyes. If not for the special defensive ability of the Chakra Armor he had just developed, he would likely have been turned to stone as well!

"Huh?! He didn't turn to stone?" Hancock was mildly surprised. This was already the second person she had encountered since arriving in this country who could ignore her Bewitching Sweet Breeze.

Although Bewitching Sweet Breeze was merely one of Hancock's opening moves, those who could truly withstand it were one in ten thousand. It seemed there were quite a few strong people here!

Unaware that Kazahana Dōtō had cheated, Hancock did not let her guard down this time. She immediately unleashed her Dual-Color Haki, and with a flicker, appeared before Kazahana Dōtō.

What happened last time, when Kakashi had used a Shadow Clone to distract her and escaped underground to attack Vegapunk, only needed to happen once. This time, Hancock used her full strength!

Her slender, jade-like legs were coated in pitch-black Armament Haki as she kicked without hesitation at Kazahana Dōtō's chest. His vision blurred, and then the bone-chilling sense of danger made every hair on his body stand on end. He pushed the Chakra Armor to maximum output and slightly crossed his hands before Hancock's foot.

With a thunderous boom, Kazahana Dōtō was sent flying, smashing through the palace wall behind him. His arms hung limply at his sides, their bones shattered to powder, while the Chakra Armor set over his chest broke apart with a series of cracking sounds and scattered across the floor.

"How fragile. I even wasted some caution on you!"

Hancock curled her lips in speechless annoyance and steadied herself again. Just then, Vegapunk strolled in leisurely, carrying the tightly bound Kakashi in one hand, with Nico Robin and Kazahana Koyuki following behind him.

As for the palace guards, some had defected after Kazahana Koyuki persuaded them, while others had been turned to stone by Hancock.

Kazahana Dōtō had only overthrown his superior less than a day ago, and things were at their most chaotic. Thus, he had received no warning before Hancock stormed the palace—though even if he had, the outcome would not have been any different.

Kazahana Dōtō's "brutal" rule over Snow Country lasted less than twenty-four hours before it was utterly crushed by the trio who had barged in. Kazahana Koyuki inherited her father's position and once again became the Daimyo of Snow Country.

Naturally, Vegapunk's group of three, who had made enormous contributions to reclaiming Snow Country's throne, became the new elite of Snow Country—or rather, they simply became its regents.

Inside Snow Country's laboratory, Vegapunk looked at the instrument in his hand and rubbed his chin.

"So this is Chakra? A product extracted from the 130 trillion cells in a Ninja World human body, created by evenly blending spiritual energy and physical energy... What complete nonsense!"

Vegapunk curled his lips and put down the instrument. Behind him, aside from Hancock and Nico Robin, stood a Snow Ninja bent over deferentially.

After Kazahana Dōtō's downfall, those Snow Ninja had become stray dogs without a home. Vegapunk happened to want to study the Chakra of this world, so naturally he would not let them go.

Including the Ninja who had once pursued Kakashi, every Snow Ninja now belonged to Vegapunk.

Snow Country's Ninja had never been particularly strong, nor were they numerous. There were only two or three Jonin among them. Naturally, such a small force would not be as stubborn as the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Seeing that Vegapunk's trio possessed extraordinary strength and had seized control of Snow Country's situation, the Snow Ninja naturally bowed their heads in submission. After all, it was perfectly normal for small factions to change leaders, especially when this leader looked quite powerful.

"Um, sir, is there a problem?" After hearing Vegapunk's words, the Snow Ninja standing behind him asked curiously. He was also a member of the laboratory and was specifically responsible for being studied. The Chakra Vegapunk had just examined came from him.

"There's a huge problem..." Vegapunk rubbed his brow. "To be precise, Chakra is indeed formed by mixing spiritual energy and physical energy, but before that, it requires a strand of Chakra as a catalyst. The reason Ninja can synthesize Chakra without a catalyst is because generations of inheritance have left a certain amount of Chakra within their bodies."

"That raises a strange question. Where did the very first strand of Chakra come from? Who was the first to possess Chakra?"

"Moreover, Chakra possesses powerful aggregative properties. Weak Chakra naturally tends toward strong Chakra. At the same time, this energy mixed with spiritual power has little individuality and instead easily merges with other Chakra."

"Not only that, Chakra can also be influenced by Chakra of a higher level and greater quality... In other words, if someone possessed Chakra whose quality and quantity overwhelmingly surpassed that of ordinary people by several levels, they could easily harvest other Ninja like leeks."

"Uh..." The Snow Ninja stared wide-eyed, wearing an expression of not understanding but finding it impressive. In truth, however, Vegapunk was not speaking to him at all.

"I see. So Ninja are leeks, and Chakra is the harvest. Then this entire world is the nursery of some overwhelmingly powerful life-form?"

Nico Robin rubbed her chin as she spoke. "Does that mean we should avoid using Chakra?"

"Of course not! You should have more faith in me!" Vegapunk shook his head.

Having long known the plot, he understood very well that after more than a thousand years of development, the Ninja World had developed Chakra into countless forms. Even when facing the source of Chakra, they were not entirely without the ability to fight back.

Sage Mode, Sealing Techniques, Eight Gates Formation, Space-Time Ninjutsu, Soul Secret Techniques... Even against the Otsutsuki Clan, these Ninjutsu were absolutely not powers that could be ignored.

Though their Chakra's fundamental nature was far inferior to that of the Otsutsuki Clan, the Ninja World had developed techniques derived from Chakra to the utmost limit. If they had been given another thousand years, these Ninja might not truly have needed the Sage of Six Paths and two saviors to put out the fires.