Purifying Chakra

This was a pitch-black, illusory space where only a single fragmented jade piece radiating a faint glow existed. Beneath the fragmented jade piece floated a mass of pale blue energy, which was none other than his own chakra.

At that moment, the light emitted by the fragmented jade piece swept across that mass of chakra, separating out a few specks of light that ultimately formed four illusory figures, which were then instantly obliterated by the fragmented jade piece.

"The Sage of Six Paths? Ōtsutsuki Kaguya? Ōtsutsuki Isshiki?"

Seeing the appearances of those four illusory figures, Tamura Hiroshi's heart sank.

He could recognize three of them. Although illusory, their overall appearance clearly resembled the Sage of Six Paths and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, especially the horns upon their heads.

He could not recognize the final illusory figure, which was also the most hazy and indistinct, but it too possessed horns upon its head and was the last to be separated out, meaning it should also belong to the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

"Spiritual imprints or something similar?"

With some conjectures, Tamura Hiroshi understood that those should be a form of imprints.

Chakra in the ninja world originated from Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, who gave birth to the Sage of Six Paths. From there, the Sage of Six Paths spread his own chakra far and wide, so it was hardly strange for the chakra to contain the imprints of those two individuals.

Even during the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Sage of Six Paths was able to manifest himself with the aid of Uchiha Madara's leg, and could also appear within the mental worlds of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

Moreover, it was hardly strange for the imprint of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki to exist within the ninja world's chakra. According to the lore of Boruto, the primitive Ten-Tails needed the sacrifice of an Ōtsutsuki in order to evolve into the God Tree and bear a Chakra Fruit.

Originally, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya had been the sacrifice, but she was unwilling to become one and launched a sneak attack on Ōtsutsuki Isshiki. Although Ōtsutsuki Isshiki escaped, he was left with only half a body, while his other half was likely sacrificed by Ōtsutsuki Kaguya to the Ten-Tails so it could evolve into the God Tree.

Furthermore, the quality of the Chakra Fruit was determined by the sacrificed Ōtsutsuki and the life force of the planet it inhabited; the higher both factors were, the better the Chakra Fruit would be.

Precisely because of this, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's Ten-Tails God Tree and strength were so formidable, possessing multiple Kekkei Mōra abilities.

As for the fourth illusory figure, it should be an even higher-tier Ōtsutsuki, and perhaps even the very source of chakra.

"With the presence of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, does that mean this is the version from Boruto?"

Tamura Hiroshi was lost in thought, realizing that this ninja world might harbor Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, as well as the Kara organization he had put together.

In the Naruto of his past life, there were many contradictory elements, especially the timeline, which was an absolute mess.

The Naruto era and the later Boruto era had even more points of conflict, and numerous settings had even been altered, including Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's character background and so on.

Now it seemed this world likely adhered more closely to the Boruto version, at least with the existence of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, making this world all the more complicated.

Steadying his mind, Tamura Hiroshi turned his attention toward that piece of fragmented jade.

"Is this a Golden Finger?"

He had always been searching for a Golden Finger of his very own. After all, the fact that he could transmigrate to this world certainly was not simple; at the very least, relying on his identity as an ordinary person could never achieve it, and there had to be some sort of reason behind it.

Pity that after ten years he had nothing to show for it, and his personal aptitude was quite ordinary as well. If he cultivated by the book, at his absolute peak in this lifetime he would amount to nothing more than a Chunin, the likes of Iruka.

Yet right now inside his head, or rather within his sea of consciousness, existed a piece of fragmented jade—which clearly defied normalcy. Was this the very thing that had brought him across time and space?

Indeed, he did possess a Golden Finger after all; he simply had not found the correct way to unlock it before, only managing to open it and acquire his Golden Finger today.

And an object capable of carrying him across worlds into this one was bound to be extraordinary.

His consciousness slowly drifted close and made contact, whereupon a brief snippet of information entered his conscious mind, helping him understand the function of this item.

"Change fate to intercept the Power of Destiny; consume the Power of Destiny to temporarily boost comprehension."

"An auxiliary-type Golden Finger? Honestly, it feels inferior to the Blue system next door!"

Muttering to himself, Tamura Hiroshi understood that this was an auxiliary-type Golden Finger whose primary function was enhancing comprehension.

An enhancement to comprehension was undeniably beneficial; for instance, certain ninjutsu and secret techniques that were difficult to cultivate required sufficient comprehension, and the refinement and perfection of jutsu likewise demanded it.

Take the Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique, for instance, which required forty-four hand seals. Even at a speed of four seals per second, it still took eleven seconds—far too long, and utterly fatal.

Yet the seals of a jutsu could be reduced. For example, Guruko could cast the Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique using only six seals, while Second Hokage Senju Tobirama required a mere three.

That kind of hand-seal simplification technique naturally demanded extremely high talent.

Then there was Uchiha Itachi's one-handed hand seal technique, which likewise required innate talent.

On top of that came the development of ninjutsu. If he wished to develop a ninjutsu like Hatake Kakashi's Chidori, he needed sufficient talent.

Of course, more importantly, his chakra quantity had to meet the standard. This was his current shortcoming, and he wondered if that teacher of his had any way to resolve it.

Therefore, this comprehension cheat was exceptionally good and could provide marvelous assistance to his cultivation.

"Change fate—does that mean the plot?"

Thinking back on the process by which his Golden Finger had awakened, Tamura Hiroshi fell deep into thought.

The change had only occurred after he handed those one billion ryo and firearms over to the Third Raikage, and ever since then, that persistent sensation had kept bubbling up. That must be the intercepted Power of Destiny, and clearly, the thoughts of the Third Raikage and his two companions had shifted because of this scheme of his.

In particular, the impact caused by the Third Raikage's change was bound to be enormous, and might even affect the upcoming Second Great Ninja War.

No wonder such a shift yielded so much Power of Destiny.

And when it came to destiny, it unquestionably meant the destiny of the original plot.

"It looks like I'll have to find ways to alter the plot more often in the future, with the focus centering around Konoha, since the plot events are all concentrated there. Still, I'm far too weak at this stage. I need to keep low-profile and grow stronger here in Kumogakure for a while longer, and then look for an opportunity to stir up trouble in Konoha to farm the Power of Destiny."

Having made up his mind, Tamura Hiroshi turned his attention back to the pitch-black space he currently occupied.

"Is this a mental world like the one where Naruto and Sasuke met the Sage of Six Paths?"

Guessing that this should be his mental world, he promptly looked toward that mass of purified chakra.

Judging from the situation just now, this fragmented jade piece possessed a self-preservation capability as well, automatically isolating and eradicating the foreign imprints embedded within the chakra.

Naturally, this process consumed the Power of Destiny.

So, what differences would this purified chakra possess?

With that thought, Tamura Hiroshi shifted his intent, pulling his consciousness out of his mind, and first attempted to refine chakra.

"As expected, it doesn't work. Were the chakra seeds within my bloodline also extracted and purified?"

After attempting to refine some for a moment, he opened his eyes. He had failed to generate any chakra, clearly proving that the chakra seeds inside his body had been weeded out.

Chakra in the ninja world had been spread by the Sage of Six Paths, passing down generation after generation through the bloodline to form the modern ninja's chakra.

Without such chakra seeds rooted in the bloodline to act as a primer, it was naturally impossible to refine chakra.

With a single thought, the mass of chakra residing in his mind separated and melted into his body. Using it as a foundation to refine chakra immediately yielded results, and moreover, this mass of chakra was drastically different from before.

"My control has improved significantly!"

Stretching out four chakra threads to dance before him, Tamura Hiroshi understood the key improvement brought by the purified chakra.

Its raw power might not have increased, but his control—or rather, his degree of harmony with it—had elevated by leaps and bounds.

Previously he could only manipulate two chakra threads and extend them up to a meter, but now he could control four and extend them two meters.

And this was not even his limit; he felt that with some targeted training, it could definitely improve further.

Chakra threads were an extremely high-tier chakra control technique, far surpassing tree-climbing and water walking, and it had taken Tamura Hiroshi a very long time to master them.

Furthermore, after five years, he had only been able to condense two threads, yet now the number had doubled instantly, showing just how massive the enhancement from this chakra purification was.