Purifying Chakra

This was a pitch-black, illusory space, with only a single fragmented jade piece emitting a faint glow. Beneath the jade piece lay a mass of pale blue energy—his own chakra.

At that moment, the light radiating from the fragmented jade piece swept across the chakra mass, separating out specks of light that eventually formed four illusory figures, which were then swept away and extinguished by the jade piece.

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

Seeing the images of those four phantoms, Tamura Hiroshi's heart sank.

He could recognize three of them. Though illusory, he could roughly make out the forms of the Sage of Six Paths and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, especially the horns on their heads.

The final phantom he couldn't identify. It was the most indistinct and blurry, but it also had horns, and it was the last to be separated out. It should also be a member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

"Something like a spiritual imprint?"

With some guesses forming, Tamura Hiroshi understood that these were likely a kind of imprint.

Chakra in the ninja world originated from Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Kaguya gave birth to the Sage of Six Paths, who then spread his own chakra across the world. It wasn't strange for the chakra to contain imprints of both of them.

Even during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Sage of Six Paths manifested through Madara Uchiha's leg and appeared in the spiritual worlds of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

As for Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's imprint existing within the world's chakra, that wasn't surprising either. According to the setting of Boruto, the original Ten-Tails needed the sacrifice of an Ōtsutsuki to transform into the God Tree and bear a Chakra Fruit.

Originally, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was meant to be the sacrifice, but she refused and ambushed Ōtsutsuki Isshiki. Though Isshiki escaped, only half his body remained; the other half was likely sacrificed by Kaguya to the Ten-Tails, allowing it to evolve into the God Tree.

The quality of the Chakra Fruit depended on the sacrificed Ōtsutsuki and the life force of the planet. The higher both were, the better the Chakra Fruit.

That was precisely why Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's Ten-Tails God Tree and her power were so immense, granting her multiple Kekkei Mōra abilities.

As for the fourth phantom, it was likely a higher-ranking Ōtsutsuki, possibly even the origin of chakra itself.

"With Ōtsutsuki Isshiki present, that means this is the Boruto timeline?"

Tamura Hiroshi pondered, realizing that this Naruto world likely contained Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and the Kara organization he had created.

In his past life, the Naruto series had many contradictions, especially regarding the timeline, which was a complete mess.

The era of Uzumaki Naruto as Hokage clashed heavily with the later Boruto series. Many settings were changed, including Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's characterization.

Now it seemed this world adhered more to the Boruto version. At the very least, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki existed, making this world far more complex.

Steadying his mind, Tamura Hiroshi turned his attention to the fragmented jade piece.

"A golden finger?"

He had been searching for his own golden finger all along. After all, being able to travel to this world couldn't be simple. As an ordinary person, he couldn't have done it on his own—there had to be some reason.

Unfortunately, after ten years, he had found nothing. His talent was utterly average. If he trained step by step, the best he could ever become was a chūnin, someone like Iruka.

Now, having a fragmented jade piece inside his head—or rather, within his mind—was clearly abnormal. Had this thing brought him here?

So he did have a golden finger after all. He just hadn't found the right way to activate it until today.

And since this thing could bring him across worlds, it was certainly no ordinary object.

He slowly extended his consciousness toward it, and a brief stream of information entered his mind, revealing its function.

"Alter fate and harvest the Power of Destiny. Consuming the Power of Destiny can temporarily enhance comprehension."

"A support-type golden finger? Feels inferior to that 'Deep Blue' from the other world."

Muttering inwardly, Tamura Hiroshi understood this was a support-type golden finger, primarily meant to boost comprehension.

An increase in comprehension was undoubtedly beneficial. For example, some difficult ninjutsu and secret techniques required sufficient comprehension to learn, and improving or refining them also demanded it.

Take the Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique, which required forty-four hand seals. Even at a speed of four seals per second, it would take eleven seconds—far too long and too lethal.

But the number of seals for a technique could be reduced. For instance, Guruko could perform the Water Dragon Bullet with just six seals, and the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, needed only three.

Such seal-simplification methods required exceptional talent.

Then there was Uchiha Itachi's one-handed seal technique, which also demanded talent.

And developing new jutsu—if he wanted to create something like Hatake Kakashi's Chidori—he would need sufficient talent as well.

Of course, the more critical issue was having enough chakra quantity, which was his current weakness. He didn't know if that teacher of his had a way to solve it.

So this comprehension cheat was still quite good. It could effectively aid his training.

"Altering fate... does that mean the plot?"

Thinking back to the moment his golden finger had awakened, Tamura Hiroshi grew thoughtful.

The change had only occurred after he handed over the one billion ryo and the firearms to the Third Raikage. Since then, a continuous sensation had persisted—that must be the Power of Destiny he had harvested. Clearly, the Third Raikage and his two companions had undergone a shift in their thoughts and plans because of his scheme.

The Third Raikage's change, in particular, would have enormous repercussions, possibly even affecting the upcoming Second Great Ninja War.

No wonder he had gained so much Power of Destiny from that shift.

And when it came to fate, it naturally referred to the fate of the original plot.

"Looks like I'll need to find ways to alter the plot as much as possible from now on. The focus should be on Konoha—that's where all the major events are concentrated.

But for now, I'm too weak. I'll have to keep lying low in Kumogakure for a while, then find an opportunity to head to Konoha and stir things up to farm the Power of Destiny."

With a plan forming in his mind, Tamura Hiroshi turned his attention back to the dark space he was in.

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

He guessed this was indeed a spiritual space, then looked at the purified mass of chakra.

From what just happened, this Fragmented Jade Piece seems to have a self-protective ability, actively separating out the imprints of others within the chakra and erasing them.

Of course, this consumes the Power of Destiny.

So what difference would this purified chakra make?

Thinking this, Tamura Hiroshi's will withdrew from his mind, and he first attempted to refine chakra.

"Sure enough, it's no good—has even the chakra seed in my bloodline been extracted and purified?"

After a moment of refinement, he opened his eyes and found no chakra gained. Clearly, the chakra seed within his body had already been removed.

The chakra of the ninja world was spread by the Sage of Six Paths, passed down through bloodlines generation after generation, forming the chakra of modern shinobi.

Without this chakra seed rooted in the bloodline as a catalyst, it was naturally impossible to refine chakra.

With a thought, the mass of chakra in his mind separated and merged into his body. Using it as a foundation to refine chakra, it finally worked—and this chakra was vastly different from before.

"Control has improved a lot!"

Extending four Chakra Threads to dance before him, Tamura Hiroshi understood the key improvement of the purified chakra.

Its power likely hadn't increased, but its control—or rather, its compatibility with himself—had improved tremendously.

Before, he could only manipulate two Chakra Threads and extend them one meter, but now he could control four and extend them two meters.

And this wasn't the limit; he felt that with targeted training, he could improve further.

Chakra Threads were a highly advanced chakra control technique, far beyond tree-climbing or water-walking. Tamura Hiroshi had spent a long time mastering them.

Moreover, after five years, he could only condense two threads. Now, it had doubled in an instant, showing just how massive the improvement from this chakra purification was.