The Anchor of Will

"Shimura Kazashiro..."

"Shimura Kazashiro..."

"Shimura Kazashiro..."

The sound kept swirling around my ears, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes near, sometimes far.

After a while, Kazashiro finally couldn't stand the annoying noise anymore and opened his eyes, cursing, "Who is it? Why aren't you sleeping on the night shift? What are you yelling about?!"

Opening his eyes, Feng Byakugan was greeted by a very soothing, serene green atmosphere.

Gloomy, dim, yet somehow healthy-looking—it just doesn't resemble the world of the living.

Just as Kazashiro was wondering why he was here, the voice that had been calling his name repeatedly rang out again, "Nice to meet you, Shimura Kazashiro."

Looking in the direction from which the sound came, Kazashiro spotted an old man floating cross-legged above the ground.

After seeing the old man's face clearly, Kazashiro frowned and subconsciously took two steps forward, the sound of water splashing under his feet echoing.

Hearing the sound, he looked down and realized that he was not standing on the ground at all, but on a strange surface of water that had no reflection.

"The Sage of Six Paths?"

Kazashiro stopped in his tracks, looked at the old man's Rinnegan, and revealed the man's identity.

"That's right, an outsider."

The Sage of Six Paths floated closer to Kazashiro, carefully examining him.

Kazashiro felt a little uneasy under the Sage of Sage of Six Paths' gaze, and took the initiative to start a conversation. "Being able to see you proves that I'm already dead, right? But how come you can know that I'm an outsider? Do you have some kind of system or something?"

"System? What's that? Is it something from your original world?" The Sage of Six Paths couldn't understand the new vocabulary in Kazashiro's words. After a brief moment of thought, he gave what he thought was a reasonable answer to Kazashiro's question.

"I don't have a system. The reason I know about your past is because of Chakra. Chakra is the link between this world and the next. But there's one thing I need to point out: you are not dead, Shimura Kazashiro."

While giving his answer, the Sage of Six Paths also pointed out a mistake in Kazashiro's words.

"I'm not dead? How could I run into you if I wasn't dead?"

Kazashiro raised his hand. Hmm, it was indeed opaque, and it swung with considerable force.

But if I'm not dead, what's the deal with this old man in front of me?

He wasn't the reincarnation of the Sage of Sage of Six Paths' son 'Chakra, so there was no need for him to pay special attention to this ordinary little ninja.

"This is indeed Pure Land, but you are here for other reasons. How should I explain this to you...?"

The Sage of Six Paths frowned and pondered for a while before finally coming up with a reasonable explanation.

He swung his tin staff, and as the staff drew an arc in the air, a huge screen of light appeared before Feng Byakugan.

"According to your Shinobi World's calendar, it is now the 17th year of the Alliance."

With the Sage of Six Paths' explanation, Momoshiki's image vividly appeared on the light screen.

At Momoshiki's feet, Naruto and Sasuke lay on the ground, their fates unknown.

Obito, relying on Kamui, struggled against Kinshiki Uchiha Itachi, dressed in Ōtsutsuki God-striking Robe, ambushed Momoshiki and seized the opportunity to rescue Naruto and Sasuke.

"Thanks to you, Asura and the reincarnation of Indra's Chakra get along very well, and the story of brothers killing each other has finally come to an end. For that, I thank you."

The Sage of Six Paths floated to Kazashiro's side and looked at the light screen in front of them together.

"No need to thank me, we're all brothers..."

Just as Kazashiro was about to ask what this had to do with his presence here, what happened next on the light screen completely stunned him.

Sasuke and Naruto were just on the verge of death, suddenly burst into action. Naruto, in particular, was covered in yellow light, with several Truth-Seeking Orb following and swirling around him.

Sasuke activated his Rinnegan, and with an Amenotejikara, he switched places with Naruto, slicing Momoshiki's body with his Kusanagi sword.

"Holy crap, it's open?"

The Kazashiro was dumbfounded.

How did these two suddenly explode with power in the blink of an eye?

"Before speaking with you, I had already met with the two of them and divided my power equally between them."

The Sage of Six Paths spoke of giving the two of them cheat codes as if it were perfectly natural.

"Why didn't you give me a turn when I was using the Isshiki?"

Kazashiro really wanted to slap this old man away.

When I was fighting tooth and nail for Isshiki, it wasn't as easy as those two did.

Others experience hardship before enjoyment, while I endured hardship first and then more hardship, ultimately only managing to finish the Isshiki by sacrificing myself.

No, whether I've actually mastered the Isshiki is still unknown.

"My power is of no use to you, and even your presence here was an accident."

The Sage of Six Paths laid his staff flat and reached out to close the light barrier.

"Why did you turn it off? I hadn't had enough!"

Kazashiro had just seen Naruto and Sasuke leading a group of people to beat up Momoshiki when the Sage of Six Paths abruptly stopped the broadcast, immediately whetting Kazashiro's appetite.

"You can see all of this now, even without the light screen, but it won't last long."

The Sage of Six Paths gestured for Kazashiro to close his eyes, carefully sense everything around him, and at the same time, silently imagine the scene he wanted to see.

Following the other party's instructions, Kazashiro truly sensed what was happening there, and could even freely zoom in and out of the viewpoint; the feeling was just like his own—

"Could it be...?"

Kazashiro suddenly opened his eyes.

He had a vague idea in his mind.

"That's right."

The Sage of Six Paths saw through Kazashiro's thoughts and steered the conversation back to the timeline of his battle with Isshiki.

"During your battle with Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, you used some means to detonate a large amount of compressed Natural Energy. In that instant, you and Isshiki completely vanished from this world."

However, unlike the Isshiki, because you have cultivated Natural Energy, after this explosion, your body, will, and soul have all become part of the Natural Energy. You are both omnipresent and omnipotent.

Life and death have no meaning for you anymore, and your soul will naturally not appear in the Pure Land."

Kazashiro was not surprised to hear the Sage of Six Paths' words.

His recent actions had made him realize his current situation.

"But when I enter that state, it's impossible for me to maintain my true self or preserve my will. So, is there something that allows my will to return? Could it be the wedge?"

Kazashiro vaguely guessed the source of the anomaly.

"You're even smarter than your friends say." The Sage of Six Paths nodded. "Even though it was carved temporarily, it still contains fragments of Ōtsutsuki's genes and Chakra. With these energies present, your will has an anchor in the Shinobi World, and the process of restoring your will has been accelerated."

Without the wedge, you might have to wait hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years to regain your will."