The dream collapsed.
No, it had restarted because of an update.
Yamanaka Chujiu hadn't dared to linger. He used the force of the dream's collapse to escape, and the next moment, he opened his eyes in bed.
He let out a long breath of relief. "I got out of the dream without paying any price. I'm pretty lucky today."
"The question is, why did I enter Uchiha Itachi's dream? Was it just because I talked to him about the Execution Line yesterday?"
"Hmm?"
Only then did Yamanaka Chujiu notice that another mind had joined the Heart Severing Realm.
He clearly remembered that there had been only twenty-eight minds connected before he went to sleep. Now there were twenty-nine.
It wasn't that Yamanaka Chujiu was good at math. It was that this twenty-ninth connection was different.
Until now, all the connections established by the Heart Severing Realm had been living puppets converted from Root ninjas—blank minds devoid of any sense of self. The connection lines themselves were pale and dull, even thin and fragile, and it took Yamanaka Chujiu's chakra just to maintain them.
That was why Yamanaka Chujiu hadn't gone after Root ninjas on a large scale. He couldn't bear the cost of maintaining too many puppets.
But this new connection was different. Its line was full and resilient, its colors dazzling. It didn't just require no chakra from Yamanaka Chujiu; it actually sent a tiny amount of spiritual energy his way.
And it was an exceptionally pure kind of spiritual energy, one that could merge directly with his mind. It made his strength grow by a small but real amount, and filled him with genuine joy.
Yamanaka Chujiu sat dazed on his bed for quite a while, then suddenly jumped up. "Holy shit!"
"Th-this is fucking faith, isn't it?"
"No, no!"
"Faith is terrifying! How could an ordinary person like me deserve it? Once I have too many followers, I won't be myself anymore!"
"Cut it off. I have to—"
Yamanaka Chujiu froze again. He quietly looked down at his hands, the corners of his mouth slowly turning up.
He gave a bitter laugh and muttered to himself, "This is insane. I'm no peerless ninja prodigy. I don't have a cheat or a system, and I didn't transmigrate into the real protagonist's body. I'm already fourteen, and I'm only a Special Jōnin—and that's only because I bribed Orochimaru into specially approving me for an intelligence post."
"An actual chosen one—or a real transmigrator—would have become a Jōnin by fourteen, no matter how stupid they were. A decent one would already have made it into the ranks of Kage Level ninja."
"I'm just a Special Jōnin—in reality, a seasoned Chunin. All I have is the Heart Severing Realm, a little life-saving cheat that barely lets a weakling like me make it home alive from the battlefield. What right do I have to turn down the power of faith?"
"That's a happy problem for the big shots who've truly reached the peak and have nowhere left to go!"
"To me, faith is an upgraded cheat. It's a real path to becoming stronger!"
Yamanaka Chujiu had lived two lives. It took him only a few minutes to weigh the risks and rewards, and he began studying the power of faith brought by the Heart Severing Realm without the slightest hesitation.
Why had he gone to war and turned a blind eye to Hiruzen Sarutobi's restoration?
Because he wasn't strong enough.
He had resolved to oppose Hiruzen Sarutobi's restoration. Why, then, had he still devised a plan to let the restoration succeed before turning public sentiment against it?
Again, because he wasn't strong enough.
If Yamanaka Chujiu were strong enough—not even as strong as Senju Hashirama, just on Tobirama Senju's level—he wouldn't need such a complicated plan.
He could use Namikaze Minato's approach, beat the Uchiha into submission, then turn around and rally them against Hiruzen Sarutobi, holding Konoha hostage until he was forced to relinquish power completely.
Hiruzen Sarutobi could use Konoha to threaten the Uchiha and Namikaze Minato, but against Yamanaka Chujiu, the tables would be turned.
That was because Yamanaka Chujiu felt little attachment to Konoha, while Hiruzen Sarutobi loved it deeply. After all, the Sarutobi Clan was part of Konoha, too.
Hiruzen Sarutobi could use administrative measures to quietly hide the Sarutobi Clan's enormous size, but he couldn't fool Yamanaka Chujiu, a transmigrator.
All he had to do was show the Uchiha and Hyuga the Sarutobi Clan's true numbers, then ask, "Half the Konoha ninjas come from the Sarutobi Clan, but how many of them are on the battlefield? If things keep going like this, is this Konoha, or the Sarutobi Clan's village?"
Forget the Uchiha and Hyuga—even the Inuzuka Clan, the Aburame Clan, and the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans, all staunch supporters of the Hokage, would fall out with the Third Hokage on the spot.
Why hadn't Yamanaka Chujiu dared to do it yet? Because he wasn't strong enough. Forget gathering solid evidence to prove the Sarutobi Clan's wrongdoing; he couldn't even protect his own life.
Once he was "forced" to commit suicide, he could easily be smeared as a lunatic, a Kumogakure spy, or a Konoha traitor. Whatever he said would be dismissed as a rumor and an insult to Konoha!
And that would be the end of it.
But with strength, Yamanaka Chujiu could speak out as loudly as he wanted. As long as no one could make him "commit suicide," he'd have plenty to say.
Yamanaka Chujiu could drop a few bombshells, and Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't be able to kill him for talking nonsense. The result would be Hiruzen Sarutobi disgraced and the Sarutobi Clan ruined along with him.
That was how important strength was!
So when a path appeared—one that might let him gather people, amass faith, and eventually become a god—Yamanaka Chujiu naturally had to take it.
It didn't take him long to figure out why he had received faith.
The Heart Severing Realm could connect not only to minds that Yamanaka Chujiu understood, but also to minds that agreed with his ideas.
The more deeply he understood a mind, the stronger his control over it became, until it eventually turned into a living puppet, like an avatar outside his own body.
Minds that agreed with Yamanaka Chujiu's ideas, on the other hand, contributed the spiritual energy they didn't need. The more strongly they agreed with him, the purer and more potent the spiritual energy they gave him became.
The Heart Severing Realm had evolved from the Mind Transfer Jutsu, and Yamanaka Chujiu had used it for years. Only today had he finally seen how powerful this cheat really was.
Given enough time to develop and build a vast system of faith, he might be able to become a god in one leap.
Not like Nagato, that fool who had been bewildered by another's power, ignored his own short life, and fancied himself a god.
Nor like Kaguya Otsutsuki, an unparalleled being who could neither die nor be destroyed and could wipe out the world with a wave of her hand.
And certainly not like the Shinigami, a rule-bound god embodied by the laws of the Shinobi World and summoned by ninjas.
Chujiu would be a god of faith, one who gathered the power of belief, forged a golden body through worship, and ascended to godhood through the strength of the many.
Yamanaka Chujiu's eyes gleamed. He smiled to himself. "Fourteen years since I transmigrated, and at last, I have something to look forward to."
"Please, go ahead and restore your rule, Third Hokage."
"But I promise you, the days after your restoration will be quite entertaining. Until you can't bear to step down for a second time, you won't have a single day of peace."
"Heh heh. The most important thing now is to treat Uchiha Itachi's mental illness."
"My first believer can't be mentally ill!"
Before you continue