News of Mother

"Hui, come with me. I'm taking you somewhere."

[Summoning Technique]

Chuanhe summoned a metal cube resembling a Rubik's Cube. After extracting a single piece from it, he dispelled the summoning.

The two of them then vanished together in a puff of smoke.

It was the [Reverse-Summoning Technique].

They appeared inside a brightly lit cavern, surrounded by light sources Hui did not recognize.

The floor had the texture of glass, and within it, a "flesh mass" could be clearly seen pulsing. Hui felt a wave of nausea.

"Hui, I'm going to show you those three. The thing on the floor is what summoned us here. Don't worry. For long-distance travel, the Summoning Technique is more efficient."

Hui shifted his gaze and began walking toward the cave entrance.

Above, the new moon still hung in the sky, and below lay a brightly lit small town. Despite it being night, the town was bustling with activity.

Hui observed with his own eyes; most of the people there were teenagers under the age of fifteen.

"Yuki and I killed many people in our lives, but she once told me that she absolutely hated that feeling," Chuanhe said, looking at the town before them as he reminisced.

Hui felt his body tremble slightly.

"So, I asked her: why don't we just retire to the mountains and live an ordinary life, and stop fighting altogether?" Chuanhe continued, speaking to himself.

"She agreed. Using the time we had between missions, we slowly built a new home here. After that, we both did our best to avoid causing any more bloodshed," Chuanhe said softly.

Hui looked further into the distance; even though it was night, he could still see clearly. Was that a lush green meadow? This place felt strangely familiar.

"Until one day, she became pregnant with you. I happily examined her body, only to suddenly discover just how severe the hidden injuries were from all those years she had spent on the front lines of battle. As a medical ninja, I should have discovered it much sooner," Chuanhe's tone became unnatural.

"If things continued like this, you both would... die. I even begged Tsunade, but she was powerless to help," Chuanhe's voice slowly deepened.

"The cowardly version of me died at that moment. I researched like a madman. If the body wasn't good enough, I'd just swap it! If that didn't work, I'd go and seize the Rinnegan!" Chuanhe's voice slowed, yet it carried a bone-chilling coldness.

"I went straight to Orochimaru, blew up his base, and threatened him into handing over the [Living Corpse Reincarnation]. In the end, I obtained the technique through a trade. Unfortunately, Orochimaru hadn't finished developing his [Living Corpse Reincarnation] at the time, but this incomplete technique gave me inspiration."

"If it wasn't necessary, I didn't want Yuki to go to the Pure Land. I had no idea if that place was as wonderful as that old man described, or if it was just another hell."

"Even for Orochimaru, transferring a soul was incredibly difficult, let alone for Yuki. So, I invented a technique that could seal souls: the [Soul Sealing Technique]. During that time, I broke my vow to Yuki. I am a kind person, but before that, I was an extremely selfish one. To perfect this technique, I lost count of how many souls dissipated at my hands over those six months."

"But time did not wait for me... the technique remained imperfect."

"Yuki... she told me to take the leap, that it was death either way, so at the very last moment, I used the unfinished [Soul Sealing Technique] on her."

"That's right, it succeeded! But it also failed. Heh, I really am a fool. I only thought about preserving her soul, never considering that such a powerful seal would also trap her in a deep slumber," Chuanhe mocked himself.

"Fa... Father, so Mother is still alive, right? Is that it? Is it the thing I'm carrying on my back?" Hui asked urgently.

"Alive, she is indeed alive. But it is not the thing on your back. That is a [Reverse-Memory Well]," Chuanhe said in a low voice.

Hui was clearly confused; what was a [Reverse-Memory Well]? But his heart slowly settled; his father had said this was good news.

Chuanhe didn't explain, instead taking Hui's hand and saying, "This is why I brought you here. Follow me."

A familiar sensation—was this [Space Leap]? But there hadn't been a [Shortcut] here just a moment ago. Upon reaching their destination, he looked at the stone pillar carved with incantations. This was a sealing technique? So that was it.

Ever since Chuanhe had explained dimensions to Hui, he had realized that sealing techniques could be simply divided into those that sealed within three dimensions and those that sealed within four.

If one compared the world to a sheet of paper (1), then sealing into the fourth dimension was like this (I), like two pages of a book. Storage scrolls, for instance, worked this way. If the axis of penetration was changed from the fourth axis, it would connect two destinations like a thread, drawing them closer.

Just like a folded piece of paper, the shortest path became a direct penetration through two sheets. It became an artificial [Shortcut]. So this was the [Flying Thunder God Technique]. I see. Even the fact that the further the distance, the more chakra it consumed, was the same.

Hui now had a clear idea of how to execute the [Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder], an advanced ninjutsu originally belonging to the [Flying Thunder God Technique].

The technique originally required an extremely strong ability to perceive "space," but for Hui, who possessed Four-Dimensional Perception, that was not a problem.

Walking along the path, Hui felt as though he had grasped the principles of this highly mysterious space-time ninjutsu.

"Hui, look. Those three are the people who came to assassinate us today," Chuanhe pointed toward three individuals in the distance who were being lectured by a boy of about fifteen or sixteen.

This person was Toshio, a commoner whose family had once made a living by fishing. Because they were caught in the crossfire of ninja battles, they had been left wandering. When Chuanhe and Yuki found him, he was leading over a dozen orphans with similar experiences.

These orphans were brought to this place by the two of them and became the original managers of this settlement.

Toshio also spotted Chuanhe and shouted excitedly, "Boss! Boss! You haven't been here in so long, I've missed you to death! Is this person also here to join the village? Perfect timing, 'Big Cat' just sent over three more."

Chuanhe smiled and said, "No, no. This is my son, Hui. Hui, this is Toshio. Get to know each other."

"Oh! So you're the Little Boss," Toshio greeted Hui in a very easygoing manner.

"H-hello, Toshio," Hui said, feeling somewhat unnatural. His focus was entirely on the three people standing to the side.

Their previously hollow and lifeless eyes had completely changed; they seemed to radiate a kind of clear-eyed foolishness. Mimicking Toshio, they shouted at Hui, "Hello, Boss! Hello, Little Boss!"

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Toshio, Chuanhe watched their retreating figures and said, "This is the [Memory Well], a part of the [Soul Sealing Technique]. I don't have the eloquence to turn black into white. If I want to give them a new life, this is the best method I could devise."

"By casting a segment of memory into the [Memory Well], similar memories will seep into it. This is also one of the principles behind that genjutsu."

"The [Reverse-Memory Well] works in the opposite way; it releases the memories contained within. However, just like the [Memory Well], it requires corresponding memories to guide it."

"For ninjas like them, one only needs to cast their chakra and memories related to pain into the [Memory Well] to seal them away. In this state, they haven't forgotten their past bonds, yet they have gained a new life."

"As for their power? Other ninjas might be a subject for debate, but for Root ninjas, this is already a very good ending."

"What you carry on your back is both Yuki's blessing and a shackle. Inside the [Reverse-Memory Well] are all the beautiful memories and combat experiences of her life. She hopes you won't fall into the vortex of hatred as we did, but she also doesn't want you to die without knowing why."

Hui's eyes grew moist. So that was it; this was the reason for his guilt. His rapid progress in learning ninjutsu wasn't entirely due to his father's scrolls. Did his mother not want him to become a ninja?

Choking back a sob, Hui asked, "Is Mother here right now?"

"That's right. Follow me."

Hui felt the sensation of [Space Leap] once more. The delay didn't seem right. The [Flying Thunder God Technique] his father had described was nearly instantaneous, whereas this technique seemed to have a lag. Were the two techniques not the same?

They arrived at another stone pillar, carved with identical incantations.

It seems this is an underground facility, Hui thought to himself.

They came to a stop before a massive cylindrical glass tank, with a "male infant" floating in the center.

Hui looked at the "infant" in confusion. For some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity and closeness, as if... as if he were looking at himself.

Standing to the side, Chuanhe said with a complex expression, "Hui, your body was very weak at the beginning, just as I had predicted. You were born riddled with illness. This is your original body."

"Three months after you were born, I perfected the [Soul Sealing Technique] and transferred you into a new body. It took many adjustments to make you who you are today."

All the questions Hui had about himself were answered in that moment.

"Come, this way."

The two descended a long flight of stairs and arrived before another cylindrical glass tank.

A young girl floated in the water. She had long, smooth, jet-black hair—a quintessential Uchiha beauty.

Chuanhe gently stroked the glass in front of him, as if he were caressing Yuki.

"Yuki, you've been asleep for too long. Wake up soon; Hui has come to see you," Chuanhe murmured.

Hui stood by, watching the person he should have been so familiar with, and tears began to stream down his face uncontrollably.

With a voice thick with tears, he asked, "Fa... Father, if it's the seal being too strong that caused this slumber, why can't we just break the seal and reseal it?"

Chuanhe fell silent. It wasn't a miscalculation on his part; this was the final contingency he had left for Hui.

"If the technique is broken, the soul will drift back to its original body. Without the original body, it would be pulled into the Pure Land at an unnatural speed."

He spoke the answer he had tested countless times.

"At this stage, I dare not gamble. I would rather Yuki sleep a while longer than lose her permanently due to my own mistake," Chuanhe said, his voice trembling slightly.

If only he could find where the Pure Land was. He would have loved to drag the old man Six Paths out, beat him up, and then kick him right back out of the Pure Land. But there were no "ifs" in this world.

"Hui, don't worry. According to the current situation, Yuki should be able to fully awaken within five years at most. It will likely take less than half a year before she can communicate with us," Chuanhe told Hui, sounding slightly excited.

"Yuki left behind a special Shadow Clone, which I have sealed within the [Reverse-Memory Well]."

"Do you want to see it?" Chuanhe asked, sounding hesitant.

This was the insurance policy Yuki had left for Hui; using it this way felt like a waste.

It was through the state of this Shadow Clone that he had discovered Yuki might wake up in the near future. She was still too doting, wanting to shoulder even that level of pain for Hui. But without weathering the storm, how could one ever see the rainbow?

"No, Father. I've made it through six years; I can wait a few more months." Hui shook his head gently.

Being clever, he understood his mother's intentions. It was only half a year; he could afford to wait.