What do you mean, keep being useful after death?!
What do you mean, guide people after death?!
Sasuke! Do you have any idea what you're saying?!
Uchiha Izumi felt like her brain was about to short-circuit.
Guide people after death?... Elder Shin narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Sasuke held out his hand. Chakra gathered in his palm, spinning rapidly until it formed a blue chakra sphere. A gale swept through the room!
Rasengan!... Elder Shin's eyes widened!
The Fourth Hokage's signature jutsu!
He wasn't even a year old!
At that age, his chakra pathways hadn't finished developing. It should have been impossible for him to refine or control chakra!
Izumi couldn't help crying out in shock.
"How did you refine chakra?" Compared to the Rasengan, this was what Elder Shin cared about more.
Nine-Tails... Sasuke mouthed silently.
Nine-Tails!!!? Elder Shin asked in disbelief, "Hadn't it already been...?"
"Only half of it remains in Konoha now..."
"Half?"
That meant the other half was inside Sasuke?
Elder Shin looked uncertain, then threw his head back and laughed. "Hahaha! Good! Hahaha! Excellent!"
Someone who wasn't even a year old couldn't possibly refine chakra or use the Rasengan. And there was no way he could know about the Nine-Tails.
Those three inexplicable facts alone were enough for him to believe Sasuke!
Outside the room.
"This..."
Hearing Elder Shin's laughter, the Uchiha gathered outside exchanged bewildered looks.
Fugaku secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He'd made the right bet...
Inside the room.
"Little Sasuke, can I die now?" Elder Shin had stopped laughing, and his face had suddenly lit up, as if he were looking forward to death.
"Not yet." Sasuke shook his head. "At least wait until we're gone."
"Good!" Elder Shin said heartily. "These old bones can hold on for a few more minutes. You go first, and have everyone else come in."
"Okay. Goodbye, Elder Shin." Sasuke took Izumi, whose mind had completely frozen up, and left the room.
As soon as they came out, the clan's senior members crowded around them, talking over one another:
"What happened?"
"What's wrong with Elder Shin?"
"What did you talk about?"
"Why is Elder Shin so happy?"
Sasuke gestured toward the room. "Elder Shin said he could hold on for a few more minutes. He told me to ask you all to go in."
Realizing Elder Shin still had important matters to discuss with them before he died, they stopped asking questions and hurried into the room.
Fugaku, bringing up the rear, glanced at Sasuke with a complicated expression.
Sasuke waved at him with an innocent look. "Dad, Mom, Izumi and I will be going now."
That's right... No matter what, he's still my son... Fugaku felt a weight lift from his heart. He smiled and nodded. "All right. Go on home."
Then he turned to Izumi. "Izumi, I'm counting on you to look after Sasuke."
Izumi snapped back to her senses and hurriedly nodded. "Oh, all right. You can count on me, Clan Head."
Inside the room.
"Elder..."
"Let me speak." Elder Shin waved his hand. "I don't have much time left."
Everyone's faces grew solemn, and they fell silent.
Elder Shin began, "First, what happened between Sasuke, Izumi, and me must stay between us. Don't tell anyone—not even the clan members. Understood?"
Though they didn't know what had happened between them, everyone nodded. "Yes."
"Also, I know you're dissatisfied with Fugaku for failing to shield the Uchiha Clan from pressure from the higher-ups. But you must understand our clan's situation!"
"The higher-ups suspect that we were behind the Nine-Tails attack. Our Uchiha Clan is already at the end of its rope!"
"To get through this crisis, we must stand united!"
"From now on, when it comes to major decisions affecting the clan's future, you must listen to Fugaku. No objections. Understood?"
The clan's senior members and elders glanced at Fugaku, then lowered their eyes and answered deferentially, "Yes."
"Hmph!" Realizing they hadn't truly taken his words to heart, Elder Shin slammed his hand against the bed and snorted. "Don't think that just because I'm about to die, you can brush me off. I won't truly die!"
"Even if I die, my will shall live on. I'll still be watching everything you do!"
"From now on, if you defy Fugaku's decisions in secret, don't blame me, Uchiha Shin, for forgetting the ties between us!"
This...
His will would live on...?
The others remembered a certain forbidden technique, and thought of Izumi and Sasuke's visit moments ago...
Could Elder Shin be planning to...
Mikoto looked reluctant. "Elder..."
"Don't worry..." Elder Shin waved his hand, then swept his sharp gaze over everyone present. "Did you understand what I just said?"
"Understood!" XN
"Good!" Satisfied, Elder Shin nodded. His spiritual will began to dissipate, and he weakly waved them away, his voice as faint as a thread. "You may leave."
"Fugaku... stay."
"Yes!" The others were overcome with grief. After one last deep look at Elder Shin, they left the room with heavy hearts.
After they had left.
Elder Shin shakily took out a bottle. "My... eyes... give... them... to Sasuke..."
Seeing the eyeballs, their distinctive patterns visible through the special liquid they were soaking in, Fugaku's pupils shrank!
Elsewhere.
"Sasuke, are you really not going to explain any of this to me?"
Back at the clan head's residence, Izumi stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at Sasuke with a fierce, puffed-up look.
"Shh~" Sasuke put a finger to his lips. "If we miss Elder Shin's soul, all our efforts will have been for nothing."
Soul?...
Oh, no!
Did Sasuke have the power to capture souls?
Izumi stared at him in shock, instinctively covering her mouth.
It wasn't hard to figure out, given what they'd said earlier.
She had plenty of questions, but seeing how serious Sasuke looked, she could only set them aside for now.
A short while later.
'Ding!'
'Congratulations, host. You have successfully contained Uchiha Shin's soul!'
Hearing the notification in his mind, Sasuke's lips curled into a slight smile. "All right, let's go!"
Go? Where?... Izumi hadn't had time to react before Sasuke pulled her into the room.
"Izumi, don't resist..."
Don't resist?... Before she could understand what he meant, Izumi felt a force trying to pull her consciousness out of her body. She panicked instinctively, but remembered Sasuke's words and didn't fight back.
Then the scene shifted.
Her consciousness appeared in an unfamiliar wilderness, where a familiar figure stood before her.
"Elder Shin!"
She hurriedly greeted him, her heart in turmoil.
"Mm."
Elder Shin gave a quiet acknowledgment as he surveyed the surroundings, then exclaimed, "Incredible! What kind of ability is this?"
He remembered reaching the end of his life and being on the verge of entering the Pure Land when an invisible force had swept him away. Then he'd arrived here, and Sasuke and Izumi had appeared beside him.
Sasuke explained, "This is Soul Space, also known as Soul Prison. It can imprison the souls of people who have just died."
"Soul Prison?"
The weather was pleasant, and birds sang among the flowers. It didn't look like a prison at all.
Sasuke smiled. "I can change the surroundings here with a thought. Elder Shin isn't an outsider, and I'll have a lot to rely on him for in the future. Naturally, I can't have him living in a prison cell."
What an incredible ability...
"Impressive!" Elder Shin exclaimed.
Then, remembering the Rasengan, he looked at Sasuke. "A space this incredible must have other abilities besides imprisoning souls, right?"
Before you continue