Was Hayato dead?
His heart had been pierced. He was dead beyond doubt.
More precisely, he had died once.
The instant his heart and breathing stopped, a black ghost wrapped head to toe in bandages ran out of his body. It was the Black Ghost formed from the chakra he had received as a reward last time.
Most of the time, the Chakra Ghost stayed inside Hayato's body, only occasionally coming out for a stroll. Hayato could not figure out its behavioral patterns. The only thing he knew for sure was that it did not listen to him at all.
The Chakra Ghost stared curiously at Hayato's corpse, then thrust one hand into his body and gave a hard pull, yanking out Hayato in his soul form.
Hayato looked at his own corpse on the ground. It felt strange, did it not?
In the world of Naruto, a ninja's soul returned to the Pure Land after death.
Hayato had thought he would see something like a door or a beam of light, but there was nothing. Perhaps it was because he was not truly dead. He was merely in a soul state, like when Spirit Transformation Jutsu caused the soul to leave the body.
After curiously poking Hayato's corpse a few times, the Chakra Ghost lost interest and turned its attention to Rasa, who had been brought back by Impure World Reincarnation.
The Chakra Ghost was composed of special chakra. Ordinary people could not see it, and even the Byakugan and Sharingan could not detect it—Hayato had tested this in front of Sasuke and Neji Hyuga. Unless Hayato's emotions fluctuated intensely, or he actively made the Chakra Ghost appear.
Yet Rasa, in his Impure World Reincarnation state, seemed able to see the Chakra Ghost. He was deeply wary of it