Where Does the Soul Go?

Water-style chakra... the root of his inability to touch water. Could it be... a curse?"

As he said this, his expression suddenly darkened.

"Wouldn't put it past those Uchiha bastards! They'd even target a child—especially Uchiha Madara. With his Mangekyō Sharingan, it's not impossible he'd pull a dirty trick like this..."

"Hold on, hold on!" Hibari hurriedly interrupted him. "Second Grandpa, Madara's a big name, and he has his pride. If you were in his shoes, would you curse a little kid from the Senju Clan?"

Tobirama was so effectively cut off that he didn't say anything more. He knew it himself, really. That man might be irritating, but he wasn't petty enough to target a child. He'd only said that because he'd gotten carried away with the insults.

Hibari knew all too well what was wrong with him.

The whole thing was ridiculous—he wasn't supposed to be here at all. His "ticket" had originally been for the One Piece World, but the driver was a rookie. They'd gotten so caught up chatting along the way that, before he knew it, the driver had taken a wrong turn and dropped him in this world instead.

There was never any going back from something like that. Hibari could've filed a complaint, but on second thought, this world wasn't so bad. It was mysterious and pretty interesting. And he'd gotten along well with the driver during their long chat. Aside from taking the wrong road, the driver had left a good impression.

They were both just trying to make an honest living, so Hibari didn't give him a hard time or file a complaint. He simply decided to settle down here.

The driver was so moved that his eyes filled with tears. He insisted on giving Hibari a treasure his grandfather had kept for years as a farewell gift...

Looking back now, that farewell gift was what had caused all his problems. If he could do it over, Hibari wouldn't just file a complaint—he'd want to strangle the driver.

Why? Because the Devil Fruit the bastard had given him was none other than the infamous "Zoan: Human-Human Fruit, Model: Human," said to be the most useless Devil Fruit of all.

And the fruit had reincarnated along with him... He couldn't get rid of it!

Anyway, in this life Hibari was, on the surface, a promising third-generation talent being properly trained by the Senju Clan. In secret, though, he was a bona fide Devil Fruit User.

What exactly could this ability do? Hibari could explain it himself.

Simply put, his name was Senju Hibari, and he'd eaten a Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit. As for its effects... aside from turning him into a landlubber, he hadn't discovered anything else yet.

Now he finally understood why that VIP customer had been so generous as to leave the Devil Fruit behind. If it were him, and he'd known the thing would follow him into his next life, he wouldn't have touched it with a ten-foot pole!

Still, there were two sides to everything. This damn fruit had made him the Senju Clan's biggest landlubber. He couldn't use Water Release, and he didn't even dare soak in a bathhouse. His weakness was painfully obvious.

But in private, Hibari had wondered why he had such ridiculous vitality and an enormous chakra reserve, just like Lord Hashirama. He wasn't the reincarnation of some child of the Sage of Six Paths, after all. After thinking it over, he figured it probably had something to do with that damned fruit.

After all, it was still a Zoan, and the biggest trait of Zoan fruits was that they enhanced physical abilities.

As for the vast amount of chakra, Hibari guessed that the energy inside the fruit had come with him when he was reincarnated. The laws of this world had transformed it into chakra... It wasn't impossible.

Of course, all of this was just speculation. He had no proof. One reason he was happy to help Second Grandpa Tobirama investigate those "truths" was that he wanted to understand what had happened to him.

More importantly, he wanted to see if there was a way to remove this damn curse!

Maybe there had been no solution in the One Piece World, but he was in a whole new world now, with different laws. Maybe there was a way after all.

Hibari shook his head, clearing away his scattered thoughts. He looked up at Second Grandpa Tobirama, who had returned to normal, and scratched the back of his head.

"Second Grandpa, let's put the Uchiha aside for now. Where do you think we should start if we want to cure this problem of mine?"

Second Grandpa Tobirama glanced at him and stroked his chin as he thought.

"My sensory abilities are decent, and I know a thing or two about souls and the mind..." He paused, sounding a little troubled. "But your situation really is tricky."

As he spoke, he sat back down and casually picked up the empty cup from the table.

He curled a finger, and clear water appeared out of nowhere in the cup, gently rippling.

Hibari had long since gotten used to this. He barely even raised an eyebrow.

Second Grandpa Tobirama took a sip to wet his throat, then looked over at him.

"The first method sounds the simplest, but it's also the most troublesome." He put down the cup. "Find the source of your 'curse' and break it at its root. If we can manage that, it should be fairly easy."

Hibari was stunned at first, then understood.

Find the source? Was he supposed to tear open the world and go back to the One Piece World? If he could do that, he wouldn't be sitting here worrying about this damned fruit.

He clicked his tongue, looking a little helpless.

"But didn't you say I'd had it since I was in the womb, Second Grandpa? I'm afraid there's no way to find the source..."

"That's true." Second Grandpa Tobirama nodded. "So we'll set that method aside for now. But you never know what might happen. Maybe you'll get lucky someday."

Hibari shook his head.

"I can't count on something that far-fetched." He leaned forward. "Second Grandpa, is there anything else we can try?"

Second Grandpa Tobirama glanced at him and spoke slowly.

"The second method treats the symptoms, not the cause."

"What is it?" Hibari perked up.

"Develop a special Sealing Jutsu tailored to you." Second Grandpa Tobirama explained, "Use yourself as the basis and seal the 'unknown thing' wrapped around your soul... or your mind, if you prefer, inside your body.

You've already learned Adamantine Sealing Chains, so I don't need to explain what Sealing Jutsu can do, do I?"

That made sense. What was Sealing Jutsu, after all? Simply put, it sealed things away. Even the endlessly burning Amaterasu Black Flames could be sealed with the Fire Sealing Method.

It didn't put the flames out. It stored them while they continued to burn.

By that logic, if they could follow Second Grandpa Tobirama's idea and develop a Sealing Jutsu specifically for Hibari, sealing away the Devil Fruit's curse... it might actually be possible. There seemed to be a good chance.

If he could seal away the Devil Fruit's curse inside him, Hibari figured he might finally be free of his landlubber fate. Then he could try more than just Water Release—even Lord Hashirama's Wood Release was worth getting his hands on.

But the method wasn't perfect. As Second Grandpa Tobirama had said, it treated the symptoms, not the cause.

The curse would only be sealed inside him; its source would still be there. If something went wrong in the future and the seal broke, he'd immediately turn back into the hapless fool who went limp at the sight of water.

If someone tricked him and tossed him into water, it wouldn't matter how capable he was. He'd be done for.

So at best, this was a stopgap measure. Trusting it to keep him safe for life would be like leaving his fate to luck. Hibari had no intention of becoming that kind of gambler.

"Sealing Jutsu, huh..." He scratched his head. "It's not a bad option. We can use it for now, until we find a permanent cure. But, Second Grandpa, is there anything else?"

Second Grandpa Tobirama's expression grew more serious. He set his cup down on the table and studied Hibari for a while before speaking. "Hibari, do you know where the soul goes after a person dies?"

"But didn't you say I'd had it since I was in the womb, Second Grandpa? I'm afraid there's no way to find the source..."

"Develop a special Sealing Jutsu tailored to you."

Second Grandpa Tobirama explained, "Seal the 'unknown thing' wrapped around your soul... or your mind, if you prefer, inside your body. You've already learned Adamantine Sealing Chains, so I don't need to explain what Sealing Jutsu can do, do I?"

By that logic, if they could follow Second Grandpa Tobirama's idea and develop a Sealing Jutsu specifically for Hibari to seal the Devil Fruit's curse... it might actually be possible. There seemed to be a good chance.

But when he thought about it, this was still just a temporary solution. If the seal weakened one day, or someone sabotaged it, he'd be right back where he started: a landlubber who was useless in water.

And if someone figured out his weakness and deliberately lured him into the water, then even the heavens themselves wouldn't be able to save him.

So this method was, at best, an emergency measure. Relying on it to keep him safe for life would be like gambling with his life. Hibari wasn't that reckless.

"Sealing Jutsu, huh..." He scratched the back of his head. "It'll do for now, but it's not a long-term solution. Do you have anything more reliable, Second Grandpa?"

Second Grandpa Tobirama didn't answer right away this time. He set his teacup on the table and looked at Hibari, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

"Hibari," he paused, "do you know where the soul goes after a person dies?"

The question caught Hibari off guard. He blinked twice.

"A-another world?" he ventured.

"That's not entirely wrong." Second Grandpa Tobirama smiled. "From my research, people generally go to one of two places after they die. Most return to the Pure Land and rest in peace. The other possibility... is that their souls are handed over to the Death God. Saying they go to another world isn't too far off."

Hibari quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He'd thought Second Grandpa had figured out where he came from. As it turned out, he'd just been thinking about this. Of course Hibari knew about the Pure Land and the Death God. He didn't just know about them—he himself had come from a "third place," another world in the truest sense.

When people in this world died, their souls either went to the Pure Land to rest or were stuffed into some strange place. Many were sealed inside the Death God's belly, where they were tormented in endless struggles.

As soon as Second Grandpa Tobirama mentioned "research," Hibari had guessed he was probably already working on Impure World Reincarnation.

The technique involved dealing with the souls of the dead, so it wasn't surprising that he'd found his way to the Pure Land. Without even knowing about it, there'd be no way to use Impure World Reincarnation.

As for the Death God... He'd probably heard that secret from Grandma Mito. Some Sealing Jutsu did send souls to the Death God, and the most famous one was the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, created by the ancestor of the Uzumaki Clan.

That technique was downright sinister, clearly a move that took both the user and their opponent down together. Whether the opponent died after it was used was hard to say, but the user was definitely doomed.

Second Grandpa must have exchanged plenty of secrets with Grandma Mito while working on Impure World Reincarnation. That was probably how he'd learned about the Death God.