"Do not wake."
After the White Vessel spoke those words, the heartbeat deep within the old temple stopped for a moment.
The next pulse was heavier.
The Seven Stone Islands rose toward the sea's surface in unison.
Great sheets of salt crust flaked off the broken pillars, revealing white channels hidden beneath the stone.
They all led to the very bottom of the old temple.
There was no intact body there.
Only an outline of chakra wrapped in layer upon layer of seals.
The outline looked more human than the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
The positions of its forehead, hands, and long hair were clearly visible, but shadows still obscured its face.
Gen did not let the buoys move any closer.
The ninjutsu on the sea's surface had only just been withdrawn. Any new chakra could become fuel for the revival.
He merely had three buoys continue recording from their existing positions.
"Who mustn't wake?" Shisui asked again.
The White Vessel raised a hand and pointed at the moon.
Then they pointed at their own chest.
"Her."
"Inside."
That was not a name.
Nor could it prove that the outline possessed an independent consciousness.
But a moment earlier, Black Zetsu had said, "Bring her back."
Two sources, without consulting each other, had pointed to the same female being.
Obito saw the bottom level of the old temple through the Kamui rift, and a sharp pain shot through his right eye.
The space there had not formed naturally.
It folded in the same way as the oldest passage inside the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
The statue was like a shell left on the ground.
The old temple at sea was like its other half, preserving consciousness and coordinates.
Black Zetsu had been building a bridge between them