Chapter 321: Transition
Fate had once again favored Uzumaki Naruto. He'd succeeded. At least for now, he no longer needed to plot seizing the Rinnegan.
Kushina Uzumaki had truly, genuinely "come alive"—no longer a cold Impure World shell driven by forbidden jutsu.
However, matters in this world rarely proceeded smoothly. Using "Impure World Reincarnation" as the foundation supplemented with "Gold Experience's" life energy infusion ultimately hadn't created a flawless resurrection miracle.
An unavoidable limitation emerged—time.
Naruto quickly discovered that if he merely created a body without a soul inhabiting it, like crafting a lifelike sculpture, the life energy contained within could stably maintain for several years.
But once a real soul inhabited and drove this body, the situation became entirely different. Everything sustaining simulated life's instinctive activities—heartbeat, breathing, neural conduction, even the most subtle emotional fluctuations—continuously and acceleratingly consumed the initially injected life energy.
Rough calculation: the cycle was approximately seven days. After seven days, Kushina would clearly feel her body's sensations slowly dissipating like ebbing tide.
First taste would become dull, then smell would fail to capture scents, touch would gradually blur, and finally even pain would quietly depart. The neural network supporting perception would be silently extracted strand by strand, reverting to that dust body with consciousness yet imprisoned.
Fortunately, as long as Naruto remained nearby, that unique life energy could be considered "unlimited refills."
He could perform the ability again, letting his mother's body once more fill with vitality, returning to this flesh-and-blood Kushina Uzumaki who could cry and laugh. Only, this discovery thoroughly proved that depending on "Impure World Reincarnation" plus "Gold Experience" to achieve large-scale, permanent resurrection was an impassable road.
After clearly knowing this process caused Naruto no substantial loss or side effects, Kushina completely set down her psychological burden, no longer being "polite," calmly accepting her son's jutsu energy input to maintain this hard-won "pseudo-resurrection" state's continuation.
She silently apologized in her heart to Minato in the other world, but that intense desire as a mother couldn't be suppressed—she sincerely prayed the Impure World Reincarnation contract could last a bit longer, just a bit longer... At minimum, she must personally witness Naruto stepping into marriage's hall.
After all, her child possessed such a lovely fiancée who deeply loved him. This life's critically important happy moment—she wanted to witness it personally no matter what.
And Naruto finally fulfilled his wish, personally cooking a meal for his mother—a dinner deliberately avoiding all tomato dishes.
However, Kushina tasting her son's cooking experienced a subtle emotional journey. Initial feeling touched by her son's consideration was quickly replaced by the dishes' amazing flavors upon entry, but what followed wasn't pure joy but... disappointment?
Her son's culinary skills had already reached such excellence far surpassing her own? Then her wish to compensate for past absence by cooking for him—wouldn't that instead become... a hindrance?
Keenly perceiving his mother's emotional downturn, Naruto hastily offered comfort. Saying things like flavor weren't the most important at all! Compared to food he made, naturally Mom's cooking was a hundred times better!
"Because Mom's cooking contains a unique feeling that makes me feel at ease—something even the best culinary skills can't replace."
Naruto spoke extremely mushy words he'd previously had no chance to say, but Kushina completely ate this up.
Hearing her son's overly understanding, considerate words constantly thinking of her, the dam Kushina's heart had built due to the approaching separation was once again breached by reluctant tides. She tightly embraced her son, greedily breathing this incomparably real warm presence, increasingly unable to let go of that destined future parting.
Days quietly flowed in this hard-won peace and warmth for roughly two weeks. Naruto nearly indulged with imperceptible greed in this daily life immeasurably precious to him—the little moments living together with his mother, and Satsuki-chan's frequent visits constructing this happiness filled with life's warmth.
Initially, Naruto's heart held hidden worry—concerned whether spending too long with his mother would cause Satsuki to feel jealous. However, reality's development was far more harmonious than he'd anticipated.
Mother Kushina's side naturally needn't be mentioned. In her eyes, Satsuki had a ninety-nine percent probability of becoming her future daughter-in-law. That heartfelt affection and acceptance naturally brought their relationship close.
And Satsuki toward Kushina, beyond the respect juniors should show elders, Naruto vaguely perceived her heart's strongest emotional fluctuation was actually a profound... gratitude?
Naruto didn't know—he'd originally thought his mother's visit to the Uchiha compound was merely visiting old friends, but actually she'd solemnly confirmed that half-joking "childhood betrothal" arrangement from years ago.
Kushina also fully demonstrated motherly consideration. She knew when a girl deeply loving her son longed to spend time with Naruto, she couldn't excessively "monopolize" him.
Therefore, she'd often consciously find reasons—either seeking Mikoto Uchiha for reminiscing chats, or organizing items at home—cleverly creating space so Satsuki and Naruto could have time alone.
Besides her heart's depths harboring unresolvable guilt and lingering longing toward her husband Minato, Kushina's tremendous regret before death of being unable to personally witness her child grow up was, in this miraculous "pseudo-resurrection" state, being compensated bit by bit. Former extravagant hopes were gradually becoming reality.
For Naruto, this period also seemed especially tranquil. Konoha Village remained in post-war recovery. Moreover, after the Third Hokage was "educated" by his mother and still recuperated in hospital, the village's ninja mission system temporarily existed in semi-stagnant state.
Naruto gladly enjoyed this leisure, waiting with peaceful mentality. He guessed perhaps one day, Jiraiya would suddenly appear, pulling him to embark on the journey seeking Tsunade and persuading her to return to the village for Fifth Hokage succession... The Third should choose retirement, right?
Daily rhythm became simple yet fulfilling—accompanying his mother, spending time with Satsuki, and roughly once every three days, responding to Gaara's "summons." Through Flying Thunder God instantly arriving at Sand Village, chatting with Gaara, discussing each other's recent situations, then being kept by him for dinner amid Gaara's careful yet incomparably insistent expectation.
Temari and Kankuro no longer feared their brother, only their gazes toward Naruto now held several parts awe.
Each of Naruto's sudden visits would inevitably cause small-scale, enemy-approaching nervous alert states in Sand Village. However, besides these harmless little episodes, everything remained calm. No particularly noteworthy major events occurred.
During daily training intervals, Naruto began bringing Zacian along. Considering the lack of convenient items like Pokéballs, he adopted this world's common method—signing a summoning contract with Zacian.
This way, both solving the carrying problem and filling the gap from being unable to summon Mount Myoboku's toads for battle.
When Sakura saw Naruto suddenly having a blue-furred puppy beside him and learned they'd signed a summoning contract, she was genuinely startled. Thinking Naruto would follow Kiba's path.
Naruto proposed letting Sakura and Zacian conduct a simple sparring practice. Sakura was somewhat stunned upon hearing this. Though she knew her strength in Team Seven ranked bottom, having her spar with a puppy... wasn't this looking down on people too much?
However, merely one exchange—that blue puppy seemingly casually charged at her—the next second, Sakura's vision went black, completely losing consciousness.
Only then did Naruto realize he'd severely underestimated the "Legendary Pokemon" designation's weight, much less one hailed as the "Warrior" of legend. To more accurately assess Zacian's strength, he decided to have his shadow clone conduct a serious battle with it.
The process roughly went as follows:
[Uzumaki Naruto's Shadow Clone issued a challenge!]
[Zacian's attack rose!]
[Uzumaki Naruto used Rasengan!]
[But it missed!]
[Zacian used Iron Head!]
[It's super effective!]
[Uzumaki Naruto's Shadow Clone vanished!]
[Gained experience points!]
Actual combat indeed proved an effective growth method. Naruto could clearly feel Zacian was growing stronger at astonishing speed. Without borrowing Nine-Tails chakra's power, he'd probably struggle subduing this seemingly cute "puppy" in short time.
Additionally, the "small" prefix would probably soon need removing. Naruto had still underestimated this creature's growth speed.
Born merely two weeks ago, Zacian's size had already grown to nearly half human height. The original cute infant appearance had faded somewhat, replaced by gradually revealing majestic bearing, and this growth trend showed no signs of slowing.
Watching the rapidly growing Zacian, Kushina felt somewhat guilty instead. She'd thought it was her problem—after all, during leisure time, she'd frequently given this "puppy" extra meals. And Zacian wasn't picky, moreover Kushina's culinary skills were genuinely quite good.
The previously purchased small dog bed obviously could no longer be used. Looked like preparing a real bed was needed to accommodate Zacian's increasingly massive frame.
While Naruto quietly waited for the Third Hokage's hospital discharge or Jiraiya coming to find him for jointly seeking Tsunade during this period, one strange matter caught his attention.
Naruto admitted he'd recently deliberately avoided contact with villagers. Those attempting to disturb him were mostly timely intercepted by Satsuki and Kushina. But surely that didn't warrant completely concealing such important news from him?
One morning, Uzumaki Naruto gazed toward the distant Hokage Monument as usual. His gaze suddenly froze—at some unknown time, construction had quietly begun there, carving what appeared to be someone's Fifth Hokage face.