Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

This question made Yoruichi's expression somewhat complicated.

She didn't answer immediately, but instead turned her gaze to the silent figure leaning against the door.

Urahara's eyes flickered slightly, as if he had guessed something, but he didn't speak, quietly waiting for Yoruichi to continue.

"What caused all of this was Sasuke's Zanpakuto."

She gave an answer that surprised even Kisuke Urahara.

"..."

Kisuke Urahara's expression froze slightly at that moment.

He followed Yoruichi's gaze and looked at Sasuke, who was standing quietly in the shadows.

Sasuke did not avoid his gaze.

He simply raised his right hand, drew the long, jet-black sword from his waist, and laid it horizontally on the table.

It is "Indra".

He offered no explanation, because he knew the man before him would understand.

Kisuke Urahara stared intently at the sword. After a moment, he extended Benihime and carefully touched the black blade with the tip of the scabbard.

I didn't feel any spiritual pressure rebound, nor any energy fluctuations.

That knife was like a piece of black charcoal that could absorb all light and heat—dead still and profound.

"......I see."

Kisuke Urahara retrieved Benihime, sat back in his original seat, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"I think I know what's going on."

He lowered his voice, as if talking to himself, "Sasuke-kun, your sword has the ability to 'devour,' right?"

"It can completely devour the slain void, along with its soul and everything else, and then transform it into a part of your own power."

Sasuke's eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded calmly.

"Ah."

Having received an affirmative answer, Yoruichi's expression became even more serious.

“But that doesn’t make sense, Urahara.”

She expressed her confusion, saying, "Virtual beings can devour each other; that's how they evolve, and it's the norm in Hueco Mundo."

"But no matter how large the scale of that kind of devouring, I have never heard of it affecting the total amount of souls."

"Yes."

Kisuke Urahara's voice became meaningful, his gaze fixed intently on the black sword.

"Miss Yoruichi, you've overlooked a crucial difference."

"The devouring between ordinary voids is digestion."

"What was devoured by Sasuke's sword was 'erased' from the very source of this world's cyclical system."

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Hollow killed by this sword will not leave anything behind, not even a trace of its spiritual particles dissipating."

Urahara paused, then looked at Sasuke with a questioning gaze.

Sasuke nodded. To be able to guess so much from just one touch, he was truly a terrifying guy.

You're right.

Sasuke picked up Indra and sheathed it. "Although it is a Zanpakuto, the power of this sword does not seem to originate from this world."

"Oh?" Kisuke Urahara's eyes lit up instantly, and he leaned forward slightly, all his attention drawn to those words.

“Indra is my other half of soul, an extension of my ‘hatred’ and ‘chakra’.”

“Chakra…” Urahara repeated the word in a low voice.

After hearing all this, Kisuke Urahara fell silent, and the folding fan in his hand stopped waving.

For a long, long time.

"......interesting."

Kisuke Urahara's voice finally broke the silence, "This is really interesting."

"Sasuke-kun, may I ask you a question?"

Sasuke nodded slightly.

"Regarding chakra."

Kisuke Urahara spoke slowly, but every sentence was full of logic. "According to what you said before, it is produced by extracting and fusing one's own 'physical energy' and 'spiritual energy,' right?"

"Yes."

"So here's the question."

Kisuke Urahara snapped his fan shut and tapped his palm lightly with the fan ribs, voicing the core of the contradiction.

"Miss Yoruichi can clearly perceive and absorb the so-called 'natural energy' in your world, which proves that the essence of her soul is compatible with the laws of that world."

He paused, his eyes fixed intently on Sasuke.

"But no matter what she did, she was unable to extract even a single trace of chakra from her body."

"why?"

Kisuke Urahara leaned forward slightly. "Could it be that the life forms in our two worlds are fundamentally different in their most basic structure?"

This question caused Yoruichi to pause slightly, and she also turned her curious gaze to Sasuke.

However, Sasuke simply shook his head calmly.

"Your premise was wrong from the very beginning."

"Oh?" Kisuke Urahara raised an eyebrow.

"Chakra doesn't seem to be something native to our world."

Sasuke stopped keeping him in suspense and succinctly recounted his discovery on the stone tablet at the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools.

From the Uzumaki clan's ancient custom of worshipping the "Grim Reaper" to the inscription that overturned the entire history of the ninja world.

"...The inscription on the stone tablet records the existence they called 'Death'..."

"...before the Sage of Six Paths."

"What?!" Urahara's voice suddenly turned sharp.

"Prior to the Six Realms..."

Kisuke Urahara repeated the words in a low voice, a complex expression on his face, "The Sage of Six Paths, the progenitor of the 'chakra' you speak of, was the one who brought this power into your world..."

"If the inscription on the stele is correct..."

Kisuke Urahara's breathing became somewhat rapid at this moment. "That means that before 'chakra' appeared, your world already had a completely different power system!"

“That’s right.” Sasuke nodded slightly.

"I see......"

Kisuke Urahara let out a long breath, and all his confusion suddenly cleared up at that moment.

"Chakra is not generated by life, but was 'given' or 'implanted' into the bodies of all life in that world by the Sage of Six Paths in some unknown way."

"At present, this seems to be the only explanation." Sasuke nodded slightly.

"I see!" Kisuke Urahara let out a suppressed chuckle. "It's like forcibly planting a wheat field on land that should only grow weeds!"

"The basic structure of life has not changed; it has simply gained a seed! But we outsiders, lacking this seed within us, are unable to blossom and bear fruit no matter what!"

He looked at Sasuke and then asked the second question.

"But, Sasuke, this leads to an even bigger contradiction."

Urahara's voice became serious, and the light in his eyes intensified. "If what you say is true, then there is another, even more interesting question."

"Since the two worlds may have possessed a common power system in ancient times, and both had 'spiritual particles' and 'void'..."

"Then, what about that 'Shinigami' called 'Reaper Death Seal' that Yoruichi mentioned before, the Vasto Lorde-class Hollow enslaved by the Uzumaki clan?"

Why does it exist in that world in the form of a 'physical mask'?

This question also caused Sasuke to fall silent.

After a long pause, he finally revealed his conclusion.

"My guess is that the ancestors of the Uzumaki clan, in some era, captured and enslaved an incredibly powerful Hollow through some means unknown to us."

"Then, using that unparalleled sealing technique, we stripped it of its will and erased its soul, leaving only an empty shell with the instinct to 'devour souls'."

"It turned something that should have been a living being into a technique that anyone could use as long as they signed a contract and paid a price."

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

"..."

Kisuke Urahara stared at him blankly.

Enslaving a Vastod-class Hollow?

This idea is somewhat unbelievable.

After digesting this shocking information, Kisuke Urahara let out a long breath and asked one last question.

"Sasuke-kun."

He looked at Sasuke and said, "Your ability to devour is a catastrophe that could cause the collapse of the three realms in this world. So, in your own world, will it also cause the same 'imbalance of souls'?"

“No.” Sasuke’s answer was crisp and decisive. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

"Then how does your world maintain the balance of souls?" Urahara's eyes sharpened. "What exactly is this 'pure land,' the place where people return after death, that Yoruichi spoke of?"

Immediately, Sasuke remembered Dan Kato's face and began to explain.

"There is an ocean of light there, where there is no pain, no hatred, and no passage of time, and where the soul will find its final peace."

He calmly relayed the story, and then stated his own conclusion.