Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

Such trivial philosophical questions were far too extravagant for him.

But Dou's words did indeed make him stop in his tracks.

He suddenly remembered that the true purpose of his trip was not yet fully resolved.

He has yet to get the information he wants from this behemoth that may have survived from "ancient times".

"......what ever."

Sasuke's voice returned to its calm tone as he walked back to a rock beside the waterfall and sat down. "Just don't die in there."

Upon hearing this, Kabuto Yakushi smiled with relief.

He glanced at Orochimaru not far away, and after receiving a nod of approval from the other, he no longer hesitated and walked step by step toward the platform.

As Sasuke watched Kabuto's figure disappear behind the curtain of water, his heart sank.

He slowly closed his eyes, and a powerful spiritual pressure burst forth from his body.

"Ugh......"

Orochimaru looked at the two figures in front of him who were both in a state of "meditation," yawned listlessly, and felt a little bored.

His gaze slowly moved, finally settling on the few Cloud Ninjas deep in the dense forest, who thought they were well hidden. A hint of wicked mockery flashed in his snake eyes.

"Hehe... You two are both busy with your own things, so it's time for me, the idle one, to find some fun."

The extremely strange laughter made the Cloud Ninjas, who had wanted to continue spying, bristle like cats whose tails had been stepped on.

Almost simultaneously, those figures hurriedly emerged from their hiding place and fled frantically towards the edge of the island without looking back, not daring to linger for even a moment.

Orochimaru looked at the disheveled figures and sighed deeply. Bored, he finally turned his gaze back to Sasuke.

Meanwhile, within the consciousness space of Turtle Island.

An endless, dark ocean.

Sasuke hovered silently above the ocean, his body radiating a faint light.

"Humans?"

An ancient and vast voice echoed across the ocean.

Sasuke looked down and saw an enormous shadow slowly rising from beneath the dark sea.

Finally, a gigantic head, as large as an island, burst from the water, creating towering waves.

The giant turtle stared in astonishment at Sasuke, who had appeared out of nowhere in its consciousness space.

It was well aware that its own body was being used as a mobile fortress.

After all, in its long life, which has almost forgotten about time, there will always be some arrogant insects who try to put chains on it.

But it no longer cares.

Its power, once capable of unleashing a world-ending tsunami, has long since vanished, leaving only this enormous, empty shell and its equally weary soul.

It didn't even have the strength to resist, and could only let those insects build nests on its back, treating itself as an island that could drift with the tide.

Even so, in all these thousands of years, there has never been a being like this little human brat before us.

It forcibly tore open the barrier of its own soul, pulling its own consciousness into this world of consciousness that belonged to it.

What exactly does this human want to do?

Sasuke calmly met those ancient-looking eyes and said coldly, "I have something I want to ask you."

Although the tone was unfriendly, it was still a pleasant surprise for this giant beast that had been lonely for thousands of years.

It has been far too long since I have been able to communicate with any being.

"hehe......"

A low chuckle rang out, and the giant tortoise lowered its massive head slightly. "What an interesting human."

"Ask away, human. I can tell you anything I remember."

The gentleness in his voice and his unexpected cooperation surprised Sasuke slightly, but he didn't waste time on such a trivial matter.

"You've lived since ancient times, haven't you?" he asked bluntly.

"Ancient times..."

The giant tortoise's enormous eyes blinked slowly, as if pondering the meaning of the word.

After a long while, it slowly shook its head, its voice tinged with a hint of melancholy.

"I've lived too long to remember the difference between 'ancient times' and 'recent times'."

It paused, as if recalling something.

"I only remember that a long, long time ago, when I was born, there were no 'ninjas' on this land, let alone the power you speak of called 'chakra'."

"At that time, we living beings used a different power."

coming.

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat, and the questioning followed immediately.

"Is it spiritual power?"

"Spiritual power?"

Confusion appeared in the giant tortoise's eyes. It slowly shook its mountain-like head. "No, I have never heard of this word before."

"There were only two kinds of power in that era."

"One kind originates from heaven and earth, which we call 'the power of nature'."

"And the other originates from ourselves..."

The giant tortoise searched its memory for that ancient word.

"We call it, 'Soul Power'."

Soul power...

Sasuke frowned deeply. He was almost certain that this so-called "soul power" was the "spiritual power" he had mentioned.

But to verify it, he still chose to confirm it in the most direct way.

He slowly raised his left hand, expelling all the chakra from his body.

A wisp of pure spiritual energy quietly rose in his palm, condensing into a deep darkness that kept changing shape.

"...!"

The moment the giant tortoise saw the plume of "black smoke," its usually calm eyes widened suddenly.

A mixture of nostalgia, shock, and complex emotions erupted from the depths of its soul.

"That's right...this is it..."

Its voice trembled, and its enormous head stretched forward uncontrollably, trying to feel the presence more closely.

"This pure power is 'Soul Power'! You brat, where did you learn that from? After that accident, there was no way to cultivate 'Soul Power' anymore."

Sasuke gazed quietly at its eyes, which had suddenly become incredibly bright, and the last trace of doubt in his heart vanished.

found it.

The origin of this world is indeed exactly the same as that world.

"Accident?"

Sasuke repeated the word the giant turtle had uttered in a low voice, but his focus was elsewhere.

“Before that, I was more curious about something else.”

He looked at the enormous, island-like body before him and said in a cold voice, "You claim to have been born in ancient times and witnessed the power of that era."

"Then why are you so weak now?"

Sasuke's senses are never wrong.

"There is neither the slightest bit of 'natural power' nor the so-called 'soul power' in your body."

He calmly stated this contradictory fact: "You are nothing more than a huge, empty shell."

This question, like an invisible needle, precisely pierced the deepest wound of the giant tortoise.

Sasuke could clearly feel the dark ocean beneath his feet suddenly ripple in that instant.

The giant tortoise's eyes, which had previously held a gentle quality, suddenly filled with awe and fear.

It remained silent for a long, long time.

Just when Sasuke thought it would no longer answer, a sorrowful voice slowly echoed in his sea of ​​consciousness.

"My power..."

The giant tortoise's voice became hoarse, "In that war, along with that era, it was completely 'swallowed up'."

"War?" Sasuke repeated in a low voice. He could sense that this was the unexpected thing the other party had mentioned earlier.

"Yes, a war that could bring even 'gods' down from their pedestals."

The giant tortoise slowly lowered its massive head. "You human brat, the 'ancient times' you speak of are, in my memory, a completely different era."

"In that era, there was no concept of 'nation' on earth. All things followed the most primitive law, the law of the jungle, yet life was vibrant."

“And we are the ‘gods’ of that era.”

Its voice carried a hint of divine pride.

"I am not the only one. There have been countless beings like me on this land."

“We were born at the beginning of the world, and are the purest darlings of the ‘force of nature’ and the ‘force of the soul’.”

“There are ‘mountain gods’ who govern the mountains and whose bodies are made of rock, and ‘heavenly gods’ who soar through the nine heavens and whose wings are wind and thunder. And I am the embodiment of the will of this boundless ocean.”

"At that time, humans were still very weak. They revered nature and also revered us."

"Before the storm arrives, they will offer me the most delicious offerings and pray for peace at sea. At harvest time, they will sing songs of thanksgiving to the 'mountain god' on the other side of the mountain."

"My breath is the rise and fall of the tide, and my slumber is the tranquility of the sea."

"We are the law, we are nature itself."