Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 316 "The Source"

The most distinctive feature of the source core life form is that it condenses a "source core" within its body that can serve as a second source of life.

According to historical records, a "Source Core" is a special core that can exist simultaneously in various dimensions, capable of influencing both the material and spiritual worlds. It is said that life forms possessing this core are theoretically immune to "death," because the universe's concept of death is the loss of vitality in the body that carries the soul, rendering it unable to bear the soul, thus causing the soul of the living being to return to the spiritual dimension. Source Core life forms possess a second source of life; even if the physical body dies, the soul can break through the barriers and influence the material world.

This means that even if their bodies die, their souls never return to the world of the dead, so it is almost equivalent to not "dying".

The most direct way to confirm whether one is a Source Core life form is to check if there is a so-called "Source Core" inside the body. Naruto knows best whether there is anything strange in his body.

"Besides this old man, there's something else inside you? It's been over ten years, how come I didn't notice?" Kurama was the first to express disbelief. Seeing is believing, and Naruto, apart from his somewhat absurd soul strength, had no other problems. Surely the so-called source core couldn't refer to such a large soul, could it?

Naruto stared silently at the water's surface. His reflection remained unchanged, with his eyes tightly shut, the only similarity between him and his real self being their faces. He had directly experienced the immense power of the "reflection," so upon seeing the words "Source Core," his first thought was that the thing must be hidden within the "reflection."

But he'd already tasted the consequences of letting go of the "reflection," and he truly didn't want to relive that experience that nearly killed him. Right, the information said that the source is the smallest unit after matter decomposes, right? He'd only ever used his super-sensory abilities for macroscopic observations before, and had never tried the microscopic world. Perhaps he could recreate the "source" by deconstructing the energy most similar to it?

Naruto is an absolute man of action; he acts on his thoughts as soon as he has them. After all, time is of the essence, and he must eliminate the hidden dangers in the Box of Elysium before the higher-ups of Konoha finish their wrangling.

His final target for deconstruction was his own chakra, one of the things he was most familiar with. Its internal structure was simple, and it was easy to control without any obstacles. It seemed to be the best material to reproduce the "source." However, he certainly couldn't do this in a place full of sophisticated instruments, so he decisively teleported to the deserted island where he often fell. After confirming that there were no living people within a hundred miles, he still cautiously set up a simple shielding barrier.

"You didn't actually believe that nonsense, did you?" Nine-Lama finally seemed to realize what was going on after watching the series of actions. "Those things were from ten thousand years ago. They might not even be called those names anymore."

"Let's try anything, even if it's a long shot. We can't let that threat linger." Naruto held a ball of chakra in his hands, adjusting his control over his super-sensory perception. Over the years, he had become quite adept at using his super-sensory perception; observing everything around him was as easy as breathing. But spreading out his perception and concentrating it were two different things. He had initially worried that he might not be able to do it, but when he actually tried, he found it to be just as easy for him.

The beach, the sea breeze, the waves—these ordinary scenes receded from his "vision," while the pale blue curtain magnified infinitely before him. The dazzling colors hidden beneath the blue background dazzled him, but these were merely "impurities" within his chakra. Following his intuition, he continuously severed the bonds between the color blocks, cutting them into smaller fragments, until pure white emerged from the colored light. Although he shouldn't have known the appearance of the "source," his intuition told him that this was what he wanted. He expanded that "white" as if arbitrarily altering the nature of chakra, until the initial pale blue had vanished from his vision.

"...Don't tell me you actually succeeded." Kurama had witnessed the entire process of Naruto's stunned silence. He watched as the normal chakra instantly changed color, white emerging from the center and rapidly devouring the blue chakra as if it were alive. The white mass was clearly larger than the chakra itself and naturally formed a perfect sphere. Although Kurama hadn't touched this energy, his beastly sense of danger told him it was an extremely unstable force, seemingly capable of drastic changes with the slightest external force.

To be honest, Naruto was also a little confused. Looking at the sphere floating in his hand, he immediately recognized it as the power he had seen before. Wasn't that the symbol engraved on Kurama's soul composed of these? However, just as he had the slightest thought of changing the shape of the "white sphere," the perfect circle almost instantly disappeared by more than half. At the same time, Naruto's not-yet-fully-withdrawn super-sensory perception "saw" a large mass of scattered matter, which seemed to have been transformed from this faintly glowing white sphere.

Good heavens, now he understands why even such advanced spaceships can't store this kind of substance. The value of the Source of All Things is truly genuine; it seems that it can really be transformed into anything else at any time.

Naruto quickly destroyed that small clump of "source" energy. Before it was completely assimilated by the outside world, Naruto barely grasped the knack of control, but he still couldn't make it stable. So he created a second, a third, a fourth... until the sixth attempt when he created a "source" with a diameter of more than two meters. It was finally much more stable than before, and after spreading, it spontaneously contracted inward, rapidly shrinking from a diameter of two meters to half a meter. But this time it wasn't because the "source" energy was lost, but because it spontaneously gathered together, increasing its internal density.

The principle is similar to that of Truth-Seeking Balls, but Naruto hasn't been able to test the upper limit yet.

"So... 'Source' really exists, and it can really be separated... Kurama, why don't you give it a try?" Naruto felt that this matter was really a big deal. He had been trying his best to deny that he was a Source Core life form, but when he actually used it, he found it incredibly easy, as if he had always known how to do it.

This is not good news. Could he really be a source core life form? But even the spaceship cannot answer the true reason for the formation of the source core. These things seem to be secrets among source core life forms.

"...Do you think I'm capable of such delicate work?" Kurama was speechless with shock, but he knew Naruto very well and soon guessed what the kid was struggling with.

"Didn't that damn robot say that 'Source Core Life' is the highest form of material life that has evolved to so far? This is great news! At least I won't have to worry about your life anymore. Hurry up and get back to work. I don't want to work during my vacation."

Naruto smiled, trying to shake off his worries. "That's true, let's deal with the Box of Elysium first."