"...But this thing seems completely beyond my control. Don't tell me that damn Sage of Six Paths left behind some hidden trick when he gave it out?"
Riku frowned, a grim look on his face.
"No matter! Since I've discovered it, I'll try refining and taking full control of it first!"
Without delay, Riku mobilized his mental energy to begin infiltrating the so-called "chakra seed."
"Wong!!"
In the next instant, the chakra seed reacted violently, like it had come alive. It fiercely rejected Riku's spiritual intrusion, attempting to drive him out.
It even tried to absorb and manipulate the chakra in Riku's middle dantian to fight back against his spiritual energy.
"Hmph! Trying to use my own chakra against me in my own body? Dream on!"
With a snort, Riku instantly activated his Chakra Circulation Method, constructing a thick spiritual barrier between the chakra seed and the chakra in his dantian.
Then, he poured more and more spiritual energy into it, trying to completely refine and suppress the chakra seed.
"Wong!"
The seed erupted in an even more violent struggle.
Unfortunately, despite its high-level nature, it was like a rootless weed—powerful but lacking support.
As Riku's mental power continued its assault, the seed's resistance gradually weakened.
An hour later, after nearly exhausting himself several times and repeatedly replenishing his energy with meditation, Riku finally suppressed the chakra seed completely.
As he refined the last trace of foreign chakra at the core—
"WONG!!!"
The seed shuddered, and Riku felt as if he'd just broken free from invisible chains—light and unburdened.
Next, under his control, he removed the mental barrier.
The newly refined chakra seed began absorbing and filtering his dantian's chakra.
The effect was immediate—Riku's control over his chakra skyrocketed.
The chakra in his dantian now moved at his will with perfect fluidity.
"As expected, this thing really was a backdoor left by that damn Sage of Six Paths."
"His purpose must've been to embed a mark of authority into the chakra of every ninja in the world."
"When a shinobi dies, their soul likely returns to the Pure Land along with their chakra."
"And those seeds, marked by him, would then be easily absorbed by the Sage—and maybe even allow him to capture their souls as well."
Riku sneered as he speculated.
When he completely refined the chakra seed, he instantly understood what it really was.
It was the true reason why ninjas could so easily fuse spiritual and physical energy into chakra.
Without it, no one in the shinobi world would be able to do so.
But embedded within it was the Sage's own spiritual brand—his backdoor.
That was the real danger.
"This bastard's no saint!"
"All that talk about mutual understanding and peace? Utter nonsense."
"He's just harvesting the entire ninja world like a field of crops—absorbing everything to strengthen himself."
"And after sealing his mother, he must've learned about the Ōtsutsuki clan from her."
"Which means he knew of the threats to come..."
"No!"
Riku suddenly shook his head. "Maybe he knew even earlier!"
"The real reason he sealed Kaguya might not just have been to seize control of chakra—"
"But also because he opposed her plan of cultivating White Zetsu soldiers against the Ōtsutsuki."
"He wanted to resist the Ōtsutsuki his own way."
That, Riku believed, might just be the truth.
Of course, all of this was still speculation.
If he wanted to know the whole story, he'd have to ask either the Sage himself—or Kaguya.
But one thing was certain—the Sage of Six Paths was not the saint people believed he was.
"And wait—there's even a trace of Kaguya's imprint inside the chakra seed?"
"Makes sense. No matter what, Kaguya was the original progenitor of chakra in this world. Not even being sealed could change that."
"Well... maybe not entirely..."
Because Riku noticed—Kaguya's imprint was damaged.
And the Sage's own imprint had been slowly devouring it.
"So this is it... The Sage has been eroding her claim to chakra for a thousand years—"
"Trying to become the new progenitor of chakra himself?"
"That's the real reason he sealed her instead of killing her outright?"
"Or... maybe he couldn't kill her."
"If Kaguya truly holds dominion over chakra, as long as chakra exists, she can't be killed."
Riku felt like he might've uncovered the truth.
"...Whatever. Thinking about this now is pointless."
"I'll deal with all of it once I'm strong enough."
Shaking his head, Riku buried the many speculations deep within his heart, then turned his focus back toward the newly refined chakra seed in his middle dantian.
"I was able to refine this seed because:
I've only recently begun training in chakra, so the seed is still undeveloped;
My chakra reserves are still relatively low;
My spiritual and soul power are strong enough to suppress the Sage's imprint."
"But if it were Father or others like him, even if they switched to the Chakra Circulation Method, they probably wouldn't be able to refine theirs so easily."
"Even I had to brute-force it—it was slow and inefficient."
"If I want to help my parents solve this seed problem too, I'll need to create a specialized technique for refining chakra seeds."
Determined, Riku made a wish.
[I wish to find the most efficient and stable way to create a technique for refining chakra seeds.]
[120 wishes consumed: Your comprehension will be maximized for the next 5 minutes. Using the Chakra Circulation Method, Perfect Sharingan Awakening Technique, and advanced sealing arts of the ninja world—alongside Daoist and Buddhist scriptures from your past life—you can create it with 100% certainty.]
"Advanced sealing arts?"
The rest was manageable, but when he saw that part, Riku frowned.
"While the Uchiha probably have some sealing techniques, they likely won't be enough."
"To truly meet the requirement, I'll need to find a way to access information from Uzumaki Mito herself."
When it comes to sealing jutsu, the Uzumaki clan still reigns supreme.
They weren't wiped out yet—but that day was coming. Likely within the next couple years.
After all, Kushina and Minato were from the same generation.
Riku was also their age and classmate.
Kushina and Mikoto were close friends.
And Mikoto was only three years older than Riku—graduating in two years.
That meant Kushina would be arriving in Konoha within one or two years.
So, the fall of the Uzumaki Clan couldn't be far off.
(End of Chapter)
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