chsdbacks Chapter 324 Detonation
Chapter 324 Detonation
For Naruto, days without ninja missions were no different from a vacation.
Although he complained that the Hokage's archives were a huge hassle, he actually handled them with remarkable ease. He had already seen most of the documents, and over the years he had managed to find the parts he hadn't. So, he was simply prioritizing the files and writing summaries for the less important ones. However, this task, in theory, should take a long time to complete; he couldn't possibly go in in the morning and finish writing on an entire cabinet by the afternoon.
"Taking it easy" is a must. Determining exactly how to time things is a brain-taxing task, even more so than writing a report. Fortunately, Tsunade didn't set a fixed time, so she has a lot of room to maneuver.
"The research on the 'source' is almost ready to move to the next stage."
Thanks to the great invention of Shadow Clone Technique, whenever he entered the archives, he would sneak away to a completely secluded place to train. Since he knew that the upper limit of "Source" might exceed chakra, and that his chakra development had reached a bottleneck, perhaps a different approach could yield greater gains.
According to the records in the spaceship's database, mastering the "Source" can be roughly divided into three stages. The first stage is perception and decomposition. As the name suggests, it means first being able to perceive the "Source," and then accurately locking onto the "Source" while decomposing some simple energy or objects. Naruto could basically skip this stage, but he succeeded on his first attempt.
The second stage is maintenance and storage. Due to the unstable nature of the "Source," maintaining its original state is not easy, and storing it is considered by scientists to be absolutely impossible. However, "Source Core Life Forms" truly exist, and they can freely store and manipulate a considerable amount of "Source." What does this indicate? It indicates that the best place to store the "Source" is not in the material dimension, but in the soul dimension.
Although Naruto still didn't understand the concept of a soul, he was quite adept at stuffing things into spiritual spaces that might be related to the soul. This space was already filled with Kurama's overflowing chakra, as well as his own chakra; the raw materials were plentiful.
Kurama was quite resistant to his experiment, as it was dangerous to casually insert such a new power as "Source" into the body before understanding the situation. Therefore, Naruto had to extend the first phase and specifically choose secluded places to study the characteristics of "Source".
"The energy of a mini Truth-Seeking Ball is still not enough to condense into a stable core. The explosion caused by the Truth-Seeking Ball is already huge. What would happen if it were a 'Source' instead?"
"You'd better run far enough." Kurama was already sitting up straight, his entire body tense. He always did this whenever Naruto wanted to do something reckless. He couldn't persuade him or stop him, so he could only do his best to provide support.
"Of course I know that. Let's be on the safe side and try it first. Isn't it said that 'Source' can affect all dimensions? Although I don't understand exactly how dimensions are divided, it probably includes space. The spatial fluctuations nearby have all changed." Naruto, who previously had to concentrate fully to control the platinum-gold orb, can now spare some attention for other things, but this state can't last too long; after two hours, he'll start to get a headache.
Kurama's tail began to wag wildly, a sign that he was tense. The instability of space meant that Naruto's most powerful life-saving ninjutsu might fail, and he had to be ready at any moment to break free of the seal and stand in front of this fragile human body.
Through extensive experimentation, they have come to understand that "Sources" possess the ability to erode all matter. They are indeed unstable and easily aggregate into other substances, but this aggregation follows a principle of simplification. For example, when a mass of "Sources" collides with a rock, it first assimilates a portion of the rock into "Sources," and only then aggregates into substances with simpler structures than the rock, such as invisible molecules floating in the air. Thus, from the outside perspective, the rock appears to disintegrate under the impact, with a portion disappearing—this is the most terrifying aspect of "Sources."
Anything hit by them will simply "disappear".
The explosion of the mini Truth-Seeking Balls was enough to engulf the entire training grounds of Konoha. Kurama simply couldn't imagine what would happen if a "Source" of that magnitude were to directly collide with Naruto. Would his body be mangled and broken like those stones? This kind of thing absolutely, absolutely cannot happen!
Fortunately, although there were slight fluctuations in space, it did not affect the operation of Flying Thunder God Technique. This was the result after testing with Shadow Clone Technique, so Kurama had absolutely nothing to say.
He said he still values his life, so why doesn't he believe it? Even if he has to die, he will make the most of his "death" rather than disappearing meaninglessly in the rear.
Naruto silently complained to himself as he slowly retreated from the area most affected, but he didn't relinquish control of the "Source." He chose a rocky cliff atop fifty miles away, an excellent observation point, and simultaneously created shadow clones at different distances to test the power of the "Source." With a mere thought, the orb of light before him vanished, and his field of vision widened considerably; the orb had been placed on a sand dune within his field of vision. But that wasn't enough. The Demon Fox Cloak appeared without his control, and the makeshift barrier beneath his feet was activated, protecting Naruto in layers.
Naruto had no time to pay attention to any of this; his mind was drawn to the light in the distance. For the first time ever, his senses failed him within range.
How to describe this explosion? It was unlike those traditional, highly impactful explosions; there was no smoke or sound. Naruto only saw a ball of light, born from a single point, rapidly expanding and engulfing an area approximately one kilometer in diameter within seconds. However, this ball of light was no longer perfect; its surface became angular, as if countless beams of light were shooting out from it. These beams of light lasted for about ten seconds before quickly dissipating.
"The range doesn't seem as good as the Truth-Seeking Balls, but the craters left after the attack are quite similar. You didn't rush over immediately, so you've finally realized you're scared?" Kurama broke the silence, relieved and finally in the mood to tease Naruto.
However, Naruto's silence was for a reason. He teleported outside the barrier and observed the outermost layer. The damage was subtle, but not entirely invisible. The direction facing the explosion was riddled with tiny holes. The second layer was slightly better, and the third layer was almost nonexistent.
"It can be affected from this far away?" Kurama was shocked. If he hadn't forced Naruto to take these precautions, would Naruto have been the one riddled with holes?
“...My shadow clone didn’t come back,” Naruto suddenly said.
"What do you mean?"
“They were destroyed, but no memories or chakra were returned to me.” Naruto frowned, staring at the giant crater, and murmured, “This technique is more terrifying than we imagined.”