Black.
Pure darkness.
Kamizuki Hikari had no idea how he had ended up in this place. Looking around, everything was pitch black, boundless in every direction.
Even when he flew or moved forward with all his might, there was no sense of touching any walls.
The only sensation was that peculiar feeling of being suspended, as if in air yet also submerged in water.
'Mangekyō Sharingan, open!'
His normal eyes instantly changed into the three-tomoe pattern, then the three tomoe began to spin and the Mangekyō pattern emerged.
'Hm?'
He had activated the Mangekyō hoping to see through the surrounding darkness. But the moment he did, he realized his thinking had been off.
An inexplicable chill continuously surged toward his eyes. At this moment, he could feel the ocular power in his eyes growing at an astonishing speed.
"What the hell is this place?"
"Is anyone there?"
Hikari felt a trace of unease in his heart.
This kind of evolution was completely beyond his expectations. He never imagined that the place where "enlightenment" occurred would be this bizarre. The black aura here was actually promoting the strengthening of his Sharingan.
Yin Release chakra?
No wonder he had instinctively wanted to come closer. So the depths of this Box of Ultimate Bliss were entirely composed of extremely pure Yin Release energy. Thinking about it that way, the extraordinary perception ability of "Satori" made sense.
Yin Release is spiritual energy, and the development of perception toward enemy attacks and the mind is a very natural ability.
Endless Yin Release energy frantically poured into his eyes. Hikari could feel his Mangekyō becoming more and more powerful. He had the feeling that when he released Susanoo, he could use it almost like a regular technique, and the ocular power consumption wouldn't be nearly as great.
However... this mysterious energy made Hikari feel deeply uneasy.
No one shows kindness without reason.
If this energy had no downsides, why hadn't anyone discovered it after all these years?
Could those mutated "Satiri" actually be the people who had previously been trapped inside the Box of Ultimate Bliss?
Come to think of it... was the Box of Ultimate Bliss really created by the Sage of Six Paths?
According to shinobi world legends, the Sage of the Six Paths' treasured tools were only a few: the Seven Star Sword, the Banana Palm Fan, the Crimson Gourd, the Amber Purifying Pot, and the Golden Canopy Rope. There had never been any mention of a Box of Ultimate Bliss, right?
Could this be something Black Zetsu made up later?
It wasn't unreasonable for Hikari to overthink it. Black Zetsu was simply too shady. Even as a transmigrator, he didn't dare guarantee that he could see through Black Zetsu's schemes.
After all, that was an old monster who had lived for a thousand years. Even a pig living that long could become a pig spirit, let alone an old schemer like Black Zetsu.
Who knew how many schemes that thing had cooked up in a millennium?
'...Whatever. Let's close the Mangekyō.'
Thinking this, Hikari slowly relaxed his control over his eyes.
Then he froze.
The Mangekyō Sharingan, which should have closed under normal circumstances, continued to greedily absorb the surrounding Yin Release energy. At this moment, the Mangekyō was no longer obeying his control.
Gradually, Hikari felt as though his eyes had developed a will of their own. They kept looking around uncontrollably — left, right, up, down.
'Is this Ōtsutsuki's scheme after all?'
Anxiety rose in his heart.
For him, losing this pair of eyes wasn't completely unacceptable — but losing them *right now* was absolutely not an option. According to Hikari's calculations, the simplest way to reach Six Paths level was to possess a complete body.
Normally, if something went wrong with his eyes, he could just gouge them out and recreate a new pair using Yang Release.
But not now. The surroundings were filled with nothing but Yin Release energy. Even if he dug his eyes out, he wouldn't be able to recreate eyeballs with Yang Release in this place.
What should he do?
How could he absorb the surrounding Yin Release energy without letting it enter his eyes?
Gradually, Hikari felt his eyes becoming more and more lively.
In the depths of his consciousness, he sensed his eyes growing even stronger.
"No, I can't continue like this. I have to take a gamble!"
Making up his mind, a black shadow slowly emerged from Hikari's body, completely enveloping him.
Shadow Possession Jutsu?
No — it was his Yin Spirit. It was Kamizuki Hikari's soul.
Sensing the rich Yin Release energy around him, Hikari's Yin Spirit acted like a whale returning to the sea — it opened wide and took a massive breath. An invisible black vortex formed, and the dark Yin Release energy instantly surged into his Yin Spirit.
His mind became clear — as refreshing as drinking a bowl of iced watermelon juice in the middle of summer.
Chilling to the core, exhilarating.
In that mysterious state, Hikari felt as though something extra had appeared on his body.
Before he could think further, the dense Yin Release energy around him poured into his Yin Spirit once again. In the blink of an eye, Hikari felt that his Yin Spirit had become almost indistinguishable from a physical body — only slightly darker in appearance.
What was it?
Hikari's Yin Spirit left his body and began feeling around on himself with both hands.
"Not enough... it's still not enough?"
Just a tiny bit more.
Hikari felt there was something on his body that didn't belong to him. At that moment, he instinctively allowed his Yin Spirit to continue absorbing the surrounding Yin Release energy, strengthening his soul further.
In a daze, Hikari realized he could now "see" the surroundings.
The darkness could no longer obstruct his vision.
But so what if he could see?
The depths of the darkness were still darkness — still that endless sea of Yin Release energy.
Gradually, Hikari's Yin spirit transformed into a burly giant over ten meters tall. His original body looked like a small doll in comparison, now held protectively in his hand.
"What is this place, and what exactly are you?"
Saying this, Hikari reached out without hesitation and dug out the eyeballs from the body in his hand.
Two Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, evolved to their peak, were easily removed.
The moment they left the body, the two Mangekyō instinctively tried to fly back, but Hikari's Yin Spirit gently pinched them, rendering them unable to move.
"What should I call you?"
"The System? Or the Cheat?"
As Hikari's words fell, the two eyeballs in his palm immediately stopped struggling. Then, chakra from the surroundings frantically surged toward the eyes, and a small figure appeared before Hikari.
It looked exactly like him.
"Why...? If you leave me, you'll never be able to become a Six Paths!" The black little figure looked at Hikari's Yin Spirit, a trace of fear deep in its eyes.
Hikari smiled.
"What you truly want... is my soul, isn't it?"
"And this body was specially created by you, right?"
"The one who wants to become a Six Paths isn't me — it's you."
"I've always found it strange. Why did my cultivation of the Spirit Transformation Technique differ so greatly from Katō Dan's records? Now I understand. Because my soul was never the same as the souls of people in the shinobi world to begin with."
"I don't know exactly what changed in my soul, but I know I'm one in a million. All these years I thought you were my cheat... but the moment I reached Six Paths level, you would have taken over my body. Everything I had would have been stripped away by you."
"Before, when some of my inner thoughts were heard by Tsunade... that was actually my soul resisting. I wanted to leak information about this world, make Tsunade suspicious, and ultimately awaken my own soul."
"Now that I understand everything... you no longer have any reason to exist."