"This... Its warm…."
Within a vast, white, misty sea, Hanzō of the Salamander hovered quietly at its center, eyes shut, his expression peaceful.
"This feeling… it really puts the heart at ease."
"Just a little longer… I'll sleep just a little longer…"
Drowsiness and exhaustion washed over him again, and Hanzō's consciousness faded away once more.
Ever since he transmigrated into this world, he had not truly rested even a single day.
First came the assimilation of more than twenty years' worth of memories belonging to the original Hanzō; then the confrontation with the Iwa-nin and Ōnoki; then the alliance with Sunagakure; the revival plan for Amegakure; and finally, the counterattack against Konoha…
His mind had been operating at maximum capacity without pause.
...
The sky-blue water in the underground chamber had long since stilled, turning the place into a tranquil-like lake.
Hanzō's body rested peacefully at the bottom, occasional bubbles rising from the breathing apparatus on his face. He slept soundly…
Within the lake, his body seemed to become a gravitational core—threads of deepening cerulean energy wrapped around him like ribbons, gradually cocooning him.
As time passed, the water's color faded toward transparency. Hanzō was now fully encased in a cocoon—yet not a sky-blue one, but a deep azure.
...
No one knew how much time had passed.
In the white space of consciousness, Hanzō slowly awakened again. His body felt unbelievably light, though his soul seems to remained fatigued.
Not as oppressively tired as before—but still held down by a lingering heaviness that pressed against his eyelids.
"So tired… I'll sleep a little longer."
"…"
"Wait—what was I doing before this? How did I fall asleep…?"
"I can't remember… but it must've been important…"
He tried to raise his hand—but the arm that should have felt weightless now felt like a thousand-pound burden. The harder he pushed, the heavier it became.
"No… what's happening?"
"Hold on… earlier… the Gelel…"
A flash of clarity shot through his mind. His memories resurfaced.
"Right—I fainted because of the energy leaking out during the unsealing."
A chilling sense of death surged toward him.
He strained with all his might to break free of the suffocating fatigue and force his eyes open—but the moment he exerted strength, his entire body felt filled with molten lead.
At the same time, a crushing suffocation rose from his chest.
Exhaustion, pain, suffocation, numbness—countless negative sensations stacked atop him all at once.
He fought desperately to move his arms, to open his eyes.
"It hurts… it hurts… wake up! Fuck! Wake up already!"
"I'll die—I'm really going to die—this is exactly how it felt when I died in my previous life…"
"It's only been a month… shit, I don't want to die again, not so soon…"
His teeth tried to bite into his lip, but even that strength eluded him. His entire being felt like it was sinking into a bottomless swamp—hopeless and powerless.
The suffocation grew stronger. He could feel his heartbeat slowing.
Push harder. Harder. If he didn't struggle, he would die…
"I am the demi-god… a living legend… a shinobi who stands at the very peak at present."
"This isn't a battlefield… there's no enemy here…"
"How—how can I die in a place like this?"
What accompanied the agony was not weakness, but the instinctive force one feels when staring down Death itself.
A faint, hollow ache flickered at the corner of his lips—slowly sharpening into a real, piercing sensation.
"I must escape. Wake up… wake up!"
The crushing weight on his arms slowly retreated, replaced by numb stiffness.
With a final burst of desperation, he forced his eyes open a sliver—only to meet a field of pure white.
The heaviness rapidly drained from his body, but the suffocating pain intensified.
"Ghh—haa—ahh—!"
A strangled sound escaped him—one born between life and death, now his choice to make.
Blood burst from the corner of his mouth; sharp pain flooded his nerves.
At the bottom of the lake, Hanzō's eyes flew wide open as his left hand shot upward—
His awareness snapped fully back into his body. Before him was a faint veil of pale cyan water.
The numbness hadn't faded, but the sense of death surged violently through him.
Without pausing to think, his body instinctively swam upward.
Breaking the water's surface, Hanzō tore off the breathing mask and flung it aside, gasping desperately for air.
His consciousness grew clear. The numbness faded. His body felt light and full—renewed with a refreshing purity that spread through every inch of him.
If not for the cold sweat sliding down his back, he would have been ecstatic.
"If I'd been out for another three minutes… no, even one or two… I would've died here for good."
Hanzō stood atop the water for a long moment before calming his pounding heart.
"Haaah…"
"To think I came so close to death all because of greed… what was I even thinking back then?"
Skirting the edge of death, genuine fear rose in him for the first time.
"Power has blinded me for good. Damn that half continent power level."
…
"I swear… poison and gambling will never coexist with me again."
But with risk came overwhelming reward—far beyond a thousand percent increase.
Looking at his reflection in the water, he froze in disbelief.
He should be in his thirties in this life—but the face staring back at him looked barely twenty.
The chakra flowing through his body was more than ten times what he once had, and he could feel the life force of the earth continuously pouring into him.
The once sky-blue lake had faded to a faint green; he could clearly see the sealing script etched on the altar at the bottom.
The massive stone pillar that served as the key was gone, as was the entrance to the pocket dimension.
"A safety mechanism left by the ancient civilization?"
"Looks like they saved me this time."
Hanzō didn't believe what leaked out earlier was even one ten-thousandth of the Gelel vein's true power.
"But it's already enough. Too much greed is a one way ticket up there—if a bit more had leaked out, I'd be a goner."
"Gh—!"
A sudden sharp pain tore through his abdomen—left side.
"That's the poison sac I implanted as a child… it's been decades. Why would it act up now?"
"Is it because of the Gelel vein…?"
"No… this isn't rejection. It feels like it's taking root—connecting itself to my nerves."
Gritting his teeth, he stood. For someone who'd survived countless battles, this level of pain was nothing.
He sat atop the water, sensing his body carefully.
"I see…"
The Gelel Stone vein—containing pure life force—had granted both him and the poison sac renewed vitality.
The sac had always been a parasitic organ, living off his nutrients while empowering him with its toxins.
But it wasn't part of his original body, so it could never grow—its toxicity had not increased even once since the day it was implanted.
It was like the Rinnegan inside Nagato or Obito—functional, but limited, incapable of reaching its true potential.
Only when returned to its rightful owner—Uchiha Madara—could a single Rinnegan unleash Limbo and overwhelm eight Tailed Beasts at once.
Now, however, he could feel the poison sac fusing with him—beginning to grow.
"At this rate… once it fully merges with me, I'll be able to control its poison freely. No more breathing apparatus."
"Tch… even if the pain isn't severe, it's annoying. And who knows how long this fusion will take."
Hanzō crouched down, scooping up a handful of water. He focused.
"Such gentle energy… I've never felt anything like this."
He stared at the faint remaining green.
"But I can't bring this with me…"
"Then—"
"Summoning Jutsu."
A burst of white smoke—and Ibuse, the salamander, appeared on the water's surface.
The moment it arrived, it sensed the surrounding energy and let out a pleased rumble.
"You like this energy, do you?"
"There's not much left, but it should help you grow. Go on."
With Hanzō's permission, Ibuse dove straight into the water and began swimming joyfully.
"So Ibuse isn't affected… because the energy's thinned out?"
"Good. That means there's no danger."
"Ibuse, digest everyting, then return by yourself. I'm heading out first."
"Rrghh—!"
Ibuse acknowledged him. Hanzō departed.
As he rose from underground, the energy around him flowed into his body in constantly increasing amounts.
He frowned.
"What's going on? It wasn't this noticeable below. I could only sense it vaguely—but now I can see it clearly."
"Is this… natural chakra?"
From Hanzō's perspective, the air, the earth, even the ruined walls were leaking threads of energy that poured into him.
"Sage Mode…!"
That was his first thought.
"No… my body isn't assuming any animalistic traits. I'm not turning to stone either."
"And I can't stop the absorption at all."
He stopped walking, attempting to control the energy flow—but it was futile. His body was like a magnet, drawing in all surrounding energy.
"It's different, but… this is Sage Mode."
"Whatever. It doesn't seem harmful—if it stays active, it stays active."
"But still… it's bothering me. Just what is the Gelel Stone vein, to cause such drastic changes?"
"My state isn't like Jiraiya's imperfect Sage Mode, which requires external support… Nor is it like Naruto's or Hashirama's, which they can freely activate."
"A half-sage? No… a false Sage Mode?"
Jiraiya's form—requiring assistance to maintain—was the true "imperfect Sage Mode."
"Gelel Stone vein…"
Hanzō pieced things together using memories from his previous life.
"Everything has a reason…"
The Gelel Stone vein wasn't some foreign gift—it was a product of the planet itself, condensed from countless years of accumulated natural energy into a liquid form.
It was pure nature chakra, crystallized by the world.
Ninjas were born when Kaguya used the God Tree to gather natural energy, forming the Chakra Fruit.
After she consumed it, she passed chakra to her sons. Hagoromo then shared it with all people.
But ordinary creatures still absorbed natural energy instinctively.
Those capable of attaining Sage Mode—like the toads of Mount Myōboku—were born attuned to natural energy.
Ibuse, too, possessed natural chakra, explaining why it wasn't affected.
And Hanzō, having bathed in the Gelel Stone vein, had activated a Sage-like state.
"This is the only conclusion I can make."
Before he knew it, he had already walked out of the ruins.
"The next one to find this place is supposed to be Naruto… but who knows what kind of butterfly effects I've caused by now."
"In any case—thank you, God, buddha, saints or whoever it is."
*(PS: Any thoughts on gelel stone? Its pretty op on original lol.)
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150 Powerstones - Bonus Chap
300 Powerstones - Bonus Chap
500 Powerstones - Bonus Chap
700 Powerstones - Bonus Chap
1000 Powerstones - Bonus Chap