Chapter 182: The Senju Hashirama
"But your current appearance..."
Naruto scanned Asura's form, which was composed of pure Chakra, and raised the most practical question: "How are you going to meet him?
You are inside my consciousness space, perhaps even in a space independent of my body.
And Senju Hashirama, although summoned through Edo Tensei, is essentially a bound soul.
How are you two going to have a face-to-face conversation?"
Naruto was secretly on guard.
If this guy dared to say he wanted to borrow his body, he would immediately blow up at him!
Upon hearing this, Asura's face showed an expression that said he had asked the right question. His expression became serious and slightly nostalgic as he began to explain:
"This involves an understanding of the essence of 'Chakra'.
The 'Chakra' that you, and the vast majority of Ninja in this era, perceive and use is a product of combining and refining physical and mental energy. It is primarily used to perform Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu—a form of power and energy."
He paused, his eyes reflecting scenes from an ancient era:
"However, in my father's and my era, Chakra was not just for fighting.
My father bestowed Chakra upon people with an original intention: he hoped to use this miraculous energy to 'connect' everyone's spirits, consciousness, and hearts."
Asura's voice carried a distant sense of reminiscence: "Through the connection of Chakra, people could more directly sense each other's emotions, transmit thoughts, share knowledge, and eliminate misunderstandings and barriers caused by poor communication.
Father called Chakra the thing that links people's hearts, the cornerstone of Ninshu.
Back then, Chakra was more like a bridge for communication and connection, a power of the 'heart'."
He looked at Naruto and, to make the concept clearer, specifically created a new term to distinguish it:
"To distinguish it from the 'Chakra' you are familiar with, I have thought for a long time about this application of Chakra my father originally used to connect spirits.
At first, I wanted to call it 'The Power of the Masses', but over the long passage of time, I have continuously refined its name.
This power is the 'Power of Connection'."
After explaining the background, Asura got to the point and stated his specific plan:
"I will teach you the principles and usage of this 'Power of Connection'."
His eyes looked at Naruto with full trust.
"Then, you will serve as the bridge for the dialogue between Senju Hashirama and me."
He elaborated: "When the time comes, you will use the 'Power of Connection' to temporarily link the mental energies of the three of us: me, you, and Senju Hashirama."
Asura pointed to the pure white space around them: "At that time, we can together enter a stable consciousness exchange space that I will lead the construction of.
Like this place, but more stable and suitable for dialogue.
In this space, the consciousness of the three of us can converse and perceive each other as if face-to-face, unrestricted by the outside world or our physical bodies."
After exiting the consciousness space.
Naruto rubbed his face.
Intuition told him that this guy Asura was mixing truth with lies.
Yet, the guy had such honest-looking features; he looked like a straightforward person.
It was difficult to distinguish which of his words were true and which were false.
Asura definitely hadn't woken up 'recently', or rather, the 'recently' he spoke of had a significant time difference from what Naruto considered recent.
After all, he was someone whose Chakra had been circulating in the world for a thousand years. Naruto always felt that Asura's awakening must have been before he even became a Genin!
Just then, Naruto felt a concerned gaze fall upon him.
It was Jiraiya.
He saw Naruto suddenly standing there motionless, then rubbing his face with a slight look of irritation after a while, and a worried expression couldn't help but appear on his face.
Jiraiya thought Naruto had undergone continuous high-intensity combat, consumed too much energy, and his body or spirit was starting to flag.
"Naruto, what's wrong?"
Jiraiya stepped forward, his voice softening.
"Was the battle just now too exhausting? Are you tired?"
He glanced at the still-chaotic Hidden Leaf Village outside the window and said decisively:
"If you feel tired, go back and rest for a while. The reconstruction isn't urgent for this moment; your body is more important.
I've already sent people to clear the streets. Once you've recovered, we'll talk about the reconstruction, okay?"
Jiraiya's concern was sincere.
No matter how powerful Naruto was, in his eyes, he was still an underage child. It was normal to be physically and mentally exhausted after such a major battle.
He had indeed trusted his teacher too much before and lacked attention toward this child.
Since he had guessed long ago that Minato was his father, he must have known about his own existence.
It was no secret that Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, was the Fourth Hokage's teacher.
No wonder this child had been so resistant to him before.
Naruto lowered the hand rubbing his face and looked at Jiraiya.
He reined in his wariness of Asura, his face returning to its usual calm as he shook his head:
"No, I'm fine. I was just thinking about some things."
He paused and looked at Jiraiya: "How long will the cleanup take? I need to know the approximate time to arrange the follow-up."
He neither accepted the suggestion to rest nor over-explained his "daze," but instead pulled the topic back to business, demonstrating his usual pragmatism and efficiency.
Seeing this, although Jiraiya was still somewhat worried, he knew Naruto had his own ideas and didn't press further, replying: "I've already had Inoichi coordinate with full effort, mobilizing all available manpower.
The preliminary cleanup of the main streets and several key reconstruction areas is expected to be completed in about five hours, reaching a level where large-scale civil engineering work can begin.
More detailed cleanup will be carried out simultaneously in other areas."
"Five hours..."
Naruto pondered for a moment and nodded.
"Alright, I understand. I'll come over then."
After walking out of the office, Naruto immediately went to find Ino and Sakura.
Upon seeing Naruto's arrival, many of the wounded turned their faces away, not knowing how to face him.
"Lord Naruto."
A man with a bandaged abdomen nodded to him in greeting.
This was Raido Namiashi, a member of Genma's Team.
Hearing someone call Naruto's name, Ino turned her head to look at him.
Sakura, on the other hand, sped up her healing.
"Concentrate, Ino."
Naruto placed his hand on Ino's shoulder to transfer Chakra to her.
Ino continued releasing her Medical Ninjutsu while looking at Naruto with concern.
"Why are you here? Are you hurt?"
Naruto shook his head.
"I'm not hurt. Jiraiya just discussed some matters with me."
He then transferred Chakra to Sakura as well.
"Thank you, Naruto."
Feeling the continuous influx of Chakra, Sakura also relaxed a bit.
"You're welcome. Don't push yourselves too hard either."
He maintained his Chakra support for Sakura, but his gaze calmly swept across the entire temporary medical area, looking at the wounded enduring their pain and the Medical Ninjas who, like Sakura and Ino, were clearly exhausted themselves but still gritted their teeth and persevered.
He didn't stay long.
After confirming that Ino and Sakura's conditions had stabilized, he quietly withdrew his hand, gave a slight nod to Raido Namiashi and the two girls, and then turned to leave the hospital.
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