This was a pitch-black, illusory space.
Only a fragment of shattered jade emitting a faint glow existed here. Beneath the jade fragment floated a cluster of pale-blue energy—his own chakra.
At this moment, the light radiating from the jade fragment swept over that chakra. Specks of light were separated out, eventually forming four hazy, illusory figures, which were then erased one by one as the jade fragment passed over them again.
"The Sage of Six Paths? Ōtsutsuki Kaguya? Ōtsutsuki Isshiki?"
Seeing the shapes of those four phantoms, Tamura Zairo's heart sank.
He could recognize three of them.
Although indistinct, their outlines clearly resembled the Sage of Six Paths and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya—especially the horns atop their heads.
The final phantom was the most vague and indistinct, to the point that he couldn't identify it. However, it too possessed horns and was the last to be separated out, meaning it was also likely a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
"Mental imprints… something like that?"
With this thought, Tamura Zairo understood—it should be some kind of imprint.
Chakra in the ninja world originated from Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. She gave birth to the Sage of Six Paths, who then spread his own chakra throughout the world. It wouldn't be strange for chakra to carry imprints of the two of them.
After all, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Sage of Six Paths was even able to manifest through Uchiha Madara, and he also appeared within the mental worlds of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.
As for Ōtsutsuki Isshiki—his imprint existing within the world's chakra wasn't strange either.
According to Boruto's setting, for a primordial Ten-Tails to transform into a God Tree and bear a chakra fruit, it required the sacrifice of an Ōtsutsuki.
Originally, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was meant to be the sacrifice. But unwilling to accept that fate, she ambushed Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
Isshiki managed to escape, but only half his body remained. The other half was likely sacrificed by Kaguya to the Ten-Tails, allowing it to transform into the God Tree.
The quality of a chakra fruit depends on both the Ōtsutsuki being sacrificed and the vitality of the planet itself. The higher both are, the stronger the chakra fruit becomes.
That was precisely why Kaguya's Ten-Tails God Tree—and her own strength—were so terrifying, granting her multiple Kekkei Mōra abilities.
As for the fourth phantom, it was likely an even higher-tier Ōtsutsuki—perhaps even the true origin of chakra itself.
"If Isshiki exists… then this is the Boruto version of the world?"
Tamura Zairo pondered silently.
That meant this Naruto world likely included Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and the Kara organization he founded.
Back in his previous life, Naruto had many internal contradictions—especially in the timeline, which was a complete mess.
The Naruto era and the later Boruto era clashed even more, with many settings outright retconned, including Kaguya's characterization.
Now it seemed this world followed Boruto's version more closely—at the very least, Isshiki existed—making this world even more complicated.
Steadying his mind, Tamura Zairo shifted his focus to the jade fragment.
"Is this my golden finger?"
He had always been searching for his own golden finger.
After all, being able to transmigrate into this world couldn't be something an ordinary person could accomplish. There had to be a reason behind it.
Yet for ten years, he had found nothing.
His aptitude was mediocre, and if he trained step by step, his ceiling would be a chūnin at best—someone like Iruka.
But now, a fragment of jade existing inside his head—inside his consciousness—was clearly abnormal.
Was this what brought him to this world?
So he really did have a golden finger after all—he just hadn't found the correct way to activate it until today.
And something capable of carrying him across worlds was definitely no ordinary item.
He slowly extended his consciousness toward it.
The moment he made contact, a short stream of information flowed into his mind, revealing its function.
"Alter destiny. Intercept destiny's power. Consuming destiny power can temporarily enhance comprehension."
"An auxiliary-type golden finger… doesn't feel as good as the Deep Blue next door."
He muttered inwardly.
This was clearly a support-type golden finger, its core function being the enhancement of comprehension.
But heightened comprehension was undoubtedly valuable.
Many difficult-to-master ninjutsu and secret techniques required sufficient comprehension. Improving or refining techniques also depended heavily on it.
Take Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique—it required forty-four hand seals. Even at a speed of four seals per second, it would take eleven seconds to complete. That was far too slow—and lethal in real combat.
Yet hand seals could be reduced.
Koseki could perform it with six seals, while the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, only needed three.
Such simplification of hand seals undoubtedly required extraordinary talent.
Then there was Uchiha Itachi's one-handed seals—another clear example of high aptitude.
Or ninjutsu creation itself. If Tamura Zairo wanted to develop a technique like Hatake Kakashi's Chidori, he would need sufficient talent.
Of course, more importantly, his chakra quantity had to meet the requirements—that was currently his biggest weakness. Whether his new master had a way to solve that remained to be seen.
All in all, this "comprehension boost" golden finger was very useful—it would greatly assist his cultivation.
"Changing destiny… does that mean the plot?"
Recalling how the golden finger had awakened, Tamura Zairo grew thoughtful.
It was only after he handed over the ten billion ryō and the firearms to the Third Raikage that things changed. And afterward, that strange sensation had continued to appear—that must have been the interception of destiny power.
Clearly, the Third Raikage and the others had altered their future plans because of him.
Especially changes made by the Third Raikage—those would have enormous repercussions, possibly even affecting the course of the Second Great Ninja War.
No wonder such massive destiny power had been obtained.
And destiny here undoubtedly referred to the original storyline.
"Looks like I'll need to change the plot as much as possible in the future. The key will be Konoha—most of the plot is concentrated there.
But I'm too weak right now. I'll need to lie low and develop in Kumogakure for a while, then find chances to go mess with Konoha and farm destiny power."
With his plans set, Tamura Zairo turned his attention back to the dark space around him.
"Is this like the mental world where Naruto and Sasuke met the Sage of Six Paths?"
He guessed this was his own spiritual world, then looked again at the purified cluster of chakra.
From what had just happened, the jade fragment clearly possessed a form of self-protection—it had proactively separated and erased foreign imprints within his chakra.
Of course, this consumed destiny power.
So what differences would this purified chakra have?
With that thought, Tamura Zairo withdrew his consciousness from his mind and tried refining chakra.
"As expected… it doesn't work. Even the chakra seed in my bloodline has been extracted and purified?"
After refining for a while, he opened his eyes. No chakra had been produced.
Clearly, the chakra seed rooted in his bloodline had been removed.
In the ninja world, chakra was spread by the Sage of Six Paths and inherited through bloodlines. Without that bloodline-based chakra seed as a catalyst, chakra couldn't be refined.
With a thought, he separated the purified chakra cluster from his mind and let it merge back into his body.
Using it as a foundation, refining chakra finally worked.
And this chakra felt completely different from before.
"My control has increased tremendously!"
Extending four chakra threads and making them dance before him, Tamura Zairo immediately understood the key improvement of this purified chakra.
Its raw power likely hadn't increased.
But its controllability—its compatibility with his body—had improved enormously.
Previously, he could only control two chakra threads, extending them to one meter.
Now he could control four, extending them to two meters.
And this clearly wasn't the limit. With targeted training, he could improve even further.
Chakra threads were an extremely advanced chakra control technique—far above tree-climbing or water-walking. Tamura Zairo had spent a long time mastering them.
And even after five years, he had only managed two threads.
Now, in an instant, that number had doubled.
This alone demonstrated just how immense the improvement from chakra purification truly was.