Chapter 495: I Can No Longer Look at the Pure Land the Same Way Again
"We ran into Uncle Bee after we finished eating. He was getting ready to leave the village to look for suitable candidates, so we chatted for a while."
Naruto explained: "Uncle Bee said that he and the Raikage once went to a place called Hozuki Castle, where they met Shiromo-nii."
"Inside Hozuki Castle, there was something called the Box of Bliss. There was a monster inside it with incredible evasion abilities. They simply couldn't hit it. If he'd had my shortcut back then, he could have defeated that monster by himself. He wouldn't even have needed Sage Mode—just emptying his mind would have been enough."
"Uncle Bee said it was a shame. In the end, they weren't the ones who defeated the monster. They even had to ask Shiromo-nii for help. The Box of Bliss was destroyed too. By the way, Kakashi-sensei, do you know what the Box of Bliss is?"
Naruto transformed into a curious little kid and asked.
"I don't know. Judging from the name, it's probably some kind of powerful ninja tool. A ninja tool... could it be one of the Six Paths Ninja Tools?"
Even though Kakashi said he didn't know, he had already begun analyzing it.
The fact that Kumogakure possessed Six Paths Ninja Tools wasn't a secret. If they had information about other Six Paths Ninja Tools, that wasn't strange either.
"Then why is it called 'Bliss'? From Uncle Bee's description, it doesn't seem capable of bringing anyone happiness."
Naruto scratched his head in confusion.
"..."
Kakashi hadn't expected that to be the part Naruto got hung up on.
Perhaps this was the tragedy of lacking an education.
"Naruto, 'Bliss' is a religious term. It refers to the Pure Land—the Paradise where souls go after death."
Kakashi patiently explained.
"What are the Pure Land and Paradise?"
Naruto kept scratching his head.
"...It's where people go after they die. People hope to reach the Pure Land after death, so—"
"I get it!"
At last, Naruto understood and cut Kakashi off.
"So that's why people say, 'Death isn't scary. Death is a cool summer night,' right?"
"Uh... yes, that's basically the idea."
Kakashi wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He hadn't broken a sweat eating ramen, but giving Naruto a cultural studies lesson was making him sweat bullets.
"So that's how it is? Then Grandpa and Uncle Asuma didn't really die—they just went to the Pure Land, to Paradise?"
Konohamaru's eyes widened.
"In theory, yes. But Third Hokage-sama was brought back through Impure World Reincarnation, so he isn't in the Pure Land right now. Oh, right—the 'Impure' in Impure World Reincarnation corresponds to the opposite of the Pure Land."
Kakashi nodded.
Teaching Konohamaru felt much more comfortable.
Unfortunately, he celebrated too early.
He had forgotten that Konohamaru had already inherited Demon Naruto's way of thinking. Without elders keeping him in check, he was no longer the same child he used to be.
"The Blissful World... in other words, the Non-Ultimate-Sorrow World. No wonder Tsunade-sama said Grandpa kept wanting to undo Impure World Reincarnation and return to the Pure Land. So that's why!"
Konohamaru suddenly understood.
"..."
Kakashi was speechless.
Clearly, the Third Hokage just wanted to leave the ninja world because he had been worked to the bone as a tool and couldn't take it anymore.
Not to mention, Kakashi himself was one of the victims. He could completely understand how Sarutobi Hiruzen felt.
Then again, perhaps he still couldn't fully understand.
After all, an Impure World Reincarnation body never grows tired. Kakashi genuinely wanted to know what mental exhaustion felt like when neither the body nor the mind technically experienced fatigue.
"Non-Ultimate-Sorrow World? So that's it! Then the ninja tools sold in that [Niuzihao · Bottle-kun] shop weren't manufactured by people at all—they were summoned from the Non-Ultimate-Sorrow World?"
"The Pervy Sage told me that Nagato-senpai's Rinnegan could control the power of life and death. He also said something about me letting him down in another timeline or something, but I can't remember clearly."
"Anyway, Nagato-senpai seems really good at summoning techniques. He can even summon things like Hellhounds that don't belong in the human world."
"In short, Nagato-senpai controls the power of life and death and can summon things from the world of the dead. So those ninja tools were actually summoned by Nagato from the Non-Ultimate-Sorrow World!"
"No wonder they're so expensive!"
Naruto's rapid-fire analysis nearly made Kakashi's head explode while he was eating.
Fortunately, Kakashi was currently consuming noodles and replenishing carbohydrates in time, so his brain continued functioning.
"Naruto, what nonsense are you talking about? What do those things have to do with each other? And say 'Pure Land' properly! Stop using that nickname!"
Kakashi immediately scolded him.
If this continued, he wouldn't be able to look at the Pure Land the same way ever again.
"But it is bliss! When you use 'Bliss,' it really does make you feel happy. And after using it, your mind enters a completely empty state."
"So the counter to the Box of Bliss that Uncle Bee mentioned must be using the 'Bliss' ninja tool. It all fits together! I'm starting to understand everything!"
Naruto obediently replaced "Non-Ultimate-Sorrow" with "Bliss", but the more he talked, the more excited he became.
"...Forget it. Naruto, if you have any more ideas, just keep talking."
Kakashi took a deep breath and finally gave up.
Rather than arguing with Naruto, it would be better to record all of this. It could serve as material for his first original novel.
After slurping down the last mouthful of noodles, Kakashi set the bowl aside, wiped the table with a few tissues, placed his little notebook back on the table, and began taking notes.
"..."
"Naruto, well? Go on."
After finishing his notes, Kakashi looked up and discovered that the room had gone completely silent. Naruto seemed to be holding something back.
"I can't think of anything else. I-I-I need to go find some inspiration."
Naruto looked miserable.
When he was arguing with Kakashi, ideas had poured out endlessly. But now that Kakashi agreed with him and actually wanted to hear more, Naruto's mind had gone completely blank.
It was incredibly embarrassing.
Naruto bolted out the door before Kakashi could stop him.
Seeing his big brother run off, Konohamaru said a quick goodbye to Kakashi and chased after him.
Kakashi could only sigh helplessly and return to planning his own story.
"What a shame. Uncle Bee has already gone to Turtle Island. If he were still here, I could ask him for more details about the Box of Bliss. Maybe then the wise Uzumaki Naruto-sama could deduce something new."
Naruto walked through the streets of Kumogakure, sighing helplessly.
Killer Bee had gone to search for suitable candidates to learn Sage Mode. He might even start training them on the spot once he found them.
As for when he would return, nobody knew.
"Huh? What's that?"
As Naruto wandered along, he eventually reached a sparsely populated area near the edge of the village and spotted a store that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
It was familiar because he had often seen Jiraiya entering and leaving places like it.
And because he and Konohamaru had visited similar establishments many times in the name of studying and refining the Sexy Technique.
It was a bookstore—but unlike the bookstores in Konoha.
Driven by curiosity, Naruto walked over.
"Stop right there. How old are you?"
The guard at the entrance raised a hand and blocked his path.
(End of this chapter)