Chapter 108: The Second Divine Technique, Space-Time Version of the Spiritualization Technique
"Kushina, I'm going to use the Spiritualization Technique in a moment. Help me conduct an experiment using Mind's Eye of Kagura."
"Okay."
After the sensory training ended, Gojo Yoru didn't take Kushina Uzumaki back to Konoha. Instead, he teleported them to a cave.
Inside the cave, they weren't alone. An unconscious shinobi lay on the ground.
Gojo Yoru first formed hand seals, fully releasing his Space Perception to confirm there were no White Zetsu clones nearby. Then he asked Kushina Uzumaki: "Have you memorized my chakra signature?"
"Mm-hmm—"
Kushina Uzumaki nodded repeatedly.
Throughout all of Konoha, no one was more familiar with Gojo Yoru's chakra signature than her.
This was why the moment Yoru returned to Konoha, Kushina immediately intercepted him at the Hokage building entrance.
"Very good."
Gojo Yoru pointed at the shinobi on the ground and continued: "Then memorize this guy's chakra signature. I'm going to possess his body in a moment. Pay attention to whether the chakra signature inside his body changes."
"Okay."
Kushina Uzumaki immediately used Mind's Eye of Kagura to sense the shinobi's chakra signature.
Once Kushina opened her eyes and nodded, Gojo Yoru immediately sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and formed the rabbit seal.
From an angle Kushina Uzumaki couldn't see, a spirit form that looked exactly like Gojo Yoru's body—even wearing the same clothes—emerged from the top of his head and floated in the air.
Gojo Yoru felt his perspective suddenly rise, seeing himself sitting cross-legged, the unconscious shinobi on the ground, and Kushina Uzumaki's face suddenly turning deathly pale.
Not only that, Yoru could see the chakra inside both the shinobi and Kushina Uzumaki, and could sense their chakra signatures.
Without forming hand seals, Gojo Yoru could sense energy fluctuations in all directions, with a range more than ten times his normal limit.
This was one of the characteristics of the super S-rank Yin Release secret technique.
This was also Gojo Yoru's first time using the Spiritualization Technique. A few days ago, after sensing that his spiritual and physical energies could perfectly separate, he knew he'd mastered the Spiritualization Technique.
He'd just been worried that Konoha had White Zetsu clones, or that Black Zetsu—who wasn't yet Madara Uchiha's will incarnate—was watching him and would very likely discover his spirit form state. Plus developing Space Perception was more important, so Yoru hadn't used the Spiritualization Technique in Konoha.
Entering spirit form for the first time, just this sensory amplification characteristic alone made Gojo Yoru feel the Spiritualization Technique truly deserved its status as a super S-rank secret technique.
Impure World Reincarnation and the Eight Gates could be quickly learned by finding geniuses with suitable talent. No matter how powerful, they only had S-rank training difficulty.
Only Flying Thunder God and the Spiritualization Technique—these two super S-rank secret techniques—were practically choosing their users.
Flying Thunder God needed no explanation. The Spiritualization Technique's training requirements not only demanded qualified spiritual energy and Yin Release chakra but also equivalent Yin Release talent. Years of training would only barely achieve entry-level mastery.
To master it as quickly as Gojo Yoru required possessing the shinobi world's peak chakra control. The training conditions were as harsh as Flying Thunder God.
If Gojo Yoru still only had elite chunin-level chakra, even completing the second evolution wouldn't let him master the Spiritualization Technique.
Because his spiritual energy and Yin Release chakra wouldn't possess the strength to condense a spirit form and leave the physical body.
Just like Rock Lee could open the Fifth Gate of the Eight Gates at age twelve but could only open the Sixth Gate at sixteen.
If you weren't a super-genius, the Spiritualization Technique had a bottleneck that could only be broken through upon reaching adulthood.
Only an adult body and spirit could support enduring the side effects from breaking through this bottleneck.
This was also why many jutsu were classified as forbidden techniques—casual training could easily create life-threatening situations.
Just as Gojo Yoru prepared to experience the spirit form state before attempting possession, he suddenly heard Kushina Uzumaki's panicked voice: "Yoru, did you succeed with the technique? Why did all the chakra in your body completely disappear?"
"The chakra disappeared?"
Gojo Yoru couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, looking at his own body with a puzzled expression.
The next second, a flash of surprise passed through Yoru's eyes: "What's going on here?"
Not having paid attention earlier, Gojo Yoru only now realized that from the spirit form's perspective, his body had absolutely no energy fluctuations.
As if this wasn't Gojo Yoru's physical body but a corpse.
This was extremely abnormal.
Just like how elemental jutsu users could transform chakra into the five elemental nature transformations, Yin and Yang Release as hidden attributes were special but still nature transformations of chakra.
Genjutsu users transformed chakra into invisible Yin Release chakra, but only nature-transformed the portion of chakra used for the technique.
The Spiritualization Technique was no exception.
Moreover, the Spiritualization Technique had to leave chakra in the body for locating and returning to the physical form.
This was why in the original story, Kato Dan's main body could be found and killed by enemies.
If the body became a corpse, the Spiritualization Technique would be invincible, meaning the body could be sealed in a storage scroll.
But now, neither Kushina Uzumaki nor Gojo Yoru's spirit form could sense even a trace of energy fluctuation from his body.
Gojo Yoru was absolutely certain he'd left chakra in his body and hadn't used Space-Time chakra when performing the Spiritualization Technique.
Unable to worry about the possession experiment anymore, Gojo Yoru hurriedly returned to his body.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Kushina Uzumaki lean close with a worried expression: "Yoru, are you okay? Did the technique fail just now?"
"No, my technique was very successful just now." Gojo Yoru shook his head, then asked: "Kushina, you said all my chakra completely disappeared. What do you mean by that?"
Kushina Uzumaki answered honestly: "I was using Mind's Eye of Kagura the whole time. Then I saw your chakra vanish in an instant. Not just chakra—even your life force fluctuation disappeared. It—it was like you died."
Although she knew it was inauspicious, Kushina Uzumaki still said the last sentence.
Hearing this, Gojo Yoru couldn't help but fall into contemplation.
He'd never known that even Mito Uzumaki could barely see his Space-Time chakra.
Gojo Yoru wasn't surprised that Kushina Uzumaki couldn't sense Space-Time chakra—that was high-dimensional sensory blocking.
But being unable to sense even the remaining chakra and the body's energy fluctuations was strange.
Could it be that after his spirit left his body, Space-Time chakra automatically hid his presence?
Only intangibility could hide all presence.
So Gojo Yoru said to Kushina Uzumaki: "Kushina, I'll use the Spiritualization Technique again. After you sense my chakra disappear, touch my body and see if it's merged with space."
"Okay."
Knowing Yoru's technique hadn't failed, Kushina Uzumaki was no longer panicked.
Once Gojo Yoru formed seals and used the Spiritualization Technique again, sensing his chakra disappear, Kushina Uzumaki reached out to gently touch his body.
The scene of her hand passing through his body didn't occur. Kushina Uzumaki's hand landed solidly on Gojo Yoru.
"Huh?"
As if sensing something, Kushina Uzumaki showed a curious expression: "The chakra and energy fluctuations clearly disappeared, so why does the body still have body temperature?"
"If there was no body temperature, wouldn't that mean death?" Gojo Yoru opened his eyes, completely exasperated.
"Yoru, what's going on? Could this be the Spiritualization Technique?" Kushina Uzumaki stared intently at Gojo Yoru.
"Don't disturb me for now. Go check that guy's condition and don't let him wake up." Gojo Yoru waved his hand and fell into contemplation again.
This difference from Kato Dan made Gojo Yoru—whose talent had improved for the second time, including enhanced mental agility—see a glimmer of inspiration flash through his mind.
This special characteristic might not be simple, or it might have significant operational potential.
He might have severely underestimated the Spiritualization Technique.
For someone with the Space-Time bloodline, this super S-rank Yin Release secret technique might not just be useful for developing Space Perception. He could use the technique's characteristic of perfectly separating spiritual and physical energy to do much more.
As Gojo Yoru had this thought, the glimmer of inspiration in his mind grew larger, seemingly approaching him.
Suddenly, Gojo Yoru remembered an experiment that had been thrown into some corner after countless failures.
That experiment was—Space-Time Release: Shadow Clone.
After ordinary chakra could fuse with Space-Time chakra, Gojo Yoru's first action wasn't developing Phantom Body Flicker but using it to perform Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The mixed chakra successfully created a physical form, but the shadow clone had no independent consciousness. Its body would occasionally distort and flicker, like a malfunctioning display screen.
This problem persisted even after Gojo Yoru completed his second evolution and his chakra control reached the shinobi world's peak.
Gojo Yoru had thought the Space-Time power within him possessed an "uniqueness" characteristic, only his main body could use it, shadow clones couldn't share it, so they wouldn't have independent consciousness.
Now thinking carefully, if such a characteristic truly existed, the mixed chakra shouldn't be able to create a physical form at all.
After all, Gojo Yoru's main body could currently only externalize Space-Time power by covering it on jutsu.
Purely releasing Space-Time chakra outward, even this "second stage" Yoru couldn't achieve.
All other externalized jutsu succeeded, so why did "Space-Time Shadow Clone" fail?
Now it seemed the Space-Time power didn't possess an "uniqueness" characteristic. Rather, Gojo Yoru—wasn't qualified yet.
Space-Time Shadow Clone was still missing a crucial element, something "second stage" Yoru couldn't provide.
If he thoroughly mastered the Spiritualization Technique, Gojo Yoru might be able to provide this crucial element.
Even if he couldn't now, "third stage" definitely could.
In this moment, Gojo Yoru became even more certain.
The third evolution would absolutely be a watershed on the "stairway to godhood."
"Yin Seal—Release!"
Temporarily dismissing the idea of restarting the "Space-Time Shadow Clone" experiment, Gojo Yoru suddenly released his double Yin Seal again, using the Yin Seal's full-power fine-tuning to elevate his physical functions to optimal condition.
In this state, Gojo Yoru was like having the First Gate of the Eight Gates open—his control over both types of chakra could reach 100%.
"Phew—"
Taking a deep breath, Gojo Yoru suddenly formed the rabbit seal again.
However, this time, after the chakra in Yoru's body transformed into Yin Release chakra, it didn't immediately condense into a spirit form and leave his physical body. Instead, it seemed to be waiting for something.
Very quickly, the Space-Time chakra that had been kept separate from ordinary chakra flowed through his meridians to his brain under Yoru's divided attention, fusing with the Yin Release chakra.
With external interference, Gojo Yoru's spirit form couldn't emerge from his body for a long time, as if trapped in darkness.
Only when the double Yin Seal's fine-tuning intervened did Yoru's spirit form see a ray of white light in the darkness.
The spirit form lost in darkness didn't hesitate, rushing straight toward that ray of white light.
As the white light grew larger, the darkness behind Gojo Yoru's tightly closed eyes was suddenly torn apart.
His perspective rose again. Gojo Yoru saw the familiar cave and those three figures.
Gojo Yoru immediately examined his spirit form state, then his lips curved up slightly: "Success."
With ordinary Spiritualization Technique, the spirit form was in a transparent-white state, possessing innate sensory blocking. Even Impure World Madara's Rinnegan couldn't see it, only vaguely sense something nearby.
At that time, Madara Uchiha's strength was still at the Beyond Kage level, not yet a higher-dimensional existence.
If even this level of Madara Uchiha could vaguely sense it, the Spiritualization Technique definitely had no effect on Six Paths-level sensing.
Gojo Yoru was absolutely certain that once Madara Uchiha was resurrected and reclaimed the Rinnegan, as the Rinnegan's true owner, he could definitely see the Spiritualization Technique's spirit form.
Even Nagato, after mastering Six Paths techniques, might be able to see the Spiritualization Technique's spirit form.
After all, the Rinnegan's most basic Human Path could extract enemy souls.
Just like the Rinnegan's exclusive dojutsu and summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the Impure World Reincarnation Rinnegan was just a fake eye. Some abilities required the real eye to use.
The Human Path was the absolute counter to the Spiritualization Technique. Even Gojo Yoru was extremely wary of it.
But now, Gojo Yoru no longer feared it.
Perhaps the true Rinnegan could still see his spirit form's existence, but the Human Path's power absolutely couldn't restrain him anymore.
Because—Gojo Yoru's spirit form had undergone a mutation.
Gojo Yoru's spirit form was no longer in a transparent-white state but a transparent-black state.
His Spiritualization Technique had remarkably become Space-Time Release: Spiritualization Technique.
As the eighth special attribute that didn't belong to Yin-Yang or the five elements, Space-Time power was omnipotent. As long as your chakra control met standards, it could be applied to any attribute jutsu.
The non-elemental Rasengan was like this. The five elemental releases were like this. Yin-Yang attributes were the same—
Although Space-Time power consumed every second, before the Space-Time chakra was completely depleted, Gojo Yoru's Space-Time spirit form—like using intangibility—was in an absolutely invincible state. Even soul-targeting abilities couldn't harm him in the slightest. The already powerful sensory blocking instantly elevated to a higher dimension. Perhaps only ultimate dojutsu could see him.
Unfortunately, the Spiritualization Technique's assassination relied on the contest between spiritual energy and Yin Release chakra. Otherwise, Gojo Yoru would now be the shinobi world's most unstoppable assassin.
He just didn't know whether Space-Time chakra could function in mental spaces. If it could, that would mean before Space-Time chakra was completely depleted, Yoru's spirit form could use Space-Time abilities even in an enemy's mental space.
If so, Gojo Yoru might be able to help Kushina Uzumaki tame the Nine-Tails early.
More critically, even if the Sage of Six Paths in soul form targeted Gojo Yoru, he could be fearless—if only briefly—of this true God of Shinobi who could move between the real world and Pure Land.
Even more—Gojo Yoru could travel from the real world to the Pure Land.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Gojo Yoru's eyes filled with shock.
Feasible—extremely feasible. He just wasn't qualified yet at this stage.
Just like how the Yin Seal was practically divine technique-level for pure-blooded Otsutsuki—even stronger than divine techniques—for Gojo Yoru.
At this moment, the Spiritualization Technique in Yoru's eyes was his second divine technique.
"Huh?"
Quickly calming his emotions, Gojo Yoru had just prepared to examine his physical body to see if, in Space-Time spirit form state, he could see the energy fluctuations inside his body this time.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, Yoru's gaze shifted to Kushina Uzumaki, his eyes bursting with intense delight.
In Gojo Yoru's sensing, the energy within Kushina Uzumaki's body was completely visible.
The Uzumaki clan's powerful life force and chakra, plus two unfamiliar chakra sources within her body.
One was the vast-as-ocean Nine-Tails chakra. The other was like the thin membrane on the Rasengan's surface—weak yet extremely solid chakra seal.
On this chakra, Gojo Yoru also sensed an unfamiliar chakra signature.
Although he didn't currently have this level of sensing ability, Gojo Yoru was absolutely certain this was Mito Uzumaki's chakra.
"Did sensing gain the characteristics of Space Perception?" Gojo Yoru murmured, but his gaze wasn't staring at Kushina Uzumaki's abdomen but at her wrist.
In Gojo Yoru's vision, Kushina Uzumaki's wrist had two different-colored chakras, one blue and one black.
Blue was carved on the wrist like a bracelet—the ouroboros pattern. This was the ordinary chakra version of Flying Thunder God formula.
Black was inside the kimono sleeve, attached to the clothing—the Space-Time Release: Flying Thunder God formula.
The next second, Gojo Yoru's spirit form suddenly appeared beside Kushina Uzumaki without warning.
The transparent-black spirit form instantly lost some of its black color, quickly covered by other blackness again. The overall color just became less rich.
Looking at Kushina Uzumaki before him—hands forming seals, maintaining Mind's Eye of Kagura state, monitoring the unconscious shinobi—if he had a body, Gojo Yoru truly wanted to cup her face and kiss her hard to express his joy.
The Space-Time state spirit form could actually even use Flying Thunder God.
What did this mean?
This meant Gojo Yoru's self-preservation ability would dramatically increase.
As long as he preserved enough Space-Time chakra, his spirit form could almost instantly return to his physical body.
When visiting Konan, he wouldn't need his main body to risk approaching her location, increasing the probability of Black and White Zetsu discovering him while requiring long flight times.
Gojo Yoru only needed continuous teleportation to instantly appear beside Konan and possess her body at Space-Time speed.
Plus high-dimensional sensory blocking—no one could discover his possession.
If not for his cautious personality and the experiment not yet being conducted, Gojo Yoru really wanted to try immediately.
***
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