Chapter 296: Spiritual Body Strength

Chapter 296: Chapter 296: Spiritual Body Strength

Whoosh, whoosh...

Listening to the wind howling past his ears, Hyuga Kagami instinctively tucked his neck in.

For some reason, he felt himself growing colder and colder. Yet he was clearly in the form of a spiritual body right now, so logically speaking, he shouldn’t have been affected by heat or cold at all.

This was Kagami’s first time experiencing long-distance flight while in a spiritual state.

And the first impression it gave him was—speed!

Incomparably fast!

Even Kagami, who had long since grown accustomed to the flight speed of Tenseigan Chakra Mode, still felt that flying as a spiritual body was what truly deserved to be called moving like the wind and lightning!

However, it wasn’t long before various sensations of discomfort began appearing one after another.

And the first discomfort he experienced was none other than cold!

Logically speaking, a spiritual body without a physical body shouldn’t be capable of feeling heat or cold, but Kagami didn’t ignore this abnormal sensation. He vaguely suspected that the reason his spiritual body was feeling cold was because the Tenseigan chakra contained within it was being rapidly depleted.

"It’s only been a short while, yet I’m already experiencing all kinds of discomfort. Looks like my spiritual body is still too weak..."

After losing her physical body, the Priestess had managed to maintain her spiritual body for nearly an entire month, while still retaining a considerable amount of chakra. This alone showed just how extraordinarily powerful the Priestess’s spiritual body was.

Although Kagami’s spiritual body was consuming energy at a far greater rate than the Priestess’s due to his high-speed flight, in terms of the sheer strength of their spiritual bodies, Kagami felt that his was clearly a level weaker than hers.

As for Otsutsuki Indra and Otsutsuki Asura, whose spiritual bodies were powerful enough to continuously reincarnate for thousands of years, Kagami couldn’t even begin to compare himself to them.

And then there was the Sage of Six Paths, who didn’t even need to reincarnate and had remained in the shinobi world as a spiritual body all the way to the present day. Kagami couldn’t even begin to fathom just how powerful his spiritual body had become.

The reason Kagami had been able to easily defeat so many powerful enemies wasn’t because his actual strength had truly reached the level of the Six Paths. Rather, it was because of the extraordinarily powerful Tenseigan Chakra Mode granted by his Tenseigan.

While in Tenseigan Chakra Mode, despite personally possessing only the Yin Release chakra associated with dojutsu, he could exploit a shortcut to condense Truth-Seeking Balls containing all seven chakra natures—Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements—temporarily elevating himself directly to the Six Paths level.

This was an elevation on an entirely different level of existence. Without knowing the true nature of the Truth-Seeking Balls, even Uchiha Ryota, who possessed the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, had found it extremely difficult to withstand Kagami’s attacks.

Of course, precisely because the Truth-Seeking Balls Kagami condensed in Tenseigan Chakra Mode were essentially a shortcut made possible by borrowing the Tenseigan’s unique ocular power, they placed an enormous burden on him.

Whether in terms of the chakra required to maintain them or their actual strength, the Truth-Seeking Balls Kagami condensed in Tenseigan Chakra Mode were inferior to those created by genuine Six Paths-level powerhouses.

Therefore, if an enemy ever learned the truth behind his Truth-Seeking Balls, avoided confronting Kagami head-on, and instead dragged him into a prolonged battle of attrition...

Then Kagami would have a serious headache on his hands.

This was also why, no matter how desperately Uchiha Ryota had pleaded before his death, Kagami had refused to relent. Kagami knew perfectly well that he wasn’t a true Six Paths-level powerhouse, so he didn’t dare let the truth about his abilities leak out.

If Kagami had previously been unable to judge just how far he was from the Six Paths level, then after experiencing long-distance flight in his spiritual form this time, he had gained a profound understanding of the gap.

Whether it was the strength of his soul or the strength of his chakra, he was still far, far removed from a genuine Six Paths-level existence.

It could be said that the difference was qualitative!

"Damn it..."

Gradually, Kagami felt even his consciousness beginning to blur.

This was clearly not a good sign. Without a doubt, it meant that his spiritual body was already approaching its limit and could collapse at any moment.

Fortunately, Konoha was already within sight.

Otherwise, Kagami really would have found himself trapped between advancing and retreating.

Before long, Kagami’s spiritual body arrived in the skies above Konoha.

At this moment, the entire village had already fallen into chaos. Some shinobi were gathering in the direction of the Hokage Building, while others were evacuating villagers through the streets and alleys.

"What’s going on? Did Akatsuki launch an all-out attack on the village?"

Puzzled, Kagami took another careful look around. Although the village was in complete chaos, there didn’t seem to be any actual fighting taking place.

Just then, he suddenly noticed a spiritual body flash through the air above the Hyuga clan compound before disappearing into the compound below.

"Huh? Why is there a spiritual body inside the clan compound? Could someone from the clan be using their spiritual form to investigate what’s happening around the village?"

Suddenly, Kagami thought of the Kumogakure spy who had previously been hiding within the Hyuga clan.

If that spy possessed some kind of secret technique that allowed him to move around in spiritual form, then passing the layout of the Hyuga main family’s residence to Gloya and helping him infiltrate the compound to kidnap Hinata would have been incredibly easy.

"He must’ve noticed me and retreated!" After a brief pause, Kagami thought, "Hmph, consider yourself lucky this time!"

Kagami had no time to investigate the Kumogakure spy right now.

He could feel his consciousness growing increasingly hazy, to the point where even concentrating enough to think was becoming difficult. Not daring to linger above the village any longer, he flew directly toward his secret laboratory in the Forest of Death.

A short while later, Kagami’s spiritual body arrived inside the laboratory.

Looking at the two large nutrient tanks before him, Kagami began weighing his options.

One of the tanks contained his Water Release clone, while the other contained his Fire Release clone. What he needed to decide was which clone would be more suitable for the current situation.

Kagami quickly made his decision and sent his spiritual body into the Fire Release clone.

The gourd artifact was currently beside his Yin Release original body. Without the support of the Dragon Vein’s chakra, the Water Release clone’s combat strength would undoubtedly be greatly diminished. If he truly encountered Hiruko and Shinno, the Water Release clone would probably have a hard time dealing with them.

Moreover, Ice Release was simply too conspicuous.

The moment he used Ice Release inside the village, he would immediately be besieged by Konoha’s own shinobi. After all, the most famous Ice Release shinobi in the entire shinobi world right now was none other than Kawa of Kamigami.

Although the Fire Release clone’s development was far behind that of the Water Release clone, it possessed a pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

That fact alone was more than enough to make up for all of its other shortcomings.

"Phew..."

After climbing out of the large nutrient tank, Kagami paid no attention to his soaking-wet body. Leaning against the glass of the tank, he let out a long breath of relief.

That feeling of his spiritual body teetering on the verge of collapse had been anything but pleasant. Only now did he realize just how reckless and dangerous his earlier decision had been.

If his Yin Release original body had been even farther away from the village, his spiritual body probably would have collapsed halfway there...