This was a dark and surreal space—formless and endless. Suspended in the void was a single shard of broken jade, emitting a faint, ethereal glow. Beneath it floated a sphere of pale-blue energy: his chakra.
Suddenly, the light from the jade swept across the chakra sphere. As it passed through, it separated small glowing fragments, which then took shape—forming four ghostly, translucent figures. Moments later, the jade's light engulfed them all, absorbing them once again.
"Six Paths Sage? Kaguya Ōtsutsuki? Isshiki Ōtsutsuki…?"
Tamura Hiroshi's heart sank.
Though the images were blurred and spectral, he could identify three of them. The horns on their heads were a dead giveaway—classic Ōtsutsuki traits. One resembled the Six Paths Sage. Another, unmistakably, was Kaguya. The third looked like Isshiki Ōtsutsuki.
The fourth image, however, was the most indistinct. It barely had form at all—just a blurry silhouette with horns. But because it was the last to be separated, Hiroshi assumed it must also be of Ōtsutsuki lineage. Maybe even someone of even higher rank.
"Could these be spiritual imprints?"
After pondering for a moment, Hiroshi came to a realization—these figures weren't alive; they were residual marks imprinted within chakra itself.
The origin of chakra in the ninja world traced back to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, who birthed the Six Paths Sage. The Sage then distributed chakra to mankind. So if chakra contained lingering imprints of these figures, it wasn't surprising.
Even during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Six Paths Sage was able to manifest spiritually by using Madara Uchiha's body as a vessel—and later appeared to both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha in their inner realms.
So, yes—it made sense that these marks would remain embedded in the very essence of chakra.
The presence of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was particularly telling. According to Boruto lore, the Ten-Tails needs an Ōtsutsuki to be sacrificed in order to transform into a Divine Tree and bear chakra fruit. Originally, Kaguya herself was meant to be the sacrifice. But she rebelled—ambushing Isshiki instead. He survived, but only barely—half his body destroyed.
It was speculated that Kaguya might have sacrificed that missing half of Isshiki's body to the Ten-Tails to force its transformation.
The quality of the chakra fruit depends on both the vitality of the sacrificed Ōtsutsuki and the energy of the planet. The more potent the two, the more powerful the resulting fruit.
That's why the fruit created from Kaguya's Divine Tree was so devastatingly powerful—imbued with immense energy and multiple genetic bloodline traits.
As for the fourth phantom… it might be someone even higher in the Ōtsutsuki hierarchy. Perhaps the very origin of chakra itself.
"If Isshiki Ōtsutsuki is here… then this must be the Boruto timeline."
Tamura Hiroshi narrowed his eyes. This revelation changed everything. If Isshiki and the Kara organization existed in this version of the Naruto world, then the stakes were far higher than he'd expected.
He already knew the Naruto timeline was full of contradictions—especially in the transition between Naruto Shippuden and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Timelines clashed, character arcs shifted, even Kaguya's personality was retconned.
Now it was clear: the world he was in followed Boruto canon. That meant deeper conspiracies, deadlier enemies, and far greater dangers.
Taking a deep breath, Hiroshi turned his attention back to the glowing jade shard.
"My golden finger…?"
He had been searching for his "cheat" ever since arriving in this world. After all, no one just randomly transmigrated into a world like this without a reason—especially not into one as ruthless as the Naruto universe.
But after ten years, he'd found nothing. No secret bloodline. No inherited techniques. No miracle abilities. His talent was average. At best, if he kept training like any regular shinobi, he might make Chūnin one day—like Iruka.
Now, however, this fragment of jade in his mind clearly wasn't normal. Could this be the key?
It had to be. There was no other explanation.
Turns out… he did have a golden finger—it had just been locked away until today.
When he brought it to life, a message entered his consciousness, conveying its purpose:
"Alter fate. Intercept fate's power. Consume fate's energy to temporarily enhance comprehension."
"An auxiliary-type cheat, huh? Not as flashy as Deep Blue, but still…"
Tamura Hiroshi couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. It wasn't the type of cheat that granted instant power, like summoning legendary weapons or downloading ninjutsu, but it was powerful in its own way.
Enhanced comprehension was a game-changer.
Think about it: many ninjutsu techniques were incredibly difficult to learn or optimize. You could have the chakra, but if you couldn't grasp the complexity, you'd fail. Enhancing one's comprehension could reduce hand seals, increase speed, or even evolve the jutsu itself.
Take the Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique, for example. It originally required 44 hand seals. Even with a sealing speed of 4 seals per second, that's 11 seconds—an eternity in battle.
But some elite shinobi—like Kosuke—could perform it with just 6 seals. The Second Hokage, Tobirama, managed it in only 3. That kind of simplification requires incredible talent… or an enhanced understanding of chakra mechanics.
Even Uchiha Itachi's one-handed hand seals demanded genius-level comprehension.
And let's not forget the creation of original jutsu—like Kakashi's Chidori. Only a true prodigy could pull that off.
The only thing he lacked now was chakra volume.
"Maybe that teacher of mine has a way to help with that…"
Still, this golden finger—this Fate Jade—was an excellent support ability. A perfect companion for self-driven growth.
"Changing fate… is that how I unlocked this ability?"
He traced it back: the golden finger only activated after he gave the Third Raikage those ten billion ryō and the firearms. The strange sensation started then—like something shifted.
That must've been the power of fate being intercepted. Clearly, his actions had caused a ripple effect. The Raikage and others were now acting differently. Their altered choices might affect the entire Second Ninja World War.
No wonder the change generated such a large amount of fate energy.
And if "fate" refers to the original storyline—then altering the plot equals harvesting its power.
"I need to keep interfering with the main plotline…"
But he also knew he was still too weak. For now, he had to focus on developing inside the Hidden Cloud Village. Only once he was stronger could he head to Konoha and really start shaking things up—harvesting more of fate's power.
With a plan now forming, Hiroshi turned his attention back to the space he was in.
"Is this like the spiritual world where Naruto and Sasuke met the Sage of Six Paths?"
It certainly felt similar.
Looking back at the purged chakra, he realized something crucial: the jade had cleansed it—removing the residual Ōtsutsuki imprints embedded in it. That meant the jade could protect his chakra from outside influence.
Though, of course, doing so cost fate energy.
"But what's the actual difference now…?"
He ended his introspection and returned to his physical body, attempting to refine chakra as usual.
It didn't work.
Not even a spark.
"Wait… even the chakra seeds in my blood have been extracted?"
He opened his eyes in shock.
The chakra system in the ninja world was passed down through blood—seeded into the body by the Six Paths Sage. Without those hereditary chakra seeds, normal extraction was impossible.
But then he tried something different.
He directed the purified chakra from his mind into his body—using it as the base for chakra refinement.
It worked.
And not only that—the chakra felt different now.
"Way better control…"
He extended four chakra threads and danced them in the air in front of him. This technique—chakra threading—was extremely advanced. Far beyond basic tree-walking or water-walking.
Before today, he could only manage two threads, and barely at that—just a meter in length. Now, he could control four threads, two meters long, and with far greater precision.
And this wasn't even his limit. With focused training, he could improve even more.
For reference, it had taken him five years to develop the ability to control two threads. Now, in mere minutes, he had doubled that ability.
The impact of purified chakra was undeniable.
This was just the beginning.