Chapter 236: The Essence of Memory Alteration
Will Purification Chakra could erase fluctuations of will within the soul—but transferring the will from a soul and preserving it was far from simple.
As expected, the shadow clone's first experiment failed.
Will was the manifestation of individual consciousness.
The soul was its vessel. They depended on one another and couldn't exist independently.
To transfer will from a soul, one must first find a new vessel for that will.
The shadow clone continued pondering and experimenting.
Meanwhile, Li Yao used the Flying Thunder God Technique to capture one ninja after another to use as test subjects.
In the blink of an eye—
Five days passed.
Konoha
ANBU Base Interrogation Room
Minato Namikaze and the Third Hokage entered together.
On a special rune-inscribed table lay Hokage secretary Chiba Megumi, still heavily pregnant. An IV dripped nutrients into her system.
"Go ahead, Minato," the Third said, stopping just short of the table.
"Yes, Lord Hokage." Minato nodded and stepped forward.
The Third had briefed him on the situation—how Chiba Megumi's memories had been altered so thoroughly that even memory-probing techniques couldn't distinguish truth from illusion. The thought alone was chilling.
Minato approached and gently pressed his hand to her forehead, sending in a small pulse of Genjutsu-based chakra.
He, too, knew the Memory Probing Technique.
With his precise chakra control, such a jutsu posed no difficulty.
But this time, he wasn't probing her memories—he was trying to sense whether any foreign chakra remained in Chiba Megumi's body.
He focused deeply while the Third watched anxiously. Yamanaka Kakyū also stood nearby, quietly observing the famed young genius of Konoha. He couldn't help but reflect on how far he'd fallen behind.
At Minato's age, Kakyū had still been a mere chūnin—his abilities far inferior to what Minato now possessed.
After a while, Minato pulled his hand away, face grim.
The Third's heart sank. Still, he asked,
"Well?"
Minato shook his head and answered seriously,
"I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. I didn't detect any foreign chakra inside Miss Megumi."
Silence filled the room.
"Kakyū, check Megumi's memory from six months ago again," said the Third.
"Understood," Kakyū replied.
"Minato," the Third turned toward him,
"This time, concentrate on detecting any strange chakra fluctuations when Kakyū probes her memory."
Previously, to preserve his image in Minato's eyes, the Third hadn't allowed him to see the memory of Chiba Megumi from six months ago.
Maybe, by withholding that memory, they had failed to trigger some hidden chakra-based failsafe left behind by the enemy.
If Kakyū viewed the memory again, perhaps they'd catch a clue.
"Understood," Minato responded firmly.
Kakyū once again activated the memory probe and viewed the vivid, detailed scenes of Chiba Megumi and Li Yao engaging in countless explicit poses.
"Go on, watch it again. Nothing's going to change."
At the Hatake residence, the Lightning Release clone was connected to Chiba Megumi's chakra via spiritual awareness, fully aware of the infiltration.
Li Yao's chakra had continuously maintained the Genjutsu on Chiba Megumi without pause.
That chakra had been transformed into a perfect match for her body and spiritual energy—making it indistinguishable from her own chakra.
Even Minato, with his exceptional chakra-sensing ability, couldn't perceive any discrepancy.
And when Kakyū's chakra fused with Megumi's during memory probing, it too was quietly influenced by Li Yao's Genjutsu chakra.
Thus, the memory images he saw were exactly what Li Yao had designed them to be.
That was the essence of the memory alteration.
He hadn't truly altered her memories at all.
Anyone who tried to view her memories—was simply placed under Genjutsu themselves.
"Minato, you're incredibly talented... but Genjutsu is your fatal weakness."
At this point, Minato had already mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique. Li Yao's Lightning clone sensed the familiar chakra pattern from the Flying Thunder God formula in his body.
With Flying Thunder God, Minato's terrifying reflexes could be pushed to the extreme—turning into overwhelming combat power.
To be honest, without Genjutsu, even if Li Yao went all out, he might not be able to beat Minato.
After all, spatial movement was borderline absolute.
Even his black hole space technique would be useless if he couldn't land a hit.
Fortunately, judging by the fact that Minato hadn't realized he was already under Genjutsu, Li Yao was confident—when it came to illusions, Minato was an easy target.
"Are you sensing anything?"
Back in the ANBU interrogation room, the Third Hokage nervously watched Minato as Kakyū resumed the memory probe.
Minato, eyes closed in concentration, shook his head slightly.
"Not yet."
Truthfully, he already knew—he wouldn't sense anything no matter how long he tried.
In his perception, all of Chiba Megumi's chakra had one singular temperature—no other presence existed.
If not for his complete trust in the Hokage, he wouldn't even believe that her memories had been tampered with at all.
"Enough, Kakyū," the Third finally said, stopping his old friend.
Minato had been able to distinguish even Li Yao's chakra after soul transplantation.
Yet he detected nothing unusual in Chiba Megumi.
The Third now knew—only one option remained.
"You may leave now, Minato. We're done here," he said gravely. There were things he couldn't allow Minato to witness.
"Understood, Lord Hokage." Minato cast one last look at Chiba Megumi, sighed inwardly, and left without another word.
"Should I step out too?" Kakyū asked.
"No need," the Third replied, shaking his head. He trusted his old friend.
He walked over to Chiba Megumi, reached out both hands, and tightly grasped her neck.
"Forgive me, Megumi… for the sake of Konoha."
And with that, he squeezed.
The unconscious Chiba Megumi instinctively began to convulse and struggle.
But it was useless. Before long, her body stopped twitching, her breathing ceased, her heart went still.
Only the faint heartbeat of the fetus inside her continued—until it too faded, becoming a stillborn.
Chiba Megumi and her unborn child were dead—killed by the Third's own hands.
Cruel?
Perhaps not. This was the reality of the shinobi world.
The Third had no intention of raising an enemy's child.
Back then, he had only allowed his daughter-in-law to give birth to "that bastard's" son in order to maintain control.
And the moment that child was born, he sent him to Root to be used for experiments.
He had always dealt with his enemies mercilessly.
And this time was no exception.
As long as Megumi was alive, they could never uncover the truth hidden within her mind—so he didn't hesitate.
There are two kinds of memory probes:
One while the person is alive.
And one after they've died.
Living people had chakra interference—results could be flawed.
But when someone died and their chakra dissipated, the probe directly accessed the brain's cellular memories. There was no room for deception.
Granted, after death, the brain cells began to deteriorate, and some memories might become incomplete.
But if they used the probe immediately after chakra dispersal, they could still retrieve a large portion of the memories.
If the memory was recent enough—like Megumi's memory from six months ago—it would remain intact.
(END CHAPTER)
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