Chapter 370: Star Eye
Namikaze Minato's recent "mental world lifestyle" could be described as filled with subtle pressure and continuous vigilance.
Some time ago, his "lurking presence" was finally discovered by Uzumaki Kushina. What followed wasn't the tender warmth of a long-awaited reunion, but rather an emotionally charged "intense communication" that lasted quite some time.
Facing his wife's emotional flood mixing lingering fear, sorrow, and fury, Minato could only maintain guilty silence throughout, enduring every tear-choked question.
Even now, Kushina still hasn't proactively entered this space to find him again. Clearly still angry.
Regarding his decision back then to "split the Nine-Tails in two, sealing half along with his own life to preserve the village's future"... Minato never intended to justify it.
That was the choice he made as Hokage. It was just that the consequences of this choice, the things sacrificed... the guilt gnawed at his consciousness day and night.
Minato began contemplating what else he could do for Naruto within this small space where he could exist, even if only insignificant compensation.
And at present, he had a clear and ongoing new task—monitoring that sealed uninvited guest, Otsutsuki Urashiki.
The alien invader's soul was trapped in Naruto's inner world. Minato never relaxed his lock on that area for even a moment.
On the first day, Urashiki walked toward a somewhat incongruous "scenery" on the mental world's grassland—a pile of books that Naruto had "replicated" using chakra materialization principles to relieve Nine-Tails' boredom.
Urashiki stopped before the book pile and began browsing through them.
Was he attempting to understand this planet's civilization and knowledge system? Assessing potential threats or weaknesses?
Minato immediately entered maximum alert, standing ready for battle.
On the second day, Urashiki still sat there, holding a different book, reading with... seemingly great focus?
On the third day, the scene barely changed. Urashiki was still reading, having adjusted to a more comfortable position.
On the fourth day, clear skies stretched endlessly, gentle breezes swept the grassland, and Urashiki... remained immersed in the pages.
On the fifth day, the situation seemed to show "progress." Urashiki began muttering quietly while browsing.
"...Wingardium Leviosa...? Wing-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa...?"
Minato: "..."
That seemed to be a fictional spell from the book called "magic"?
Still on the fifth day, Urashiki finally began taking initiative, walking around the vast grassland, picking up books that Nine-Tails had casually tossed around or thrown after finishing, then unusually seriously sorting them by category, neatly stacking them beside himself.
Throughout this process, he kept muttering under his breath. Listening carefully, most of it was low murmuring like "waiting for the right moment... need patience... this is only temporary..." as if performing self-hypnosis or strategic planning.
Over a week later, one day, Nine-Tails finally noticed the anomaly.
"You bastard—!! Who gave you permission to touch my things?!!"
Nine-Tails' fury erupted like a volcano! Old grudges—attempting to harm Naruto. New grudges—now daring to touch its "collection." Combined, it went berserk.
For the entire next day, Nine-Tails' massive form crazily pursued Urashiki's tiny consciousness construct. Though unable to truly destroy the immortal consciousness body, repeatedly blasting it apart and flattening it could undoubtedly greatly relieve its pent-up anger.
However, after this one-sided "hunt" ended, the situation's direction seemingly hadn't changed.
Every day afterward... whenever Nine-Tails' attention shifted slightly, or when it lay down for a brief rest, Urashiki would cautiously return to that spot and continue his... great reading enterprise.
The situation's development completely deviated from all his initial expectations—yet the vigilance in Namikaze Minato's eyes never diminished by half.
Was it camouflage? Using this seemingly harmless, even foolish behavior to numb himself, lower his guard, secretly implementing some longer-term plan?
If it truly was camouflage, being able to maintain such a prolonged, immersed portrayal of a "bookworm" role—that level of cunning and patience would be even more terrifying.
Or perhaps... was he searching within these seemingly absurd books for some information or revelation he couldn't understand? The Otsutsuki's thinking patterns might differ completely from humans.
Regardless, only one conclusion existed—he couldn't relax his vigilance. Minato continued his silent surveillance, guarding against any "conspiracy" that might suddenly erupt.
---
After Jiraiya officially succeeded as Fifth Hokage, Naruto's daily life welcomed quite a few changes.
However, before discussing those matters, there was something more relevant to his own "hardware upgrade" that needed deciding—the formal naming of his right eye's strange ocular technique.
This black-base, gold-pupil eye born from incompletely fusing Otsutsuki Urashiki's [Karma] power had already displayed two abilities.
[Yomotsu Hirasaka], and that ability transforming material existence into countless azure energy paper cranes.
As if this eye itself carried some kind of inherited information, when Naruto successfully performed the second ability, a name naturally surfaced in his perception.
[Seigetsushin Senri]
How to put it... an alien race's naming style? It sounded cold, descriptively accurate, but felt like it lacked... lacked impact!
Naruto thought this way. Since the eye now belonged to him, naturally the name could also be given by himself!
Thus, after some deliberation, Naruto solemnly determined a new name and excitedly ran to announce it to his mother Kushina.
"Mom! I've decided! From now on, my right eye will be called—[Eternal Night Star Universe Melting Gold Radiant World Blazing Dawn Eye]! How about it?"
Uzumaki Kushina was making tea at the time. Hearing this, her movements instantly froze. She slowly turned her head, eyes first blinking blankly, then filled with disbelief and the impulse to facepalm wondering "who does this child take after."
After several seconds of silence, Kushina set down the teapot, using an unquestionable tone even carrying "motherly sternness," saying, "Absolutely not! Rejected! Right now, immediately give me a normal name!"
"Eh?! Why?" Naruto suffered a major blow.
"Too long, you know!" Kushina facepalmed, muttering quietly, "...Definitely that guy's fault..."
Then she cleared her throat, providing irrefutable justification. "In battle, are you going to shout this entire long string of a name every time before using the ability? Enemies won't wait for you to finish your lines! Zero practicality!"
Though Naruto felt his momentum was damaged, he couldn't refute his mother's criticism regarding combat efficiency, and could only dejectedly accept the renaming requirement.
Thus, during one lunchtime when both Uchiha Satsuki and Hatake Kakashi were visiting the apartment, Naruto brought the naming dilemma onto the "meeting" agenda, proposing to decide through voting.
Of course, candidate names needed collecting. Naruto insisted on listing his original masterpiece for commemorative purposes, or rather, as a last-ditch struggle.
Meanwhile, Namikaze Minato's chakra construct—who'd been silently listening all along and now couldn't help wanting some "father-son collaboration" from within Naruto's inner world—also weakly submitted his own idea through Naruto.
[Pitch-Black Heavenly Curtain Instant Light Golden Wheel Swift Pierce Pupil]
The result was predictable.
[Eternal Night Star Universe Melting Gold Radiant World Blazing Dawn Eye] and [Pitch-Black Heavenly Curtain Instant Light Golden Wheel Swift Pierce Pupil] were thoroughly eliminated at the bottom.
The atmosphere became much more pragmatic afterward. Satsuki proposed several concise and powerful options, while Kakashi contributed several names that sounded like high-end desserts or ninja tool model numbers.
Everyone combined this eye's ability to open universe channels and freely traverse the starry sky, along with its power source—the Otsutsuki clan's characteristics as a star-faring race—conducting multiple rounds of discussion, fusion, and selection.
Finally, balancing accuracy, conciseness, a touch of mystery, and Naruto's personal preference for the "star" element, voting results were produced.
Uzumaki Naruto's right eye—that black-base, gold-pupil strange ocular technique—was formally named:
[Star Eye]
***
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