Namikaze Shinju's consciousness detached from his body, and the clamor of the outside world was instantly shut out.
Naruto and Sasuke's chakra eruption had bought him an extremely brief window.
Those two had also exhausted every last bit of strength and were lying on the battlefield—after all, Grimmjow's Resurrección wasn't weak by any measure.
Shinju had to seize this chance, or everything would be too late.
His consciousness sank, all the way down to the core of the Heroic Spirit Hall.
This domain should've been perfectly orderly.
But now it was being corroded by an alien force—twisted distortions were everywhere.
His consciousness felt like it was about to be disassembled by the violent torrents of data.
He forcibly stabilized his form, pushing his will toward the deepest layer.
Along the way, countless shattered images crashed into his mind. If his mental strength weren't strong enough, he would've been washed out and crashed on the spot.
The memories stored in the Heroic Spirit Hall were massive—yet at this moment, they had become an enormous burden.
He ignored the interference, his goal unwavering.
Finally, he touched the core database.
But what he saw only made him feel more despair.
The situation here was even worse.
This was his root.
A sphere made of countless points of light floated in the center, its surface covered in black rifts.
The virus's true body was here.
Shinju didn't touch it right away. His instincts told him these things were dangerous.
Nearby lay piles of incomplete golden scrolls.
They looked like system logs.
But most of the logs were already ruined, reduced into meaningless gibberish—probably unreadable even if he tried.
He focused his mind, doing everything he could to catch whatever fragments remained barely "normal."
Some segments could still be stitched together into a coherent thread.
[Log ID: 734, ERROR! Data lost]
[High-energy spatial fluctuation detected. Source: Main God Space]
Main God Space?
That sounded like an existence beyond normal comprehension.
[Warning! Illegal invasion detected: Reincarnator Squad ∝-007]
[System heavily damaged. Core unit shattered]
[Emergency protocol initiated. Fragment escape program activated]
Fragments?
Did that mean the Heroic Spirit Hall was incomplete?
[Fragment ID: G-293 successfully detached. Target world: No. 47 Naruto-derived universe]
A barrage of unfamiliar terms refreshed Namikaze Shinju's understanding in a way that made his scalp go numb.
Main God Space. Reincarnators. System fragments.
What were these existences?
He realized it.
His "system" was only a fragment that had escaped from some desperate situation.
And he was the host of that fragment.
"So… me, and this system… we're just scraps?"
A hunger awoke deep within his consciousness.
Even a fragment didn't want to remain incomplete. It longed to be whole.
That was instinct—and also the only law etched into the deepest layers of his soul.
If it was a fragment, then completion was possible.
Which meant other fragments were scattered across other worlds.
If he wanted to stop being controlled by others, there was only one way.
He stopped being confused.
Everything in the past, and the road ahead, became crystal clear in this moment.
So-called justice and evil—before the ultimate goals of survival and completion—how pale and meaningless they were.
If you couldn't even stay alive, you couldn't protect anyone you wanted to protect.
What meaning did justice or evil still have?
"Must… devour!"
The moment that thought formed, the entire core space trembled.
His gaze turned toward the "virus" coiled at the core.
Now, he looked at it with shining eyes—as if it were a delicious snack.
Nourishment.
This wasn't a virus at all.
This was the first puzzle piece to complete himself.
Another system fragment.
This time, he analyzed his prey as a predator.
When his mental force touched that fragment, a completely different torrent of information poured in.
[Heart's Desire Made Real].
It could respond to the owner's deepest craving, and materialize it.
Aizen wanted to transcend the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow—so it gave rise to Arrancar.
Aizen craved evolution—so it guided him to create the Hogyoku (Wish Jewel).
Speaking of the Hogyoku—
In Shinju's mind, the Hogyoku's energy fluctuation data flashed instantly.
Comparing the two, he discovered a shocking truth.
This fragment's energy fluctuations were almost the same source as the Hogyoku's.
No.
More accurately—Aizen had used the power of this fragment, combined with his own techniques, to create the Hogyoku as a degraded imitation.
Aizen.
So all your evolution… came from a fragment you never even understood.
You were just a lucky thief—an idiot holding divine authority without knowing what it truly was.
A complete chain of logic formed in his mind.
The way to repair the system had been found.
Devour and analyze—turn it into part of himself.
This fragment, containing the rule of [Heart's Desire Made Real], was the key to repairing the system.
And the Hogyoku, as its degraded imitation, contained the purest same-origin energy.
It was the key to opening this feast of devouring.
It was the first patch to restore his system.
He had found the way to break the deadlock.
From this moment onward, the very nature of the battle changed completely.
He would shift from passive survival to active hunting.
Shinju's consciousness withdrew from the core of the Heroic Spirit Hall.
Back in reality—
Above Konoha.
Shinju's tightly shut eyes opened.
The world felt different inside his perception.
Everything was reconstructed before his eyes.
No longer matter and shape, but pure energy and rules.
Naruto's Kyubi chakra was a blazing mass of golden flame.
Sasuke's Susanoo was a purple crystal.
And Aizen—no, the Hogyoku in Aizen's chest—radiated a sweet scent so delicious it made Shinju's soul tremble.
A perfect bait.
The battlefield was still brutal.
The combined attacks of all the Heroic Spirits were barely suppressing the out-of-control Heroic Spirits encourage by the corruption.
Hashirama, Tobirama, Madara, Minato—each one was Kage-class, and they were playing a huge role, but even they were only barely holding on.
Every collision carved more wounds into Konoha's land.
Shinju's gaze crossed the entire battlefield and locked precisely onto the man floating high in the sky.
Aizen.
Aizen seemed to notice his stare, and the corners of his lips lifted in amusement.
In his eyes, Namikaze Shinju was merely making the game more interesting.
He was wrong.
Shinju vanished from where he stood.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of Aizen—so close he could see the tiny changes in Aizen's expression.
Aizen's smile froze.
That calm, unchanging composure on Aizen's face abruptly disappeared, replaced by a trace of stunned disbelief.
His Reiatsu sensing—just a moment ago—had become a joke.
The other man had appeared out of nowhere, ignoring space itself, as if he were the true master of this world.
Aizen hadn't caught even the slightest movement trajectory.
"Aizen," Shinju said.
"Your game ends here."
"Now… hand over your toy."
A real hunt was about to begin above Konoha.
The roles of hunter and prey were about to reverse.
This time, Namikaze Shinju was the hunter.
And Aizen—along with the Hogyoku in his chest—was the first sacrifice Shinju swore to claim.
(End of Chapter)
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