Chapter 221: The Chakra Fluctuations of the Ōtsutsuki Clan
Back during the Fourth Great Ninja War, when Naruto and the others fought Six Paths Obito, Gamakichi, whose summoning time had run out, fired a Water Style jutsu at Obito before returning. That jutsu contained natural energy, and Obito's Truth-Seeking Balls couldn't disperse it, allowing it to fall freely. Naruto saw this and realized the weakness of the Truth-Seeking Balls: Sage Art chakra infused with natural energy could resist and damage them.
Normally, Sage Arts are notoriously difficult to learn.
Gamakichi grew up with Naruto. If his Sage Arts also required a one-to-one fusion of chakra and natural energy like typical Sage Mode, then it shouldn't have been so easy for him.
But apparently, Gamakichi isn't unique—other toads from Mount Myōboku casually use jutsu imbued with natural energy. All of them use Sage Arts.
On closer thought, they weren't using Sage Art chakra at all. They were using pure natural energy.
Mount Myōboku's toads had long since reached a level of natural energy manipulation that rivaled or even surpassed the diversity of traditional ninjutsu.
Even the foundational incantations of sealing techniques were spread by the toads of Mount Myōboku.
Long ago, the Sage of Six Paths used a Sage Talisman from Mount Myōboku to resurrect his brother, proving that the toads had long since developed the ability to use natural energy to perform various elemental jutsu on par with ninjutsu.
In other words, from the beginning, Mount Myōboku's toads have been using pure natural energy—not chakra.
So here comes the question:
Why don't they use chakra?
Is it because the Sage of Six Paths didn't give them any?
Or did they refuse it?
Or perhaps… they realized the hidden dangers within chakra itself?
Li Yao had never thought too deeply about this before.
But after Black Zetsu mentioned that increasing the world's total chakra would attract godlike beings from the stars, Li Yao suddenly remembered the chakra fluctuation he'd left behind in his "good son" in Konoha.
As he mentioned before, chakra fluctuations can be inherited—like DNA passed to descendants.
If his own chakra fluctuations could be inherited...
Then so could the Sage of Six Paths'.
And since all chakra in the shinobi world originated from the God Tree—and ultimately from the Ōtsutsuki clan…
That meant every person's chakra inherently carried the signature fluctuations of the Ōtsutsuki progenitor.
So maybe the toads refused to use chakra because they didn't want to carry those Ōtsutsuki chakra signatures.
Black Zetsu said that if the total amount of chakra became too large, it would alert the "gods." Maybe he was bluffing—or maybe not.
But Li Yao believed it.
Because he himself could sense the chakra signature of his own son from thousands of kilometers away.
Surely the Ōtsutsuki could do the same with their own lineage's chakra.
Maybe at long distances, the signal is faint.
But when enough people have chakra, the cumulative signal grows strong.
If Li Yao had millions of sons gathered in one place, he too would instantly sense his own chakra signature amidst them.
After a thousand years, so many people in the shinobi world… Wait.
Li Yao's expression suddenly shifted.
When he went to kill the Daimyō of the Land of Water, he had noticed that many people in the capital city had no chakra fluctuations at all. At the time, he suspected someone was intentionally keeping the number of shinobi limited.
Why limit their numbers?
He hadn't understood then.
But now it seemed clear:
To prevent the spread and amplification of the Ōtsutsuki chakra signature that could alert the clan's attention.
That would also explain why Kaguya didn't allow the God Tree to unrestrainedly absorb natural energy from the planet and grow rapidly. Instead, she chose periodic human sacrifices to feed the tree slowly and cultivate White Zetsu over time.
She must have feared that if the God Tree grew too strong and the chakra fruit it produced became too concentrated, the massive Ōtsutsuki chakra signature would attract the clan too early—leading them to discover she had eaten the fruit herself.
"But then… why did the Sage of Six Paths later divide chakra among so many people? Wouldn't that increase the Ōtsutsuki chakra signal too?"
Wait, maybe the purpose was to dilute the signal.
Maybe the Sage's chakra was too powerful and contained too much Ōtsutsuki essence. So he scattered it—no, that's not quite right either.
Li Yao suddenly remembered.
At first, the Sage only gave out a little chakra—a seed. Most of it remained within him.
He didn't divide the Ten-Tails until the moment of his death, creating the nine Tailed Beasts.
"But that doesn't fully explain it."
"Could it be that the Sage didn't know Ōtsutsuki chakra signatures would attract their attention?"
"Then why did he die?"
"Why create the Pure Land to house only shinobi souls, and not regular civilians?"
"Why did he later intervene in the shinobi world to help Naruto and Sasuke reseal Kaguya?"
"What exactly was that old schemer up to?"
Li Yao furrowed his brows. All his questions and doubts now pointed toward the Sage of Six Paths.
He couldn't answer them yet.
But one thing was now crystal clear:
The Ōtsutsuki chakra signature in his own chakra was a serious threat.
One day, if he reached Six Paths level, members of the Ōtsutsuki clan would come looking for him.
For now, he had no way to erase the Ōtsutsuki chakra signature. He couldn't even erase Madara's from Kimura Yao's body.
Yes, that's right—he couldn't erase it.
Li Yao could wipe out the will imprints of Madara and Black Zetsu from a soul, but he couldn't remove the chakra signature embedded in chakra itself.
This proved that chakra fluctuations—like genetic inheritance—were extremely difficult to eliminate.
The only reason his current chakra lacked Madara's signature was because he had possessed a new body.
Had he still been using Kimura Yao's body, the chakra he formed would definitely still have…
Wait.
"Body… inheritance… chakra fluctuations?"
"Shit, I get it now!"
Li Yao suddenly cried out in excitement. He thought he'd figured out why the Sage of Six Paths had chosen to abandon his body and live on in the Pure Land instead.
That old fox had used death to shed his body—and thus, shed the Ōtsutsuki chakra signature—so the clan couldn't track him.
Both the Sage and Li Yao understood that no matter how powerful they became, they couldn't defeat a spacefaring race like the Ōtsutsuki who went around planting God Trees on worlds.
The only way to survive was to sever the tracking beacon—the Ōtsutsuki chakra signature.
And also to limit the number of shinobi to prevent the global chakra signal from becoming too loud.
"Looking back now, the Sage clearly had the strength to possess a new body and personally reseal his mother. Yet he didn't. Instead, he gave Naruto and Sasuke a boost and had them do it."
"He was afraid that once he had a body again, the Ōtsutsuki would notice."
"Hahahaha!"
Li Yao laughed. He was increasingly convinced his deduction was correct—this was the true secret of the shinobi world. A grim and heavy truth.
His laughter slowly faded, replaced by a somber expression.
Sigh…
After a long pause, Li Yao let out a deep sigh.
No matter what, now that he knew the truth, he understood what he had to do next.
The problem of the Ōtsutsuki chakra signature would only be solvable once he reached Six Paths–level chakra quality.
Until then, he had to do everything he could to increase his power and abilities.
(END CHAPTER)
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