Ino understood Kabuto, but Kabuto only understood a superficial layer of her. The information they each possessed was severely imbalanced, and this was her advantage.
She thought carefully for a long time, considering several factors, and used an angle that even she found quite astonishing to explain her understanding.
"It should be said, hmm, it's like resentment. The resentment of the dead cannot dissipate and lingers in the world, so this world's illness will become increasingly severe, eventually sliding into an unknown abyss."
Initially, Kabuto didn't take it seriously, a seemingly gentle but actually more like a mocking curve on his lips. As he listened, his attention was gradually drawn in. At first glance, it sounded like a child's nonsense, but upon closer inspection, he felt there might be something in these words that he didn't know.
He thought it was possible that Ino's wording was inaccurate, and asked, "Why do you say that? The Ninja World is indeed not peaceful now, but it's much better than the Warring States Period. You know the Warring States Period, right?"
"I know," Ino nodded, and said in a casual tone, "Actually, I can't explain the specifics very well. Our Yamanaka Clan can use Secret Technique to sense the energy contained within this world. Ancient books recorded these energies, calling them Natural Energy. I don't know what it was like before, but in my opinion, all this Natural Energy is extremely violent, brutal, and even evil. Normal people who absorb it will become abnormally insane, their bodies taken over by a bloodthirsty desire for slaughter."
Yakushi Kabuto subtly glanced at her, a ripple forming in his heart.
At this moment, he held even greater regard for ancient Ninja clans like the Yamanaka Clan. These clans, passed down from ancient times, truly possessed something!
As Orochimaru's assistant, Yakushi Kabuto knew perfectly well how violent Natural Energy was. How many experiments had he assisted with? Too many to count.
He once asked Orochimaru why these energies were so violent, whether the world detested them, or if they detested the world. Why did energy absorbed from green mountains and clear waters fundamentally become like this? Orochimaru didn't give a precise answer, only saying it had always been so. He hadn't thought much about it since then, but now, upon hearing this, could there be other secrets involved?
Yakushi Kabuto was very interested in this knowledge. He didn't want to expose too much of his own information but wanted to continue listening, so he deliberately put on an expression of attentive listening. In his opinion, children Ino's age all had a very strong desire to show off, and he wouldn't need to ask; the other party would spill all the information they knew.
Ino indeed thought the same as him, sighing and speaking voluminously.
"I think the root cause is Chakra, Senior Kabuto. You should know that our Chakra is composed of two parts: physical energy and spiritual energy. The body will decay, and spiritual energy will also disappear with it. If it's a natural death, that's fine, but if one dies on the battlefield..."
Her tone was filled with pessimism: "How to put it? I think that before a Ninja dies, at the moment of death, their spiritual energy will surge to its peak. When the body dies, their hatred, pain, and madness from before death will, through the channel of Chakra, leave a portion in this world. Actually, the personal emotions involved are very few, but there are so many Ninja who die in battle. Little by little, our world is slowly surrounded by negative things like killing intent and madness."
Is that the explanation? Yakushi Kabuto had never heard such a theory before.
If the Chakra of the deceased still remained in the world, had his adoptive mother also transformed into Chakra and been watching him all this time?
He suppressed all his emotions, his face unperturbed, waiting for Ino to continue.
Ino picked up a piece of paper and held it horizontally: "The books say that our world was originally very normal. At that time, there was something called Reincarnation, like this piece of paper. Our Ninja World, samurai, daimyo, commoners, everyone lived on the front of the paper. When life passed away, the soul would transform into pure energy and go to the back, then either reincarnate or become another substance and return to the front. We were always in this cycle."
She picked up a pen and pierced the white paper in her hand: "Originally, there should have been such an internal and external passage between the two realms. We could go to that world when we died, and some things from that world could return here, but... now the passage is blocked! We can't go down, and they can't come out."
Ino's true 'underworld theory' did not conform to Yakushi Kabuto's long-held worldview, but he said nothing, letting Ino continue, while also racking his brain to find flaws in this theory.
Ino continued in a tone of showing off to an adult after getting a perfect score: "...Actually, it may not even be a hole, maybe it's something else? I'm not sure either. The books say that the god who controls life and death Reincarnation, called King Yama or King of the Underworld, also had a problem. The cycle of life and death in our world was destroyed, and the malevolent energy couldn't be resolved, only accumulating endlessly on the front of this paper. The more people who die, the crazier the world becomes, until finally, it's completely beyond saving, right?
I heard that in the Land of Wind in ancient times, there was an organization called Baroque Works. They once tried to find King Yama and restore the world's Reincarnation, but they ultimately failed. Perhaps this god has already left us, or perhaps that author was just talking nonsense? Hahahahaha--"
Trying to free King Yama from the Rinnegan's enslavement, befriending King Yama with the Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique, and then controlling him—that was Ino's original intention in deceiving Kabuto. However, she didn't have much hope for Kabuto acquiring the Rinnegan, as the power gap between them was too great.
It was more of a test, to gauge the Six Paths Sage's level of concern for the entire matter and to see how much strength this terrestrial immortal still possessed.
With Kabuto at the forefront, even if the Six Paths Sage jumped out to intervene, Kabuto would be the one to suffer.
Ino finished speaking, but Kabuto remained silent for a long time.
Absurd! That was his first reaction, but when he thought about it carefully, he couldn't find any obvious flaws.
The people of this world are getting crazier and crazier? Is that true?
If he were an ordinary Ninja, he would have laughed it off and moved on, but he was not an ordinary Ninja.
Kabuto chuckled twice: "A very interesting story, but these claims are absolutely wrong. Under the leadership of Hokage-sama, our Ninja World will definitely get better and better. Don't tell such stories anymore; it's detrimental to the image of your Yamanaka Clan."
Ino put on a look of sudden realization and simultaneously shifted the blame: "Oh, really? I'm sorry, I know I was wrong, I won't say it again next time. No, wait, actually, Senior Kabuto, you started this topic, didn't you?"
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