Naruto: Kage of Kages

“Hmm . . .” Mito probed Shiki with her Mind’s Eye of The Kagura, attempting a more invasive method of analysis.

The core of the problem was something she had figured out as soon as she took a first analysis, Shiki was trapped deep within his own mind, an extremely deep introspective state arising from chakra enhanced meditation.

Mito had no idea how Shiki managed to get into such a state but once there, it became nearly impossible to drag him without inflicting spiritual damage. The more invasive probing was meant to figure out a way to do precisely that.

The normal procedure would be trying to coax the subject out of the depths of their mind through the use of genjutsu to simulate important things, people or places to the subject, thus stimulating them into awakening on their own.

Unfortunately, Mito simply did not know anything personal enough about Shiki that could thus stimulate him and based on the inquiry she had her servants make when she noticed him, neither did the people of the orphanage.

‘It seems the only option is to try and connect with him directly and try to personally coax him out.’ Mito concluded.

‘The Yamanaka would be more suitable for such a task but . . .’ Mito paused, contemplating whether she should call such a specialist over.

With her influence, she could get the best to come with all haste, no problem at all but still . . .

‘I’ll give it a light try myself and if I feel it could hurt him or I fail to pull him out . . . Then I’ll call a specialist over.’ Mito decided.

With her highly advanced Mind’s Eye of The Kagura, boosted by the ability to sense the deepest emotions in others, courtesy of the creature she hosted within her, Mito was fairly confident in her ability to connect with Shiki’s spirit and bring him out of his state.

As she made her first attempt however, Mito realized her concerns were unfounded.

Unlike a normal mind, or one under the control of a third party, there was simply no resistance to intrusion, in fact, it was as if Shiki’s state invited others into his mind instead.

This was not a wholly unknown effect, certain types of genjutsu or even drugs can make others more pliable to manipulation and command which also produces a similar effect of lacking resistance against intrusion by means of genjutsu.

However, lacking resistance to intrusion and helping intruders in are two very different things, a distinction Mito seemed not to have made.

It was an understandable mistake, the uniqueness of the situation made experience not very useful and the mental domain was not her true specialization despite Mito’s sensory abilities infringing upon that domain.

As she dived into Shiki’s mind, Mito felt an otherworldly sense of peace and detachment.

Memories from his second life revealed themselves all around her in the form of clear watery windows but it was clear Shiki himself lived wholly unbothered with his surroundings, after many failed attempts to create bonds, the other children and even the adults stopped trying.

It was a life of detachment, as if nothing worthy of his attention, his investment and attachment had appeared before him.

Diving deeper, Mito searched for the core of his mind, where meaningful memories could be found, hopefully along with his dormant consciousness.

In the middle of her search however, Mito came to a startling realization.

‘I can no longer feel the way back!?’

At some point in her dive,Mito’s connection to her physical body had been severed.

‘No . . . Not severed.’ She sensed.

‘I can still feel it but it is . . . Blurred somehow?’

It was hard to explain but the fact of the matter was she could no longer use that connection to pull herself out of Shiki’s mind.

Mulling over her predicament for a short moment, Mito cleared her thoughts.

‘I shall keep looking for the boy’s consciousness. Perhaps I can guide him in the process of awakening from deep meditation and that will get us both out.’ She decided.

‘And if not . . . Well, somebody will find us and the Yamanaka Clan will owe me one less favor.’ Mito mused.

She was there during the founding of Konoha; few established clans of the village did not owe her some favors, not to mention the authority she commanded by merit of both her identity and strength.

She was Mito, Princess of the Uzumaki, Wife of the First Hokage, Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails and Konoha’s strongest kunoichi.

After wandering around some more, slowly losing her sense of time while sifting through more unimportant memories of Shiki, Mito decided to change her approach.

‘Perhaps by following the older memories, I can find the core of this boy’s mind. The memories seem to be somewhat organized based on time so it makes a certain sense.’

Under that assumption, Mito decided to try and find the older memories from when Shiki was younger, slowly managing to grasp a heading based on her search.

And, after an undetermined period of time, the different methodology bore fruit.

Wading through blurred memories captured by infant senses, yet to develop enough to take in the surroundings and form coherent memories, Mito found a spiritual body, seemingly asleep, at the core of it all.

‘There he is . . .’ She inwardly muttered.

However, before Mito could even decide on her following course of action, Shiki’s eyes suddenly sprang open and pinned her in place.

Their gazes crossed but before anything could even take place, Shik instinctually ejected the foreign presence in his mind and Mito, after a blurring of her consciousness, found herself in her own body, in the real world, once again.

As for Shiki, he abruptly sat up in Mito’s bed, trying to grasp the unfamiliar surroundings.

*

Rewinding time a bit, once he lost consciousness in the real world and sunk deep into his mind, Shiki was not at all worried.

In fact, he thought he was still sitting in position, meditating as usual, only in a deeper state as a result of his latest efforts.

At the core of his mind, wonder was all there was to be felt.

Memories flashing, his entire first life and his short second being recollected in perfect detail in a flash.

His thoughts sharpened and sped up to seemingly impossible levels.

Free of the constraints of the flesh, Shiki’s Spirit Body surged in power with the assistance of his mysterious True Body behind it.

Countless theories about chakra and its properties came and went as Shiki’s knowledge and imagination worked at incalculable levels, guided by the higher awareness of his True Body and approaching the mysteries of the world, step by step.

In this miraculous state, Shiki quickly realized the dangers of his self genjutsu attempts.

‘I’m lucky not to have turned into an idiot or a prisoner in my own mind.’ He thought.

Metaphysical shivers ran through his body.

Being trapped in an unmoving body was bad enough, if Shiki went a step further and ended up trapped inside his mind before he could even properly enjoy his new life . . .

‘I don’t even want to think about it. I probably would’ve gone mad in no time.’ He pondered.

Though considering his reckless experimenting and self guided practice that was probably “a touch” too extreme, Shiki’s supposed sanity was in fact up for debate.

Pushing such demotivational thoughts out of the way however, Shiki moved on to more important things.

‘Though I’m confident I can at least approach this miraculous state again, I doubt it will be as effective then so I should capitalize on this opportunity.’ He swiftly concluded.

It was a state achieved through chance and coincidence, very much akin to the so-called “sudden enlightenment” often spoken about in cultivation novels Shiki had read in his past life.

‘First my breathing technique, then my self-genjutsu and then sorting new ideas.’

Listing his order of business, Shiki got to work on reviewing his self-made breathing technique, the “Nirvana Art: Three Bodies Breathing Method” to try and further refine it by taking advantage of his currently increased mental and spiritual capabilities.

It was then that, unbeknownst to Shiki himself, trouble came in the physical world.

+++++

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