Chapter 329: The Mysterious Wet Bone Forest, Uchiha Jin

Uchiha Jin narrowed his eyes slightly.

Though his face bore a gentle expression, deep within he harbored caution.

To put it plainly!

If today’s matter could yield some intelligence from the slug, all the better; even if not, it would still be a chance to probe the Three Sacred Sites—especially whether the Wet Bone Forest harbors some scheme for the ninja world’s future.

The Toad Sanctuary and Dragon Shrine are easier to guess at, but the Wet Bone Forest feels oddly ambiguous.

With Hashirama Senju here, since the opportunity arose, he might as well test the waters.

As for—danger?

He didn’t care!

Though he had not yet awakened the Rinnegan and his power stood merely at the peak of Kage-level, he still possessed some means of self-preservation.

At the very least.

The Wet Bone Forest couldn’t hold him!

“This—would be difficult.”

“To reverse-summon Uchiha-sama, Itachi must first sign a summoning contract with the Wet Bone Forest.”

The slug’s tone remained gentle as she softly explained.

Uchiha Jin furrowed his brows slightly.

A summoning contract?

Aside from the Uchiha clan’s summoning cats, he had never signed any other summoning contract.

At first, he lacked the qualification.

Summoning contracts from the Three Sacred Sites were not things just anyone could obtain.

And later?

As his power grew steadily stronger, he no longer needed summoning beasts to aid him.

This truth applied across the entire ninja world!

Just like Hashirama Senju before him—he had signed a contract with the Wet Bone Forest, yet had never once summoned the slug.

“Fine!”

With Uchiha Jin’s nod, the Senju family’s scroll on Sakura’s person prompted the slug to return to the Wet Bone Forest personally, retrieving a new summoning contract scroll.

Uchiha Jin sliced his finger without hesitation, wrote his name directly, and pressed his bloody palm onto the scroll.

“Lord Jin.”

“This summoning scroll shall now be in your care.”

“I shall return to the Wet Bone Forest. Both of Itachi prepare to be summoned at any moment.”

With that said,

the slug showed no hesitation and vanished with a puff.

Uchiha Jin fell silent for a moment before speaking up: “Why do I have this faint feeling that the Slug Immortal really wants me to sign the Wet Bone Forest contract? Am I just imagining things?”

Hashirama Senju, for his part, looked utterly baffled.

Clearly,

this kind of thinking was beyond his capacity to assist Uchiha Jin with.

Uchiha Jin knew this well, so he didn’t expect an answer from Hashirama, turning instead to his own thoughts.

Yes!

Though signing the Wet Bone Forest contract seemed perfectly normal—mainly because he’d wanted to probe the Slug Immortal—he still couldn’t shake this feeling now.

Two minutes later,

Uchiha Jin suddenly sensed, in some unseen realm, a colossal presence forming a connection with him.

This was—the Reverse Summoning Technique?

He made no effort to block the link, fully opening his spirit.

Then, the next second,

everything before him in Konoha shattered like a mirror; his eyes instinctively narrowed, and when he opened them again, he saw an ancient forest shrouded in endless mist.

What amazed him further was the sheer density of natural energy here—at least twenty times stronger than anywhere in the ninja world.

But even this wasn’t what startled him most; what truly stirred a flicker of shock and confusion was the complete absence of any chakra residue within this natural energy.

How could this be?

Uchiha Jin was puzzled, yet faintly felt he understood something.

“Lord Senju, Lord Jin!”

“Please follow me—I’ll take Itachi to the main body.”

As Uchiha Jin pondered silently, a massive slug appeared before them.

Its tone remained gentle.

Uchiha Jin and Hashirama Senju followed silently behind the slug, soon arriving before a towering mountain.

The next instant,

the towering mountain collapsed, revealing a colossal slug, larger than a prehistoric beast.

“Lord Senju, it’s been a long time.”

“Slug Immortal, greetings!”

The slug exchanged brief pleasantries with Hashirama Senju, then turned its gaze to Lin Mo: “Lord Jin, what is it Itachi wish to know?”

Uchiha Jin was slightly stunned.

He had never imagined this mountain was the Slug Immortal’s true form.

No surprise—

the Slug Immortal before him emitted no trace of chakra; in his perception, it was all pure natural energy.

“Business later!”

“Right now, I want to know why Itachi have no chakra at all.”

“How did Itachi achieve this?”

Uchiha Jin spoke at once, his eyes brimming with curiosity.

This mattered deeply!

Why, despite having become a powerful figure since his arrival, did he still live in constant dread? Why, even though he could have taken the shortcut of using Hashirama’s cells to awaken the Rinnegan, had he still unhesitatingly abandoned that path?

Precisely because, as a transmigrant, he understood the core weakness of the chakra system…

Subjugation by others!

The higher-ups could effortlessly devour the lower ones.

No matter how high your cultivation, if a pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki descended, they could effortlessly claim everything Itachi had.

Even higher Ōtsutsuki could consume lower Ōtsutsuki as food.

What did the ninja world mean to the Ōtsutsuki? In their words, it was a garden—harvested periodically.

To survive, to grow stronger…

Even knowing chakra’s flaws, Uchiha Jin had no choice but to walk its path, yet he always feared this truth.

This was why he so desperately wanted the Tower to open officially—and why he refused to use Hashirama’s cells to awaken the Rinnegan.

No matter how strong, it was meaningless!

Unless he became a Ōtsutsuki god, it held no value.

Why had he planned the Unification War so cautiously? Wasn’t it to avoid drawing the attention of some Ōtsutsuki?

Uchiha Jin feared that if he acted too boldly, the hidden ones would learn he was disrupting their plans—and then simply devour him like a meat bun.

In other worlds, this might be metaphor.

But in the ninja world, it was fact.

Though he now appeared the strongest in the ninja world’s surface, to the Ōtsutsuki he was still just a meat bun!

Now, however, it was different.

Upon sensing the pure natural energy of the Wet Bone Forest—and especially the complete absence of chakra on the slug’s body—he felt a faint tremor stir within him.

Could he follow the slug’s path? Could he abandon the chakra system entirely?

If such a possibility truly existed, he wouldn’t mind delaying the Unification War!

After all, to be blunt,

unifying the ninja world was merely a means to his end—he didn’t care a whit for the fate of the ninja world’s common folk, for this wasn’t his original world.

He felt nothing for this ninja world.

Meanwhile,

after hearing Uchiha Jin’s question, the slug fell silent.