Chapter 283: Why Every Path to becoming Stronger are Painful?

Another Day, Main World, Konoha – Training Ground Seven

"Ha-aah…" The 'first' Hashirama, now in child form, sat cross-legged on a stone, looking bored.

Nearby, Sasuke stood quietly, waiting. Off in the distance, the diminutive versions of the Third and Fourth Hokage couples—Hiruzen and Biwako, Minato and Kushina—had come to see what was going on, all eyes on Link and Utakata in the center of the field.

[Finally, it appeared.]

Link had once again mechanically cycled through his Stand-like Transformation Jutsu, about to cancel it when he realized it was the one he'd been looking for. Joy lit up his mind.

"Alright, Pearl Jam, you're the one!"

"I'm about to start the experiment," he announced to the bodyguards around him.

Given that Pearl Jam lacked any notable combat power, it was perfect for testing synergy between a Stand-like technique and Tailed Beast chakra. It wouldn't matter if it turned permanent or anything else.

"Are we going now?" The First Hashirama perked up a bit, bringing his hands together in Sage Mode.

"Mmm… So that's quite a lot of strange stuff. I see… This technique of yours—" He wore a pensive look.

Sasuke opened his Mangekyō Sharingan.

Carefully, Link pulled out a small leftover piece of the Tailed Beast chakra cube and had Pearl Jam float over to "devour" it. From the outside, it looked like the chunk of chakra was simply disappearing bit by bit, as though something invisible was biting it away.

Utakata tensed, muscles taut in preparation for Tailed Beast Mode, ready to yank Link out if things got as "extremely dangerous" as he had warned.

Before long, the leftover piece was gone.

Nothing's happening? Link was wondering when, all of a sudden, his head started pounding. He clutched his throbbing temples, an intense discomfort coursing through his body.

"What's wrong?"

"Link?"

"Hey—?"

Voices of concern rose around him but were soon drowned out by a ringing in his ears. His breath came out burning hot, and his skin turned red like he'd been boiled.

His body kept changing as a flood of unfamiliar chakra surged in—from what felt like familiar locations around his First Gate and Second Gate (the Gate of Opening and Gate of Healing). This chakra coursed along his network of energy pathways, reaching every corner of his body.

The Clone Jutsu and Transformation Jutsu he'd been maintaining were forcibly canceled. Initially flustered, Link quickly refocused, pressing a hand to himself to release Delicate Illness Extraction, which helped slightly but still left him miserable. The foreign chakra spread through him, constantly breaking down and transforming into his chakra—growing his stamina and mental strength.

The swelling sensation got stronger and stronger. For a moment, Link thought he'd burst from all this sudden chakra. Yet his well-conditioned body assured him there was no real risk.

He fired off that special healing jutsu multiple times in a row to ease the discomfort and maintain his concentration.

"Boom!" He collapsed onto his knees, wisps of steam rising from his skin.

"Don't move." Sasuke stopped Utakata, who was about to rush forward with medical help. Sasuke frowned. "Link's body is full of the Six-Tails' chakra, almost like a Jinchūriki. If you inject yours into him, it won't help. Use Water Release to cool him down."

Utakata, worried, followed Sasuke's instructions. He spewed water over Link, trying to lower his temperature.

Sizzle— The water wrapping Link sizzled and evaporated into steam.

The First Hashirama, still in Sage Mode, walked over, eyes closed as he sensed the intangible presence of Pearl Jam hovering around Link. His tone was full of wonder. "Using pure spiritual energy to form something akin to a Shadow Clone… That technique of yours is fascinating."

He struggled to find the right word for how amazing it was. Pure spiritual power alone normally can't affect the physical world. At most, you get killing intent or oppressive auras. To truly interact with reality, spiritual energy must be converted to chakra. If you try to make pure spiritual energy into chakra, it craves the physical half, becoming unstable—hard to control, let alone use for jutsu.

Hence why Edo Tensei needs a host body. A mere soul in spiritual form alone isn't guaranteed any real fighting ability.

But Link's spirit apparently has some peculiar stability, allowing him to condense it into an intangible image that can still exert influence physically—a mind-blowing jutsu indeed. Because it's half-illusory, anything it "eats" just ends up being absorbed by Link's body.

"He should be okay," the First Hashirama concluded, regaining his composure. "It's basically like he just swallowed a chunk of Tailed Beast flesh. Without those strange little…things as a buffer, it could've been more dangerous, but now I don't foresee a problem. He might even gain something beneficial from it."

The whole thing was reminiscent of how Naruto's Eight Trigrams Seal siphoned the Nine-Tails' chakra over time, turning it into his own. Link was doing it more crudely—using intangible spiritual power to strip away the beast's will from the chakra and forcibly absorb it. If he could endure the shock, his stamina and chakra would increase.

The First Hokage's assessment put everyone else at ease. Utakata kept spraying water over Link to cool him, while Sasuke carefully monitored Link's internal chakra state. Little Minato and Kushina stood by, ready to seal up any wild chakra if necessary.

Eventually, the abnormal state receded. Link gasped for air, sweat soaking his clothes, muscles twitching involuntarily. The pain lingered but was nothing he couldn't handle. He'd grown used to pain a long time ago.

I should've foreseen this. That Stand is just my spirit in visual form… Link thought. Standing up, he felt his new reserves of strength and mental energy, torn between feeling pleased and annoyed.

His attempt to create a permanently corporeal Stand was a complete bust.

Although the First Hashirama had deduced it from observation, Link had experienced it firsthand. He understood perfectly now: a Stand-like transformation is simply his spiritual energy being given form. The notion of making a separate, permanent entity from it was impossible.

He couldn't just split off a chunk of his spirit; without a soul, a body is as good as dead. Even if it could be done, he wouldn't want to try.

Without a permanent, independent Stand, the random nature of this "Stand Jutsu" couldn't be bypassed. He'd have to keep playing the "gacha" each time. The good news was, as a projection that did influence reality, his Stand could swallow condensed chakra, then funnel it into his body—filtering out the beast's will so that Link could convert it to his own power.

So long as he could endure the pain, he now had an alternative to "doping" with specialized drugs: "consuming" solidified chakra.

Why is every path to power for me so painful…Link inwardly complained.

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