Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 318 Life Energy

After enjoying the lunch her mother had carefully prepared—a classic bento-style family meal with fried pork cutlet, vegetable salad, and a mixture of mashed potatoes and eggs—Kushina naturally cleared away the dishes, humming a lighthearted tune, and turned to the sink to start washing them.

Naruto gazed at his mother's busy yet contented back, and a pang of sadness welled up in his heart. Because the reanimated body didn't need to eat, the lavish meal had been enjoyed only by him and Kakeru from beginning to end.

Reflecting on the original story... why did almost all the dead who were summoned back by the Impure World Reincarnation show a sense of relief and liberation when they finally returned to the Pure Land? Why didn't they show a strong desire to continue "living" in this body when they had the opportunity to remain in the mortal world in this form?

As Naruto researched the forbidden technique of Impure World Reincarnation, he gradually understood its key characteristics, because the summoned souls were imprisoned in "dead matter" made of dust and offerings.

Aside from being unable to be killed by conventional means and only restricted by breaking spells or seals, this body deprives people of too many basic human experiences. It cannot taste food, feel fatigue, feel any form of warmth, and even the sense of pain becomes blurred, with the presence of the five senses being extremely weak.

The soul must feel extremely uncomfortable, even tormented, to be confined to this cold, numb body devoid of real sensation for so long, right? Naruto felt a pang of sadness at the thought.

However, from the moment Kushina appeared until now, all she showed was liveliness, cheerfulness, and boundless affection for Naruto. Naruto could hardly sense any negative emotions from her due to her physical condition...

Kushina carefully hid all her discomfort and pain, just so that Naruto wouldn't worry.

Naruto couldn't accept his mother living in this world in such a distorted and incomplete state. No matter how slim the hope, he had to try and find a way to improve the situation.

"Mom..." he called softly.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Naruto?" Kushina immediately turned around, her face filled with gentle concern. "Are you still hungry? It's okay, Mom made a lot, and I've portioned it out and put it in the fridge. You can just heat it up when you want to eat. But of course, freshly made food always tastes the best! What else do you want to eat? As long as it's non-alcoholic, Mom will make it for you..."

Why make so much stuff, filling the entire refrigerator? The answer is simple: Kushina doesn't know how long she can spend with her son like this, and she wants to prepare everything for him in advance as much as possible...

"No, Mom, I'm already full..." Naruto quickly shook his head. He took a deep breath and said what he was thinking, "Well... actually, I really want to... cook a meal for Mom to express my gratitude."

Hearing her son's heartfelt words, Kushina felt a surge of warmth in her heart, but this was quickly followed by a deeper sense of loss. Cook for me? But in this state… she couldn't even bear the smell of food, let alone eat…

"No need~" Kushina immediately changed to a relaxed tone, trying to hide her inner sadness, "It's only natural for parents to cook for their children, there's no need to thank me."

"...It's because of the body you were resurrected with, right?" Naruto directly pointed out his mother's unspoken concerns. "But...I might...have a way to let Mom taste things."

"Huh? Really, no need!" Kushina waved her hand instinctively, speaking with the doting tone a mother has for her child, "How would a little kid like you understand these things..."

However, she stopped abruptly.

A child...? Kushina was stunned. Deep in her consciousness, the last image of Naruto in her memory was still that of a newborn baby in swaddling clothes.

For more than a decade, she had not realized or understood that she subconsciously still regarded the tall and handsome young man in front of her as a "little child" who needed her meticulous care.

Naruto is now a Konoha hero who has perfectly mastered the Nine-Tails' power and saved the village from peril... Perhaps we shouldn't view him in that way anymore...

This realization made it impossible for her to say the words of refusal that she had originally intended to.

"Actually, the principle is very simple," Naruto tried to explain in a relaxed tone, "It's a special ninjutsu I created that can transfer a special kind of 'life energy' to other objects. I was thinking, maybe it can..."

"What?! Transfer your life energy to me?! Absolutely not! I will never agree to this!"

Before Naruto could finish speaking, Kushina almost yelled at him, her voice rising with extreme shock and resistance! Upon hearing that her son's method involved "transferring life energy," her first reaction was that Naruto was going to sacrifice his own life force to restore her senses!

If that's the price, she'd rather return to the Pure Land right now than allow such a thing to happen!

"No, Mom, you've misunderstood!" Naruto quickly waved his hands, urgently clarifying, "It's not the kind of life energy you're thinking of! Nor is it my own life energy! This energy is... specially converted from my chakra! It's essentially more like an active substance that simulates the origin of life. If it were directly introduced into a living person's body, it wouldn't heal them; instead, it would cause them to go berserk!"

This is the solution Naruto came up with—using the power of [Gold Experience].

This special life energy, driven and manifested by his spiritual energy, has the most amazing ability, besides being known to cause mental rampage and accelerate the growth cycle of plants and animals, to transform inorganic matter into living organic matter!

Since the body reborn through the Impure World Reincarnation is composed of "dead things" such as dust and sacrificial cells... then theoretically, wouldn't it be enough to gradually transform these "dead" components that make up the body into organic tissues of "living things"?

Naruto recalled some things he had done in the past, such as infusing this life energy into a shadow clone made of chakra. As a result, apart from lacking an independent soul, the texture, temperature, and even microstructure of that shadow clone were almost indistinguishable from a real living human body!

"See, that's how it is," Naruto said, deciding to demonstrate it directly to his mother to dispel her doubts.

Naruto casually picked up an unused spoon from the table and, under Kushina's bewildered gaze, gently placed his palm on the spoon.

The next moment, something happened that left Kushina speechless!

The lifeless metal spoon, bathed in the light emanating from Naruto's palm, began to slowly deform and soften as if it possessed a life of its own! Its color gradually changed from metallic silver-gray to a vibrant hue, and its shape constantly twisted and reformed...

"Quack."

A clear croaking sound rang out.

When the transformation was complete, what appeared in Naruto's palm was no longer the spoon, but a lively little frog with moist skin and bright eyes! It even gently kicked Naruto's fingers with its hind legs, showing its vigorous vitality.

Kushina was completely stunned. Her emerald green eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the living creature that seemed to have appeared out of thin air in her son's palm. Her mind was almost unable to process this scene that completely subverted common sense.