Chapter 206: How Could A Mother Not Recognize Her Own Child
Buzz——!
In the laboratory, with that precious cellular tissue of Uzumaki Kushina as the origin point, the dark blue rune array suddenly erupted with blinding light!
The light carried a bone-deep coldness and ominous aura.
The air twisted violently, and countless gray-white substances, like ashes from burned paper money, surged out of thin air!
These substances, as if attracted by an invisible vortex, crazily surged toward the rogue ninja at the center of the laboratory!
“Urgh——!!!”
This rogue ninja named Shikizo suddenly convulsed!
An extremely painful and terrified distorted expression appeared on his face!
From his throat came an out-of-tune, dying wail, and his body began to melt and decompose like a wax figure thrown into strong acid!
Skin, muscles, bones, wrapped and eroded by the ash substances, rapidly melted away like ice and snow under the sun!
The ashes grew more and more, thicker and thicker, surging like living creatures!
They greedily devoured the remaining human matter, emitting a tooth-grinding “sizzle” sound.
Dust surged, wriggling and shaping like living things.
Gradually outlining slender limbs, full breasts, a slim waist.
Finally, a woman’s face gradually became clear in the churning gray-white dust.
Menma’s deep blue pupils slightly contracted, staring unblinkingly at this taboo scene of reversing life and death, defiling the deceased.
This was the first time he had truly performed Reanimation Jutsu with his own hands; that soul-level cold sense of rejection made even him feel a trace of discomfort.
The light reflected on his young face, casting flickering shadows.
The vortex of ashes gradually subsided.
The light dimmed.
In the laboratory, the rogue ninja named Shikizo had vanished without a trace.
In his place was a figure standing quietly.
A waist-length red hair like burning flames, still dazzling under the cold lights.
Those heroic facial features, only with skin in a lifeless grayish pallor, like aged clay.
The most striking were the web-like fine black cracks covering her face, neck, and exposed arms, like exquisite porcelain barely glued back together after being shattered.
Her eyes were closed, wearing a simple green long dress, the deceased’s pre-death attire that came with Reanimation Jutsu.
Uzumaki Kushina.
Returning to the world in the body of the dead.
Menma’s heart thudded heavily in his chest uncontrollably.
An indescribable complex emotion instantly seized him.
Was it the palpitation of long-separated reunion?
Guilt for defiling the deceased?
Or the unexpected heartache surging upon seeing this “broken clay doll”?
He subconsciously pursed his lips tightly; deep in his deep blue eyes surged waves even he himself could not sort out.
At that moment, the “clay doll”’s long eyelashes trembled, slowly opening her eyes.
The eerie gray sclera unique to Reanimation Jutsu, with empty and dazed pupils, like dust-covered glass beads.
She stiffly turned her neck, surveying this cold, unfamiliar, technology-filled laboratory, her eyes filled with estrangement and alienation toward the “world of the living.”
Until her gaze fell on the black-haired boy in front of her, quietly gazing at her.
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
The reanimated one’s empty gray eyes, the moment they clearly saw the boy’s face, rippled violently like dead water with a stone thrown in!
Daze receded, replaced by incredulous shock, then a pure and blazing joy erupted like a volcano!
“Men… Menma?!” Kushina’s voice was hoarse from just waking, yet filled with overflowing excitement and disbelief.
She even subconsciously took a step forward; her grayish face seemed to gain a faint trace of vitality from this extreme emotion.
“Is it you? Menma?! Oh my god… you’ve… grown so big?!”
Her voice echoed in the cold laboratory, carrying an unreal warmth.
Menma’s body jolted!
As if struck by an invisible thunderbolt!
His deep blue pupils contracted instantly, filled with shock even greater than seeing the Reanimation Jutsu succeed, and a trace of panic!
Why?!
His current appearance was a carefully maintained Transformation Jutsu!
Simulating his appearance grown to fifteen years old in the “Limited Tsukuyomi” false world!
The Uzumaki Kushina and Minato Namikaze in that world had long dissipated with the world’s collapse!
The one summoned here by Reanimation Jutsu was the real one from this real world, his mother who had died when he was just born!
How could she…
Recognize him at a glance?!
While Menma’s mind reeled and his thoughts were in chaos, Kushina, filled with the joy of lost and found, opened her arms, wanting to embrace this son she had been separated from for who knows how many years!
Her grayish face even tugged at those black cracks from excitement, appearing somewhat distorted, but that desire was utterly real.
However, just as she was about to touch Menma.
Menma’s body, like a startled cat, abruptly retreated a large step back!
Kushina’s opened arms stiffened in the cold air.
Her fingertips were less than an inch from Menma’s collar, yet it felt like an insurmountable chasm.
Dead silence filled the laboratory.
Only the hum of the instruments sounded exceptionally grating.
The joy on Kushina’s face dimmed like flames doused with cold water, finally solidifying into a bone-deep loss and sorrow.
Those reanimated eyes with gray halo incredulously looked at Menma, surging with pain and confusion.
She slowly, tremblingly lowered her arms stiff in mid-air, her voice thick with nasal tone and injured tremor: “Menma… are you… still hating Dad and Mom? Hating us for not protecting you and Naruto… hating us for letting you… wander outside for so many years…”
This sentence, like a blunt knife, stabbed viciously into Menma’s heart.
He forcibly suppressed the stormy waves in his heart, forcing himself to calm down.
He took a deep breath; the cold air pierced his lungs, making his voice sound unusually dry and calm:
“Hate? No.”
He paused, his deep blue eyes staring straight into Kushina’s pained eyes, throwing out the core question that had shattered his mind: “I just don’t understand. Why? Why could you recognize me? My current appearance… is not real.”
She tilted her head slightly, her mouth forcing a comforting arc, though that smile appeared exceptionally fragile under the reanimation cracks.
Looking at Menma’s deep blue eyes that seemed especially profound under the cold light, the sorrow on her face was replaced by maternal gentleness and insight.
“Silly child,” her voice softened, carrying a natural certainty: “Because of your eyes.”
“Eyes?” Menma’s brows furrowed tightly.
Kushina leaned forward slightly, as if wanting to examine more closely, though Menma still kept his distance.
“Your eyes are like Naruto’s, both beautiful blue, like a clear sky.” Kushina’s mouth curved into a nostalgic smile, then took on a unique sharpness.
“But, Menma, your eyes… are deeper, more… complex, hiding too many things. And…”
Her voice lowered, carrying a faint pride and heartache: “When you were just born, you were different from other children. I’d seen other newborns in Konoha Hospital’s maternity ward, all crying loudly, but you just quietly opened your eyes, no crying or fussing, those black shiny eyes just quietly looking at me and your dad… I knew then that my Menma was a very special, very special child.”
“Your eyes, Mom will never forget.”
Boom!
Kushina’s words, like a second thunderbolt, struck viciously at Menma’s mind!
The details Kushina described, that unusual “quiet” and “gaze” of the infant, like a key, instantly unlocked the most hidden gate in his memory depths!
Memories from just after birth surged, countless image fragments flooding in!
Menma’s breathing grew somewhat heavy; he subconsciously avoided Kushina’s gaze, as if that gaze carried burning heat.
A strong urge to pour out, fifteen years plus seven years of accumulated loneliness and confusion, like floodwaters breaching the dam, churned in his heart!
“…I didn’t wander.” Menma’s voice was low like a murmur, carrying fatigue across long time, as he began weaving half-true half-false lies.
“That day of birth… the mysterious person who attacked Konoha, his Sharingan Illusion Technique…”
He raised his head, looking back at Kushina; deep in his deep blue eyes was a bottomless abyss.
“Trapped me in an Illusion World called ‘Limited Tsukuyomi’—”
“Full fifteen years!”
He began recounting.
His voice calm, yet like cold stream water, washing at Kushina’s heart as a mother.
He recounted that false yet utterly “real” world: with Minato Namikaze, Uzumaki Kushina, complete Konoha, familiar companions, the rules running the entire world.
He was born, grew up there, with what seemed a complete family and childhood.
Parents’ care, friends’ companionship…
Everything so real.
“But! I knew it was fake! All fake!” Menma’s tone suddenly turned cold, with a sharp self-mockery.
“From when I had clear consciousness, I knew. The light and shadows of that world carried an indescribable ‘falseness.’”
“I spent fifteen years… full fifteen years! Searching for a way out.”
He paused, his voice gaining a ruthlessness even he hadn’t noticed: “I captured jinchūriki from various ninja villages, attacked the Five Great Shinobi Villages, stirred conflicts, sowed war and fear! Even incited the Fourth Great Ninja War in that world, fighting the eighty-thousand-strong Shinobi Alliance alone!”
“Using the most extreme way to shake that world’s foundation!”
“Finally… it rejected me, and I was able to leave.”
Kushina listened quietly; her reanimated gray eyes fluctuated violently with Menma’s recounting, filled with indescribable sorrow.
Menma’s madness of turning against the whole world to break the false!
Shocked Kushina as a mother, heartbroken, and full of regret for Minato’s choice back then.
“That world’s… Mom,” Menma’s gaze fell on Kushina’s grayish face, with a dazed comparison: “Her… personality like yours. Optimistic, cheerful, strong-willed, fierce when angry, everyone called her ‘Blood Red Pepper.’”
“Pfft…” Kushina couldn’t help laughing out, that smile tugging at the cracks on her face, appearing somewhat eerie yet genuinely joyful: “That’s exactly like me!”
That laughter was short and dry, thick with bitterness.
Menma’s eyes grew even deeper; he continued, each word like an ice spike: “But… that world’s dad, Minato Namikaze… he didn’t become Fourth Hokage. He chose… to be an ordinary ninja, guarding his family. Just a… pretty strong jonin.”
No emotion in his voice, yet it made Kushina’s heart sink sharply.
Kushina finally understood.
Understood the source of the persistent alienation and confusion in her son’s eyes.
Understood why he was so silent toward the “father” role.
In that false world, he had a “complete,” “family-oriented” father.
But in reality… Minato sacrificed himself for the village, to seal the Nine-Tails, putting Menma and Naruto in deep danger…
Immense guilt and heartache drowned Kushina like tides.
She could no longer hold back; the reanimated body seemed to break free from some invisible restraint, abruptly stepping forward. This time, heedless of Menma’s possible resistance, she opened her arms and hugged him tightly, firmly!
The cold, dusty embrace was not warm, yet exceptionally forceful.
“Sorry… Menma… sorry…” Kushina’s voice choked, tears unable to flow from the reanimated body, but that intense sorrow and self-blame transmitted clearly.
“It was Dad and Mom’s fault… we failed to protect you and Naruto… leaving you alone… struggling fifteen years in that terrible place…”
Her arms held very tight, as if rubbing all fifteen years of debt and longing into this hug.
This time, Menma’s body only stiffened for an instant, but did not retreat again.
He let Kushina hold him; red strands fell, covering his face, also covering his eyes.
His straight back under Kushina’s embrace appeared exceptionally lonely.
“I…” Menma’s voice came from Kushina’s shoulder, muffled, carrying deep fatigue and confusion.
“I already… can’t tell apart. Can’t tell which world is real, which is fake. Also can’t tell… the family affection toward you… exactly belongs to which ‘Uzumaki Kushina’ and ‘Minato Namikaze.’”
He stated it like an objective fact, yet revealed immense inner chaos and split.
Fifteen years of “real” experiences in the false world, and the cold cruel truth of the real world, tore his emotions and cognition to shreds.
Kushina’s arms holding her son trembled slightly.
She loosened the embrace, cupped Menma’s face with both hands, forcing him to look straight into her eyes with gray halo yet filled with endless maternal soft light.
“Menma, you’re wrong.” Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a power that pierced the fog: “That world, perhaps an enemy’s illusion cage, false! But—”
She enunciated each word, voice like heavy hammer striking Menma’s soul:
“Dad and Mom’s love for you was never false!”
“No matter which world!”
“Illusion can create environments, distort cognition, but it can’t create ‘real’ emotion out of thin air! That world’s Kushina and Minato’s love for you was real! From our soul’s instinct! Family affection engraved in the bloodline!”
Boom!!!
This sentence, like the third and most violent thunderbolt, shattered the thick ice named “doubt” and “split” in Menma’s heart!
His deep blue pupils dilated abruptly, filled with unprecedented violent shock!
Kushina’s words, like a key, instantly pried open the most surging gate in memory depths!
In the Limited Tsukuyomi World—
That Kushina, hand-in-hand teaching him complex Uzumaki Clan Sealing Jutsu, from basic Chakra Control to exquisite Adamantine Sealing Chains.
She was always loud, knocking his head lightly with a rolled-up book if a hand seal was wrong, shouting “Dumb Menma! Like this!”, yet her eyes held no impatience, only full expectation and encouragement.
He remembered the first time he successfully formed Chakra Chains, she excitedly picked him up and spun him around, red hair flying, laughter echoing across the entire training ground.
That Minato Namikaze, in gaps between busy ordinary missions, squeezed time to take him to the suburban training ground.
Accompanying him practicing Flying Thunder God Kunai, practicing Rasengan, again and again, tirelessly.
Under the sunset, father’s golden hair dyed warm orange-red, smile gentle and tolerant: “Don’t rush, Menma. Space-Time Ninjutsu needs ‘feeling,’ not brute force. Remember, where the heart goes, the body follows.”
Big Sister Hinata with hands on hips, beating the bullying older students black and blue, then turning back to him with a brilliant and domineering smile: “Sis will protect you from now on!”
Dark Nine-Tails little fox poking out from his scarf, snatching his dango, him picking it up by the scruff, little fox puffing cheeks waving tiny hands in protest: “Menma big dummy! This lord fox wants sweets!”
Those vivid fresh scenes, those warm emotions…
These… were they all false?
If love was false, why were those teaching details so real?
Why was that gratifying and proud gaze so unforgettable?
Why was Hinata’s affection for him and little Nine-Tails’ dependence so vivid?
Kushina looked at her son’s violently shaken eyes, as if reading the stormy waves surging in his heart.
A gentle, insightful smile appeared on her grayish face, continuing softly:
“Though Mom doesn’t know what that Illusion World was exactly like, but I think… such a vast, such real illusion, even letting you live full fifteen years inside…”
She paused, gazing deeply at Menma: “Everything it built, the ‘us’ it showed, those emotions it contained… perhaps, is the truest, most desired portrait from the depths of your heart.”
The truest from heart’s depths, most desired… portrait?!
Buzz——!
Menma’s mind seemed thoroughly exploded by this sentence!
After a blank, unprecedented violent storm!
Could it be… could it be that world…
Not completely controlled by Obito’s Sharingan Illusion Technique?
Could it be…
That fifteen-year-long, utterly “real” Limited Tsukuyomi…
Was it myself… in subconscious depths…
To escape the cruel reality of being reborn into the Naruto world…
The instant hit by Obito’s illusion, cooperating with Sharingan illusion power… self-hypnosis… self-constructed?!
A spiritual haven born from his deepest heart’s desires and fears?!
“I think… therefore I am…?” Menma unconsciously murmured this ancient philosophical maxim, voice dry and hoarse, carrying cognition-overturning shock.
He recalled the birth of Dark Nine-Tails at the orphanage.
He was only three then, once thinking it was the little guy born from absorbing three years of his chakra.
Perhaps also condensed from his endless negative emotions and loneliness.
He recalled the emergence of Big Sister Hinata’s personality, that bold, straightforward second personality with undisguised fondness for him.
Was that also his subconscious desire for “pure love” or even a fetish?
All clues, at this moment, crazily linked, collided!
Several high-intensity emergency lights on the laboratory ceiling, as if unable to withstand this instant surging mental impact and unconscious violent chakra fluctuations, suddenly emitted grating “crackle” sounds, internal tubes flashing blinding red light, then “bang bang bang” several muffled explosions, bursting in succession!
Countless tiny glass shards fell like scarlet ice hail!
The entire core laboratory instantly shrouded in broken, blinding blood-red emergency lights!
Light crazily leaped and twisted on Menma’s stiff body, on Kushina’s crack-covered reanimated body, on the alloy walls’ cold reflections!
After struggling out of Kushina’s embrace, Menma, as if drained of all strength, staggered back a step, his back heavily slamming into the cold alloy wall, emitting a dull thud.
He slowly raised his right hand, trembling, bit by bit touching his right cheek.
That handsome face of fifteen-year-old Uzumaki Menma.
But now, this face held no trace of usual composure, calm, and confident control, only confusion and vulnerability from the immense shock.
Those blue eyes deeper and calmer than Naruto’s now trembled violently, deep in pupils surging stormy waves, reflecting the room’s broken scarlet light.
‘So, the so-called “Limited Tsukuyomi World” was never an illusion made by Obito, it was me myself…… it was me myself……’
