A peculiar sight, visible only to Naruto, unfolded before his eyes—it was not the glow of Chakra, but a golden spiritual energy, perceivable only by those with special Aptitude, slowly clinging to Uzumaki Kushina's entire body.
The moment this spiritual energy touched the Edo Tensei body, it began to transform into a unique life energy, continuously pouring into the frame made of dust.
Kushina's eyes were tightly closed as she carefully experienced the changes within her body. To be honest, the sensation was completely different from what she had expected.
As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, who are naturally exceptionally vibrant with life force, her perception of life energy had always been warm and abundant. However, the energy now surging into her brought a strange pain, as if countless electric currents were stimulating her long-numb nerve endings.
Is this... starting to work?
She didn't know that this was an unavoidable phenomenon in the process of a "dead object" being forcibly transformed into a "living object." The dust and Impurities that made up her body were being forcibly reconstructed and replaced with real, living flesh and blood cells under the action of that domineering and miraculous life energy.
Cells divided, grew, intertwined, and reconnected at an unprecedented, unnatural speed, completing a miraculous reconstruction of life.
This process itself was not comfortable; it even carried an indescribable feeling of foreignness. But for Kushina, who could barely perceive pain clearly, this trivial stimulation instead filled her heart with immense hope.
Because she yearned so much to truly feel her son's warmth again, instead of the cold emptiness that was all she received, no matter how tightly she hugged him now.
Had the transformation succeeded?
From the outside, the changes were minimal. The original Kushina was an exquisite doll made of dust with consciousness, her appearance no different from when she was alive.
And now, she was still her, only the faint, grayish sense of death that enveloped her Edo Tensei body had completely vanished. Her skin exuded the healthy glow and rosy hue of a living person, and her entire being seemed to be infused with the radiance of a Soul... though she already had a Soul.
Kushina slowly opened her eyes.
The world, the light was brighter, the flow of air brought subtle sensations, and even distant sounds became distinctly layered. Her body's sensitivity to external perception had been elevated to a whole new level.
"Mom... how do you feel?"
Naruto asked with barely concealed tension, his voice slightly trembling.
Kushina didn't answer immediately. She first looked down, staring blankly at her palms, then slowly and forcefully clenched her fists.
The clear friction as her knuckles moved, the distinct feedback of strength as her muscles tensed—that tangible sense of "existence" shook her to her core.
Immediately after, she made a move that caught Naruto off guard—she reached out and gently, with a hint of hesitation, pinched one side of Naruto's cheek.
A warm, elastic sensation transmitted through her fingertips, utterly real.
"...Mom?" Naruto didn't understand the meaning of this gesture at all, blinking his azure eyes somewhat blankly.
Kushina merely murmured to herself, her voice filled with a dazed, as if waking from a dream. "So... this is what it feels like to pinch?"
However, in the next second, rationality suddenly overwhelmed the surging wave of emotion.
"Wait a minute! This is not the time for this!"
Kushina seemed to suddenly awaken, standing up abruptly, her movements so fast they created a gust of wind. She grabbed Naruto's wrist, her grip warm, and without a word, began to pull him towards the door.
"Hurry, Naruto! As we planned, we're going to the hospital for a full check-up right now!" She turned her head, her sharp gaze fixed on her son, her tone firm and unyielding, "You'd better not lie to me! If the check-up results have even a slight problem, you know the consequences!"
------
By the time the series of tedious and meticulous examinations were completed, the sky outside the window had already taken on the orange-red hues of evening. After dealing with the curious medical staff at the hospital and vaguely explaining multiple times "who this red-haired lady was to Naruto," the mother and son finally, with slightly weary but exceptionally excited steps, embarked on their journey home.
As they reached the bottom of their small apartment building, they didn't know that Uchiha Satsuki had just gone to the hospital with worry after waiting for them for a long time, missing them completely.
Pulling out the key to open the front door, the warm light dispelled the last trace of twilight from outside. Kushina almost impatiently pulled out the crumpled check-up report again, confirming, for who knew the umpteenth time, every word of "healthy," "normal," and "Chakra flow stable and vibrant" on it.
Each affirmative word was like a solid brick, building the castle named "hope" in her heart.
"Um... Mom," Naruto quietly closed the door, looking at his mother's focused profile, and finally couldn't help but ask again for confirmation, "How do you really feel? Is there... anywhere on your body that feels uncomfortable, or any strange sensations...?!"
He hadn't even finished his question.
The next moment, an incredibly soft, yet excitedly trembling embrace suddenly enveloped him. After rationality had received the most satisfactory answer, the emotions that had been forcibly suppressed finally burst forth like a breaking dam.
"I feel it... I really feel it..."
Just like on the first night of their reunion, Kushina's voice was filled with uncontrollable sobs and immense emotion, but this time, the coldness of death was gone, replaced by vibrant life.
"So warm... Naruto... your body is warm... it's warm..."
The arms wrapped tightly around him tightened further. The kinship of Bloodline, through this real and warm touch, surged forth unimpeded once more.
"My foolish son..." Her face was buried in Naruto's shoulder, her voice muffled and tearful, "Why did it take you so long to let Mom feel these things... You made me wait... wait for so, so long..."
She loosened her grip slightly, cupped Naruto's still somewhat bewildered face in her hands, and gazed at him with tear-filled eyes, greedily, as if to make up for all the years she had missed at once.
"Let me get a good look at you... I'm sorry, Naruto... I'm truly sorry... I missed every day of you growing up... I couldn't... hold you and comfort you like this when you cried as a child... I'm sorry... truly... I'm sorry..."
Hot tears broke free from the confines of her eyes, falling one by one to the ground, carrying a mother's guilt and deep love. The tears were no longer bound by Edo Tensei, but were real, warm, the genuine outpouring of a mother who had re-embraced life and warmth.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"