At this moment, Grandma Rika, standing before Sakura Haruno, had distinct cracks on her face and body. Within her black sclera, her lifeless gray pupils stared straight ahead, her entire being enveloped in an aura of death.
Seeing Grandma Rika standing there motionless, Sakura knew there was one final step: awakening the soul returned from the Pure Land. Souls returned from the Pure Land generally had no independent consciousness, so what stood before her now was merely a vessel containing a soul.
The Impure World Reincarnation technique was truly miraculous, capable of directly summoning souls from the Pure Land. Sakura, using this jutsu now, only knew how to do it, not why it worked, merely mimicking the process.
It was like knowing how to use a mobile phone but not knowing how it was manufactured. Sakura was in this state now: able to use it, but not understanding the deeper principles.
Then, Sakura formed a Tiger seal with one hand, her chakra surging, attempting to awaken Grandma Rika's soul.
Gradually, Grandma Rika's eyes began to move, as if she were waking from a daze.
In no time, Grandma Rika was fully awake. However, looking at Sakura Haruno before her, she reached out a trembling hand, pointed at Sakura, and her voice seemed somewhat terrified, "You... you... I'm still alive?"
Hearing Grandma Rika's words, Sakura finally felt a little relieved. Since she said that, it seemed she should remember Junko.
"No, you are already dead," Sakura nodded. "I have temporarily summoned you from the Pure Land."
"You mean, you used ninjutsu to call me out?" Grandma Rika seemed very surprised. "Th-this... how is this possible? If I'm dead, how can I be here? You... you're lying to me! I'm not dead at all!"
Sakura sighed. It seemed Grandma Rika found it difficult to accept something so beyond common sense. But that was understandable; for someone who knew little about ninjas, these things were indeed hard to believe. Even ninjas would be astonished to see this jutsu.
Without further ado, Sakura turned, picked up the Executioner's Blade she had placed in the room, then walked towards Grandma Rika. With a swift motion, she directly severed one of Grandma Rika's arms.
Grandma Rika, who had been terrified when she saw Sakura approaching her with the large sword, was now stunned. She stared blankly at her severed arm, touched the stump, and felt no pain at all. In a short while, the arm that had fallen to the ground had turned to dust. Then, new dust gathered at the stump, forming a new arm, as if it had never been broken.
"Do you understand now? You are already dead," Sakura said. "To make a long story short, I have questions that I need you to answer."
"Th-this is the power of a ninja?!" Complex emotions showed in Grandma Rika's gray pupils. Then, regaining her composure, she looked at Sakura excitedly. "C-can you let me see my son and his wife again?"
As soon as her words fell, a wide-bladed sword was instantly pressed against Grandma Rika's neck. Then, Sakura's impatient voice came, "Answer my questions obediently first. Less nonsense."
Although she was immortal, she was ultimately an ordinary person. Faced with the Executioner's Blade at her neck, Grandma Rika trembled and said, "Wh-what... what do you want to ask?"
"I ask you, is Muto Junko your granddaughter?" Sakura stared at Grandma Rika.
"Muto... Junko?" Grandma Rika suddenly looked bewildered. "Who is she?"
CRASH!!
It was as if a bolt of lightning had exploded in her mind. Sakura felt her entire being go dizzy. She had held some expectation before, perhaps Grandma Rika had secretly hidden Junko's existence. But she hadn't expected to receive such an unbelievable answer from her.
Clang.
The Executioner's Blade in her hand fell to the ground. Sakura looked at Grandma Rika, took two steps back, and slumped to the ground, also lost in confusion.
After a long while, Sakura stood up, raised her head, and stared blankly at the moon in the sky. The gentle moonlight sprinkled on Sakura's face.
"Heh... heh... hehehe..." Sakura suddenly started laughing.
"Um, who is Muto Junko?" Grandma Rika asked, a little curious, seeing Sakura's strange reaction after hearing she didn't know Muto Junko.
Hearing Grandma Rika's voice, Sakura looked at her and suddenly felt that everything was so tasteless.
In the Infinite Tsukuyomi space, everything will receive a logical explanation. Sakura no longer wanted to ask Grandma Rika why she didn't know Junko but knew her. She must have ten thousand reasons to explain it.
Originally, when she first got the news about Junko, Sakura had also speculated. But after all, she hadn't heard it with her own ears, so she didn't quite believe that speculation.
Even the ramen shop owner's words and the evidence she found in the room weren't enough to make her believe her own guess.
But just now, hearing from the reanimated Grandma Rika that she didn't know Muto Junko, Sakura truly felt all her strength drain away. There wasn't even a need to ask further.
She had watched Grandma Rika die with her own eyes; there was no possibility of her memories being tampered with. Besides, even if she had been under a genjutsu at the time, the memory of being under the genjutsu should still exist.
And now, after being reincarnated, the only person she had come into contact with was herself; it was impossible for anyone to have tampered with her. And Grandma Rika's bewildered expression didn't seem fake. She had no reason to deceive her; she still wanted to see her son again, so cooperating obediently would be her choice.
This way, there was only one explanation for the current situation...
"I... so I've been in the Infinite Tsukuyomi all along." Sakura looked at her hands in some despair, then gently caressed the scar on her abdomen left from the battle with Hanzo.
"No wonder... I survived back then," Sakura laughed self-deprecatingly. "Hanzo, the demigod of the ninja world who lived through the Second and Third Wars. How could I possibly have defeated him back then?"
"This whole thing was a script designed for me, hehe," Sakura's smile was somewhat bitter. "What genius, what synthetic kekkei genkai, what senjutsu, what Gelel Force... all of this was just to satisfy the protagonist dream of me as a transmigrator."
She could be sure she had truly transmigrated; Sakura wouldn't doubt that. But everything before her now was false.
How could Naruto go into a Tailed Beast state at the age of six?
How could Sasuke give up his pursuit of power just because she beat him up twice?
How could the Third Hokage survive the Konoha Crush plan?
How could Karin enter Konoha so easily and become a Konoha ninja?
How could Tsunade return to the village to become Hokage without Naruto's stimulus?
And how could she have synthesized a kekkei genkai so easily?
How could senjutsu be so easily accessible?
And how could Itachi so easily let her, someone with obvious intentions, get close?
And how could Terumi Mei be so weak as to lose her memory?
And how could Orochimaru take an interest in her and give her the Impure World Reincarnation?
All of this was too much like a protagonist's template.
Junko was probably a patch applied by the Infinite Tsukuyomi space to ensure she wouldn't die when she challenged opponents far beyond her level.
Hehe, how could one survive such undoubtedly fatal injuries?
Thinking of this, Sakura once again touched the large scar on her abdomen.
Junko's existence was probably a bug in this Infinite Tsukuyomi space. So, that's why Danzo framed her; it needed to fix the bug and couldn't let her interfere.
Hehe, if I didn't have a god's perspective, at most I just wouldn't be able to figure it out, and how the loophole was patched would depend on its will. The Tsukuyomi space probably didn't expect me to have a god's perspective.
Sakura formed hand seals and released the Impure World Reincarnation, then directly fell backward onto the ground.
Sakura wanted to be alone for a while. It had to be said, this blow was too great for her.
Staring at the moon in the sky, it seemed as if that bright moon was the eye of an abyss, gazing at her.