Chapter 33
The spearpoint took him in the side, a mortal wound. As he fell, he triggered the seal matrix on his real body and the one on the inert copy hidden miles away in a Senju safe-house. The world didn't go black. It *stretched*. He felt a violent, tearing sensation, not of body, but of continuity. His consciousness was ripped from his dying vessel and flung across space, following the chakra pathway of the seal.
He awoke. Not to light, but to darkness. He was in a sealed casket, in the prepared copy's body. It was cold, unbreathing, a perfect doll. With a monumental effort of will, he jump-started its heart, forced air into its lungs. The body was his, but it felt… new. Empty. It took hours to fully sync his consciousness with the neural pathways.