Regarding the positioning of the shadow clone, Shuimu admitted that he did have some cognitive problems, but he still needed to think carefully about equating the physical clone with a part of himself.

The physical clone created by imitating the Jinchūriki's method, the core of thought comes from Mizuki's original body, and the body is also a clone that is exactly the same as himself. However, if the two are viewed as a whole, it cannot be regarded as a part of oneself.

Many years ago, Orochimaru placed the Heaven's Curse Seal on Mitarashi Anko's body. The seal contains the will condensed from Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra. It is fine to regard this will as a part of Orochimaru, but no one will agree that Mitarashi Anko is a part of Orochimaru. These are two different individuals.

Although there is a considerable gap between Mizuki's physical clone and this one, the shadow clone with the Four Symbols Seal implanted into the clone is far inferior to the curse seal, and the body is just a shell without will, far from being a complete living person like Mitarashi Anko, but the form of existence is indeed very similar.

"The Ten-Tails was extracted of its chakra by the Six Paths Sage using Yin-Yang Release, and then split into nine tailed beasts. However, the nine tailed beasts never thought of sacrificing themselves to combine into the Ten-Tails. Even though they were part of the same origin, they still had no sense of identity. The formation of this kind of subjective consciousness cannot be achieved by Yin-Yang Release alone."

It is not an easy task to convince Shuimu with just a few words. It concerns one's own foundation, so one has to consider it carefully.

"There is one thing I want to remind you. Even if Uzumaki Naruto, the child of destiny, promotes the reconciliation between the tailed beasts and humans, the Nine-Tails will not consider itself as one with Naruto no matter how close their relationship is. It is true that the shadow clones I separated are extensions of my own will, but you equate yourself with the physical clone as a whole, rather than the sealed shadow clone. This idea of ​​taking the physical clone for yourself is even more unacceptable to me than Beryl's betrayal!"

"You can say that I am arbitrary, but since you said it can be a part of me like a hand, then if I find any signs of instability, it is only right to cut it off and create a new one. If you are sick, you have to take injections and medicine. If the condition is too serious, surgery is necessary..."

"I will study the Eight-Headed Technique carefully and then think about how to adjust it. You can have countless ideas and give me suggestions, but the final decision can only be made by me!"

Regardless of Mizuki's original plan or Orochimaru's theory, one thing is certain: independent judgment is necessary.

"The ordinary person without extraordinary powers in my previous life is me; the life I grew up in as a ninja is also me; after the two merged into one, I gave myself a surname - Lin Shuimu is still me; the shadow clone, even the shadow clone sealed by the Four Symbols, I agree with you that these are all part of me. However, whether or not to include the physical clone as a whole into my self-cognition, I need to decide for myself!"

After saying that, Shuimu's real body disappeared in an instant.

Hearing the words that were almost a warning, the physical clone looked with some envy at the little baby being brought by the old dean into the place where Shuimu and Xiaochun once lived. He shook his head with some disappointment, then turned and left.

"Are you bewildered by Orochimaru's so-called achievements? Everyone will unconsciously absorb information that is beneficial to them from the outside world and interpret it to convince themselves. No wonder the original body often needs us to compare our own omissions; in fact, conversely, we can also discover the deviations of our own thinking through the original body. Using people as a mirror, we can know our gains and losses. The ancients really did not deceive me!"

…

There is nothing wrong with the fact that the original body and the physical clone have slightly different positions. It is not surprising that the conclusions drawn from the same thing are biased.

The due warnings have been conveyed. Of course, the matter is not as serious as it is said. As long as the memories are always synchronized, the deviation between the two will be kept within a controllable range. It is normal to have disagreements, but betrayal that is put into practice should not exist.

For awkward existences like physical clones, Orochimaru's Eight-Headed Technique is like a guiding light, providing them with a theoretical basis for positioning themselves, but it is hard to say whether this is really suitable for Mizuki.

There may not be an accurate answer to the definition of self-cognition.

But Orochimaru was very smart. He found a shortcut. Instead of trying to figure out what the self was, he defined what was part of the self and slowly perfected this concept, just like the infinite and non-repeating pi, constantly approaching this truth.

Orochimaru's desire to explore the unknown of the world was probably driven by this; Kabuto Yakushi, who inherited his legacy and gathered all of Orochimaru's resources into one, ultimately failed. It was impossible to tell whether it was because of insufficient accumulation or lack of qualifications on the part of Kabuto Yakushi, but it was a fact that Orochimaru changed his original intention.

This also indirectly shows that infinite accumulation of resources is not advisable. Of course, Orochimaru's theory is good, but the possibility of its realization is too small.

This statement reminded Shuimu of the ancients' great admiration for saints in their exploration of human nature, but no one knew what saints were. They only gave some ideas about what saints should do and how to approach the way of saints. These are actually the same principle.

Mizuki himself agrees with Orochimaru's theory, but whether or not to completely copy his path still needs to be carefully considered.

"What are you thinking about, Mizuki?"

Xiaochun asked her husband who was absent-minded from time to time.

"I'm wondering what to do next. I originally planned to buy a big house, but it seems impossible!"

Having no money is really a big problem. There will be more and more people coming in and out of the house in the future, and it’s a bit inappropriate to stay in this kind of apartment.

"We'll talk about it later. When little Meixing is born, I can work and get an extra salary."

"Who will take care of the child?"

"Don't you have a physical clone? He can help look after you when I'm not at home!"

"How can it be the same?"

Mizuki smiled.

"It's not very convenient after all!"

"What's the difference? Anyway, I can empathize with you. After the memories are synchronized, it's no different from taking care of it myself. Isn't the clone created to help me when I need it?"

It was a natural thought, but it was also true. Maybe I had thought too much. Letting go was the solution to the problem. Planting the seeds to make up for the mistakes and letting the clone do what he wanted might be better...