Mind and Body

After leaving Orochimaru's base, Feng Ye let out a breath.

Although Orochimaru would not turn him into an experiment on the first day of taking him as a disciple, getting close to someone as dangerous as Orochimaru was still risky when he lacked sufficient strength.

But for now, things had not suddenly taken a turn for the worse. They were still progressing along a normal, stable path, and he had also obtained the Cell Activation Technique.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!

Feng Ye darted through the forest. When he reached a stream, he carefully washed the scroll he had just received clean, then thoroughly read its explanation of Cell Activation.

After studying it for a while, Feng Ye found no problems with the technique. Orochimaru had not even concealed anything; the scroll clearly laid out both its benefits and drawbacks.

Among its notes were the following:

The human body was balanced.

Spiritual Energy and Cellular Energy together formed that balance. A slight imbalance would not have much effect, but if the gap between them became too large, it would cause all kinds of severe consequences.

Cell Activation forcibly increased cellular activity without enhancing the spiritual aspect. Therefore, excessive training could cause the mind to lose control over the body. The body would collapse, grow wildly, and turn into a lump of monstrosity.

Thus, one had to take care not to overdo it during training.

—There were several similar notes.

These notes did not conflict with any of Feng Ye's own knowledge. For example, regarding the balance between mind and body, this was the first time he had heard of physical imbalance, but he knew about spiritual imbalance. A simple example was that implanting a Rinnegan into an ordinary person would cause spiritual imbalance. Their body would be unable to bear the immense Spiritual Energy contained within the Rinnegan and would quickly collapse.

Even someone like Nagato, who possessed the Uzumaki Clan physique and had an exceptionally powerful body, still could not withstand the Rinnegan's power.

Only a stronger Sage Body could truly bear the Rinnegan's power and achieve a balance between mind and body.

Orochimaru's Cell Activation Technique was the same.

Without powerful spiritual strength to maintain the balance, excessive Cellular Energy would lead to physical imbalance. Once it went out of control, the most likely outcome was bodily explosion.

"Cell Activation Technique... this should count as a cultivation method for a 'Pseudo Sage Body,' right? No, it's still far from that. At most, it's only half of half."

Feng Ye pondered inwardly.

Hashirama Senju's Sage Body did not merely enhance the body; it also cultivated and increased Spiritual Energy. The Cell Activation Technique only covered half of that, and even its effects were far inferior to a Sage Body. It also did not cultivate Nature Energy.

If one cultivated Sage Mode on the foundation of the Cell Activation Technique and combined the two, that should qualify as a 'Pseudo Sage Body.' Kabuto Yakushi during the Fourth Shinobi World War should have been in that state.

Taking another step forward would lead to a true Sage Body!

"Looking at it this way, both the body and the mind are divided into three levels. On the physical side, there are Cell Activation, the Pseudo Sage Body, and the true Sage Body."

"On the spiritual side, there are the Sharingan, Mangekyō Sharingan, and Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."

Feng Ye felt that his judgment was probably correct.

The combination of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and a Sage Body produced the Rinnegan. Then, by integrating immense Nature Energy or becoming the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, one could obtain the Six Paths Sage Body and enter Six Paths Mode.

In short.

With Cell Activation as a foundation, the fog ahead of him had almost completely cleared!

After passing through the forest, Feng Ye returned to the village. Once he had eaten, he went home, entered his bedroom, sat cross-legged, and placed the scroll before him.

"Then, let's begin."

Underground in Konoha.

Root base.

Danzo stood in a room with one hand on his cane, listening to his subordinate's report. His expression did not change, but his fingers visibly tightened, leaving slight marks in the hard wooden cane.

"Orochimaru..."

Orochimaru suddenly taking Feng Ye as his disciple had been beyond his expectations.

In his view, Feng Ye's path afterward would either be to join the Anbu at Hiruzen Sarutobi's designation or enter Root. As long as he made a few moves behind the scenes, it should have been easy to bring Feng Ye into Root and cultivate him.

But Orochimaru's move had disrupted his plans.

Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude was ambiguous. He seemed not to have completely abandoned the idea of letting Orochimaru succeed as the Fourth Hokage. In any case, the way things were developing greatly irritated him.

"How did the negotiations go?"

"Lord Hokage signed an agreement with Hidden Mist Village... The talks with Hidden Cloud Village did not reach an agreement. Hidden Cloud Village's Jonin should be leaving soon."

The Root ninja answered in a low voice.

Hearing his subordinate's report, Danzo's fingers tightened further around his cane.

With Konoha's current strength, it could still fight even if it faced two or even three other villages at once. As long as it took the initiative, destroying one village would not be difficult. Yet under such circumstances, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained unwilling to start a war.

This was clearly the perfect time for Konoha to unify the ninja world!

Still, making peace with the Hidden Mist ninja was fine.

Danzo narrowed his eyes slightly. Now that the Hidden Mist ninja had not seen enormous benefits, they would not rashly tear up the agreement and start a war. If he could find a way to provoke a war between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, it would create an unprecedentedly perfect opportunity for Konoha.

Danzo took a slow breath and gazed upward with deep eyes. Since you, Hiruzen Sarutobi, are unwilling, then I will be the one to drive this war forward.

Compared to war, compared to unifying the ninja world, Feng Ye's matter was trivial. Even Orochimaru's issue was a small matter that could be considered after the war.

Everything could be manipulated in war!

Home.

Inside the bedroom.

Feng Ye trained continuously for four hours. With Time Acceleration at Triple Speed, twelve hours had already passed.

It took roughly four hours to familiarize himself with the Cell Activation Technique's training method. The following eight hours had all been spent on the most basic training.

"So this is the Cell Activation Technique..."

Feng Ye opened his eyes.

After effectively training for about a day, he could feel subtle changes in his body. Ordinary people might not notice them, but as a ninja, he could clearly sense that every cell in his body seemed to have become a little more active.

The most immediate sensation was that his body felt lighter and more relaxed than before, while extracting Chakra consumed less Cellular Energy.

Under normal circumstances, after training for so long, even without practicing Taijutsu and only cultivating Chakra, his body would feel exhausted from being drained of Chakra. But now, his fatigue was far less than usual.

"The effect is obvious, but I seem to get hungry more easily. I need to replenish myself with more food."

Feng Ye rubbed his stomach.

Before he completed the Cell Activation Technique's cultivation, he would probably have to turn into a huge eater. Even eating nine meals a day might not satisfy his needs.

Come to think of it, when Orochimaru trained in this, did he swallow several days' worth of food at once, then train for several days in one go...? Feng Ye muttered inwardly.

It really seemed possible.