Mind's Eye

"What else could possibly consume Senjutsu Chakra?"

"It seems there aren't any more. My understanding of Senjutsu is too limited."

"Hmm? No, it seems like I've forgotten something." Yichen felt his mind was getting a little sluggish.

"Something seems to be related to Senjutsu Chakra?"

"Oh right, it's the S-rank Ninjutsu I just acquired: Mind's Eye."

"How was the Ninjutsu called 'Mind's Eye' described again?"

Yichen struggled to recall the esoteric descriptions of the Mind's Eye. Then he tried it out according to the descriptions.

After a long while, Yichen heard someone calling his name. "Hmm, even my hearing has become dull?"

Thinking this, Yichen was about to Awakening Eyes, but before he could open them, he seemed to see the person next to him.

Of course, this is not seeing, but perceiving.

"This Chakra... it's familiar. It belongs to Ōnoki."

"Lord Tsuchikage?" Yichen called out tentatively as he opened his eyes.

"It really is Ōnoki," was Yichen's first thought.

It took Yichen quite a while to recover from his confused thoughts.

"Yichen, how are you feeling now?"

"Feeling? I'm fine?" Yichen said, standing up. But he realized what he was doing halfway through.

"I can move now?" He quickly reached out to check.

"Whoosh~~" The petrification has disappeared.

Yichen plopped back down in his seat, calmed himself down, and then said to Ōnoki, "Thank you for your concern, Lord Tsuchikage. I should be alright now."

Just as Ōnoki was about to speak, Ikura entered from outside.

Ikura had already gone to sleep; it was Ōnoki who sent someone to inform him after receiving the news.

Yichen nodded to Ikura and immediately said to him, "I'm fine."

Ikura nodded, somewhat relieved, and then greeted Ōnoki first.

Only then did Ōnoki speak, asking, "What happened? Why were you petrified? And why did the petrification suddenly disappear? Did you master Senjutsu?"

When Ōnoki entered, Yichen was still petrified. Equally helpless, Onoki tried to wake Yichen. But Yichen's mind had gradually calmed down, and he was focused on practicing S-rank Ninjutsu, so he didn't hear him at all.

Ikura looked over with a worried expression after hearing this.

Yichen examined his body, shook his head, and said, "I probably haven't learned Senjutsu. I have no Chakra at all, and my physical strength hasn't changed either. It's completely different from Sage Mode."

"However, petrification should be related to Natural Energy. Fortunately, I don't absorb much Natural Energy, so the petrification process is very slow."

"Later," Yichen frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "Later I tried to consume the abnormal Senjutsu Chakra that was synthesized from Natural Energy."

"In the end, they must have used up all that Senjutsu Chakra by training in S-rank Ninjutsu."

"Hmm?" Yichen suddenly remembered something as he spoke.

Then, with a look of surprise, he said, "I think I've learned S-rank Ninjutsu."

As he spoke, Yichen quickly closed his eyes. Sure enough, when Yichen shut down his sight, his primary sense, his ability to Mind's Eye reappeared.

There are three Chakra sources around Yichen now: one is Ōnoki, one is Ikura, and the other is so small as to be almost invisible, which is Natsuki. In addition, Yichen can also sense the faint Natural Energy around him.

Yichen opened his eyes again. The feeling was still there, but because his attention was mainly focused on his vision, the feeling had become much fainter.

Hearing Yichen say this, Ikura was speechless. Seriously, are S-rank Ninjutsu so easy to learn?

Ōnoki was speechless; he didn't know many S-rank Ninjutsu either.

Looking at Yichen and then at Ikura, Ōnoki said, "Tomorrow, each of you will receive another S-rank Ninjutsu."

Yichen and Ikura both nodded.

Ōnoki added, still not entirely convinced, "Learning more Ninjutsu is useless; you must master the Ninjutsu you already know. Don't try to learn too many."

"Alright, Yichen, you should rest now. Tell us the details of what just happened tomorrow."

"Yes." Yichen knew that Ōnoki was referring not only to him and Ikura, but also to the village's four advisors.

Natural Energy is a serious matter that requires everyone's participation in decision-making.

Ōnoki and Ikura left quickly, while Yichen looked at Natsuki, the only one still in the house, and gratefully patted her head, saying, "Thank you very much, Natsuki. Go to sleep early, you have to get up early to train tomorrow."

"Hmph." Hearing that she had to get up early to cultivate the next day, Natsuki pouted and went to bed looking unhappy.

Yichen's mental energy was greatly depleted, and he dared not extract any more Chakra. He expanded his perception range with his Mind's Eye and found at least two Anbu Squad around him.

With safety assured, Yichen opted to go to sleep, deciding to deal with everything else tomorrow.

The next day, Li Chen extracted Chakra outside the Sealing Barrier, gave the three disciples of Team Two a day off, and then Yichen went to the Tsuchikage's Office.

For the Iwa ninja, the Third Shinobi World War was over, so the advisors were all in the village. Plus, the busiest time after the war was over, so the advisors, along with Ōnoki and Ikura, were chatting in the Tsuchikage's Office.

After Yichen arrived, Ōnoki gestured for Yichen to sit down in an empty seat that had been prepared for him in advance.

"The pay has improved," Yichen thought to himself.

Previously, when Yichen came to the Tsuchikage's Office, there were no seats available, and it seems that Ikura also didn't have a seat.

Both of them got seats today, could it be...?

Having thought of something, Yichen didn't raise any questions, but instead started talking about what happened last night.

"Lord Tsuchikage, esteemed seniors, I accidentally absorbed Natural Energy while cultivating yesterday, which caused part of my body to petrify. The process was silent and unnoticed. If Natsuki's exclamation hadn't interrupted me, I'd probably be a rock by now."

"After that, I kept trying to deplete the Senjutsu Chakra in my body, and finally I was able to use up all the Chakra through the S-rank Ninjutsu, Mind's Eye."

"But I'm not sure how we absorbed Natural Energy last night, nor am I sure if this process can be repeated."

"All I know is that I just learned C-rank Wind Release Ninjutsu yesterday, and on a whim, I used up all my Chakra. Perhaps that's why I unintentionally absorbed Natural Energy."

After a moment of silence, Ikura said, "It's possible, but we still have to try again."

Sakaya said, "That's right. If it were really just a matter of consuming Chakra to absorb nature, that would be too simple. I think there must be other reasons."

Ōnoki nodded and said, "Then let's try this method first, but Yichen, don't try it yet. Let's find someone else to try it first."

Ōnoki was terrified by the scene of Yichen being petrified yesterday; it's not easy for a village to produce a Quasi-Kage level.

Although theoretically every ninja in the village should be the same in the eyes of the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki would still make the choice between sending a future Kage Level ninja to take the same risk or sending an ordinary ninja to take the same risk.

"For the next couple of days, Yichen, don't cultivate within the Natural Energy area. Saka, go find a few volunteers; we'll all watch over things from the sidelines."

Saka nodded. "Understood."

Seeing that the matter of Natural Energy had been largely resolved, the elderly male advisor smiled and said, "Alright, that's all settled. Now let's talk about Ikura and Yichen."

Ōnoki nodded and said, "Yes, Ikura Yichen, since the two seniors are planning to retire, we've discussed it, and the two vacant advisor positions will be filled by the two of you."

Yichen had already prepared for this, so he wasn't surprised. He glanced at Ikura, who must have known about this beforehand, so he wasn't surprised either.

The Two Advisors were already quite old, and the war had taken an even bigger toll on them; they both looked much older than before the war. They were indeed at retirement age.

Yichen and Ikura couldn't help but look at the Two Advisors.

The two smiled slightly, and the female advisor said, "We're old. We've lived through the Warring States Period, and everyone from our time has long since passed away. We're content to see the village we built with our own hands continue to thrive in our later years."

Judging by the lifespan of a ninja, the Two Advisors are indeed very old. Among the high-ranking officials of various countries, only Chiyo of the Sunagakure can rival them in age.

In the original story, Chiyo only lived to Naruto's time because she retired early. If she hadn't returned to action, Chiyo should have been able to live until the Fourth Shinobi War.

Perhaps retiring early wouldn't be a bad thing for the Two Advisors.

After thinking about this, Yichen nodded and said, "I accept the appointment."

Ikura also replied, "I accept the appointment."

Ōnoki laughed, "Very good, now let's assign tasks to each person. Saka, you go first and talk to them."

Saka nodded, then looked at Yichen and Ikura and said, "There are many kinds of village affairs. Since there are only four advisors, many of these affairs are assigned to us four advisors."

"Each advisor is responsible for several areas. For example, before the war, I was in charge of the Mission Assignment Division, the Ninja Academy, the Intelligence Department, the Interrogation Department, and the Prison."

"You two can choose a few departments from the village that you are good at."

As he spoke, Saka handed the two of them a list.

The village has many departments, including: the Anbu, the Intelligence Department, the Prison, the Interrogation Department, the Medical Department, the Barrier Team Logistics Department, the Ninja Academy, the Mission Assignment Division, the Contribution Office, the Administrative Affairs Department, the Finance Department, the Commercial Road Maintenance Department, and the Foreign Affairs Department, among others.

Of these departments, Yichen is most familiar with the Barrier Team, the Anbu, the Ninja Academy, and the Commercial Road Maintenance Department, which was newly established because of Yichen.

The Anbu are directly under the Tsuchikage and not under the jurisdiction of the advisors.

Yichen originally planned to choose the Ninja Academy, the Barrier Team, and the Commercial Road Maintenance Department. However, after hesitating for a while, Yichen decided to choose a few unfamiliar departments to get a feel for how the village operated.

After much deliberation, Yichen selected four departments: the Medical Department, the Intelligence Department, the Interrogation Department, and a department that was originally under the direct jurisdiction of the Tsuchikage.

The sole task of this department directly under the Tsuchikage is to Beast Taming. The reason it is directly under the Tsuchikage's jurisdiction is that originally only Ōnoki from Iwagakure was capable of suppressing the Tailed Beast; the other advisors were not.

To maintain secrecy, this department didn't even have an official name. Yichen's Sealing Jutsu were quite high, so no one else objected to choosing this department.

Ikura chose three places: the Mission Assignment Division, the Barrier Team, and the Contribution Office.

Seeing that the two had finished making their selections, Ōnoki nodded and said, "Alright, go and hand over your duties to your seniors. You'll officially start work tomorrow."

"Both of you have recently graduated students to mentor, so be careful to manage your time well and don't forget about handling official business."

"Yes!" Yichen and Ikura nodded in unison. They exchanged a glance and saw the same drive in each other's eyes. Both were young, full of confidence in the future, and eager to make something of themselves.