Progress in Sage Techniques

The next day, Yichen took Matsutani Shinya to see the Giant Panda. Matsutani Shinya's affinity for animals had some effect on this Giant Panda, but it was obviously not as great as it was for small animals.

The Giant Panda's different attitude towards Matsutani Shinya was that he didn't reject him, but he didn't think Matsutani Shinya was particularly suitable for his tastes.

However, Yichen had another idea. He asked Matsutani Shinya to talk to the Giant Panda to see if the Giant Panda knew the methods of cultivating Senjutsu or the methods of absorbing Natural Energy.

The Giant Panda was quite surprised that Matsutani Shinya asked about Senjutsu. He bent down and sniffed Matsutani Shinya found nothing. Then he looked at Yichen standing behind Matsutani Shinya and sniffed Yichen as well.

This time, the Giant Panda looked puzzled. He asked Yichen, "Little guy, have you absorbed Natural Energy? Why didn't you turn to stone or merge with Natural Energy?"

Yichen was taken aback and said, "Senior, I accidentally absorbed Natural Energy and almost turned to stone. Later, I used the Natural Energy in my body to practice a Ninjutsu, which prevented me from turning to stone."

The Giant Panda seemed unable to comprehend how Yichen cultivated Ninjutsu using Natural Energy.

Seeing this, Yichen pressed on, "Senior, do you know how to absorb Natural Energy?"

The Giant Panda said, "There is a way to absorb Natural Energy, but it's very difficult. Even I only know about it; I haven't tried it myself."

"Little one, Natural Energy isn't so easy to absorb. If you can't control Natural Energy, you'll turn to stone."

After hearing this, Yichen took out the Black Rod he had obtained from Nagato and asked, "Senior, in Mount Myōboku, one of the Three Great Sage Locations, there is a Black Rod that is said to be able to disperse uncontrollable Natural Energy absorbed into the body. I wonder if this is the kind of thing?"

The Giant Panda looked at the Black Rod, shook its head, and said, "I don't know anything about Mount Myōboku. Natural Energy is a secret, and Mount Myōboku won't reveal it."

Yichen thought for a moment and said, "Since you know how to absorb Natural Energy, could you please tell us? We would like to try out the power of Natural Energy as well."

The Giant Panda thought for a moment and said, "Alright, if you use this place as an exchange, I agree."

"Uh." Yichen was taken aback, not expecting the Giant Panda to make such a request. Originally, this Giant Panda was not very willing to help the Iwa ninja, but due to the Natural Energy Seal, it had no choice but to agree to become Summoning Beast to fight for the Iwa ninja.

Although the village hasn't found a suitable summoning ninja yet, once they do, it will be a long-term deal. Now, this Giant Panda is going to complete this long-term deal for the Iwa ninja in one go.

Yichen turned to look at Ōnoki, Ōnoki also somewhat conflicted and unable to make a decision. He said, "Let's go back and gather the advisors to discuss it."

Yichen nodded in agreement.

Giant Summoning Beast versus Senjutsu —it's a difficult choice. If obtaining a method to absorb Natural Energy guarantees the successful cultivation of Senjutsu, then Ōnoki is willing to make the trade.

Firstly, Senjutsu can significantly boost the combat power of Kage Level fighters, while the boost from giant Summoning Beast is quite limited. Secondly, Senjutsu can be widely disseminated, allowing many people to learn them together. Unlike giant Summoning Beast, which can only help one person at a time, Sage Techniques can be widely disseminated.

Unfortunately, Yichen couldn't be sure whether he could master Senjutsu after obtaining the method for absorbing Natural Energy that the Giant Panda had mentioned.

At the High-Level Meeting, opinions were divided. Ming was the opponent, not because he thought it was not worthwhile, but because he felt it was too dangerous. Immortal Senjutsu were uncontrollable, but Summoning Beast were controllable. Although this Giant Panda had many demands and was unwilling to suffer losses, at least it could communicate, which was quite valuable.

However, practicing Senjutsu carries the risk of petrification, and those qualified to practice Senjutsu are the village's elite. Iwagakure is not Konoha; Konoha can afford the loss, but Iwagakure cannot.

Especially Yichen. Ming could tell at a glance that Yichen was someone who really wanted to learn Senjutsu. Yichen was a near-Shadow Realm expert and also a village advisor. His importance to the village goes without saying. Ming didn't want a genius like Yichen to take such a risk.

Saka, however, held a supportive attitude, and his reasoning was simple. "Giant Summoning Beast can at most allow a ninja to reach the level of the Konoha Sannin, but the last user of Senjutsu was Hashirama Senju."

It was Saka's words that directly moved Ōnoki. Ōnoki could never forget the humiliation of being threatened by Madara Uchiha. If Senjutsu could reach the level of the First Hokage, Ōnoki himself would be willing to take the risk.

However, Ikura said, "Lord Tsuchikage, could this Giant Panda be a spy sent by Konoha? After all, that Summoning Scroll was obtained from Konoha ninja."

Yichen was taken aback, not expecting Ikura's thought process to become so bizarre. Yichen hadn't considered this possibility at all, because he knew that although Senjutsu was the First Hokage's ability, Konoha didn't have any related inheritance. Senjutsu had always been a skill of the Three Great Sage Locations, and it was different from Konoha's.

For example, Konoha Rogue Ninja Kabuto Yakushi from Konoha in the original work, learned Senjutsu from Ryūchi Cave.

In other words, as long as the Three Great Sage Locations approve, regardless of the person's identity or whether they are related to Konoha, they may be able to learn Senjutsu.

After hearing Ikura's words, Ōnoki gritted his teeth and said, "We still need to switch, but we high-level cultivators can only practice Senjutsu one at a time. Before the previous person has successfully mastered the Senjutsu, no one else can attempt to practice."

"Yes," everyone responded. Ōnoki wasn't saying this to Saka and Mei; their strength wasn't enough, and they had never considered practicing Senjutsu techniques.

Among the higher-ups, the two Kage Level, Ōnoki and Ikura, should have been qualified to cultivate Senjutsu, but Yichen's expectations were even stronger than theirs.

After the High-Level Meeting reached a conclusion, Ōnoki led Ikura and Yichen to the Natural Energy Seal where the Giant Panda was located.

"We've chosen to exchange and absorb Natural Energy," Ōnoki said to the Giant Panda.

The Giant Panda accepted the exchange and then explained the methods he knew for absorbing Natural Energy.

After listening to the Giant Panda's story, Ōnoki and Ikura looked at each other in bewilderment.

They had initially thought the Giant Panda would teach them meditation techniques, but the Giant Panda instead said that absorbing Natural Energy requires external aids.

This external object is a rich source of self-energy, so rich that it has become Natural Energy.

Ōnoki and Ikura were puzzled, but Yichen thought of the Toad Oil from Mount Myōboku. Could Toad Oil be a concentrated, liquid form of Natural Energy?

Yichen said to the bewildered Ōnoki and Ikura, "How about we adjust the seal and try increasing the concentration of Natural Energy?"

Ōnoki nodded and said, "It's okay to try, but we have to control the scope. Don't forget, Natural Energy is uncontrollable and quite dangerous."

Yichen nodded to indicate that he understood.

As an advisor skilled in Sealing Jutsu, this task naturally fell to Yichen.

Increasing the concentration of Natural Energy is not difficult; given the Sealing Jutsu of Iwagakure, they could have done it long ago. Previously, they only kept the concentration within a suitable range because they were afraid that Natural Energy was too dangerous.

What Yichen needs to do now is to find a way to increase the concentration of Natural Energy through experiments without causing Natural Energy upheaval.

Yichen found a relatively secluded spot outside the village and instructed the Barrier Team to set up concealment and Defense Barrier. He then asked Ōnoki to arrange for the Anbu.

Yichen was self-aware enough to know that this would definitely not be something that could be accomplished in a day or two. This research might very well be another long-term project.

I just hope it won't be like the research on the Fire Domain Sealing Jutsu fragments back then, which took years to calculate. Yichen doesn't have that much time to waste.

The experiment is still based on the original Natural Energy Seal, but the part that restricts Natural Energy and prevents it from increasing excessively is removed.

In fact, when the Natural Energy Seal was first developed, there was an incident where the Natural Energy was too concentrated, eventually causing the seal to collapse.

Setting up Natural Energy Seal is not cheap, and the village didn't need to study it at the time, so they didn't delve into it further.

Yichen will now lead the experiments in this direction.

It had been many years since Yichen had conducted research and development on Sealing Jutsu, so he was quite excited.

First of all, what Yichen wants to do is not to conduct direct experiments; the current seal is too large and the cost is too high. Even without trying it, Yichen knows that this research process cannot be successful in one or two attempts. Although Iwagakure has developed very well in recent years, it cannot afford such extravagance.

Yichen first needs to reduce the size of the original massive seal, and reducing its size will inevitably lead to a decrease in costs.

This was not difficult; Yichen and the leader of the Barrier Team, Mizuhara, and others completed the simplification in less than three days of research.

The seal is largely the same seal, but with fewer repetitive elements added to increase the area. So the process went smoothly.

Three days later, Yichen and his team constructed a new Natural Energy Seal in the selected experimental area.

The seal was about the size of a room. Yichen and the others calculated the cost and found it to be barely acceptable.

The research quickly moved on to the second step: removing the part of the original seal used to maintain balance. This seemed simple, but it was actually quite complicated, because Yichen and his team's goal was not to completely eliminate the balance, but to ultimately achieve control over Natural Energy.

Therefore, in addition to canceling the original balance settings, a lot of content needs to be added for the bootstrapping process.

Because Yichen and his group shrunk the original large seal, the new seal's ability to withstand Natural Energy was significantly weakened, making the process very difficult.

The results of more than ten experiments all showed that the seal was shattered by the violent Natural Energy. Fortunately, the seal was relatively small and the amount of Natural Energy gathered was not large, so the ninjas who participated in the research were not injured.