Rich Natural Energy

Yichen was in no hurry. He slowly emptied his mind and carefully sensed the changes around him through Sensory Ninjutsu.

Ōnoki noticed that Yichen was using Sensory Ninjutsu, but he paid it no mind. He merely gave Yichen a surprised glance. It seemed the boy's Mental Power had grown quickly over the past few years.

After some time, as the Natural Energy within the sealed area began to increase, Yichen gradually sensed something different.

Yichen had previously sensed many people's Chakra, but he had never formally sensed Natural Energy. With this targeted attempt, he finally noticed some changes.

In Yichen's perception, something that calmed the mind was gathering within the sealed area before him.

This feeling was different from Chakra of every other attribute. Though it was still very faint, Yichen could vaguely sense its power.

That power was not strength in the ordinary sense, but superiority in level.

Chakra had levels. When a Ninja first extracted Chakra, its level was very low.

Ninjutsu cast with the same Chakra Amount would be fairly weak. But after training, a Ninja's will would improve, their physique would grow stronger, and the Chakra they extracted would become more condensed, making their Ninjutsu more powerful as well.

A Jonin's Chakra gave Yichen the feeling that it was stronger than his own.

The reason Yuki Kagami had discovered his spying that year was also because his Chakra Level was higher than Yichen's.

But although the Natural Energy within the sealed area was thin, Yichen could sense that its level was extremely high—far beyond the feeling given to him by Kekkei Genkai such as Ice Release, or even a Jonin's Chakra.

It seemed... it seemed even stronger than Ōnoki's Chakra not far away.

Ōnoki also sensed the terror of the Natural Energy, but at his level, he could more clearly feel that this Natural Energy could possibly be controlled.

Given Ōnoki's Chakra Amount and Chakra strength, if he absorbed a small amount of Natural Energy, he should be able to suppress it.

But suppression alone was useless. It had to be fused. If one could achieve Chakra Fusion between Natural Energy and one's own Chakra, then one would become something like the Toad Sage Jiraiya would become in the future.

Thinking of the Toad Sage, Yichen's heart stirred and an idea came to him. But now was not the time to think about it, so he set it aside for the moment.

What mattered most now was carefully experiencing this Natural Energy. Through Sensory Ninjutsu, Yichen felt as though he were nestled in nature's embrace.

It was as though both his body and mind had been cleansed, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

After a while longer, the concentration of Natural Energy had grown very high. After sensing it again, Yichen opened his eyes. He no longer needed to devote his full attention to it; even while distracted by other things, he could still sense it through Sensory Ninjutsu.

Yichen looked over the dozen or so Ninjas still maintaining the Sealing Jutsu. They showed no signs of discomfort, and he let out a breath of relief. It seemed this step had succeeded.

Next, they would have to see whether they could maintain this Sealing Jutsu.

Ideally, they needed to accomplish three things at once. First, they needed to control the speed at which Natural Energy gathered. It would be even better if they could freely stop it once it reached a certain concentration.

Second, they needed to be able to replace the casters at any time while maintaining the Sealing Jutsu, so that when one caster ran low on Chakra, another Ninja could take over. Finally, they needed to be able to use Natural Energy.

Of those three points, the last was the goal, but it was not the most urgent. They could take it slowly. The first two were the crucial ones.

Ōnoki understood this as well. Seeing that they had successfully gathered Natural Energy, he said to the dozen or so Ninjas maintaining the Sealing Jutsu, "Good. The first step has succeeded. Now try to see whether you can slow the gathering rate."

After hearing this, the dozen or so sealing specialists tried reducing their Chakra output. They did their best to maintain the Sealing Jutsu while also slowing its operation.

Sure enough, Yichen immediately sensed the Natural Energy gathering more slowly. "It worked!" he cried out at once.

Ōnoki nodded happily as well. As long as it worked, it meant that Natural Energy could also be controlled by Sealing Jutsu. Then there was hope for everything.

In fact, reaching this stage had already met their expectations from three years ago. Even if they made no further progress, the village could gather Natural Energy like this each time, conduct experiments before it went out of control, and gradually produce results.

Could the strength of an entire village really be inferior to Orochimaru alone?

Next, Ōnoki personally directed the Barrier Team in conducting all kinds of tests on the seal. Several days passed before they finally achieved comprehensive control over the Sealing Jutsu.

After adjusting some details, the Barrier Team could now control when the Sealing Jutsu started and stopped. They could even replace the Ninjas maintaining it.

Their ability to achieve this so quickly was also the result of the Barrier Team's accumulated efforts. Over the past two years, those two fragments had practically driven the Barrier Team mad.

Their current gains could not have been achieved without everyone's hard work.

That day, Ōnoki gathered the village's upper ranks and the heads of its major departments beside the Sealing Jutsu.

As the advocate of the Sealing Jutsu, Yichen was also specially permitted to attend this unusual meeting.

The meeting concerned how to use the gathered Natural Energy, but this was completely outside everyone's knowledge. No one could offer a feasible plan.

Yichen, who was merely there to observe, made a suggestion. "Before the village produces Ninjas capable of controlling Natural Energy, we can treat this area as a special zone with an exceptional environment."

"We can try having Ninjas, children, and even Ninja Beasts live in this area, then see whether prolonged exposure produces any effects."

"The creatures of the Three Great Sage Locations can all use Sage Jutsu. It is very possible that this is because they have lived in environments filled with Natural Energy for a long time."

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard that. That was right—perhaps the village could artificially cultivate a Sage Location. Their imaginations immediately ran wild.

At that moment, the head of the medical team said, "We could also set up a seal like this in the hospital. If the hospital's environment improves, perhaps the wounded will recover faster."

Once their thinking opened up, everyone began offering all sorts of suggestions at once.

In the end, Ōnoki made the decision. They would first select a group of Ninjas and Ninja Beasts to live within the sealed area.

They would not arrange for children to enter yet. They would wait until they confirmed there was no danger before experimenting with that.

As for the hospital, they would put it aside for now. They could first establish a special area and arrange for recuperating patients to stay there.

And so, the village began selecting some talented Young Ninjas and Ninja Beasts that could be particularly useful in war, allowing them to move into the range of the Sealing Jutsu together.

Yichen volunteered to become the first person to move in.

No one objected. Given Yichen's contributions, no one cared about such a small matter.

Besides, with Yichen's talent, his selection was practically guaranteed anyway.

Yichen had not begun looking forward to Sage Jutsu only recently. Since three years ago, the matter of Natural Energy had nearly become an obsession for him.

Over the next dozen or so days, Yichen barely left the sealed area. The talented Ninjas selected by the village had not yet moved in, so Yichen lived there alone the entire time.

Yichen guessed that the village also wanted to observe his reaction before making up its mind.

During those dozen or so days, Yichen showed no discomfort whatsoever. Every day, he used Sensory Ninjutsu to sense Natural Energy.

Yichen had a feeling that his understanding of Natural Energy was insufficient, and his affinity with it was too low. It would be difficult for him to master Sage Jutsu.

In other words, he lacked talent for cultivating Sage Jutsu.

However, after living within the seal for these days and gradually probing with Sensory Ninjutsu, Yichen felt that his affinity with Natural Energy seemed to be increasing.

There was no basis for this feeling. It might even have been just psychological, but Yichen still hoped it was true.

After reporting his feelings to Ōnoki, Ōnoki immediately brought several advisors over to ask Yichen for the details.

One advisor even asked Yichen whether he had any suggestions for what sort of Ninjas should be selected to enter the sealed area.

That question opened up Yichen's train of thought. He was unfamiliar with Natural Energy, but he had seen plenty of examples in web novels from his previous life about comprehending heaven and earth.

Thus, Yichen voiced his guess. "Lord Tsuchikage, honored advisors, I think we should focus on Ninjas with calmer temperaments, those who love the flowers and plants of nature."

The advisors exchanged glances. They had not expected Yichen to propose such a method, but it did make some sense upon consideration.

However, another advisor said, "There are plenty of Ninjas in the village who are good at killing, but those with calm temperaments may be hard to find."

Hearing that, another thought flashed through Yichen's mind. "Honored Advisor, perhaps we can also find those with especially, especially strong killing intent. Extremes reverse themselves. Those who are most incompatible with nature may instead be better able to comprehend Natural Energy."

Ōnoki and the advisors looked at one another, somewhat unable to understand. Still, this was no difficult matter, so Ōnoki directly assigned an advisor to handle it.

Finally, Ōnoki asked Yichen whether living in the sealed area truly had any side effects.

After hearing Yichen's answer, Ōnoki directly gave the order for the selected people to move in starting the next day.

Comprehending Natural Energy was not something that could be done overnight. Earlier, because he had served as a guinea pig, the village had not assigned Yichen any specific missions. Now that his work as a guinea pig was over, the village's new arrangements came down.

Because all three members of Team Five had been promoted to Chunin, the team was disbanded.

Tana and Yichen were assigned to the Anbu. Shinohara, on the other hand, was assigned three team members and formed a new team.

The village's reasoning was actually quite sensible. After two years of growth, Shinohara's taijutsu had become quite good, making him fully qualified to serve as a team captain. As for Ninjutsu, he had finally learned his first C-rank Ninjutsu.

Tana was quite strong, but her weakness was too obvious. She could protect herself well enough, but found it difficult to protect her teammates.

As for Yichen, the village hoped that after further training in the Anbu, he would be able to stand on his own.

The village did not want to send a Genius like Yichen out alone too early. They still hoped he could continue growing for a while under the care of his seniors.