Practicing Senjutsu

Although Neji had never obtained a genuine cultivation manual in his previous life, he did possess various general cultivation principles. Combined with Mount Myōboku's detailed Senjutsu training process,

Neji concluded that practicing Senjutsu mainly consisted of four steps: sensing natural energy, drawing natural energy into the body, using natural energy to temper oneself, and finally merging natural energy into Chakra to form Senjutsu Chakra and unleash attacks.

After sorting this out, Neji knew there was little point in continuing the experiments. He had to try it himself to further advance his Senjutsu practice.

Neji returned to Konoha and built another underground training room beneath his new home. This room was rather special, with three isolation doors and two separate sealed spaces between them, preventing the natural energy inside from leaking out whenever a door was opened.

The interior of the training room had multiple layers of insulation as well. Its walls were cast integrally with several layers of metal to prevent the natural energy from dissipating.

It was also equipped with escape devices, emergency treatment devices, bodily data monitors, temperature control systems, high-powered rapid ventilation systems, and more. Nearly all of this equipment was state-of-the-art.

If Sasuke had known, he probably would have complained, "You really don't treat money like money!"

Once everything was ready, Neji entered the sealed training room with some trepidation.

For his own safety, Neji ultimately chose to cultivate by increasing the concentration of natural energy in the air rather than injecting it directly.

Based on the monkeys' limit experiments and a comparison with his own physical condition, Neji roughly estimated that he could withstand at most 587 times the Shinobi World's normal natural energy concentration. Anything beyond that would very likely bring unforeseen danger.

After spending around half an hour meditating and regulating his breathing to settle his mind, Neji took out high-purity Natural Energy Compression Fluid and carefully increased the natural energy concentration in the training room bit by bit.

Neji raised the concentration in increments of five times. Every time he increased the natural energy concentration by fivefold, he stopped, meditated, and slowly sensed the natural energy in the space and the changes in his body. Only after fully adapting would he raise the concentration again.

About three days passed like this. Neji adjusted the natural energy concentration to 425 times normal, then stopped increasing it. He felt this was his optimal cultivation environment.

If he continued increasing it, his body could still endure it, but his mind had begun to show signs of discomfort.

Casting aside all distracting thoughts, emptying his mind, and fully opening his senses, Neji could easily perceive countless motes of light filling the entire training space—cyan, red, green, black, blue, white, and more.

The motes danced and spun freely through the space, utterly carefree. This must be what they called natural energy—or perhaps "Spiritual Energy"!

Neji knew that, with the assistance of the high concentration of natural energy, he had smoothly completed the first step of sensing natural energy. What he needed to do now was keep memorizing this state so that he could sense these motes even where natural energy concentrations were low.

Neji did not rush to absorb natural energy. Instead, he patiently continued to "observe," "sense," and "draw close to" these motes, gradually merging his consciousness into them and improving his compatibility and affinity with the "motes of light."

Neji maintained this state on and off for a month. Through that month of adaptation, he felt as though his body had achieved an Innate Dao Body. Whether it was his body, mind, or soul, all of it possessed an unparalleled affinity with natural energy.

With the slightest focus, he could sense countless particles of natural energy joyfully dancing in the air around him. Even when Neji adjusted the natural energy concentration back to the Shinobi World's normal level during that period, he could still sense it, though its density was much lower.

And during that month,

Even though Neji had not deliberately absorbed natural energy, simply living within it meant that he inhaled a certain amount through breathing. As a result, his Chakra rose directly from around 1,500 calories to 1,700 calories, nearly four times the speed of normal cultivation. Beyond Chakra, his physical strength, recovery speed, mental state, self-healing speed, and more all improved!

This could not help but remind Neji of one man—Hashirama Senju, a man said to possess a Sage Body. The defining traits of Hashirama Senju's Sage Body were not precisely an enormous amount of Chakra, exceptional physical qualities, astonishing recovery speed, near-instant healing from injuries, and immense mental strength?

These traits perfectly matched the benefits brought by natural energy!

And after being steeped in ultra-high concentrations of natural energy, Neji's body was slowly evolving toward a Sage Body!

Moreover, it was a pure Sage Body perfectly suited for humans, rather than the "False Sage Mode" cultivated through the secret inherited methods of the Three Great Sage Lands. The two were fundamentally different.

However, without directly absorbing natural energy, the transformation was very slow. Neji estimated that at this rate, he would need to remain immersed in such a high-concentration environment for at least five years to acquire an Initial Sage Body.

Only by appropriately using breathing techniques to absorb a certain amount of natural energy into his body, form an Internal Circulation within himself, and store it in his body could he accelerate the formation of his Sage Body.

As for how long it would take to reach an intermediate, advanced, or Perfect Sage Body, even Neji could not estimate it!

When Neji, who had vanished for more than a month, appeared before Sasuke and Haku again, neither of them cared at first. After all, Neji had told them he needed to enter seclusion for a while. But once they came to their senses, they realized something was off. Neji seemed more ethereal, more lively, more detached from the mundane world, and more approachable!

An indescribable feeling made Sasuke and Haku keep staring at Neji! Neji did not mind. For the time being, he did not intend to tell Sasuke and Haku about natural energy.

Before leaving the underground training room, he had even deliberately cleared out the natural energy inside to keep outsiders from noticing anything. In any case, Neji could obtain natural energy easily and in abundant quantities.

The main reason was that Neji still did not fully trust Sasuke. Recalling the original story, he remembered once seeing a post that evaluated Sasuke like this:

"Born into a prestigious clan, he admired his father and brother, worked diligently, and had a loving mother. His father was overly obsessed with achievement, his brother precocious and arrogant with little human warmth, while his mother was a housewife. Then the clan incident occurred: above him was a treacherous old villain, within the clan were traitors, and outside was a meddling troublemaker. A clan of reckless men with fragile hearts, consumed by political strife, became sacrifices in the shadows. Their rebellion was strangled in the cradle, and overnight, the old, the young, women, and children all died. What a family tragedy.

His crimes: betraying the village and joining evil, killing his brother and master, joining a terrorist organization and attempting to steal nuclear weapons, wreaking havoc at the Five Kage Summit, abandoning friends, neglecting his wife and distant daughter.

His merits: on his path to seek justice and clear wrongs, he killed his own kin and master for the greater good. He successively killed the culprit behind his clan's massacre and the rogue ninja who conducted human experiments, freed and rescued thousands of captives, killed Danzo—the petty villain who was both Konoha's rotten foundation and a high-ranking hidden danger—then revived Orochimaru, reanimated the four Hokage, and did his utmost to end a Shinobi World war. Along the way, he constantly reflected on the meaning of nation, village, and clan, proposing institutional reforms in pursuit of peace. He helped undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi. In the end, he was beaten into submission and reformed by the protagonist, who represented the collective and righteous side. After the war, he received no credit and was thrown directly into prison. After his release, he voluntarily sought atonement."

Overall, Uchiha Sasuke in his early days had been somewhat erratic. To achieve his goals, he could sacrifice everything, yet after achieving them, he would fall into prolonged confusion. He was not someone Neji could become close friends with.

As for Haku, Haku's bond with Zabuza ran too deep. For now, it was better to leave things as they were. Keeping Haku around like this was fine enough.

Therefore, Neji still planned to slowly explore Senjutsu on his own. Until he obtained absolute strength, he would never casually reveal either the method of practicing Senjutsu or the method for purifying natural energy!

New book in progress—please recommend and bookmark!