Minor Accomplishment in Sage Art

Over the past month, he hadn't given up on observing the animals in the laboratory outside the village. He had indeed discovered some abnormalities: animals injected with diluted Natural Energy showed a tendency towards cellular fibrosis in and around the injection sites.

Furthermore, in animals injected with higher concentrations, the skin in the injection area had lost all sensation and completely necrosed. While not life-threatening, the impact was significant. This was likely due to excessive Natural Energy in the localized area causing cells to operate under high load and divide for extended periods, ultimately leading to premature necrosis.

Increasing Natural Energy in the air, however, was a gradual, all-encompassing process that enhanced all bodily functions without the drawbacks of uneven development.

This made Neji feel fortunate that he hadn't been impatient and chosen a quick, effective method like injection to absorb Natural Energy. For his next training session, he would play it safe and keep the concentration below four hundred.

At this stage, improving his own strength was the primary objective. Whether it was "Nest Building," "Gene Completion," "Shennong Encyclopedia," "All Tailed Beasts Collected," or "Kekkei Mōra," all served the purpose of enhancing his personal power.

Currently, the best way to improve his strength was undoubtedly to use Natural Energy to transform his body into a Sage Body. The difficulty of this transformation was age-dependent; the older one was, the harder it became. Moreover, even if an elderly person were forcefully transformed into a Sage Body, they would lose the potential for further improvement and remain permanently at the initial stage.

Therefore, Neji abandoned all other plans and immersed himself wholeheartedly in sensing and attempting to absorb Natural Energy.

Neji informed Sasuke and Haku that he would be going into seclusion for an extended period, telling them not to worry, and then fully dedicated himself to his training.

Neji spent nearly two months immersing himself in an environment with high concentrations of Natural Energy, suppressing his urge to absorb it.

Only after sensing that his body had initially adapted to the Natural Energy did he control a small amount to enter his body. It circulated through several relatively safe and stable acupoints and the meridians connecting them, forming a preliminary internal circulation before being stored in his Dantian.

He gradually and slowly increased the amount of Natural Energy he absorbed, allowing it to continuously circulate within the established internal circulation, refining the meridians, acupoints, and major bodily tissues and bones.

Through this repetitive cycle, Neji became completely immersed in the joy of training and improvement, feeling the constant growth of Natural Energy within him, the enhancement of his physical capabilities, and the overall increase in his Chakra.

More than a year passed before Neji hit a bottleneck. The established internal circulation found it difficult to further enhance his various attributes, so Neji stopped training.

Neji speculated that it was likely because the initial internal circulation involved too few acupoints and meridians, preventing balanced growth throughout his body. After strengthening the areas around the established internal circulation, he was unable to reinforce the remaining areas.

It was like a good internal energy cultivation manual that could train numerous acupoints and meridians simultaneously, covering almost every area of the body. In contrast, a common, low-grade internal energy technique could only focus on certain areas, failing to provide a full-body workout.

Neji's self-created initial internal circulation was probably a very poor cultivation method, capable of elevating his body to the initial Sage Body state at best.

To improve further, he would need to expand the internal circulation to cover more acupoints and meridians, aiming for full-body reinforcement without neglecting any area.

This process was extremely dangerous, especially concerning vital acupoints, where even slight contact could cause immense damage to the body.

This was why Neji hadn't blindly experimented. After fully adapting to his current state, he would slowly and gradually attempt to broaden the coverage of his internal circulation until he achieved a perfect Sage Body.

However, even achieving the initial Sage Body at this point had resulted in astonishing growth. Over this year and a half, he hadn't intentionally refined his Chakra, yet his Chakra reserves had reached 5400 units, meeting the standard for a Kage-level shinobi.

His Chakra recovery speed was twenty times faster than before, and his healing speed was more than ten times faster. All his physical stats had significantly improved.

The biggest change was that, in addition to Chakra, his body also stored a certain amount of Natural Energy. When he released Ninjutsu, incorporating a certain amount of Natural Energy would multiply the Ninjutsu's power.

Or rather, Ninjutsu incorporating Natural Energy could no longer be called Ninjutsu; it was now "Sage Art"!

Whether it was Jiraiya, Hashirama Senju, or Naruto, they all needed to temporarily gather Natural Energy on the battlefield to perform Sage Art. This process varied in length depending on their affinity with Natural Energy, making it extremely inconvenient to use.

Neji, through the internal circulation in his Dantian, constantly stored a certain amount of Natural Energy. This meant that as long as his internal Natural Energy wasn't depleted, he wouldn't need to absorb Natural Energy from the outside temporarily and could launch Sage Art attacks or defenses anytime, anywhere.

Comparing the two, the difference was clear!

What surprised Neji even more was that by channeling the mixed energy of his internal Natural Energy and Chakra (later referred to as Sage Chakra) to cover the Caged Bird Seal, it could act as a shield and isolate the Caged Bird, allowing him to a certain extent break free from its restraint.

Although he hadn't completely nullified the Caged Bird, from now on, he was truly free. No one and nothing could bind him any longer.

He could finally act freely and do the things he wanted to do.

After more than seven years in the Naruto world, at this moment, Neji finally felt truly relaxed and free. This moment felt like truly being alive.

At the age of twelve, he had also grown to 1.75 meters tall!

The reason he chose to emerge from seclusion now was twofold: firstly, his training had hit a bottleneck, and he could only grow stronger by expanding his internal circulation of Natural Energy; secondly, he was about to graduate and leave the cover of the Ninja Academy, becoming an official Genin.

During this year and a half in the training room, Neji wasn't alone. He had also brought along the two Thunder Rocs he had brought back for experiments last time to train with him.

Both Thunder Rocs had also developed a trace of Natural Energy within them, enabling them to synthesize Sage Chakra and release Sage Art. This was an unintentional act that resulted in him cultivating two powerful flying mounts.

However, due to their rapid growth, the two Thunder Rocs only stayed with him for over half a year before being returned to the Summoning Realm because the training room couldn't accommodate them. It was a shame they couldn't continue growing.

As the saying goes, "still waters run deep," Neji decided it was time to stretch his limbs and adapt to his rapidly growing strength!

When Neji emerged from the laboratory, Haku and Sasuke were already accustomed to it. Ever since Neji built the underground laboratory, he had visibly changed every time he came out, not just in strength, but also in demeanor, height, and aura.

One time, Sasuke, extremely curious, took the opportunity when Neji went out to replenish his Natural Energy concentrate. He persuaded Haku to explore the underground training room with him.

Haku was also a little curious, but not as intensely as Sasuke. Moreover, Neji had never forbidden them from entering the underground training room. It was just that when Neji was training, the underground training room was always locked, and it had three doors, which deterred Haku from exploring.

Now that Neji was absent and the laboratory didn't seem to be locked, Haku, driven by curiosity, followed Sasuke to take a look.

The result was disappointing. Apart from the three peculiar doors, there was nothing special inside the training room; the walls were just thick and well-sealed.

Failing to find the answers he wanted in the laboratory, Sasuke had also actively asked Neji about it, but every time this topic came up, Neji would just smile mysteriously. His expression perfectly conveyed: "I have secrets, and I'm just not telling you!"

This infuriated Sasuke to no end, leaving him helpless!