No Chakra, Then Cultivate Natural Energy

"By the way, does the Land of Waves have a Daimyo?"

Shirozumi suddenly thought of a question.

However, Tazuna had already gone to take care of business, so he casually found a villager Tazuna had left behind to entertain them and asked.

"It seems there used to be."

The elderly villager recalled for a moment.

"Meaning there isn't one now?"

"No."

"That saves a lot of trouble."

Shirozumi had just been thinking that if the Land of Waves had a Daimyo, he would have to deal with such a useless person before heading to the Land of Water.

Turns out, the Land of Waves didn't have a Daimyo at all.

No wonder a black market merchant like Gato could almost control the entire country's lifeline.

It wasn't strange for a small country to lose its Daimyo.

Take Orochimaru's Otogakure in the Land of Rice Fields, for example. It was also a small country.

Orochimaru had a rather humorous charge against him later on, which was "bribing the Daimyo of the Land of Rice Fields, establishing Otogakure, and then seizing the Land of Rice Fields."

The charge of "bribing the Daimyo" alone showed how humble and pathetic the Daimyo of the Land of Rice Fields was.

Two days later.

Shirozumi and his group arrived at the Land of Water by boat.

"Kirigakure, Kirigakure. I thought this place was Pandaria covered in thick fog.

This environment is quite nice, with sunshine, beaches, and sea breeze. It's suitable as a tourist destination in peaceful times."

Shirozumi stretched as he got off the boat.

Of course, he was joking.

Who would dare to travel to Kirigakure now? They might be killed as a spy by a Blood Mist ninja.

Even in the Kirigakure of the Boruto era, it took Mei Terumi and Chojuro shedding blood and hunting down the troublesome Blood Mist elders for over a decade to bring it to peace.

"Hmm? What a coincidence?"

Shirozumi suddenly looked towards the distant woods.

Itachi, Kisame, and Zabuza had just disembarked.

"Are they Kirigakure ninja?"

Itachi's gaze followed the direction Shirozumi was looking. After a while, he sensed the movement.

He became even more certain that Shirozumi practiced Sage Art. -- Extraordinary perception ability √

"Yes, and they are one of our targets this time."

Shirozumi wasn't relying on his perception, of course.

His perception was stronger than average, but not to the extent of the Byakugan's thousand-mile vision.

He simply saw the future two minutes from now.

That's right.

Shirozumi's derivative ability to delete time had gradually grown from tens of seconds to two minutes.

This growth was something Shirozumi actively pursued; he was conducting an experiment.

Firstly, Itachi's guess about Shirozumi was always wrong.

Shirozumi did not possess Sage Mode.

As a transmigrator, Shirozumi wasn't a soul transmigration that strictly adhered to self-discipline, but a body transmigration. Even though his physical age had regressed to that of a child, it was indeed a body transmigration.

Just as Shirozumi had explained the history to the Akatsuki members before, Chakra only came into existence after Kaguya Otsutsuki brought the God Tree and the Ten-Tails.

Shirozumi, who had transmigrated, had no Chakra in his body.

This was different from Might Guy or Rock Lee.

They just couldn't use Ninjutsu, but they still had Chakra.

Even ordinary civilians just hadn't refined their Chakra.

But Shirozumi truly had none.

After Shirozumi arrived at Konoha, he found the orphanage director, Kabuto Yakushi.

He planned to have Kabuto Yakushi take in some orphans from Amegakure.

He also wanted Kabuto to examine his physical condition and see if there was any way he could cultivate.

-- Shirozumi felt very reassured about Kabuto, who had been corrected by the Izanami personality.

And Kabuto Yakushi, whose personality had been corrected, indeed did not disappoint Shirozumi. Taking in orphans was his duty, so he immediately sent people to pick them up.

Regarding the condition of Shirozumi's body, Kabuto Yakushi gave him an answer after just one day of research.

Kabuto Yakushi provided Shirozumi with a method to absorb Natural Energy, allowing Shirozumi to cultivate by using Natural Energy in place of Chakra.

He didn't say much else.

Shirozumi understood that Kabuto Yakushi wouldn't elaborate further.

Everything has its pros and cons.

Kabuto Yakushi's personality had been corrected by Izanami, and his loyalty to Konoha was now very high. Even though he was strictly forbidden from conducting any further experiments, he didn't mind and peacefully worked as the director of the orphanage.

Let alone the fact that he had promised Konoha he wouldn't conduct such experiments again, even if he had discovered something, he wouldn't casually tell Shirozumi, whose identity and disposition were that of an unknown outsider.

So Shirozumi didn't mind at the time. After obtaining the method to draw Natural Energy, Shirozumi began to cultivate.

In the Ninja World, extracting Chakra involves achieving a balance between the body and spirit.

The Sage Art Chakra of Sage Mode involves achieving a balance between the body, spirit, and Natural Energy.

If we use an analogy, it can also be seen as a combination of one's own Chakra and Natural Energy.

If there's too little Natural Energy, one cannot enter Sage Mode.

If there's too much Natural Energy, one will be gradually assimilated, which is worse than death.

But Shirozumi, lacking Chakra, purely absorbed Natural Energy.

Furthermore.

Shirozumi's absorption of Natural Energy showed no abnormalities. It seemed to be because Shirozumi didn't need to maintain any balance—the most stable state is when only one thing exists.

Why "seemed"?

Because Shirozumi wasn't clear on the specifics.

Shirozumi's current thought was that he needed to find an opportunity to bring Orochimaru back so he could understand the problem with his own body.

Otherwise, everything would be guesswork.

For example, regarding the acquisition of the Time Deletion ability, Shirozumi guessed that he had come into contact with advanced techniques of the Otsutsuki Clan and thus gained the ability.

But he later discovered that there was another variable at the time.

Upon gaining the ability, the Natural Energy stored within his body rapidly depleted, decreasing by at least four-fifths.

So during this period, after automatically drawing in Natural Energy, Shirozumi attempted to inject it again in the direction of the initial depletion.

As expected, the Time Deletion ability was enhanced.

--

"Kisame, Zabuza, you two leave from this direction. Quickly finish off the Daimyo and then depart the Land of Water by boat directly from there. You don't need to wait for us."

Shirozumi pointed in another direction.

"Understood."

"Then those people will be left to you."

Kisame and Zabuza departed.

"Later, we'll go help the few people who arrived."

After a moment of silence, Shirozumi suddenly said to Itachi.

Shirozumi knew that one of the major upheavals in Kirigakure—the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, being discovered to be under Genjutsu and subsequently freed by Ao—occurred around this time, about a year ago.

He just hadn't expected it to happen so coincidentally.

Right in front of them.

On the Kirigakure side, Mei Terumi noticed the abnormality in the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, and suspected that Yagura was under Genjutsu. She ordered Ao, who possessed the Byakugan, to investigate secretly.

Ao used his Byakugan to see the chaotic Chakra flow in Yagura's brain, clearly indicating he was controlled by powerful Genjutsu.

Thus, they informed the Kirigakure ninja who shared their aspirations and decided to help the Fourth Mizukage break free from the Genjutsu.

However, since Yagura was being controlled, he naturally wouldn't surrender willingly and meekly await the release from the Genjutsu.

And so, this great battle of Kirigakure ensued.