After dinner, Higashino Makoto returned home and, as usual, kept up his Chakra Extraction training. Before bed, he also practiced his hand-seal speed for a while.
At the end, he deliberately didn't extract any chakra. He even waited until he was sure the chakra in his body's chakra pathways had completely dissipated before going to sleep.
He cleared his mind and let his thoughts settle. Once his body had fallen asleep, Higashino Makoto found that, just as he'd expected, his consciousness remained awake—but he could control it.
At that point, he could choose to let his consciousness fall asleep along with his body, or detach from his body as he had the night before.
He'd made sure there was no chakra left in his pathways before bed on purpose. He wanted to see whether his consciousness leaving his body was connected to having undissipated chakra in it before going to sleep.
As it turned out, he could do the same thing as the night before even when there was no chakra in his pathways.
In other words, extracting chakra for the first time had been the trigger that opened the door to his consciousness leaving his body after he fell asleep. He didn't need to do it again after that.
With a thought, Higashino Makoto's astral form floated above his body once more. From its all-encompassing, unobstructed vantage point, he saw that he was about twenty centimeters above himself.
He tried to move his astral form, but it was still as if he were fixed in place. He couldn't fly through the sky or burrow through the earth like he could with the Spirit Transformation Technique, much less kill anyone without a trace.
It seemed to have nothing to do with the Spirit Transformation Technique. This was more like some kind of special state of his own.
After turning it over in his mind, he could only tentatively conclude that it might have something to do with being reincarnated from another world, and having a soul that didn't belong here.
After all, from what he knew, the souls of people in the Shinobi World had mostly been converted into chakra. They didn't even get the chance to be reborn after death; they could only go to the Pure Land and become part of the old Six Paths hermit's collection.
It was like a piece of cargo stamped with its owner's mark.
If his soul was fundamentally different from those of people in the Shinobi World, then he really might be the only one capable of this.
It was a state unique to him, one that let him communicate with Natural Energy from the very beginning. And unlike Jugo, he didn't lose control and kill people at the drop of a hat.
If this wasn't a Golden Finger, then what was?
The scene around him was just like the night before. From his astral form's vantage point, the multicolored mists flowed freely through the world.
They weren't clearly divided from one another. Instead, they rubbed and pressed against each other, and at their edges, he could even see them encroaching on and transforming one another.
The red mist was savage and domineering, its sheer volume towering over all the other colors. It was like a middle-schooler barging into a kindergarten classroom.
The other colors could still hold their ground. Only the white mist had it worst. Even in the kindergarten class, it was the weakest, reduced to the little dot among the penguins' everyday routine of eating, sleeping, and pecking at Diandian Ming.
Higashino Makoto didn't dare touch the other colors. After all, you had to pick on the soft persimmon.
No, wait. He was standing up for justice and speaking out on Diandian Ming's behalf.
Come here to Uncle. It's safe in my arms.
As usual, Higashino Makoto lured the white mist in, using his astral form as a filter to guide the mist, now stripped of its power to break things down, into his body.
Throughout the process, his astral form kept a close eye on the changes in his body. The moment he noticed anything unusual, he'd instantly turn into a heartless jerk and cut off contact with the mist.
Higashino Jiro's leave lasted about half a month. After all, guarding the border was grueling and dangerous work. They couldn't deny ninjas the chance to rest and relax.
Otherwise, they'd end up with mental problems. Ninjas were prone to going crazy, and they just happened to wield Supernatural Power. If one of them fell into darkness, it would be nothing short of a disaster for ordinary people in the Shinobi World.
If an elite Chunin really went all out, he could easily turn a prosperous town into a wasteland in no time.
In the days that followed, Higashino Jiro spent most of his time in the village, training whenever he wasn't resting. No matter what, strength was always the best weapon he could rely on.
But when he trained, he went to a larger Training Ground. The one near the Higashino Family was too small; it was meant for children who hadn't officially become ninjas yet.
Higashino Makoto kept to the Training Plan he'd set for himself, though he occasionally picked his father's brain.
There wasn't much he could ask him. After all, he'd already embarked on a path completely different from his father's—and from that of Regular Ninjas.
Natural Energy was powerful. From the nourishment he received every night, he'd found that it not only gradually strengthened his body, but also helped him gain control over his chakra at an astonishing rate.
Unfortunately, he couldn't pass it on to his family for now.
He'd tried asking around indirectly. His parents couldn't sense any special energy at all. They had no concept of it, nor did they have the special method of observing it through an astral form.
Higashino Makoto guessed that even if they learned the Spirit Transformation Technique, it would be no use.
If the Spirit Transformation Technique let its user see the different kinds of Natural Energy the way he could, Dan Katō would surely have learned how to use them by now and become even more powerful. He wouldn't have been killed by an enemy while performing the technique.
Chakra split people into two kinds, and Natural Energy did the same to ninjas. As far as he knew, aside from Summon Beasts, there might be only half a person in the Shinobi World who could use Sage Mode: Jiraiya, the super pervert.
If Dan Katō had known Sage Mode, he surely wouldn't have died so easily.
Had the dream of becoming Hokage lost its appeal, or had Tsunade's big buns stopped being so soft?
Higashino Makoto still had no way to infuse his parents with Natural Energy.
Even if he did, he wouldn't dare try. He might end up personally giving them the "sacrifice your parents to heaven, and your power will know no bounds" buff.
Just look at the heaps of stone statues shaped like toads on Mount Myōboku. They had all once been humans who had tried and failed to control Natural Energy.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
As usual, Higashino Makoto went to the Training Ground first thing in the morning. But just as he was about to start, he felt as if someone were watching him.
Could it be the Third Hokage's Crystal Ball?
He was just a kid from a Commoner Ninja family. His parents thought he was a genius, but to someone at Kage Level, he was nothing special—certainly not worth paying attention to.
Besides, did the Hokage really start work that early? Who did you think he was, the Seventh Hokage?
Higashino Makoto's thoughts stirred. He quickly completed Chakra Extraction, and his body instantly filled with strength.
More than ten days had passed, and he'd already reached the goal he'd set for himself: making the Extraction Technique an instinct.
Natural Energy really was amazing.
That wasn't all. Because his body had continually absorbed the white Natural Energy, the chakra he extracted could now sense the outside world.
His Perception Ability didn't reach far yet, limited by his current Chakra Amount and how little time he'd spent cultivating Natural Energy. Still, it was enough to cover the small Training Ground.
One quick sweep of his senses was all it took for Higashino Makoto to spot the hidden target.
He looked up at the nearby tree and called out, "Dad, what are you doing hiding up there?"
"Huh?" Higashino Jiro exclaimed in surprise. He leaped down in a couple of steps and landed in front of his son, looking curious. "How did you know I was there?"
"I sensed you."
"Sensed me? You mean you have Perception Ability? When did you learn that? It's not something you can just pick up. You need talent for it."
"I've never learned it. I just suddenly could, a few days ago."
"Natural Awakening? Could it be a Bloodline Ability? Does our Higashino Family have that kind of Bloodline Inheritance?" Higashino Jiro was baffled.
Being mature for his age wasn't a big deal. There were plenty of kids like that in the Shinobi World. Extracting chakra successfully in less than a minute on his first try, and having a decent Chakra Amount, wasn't too outrageous either. For a commoner, that made him a genius.
But the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan, both born to be ninjas, also had plenty of clever kids who could do the same.
This naturally awakened Perception Ability, though, couldn't be explained away as mere talent. Higashino Makoto hadn't just sensed someone's presence; he'd even identified whose chakra it was.
Could this child not be mine? Had I been cuckolded?
But he and Hui had been together from the time they married until she got pregnant. Konoha had paternity leave, too.
"Mr. Higashino, I get the feeling you're thinking something bad. Do you want to go home and ask Mom about it?"
"Absolutely not! Don't you dare. She'll kill me!"
Higashino Jiro stopped him at once, cursing himself for losing his mind.
He knew what his wife was like. She would never do anything to betray him. It wasn't in her nature. They'd known each other since childhood, knew one another inside and out, and had a strong foundation of love.
The Shinobi World was full of strange things. Some people even awakened a Kekkei Genkai out of nowhere.
His own son could merely sense things. That didn't seem like a big deal.
Thinking it over, Higashino Jiro suddenly relaxed. His son really was a genius.
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