Reason × Senjutsu

The next day, in the Nara House's back garden,

Fish swam in the shallows, while insects and birds sang together.

Beneath the lush greenery lay a neatly trimmed lawn.

Nara Dan sat cross-legged in its midst.

What was different, however, was the little red flower beside him, its bud ready to bloom and full of life.

Any servant from the household who saw it would have been astonished.

The lawn was supposed to be trimmed and maintained every day, so weeds and wildflowers were never allowed to grow.

Even tender grass that grew a little too tall was cut back, let alone a conspicuous flower bud like this one.

But then something even more astonishing happened.

As Nara Dan slowly opened his eyes,

the flower bud began to bloom at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, it had become a fully opened flower, and even grown a little larger.

"Just as I thought."

"The Life Magnetic Field can affect not only the magnetic fields of other humans,"

"but even those of every plant and blade of grass in nature."

A moment ago, Nara Dan had used the influence of his Life Magnetic Field to stimulate the flower bud's rapid growth.

Or rather, Nara Dan had shared a little of his abundant Life Energy with the flower. Even a tiny fraction was more than enough for a creature of its size.

"That's why they say that even the place where a dragon pees can give rise to dragon offspring."

"They make it sound like dragons are afraid to pee."

"It really isn't just a matter of powerful genes influencing them,"

"as if urine had genes in it."

"It's more that those creatures benefit from the release of Life Energy."

So the abundance of Life Energy was all relative.

To a flower or plant, Nara Dan was a 'Dragon.'

But compared to a dragon, Nara Dan might have less Life Energy and influence than someone else's stream of urine.

And at Nara Dan's level, sensing Life Energy was as clear as seeing the lines on his palm.

This only intensified Nara Dan's fear of his own condition.

That's right—fear.

Even though Nara Dan did his best to stem the loss of his Life Energy, he had gone from electrofishing to casting a net compared to ordinary people.

But energy and matter in this world were always conserved; nothing existed unchanged forever.

Flowers and plants lived for no more than ten years. To them, Nara Dan's Life Energy was abundant,

but even so, it would not last more than two hundred years by his careful estimation.

That was assuming he never fought anyone. Fighting would naturally accelerate the loss of Life Energy considerably.

That must have been why even the God-Seeing Indestructibility masters could only live for a little over a hundred years.

Their bodies might not break down, but they still leaked.

"If we're talking about dragons, whether the Western Dragon or the Eastern Divine Dragon,"

"these Long-lived Species can sleep for a thousand or even ten thousand years without their Life Energy ever running out."

"Only creatures like that can truly be called strong,"

"and in every respect, they're far superior to humans."

"Of course, entropy is unavoidable."

"Everything has an entropy value, humans and dragons alike."

"Humans delay the arrival of entropy through metabolism, but it's only a drop in the bucket."

"Sea Emperor masters can restrain their energy and close their pores,"

"but the amount of life in a human is limited. How could they compare to those Long-lived Species?"

Nara Dan shook his head. There was a reason people said humans had limits; it wasn't an empty claim.

"If you really want to surpass humanity, there's only one path."

"That is, stop being human."

"Either introduce the genes of a more powerful creature,"

"or break free of the concept of humanity,"

"and exist in this world as a soul or in some other form."

"The former goes without saying, but obtaining those genes and the technology is a huge challenge."

"There have been plenty of pioneers in the latter."

Nara Dan couldn't help considering them one by one. He, too, had ambitions. Immortality was humanity's ultimate dream.

"Orochimaru managed to walk half that path,"

"but he never realized that souls also have an entropy value."

"Constantly changing bodies only speeds up the process."

"He was merely clinging to life."

"The Chakra of Indra and Ashura being passed down through the generations is also half a path,"

"but in practice, their own wills had long since been worn away by countless cycles of reincarnation."

"All that remained was the nature of their Chakra."

"Without a sense of self, there was no way to maintain their entropy value."

"The Sage of Six Paths was undoubtedly stronger, with a well-developed sense of self."

"Besides having far more Chakra energy than his two sons,"

"he seemed to rely on the Underworld to maintain his soul."

"But the fact that he hardly ever showed himself and couldn't act directly tells us his limitations were considerable."

"Perhaps he was just another weakened version of Empress Houtu."

Nara Dan smiled, his mind buzzing with interest.

"If I really go down this path,"

"instead of timidly clinging to life, it'd be far more exciting to cast off the bounds of human understanding entirely."

"Become some kind of data-based life form, or even a rule of the world."

"Or become part of some great being—that would be even better."

As he thought, Nara Dan gazed into the air before him,

as if he could see some powerful, abundant energy floating there.

Before, Nara Dan naturally couldn't sense it. But now that he had reached the God-Seeing Realm, his Life Magnetic Field enveloped him, allowing him to sense the powerful energy particles floating between heaven and earth.

These energy particles continued without end, silent as the ocean. Ordinary people could not sense them at all.

But once stirred into motion, they could unleash an upheaval that turned mountains upside down and reversed seas and rivers.

"Senjutsu Chakra is a promising path."

"It can prolong life and grant Spontaneous Supernatural Ability."

"Even if it can't make you immortal, longevity is still pretty good."

"Which of those Sage Creatures hasn't lived longer than the Sage of Six Paths?"

"They plan on a timescale of thousands of years, putting them on par with Black Zetsu."

"Still, it's not that easy."

"The Sage of Six Paths used Senjutsu Chakra too, so why didn't he choose this path?"

"Who would choose to be dead when they could stay alive?"

"Besides, even physiques like the Uzumaki and Senju can't fully control Senjutsu Chakra."

"My body's roots are Nara, and its bloodline leans heavily toward Yin Release."

"That makes it even harder to control."

Since breaking through to God-Seeing Indestructibility, Nara Dan had tried to make contact with senjutsu energy.

But his body's nature was far too resistant to senjutsu; they were incompatible.

Senjutsu Chakra could only remain inside his body for a short time.

"Those animals, on the other hand, are exceptionally compatible with senjutsu energy."

"But there must be some kind of side effect."

"Perhaps those Sage animals were once humans who practiced senjutsu."

"Then they were transformed by senjutsu."

Nara Dan quietly made deductions from the limited information he had.

Senjutsu Chakra could make people violent, turn them to stone, transform them into frogs, and cause all sorts of other effects.

There had to be some unknown side effect to making it truly one's own.

Those who practiced Senjutsu Chakra, Jiraiya and Kabuto, both showed animal-like traits to some degree.

Same here, my being short is my fault.

Not the book's.

The book is innocent!