Natural Energy

"Ah, so you saw through my identity. I am the Hokage's guard, Senju Tobirama!" Ruri shouted, holding his sword in his left hand.

Adding a layer of Transformation Jutsu beneath the bandages had indeed been useful. To hide his identity, he had deliberately used only his left hand to wield the sword, and he had not revealed a single flaw along the way. Hehehe, against these idiots who had never even left the Land of Artisans, Tobirama was definitely taking the blame!

"So it really was Senju Tobirama... He lied to me after all..." Fujiwara Shizume muttered after gaining a brief chance to catch his breath. "I never saw him use his right hand. Aside from his swordsmanship, he also possessed powerful chakra. He even released Konoha's ninja earlier. That's right, it could only have been Senju Tobirama..."

"Konoha's ninja? Looks like the Fujiwara Clan brought this upon themselves. They failed at such a simple task and even drew attention to themselves. Useless fools." Seimei raised a hand, sending a wind blade straight at Fujiwara Shizume!

"He can't die yet." Ruri let out a breath of relief and blocked the wind blade. Sure enough, his disguise had not shown the slightest flaw. Chakra and Kenjutsu—those were the two things that had made Senju Tobirama famous throughout the Shinobi World. Combined with the series of inexplicable ninjutsu Ruri might acquire in the future, it matched Tobirama's talent for invention perfectly. He was simply the ideal person to impersonate!

"You can die." Seimei spoke flatly, paying no attention to small fry like Fujiwara Shizume as he began seriously dealing with Ruri.

The armor on Seimei's body shifted shape again. His surroundings grew hazy like mist, and his form changed unpredictably, impossible to grasp!

Was that... Natural Energy? Although Ruri, while maintaining Seven-Tails Chakra Mode, could not use Natural Energy, he could sense it. Countless streams of Natural Energy were converging where Seimei stood!

Wasn't this ninja tool completely absurd? Even Transformers couldn't do this! It could actually use Natural Energy? Among all the extraordinarily talented ninja in the original story, only a handful could use Sage Arts, and now this damn ninja tool could do it?!

After observing for a while, Ruri finally relaxed. Perhaps because it was a ninja tool, Seimei's use of Natural Energy was extremely stiff. He could not use it to enhance himself, much less wield Sage Chakra as naturally as Sage Mode allowed. He could only attack using Natural Energy in its most basic form. Even so, its power was alarming. Countless streams of Natural Energy attacked Ruri in their purest form, already surpassing the scope of ordinary ninjutsu!

Faced with that surging Natural Energy, Ruri's scalp tingled. He had thought Seven-Tails Chakra Mode combined with Iaijutsu would be enough to deal with Seimei, but it still fell short. He could only swing his blade again. Chakra surged rapidly, and the sword aura swelled again and again, reflecting the entire lake in shades of azure and violet!

Natural Energy could even injure Six Paths Madara! Yet Ruri's slash tore it apart! No matter how dangerous the rampaging Natural Energy filling the sky was, before Ruri's all-out strike, it became as docile as little white rabbits. Quite a bit of it even followed the sword aura and reversed course, attacking Seimei instead!

Ruri seized the chance to close in. The Seven-Tails needed time to refine chakra, so during that time, he could only buy time through close combat!

Instead of panicking as Ruri drew closer, Seimei, who was poor at close combat, was delighted. He landed on the lake's surface and clasped his hands together. The Natural Energy filling the sky came under his control again, surrounding Ruri layer upon layer!

A clone?!

The "Ruri" wrapped in Natural Energy turned into lightning and vanished into the air. Sure enough, everything was just as Ruri had guessed. All of Seimei's abilities came from the ninja tools on his body. He himself had little combat experience, let alone sensory abilities. Ruri did not have much chakra left, and the Lightning Clone was terribly crude. Even an ordinary ninja with slightly sharper senses could see through it, but Seimei simply could not!

Ruri suddenly appeared behind Seimei and slashed down. Lacking chakra, the strike was not particularly powerful and failed to break through the armor!

"You are strong—the strongest tool I have ever encountered. So let me reforge you!" Seimei could no longer maintain his expressionless face and gradually became nervous. With a flick of both hands, countless streams of white vapor emerged from his armor. "Let me show you that even the power of nature is nothing more than a tool!"

Seimei suddenly brought his hands together. Several ninja tools on his body transformed, gradually forming a sphere that instantly enclosed Ruri. A massive amount of Natural Energy surged over, destroying everything in its path. The lake's surface was forcibly lowered by a meter!

Countless streams of Natural Energy were controlled by the sphere, forming walls in the air that sealed off Ruri from every direction, trapping him inside like a cage!

Ruri seemed to be in danger?!

"What happened? If even Senju Tobirama can't defeat Seimei, then I definitely won't survive..." Ignored by everyone, Fujiwara Shizume watched the lake's towering waves with immense worry, yet he could not intervene. His strength was enough to rank him among the foremost samurai of the age, but the battle between these two had completely surpassed the realm of humanity!

"Is Lord Musashi fighting Seimei?" Mitsunosuke had just awakened and did not know that Ruri had exposed his identity as "Senju Tobirama." He held no resentment over Ruri knocking them out. Sensing the battle, he walked to the lakeside and watched the water with the same concern.

"S-so terrifying..." Shizuka, who had only recently awakened, fainted again. Even from hundreds of meters away, the pressure brought by that Natural Energy was not something an ordinary intermediate samurai could endure!

After settling Shizuka down, Mitsunosuke saw another storm rise over the lake. Any thought of seizing Cursed Blade Muramasa and rushing in to help vanished. No matter how powerful a sword was, it could not raise him to a level where the heavens and earth changed color with every move!

Mitsunosuke realized how foolish he had been. He had never imagined that the person he sought revenge against would be such a figure. The abilities Seimei had displayed during the clan's destruction had been merely the tip of the iceberg! If he had not encountered Ruri, his only fate would have been to die without understanding why!

Ruri, trapped within Natural Energy, frowned. The sphere Seimei had created felt strangely familiar. He summoned a Truth-Seeking Orb and found the resemblance increasingly apparent. The difference was that the Truth-Seeking Orb controlled the powers of yin, yang, and the five elements, while the sphere controlled Natural Energy!

Should I just use the Truth-Seeking Orb to break it apart? Even Natural Energy was insignificant before a Truth-Seeking Orb that could turn everything into nothingness.

[ Ding... Congratulations, host, for completing the village's initial development. Reward: Sage Mode. ]

The system, which had been silent for three whole months, had finally come back to life. And the moment it did, it handed out something incredible.

Ruri had originally planned to cultivate Sage Mode himself and had even intended to find an opportunity to search for the Three Great Sage Regions. This saved him quite a bit of trouble, but still: "System, how exactly are these development rewards distributed?"

[ Rewards are granted for major changes that benefit the village's development, such as the Ninja Academy. If a change is not significant enough, it can accumulate. Rewards will also be granted when the village develops to a certain stage. ]

The system had actually offered an explanation for once. So his series of changes—splitting mountains for mines, storing lake water to create farmland, and using ninjutsu for sowing—were all merely minor changes, not comparable to the Ninja Academy?

Come to think of it, that made sense. In the long run, the Ninja Academy truly was the most important. Talent was the foundation of everything.

Ruri withdrew the Truth-Seeking Orb and exited Seven-Tails Chakra Mode. Facing the Natural Energy pouring in from every direction, light flared in his eyes. A ring of red eyeshadow appeared around his eyelids, while a red mark identical to Takigakure's symbol surfaced on his forehead!

"So this is my Sage Mode? Seimei, now I'll show you a true sage who controls Natural Energy!"