"Great Sage, if this is a condition, I can agree to it. But only if the method you teach me can help me reach the level of the Sage of Six Paths."
Ao nodded thoughtfully and agreed.
He sensed the killing intent White Snake Sage had let slip.
He had no idea why this old woman had such a grudge against the Sage of Six Paths.
If I don't agree, I'll probably end up as a snack in the Sage's stomach.
Though he had agreed,
he didn't fully trust White Snake Sage's account.
Natural Energy in Ryūchi Cave was indeed exceptionally unusual. Compared to Mount Myoboku, Shikkotsu Forest's was far more violent and difficult to control.
But perhaps White Snake Sage had been secretly meddling with it.
The Pure Land was in another dimension. How could anyone siphon off Ryūchi Cave's Natural Energy?
It just didn't seem possible.
The Sage of Six Paths might have been full of schemes, even giving his two sons special treatment by arranging for them to reincarnate again and again.
But at least there wasn't anything seriously wrong with his character.
Compared to White Snake Sage, who often ate people, the Sage of Six Paths seemed more trustworthy.
The snake clan kept to themselves and never ventured out?
That was ridiculous.
Every snake with the potential to become a summon could absorb Natural Energy.
If they weren't being forced, who would leave Ryūchi Cave, with its abundance of Natural Energy, just to go hungry out in the world?
Would cultivators leave for an ordinary world without spiritual energy?
Of course not.
Ao didn't argue with White Snake Sage. The Sage of Six Paths had only given him his bloodline, which wasn't much help to him right now.
The person in charge now was White Snake Sage.
His mentor in his previous life had once told him that research projects should always prioritize the boss's interests.
That was the only way to secure continued funding.
Research that produced no benefits could never get off the ground.
Six Paths level.
What a distant rank.
He hadn't even reached Kage Level yet.
The old Sage of Six Paths wasn't just any Six Paths-level figure. As the founder of the Pure Land, he controlled all the Natural Energy within it.
Even if Otsutsuki Kaguya were resurrected, she might not be able to defeat her eldest son.
After digesting what White Snake Sage had revealed, Ao took out the Snake Slough and pointed to the text on it as he continued asking,
"Great Sage, can you guide me in this kind of training now?"
White Snake Sage stretched out her tail and gently coiled it around the Snake Slough, then hid it beneath the edge of the bed behind her.
"Of course. But you've already passed my test and earned Ryūchi Cave's recognition."
"There's an even easier way, hss. As long as your body is strong enough, you can master Natural Energy in an instant."
"Hss!"
"It'll save you decades of training."
She flicked out her tongue and proposed an entirely different method.
"How?"
Ao asked.
He had a vague idea. It was probably the same method Yakushi Kabuto and the others had undergone.
The old woman really was sly. She was still testing him at a time like this?
She was just like Orochimaru!
No wonder the two of them had gotten along.
"All I need to do is leave a bite mark on your neck."
A cloud of white smoke burst out. White Snake Sage's form slowly faded, then transformed into that of a woman who looked to be in her late eighties or early nineties. She jumped down from the long bed.
White Snake Sage crossed the room in a few steps and stopped before Uchiha Ao. She opened her mouth, revealing two sharp fangs, while a kind smile spread across her face.
It was as though she had Ao's best interests at heart.
She looked kind and gentle, harmless to anyone who saw her.
It was hard to believe she was the ruthless, bloodthirsty White Snake Sage.
"Then I'll pass, Great Sage! My one redeeming quality is knowing my limits. I'm in terrible shape, so I couldn't handle this shortcut."
"I was at the bottom of the Uchiha clan."
"I want a perfect body. That's why I followed my teacher, betrayed my clan, and left Konoha."
Ao shook his head and refused.
"Is there another way?"
His eyes flickered as he asked again.
White Snake Sage gave Ao a scrutinizing look.
"There is."
"It's the method described in the Snake Slough I gave you at the start. Even Orochimaru lacks the talent to train that way."
"You... would probably find it difficult to sense Natural Energy in a spiritual form, too."
"Talent is needed for this method as well, but it's a matter of spiritual talent."
Before White Snake Sage could finish, Ao picked up where she left off.
"Looks like I have no choice but to take the hard way and figure it out on my own, little by little."
"I've memorized everything written on the Snake Slough. Great Sage, could you demonstrate it for me?"
Ao looked up and made a somewhat presumptuous request.
White Snake Sage gave him a long look. She had never met a human who didn't want to take the shortcut.
All the others who had faced her tests had chosen to gain unparalleled power as quickly as possible.
But in the end, they had all become food to fill her belly.
"If that's what you want, I'll give you a simple explanation."
White Snake Sage's smile vanished. Her form blurred, then emerged from the white mist.
In the blink of an eye, she had become a large white-scaled snake with a cold expression, lying on the bed.
She lit her pipe again, conjuring an arm of white mist to bring it to her mouth. After taking a deep drag,
White Snake Sage finally spoke. "Chakra is produced by combining Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy."
"By the same logic, combining Natural Energy and Physical Energy should produce a new kind of power. I tried it, but failed. The cost was this snake skin."
"The last method is the one you already know: combining Natural Energy and Spiritual Energy."
"I call this power Senjutsu. Unlike Senjutsu Chakra, it doesn't require the body's involvement and can form a perfect one-to-one fusion."
The old toad at Mount Myoboku had also mastered a method for cultivating Natural Energy. But Mount Myoboku was at the center of the continent, where the most pure and gentle Natural Energy could be found.
"These basic details are all written on my Snake Slough. You remember them, don't you?"
Ao nodded and replied,
"The key to training is perception at the spiritual level. But there's a contradiction: in a spiritual state, you can't sense Natural Energy."
White Snake Sage chuckled and glanced at him from the side, pipe in her mouth. "Are you sure you can't sense it?"
"You know a ninjutsu that lets you leave your body, don't you? In fact, as soon as your spirit leaves your body, it constantly emits Natural Energy. The Spiritual Power you expend moving your spirit is converted into Natural Energy."
Her words were like a sudden flash of insight.
Ao shuddered, instantly grasping the key.
The Spirit Transformation Technique...
Did attacks at the spiritual level rely on Chakra or Spiritual Power?
No! They relied on Spiritual Energy—or, more precisely, Spiritual Power.
During Spirit Transformation, Spiritual Power was constantly being depleted.
Every attack had a huge impact on his soul. He had assumed that this was a necessary cost of using the technique.
But based on what White Snake Sage had said,
that energy was actually being converted from Spiritual Power into Natural Energy...
Suddenly, he remembered a principle from physics in his previous life.
Energy could neither be created out of nothing nor destroyed. It could only be transformed!
"You've figured it out?"
White Snake Sage chuckled, as if scoffing at Ao's shallow reasoning.
But inwardly, she was already too shocked to think straight.
Good grief.
She had spent a hundred years grasping this mystery, and this kid had understood it in an instant.
Even with her hint,
this was the first time in her thousand years of life that she had seen such insight.
If only this brat were a snake!
But he was a descendant of that fellow, Six Paths.
At that thought, something shifted in White Snake Sage's eyes.
Turning this brat into a snake wasn't impossible!
Just like Orochimaru...
"The three forces that form the foundation of the world can actually transform into one another, can't they, Great Sage?"
Ao slowly voiced his guess.
Natural Energy, Physical Energy, and Spiritual Energy were constantly transforming into one another.
That was the so-called balance of power.
They were the three sources of supernatural power in the Naruto World.
The body gave rise to the soul, the soul transformed everything into nature, and nature gave life to all bodies...
That was why Impure World Reincarnation could create a new Reanimated Body with infinite Chakra.
And the jutsu relied only on the Pure Land, that powerful Natural Energy charging station!
Chakra, meanwhile, came from the fusion of Physical Energy and Spiritual Power.
That meant Natural Energy could be converted into those two kinds of power.
"Exactly."
"Natural Energy is like the flow of the wind, the rhythm of water, the breath of the earth. It's the ever-present force behind all things."
"If you use the toads' method from Mount Myoboku, controlling Natural Energy with a vast reserve of Chakra, it's far less dangerous. Even if you fail and turn to stone, a special method can restore you."
"But the inheritance of my Ryūchi Cave is far more dangerous."
"Trying to contain Natural Energy with Spiritual Power alone is like a rootless duckweed trying to seize the world's source."
"You need immense Spiritual Power. Only then can you try to fuse with Natural Energy once you sense it. Otherwise, Natural Energy will assimilate your soul, and you'll vanish, becoming one with the Natural Energy of the world."
"You won't even get the chance to go to the Pure Land and reincarnate."
"Do you still intend to train?"
White Snake Sage's eyes snapped wide open. She stared at Uchiha Ao with golden, slit-pupiled eyes, her tone full of warning.
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