Response, Spirit Transformation

The Land of Rivers, Sunagakure Camp, Central Command Tent.

As soon as one topic ends, another one immediately follows.

"News just came from the village that a group of about 30 people from the Cloud Village recently infiltrated the country. They disguised themselves as a merchant caravan and gathered a lot of intelligence. They also attacked our ninjas returning to the village, but most of them were killed by an unknown ninja."

"An unknown ninja?" Chiyo asked in disbelief. Could it be that a ninja from another clan would be so kind as to help Sunagakure eliminate an enemy?

"Yes, an unknown ninja. At first, the Sunagakure Ninja who discovered it thought it was one of their own people who had done it by chance, but after returning to the village to check, they found that it wasn't. None of our people were in that area at that time." This is exactly what puzzled the village.

"Could it be... Taichi Matsushita or Minato Namikaze?" Ebizo said hesitantly, then offered his explanation, "These two are strong enough, and they also have the motive to incite conflict between Sunagakure and Cloud Village."

"While it sounds reasonable, judging from the scene, the attacker, Kane, is skilled in Wind Style, and his Wind Style proficiency is among the best even in Sunagakure. Taichi Matsushita and Minato Namikaze haven't yet displayed any particularly strong Wind Style skills."

This is why Taiichi often holds back a trick up his sleeve; it can truly mislead the opponent at crucial moments.

A moment of silence fell over the scene as everyone pondered what was going on.

A long time.

"Regardless of who that unknown ninja is, we can be certain that Cloud Village harbors ill intentions towards us. We must be on guard against this. We can't afford to have our battle with Konoha raging while they steal our spoils from us!"

No longer getting bogged down in the minutiae of the details, Chiyo went straight to the heart of the matter, instantly enlightening the other two present.

Indeed, the focus should be on the Cloud Village. If they were to attack the Sunagakure at this time, the Cloud Village would be in a very passive position.

"Furthermore, although there's no evidence to prove who that unknown ninja is, I have a feeling it's definitely Taichi Matsushita!"

This is a woman's intuition, completely irrational. Although Taiichi can hold back a trick, he is helpless against someone who judges based on intuition!

Rasa and Ebizo exchanged bewildered glances, but they both trusted Chiyo's judgment, simply because it was Chiyo who made it, and such realistic and intuitive judgments were often quite accurate.

At the same time, their opinion of Taichi Matsushita rose once again; this guy really knows too many things.

Time flies, and a week has passed since the last battle. Konoha and Sunagakure have once again returned to their usual routine of offense and defense.

During this week, Taiichi did not go out to perform other missions after developing the antidote; instead, he stayed obediently in the Camp.

Aside from having two Shadow Clone stationed at the Medical Camp and one Shadow Clone conducting research in the Land of Wind, he devoted all his energy to improving himself.

Of course, the main reason was that he wanted to take advantage of this rare free time to learn the Spirit Transformation Technique that the village had previously rewarded him with.

Judging from the new poisons that keep appearing every day, Chiyo, that old woman, hasn't realized that her poisons have been completely countered by Taiichi. She's just playing a game of wits with thin air.

As long as Taiichi is careful, he can use this to distract Chiyo. In this way, he can neutralize a high-ranking member of Sunagakure without lifting a finger. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Taiichi's Spirit Transformation Technique on his panel has now reached Lv0 (97/100). At this rate, he will be considered to have mastered the basics of Spirit Transformation Technique by today. At that time, he will have another trump card, and his strength will surely take another step forward.

The Spirit Transformation Technique, as expected of Ninjutsu involving the soul, was something Taiichi had never encountered before. After passing through the initial period of rapid progress, every subsequent improvement took a considerable amount of Taiichi's time.

In the grove of trees near the Camp, Taiichi's main body sat upright in the center, surrounded by his three Shadow Clone arranged in a triangle around him, each engaged in their own training.

Some had lightning flashing in their hands, some had mud churning in front of them, and some were surrounded by a chilling aura.

They were both training and protecting their physical body. After all, once the Spirit Transformation Technique was successful, the soul would leave the body, and the unprotected body would be a lamb to the slaughter, vulnerable to any bullying.

Therefore, protection is essential, given the disastrous consequences of past mistakes.

Taiyi Hand Seals at a slow pace, Taiichi the Chakra changes brought about by each seal. When the last seal, Mao, was completed, the Chakra flowed through his body along a specific path, and a pulling force acted on him.

No, to be precise, it doesn't affect his body, but rather his soul.

This wasn't the first time he had felt this pulling force. The first time he felt it, he was extremely nervous, causing the spell's effect to dissipate immediately. However, with the increase in practice, Taiichi was now able to deal with it calmly and even cooperate with this force.

This is not because Taiichi is cowardly, but because of the instinctive fear that comes with the soul before it leaves the body. When the soul is in the body, it is protected by the body and can face the harm from the outside world with equanimity.

But once separated from the physical body, the soul can sense the full force of malice emanating from the world.

An ordinary breeze turned into a bone-scraping steel knife, and the warm sunlight became a molten lava inferno.

Therefore, before the soul leaves the body, it will instinctively feel fear and unconsciously resist the continuation of the technique. This is one of the difficulties of the Spirit Transformation Technique. Overcoming the instinct from the soul is not as simple as it sounds.

Following that pulling force, Taiichi imagined himself leaping forward. Instantly, a layer of pale blue Chakra light appeared on Taiichi's body, and a semi-transparent figure emerged, as if trying to break free from some kind of restraint.

Just as the figure was halfway out of the body, seemingly having exhausted its momentum, a sudden pulling force caused the pale blue figure to retreat back into the body at an even faster speed.

"Ugh, another failure, so close!" Taiichi punched the ground beside him, leaving a clear fist mark, showing how hard he had put in.

However, this attempt was not without its rewards.

[Spirit Transformation Technique Lv0 (99/100)]

He's just one step away from success; he'll definitely succeed next time he tries.

After resting for half an hour to allow his shaken soul to calm down, Taiichi prepared to try again, which was another challenge of the Spirit Transformation Technique.

Every failed attempt in learning causes a shock to the soul. At best, it causes dizziness and blurred vision; at worst, it damages the soul. The recovery time alone is unknown, so how can one continue practicing?

Fortunately, Taiichi's mental attribute has reached 29 points, which is comparable to those Kage Level ninjas. Naturally, his soul is also quite powerful, which gives him a significant advantage in practicing the Spirit Transformation Technique.

Once again, the Hand Seals, following the same steps. When the soul once again left half of the body, the level of the Spirit Transformation Technique on the panel silently changed from Lv0 to Lv1.

As if given a boost, Taiichi's soul burst forth from his body, enveloped in pale blue Chakra, giving his spirit a faint blue hue.

At this moment, everything was different in the eyes of the spirit Taiichi. The vision of a normal person still existed, but the colors were as if covered with a layer of gray, like a black and white television with a certain degree of color.

The difference lies in this perspective: from this angle, he can truly see the soul, or rather, the soul emanating from it.

Just like now, even though there's no one here, Taiichi can see the various Soul Flame, large and small, all of which are small creatures hidden in the surrounding leaves and grass.

Those clusters, some as small as sesame seeds and others as large as peanuts, were pale white flames, so fragile that they seemed as if a gust of wind would extinguish them.

Taiichi crouched down and carefully examined the Soul Flame of a beetle on the ground. Although it was weak, it was as stable as a rock under the protection of its physical body, completely unaffected by the outside world.

Looking at myself again, although I was protected by Chakra, that sense of instability made me feel unstable. Moreover, the external stimuli, like sunlight and wind, were not very noticeable, but the discomfort was very real.

The commotion quickly attracted the attention of the Shadow Clone scattered around. Three Shadow Clone Body Flicker arrived, each looking at the semi-transparent light blue figure in the air with great interest.

One of the Shadow Clone even boldly pierced through Taiichi's spirit body with its hand, leaving Taiichi speechless. It was indeed his Shadow Clone; its spirit of research and exploration was truly remarkable.

"Can you see me?"

Taiichi asked a stupid question, and all he got in return were the look of disbelief from his Shadow Clone.

He chuckled to himself and tried to control his spirit. Soon, he grasped the knack, and his figure gradually disappeared from their sight.

The three Shadow Clone exchanged bewildered glances, searching for Taiichi's whereabouts. Now, without them saying a word, Taiichi knew they truly couldn't see him anymore.

"Take care of yourself, I'll be right back!"

Controlling his Chakra to vibrate the air, Taiichi left a message, and his spirit traveled through the trees at an extremely fast speed. At such a high speed, he could reach the target in an instant, just like the Flying Thunder God, even over short distances.

In the blink of an eye, Taiichi arrived above the Konoha camp.

In his eyes, the entire Camp was filled with clusters of burning Soul Flame. These Soul Flame varied in size and color, which caught Taiichi's attention.

He floated down and began to observe carefully, discovering that those with large flames were also quite powerful. The color of the flames indicated the type of Ninjutsu they were skilled in.

Take this Chunin in front of him, for example. Taiichi was quite familiar with him, after all, Taiichi had saved his life. He mainly cultivated Fire Style and secondarily Wind Style, and the color of his Soul Flame was mostly fiery red and a little blue.

Through Taiichi observation and comparison, Taiyi gradually discovered that not only could he discern clues about the Ninjutsu he was skilled in through the Soul Flame, but he could also roughly discern the emotions of the person involved.

When happy, the flame glows with a soft orange light. Anger is scarlet, and sadness is grayish-blue. In general, positive emotions tend to be warm colors, while negative emotions tend to be cool colors.

This made Taiichi how incredibly powerful the Spirit Transformation Technique was. He wondered if everyone who knew the Spirit Transformation Technique possessed such an ability, or if he was uniquely special.

This ability to see people so clearly is truly abnormal. It seems I need to be careful. First, I must not reveal this matter. Second, I need to see if there is any way to disguise my soul state.

Otherwise, if someone with the same ability sees it next time, it will be seen through immediately.

Wandering through the Camp, Taiichi collected the data he needed, while also pondering how to further develop and utilize the Spirit Transformation Technique.

As he drifted unknowingly to the Central Army Tent, the largest Soul Flame he had ever seen appeared in Taiichi. Its size was more than twice that of an ordinary Jonin, and it was composed of red, blue, cyan, yellow, and some faint green and black.

Upon Taiichi inspection, Tai realized that the one with such strength must be Jiraiya. However, Jiraiya knew quite a few elemental Ninjutsu, possessing all elements except for lightning.

Just as Taiichi was about to observe further, Jiraiya seemed to sense something as well. His previously calm Soul Flame contracted violently, as if preparing to unleash a powerful attack. At the same time, a loud shout rang out, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Taiichi was taken aback. It turned out that even in a soul state, one could be detected by ninjas with strong senses.

Without hesitation, his Chakra vibrated through the air. "Jiraiya- sensei, it's me!" At the same time, his figure slowly materialized.

"Taiichi!" Jiraiya exclaimed in surprise, but immediately understood when he saw Taiichi materialize. "You've learned the Spirit Transformation Technique!"

"Yes, I was just testing my Ninjutsu and disturbed you, teacher!" Taiichi quickly apologized, since he was caught spying on someone and was in the wrong from the start.

Jiraiya and kept circling around Taiichi's spirit body, examining it closely while making "tsk tsk tsk" sounds.

"Your spirit looks quite solid. Dan Katō's spirit looked so ethereal and unreliable."

Taiichi raised his hand and looked at himself, then understood. Dan Katō was at most Elite Jonin back then. Even if his mental strength was stronger than that of an ordinary Elite Jonin, it wouldn't exceed 25 points for Kage Level. How could it possibly be comparable to his 29 points of mental strength?

Of course, it's enough for you to understand this yourself; there's no need to explain everything. Jiraiya obviously knew this as well, so he didn't pry.

"I heard that after learning this technique, one's mental strength will be greatly enhanced. You should make the most of this opportunity," Jiraiya reminded him. As expected of a veteran ninja, he knows a lot; this information wasn't even mentioned in the Ninjutsu scrolls.

Afterwards, Taiichi chatted with Jiraiya for a while about his feelings about Ninjutsu, until he felt a strange calling, and he knew that his time had come.

He greeted Jiraiya and Jiraiya vanished from his spot in a flash. This wasn't the Flying Thunder God; it was simply because he was too fast.

When the soul returns to the body, an unprecedented sense of security fills the entire heart; that satisfaction is like a baby returning to its mother's embrace.

Immediately, a continuous stream of power emerged from his spirit; this was probably what Jiraiya meant by the enhancement of his spiritual power.

Taiichi quickly entered a meditative state, accepting and consolidating this spiritual power.

An hour later, Taiichi emerged from meditation, checked his eye panel, and a smile immediately bloomed on his face.

[Learning the Spirit Transformation Technique stimulates the soul, increasing spirit by 1]

[Learn the Spirit Transformation Technique, meditate during enlightenment, and Advanced Meditation experience by 1000]

"Haha, this is truly double happiness! I never imagined that a Spirit Transformation Technique would bring me so many benefits."

Standing up and looking at the world with my naked eyes again, I suddenly felt a pang of longing for the vision I had in my soul state. The ability to see the true nature of everything from that perspective was truly captivating.

It seems I could research how to use Soul Vision in a normal state. It's definitely an excellent Sensory Ninjutsu that can come in handy in many situations.