Teaching Sage Mode

Taiichi's family Training Ground.

Taiichi stood in front, his hands behind his back, slowly pacing back and forth.

Opposite him, the three little ones stood obediently side by side, looking like they were listening attentively to his teachings.

"Do you know why my Ninjutsu is so powerful, teacher?" Taiichi patiently guided them, without immediately launching into a lecture on theory.

"The teacher Chakra Quantity."

"The teacher is skilled in Ninjutsu."

"The Nature Transformation."

The three of them took turns speaking, each eager to share their opinions, afraid that if they were late, everyone else would have already said everything.

"All correct, but not comprehensive." Taiichi looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, striking a profound and unfathomable pose.

"Teacher, are there any other methods? Please teach us!"

"Yes, yes, if we learn this method, we can not only control the entire Ninja Academy, but also expand our influence to the Genin level."

Jiangtai was lost in her own fantasies, completely oblivious to Taiichi.

Is this apprentice no longer acceptable? It seems he's heading in the direction of rebellion.

Jiangtai, who was in the middle of the conversation, felt a sharp nudge to his waist. Just as he was about to turn around and yell at his teacher, he saw the teacher's gloomy face and immediately realized what he had just said.

"Ah~ haha, teacher, I was just kidding, please don't mind."

Taiichi glared fiercely at the audacious brat, giving him a look that said he'd deal with him later, before continuing his explanation.

"Besides what you've mentioned, there's another way to enhance the power of Ninjutsu, or even to comprehensively strengthen a ninja's abilities: Senjutsu."

Three pairs of bright black eyes were fixed on Taiichi, eager for him to say more.

Taiichi did not disappoint them. He flipped his palm, and an orange Fireball floated in his palm, radiating intense heat.

"This is Great Fireball unleashed by an ordinary Jonin; the flames probably look like this."

Taiichi placed his palm a meter away from them, letting them feel the temperature of the flames.

"Now pay attention, this is the strongest form of my Great Fireball in its normal state."

As Taiichi finished speaking, the Fireball in his palm visibly brightened, and its color changed from orange to bright gold, blue-white, and bright white. The temperature was so high that the three little ones kept retreating until they stopped after retreating 5 meters.

The three children looked at each other in disbelief. They all knew their teacher was powerful, but only now could they directly feel the difference between their teacher and an ordinary ninja.

Taiichi smiled faintly, a smile that seemed ethereal in the scorching, distorted air.

"Next is my strongest form, which is the Sage Mode I'm going to teach you."

The three children witnessed firsthand how golden light gradually appeared in their teacher's eyes, and how the temperature of the Fireball in his hand rose further, forcing them to continue retreating just to barely maintain their balance.

Even Itachi, who had a family tradition of teaching, was slightly agape, looking utterly dumbfounded.

Once Taiichi dispersed the Fireball in his hand and exited his immortal state, the three little ones immediately surrounded him, their chattering voices rising and falling.

"Teacher, teacher, please teach us!"

"Teacher, this technique is amazing! I want to learn it too!"

Taiichi was quite pleased to see that he had completely aroused their interest. Senjutsu are not like other Ninjutsu; learning and training them is incredibly tedious and boring. Without enough interest, it would be painful to learn them just by willpower.

"Alright, alright, everyone stand still. Next, I'll tell you what Sage Mode is."

Upon hearing this, the three little ones immediately straightened their backs and stood obediently back in their places, their eyes filled with excitement.

Taiichi looked at it, his eyes narrowed slightly, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"In our world, there exists an energy that is widely present in everything, including the air, rivers, and the earth. This is the key to activating Sage Mode — Natural Energy."

"Natural Energy? But I don't feel anything at all!" Jiangtai, the impulsive little guy, looked completely bewildered. He reached out and made a couple of grasping motions in the air, as if trying to grab the Natural Energy in his hands.

Yami, who was standing next to him, slapped him on the back, interrupting his foolish behavior.

"Idiot, don't talk nonsense, concentrate on the lesson."

"Ah~ Oh, sorry." Jiangtai noticed that Taiichi- sensei's gaze was on him, so he immediately withdrew his paw and stood up straight.

"Jiangtai, you're right about that. Natural Energy exists in the world, but it's ethereal and intangible; most people can't even perceive its existence."

Taiichi's gaze swept over the three children one by one, and his tone became serious.

"This is the first hurdle in cultivating Sage Mode —perceiving Natural Energy, and it's also the first lesson I'm going to teach you today."

Unlike the Three Great Sage Regions, they have a history of over a thousand years and naturally have their own methods for perceiving Natural Energy.

The Toad Oil of Mount Myoboku, the Spring of Life in Shikkotsu Forest, and the White Snake's Kiss in Ryūchi Cave can all help contractors more easily sense Natural Energy; the difference lies simply in whether it is safe or dangerous.

Taiichi also developed his own unique method to help cultivators who weren't particularly gifted to perceive Natural Energy more easily.

The three little ones' eyes lit up, looking eager to try, but they held back and none of them spoke.

"For a normal person to perceive Natural Energy, the most important thing is to have sufficient sensory acuity; with high enough acuity, one can easily distinguish the Natural Energy around us."

Of course, most people don't have this kind of sensitivity, which requires the cultivator to have sufficiently strong mental power. In other words, if sensitivity is insufficient, then quantity can compensate.

The three kids weren't stupid; they immediately realized that they were definitely the kind of people who lacked both keen perception and mental strength.

There's nothing we can do; they're all still children. Even a Sharingan bloodline ninja like Uchiha Itachi wouldn't have this level of mental strength at this age.

"Oh, teacher, what should we do?" Jiangtai was the first to lose his composure, looking at Taiichi with his eyes wide open, looking pitiful.

"Silly girl, since the teacher said so, there must be a way." Yami said confidently from the side, not worried about this difficulty at all.

Itachi nodded silently, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Haha, Xiao Jiangtai, you're quite self-aware." Taiichi laughed and pointed at Jiangtai lightly. "Yami is right. I have indeed come up with a way to let you feel the Natural Energy."

After saying that, Taiichi entered Sage Mode again, his hands moving rapidly, forming hand seals one after another.

The surrounding air began to flow slowly, moving from all directions toward Taiichi.

If someone who can perceive Natural Energy were here, they would surely feel the surrounding Natural Energy surging towards Taiichi at an alarming rate.

The speed at which this energy flowed in far exceeded the normal requirements for synthesizing Senjutsu Chakra; the gentle breeze from the outside was merely an external manifestation of the abnormal flow of Natural Energy.

Soon, a milky white sphere, visible to the naked eye, gradually materialized in Taiichi's hand after he finished forming the hand seals.

The three little ones in the arena stared intently at this scene. This was highly compressed energy; judging from Taiichi- sensei's actions just now, this was Natural Energy that had been compressed and condensed.

The three of them opened their mouths slightly, but did not utter a sound, for fear of disturbing Taiichi, who was earnestly performing the spell.

When the milky white ball grew to the size of a longan, Taiichi's hand seal changed into Sealing Jutsu: the Heaven Sealing Method.

Countless black runes appeared out of thin air, rapidly converging towards the milky-white sphere, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a solid, pitch-black sphere.

Taiichi as he grabbed the now-solidified ball, tossing it up and down in his hand while threatening the three little ones.

"How about it? Who wants to try it first? I'll seal this materialized Natural Energy Orb inside his stomach later, so he can have a close-range contact with Natural Energy."

Let me preface this by saying that this is my first time doing this too. Natural Energy is still quite dangerous; if you're not careful, it could explode inside your stomach.

The three children looked at each other in bewilderment, Yami even clutched her stomach and shook her head repeatedly.

Seeing this, Itachi was about to step forward to be the first to try when he heard Jiangtai shout loudly from the side, "Of course I'll be the first to do this! I'm the boss!"

Without waiting for Itachi and Yami's reaction, she strode over to Taiichi's side and said in a trembling voice, "Taiichi ----"

Teacher, please be gentle, I'm quite afraid of pain.

Taiichi looked at the guy whose hands were trembling. He was terrified, but he was still holding on. He felt very gratified.

Taiichi stopped trying to scare him. He Hand Seals again, lifted Jiangtai's shirt at the abdomen with one hand, and pressed the small black ball directly onto it with the other.

Sealing Jutsu: Eight Trigrams Sealing.

A wisp of white smoke flashed by, and a complex Sealing Talisman on Jiangtai's abdomen slowly disappeared.

"Ah!"

A high-pitched scream rang out the instant Taiichi pressed down, and the long trailing sound lingered until Taiichi finished casting the spell.

After waiting for several seconds, Jiangtai realized something was wrong, quickly shut her mouth, and frantically groped her abdomen with both hands.

"Huh? It's nothing! Nothing's wrong!"

Taiichi stood there with his arms crossed, watching Jiangtai act silly.

Yami and Itachi then gathered around, touching and probing his stomach, trying to find out where the little ball had gone.

This advanced Sealing Jutsu was the first time Itachi had ever seen it applied.

Seeing that the three little ones had calmed down, Taiichi spoke up to maintain order, "Alright, that was the help I offered you."

We will use Sealing Jutsu to seal a compressed Natural Energy Orb into your bodies, allowing it to release high-density Natural Energy steadily within them. This will help you to more easily perceive Natural Energy.

The three little ones excitedly touched their bellies, while Jiangtai closed his eyes and began to sense, wanting to see what this Natural Energy was all about.

Unfortunately, his face went from calm at the beginning to gradually becoming conflicted, and finally contorted into a grimace, but he still gained nothing.

Helpless, he could only open his eyes and look at Taiichi with an innocent expression.

"Teacher, this doesn't seem to be working. I still can't feel anything."

Taiichi was amused by his appearance, stepped forward and ruffled his messy hair, laughing and scolding, "It's not that simple. I've only reduced the difficulty of the 100-point task by 20 points at most. You still need to complete the last 80 points yourselves."

Upon hearing Taiichi's explanation, Jiangtai's face immediately fell. He had thought he could easily learn such a powerful technique, but it turned out he still had to work hard.

Standing next to him, Itachi looked completely at ease. He looked at Taiichi and said confidently, "Master, there must be some trick to sensing Natural Energy!"

"Itachi is right." Taiichi nodded and patted Jiangtai's head to encourage him. "The key to sensing Natural Energy for the first time is stillness. Not only must your body be still, but your mind must also be still. Only with absolute tranquility can you perceive the existence of Natural Energy in the darkness."

After saying that, Taiichi looked at Jiangtai and tapped his head, "Like you just did, unless you have extraordinary talent, it's impossible for you to sense Natural Energy."

Jiangtai scratched his head and chuckled sheepishly.

Taiichi explained the precautions to the three of them, and then sealed a compressed ball of Natural Energy for Itachi and Yami as well.

Then, three Soundproof Barrier were set up. "Alright, the preliminary work is complete. Now, each of you can try to feel the Natural Energy in any posture that feels most comfortable for you, whether standing, lying down, or sitting."

The three little ones obediently entered the Barrier.

The slight sounds of wind, rustling leaves, and faint noises from outside the courtyard that had been present in the environment vanished instantly, leaving only silence.

Jiangtai was the most unreliable. He found a relatively clean spot, lay down, and placed his hands on his abdomen as if he were sleeping.

Itachi and Yami, on the other hand, were much more normal, sitting cross-legged in a standard meditation posture.

Taiichi watched from outside, smiled but didn't disturb them. He also sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and opened his senses.

In his perception, rich Natural Energy was constantly emanating from the abdomens of the three little ones, filling their entire bodies and artificially creating an environment rich in Natural Energy.

The principle is similar to that of the Three Great Sage Regions, and even closer to the White Snake's Kiss of Ryūchi Cave. However, Taiichi's method is much safer than Ryūchi Cave's. Unlike Ryūchi Cave, it doesn't require forcibly injecting a large amount of Natural Energy into the ninja's body. If they can withstand it, they're fine; if they can't, they become the giant serpent's meal.

Time passed by, minute by minute. At first, the three little ones were able to quietly experience the Natural Energy.

But gradually, the difference becomes apparent; maintaining a state of mental emptiness for extended periods is not so easy.

Human thoughts are like a wild horse that has broken free; you can't just pull them back whenever you want.

Rather, the more you try to calm your mind, the more your mind wanders.

In addition, the prolonged periods of fruitless effort gradually eroded their patience, and all three of them slowly lost the ability to maintain the tranquil state they had managed to achieve.

This is why Taiichi wanted to pique their interest from the very beginning. This kind of tedious training is different from ordinary exercise. Regardless of success or failure, there is feedback. Without a firm belief, not many people can persevere.

First was Jiangtai. He changed positions seven or eight times in an hour, from lying on his back to lying on his side. Eventually, Taiichi realized that the guy had actually fallen asleep.

Looking at Yami again, the little one's face was all scrunched up, clearly trying her best to control her thoughts, but the more she tried to control them, the further her thoughts wandered.

Itachi, on the other hand, was more mature and able to control himself better. He sat there motionless the whole time, with little change in his expression.

Unfortunately, he was only outwardly calm; in reality, he hadn't achieved inner peace.

Two hours later, Taiichi looked at the Sun Barrier in the sky, which was about to set. He made a "Zi" seal, and the three Soundproof Barrier quietly disappeared.

Instantly, the noise from the outside world rushed into the ears of the three of them. Even though the sound was faint, in stark contrast to the absolute silence just now, Itachi and Yami reacted immediately.

The two opened their eyes blankly, their expressions filled with indescribable disappointment.

However, this sense of bewilderment and disappointment was quickly interrupted by a soft murmur of eating.

Looking in the direction of the sound, Jiangtai was turning over in his sleep because of the sudden noise; clearly, the slight sound had not woken him up.