Breakthrough
After seeing off the three disciples whose faces still flushed with excitement and whose steps were light with joy, the courtyard suddenly fell silent, with only the rhythmic and powerful sounds of Shadow Clone punching and kicking and Ninjutsu whistling through the air from the Training Ground in the distance.
Taiichi stood under the eaves, watching the three small figures disappear outside the courtyard gate. Jiangtai's signature loud voice still seemed to faintly linger in the air.
A hint of satisfaction played on his lips, but deep within his eyes burned two raging flames, crackling and growing ever stronger.
The kids are all working so hard and have made significant breakthroughs, so how can he, as their teacher, continue to waste time in his recliner?
Of course, there's one exception.
Once the thought arose, he could no longer suppress it. He turned around, his steps steady yet resolute, and headed straight for his room, leaving behind the leisurely recliner in the courtyard and the lingering aroma of tea.
Almost at the same moment, deep in a secluded alley in Konoha, an izakaya with a noren curtain hanging up had just opened for business that morning.
At the bar, a stunningly beautiful woman with cascading blonde hair occupied a secluded spot. Tsunade's slender white fingers held a small celadon wine cup filled with crystal-clear sake. Her cheeks were flushed with a healthy rosy glow as she prepared to take a sip of her "morning drink."
Suddenly, without warning, she shuddered violently, a strange chill running up her spine, almost causing her to spill a few drops of wine.
"Hiss—Achoo!" She rubbed her pert nose, glanced around suspiciously, and saw the izakaya empty in the early morning.
The place was deserted; only the owner was quietly wiping the wine glasses.
She pouted, a hint of naivety and displeasure in her voice, as she muttered under her breath, "Tsk, which bastard is eyeing me again? What bad luck!"
However, this minor annoyance was quickly dispelled by the enticing aroma of the wine in her glass. She shook her head, as if trying to shake off the bothersome feeling, and her gaze returned to the slightly swirling, clear liquid in the glass.
"Who cares!" she whispered boldly, her face regaining that languid yet contented glow of happiness. "Life is so comfortable! A little wine, a little gambling—life is short, so enjoy it while you can!"
Before she finished speaking, she tilted her head back and downed the glass of clear, icy liquor in one gulp. A few unruly drops of liquid spilled from the corners of her full, rosy lips, trickling down her smooth, white neck, shimmering with a delicate, alluring luster in the morning light streaming through the window, before finally disappearing silently into the deep, proud cleavage.
The scene shifts, isolating the outside world from noise. Taiichi sits cross-legged on the tatami mat in the quiet room. Soft light streams in through the wooden lattice window, and dust particles float silently in the beams of light. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and slowly exhales, allowing his mind to settle completely.
As consciousness sank deeper, that familiar panel unfolded clearly in the "field of vision".
Name: Taichi Matsushita Occupation: Jonin Lv10 (1467/2000)
Talent: Diligence Makes Up for Mediocrity, Academic Overachiever, Potent. Age: 14. Physique: 34 (+1 for prolonged training).
Strength: 33 (+1 for prolonged training)
Agility: 33 (+1 with prolonged training)
Spirit: 35 (+1 for prolonged training)
Chakra: 194,000 (253,500)
Attribute Points: 18
Skill Points: 9
My gaze swept over the basic attributes; a year had passed, and the steadily improving physical fitness was the fruit of hard work. Next came the densely packed attribute levels, enough to dazzle any Ninjutsu:
Fire Nature Transformation Lv15 (3343/7000)
Wind Release Nature Transformation level 14 (582/6000)
Water Nature Transformation Lv14 (373/6000)
Earth Style Nature Transformation Lv12 (3373/4000)
Lightning Nature Transformation level 12 (3228/4000)
Yang Release Nature Transformation Lv13 (4262/5000)
Yin Release Nature Transformation Lv13 (2516/5000)
Chakra Shape Transformation Lv13 (3286/5000)
Chakra Control Lv14 (3204/6000)
Ice Attribute Nature Transformation level 12 (2968/4000)
These are the cornerstones upon which he climbed to the pinnacle of Ninjutsu. The gaze continues downwards, landing on the core abilities that have sustained him to this day:
Skills: Advanced Taijutsu Lv8 (8800/9000), Advanced Meditation Lv8 (8999/9000), Advanced Swordsmanship Lv8
(8946/9000)----
Especially the "Advanced Meditation Lv8 (8999/9000)" progress bar, with "8999" on it, is like a silent urging, a huge temptation that is just one step away from completion.
It has been stuck at this level for almost three years! With each level increase, every bit of progress feels like tempering one's spirit on a hard rock, the progress is so slow it's agonizing.
However, Taiichi knew that the more difficult the threshold, the more amazing the transformation that would follow once it was crossed.
At the very bottom of the panel, that familiar comment still carries a hint of irony:
Evaluation: You can now roam freely in the Ninja World like a crab. As long as you don't intentionally court death, your life is safe. Of course, those outside the Ninja World don't count.
"Running rampant without restraint?" Taiichi scoffed inwardly, automatically ignoring the instigating tone.
This assessment was overly optimistic, even carrying a hint of numbing poison. He knew the dangers of the Ninja World better than anyone.
Pain's indifferent Rinnegan, Obito's unpredictable Mangekyou Mangekyō Sharingan, and those old monsters lurking deep in the dust of history, ready to unleash their claws at any moment—weren't they all beings capable of truly threatening his life?
However, there has been progress, and it has been tremendous.
His Chakra Quantity saw the most significant leap this year. His fourteen-year-old body seemed to have broken through some invisible shackle, and his total Chakra reserves surged like a floodgate opening.
A score of 194,000 is already twenty times that of an ordinary Jonin! This number is enough to make 99% of ninjas look up to it.
He remembered that in the original storyline, Naruto Uzumaki's Chakra Quantity during the Fourth Shinobi World War seemed to be around this level.
He himself achieved this feat two years earlier than that chosen one of destiny. This was undoubtedly the greatest affirmation of his years of hard work.
However, just as this thought began to elicit a sense of smugness, another name loomed over his mind like a towering mountain— Senju Hashirama!
That man, known as the "God of Shinobi," possessed an ocean of Chakra, which, according to legend, even surpassed that of the Nine-Tails itself! Compared to that inhuman being, my own achievements suddenly seemed so insignificant, like Fire Fly compared to the bright moon.
The road ahead is long and arduous.
Taiichi's gaze returned to calm and determination. He would never act rashly when it was time to lay low, but he would also go all out when it was time to develop!
My gaze returned to the almost overflowing line of experience points.
[Advanced Meditation Lv8 (8999/9000)]
He slowly closed his eyes, clearing his mind of all distractions. His mind, like the most precise instrument, began to operate along a path honed through countless trials.
Consciousness sank into a vast, dark chaos, devoid of light and form, without beginning or end. Time lost its measure here; only the essence of the spirit flowed and coalesced in silence.
I don't know how much time passed.
"Pop!"
A faint cracking sound, perceptible only to the soul, echoed deep within consciousness, as if a tough yet transparent membrane had been quietly pierced.
In an instant, it was like a dam bursting!
An unimaginably vast and pure spiritual power, like a torrent suppressed for millennia, burst forth uncontrollably from his body!
This force was invisible and intangible, yet it instantly broke through the constraints of the flesh and blood body!
The next instant, Taiichi felt a sudden burst of light before his eyes!
It is not light visible to the naked eye, but a kind of "clarity" brought about by the elevation of pure spiritual perception to its extreme.
He subconsciously "raised his hand," and his vision (or rather, his perception) passed through his semi-transparent "hands" without any obstruction, clearly seeing what was below.
There, a familiar figure sat quietly cross-legged, eyes closed, breathing deeply—it was his own body!
Out-of-body experience!
This experience was not unfamiliar to Taiichi. His previous breakthrough in Advanced Meditation and the qualitative change in his mental power had briefly pushed him into this mysterious state.
This is a precious window into the deeper essence of the world. The first time I clearly "saw" the omnipresent Natural Energy in the air was a gift from my soul leaving my body when I broke through to Lv8 in my last Advanced Meditation.
Opportunities are fleeting!
Taiichi forcefully suppressed the novelty and a barely perceptible sense of etherealness brought about by his soul leaving his body, focusing all his attention like the most precise probe, piercing the surrounding "reality".
In his perception at this moment, the world had been completely stripped of all its superficial embellishments, revealing its most primitive and authentic appearance.
The air was no longer nothingness, but filled with countless tiny energy particles, like the pulse of life. They were no longer the colorful specks of light representing different Chakra attributes that I had previously perceived.
Those vibrant colors faded completely, like oil stains washed away by water.
What unfolded before his eyes was a pure, almost sacred, milky-white light. Like warm, lustrous chalcedony, or the first rays of dawn, it gently permeated every corner of the space, filled with ineffable vitality and inclusiveness.
This is the most primordial Natural Energy, stripped of all external influences!
Taiichi suddenly realized that the Natural Energy he had "seen" in the past was merely a superficial shell formed by the continuous infiltration of the world's origin by Chakra, an external energy, over thousands of years. It was like injecting various pigments into clear spring water.
At this moment, he finally pierced through the surface of this pollution and touched the very source of life that nurtures all things.
He tried to touch and guide a trace of that milky-white primordial Natural Energy with the pure "touch" of his soul at this moment.
There was no violent rejection as expected, no difficult taming process. Everything went smoothly, like water and milk blending together perfectly.
That gentle, primordial energy, like a weary bird returning to its nest, naturally and without hindrance merged into Taiichi's own Chakra.
The two met without causing the slightest ripple, as if they were originally from the same source and had simply completed a natural convergence.
At this moment, the root cause of the difficulty in cultivating Sage Mode, which has plagued countless geniuses in the Ninja World and is considered an insurmountable barrier, is clearly revealed before Taiichi!
What people encounter and attempt to integrate with during their cultivation is never pure Natural Energy! Rather, it is "second-hand" energy that has been contaminated by Chakra for thousands of years!
The first thing a cultivator must do is use their own power to counteract and erase the foreign Chakra attribute imprints contained in these polluted energies in order to come into contact with even a tiny bit of the core origin.
This process is extremely dangerous, like walking on a cliff covered with thorns. If you are not careful, your Chakra will not be enough to counteract the pollution, and you will be immediately backfired by the violent alien energy - petrified, or burned by the energy from the inside out!
"So that's how it is—" Taiichi, in his soul state, felt a surge of understanding. He greedily wanted to see more, to see more clearly, trying to imprint the deepest mysteries of this world into the depths of his soul.
However, the pull from below suddenly intensified. The force was gentle yet irresistible, Taiichi's soul, as if drawn by invisible threads, obediently fell downwards, instantly merging into the body seated below.
"Call!"
In the quiet room, Taiichi suddenly opened his eyes! In his deep black eyes, a pure golden light flashed like a shooting star streaking across the night sky, so fast that it was almost an illusion.
He sat quietly, not getting up immediately, savoring the brief but incredibly powerful experience he had just had.
The "omniscient" perspective that allowed him to see the origin of all things when his soul left his body had disappeared. But a completely new and more transparent perception remained deep within his spirit, like a brand.
With a slight thought, a powerful sense of perception, like an invisible tide, swept out gently yet swiftly, instantly covering the quiet room and spreading to the courtyard.
The Natural Energy permeating the surrounding space was once again clearly reflected in his mind.
The mottled specks of light remained multicolored—the fiery red of fire, the azure blue of water, and the muddy yellow of earth—the tainted marks of Chakra stubbornly clung to the surface of Natural Energy.
However, this time, what Taiichi "saw" was even clearer!
Through that layer of mottled "oil stains," he seemed to possess a strange "X-ray vision." He could clearly perceive that beneath the mixed colors flowed a warm, pure, and vibrant milky-white essence!
He could even faintly "touch" the gentle yet profound pulse of the primordial energy.
This is not the absolute clarity experienced when the soul leaves the body, but rather a deeper level of "understanding" and "connection" rooted in the essence of the spirit.
Although the fleeting supreme perspective has vanished, it has opened a brand new door for Taiichi, leaving behind a key.
An incredibly clear premonition, like the dawn's rays piercing through the fog, illuminated his thoughts:
When this understanding and connection to the essence of Natural Energy accumulates to a sufficiently profound level, and when his spiritual realm can stably touch or even merge into that fundamental source—the normalization of the Sage Mode —it will no longer be an unattainable dream!
It will become as natural as breathing, an inseparable part of his power!
Suppressing his excitement, Taiichi once again immersed his consciousness into the Attribute Panel.
Several new notifications were prominently displayed in the most conspicuous position:
[Your meditation practice has enhanced your understanding!]
[Your skill Advanced Meditation has been upgraded, experience points +1]
[Congratulations, your Advanced Meditation skill has been upgraded to Lv9 (1/10000)]
[Congratulations, your Spirit +1]
"Lv9----" Taiichi stared at the new line of characters, feeling the surge of mental energy within his mind.
A sense of greater clarity and transparency arises, bringing with it a tremendous feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Advanced Meditation and Advanced Taijutsu are the engines and refinements for all his power growth! Each time they advance in level, it means that the efficiency and potential of this "machine" have achieved a qualitative leap!
Now, Advanced Meditation has broken through to the new Lv9 level, bringing not only an increase in spiritual attributes but also a revolutionary improvement in his understanding of the nature of world energy, paving a broad road to a higher realm for him.
So, what about the Advanced Taijutsu that also reach Lv8 peak? Once it also breaks through, what benefits will it bring to one's physique...
What kind of transformative changes do power and speed bring? Can they, like breakthroughs in meditation, lead to a deeper understanding of the essence of the "body"?
This thought was like a spark thrown into dry tinder, instantly igniting all of Taiichi's desire for cultivation!
A surge of intense energy dispelled the last trace of languor.
Rest? What's that?
Only those who have lost their goals, given up on growth, and are content to wallow in the mire of comfort will constantly talk about rest!
For Taiichi at this moment, every minute and every second of training means taking a step closer to becoming a stronger version of himself, to gaining the power to control his own destiny! It means having a greater chance of protecting what is important in the storms to come!
He stood up abruptly, his movements swift and decisive, creating a gentle breeze. Not a single wrinkle was left on the tatami mat.
Pushing open the door to the quiet room, the afternoon sun cast a warm glow into the courtyard. In the distance, on the Training Ground, the Shadow Clone continued their tireless work, sweating profusely.
Without pausing, Taiichi strode across the corridor and headed straight for the training area. His steps were steady and powerful, his eyes sharp as knives, his goal clear: to Advanced Taijutsu!
Life is a journey of continuous exercise!
Konoha Hospital, Dean's Office.
Tsunade, who was about to sneak a drink, shivered again. She rubbed her arms, wondering: Have I really been slacking off lately? Has my physical condition deteriorated so much?
Looking at the wine glass in her hand, she hesitated for a long time, then decided, "No, I'll take another sip."