Changing Cultivation Paths

After testing Earth Release ninjutsu, Jiraiya began trying the Rasengan. A light-blue sphere over a meter in diameter slowly took shape in his hand.

Then he pressed the Rasengan into the ground, controlling it so it neither dissipated nor exploded. As Jiraiya applied more force, the Rasengan's chaotic, churning chakra devoured the soil in front of it. Before long, a large crater had formed.

Jiraiya then dispelled the Rasengan in his hand. He didn't use any other jutsu, since he already had a clear understanding of how much his body had changed.

Jiraiya was a well-rounded ninja with remarkable abilities in every area. Of the seven chakra natures, he lacked only Lightning Release; he possessed the other six—Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Yin, and Yang. He was proficient in all kinds of ninjutsu and had even studied the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu.

Besides that, he had developed many of his own ninjutsu and secret techniques, such as the Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet and the Sage Art: Goemon, which he used in Sage Mode, among many others.

Seeing Jiraiya standing there in thought, Naruto walked over and asked, "How do you feel, Pervy Sage?"

At Naruto's question, Jiraiya folded his left arm across his chest and stroked his chin with his right hand. "I feel stronger. Yes, stronger than before. Hahaha!"

A few black lines appeared over Naruto's head. "Pervy Sage, take this seriously."

Seeing Naruto staring at him with a helpless expression, Jiraiya laughed even harder. After he finished, he grew a little more serious and said, "My chakra flows more smoothly, and my body's been strengthened to a certain extent. Also, the same amount of chakra now lets me perform jutsu with much greater power than before."

Naruto nodded. It was no surprise that healing Jiraiya's hidden injuries had done all this. And after having his body cleansed and strengthened, Jiraiya's physical abilities had risen to a whole new level. Of course he'd become stronger.

Naruto then had Jiraiya sit down and pressed a finger to his forehead again. This time, two cultivation manuals appeared in Jiraiya's mind: one was called the Great Sun Skyfire Art, and the other, the Encyclopedia of Artifact Refining.

Jiraiya had many chakra natures, but there was no doubt that Fire was his strongest. That was why Naruto had given him a cultivation technique suited to Fire.

Cultivating a Fire-aligned technique didn't mean he could no longer use his other natures. It simply strengthened his Fire techniques more.

The spiritual energy in the Shinobi World didn't have different affinities; it was all neutral. The affinities in cultivation techniques corresponded to the cultivator's own elemental powers. Naruto's Supreme Demon Sutra, for example, was neutral—or, one could say, suited to all affinities—because it strengthened all of his elemental powers fairly evenly.

By cultivating the Great Sun Skyfire Art, Jiraiya could condense a flame within his vortex. As he advanced in the technique, the flame would gradually evolve until it became a heavenly fire. Of course, that would take a very long time.

As for the Encyclopedia of Artifact Refining, it contained methods for cultivating as an artifact refiner, along with blueprints for many weapons. Once Jiraiya had mastered the Great Sun Skyfire Art, he could start learning artifact refining right away.

This was the good stuff Naruto had said he was preparing for Jiraiya. He honestly couldn't think of anyone else to give the Encyclopedia of Artifact Refining to.

Jiraiya didn't open his eyes after receiving the manuals. Instead, he eagerly began cultivating. Seeing this, Naruto walked off and sat down some distance away.

It had been more than thirty years since Jiraiya had first encountered spiritual energy, so he was naturally very familiar with it. Before long, he sensed the spiritual energy, drew it toward himself, and guided it into his body.

Since this was his first time cultivating, he hadn't formed a vortex yet, so the first wisp of spiritual energy didn't enter his dantian directly. Once inside his body, it slowly made its way toward his dantian.

As the wisp flowed into his dantian, it gradually formed a small vortex. The moment it appeared, spiritual energy around him began rushing toward Jiraiya's lower abdomen, faster and faster, in greater and greater amounts.

As more spiritual energy poured in, the small vortex in Jiraiya's dantian kept growing and slowly began to spin. At last, it formed a scarlet spiritual-energy vortex. Once it had taken shape, Jiraiya began circulating the spiritual energy that had been converted to the Fire affinity through his body.

Before cultivating the Great Sun Skyfire Art, he had first used the Myriad Spirit Longevity Art. That had cleansed and strengthened his body, making his meridians tougher and wider. What's more, a small amount of the Wood Spirit Qi that had been drained of its vitality still remained inside him.

When the converted Fire-aligned spiritual energy met the Wood Spirit Qi, it was like pouring oil onto a fire. It consumed the Wood Spirit Qi and grew even more intense, then flowed more quickly to other parts of his meridians. As it devoured the Wood Spirit Qi, the Fire-aligned energy circulated faster and faster.

Jiraiya's physical abilities had already been strengthened once, so even as spiritual energy surged wildly through his body, he felt no pain at all.

Seeing that Jiraiya was fully immersed in cultivation, Naruto left a Flying Thunder God Mark on a nearby tree, stood up, and headed into the woods. He knew Jiraiya's cultivation session would take a while.

Not only could Jiraiya endure much more after having his meridians cleansed and strengthened, but his hidden injuries had just been healed, so he needed to absorb a great deal of spiritual energy to strengthen his body again.

Besides, Jiraiya had been using spiritual energy for decades. There was a chance he could use this cultivation session to transform his body into a spiritual body, too.

So Naruto decided to find something to eat. There weren't many people in this forest, and he kept his senses active. If anything disturbed Jiraiya, Naruto could use Flying Thunder God to get back at once.

By then, the spiritual energy in Jiraiya's body had completed one cycle along the route laid out by the technique. Once the first cycle was complete, Jiraiya absorbed spiritual energy even faster.

More spiritual energy poured into the vortex, where it was converted to Fire-aligned energy before entering his meridians and joining the cycle.

As more and more spiritual energy joined the cycle, it gradually began strengthening his body. Jiraiya's flesh and blood also began devouring the energy at a furious pace.

Since he'd already undergone one cleansing and strengthening, Jiraiya's body didn't waste any extra spiritual energy clearing out harmful substances.

While strengthening his body, Jiraiya began trying to condense a flame seed at the center of his vortex. He left some of the converted spiritual energy in the vortex and slowly stripped away its energy particles. Gradually, more and more particles gathered until they formed a red point of light. Seeing this, Jiraiya absorbed spiritual energy even more diligently, sending the extracted particles into the point of light.

The point of light gradually grew larger. Once it reached the size of a ping-pong ball, it stopped growing, and its color began deepening toward crimson. Slowly, the glowing sphere gave off a scorching aura.

As time passed, the sphere grew hotter and hotter. After Jiraiya extracted more energy particles and added them to it, the sphere ignited and burned away, replaced by a deep-red flame.

As the flame formed inside Jiraiya's vortex, the air around his body began to waver with heat. Naruto was roasting a rabbit some distance away. Seeing this, he said, "As expected of the Pervy Sage. He's condensed a flame so quickly. At this rate, he's all but certain to become a spiritual body."

Jiraiya remained immersed in cultivation. After condensing the flame, he realized the spiritual energy he absorbed became even purer after being refined by its heat.

After finishing his roast rabbit, Naruto saw that Jiraiya was still absorbing spiritual energy. He went farther away and began cultivating, too.

Nobody would come to this forest at night, and as for wild animals, Jiraiya was radiating such intense, explosive heat that no beast would dare come near him.

The next day, after cultivating through the night, Jiraiya opened his eyes. The trees around him had all withered, and the ground surrounding him was charred black. Then he felt a chill and looked down, only to realize that his clothes had vanished.

He let out a somewhat helpless sigh, summoned Gamatatsu again, and took a fresh set of clothes to put on.

In fact, Jiraiya had completed his transformation into a spiritual body in the latter half of the previous night. The scene around him and his missing clothes were both the result of his being too immersed in cultivation to notice what was happening.

Once Jiraiya had dressed, Naruto finished cultivating as well. Sensing that Jiraiya had woken up, he hurried over.

Seeing the scene around Jiraiya and his changed clothes, Naruto knew Jiraiya had successfully cultivated a spiritual body. "Pervy Sage, it feels pretty good, doesn't it?"

Jiraiya nodded excitedly. "It feels amazing. I can't wait to test it out."

Naruto grinned and nodded. He explained how to use Spirit Energy Body Infusion to Jiraiya, then quickly backed away.

Spirit Energy Body Infusion wasn't a special combat technique, just a trick for using spiritual energy. By activating the energy in his vortex, Jiraiya could rapidly circulate it throughout his body and raise his physical strength.

Unlike Naruto's purple vortex, Jiraiya's was deep red, like a ball of blazing fire.

As Jiraiya used Spirit Energy Body Infusion, the crimson spiritual energy in his vortex rapidly flowed throughout his body and emerged from his skin.

Unlike Naruto, Jiraiya's face changed as he used Spirit Energy Body Infusion. A flame-like mark appeared at the tip of the scar under his right eye.

Powerful energy surged from Jiraiya's entire body. He raised his right foot and stomped down. The ground gave way like tofu, and his foot sank all the way in. Then, having used too much force, he toppled to the right.

Under Naruto's stunned gaze, Jiraiya gave an awkward cough and pulled himself out of the ground.