Perfect Sage Mode!

Primeval forest.

Outside the cave.

"Whew..."

Chiba exhaled a long stream of white mist.

The night wind had grown colder.

Yet the blood in his body burned like magma.

There were only a little over two years left until the night of the Uchiha massacre in Konoha Year 56.

That would be the turning point when the entire Naruto world's plot spiraled out of control.

Once the Uchiha were wiped out.

That old dog Danzo's power would reach its peak.

And that hypocritical old fox Sarutobi Hiruzen would firmly establish his image as a kindly grandfather.

Konoha's upper ranks would continue clinging to the village and sucking its blood dry.

"Why should they?"

Chiba sneered.

His fists slowly clenched, his knuckles cracking sharply.

"Konoha was an empire built by the Senju."

"Yet now, it has been stolen by a pack of thieves."

"They enjoy the peace the First Hokage traded his life for."

"Then they turn around and suppress the Senju, drive White Fang to death, and wipe out the Uchiha."

"A rotten place like this..."

"Should have been thoroughly reshuffled long ago!"

Chiba's ambition grew wildly amid the wind and snow.

He did not want some empty title like Hokage.

He wanted absolute control!

He wanted to trample those lofty elders into the mud!

He wanted that rat Danzo, hiding in the gutter, to witness what true Wood Style judgment looked like!

But now, he was still one final step short.

Ordinary Wood Style was certainly powerful.

But when facing foes beyond conventional limits, such as Susanoo or the future Akatsuki.

Wood Style in its normal state still carried the risk of failure.

He still needed an absolutely invincible trump card.

A card powerful enough to ensure he remained undefeated!

Chiba raised his head.

His deep gaze pierced through the layers of wind and snow, looking toward the distant horizon.

The night was brewing in the deepest darkness.

It was the cruelest hour before dawn.

"Clang!"

Several hours later.

A new day arrived.

Konoha Year 54, New Year's Day!

At that very instant.

A crisp mechanical voice exploded in Chiba's mind like heavenly music.

[Ding!]

[The new year has arrived.]

[It has been detected that the host possesses an annual check-in opportunity!]

[Check in immediately?]

Chiba abruptly rose to his feet.

The gale whipped his clothes, making them flap loudly.

His heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

He had waited an entire year for this day!

"Check in immediately!"

Chiba roared inwardly.

Hopefully, this check-in would grant him a true trump card!

[Ding!]

[Check-in successful!]

[Congratulations, host. You have received the reward: Perfect Sage Mode!]

Boom!

The instant the notification in his mind faded.

The space around Chiba seemed to have been ruthlessly frozen in time.

The snowflakes whirling through the sky came to a complete stop in midair.

An aura beyond description spread outward from Chiba.

This was Natural Energy!

The most primordial, most violent power that existed between heaven and earth and within all things!

In the Ninja World.

Mastering this power was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Whether it was the toads of Mount Myoboku, the white snakes of Ryuchi Cave, or the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest.

Their Sage Modes all came with enormous risks.

One small mistake.

And a ninja would suffer backlash from Natural Energy, turning into a stone frog or a mindless monster.

Even Sarutobi Hiruzen, hailed as the Professor of Ninjutsu, never touched the threshold of Sage Mode throughout his life.

Although Jiraiya had mastered Sage Mode.

He required assistance from the toads of Mount Myoboku, and he would also develop ugly frog-like features.

But Chiba was different!

Perfect Sage Body + Perfect Sage Mode.

This was practically a heaven-defying cheat tailored specifically for Chiba by the system!

He did not need to sense Natural Energy.

Nor did he need any assisting tools.

He only needed--

A single thought!

"Activate!"

Chiba abruptly opened his eyes.

Buzz!

The frozen wind and snow around him instantly swept backward in a frenzy!

The Natural Energy within ten kilometers seemed to have received an emperor's summons, surging madly toward Chiba!

There was not the slightest rejection!

Nor was there any abnormal transformation!

All the Natural Energy instantly fused with the chakra inside Chiba's body.

This was the advanced energy that surpassed chakra--Senjutsu Chakra!

At this moment.

The world before Chiba's eyes completely changed.

Darkness was no longer an obstacle.

He could clearly see a beetle hibernating inside a dead tree fifty meters away.

He could hear the faint heartbeat of a field mouse beneath the snow a hundred meters away.

He could even sense the power of the earth veins slowly flowing beneath his feet!

This was the sensory domain of Sage Mode!

Chiba raised a hand.

He looked at his palm. There were no animal-like traits; it was still a human hand.

But his eyes had changed.

Two streaks of dark-red eyeshadow appeared around his originally black eye sockets.

And right in the center of his forehead, a diamond-shaped dark-red mark had split open, radiating an aura of majesty and sanctity!

"This is..."

"Perfect Sage Mode?"

Chiba murmured.

It was too powerful.

Senjutsu Chakra flowed through his meridians.

Whether it was strength, speed, perception, or the destructive power of ninjutsu.

All of it had received a terrifying boost of tenfold, perhaps even dozens of times!

"I need to test it."

A moment later.

Chiba suppressed the wild joy in his heart.

Whoosh!

He formed no hand seals.

He did not even use chakra.

Chiba merely tapped lightly against the boulder.

The next moment.

He turned directly into an afterimage and vanished into the boundless night.

Fast!

Far too fast!

Chiba darted through the dense forest.

The trees on both sides frantically swept backward like phantoms.

He did not need to use his eyes to watch the road.

The perception of Sage Mode was like a super radar with no blind spots in any direction.

Even if there were an extremely thin strand of spider silk ahead, he could react within one thousandth of a second and easily avoid it.

In less than ten breaths.

Chiba had already traveled far from the cave and arrived before a massive canyon.

"This place will do."

Chiba stopped.

He drew in a breath of frigid air, and his lungs rumbled dully like bellows.

Then.

Chiba clenched his right fist, mobilized the Senjutsu Chakra within him, and aimed at the canyon cliff ahead.

He threw a punch!

"Monstrous Strength: Sage Art!"

There were no dazzling lights or effects.

Only violence in its purest form!

Boom--!!!

A deafening, earth-shaking explosion tore apart the silence of the winter night.

The force of the punch condensed into a tangible air cannon, roaring forth like a transparent mad dragon.

The instant it struck the rock wall.

The towering, incomparably hard cliff seemed to be made of tofu.

Massive boulders weighing tons were pulverized into dust by the violent force.

A horrifying ravine dozens of meters deep and dozens of meters wide was violently torn open across the cliff face!

The intense shockwave turned into a Category 12 hurricane.

Within a hundred meters, all the snow and trees were uprooted and shredded into fragments that filled the sky!

"This punch..."

"Even Susanoo would be smashed to pieces by it, right?"

"..."

Looking at the ruins he had created with a single punch.

Chiba stood where he was, his mouth dry.

And this was only an ordinary taijutsu attack.

What if he used Senjutsu Chakra to power Wood Style?

Sage Art: Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands?

This was Wood Style's ultimate technique.

In the past, Chiba had not mastered Sage Mode, so he simply could not use it!

But now, things were different!

With this Perfect Sage Mode!

Chiba's Wood Style was about to receive an epic-level boost!

"However."

"Though power may be invincible."

"Endurance is just as important!"

Chiba quickly calmed down.

He knew all too well about Sage Mode's drawbacks.

Back when Naruto fought Pain, Sage Mode could only last a brief five minutes.

After firing off two Rasenshuriken, he would have to revert to normal.

If Chiba's Perfect Sage Mode could also only last a few minutes,

then at most, it would be a burst technique, not a truly invincible trump card.

"The system didn't give a time limit."

"In that case, I'll test it myself!"

Chiba sat down cross-legged on the spot.

He closed his eyes and began consciously controlling his Senjutsu Chakra.

He did not attack, merely maintaining his Sage Mode.

Natural Energy from the outside world continuously flowed into Chiba's body, replenishing the minor consumption.

Time passed second by second.

One hour.

Two hours.

Five hours.

The eastern sky gradually turned pale.

The wind and snow finally came to a stop.

The first ray of morning sunlight fell across Chiba's shoulders.

Whoosh!

Chiba abruptly opened his eyes.

The dark crimson markings at the corners of his eyes remained as vivid as blood.

Not only had the diamond-shaped mark on his forehead not dimmed, it had become even deeper under the wash of Natural Energy.

"No pressure at all."

Chiba let out a long breath of stale air.

If he did not engage in intense combat,

and merely maintained this state or used some low-to-mid-level ninjutsu,

then with the seamless connection between his Perfect Sage Body and Natural Energy,

he could even treat Sage Mode as a normal state and keep it up for several days without a problem!

"But if I go all out..."

"and continuously use Sage Art: Wood Style techniques above S-rank,"

"then I could probably only maintain high-intensity combat for about an hour."

More than an hour!

If that figure got out, the entire Ninja World would go completely insane!

After all,

life-and-death battles between Kage Level experts were often decided within minutes.

More than an hour of Sage Art bombardment?

Forget the Five Kage joining forces.

Even if Uchiha Madara crawled out of his grave,

Chiba would dare point at his nose and tell him to lie back down!