Night Training: Cave Poison Vines Force Out Sage Marks

"Push the textbook over first."

Yakushi Yeyue did not comply. Instead, he tucked the second photograph back into the cover, his hand never crossing the shrine's threshold.

"Promise me first that you won't go to the abandoned well tonight, and don't touch the photos in the eastern cabin."

Chiba controlled fine roots to drill out from the cracks in the stone, curling beneath the textbook. The vine tip pressed against the cover but detected neither poison nor seals.

"You know about the eastern cabin."

"You deliberately told me where the abandoned well was, then left the photos there. Only an idiot wouldn't realize you were waiting for someone."

"Then why did you still come?"

Yeyue set down the textbook and took half a step back.

"Someone slipped a note into my room. It said Number Seventy-Four would return from the west side of the clan grounds. He wanted to take back his name, and he also wanted to kill the new Senju Chiba."

"Where's the note?"

"I burned it after reading it."

"Who sent it?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be standing here."

Chiba had the fine roots coil around the textbook and drag it into the shrine.

Developing powder remained within the cover's inner layer. Several faint scratches had appeared on the back of the second photograph, and together they formed the old emblem of the clan grounds' western side.

There was an underground cave there.

Chiba had discovered its entrance while probing the clan grounds along the underground waterways. The rock layers inside sealed the cave off, preventing the Anbu outside from detecting chakra fluctuations. It was perfect for freely training Wood Release.

"The information you brought just sent me straight into the western cave."

"That's why I told you not to go."

"If the other side knew I would be suspicious, then they also knew those words wouldn't stop me."

Yeyue stepped on a Sleep Vine near his feet, but his sole did not press down any harder.

"Do you have to bite every piece of bait thrown at you?"

"Only by biting it first can I find the one holding the line."

Chiba walked out of the shrine. Scorch Vine and Hardening Vine withdrew from the eastern soil, turning toward the west side of the clan grounds through the underground Root Network.

"You stay at the entrance."

"You're really going?"

"If anyone comes, shout. If you dare follow me inside, I'll test poison on you first."

Yeyue picked up the textbook and followed him.

"You just said the person holding the line might be inside the cave."

"That's why I need someone to guard the retreat."

"You trust me?"

"I trust your fear of death."

A crack in the stone lay hidden beneath the western ruined wall. Roots pried up the stone slab covering the entrance, revealing an old wooden ladder that extended downward.

Chiba dropped to the bottom of the cave. Several fragments left behind from Wood Release practice were scattered around his feet, while rings of distance markers had been carved into the rock pillars ahead.

Yeyue lay at the entrance and looked down.

"You've been here before?"

"Once."

"What if the person in the photograph is down there?"

"Then I'll make him come out."

Chiba pressed both palms to the ground. Four types of roots spread through the rock layers: Paralysis Vine occupied the front, Sleep Vine sealed the sides, while Scorch Vine and Hardening Vine expanded outward.

The vines passed the nearest rock pillar and continued growing along the cave walls.

[Current stable coverage range: radius of twelve meters.]

"Expand it to fifteen meters."

[Chakra consumption will exceed stable supply.]

"Execute."

The Root Network advanced outward. The vines gradually thinned, but their purple poison patterns did not fade.

Chiba had to control every vine to avoid roots of the same kind while maintaining the delivery of different toxins. Chakra was swiftly drained from his meridians.

The muscles in his shoulders and back were the first to feel as though they were tearing, and the pain soon spread through his waist and abdomen.

By the time the Poison Vines reached the outermost rock pillars, Chiba's chest felt tight, and the edges of his vision had begun to darken.

[Coverage radius has reached fifteen meters.]

"Keep going."

[Further expansion will cause the outer ends to wither.]

"Sixteen meters."

The final ring of Poison Vines drilled out through the rock cracks. Before their leaves could unfold, their roots had already lost their color.

The rock layers could not provide enough moisture, and chakra at the far ends became intermittent. Large patches of vines sagged against the cave walls.

Yeyue shouted from the entrance.

"Enough. Keep training, and you won't even be able to climb the ladder."

"Shut up and watch outside."

"Your hand is shaking."

Chiba raised his right hand. His fingers could not fully straighten, and only a few scattered streams of chakra remained in his meridians.

"System, mark the withered points."

[Twenty-seven locations lack supply at the outer ends. Nine control deviations detected.]

"My total chakra isn't enough, and my control is wasting it too."

[Recommendation: stop training and wait for the Sage Body to recover.]

"If I drain it all again after recovering, the bottleneck will still be there forever."

Chiba reconnected to the underground water. A trace of natural energy entered his chest through the roots.

When his dried-up meridians came into contact with that power, searing pain flared through them. Pale green markings surfaced across the skin of his right arm.

Yeyue had already descended several rungs down the ladder.

"The color on your body isn't right. Withdraw the Wood Release first."

"Back away."

"Woodification will invade your heart. You said it yourself—Number Seventy-Four died that way."

"The records contain no death report."

Chiba cut off three types of Poison Vines, leaving only Paralysis Vine, then concentrated all his control at the outermost edge.

"Second attempt. Fifteen meters."

"You're doing it again?"

The Root Network spread out once more.

This time, every main root supplied only the neighboring area. The vines at the ends no longer crossed paths to compete for chakra, and all nine control deviations were eliminated one by one.

The consumption remained heavy, but it was noticeably less than before.

Chiba crossed the fifteen-meter boundary and forcibly sent a Paralysis Vine toward a more distant rock crack.

The muscles in his legs gave out. His knees slammed into the ground, and dizziness pressed from the back of his head toward his eyes.

"Just a little stronger."

Natural energy poured into his body along the dried-up meridians, and the pale green markings around his eyes extended with it.

The cave changed shape within his senses.

Yeyue stood on the sixth rung of the ladder, short needles hidden inside his sleeve. Two Anbu stood at a distance outside the entrance, and swarms of tiny insects lay concealed beside the underground waterway.

Behind deeper rock layers, an ancient seal was resonating with his chakra.

His sensory range crossed its original boundary and directly expanded threefold.

[Sage Body compatibility has broken through the critical threshold.]

[Temporary state: Half-Sage Mode.]

Chiba raised his head.

"How long can it last?"

[Current estimate: five seconds.]

When the fifth heartbeat fell, the green markings receded from around his eyes.

His expanded senses contracted with them. The power that had just gathered inside his body was also drained away, and Chiba had to brace himself against the rock face with vines to avoid collapsing.

Yeyue reached the cave floor and tossed a water flask beside him.

"This is the power you were looking for?"

"Just a crack in the door."

"You nearly died outside that door."

"I can open it again."

"You can't even unscrew the cap."

Chiba bit open the cap with his teeth. After draining the water, he leaned against a rock pillar and sat down.

"The trigger conditions are chakra depletion, natural energy replenishment, and then balance completed by the Sage Body."

[The conclusion carries risk. The current sample size is only one.]

"Then I'll train until there's a second time."

Yeyue looked at the withered vines covering the ground. After a long while, he placed a pill on the stone floor.

"It isn't poisoned. It restores stamina."

"Keep it."

"If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't have come down just now."

"You coming down only makes it seem more like you want me to trust you."

Yeyue took back the pill.

"The person in the photograph didn't appear."

"He wanted me to come here. That doesn't mean he wanted to act tonight."

Chiba looked toward the seal's location that he had sensed in Half-Sage Mode. It lay just beyond the rock layer, and the old emblem perfectly matched the pattern on the back of the photograph.

"Number Seventy-Four knows about this cave, and he knows this place can advance the Sage Body."

"Is he helping you?"

"Or maybe he's confirming whether I can withstand his power."

After dawn, Chiba sealed the cave entrance and entered the academy with the dizziness not yet fully gone.

The hallway after class was already more than half empty. Neji leaned against the classroom door, holding that book of chakra node diagrams.

"Senju Chiba, bring the book. What I want to ask isn't about class."