Success

Hyuga Qingchuan felt his palm stiffen, his fingertips beginning to petrify, with the change showing signs of spreading upward.

He hurriedly closed the acupoints in his palm, cutting off the source of Natural Energy. At the same time, he released several sealed acupoints at his wrist, allowing the Natural Energy gathered in his palm to disperse upward through his arm.

He then refined a large amount of chakra throughout his body and sent it surging toward the Natural Energy within him, diluting it.

Under the dilution of chakra, the raging Natural Energy gradually calmed, and the petrification in his palm slowly began to fade.

Only then did Hyuga Qingchuan relax. He panted heavily, his clothes soaked through with sweat.

Had the Natural Energy remained for too long?

Without being mixed with chakra, Natural Energy staying in the palm area for too long was essentially equivalent to there being too much Natural Energy in that area.

When Hokage and the others trained in Sage Mode, they had likely absorbed Natural Energy while simultaneously refining the corresponding amount of chakra to mix with it.

But for someone like him, who had to use his palm as a unit of measurement and absorb a full palmful of Natural Energy before mixing in chakra...

He instead needed to increase the speed at which he absorbed Natural Energy, ensuring it did not remain in his body for too long.

At the same time, he needed to refine the corresponding amount of chakra beforehand and mix the two the instant the Natural Energy absorption was complete.

Sure enough, Sage Mode was not so simple.

Even though he had made thorough preparations and thought through every step, the situation just now had still been extremely dangerous. One small mistake, and he would have become a stone statue.

He took a deep breath, calming his heaving chest, then expelled the chakra mixed with Natural Energy.

Next, he sealed several acupoints at his wrist again.

This time, however, he left one acupoint unsealed as a channel for chakra circulation.

He similarly sealed off another area on his forearm, leaving one acupoint unsealed as a passage.

He then refined chakra and sent it along the chakra pathway he had just left unsealed, delivering it to his palm until the entire palm was full.

This gave him one palm unit of chakra, containing 0.5 palm units of physical energy and 0.5 palm units of spiritual energy.

Next, he opened the acupoints between his palm and forearm, draining the chakra from his palm into his forearm before sealing them again.

Using the same method, he sent chakra into the emptied palm, then opened the acupoints again and drained the chakra into his forearm, sealing it there.

Thus, he now had two palm units of chakra in his forearm area, containing one palm unit of physical energy and one palm unit of spiritual energy.

All that remained was to absorb one more palm unit of Natural Energy before he could mix Sage Chakra.

He sealed the two acupoints he had left open to transport chakra.

He prepared to absorb Natural Energy.

This was the most crucial step. Whether he could produce Sage Chakra depended on it.

Hyuga Qingchuan took a deep breath, doing his best to calm his somewhat rapid heartbeat.

He opened every acupoint in his palm and began absorbing Natural Energy at maximum intensity.

At the same time, he used Spirit Particle Gathering to control and assist the Natural Energy.

His goal was to absorb enough Natural Energy in the shortest possible time.

He had already sealed every chakra acupoint connecting his palm to his arm.

So he did not need to worry that the Natural Energy would exceed the limit under such intense absorption.

Boom!

Natural Energy surged in, quickly filling his entire palm.

It even faintly showed signs of breaking through the sealed acupoints.

His palm immediately stiffened.

He hurriedly stopped absorbing and opened the acupoints connecting his palm and forearm.

He allowed the chakra in his forearm to mix evenly with the Natural Energy in his palm.

The violent Natural Energy was quickly soothed.

In an instant, he felt the vitality of his body rise enormously.

His perception of his surroundings became incomparably clear, as if he had entered another channel.

He quickly got up and walked to the mirror. Sure enough, eyeshadow had appeared around his eyes.

Thanks to the precise proportions, he displayed no other signs of mutation besides the eyeshadow.

It worked!

This was precisely the unique advantage the Hyuga Clan possessed when cultivating Sage Mode.

Even without the enormous chakra reserves of the Uzumaki Clan to serve as a buffer, they could still rely on the Byakugan's insight and precise Acupoint Sealing.

They could turn the process of absorbing Natural Energy, which originally relied on bodily sensations and was difficult to quantify,

into controllable, practical steps.

A line of text appeared.

[You actively explored and learned Incomplete Sage Mode, obtaining Favor]

[Sage Mode · Incomplete (Beginner Level)*1]

[Energy Crystals*30]

There were even rewards!

But Hyuga Qingchuan did not examine them closely. His attention remained focused on Sage Mode.

Excitedly, he began practicing moves in his room—straight punches, side kicks...

His body felt as though it had been injected with stimulants.

Every Taijutsu movement, whether in strength or agility, was far stronger than before.

He tried every Taijutsu technique he had mastered.

Twenty seconds later, Hyuga Qingchuan's body went limp, and the eyeshadow around his eyes faded.

He sensed that the Sage Chakra within his body had been completely exhausted.

That was it?

He had not even used a single ninjutsu, nor had he engaged in any intense Taijutsu combat.

He had merely practiced against the air, and it was gone at such a low level of intensity.

It seemed there was a reason Sage Mode required chakra reserves by the ton.

That reason was endurance.