Visualization Method

"The foundation of Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Art is called the Visualization Method. What you visualize is this Thousand-Armed Statue behind me." The Slug Sage's ethereal voice reached Neji's ears.

"Visualization Method—how is that different from meditation after entering a trance?" Neji asked.

"Meditation? What is that?" The Slug Sage was taken aback by Neji's question.

Seeing the Slug Sage's puzzled expression, Neji suddenly remembered that there was no concept of meditation in the Naruto World. After thinking for a moment, he hurriedly gestured as he explained, "It's the kind of... um... thing samurai often do. A way of entering a trance, like Blade Meditation—emptying your mind and sensing heaven and earth in some intangible way..."

"See, that is precisely the difference. From the words alone, meditation and visualization are clearly different methods. The Visualization Method naturally requires you to enter a trance and then meticulously depict the object of your visualization in your mind. The more detailed it is, the greater the improvement. What the Visualization Method enhances is what we usually call spiritual power."

Perhaps afraid that Neji would keep asking questions, the Slug Sage paused before hurriedly adding, "In a moment, sit beneath the Dharma Form and memorize every detail of it as thoroughly as possible. Then depict it in your mind. Once an image forms in your mind, you will naturally know what to do next. All right, come over and begin!"

The somewhat socially anxious Slug Sage hurriedly urged him on.

Putting aside the doubts in his heart, Neji quickly stepped forward and sat down as the Slug Sage instructed. He raised his head and carefully examined the Dharma Form. After a long while, once he was certain he had observed it correctly, he slowly closed his eyes, and his consciousness gradually entered a clear, empty state.

With his foundation in quiet cultivation, Neji entered the trance very quickly. At that moment, his consciousness was surrounded by boundless darkness. Suddenly, a point of light appeared out of nowhere in the void, then slowly drifted under Neji's will.

Yet this point of light refused to obey Neji's commands. When Neji told it to move left, it slid right the next second. When he told it to move right, it went upward instead. Neji exerted tremendous effort before he barely managed to sketch out a crooked, twisting line.

Neji stared blankly at the line before him. Thinking of the Thousand-Armed Statue he had just studied, with its incomparably intricate structure, he wondered how many years it would take to visualize it using such a method. At the thought, he could not help feeling dejected.

Is this really something a person can cultivate successfully? How did Hashirama Senju cultivate it? Does it require the pure heart of a child? Isn't Sage Art, as I understand it, something that can be cultivated successfully as long as one has the aptitude?

Questions kept surfacing in Neji's heart, and even the line he had just drawn gradually became unstable, on the verge of dissipating at any moment.

?! I refuse to believe it. Again!

Neji recalled the hardships he had endured along the way, as well as the vast rewards that would await him after success. Gritting his teeth, he continued sketching.

If once was not enough, then twice. Three times, ten times, a hundred times... Gradually, Neji began to grasp a little of the light point's temperament. It seemed to become somewhat of an extension of his consciousness. With no mind for anything else, Neji drew it again and again.

Outside, beneath the Dharma Form, Neji's body suddenly began to change. Bumps periodically swelled across his body. Moments later, he turned into a huge fat man, his skin becoming translucent as though he were about to explode.

At the critical moment, the little slug beside Neji suddenly swung a tentacle. Smack! Neji was sent flying. Miraculously, the abnormalities in his body vanished, and Neji, immersed in his consciousness, was jolted awake by the strike.

"Senior, what happened?"

Neji looked at himself sprawled on the ground and asked in confusion.

The Slug Sage did not answer his question. Instead, she began explaining the dangers of cultivating Sage Art.

"Cultivating Sage Art is dangerous. Once you fail, there is no coming back. Those who fail at Ryūchi Cave become food for the snakes, those at Mount Myoboku become stone statues, and those who fail at Shikkotsu Forest are assimilated by this space. So you must not rush for success. Little Neji, you already did very well today. For thousands of years, no one has ever been like you, drawing natural energy into their body on their very first day."

"Natural energy? I didn't feel anything," Neji said doubtfully.

"While visualizing, your mind sinks deep into your consciousness, so naturally you will not notice changes in your body. But there are traces to follow within your consciousness. At some point, did you feel that drawing became smoother and smoother?"

Neji thought about it and realized it was indeed as the Slug Sage had said. He had thought his proficiency was simply improving, but judging from the Slug Sage's tone, that was clearly not the case.

"Yes, Senior. Could it be that I absorbed natural energy, which sped up my drawing?"

"Of course not! As energy, natural energy can only exist in your body and chakra pathways. How could it possibly have anything to do with consciousness?"

"Then what was going on?" Neji was immediately bewildered.

"Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Art requires both aptitude and the Visualization Method. With aptitude, natural energy will automatically enter your body during visualization. The Dharma Form you visualize filters out the ownerless spiritual power dispersed within that natural energy, strengthening your spirit. In turn, you use it to control the natural energy and fuse it with your own chakra, forming Sage Chakra," the Slug Sage explained.

"Right now, you have not successfully completed the visualization, so you cannot control the natural energy entering your body. It gathers inside you, and eventually you will merge into this space. Therefore, until you truly complete the visualization, you must not cultivate for more than two hours a day."

"So that's how it is! Thank you, Senior Katsuyu, for protecting me!" Neji understood the entire process. He rose to his feet and solemnly bowed to the Slug Sage.

Neji had never expected cultivating Sage Art to involve so many intricacies. Recalling how increasingly absorbed his consciousness had become just now, he felt a wave of lingering fear. The pleasure of rapidly increasing spiritual power had been far too intense. If the Slug Sage had not awakened him, he would already have been annihilated by now.

But is this ownerless spiritual power actually legitimate? Is it the power of all living beings' wishes? The will of heaven and earth? Or Kaguya Otsutsuki's spirit?

Neji's thoughts raced as he considered the Slug Sage's words. It probably isn't Kaguya's. Kaguya's spirit is dispersed throughout every ninja's chakra, which is why she needs Infinite Tsukuyomi to restore her full strength. Natural energy and chakra are inherently opposed, just as the Ninja World rejects Kaguya Otsutsuki. Therefore, the spiritual power within natural energy absolutely cannot be Kaguya's.

Neji carefully analyzed these secrets buried deep in his heart, trying to find some clue among them. Unfortunately, he still knew too little, and he knew even less about the connection between natural energy and the Ninja World.

I'll take things one step at a time. If there is any hidden danger, the Primordial Bagua Diagram should not stand idly by. Based on what I currently know, its rank should be above the Ninja World's.

Neji comforted himself.

"Senior Katsuyu, since today's cultivation is over, I shall take my leave. I will come trouble you again tomorrow!"

"Very well!" As the Slug Sage spoke, she released the Reverse Summoning Technique on Neji. Amid spinning skies and whirling earth, Neji appeared with a smack at the spot where he had vanished yesterday.