His wife spoke in surprise.
Sakumo froze for a moment, then regained his composure.
Given the Hatake family's current predicament, banknotes were the best possible gift.
Xia Le's arrival had been like fuel delivered in the middle of a snowstorm, bringing a little more warmth to Sakumo's heart.
Elsewhere.
Xia Le had already returned home.
At present, he naturally could not unleash a slash like those he had used in the pirate world, cleaving the sea and sky apart.
But his recent research into chakra had given him some confidence.
The greatest difference between chakra and Haki was that chakra was energy drawn from deep within the body's cells, originating from the God Tree.
He had also tried to see whether he could awaken Haki.
His conclusion was that it was unlikely, but he could use chakra to imitate it, producing the same effects as Armament Haki.
"Someone left a back door in chakra, after all."
"So the best energy source is still natural energy!"
Xia Le narrowed his eyes slightly.
Although natural energy was more volatile than chakra, it was also more powerful. And it gave him greater peace of mind.
"But the only way to access natural energy is through the Three Great Sage Lands!"
As he muttered to himself, Xia Le's eyes flickered.
"Is going through them really the only way?"
Slowly closing his eyes, he recalled the scenes from the original story in which Naruto learned to sense natural energy, and gradually began to understand.
Natural energy was actually everywhere. The difficulty lay not in sensing it, but in absorbing it.
Without special methods, natural energy drawn into the body could easily run wild, rampaging through it and causing harmful effects.
In severe cases, a person would be assimilated into nature.
"If someone's physique is