Natural energy!
Snapping awake, Shinsei mobilized all the chakra in his body and used all his strength to expel it from the inside out!
That was close! What terrifying natural energy!
Had he possessed any less chakra, he would have been powerless against the natural energy invading his body. Fortunately, his control over chakra was strong enough to expel the natural energy almost instantly.
He had never expected to sink so deeply into meditation this time that he reached the stage of embryonic breathing, his skin naturally connecting with heaven and earth and interacting with the energy outside!
Fortunately, he had awakened in time. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
An aching, tingling, swollen, stabbing pain spread through his entire body. Shinsei switched on the light and saw the fine hairs on his arms falling out. His scalp began tingling too. He casually ran a hand through his hair, and dozens of short black hairs appeared in his palm.
In just that brief instant, the terrifying natural energy had done this much damage to his body.
Shinjō suddenly wondered whether those who trained in Sage Mode were searching for this state of embryonic breathing.
Shinsei had previously speculated that embryonic breathing would connect him with natural energy. But knowing how dangerous natural energy was, he had not pursued that direction. He had never expected a moment of carelessness to cause an accident like this.
In theory, Shinsei could continue down the path of embryonic breathing. As the time it took him to enter that state grew shorter, the time needed to absorb natural energy would decrease accordingly.
This would presumably put him on the path of Mount Myōboku's senjutsu training system.
That was not what Shinsei wanted.
What Shinsei wanted was to accumulate enough qi within his body to connect his inner and outer worlds, communicating naturally with the outside and sensing and interacting with natural energy at all times.
Not to have to enter embryonic breathing as he did now. Was he supposed to negotiate with his enemy before a fight, saying, "Wait a moment. Let me meditate first"?
This meditation session also served as a warning to Shinsei not to enter such a deep state again. Although he could theoretically begin training in Sage Mode, with no one watching over him, there would be no one to help him expel the natural energy if he absorbed too much, had insufficient chakra, or got the proportions wrong when creating senjutsu chakra.
He generated a large mass of Water Release chakra in his left hand and washed his entire body with it. Looking at the large clumps of shed hair in the water, he flushed them down the toilet with a pang.
No more meditation today. I'll just get a proper night's sleep.
His time off passed in a flash, and Shinjō dutifully returned to work.
In the Anbu basement, Hashihime watched Shinsei arrive for work, the eyes visible beneath her mask seeming filled with resentment.
Sai waved to greet Shinsei, his smiling eyes curving into crescents through the two holes in his mask.
Shinsei nodded at him. He did not have a good impression of this man. Even through the mask, he could sense that face wearing its fake smile.
Whether it was because of Orochimaru or not, Anbu missions had been tightened across the board, and assignments outside the village were basically no longer issued.
Almost all their work involved patrolling Konoha, and Shinjō occasionally spotted masked colleagues in corners.
Days passed like this, and before long, the third round of the Chunin Ninja Exams arrived.
Shinsei had not participated in the Chunin Ninja Exams preliminaries, so he could only watch the others compete. Still, fights at this level no longer did anything for him.
The entire Anbu bustled into action early that morning. Shinsei, Hashihime, and Sai were assigned positions not far from the Hokage. They used the Transformation Technique to disguise themselves as civilians and mingled with the spectators.
On the main platform, the Hokage and Kazekage were already in position.
The exam began!
Shinsei could no longer remember the original story's details, but he still clearly remembered that the Kazekage on the platform was Orochimaru in disguise.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, it's time for you to leave the stage!
The first match began, with Naruto and Neji already standing in the center of the arena.
Shinjō watched Neji in the arena with a somewhat amused expression. He remembered very well how brutally Neji had beaten Hinata during the preliminaries. Hopefully, Neji would not fall into his hands. Otherwise, he would not mind letting him experience what it felt like to be thrashed by someone his own age.
Even though Naruto had trained under Shinsei, a transmigrator, since childhood, there was still a gap between him and Neji in his normal state. In a clash against Rotation, Neji knocked Naruto to the ground.
Neji tore the ninja forehead protector off his head, revealing the green seal inscribed on his forehead-the Caged Bird Seal!
The Caged Bird Seal was a special seal that allowed the main family to easily control the branch family, and it had always been regarded as the branch family's shame.
But in Shinjō's view, it also offered protection to the Hyuga Clan.
For branch family members marked with the Caged Bird Seal, their Byakugan would self-destruct after being taken from their eyes. Thus, although every member of the Hyuga Clan possessed the Byakugan, very few of those eyes ever ended up outside the clan.
As a clan possessing one of the Shinobi World's three great dōjutsu, the Byakugan clan naturally also had the potential for further evolution.
The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan could evolve into the special Mangekyō Sharingan after an immense shock.
The Byakugan could also evolve into the Tenseigan, which was almost on par with the Rinnegan, and its prerequisite was a large number of Byakugan.
Neji stood in the arena, saying something to Naruto about fate and the like.
Shinjō felt nothing at his words. Those so-called branch family rules meant jack shit before the strong.
In the original story, Naruto became Hokage, and Hinata became the Hokage's wife. Would the Hyuga Clan dare inscribe the Caged Bird Seal on the Hokage's wife's forehead?
They could only choose a new branch family member: Hanabi Hyuga.
When you possessed sufficient strength, all the rules that the weak saw as rules would cease to be rules.
Naruto used shadow clones to confuse Neji while his real body took the opportunity to dig a tunnel, then knocked Neji down with a blow and won.
The second match was equally unremarkable. Just as Shikamaru was about to bring Temari under his control, he suddenly forfeited, citing insufficient chakra.
As expected of someone with a high IQ. He lost the match but won the beauty's heart.
The third match was Sasuke against Gaara.
Speaking of which, because Rock Lee had unleashed the Eight Gates Released Formation ahead of time, he had been too weakened to participate in the preliminaries. Thus, he had not had his limbs crushed by Gaara as in the original story. Another unlucky fellow had taken his place and lost his life outright.
Shinsei watched the small, red-haired figure in the arena.
A jinchūriki. He was quite interested in tailed beast chakra. He knew Naruto too well, and the Nine-Tails was far too dangerous, leaving him no opportunity to study it.
Chakra could comprehensively enhance a ninja's speed and defense. Although it was always a combination of physical and spiritual energy, there were still differences in strength between one person's chakra and another's.
And the strength of tailed beast chakra undoubtedly stood at the very pinnacle of the Shinobi World.
In the original story, after Naruto seized the Nine-Tails' chakra, he became Golden Naruto, and his physical speed rose by an enormous margin.
Thanks to years of meditation and training, along with his naturally powerful spiritual energy, Shinsei's chakra strength was already close to the top among ninja. But there was still a considerable gap between him and the tailed beasts.
The battle in the arena was nearing fever pitch. After Shinsei's training, Sasuke was stronger than in the original story. In particular, he could use Lightning Release to stimulate and activate his body's cells to increase his speed without having to use Chidori. Through agile, rapid footwork, he found an opening and pierced Gaara's defenses with Chidori.
Sasuke's chest heaved rapidly, the futatsudomoe slowly turning within his red eyes. He silently regretted not having learned Shinsei's Lightning Sword yet. Otherwise, how could breaking through this huge sand sphere's defenses have been so troublesome?
Suddenly, masses of feathers drifted down from the sky. Sasuke's head grew heavy, and drowsiness overcame him.
This is genjutsu!
Watching the feathers drift down before him, Shinsei could not help smiling.
Has it finally begun?