Chakra Shape Transformation and the Void State

Chakra Shape Transformation and the Void State

Over the next few days, the benefits of Might Guy's guidance became apparent.

First was controlling the intensity of his training. In the past, Ayato had not been sure how much his body could handle, but now he could reach his training goals in less time.

Second was controlling the amount of training. Might Guy had even calculated how much Ayato should increase it by, which truly saved a great deal of time.

Of course, Might Guy was not there every day. He had only observed them carefully during the initial guidance. Most of the time afterward, Ayato and Rock Lee trained together in sparring sessions.

Ayato had great faith in Might Guy's understanding of taijutsu. After all, this was the man who had nearly kicked his way to the ending with pure taijutsu alone.

Lastly came the tranquil state of Sage Mode. Since that day, Ayato had gone several days without entering that state again.

However, Ayato was not anxious. He had already climbed up there once, and he could clearly feel that he had been moving in the right direction all along.

Finally, several days later, Ayato successfully entered the tranquil state again without pushing himself past his limits. This time, it lasted far longer than before.

Yet even in that state, Ayato still could not sense the existence of Natural Energy. There was only boundless emptiness.

Over the next few days, entering that state no longer posed a barrier to Ayato. He could enter it much more easily, though it seemed useless even when he did.

Ayato was not disappointed by this. It was merely a preliminary state for Sage Mode, after all. Its lack of usefulness was within his expectations. Next, he needed to keep lowering the threshold until he could enter that state directly even at his peak condition.

After all, in battle, who would give him time to train, let alone train to his limit? Even if he successfully entered the state afterward, how much strength would he have left to fight?

So, he still needed to keep practicing.

However, as his practice continued, Ayato seemed to notice something strange. After entering that state, he appeared able to think simply again. He even seemed able to observe things.

As for what he could observe, Ayato did not know. Perhaps he would eventually be able to observe Natural Energy~

Until one day, when Rock Lee approached Ayato while he was close to entering that state, Ayato suddenly opened his eyes and stared at Rock Lee, shock lingering in his gaze.

Because he had seen it—or rather, that state had sensed the flow of Chakra within Rock Lee's body, as well as the Chakra naturally dissipating from him.

So this state was similar to the Byakugan?

Then Ayato shook his head. It was nothing like that. He had merely sensed the flow of Chakra and used it to simulate the appearance of the other person's meridians. Besides, how could the distance visible to the Byakugan compare to what Ayato could perceive in this state?

Still, this state should have more uses. He simply had not discovered them yet, Ayato thought.

As for Rock Lee having Chakra, that was nothing strange. Rock Lee could not use Chakra, but that did not mean he lacked it. If he had no Chakra at all, then even the Eight Gates would be useless to him.

After all, Ayato remembered that the later gates of the Eight Gates released the violent Chakra sealed within the body. If there were no Chakra, what exactly would he be releasing?

But since he had already left that state, he might as well continue practicing Chakra Shape Transformation. With that thought, Ayato began gathering Chakra in his palm and releasing it.

This time, Ayato could clearly feel that even after the Chakra was released outside his body, his connection with it seemed to have deepened considerably.

That was strange. It clearly had not been like this yesterday. Ayato looked at the spherical Chakra he had successfully condensed in his hand for the first time. After pondering for a while, the Chakra turned into a cube.

Ayato stared blankly at the cube before him, then continued after giving it some thought. This time, he truly failed, and the Chakra silently dissipated into the air.

Had his progress really been so great in a single day? After practicing for so long, Ayato had a clear sense of the extent of his own improvement.

Had that state just now strengthened his perception? Even when Chakra was released outside his body, he could clearly sense that portion of Chakra and control it more easily, leading to such progress?

Ayato was not sure, but if that was the case, then the effects of that state were even greater than he had imagined.

This also strengthened Ayato's resolve to learn Sage Mode. For now, he needed to make sure that state could last longer.

One day, while Ayato was in the tranquil state, his perception improved further. It definitely still could not compare to the Byakugan, but it could cover most close-range combat.

Under such perception, the state of the opponent's Chakra would be entirely within Ayato's observation. He would also see through the timing of their ninjutsu. The advantage was enormous.

Unfortunately, the range Ayato could sense was currently only enough for close combat. Even if he sensed something at that distance, he might not be able to react in time. Moreover, taijutsu was more likely at such range, so it was not very useful for now.

After some time, Ayato remained in that state when he suddenly realized something. Why had he only noticed this now? He should have realized it as soon as he discovered Might Guy.

But his own assumptions had deceived him. He had believed that this state was meant to sense Natural Energy, so naturally he had never considered using it to sense Chakra. In truth, Chakra was far easier to perceive than Natural Energy—not only because there was more of it, but also because it was an energy he had known from the very beginning.

Had he overlooked something else because of the limitations of his earlier assumptions?

The perception in this state was extremely strong, but normally, he could only sense the direction in which Chakra existed. Only at very close range could he sense the subtle direction of the other person's Chakra flow, and that range was simply too small.

Then, within that tiny range, if he did not ask Rock Lee for help, how could he try to observe it?

The answer was obvious: himself. No matter how small the range was, he himself would certainly be within it!

With that thought, Ayato turned his attention toward himself for the first time. In fact, he directly turned his "gaze" inward and saw the Chakra flowing through his meridians.

While he needed perception to see other people's Chakra, the Chakra within Ayato's own body did not need to be sensed. He could observe it from zero distance, far more clearly than he had imagined!

And through that observation, Ayato saw something different. He saw wind and lightning, two attributes that had always been contained within his Chakra.

It was simply that Ayato had never been able to sense them or use them. He understood this himself. Originally, he had planned to consider attribute-based shape transformation only after becoming sufficiently proficient at controlling Chakra outside his body. He had not expected to see them so clearly at this moment.

He observed the wind and lightning within his Chakra, silently experiencing their circulation and changes within it.

At that moment, Ayato seemed to understand something. Anyone watching closely would have noticed faint arcs of electricity dancing across his body, while a gentle breeze flowed around him.

For the first time, Ayato proactively opened his eyes and withdrew from that state. He went to an open area, recalled the power he had just seen, and formed the hand seals he had memorized long ago but never used.

Although it was his first time using it, Ayato had enough confidence to successfully perform it—and not merely perform it.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

As he completed the hand seals, the ninjutsu was successfully released. Yet the Great Breakthrough, which normally dispersed wind in all directions with little power, was confined to a very small area and blasted toward a single direction like an Air Cannon, completely unlike a conventional Great Breakthrough.

Ayato looked at the Great Breakthrough he had used, realization filling his eyes. If he had followed the Scroll step by step, forming the seals and controlling the flow of Chakra as instructed, he could certainly have used Great Breakthrough as well. But then it would have only been an ordinary Great Breakthrough, generally effective only against the Hidden Mist Technique. Its destructive power was too dispersed, making it fairly weak.

Even without understanding wind, one could create a strong gale through the invented hand seals and guided Chakra transformations. But now that Ayato had seen the wind within his Chakra and understood a little of wind's nature, he could compress the wind generated by Great Breakthrough and ultimately form that Air Cannon.

However, Ayato's compression was clearly not strong enough yet. Though he had formed an Air Cannon, its power was still not very high. But the experiment had been a perfect success!

Then Ayato looked at his arm. Fine arcs of electricity soon began to dance continuously across it, and a smile could not help appearing on his lips.

That day, he truly took a great step forward on the path of Chakra Shape Transformation!

That state definitely could not be called Sage Mode. Since it was merely a state, he would call it the Void State. Ayato mulled it over—if this were a world of magic, would it be called meditation?

Probably. Perhaps that really was possible.

Yet while others used this state to sense Natural Energy, Ayato used it to observe his own Chakra. Still, he felt that the results were truly excellent.

In truth, this was only especially useful to Ayato. By the time others learned Sage Mode, they had long passed the stage of learning Chakra Shape Transformation. Though it certainly had other uses, it was not as useful to them. They would be better off learning Sage Mode as quickly as possible.

But Ayato's current foundation was too weak. To him, this state was like a low-spec body suddenly learning a high-level state, naturally allowing it to elevate the other low-spec aspects as well.