Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 1178 Discovery and Departure
"Inhale...exhale..."

Take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Qingming calmed himself down, then focused his mind and carefully sensed the spatial nodes around him.

Time passes minute by minute.

Soon, Qingming felt it.

As he said before, there is indeed a node here that connects to other different dimensions.

And the natural energy in the vicinity was indeed drawn into that alternate dimension, and so on.
Suddenly, Qingming's spirit trembled.

In his perception, the alternate dimension he had just sensed suddenly vanished.

At this moment, Qingming was on high alert. He had already drawn out the natural energy from the alternate dimension in his abdomen, which flowed through his meridians along with his chakra.

Now, with just a thought, he can fuse enough Sage Chakra to enter 'Sage Mode' and unleash his full power.

However, he waited for several seconds, but no enemy appeared.

"It seems it wasn't my fault."

Qingming muttered to himself, then relaxed a little.

Although he was not afraid of going to war with the three holy lands with his current strength, he did not intend to fight them in a muddled way.

After all, doing this would only delay his cultivation and would have no other purpose.

Fortunately, things did not develop in the worst possible way.

After waiting for a while, about a minute later, Qingming suddenly felt that this place was connected to the other dimension again.

This caused the natural energy, which had just stopped flowing, to surge towards the node in front of it again, eventually flowing into that alternate dimension.

"Ok?"

Qingming was slightly taken aback.

Immediately, his brows furrowed.

The reason is simple: the alternate dimension he is sensing now is not the same alternate dimension as before.

Although he hadn't gone deep into that other dimension, he could still faintly sense that it was filled with a chilling atmosphere, much like the scales on a snake, making his hair stand on end involuntarily.

And this alternate dimension
Qingming closed his eyes and carefully sensed it.

Although there was a damp and cold feeling in this alternate dimension, there was also a warm chakra aura besides the coldness.

This feeling
It felt just like the Yang Release chakra he gathered after using the 'Hand Healing Technique', full of vitality.

Qingming opened his eyes. He was almost certain that the alternate dimension he was sensing was the Wet Bone Forest, one of the three holy lands.

Unlike the other two holy sites, Shikkotsu Forest has only one master: the Slug Sage. All the other slugs are parts of his body.

The warm chakra he just sensed must have been the chakra brimming with life force within him.

As for that other dimension from before...
Based on its cold and gloomy characteristics, Qingming boldly guessed that it should be Longdi Cave, one of the three holy lands.

The large number of snakes living there emanate this negative energy.

But
Why did the alternate dimension connected to this node suddenly change from Ryuchi Cave to Shikkotsu Forest?

Qing's meditation failed to reach a conclusion.

So he decided to stay there and wait for things to change again.

Only after figuring these things out could he return to Moon Island to cultivate with peace of mind and leave behind a shadow clone to absorb natural energy.

Otherwise, there will always be a knot in your heart.

As for leaving a shadow clone for observation...
That won't work for now, because the shadow clone's perception of space alone is simply insufficient to detect subtle changes within it in the first instance.

Therefore, he had no choice but to stay here himself.

Of course, he wouldn't waste his time.

With a thought, Qingming first used the 'Wood Clone Technique' to create a wooden clone.

Next, he mobilized the chakra in the alternate dimension between his eyebrows to replenish his own chakra.

Then, he raised his hands to form a hand seal and unleashed the 'Multiple Shadow Clone Technique'.

bang bang bang~
As puffs of chakra smoke dissipated, two hundred and twenty-four shadow clones appeared in the arena.

He planned to pack up and seal these shadow clones, then hand them over to his wood clone to take to Moon Island to continue developing the Bloodline Limit. The reason this number was four more than the original two hundred and twenty was because his chakra limit had increased by more than six hundred thousand points during this period.

Pulling himself back to his senses, Qingming took out the scroll he often used from his ninja tool bag and sealed all the shadow clones present inside it.

Seeing that he had completed this step, the wooden clone beside him had already come up without him having to call it.

Without wasting any words, Qingming handed the scroll in his hand to the other party.

Upon receiving the scroll, the wooden clone immediately locked onto Moon Island, activated the 'Flying Thunder God Technique,' and teleported to Moon Island.

Watching the other person leave, Qingming once again mobilized the chakra in the space between his eyebrows to replenish his own chakra.

Then, he used the 'Multiple Shadow Clone Technique' again, creating about one hundred shadow clones.

Qingming instructed them to disperse and absorb natural energy within this mountain's interior space.

Given the high concentration of natural energy here, a hundred shadow clones should be enough to meet his needs for further cultivation.

With that thought in mind, Qingming remotely disintegrated a wooden clone that was sleeping on Moon Island. After replenishing his chakra, he instantly entered 'Sage Mode'.

Then, he began to cultivate the 'Ultimate Body Technique,' strengthening his body again and again.

Indeed, without the harsh environment inside the volcano beneath Moon Island, cultivation here would be much slower.

But even if the pace is slow, there will still be progress, right?

Therefore, Qingming decided to cultivate here.

Then, he shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and began to concentrate on strengthening his body.

Of course, during this time, he inevitably had to activate his Rinnegan every now and then to sense the changes in that alternate dimension.

However, the kind of change that occurred before has never happened again.

And just like that, eight hours flew by.

Before we knew it, it was late at night.

Just as Qingming was considering whether to spend the night there, a subtle spatial fluctuation suddenly occurred.

After half an afternoon and an evening of sensing, his perception of the surrounding space had become very acute.

Therefore, the anomaly was detected immediately.

So he immediately activated the Rinnegan, using its enhanced spatial perception to sense the changes at that node.

Sure enough, just like eight hours ago, the Wet Bone Forest he had guessed had disappeared.

About a minute later, another unfamiliar alternate dimension appeared.

This alternate dimension wasn't anything special, but with the previous two as a reference, he could roughly guess that this alternate dimension should be the last of the three holy lands—Mount Myoboku.

Thinking of the great toad sage in Mount Myōboku who could foresee the future, Qingming couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

After all, what he is doing now and in the future is equivalent to intercepting some of the resources of the three holy lands.

Although this natural energy doesn't belong to the three holy lands, the other party arrived first and might not be willing to share it with them.

If the Great Toad Sage foretells something, he might just come knocking on your door.

However, after waiting for quite a while, nothing unexpected happened.

Qingming didn't know whether the Great Toad Immortal hadn't foreseen anything or had seen something, but he didn't care.

In short, nothing happened.

Since that's the case, then Qingming will stop caring.

Anyway, he only needs natural energy, and the less trouble he can get along with, the better.

As for the issue of spatial variation...
Based on the changes over the past three times, he estimated that this was part of some kind of magic array or ritual, with the purpose of having the three holy lands come every eight hours to absorb the natural energy of the ninja world from this point.

Therefore, it has nothing to do with him anymore.

Judging from the fact that he had been letting his shadow clones absorb natural energy without any problems, there shouldn't be any issues here for the time being.

Therefore, he can now make a decision.

Next, his main body will return to Moon Island to continue his previous cultivation. The natural energy he needs can be absorbed by his shadow clone.

However, to prevent Orochimaru from making any trouble while he was away, he planned to leave a wooden clone here permanently.

(End of this chapter)