Naruto: I, Shikotsumyaku, Byakugan Princess

Silence fell over the sealed room.

The incandescent lights hanging from the ceiling illuminated the room brightly. Gray Glass sat cross-legged on the floor, his eyes closed, and a strong gray light was revealed as his eyelashes fluttered.

Since taking control of the Root, she has thrown Danzo's bad habits into the trash can.

Does a mysterious organization have to be in a completely dark room?
Relying on candles for lighting was simply a sign that old Danzo was out of touch with the times. Using the cables that were brought over when the Thunder Pool was built, Hairi ordered Tsubaki to install light bulbs in every room of the Root, except for the meeting room, which retained its original style.

A gray light flickered.

Attracted by the training of the main body and the Yang Release clone, 'Little Gray Glass', who was in charge of researching the Flying Thunder God Technique, looked towards the main body.

Its youthful face, still chubby from being a baby, stared wide-eyed, peeking around like a sneaky dog.

The flesh and blood clone created by the Yang Release clone multiplied itself again, but due to insufficient chakra, it could only create a mini version of Hai Li, only one-third the size of the Yang Release clone. Its delicate features and petite height made it look like a beautiful rag doll.

The clone, holding a notebook in one hand and crackling with lightning on its other arm, couldn't help but feel a little nervous watching its main body practice Sage Mode.

If the ratio of natural energy to chakra becomes unbalanced, it will cause the body to petrify. She is also unsure of the precision with which her body can control natural energy. If a problem occurs, she may have to 'kill her master'.

Hui Li, who was sitting cross-legged, suddenly sensed a sense of danger. Her gray eyes scanned the movements of her clones and she couldn't help but smile.

They didn't inherit Gray Eyes, so they naturally couldn't understand how terrifying her control over this Takamagahara was. Natural energy was like a part of her body; even if she failed in her cultivation, she could just spit it out and wouldn't turn into a stone.

Ignoring the small actions of her clones, Hui Li continued to mobilize and gather the natural energy of heaven and earth.

The illusory image of Takamagahara in the pupils shifted, and countless natural energies—sky, earth, mountains, rivers—shot towards the root under the impetus of the pupil's power.

The density of natural energy in the air of Konoha is very low. She didn't know how much energy was needed to cultivate Sage Mode, so she simply absorbed more of it.

Woohoo...

A gentle breeze began to stir inside, and sounds came from the crack in the door.

A massive amount of natural energy gathered in the sealed room, increasing the natural energy content in the air by dozens of times. Even the clones who couldn't sense the natural energy could feel that the surrounding environment had become more comfortable, and the air they breathed seemed fresher.

"coming!"

The Yang Release clone tensed up, raising his hand high, unleashing purple lightning, and assuming a starting stance similar to the Thunderstorm Horizon Thousand-Year Dance.

Unaware of what was happening, Hui Li watched the colorful lights and electricity surging in the air. A glint flashed in her eyes, and wisps of natural energy flowed into her meridians through her acupoints.

As soon as the natural energy entered her body, she didn't feel anything strange. It didn't hurt or itch. If her gray eyes hadn't been able to see the ray of colored light flowing along her meridians, she would have thought she had just inhaled a harmless breeze.

After waiting a while to confirm that the natural energy would not cause the body to petrify, she then directed the natural energy to flow to her heart.

Silently.

The streak of colorful light trailed a long tail through the meridians, aiming to strike the chakra seed within Gray Glass's heart.

On the purple ocean of chakra, invisible spiritual energy and green physical energy were about to merge when suddenly a rainbow-like natural energy mixed in, and the three energies instantly intertwined and mixed together.

"..."

Hui Li watched the mixed energy with great anticipation until her eyes ached, but the chemical reaction she had imagined never occurred.

Although the three energies appear to be fused together, they are actually distinct at the microscopic level. Even the spiritual and physical energies of this long-married couple seem to be strangers to each other.

Depend on!
Sure enough it's not that simple!
She couldn't help but curse under her breath.

There must be some unknown secrets to the creation of Sage Chakra; it's not as simple as just mixing natural energy and chakra in a certain proportion.

Those who cultivate the Sage Mode of Mount Myōboku will develop toad-like features and experience a greater boost to their power, while those who cultivate in Ryūchi Cave will develop snake eyes and become faster. This difference is clearly due to the different cultivation methods used.

Just as spiritual and physical energy must undergo a series of complex reactions to form the all-powerful chakra, the creation of Sage Chakra must be even more difficult.

Unwilling to give up, Hui Li fine-tuned the ratio of natural energy to spiritual and physical energy. Her amazing control allowed her to harmonize the energy into a perfect 1:1:1 ratio at the microscopic level, with each energy group accounting for one-third of the total. The chaotic energy floated on the purple ocean, but the Sage Chakra she had imagined never appeared.

"No success?"

Putting down the hand chop, the Yang Release clone looked at the main body's expression and tentatively asked.

Hui Li opened her eyes and shook her head helplessly. Upon seeing this, all the other Hui Li in the room immediately showed the same look of disappointment.

While they were studying Hidan and the ninja system, they had high hopes for Sage Mode!

Natural energy is the highest quality super energy in the ninja world, and it is also the source of all extraordinary abilities.

The original extraordinary beings of the planet, represented by evil gods, death gods, and Mount Myōboku, obtained their extraordinary abilities by directly or indirectly manipulating natural energy through some means.

Because of limited contact, Gray Glass didn't know how these extraordinary beings used natural energy, so she could only roughly name it 'natural system'.

She had only encountered two people in the 'Natural System': Hidan, who possessed an immortal body, and Enma, who was indestructible.

Based on information from the original work, she deduced that the natural system was better at physical and spiritual matters, but its cultivation was more difficult.

The mysterious states of mind, such as "a clear and tranquil mind" and "harmony between man and nature," are merely the first step in the natural system, and their threshold is far higher than ordinary people can imagine.

With its high difficulty, low minimum performance level, and unknown maximum performance level, the natural system is certainly not excellent.

The Otsutsuki clan claims to be gods and engages in large-scale colonization in the universe, relying on the Divine Tree's ability to devour all the natural energy of a planet and convert it into massive amounts of chakra.

In this way, they broke away from the natural system and created their own 'chakra and eye technique system'.

Planting trees to absorb natural energy, Otsutsuki devouring fruits to evolve, awakening eye techniques to gain new power—all are simple, one-click operations.

This is equivalent to turning the ethereal concept of cultivating immortality into a biotechnology that everyone can access, greatly lowering the barrier to entry.

He endlessly devours and plunders power in an endless cycle, eventually surpassing everything to become the god of the Otsutsuki, with both his upper and lower limits being extremely high.

This path is a beacon of light, and the superior chakra and eye technique system has indeed routed the natives of the natural system.

However, the Otsutsuki clan's system was not invincible either.

Sage Mode is a new path that emerged from the Otsutsuki chakra system.

Hui Li named it: The third system that combines all the advantages of chakra and natural energy - the Sage and Sage Technique System!

The specific creator is unknown, but she believes it was created jointly by the Six Paths brothers and the old toad of Mount Myōboku. They mixed one-third of the natural energy into the chakra and refined it into Sage Chakra that surpasses everything in some unknown way.

Sage Mode chakra is ten times more powerful than ordinary chakra. Before learning Sage Mode, Naruto was roughly at the level of an elite Jonin. After mastering it, he directly became a powerful Kage, and with the help of Kurama (the Nine-Tails), he was even able to crush Nagato, who was at the level of a Super Kage.

The Six Paths Brothers were able to seal Kaguya Otsutsuki for a thousand years, which was probably due to the power of Sage Mode and Sage Techniques. These things do not enhance the essence of life, but their boost to combat is terrifyingly strong.

The noble Sage Chakra can resist the Rinnegan's ability to devour chakra, so Kaguya, as the progenitor of chakra, deserved her defeat.

It could even be said that her failure was inevitable.

The Senju, Uchiha, Kaguya, and Uzumaki clans, among other powerful clans of the Warring States period, clung to their past glories and refused to change, only to be crushed by the new era's ninja village system.

The native creatures of the natural system were utterly defeated by the Otsutsuki, who developed a new system.

Kaguya Otsutsuki's defeat, though seemingly incomprehensible, was actually a systemic defeat against the Six Paths Brothers, who combined nature and chakra.

That is, the natural system < the chakra system < the sage system!

After Hairi awakens in Takamagahara, the powerful natural energy finally unveils its mysterious veil before her.

Using chakra and eye power to manipulate the infinite natural energy in the environment, controlling the world from a macroscopic perspective, although the principle is still the chakra and eye technique system, it has unexpectedly begun to intervene in the natural system.

If she learns Sage Mode, she can use the power of Takamagahara to fuse the local natural system, the chakra and eye techniques of the Otsutsuki, and the Sage and Sage Technique systems of the Six Paths Brothers into one. Whether facing Kaguya Otsutsuki or the Six Paths Brothers, she will have the power to fight!
“We are not the creators of the system, so we can just copy it directly. There is no need to feel our way across the river.”

Seeing that the main body was still trying to harmonize Sage Chakra, the Yang Release clone couldn't help but offer some advice, but subconsciously wanted to say the Sage of Six Paths' name before realizing what she was doing and changing her mind. Not knowing whether the Sage of Six Paths was friend or foe, she didn't want to attract too much attention from him before entering the Six Paths.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Hui Li could only regretfully open her eyes and dissipate the gathered natural energy.

Hashirama was able to directly enter Perfect Sage Mode using his Sage Body, so there's no reason why she couldn't, but it's indeed difficult for her to get started in a short time.

After the Chunin Exams, perhaps she should visit all three sacred sites and learn to create her own Sage Mode. At that time, having mastered the three systems, she would enter the Six Paths and should be no weaker than the Sage of Six Paths.

……

Just as Hui Li was planning his own system, more teams from smaller ninja villages were arriving in Konoha.

Thanks to the newly built wide road outside Konoha, the ninjas from these small villages naturally gathered and formed a long line at the request of Konoha's security personnel.

"Hello, we are from Hoshigakure..." Natsumi, the Jonin leading the team from Hoshigakure, smiled and communicated with Aoba Yamashiro, a faint green light emanating from her eyes.

“So, so big!”

"There are so many people!"

Standing behind Xia Ri, two female genin wearing star-patterned headbands looked at the wide road bustling with people and exclaimed in amazement.

"Hokuto, Sanren, take this opportunity to observe more. These are all our opponents in the exam!" The handsome young man with black hair and brown eyes looked serious as he scanned the various ninjas around him.

"Yes Yes……"

The brown-haired girl named Beidou responded softly, but her eyes kept glancing at the handsome boy, and her cute face involuntarily flushed with two red blushes.

Seriously, Ang is so handsome!

She screamed inwardly.

The three ninjas with bluish-purple hair standing to the side were not so love-struck. They became serious and observed the surrounding ninjas with Ang, looking for a worthy opponent.

"Cough cough..."

Excuse me, could you please let me pass?

A sound suddenly came from behind, startling the Third Company, who were carefully observing the enemy situation. They turned around abruptly.

A cold-looking young man with white hair, green eyes, and two red dots between his eyebrows was coughing incessantly. A tall, muscular man with orange hair was supporting her arm, and he immediately gave her a friendly smile when she turned her head.

Beside them, a group of strange-looking ninjas, none of whom seemed friendly, were coldly watching her. Their murderous aura mixed with malice made Hokuto feel cold all over, and her body stiffened and trembled, unable to speak for a long time.

At this moment, Ang and Hokuto also noticed the Sound Ninja behind them, and were startled. However, seeing the trembling Sanren, their anger surged. Ang stepped forward and blocked Sanren's path:
"We were here first, if you want to go into the village, please queue at the back!"

"You bastard……"

Seeing this, the hot-tempered Zuo Jin was about to step forward, but was stopped by a hand.

"Cough cough..."

Reaching out to stop Sakon, Kimimaro looked at the resolute Ang and the surrounding gazes, and coldly said to Sakon:
"Don't cause trouble!"

"Yes!"

Faced with Kimimaro's order, Sakon dared not say a word. He curled his green lips at Ukon, made a gesture on his neck, and carried Ukon back to the group.

The three members of Hoshigakure, tense with tension, were somewhat angered by Sakon's provocation. Substantial chakra faintly emanated from their bodies, which was Hoshigakure's unique Peacock Technique.

"Ang, Beidou, Sanlian, come over for inspection!" Xia Ri, who was negotiating with Yamashiro Aoba at the time, noticed the situation and quickly called them over.

Ang and the other two looked on with resentment at Sakon, who was making faces in the Hidden Sound Village, but at Natsumi's call once again, they had no choice but to turn around and walk toward the inspection team from Konoha.

Seeing that there was no excitement to be had, the many ninjas who had been watching cursed him as a coward and stopped paying attention to what was happening.

"Cough cough..."

"Are you alright?" Jugo asked, supporting Kimimaro's shoulder with a worried expression.

Kimimaro is terminally ill and will not live much longer, but Orochimaru says that Konoha has a chance to cure bloodline diseases and asks them to take Kimimaro to participate in the Konoha Crush Plan.

How could Kimimaro possibly carry out a mission in his current condition?
"fine."

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, Kimimaro looked at the gate bearing the Konoha insignia in the distance, his eyes filled with determination.

After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, he lay on his sickbed, barely clinging to life. Rather than waiting to die meaninglessly, he decided to go to Konoha and give it his all. Even if he couldn't find a cure for his bloodline disease, he could still help the adults before he died, and that would be a worthy death for him!

"Next!"

Hearing the shouts from the front of the group, Kimimaro barely straightened up and, under Jugo's hesitant gaze, slowly walked towards the Konoha police line:

"The Nine Hidden Sounds!" (End of Chapter)