Promoting the Konoha threat theory, and talking about the Hidden Mist Belt!

Although the ninja had heard such praise many times before, he still couldn't help but show his delight when faced with praise from Hozuki Shingetsu, a figure who shook the ninja world.

"...So, after witnessing the power of this ninjutsu, I have a humble request. I wonder if the clan leader can grant me this small wish."

When Hozuki Shingetsu saw the actor who was in charge of bringing up the topic of steam explosion, he was delighted and took advantage of the fact that there were fewer people around to lay out the topic directly.

"The story of this Steaming Explosion Technique dates back to after the passing of Lord Gengetsu. No one in my Hozuki clan has mastered it since, causing this legendary technique that shook the ninja world to be lost. It is truly a shame to have failed our ancestors."

"So after learning about the nobles' technique of unleashing their fury, I wondered if I could learn from it, and that's how I came here."

Hozuki Shingetsu concealed the fact that he had already mastered the Steaming Explosion Technique, changed his reason for coveting the Wrathful Heaven Technique, and revealed his true intentions.

"If possible, could the clan chief perform the Raging Heaven Technique for me a few more times, and would you also allow me to use a detection ninjutsu to check your physical condition while you are performing the technique?"

Seeing that En no Gyoja had changed his expression, Hozuki Shingetsu immediately added, "In exchange, I will take one of your children as my disciple and have him undergo orthodox ninja training."

"In that case, I'm sure the clan chief will understand my good intentions, right?"

Hozuki Shingetsu deliberately emphasized the word "patriarch," and his intention was self-evident.

Faced with Hozuki Shingetsu's blatant coercion and enticement, and seeing the Kirigakure people who were subtly surrounding him, En no Gyoza had no choice but to agree after a moment's thought.

The factors influencing his judgment included not only the immediate real threats, but most importantly, the substantial stakes offered by Hozuki Shingetsu.

As the number one contributor to quelling the internal strife in Kirigakure, even the tea enthusiasts in the Land of Tea knew that he had been designated by Kirigakure as the Fourth Mizukage, and that the enthronement ceremony would be held as soon as he came of age.

In this context, the significance of being accepted as a disciple by Hozuki Shingetsu for a small clan like the Tsuchigumo clan is self-evident.

In addition, as a forbidden technique passed down through generations of the Tsuchigumo clan, the Enma is confident that even Hozuki Shingetsu, without the bloodline and cultivation methods of the Tsuchigumo clan, can only detect some superficial aspects and cannot detect the core secrets of this forbidden technique.

Therefore, under the influence of multiple factors, the Ennogyosha also succumbed to Hozuki Shingetsu's coercion and enticement.

Hozuki Shingetsu was overjoyed to receive En no Gyosha's consent. Thinking that there was no better time than now, he immediately pulled En no Gyosha aside to prepare for the experiment.

So, after Hozuki Shingetsu's chakra forcefully entered Ekunohyuuja's body, he finally truly felt the core of Sage Mode—natural energy.

"As expected... This 'Raging Heaven Technique' never intended to fuse natural energy with one's own chakra from the beginning; it merely used one's own chakra as an 'outer garment' to firmly bind the natural energy..."

After the mental link was established, Hozuki Shingetsu had a clear view of the state inside the Enjo no Gyoza's body and a deeper understanding of the various secrets of the Wrath of Heaven Technique.

The essence of the Raging Heaven Technique is to treat natural energy as fuel for cannonballs; the entire ninjutsu is a process of constantly converting, compressing, and releasing it.

From this perspective, the key points that Hozuki Shingetsu can learn from the "Angry Heaven Technique" are two:

Firstly, in this process, the perception of natural energy was achieved, thus realizing the effects of the toad oil from Mount Myoboku.

Secondly, it involves using one's own chakra to construct a "protective shield" to block natural energy from contacting the physical body and prevent oneself from turning into stone.

"The way this ninjutsu is used is somewhat similar to Sage Mode..."

At this moment, inside Hozuki Shingetsu's body, the Six-Tails also sensed the situation outside through Hozuki Shingetsu's chakra.

For the tailed beasts who once followed the Sage of Six Paths, Sage Mode is naturally very familiar.

The Nine-Tails can even refine Sage Chakra on its own for Naruto to use. While the Six-Tails can't do that, it still has the vision.

"Six-Tails, do you know the training process for Sage Mode?"

Hozuki Shingetsu's heart skipped a beat; he had momentarily forgotten about this matter and immediately asked Rokubi.

"Sage Mode, huh? I do know a little about that... but do you perhaps want to cultivate it too?"

"Just a heads up, I only know about cultivation methods, but I have no idea how to resist the erosion of the body by natural energy."

After spending a year together, Rokuou actually had a pretty good impression of Hozuki Shingetsu.

Putting aside Hozuki Shingetsu's status as a reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths, at least in his heart, he truly held no prejudice against the Tailed Beasts. This alone was enough to make the Six-Tails look at him with new respect.

So if possible, Six-Tails still doesn't want anything to happen to this guy.

"That's perfect... As for the risks of natural energy, aren't there ready-made solutions?"

Hozuki Shingetsu was overjoyed upon hearing this. Although he had a general understanding of the key points of Sage Mode from Naruto Uzumaki's training process at Mount Myōboku in the original work, there were bound to be many discrepancies between the anime and reality.

Now that the Six-Tailed Fox has given me an extra layer of assurance in my cultivation, I am more likely to succeed.

So for the next three days, the forest, far from the village of the Earth Spider Clan, suffered terribly, with explosions occurring three to five times a day.

In this situation, Hozuki Shingetsu, who had fully understood the various secrets of the Raging Heaven Technique through the chakra link, finally began training in Sage Mode under the guidance of the Six-Tails.

"Before you begin practicing Sage Mode, you must first gain a deep understanding of its underlying principles. Only by clarifying these principles can you minimize the chances of going astray during your practice."

To Hozuki Shingetsu's surprise, the Six-Tails' first step didn't involve explaining in detail how to absorb natural energy; instead, it first explained the theoretical knowledge of Sage Mode.

"The essence of this 'Sage Mode' lies not in the application of chakra brought about by this 'mode', but in the word 'Sage' itself."

"The term 'Immortal' is not just a title for a powerful ninja, but also a harmonious state of being in harmony with nature, and a state of mind where one's essence, energy, and spirit are complete and perfect."

With the explanation from the Six-Tails and some information he already knew, Hozuki Shingetsu gradually gained a deeper understanding of Sage Mode.

According to the toads of Mount Myoboku, the essence of Sage Mode lies in the word "balance".

The balance between "movement and stillness" in the mind and the balance between "physical energy, spiritual energy and natural energy" in the body—only when one is perfectly in these two balances can one cultivate the immortal mode.

It can be said that Sage Mode is not only an advanced mode of using chakra, but also contains the connotation of a universal state of "perfection".

Similar to the Buddhist "Bodhisattva" and the Taoist "unity of heaven and man".

The purpose of Rokuou specifically pointing this out before Hozuki Shingetsu's training was quite clear.

The point was to tell him that while techniques like absorbing natural energy are important, the spiritual path is the foundation of cultivation in the Immortal Mode.

With this mindset, and carrying the various natural energy absorption techniques he had learned from the Enma, Hozuki Shingetsu officially began his Sage Mode training under the guidance of the Six-Tails.

Chapter 116 Hozuki Sage and the Upheaval in the Land of Rain

The village where the Earth Spider clan lives is located in a valley. Due to the sparse population, the surrounding area is filled with countless lush and verdant trees.

So despite the damage caused by the enslaved travelers, the surrounding forest remained vast and seemingly unchanged.

In this dense forest, Hozuki Shingetsu placed a round wooden board about one meter in diameter on the top of an ancient tree that was nearly a hundred meters tall. He then sat quietly on the board, imitating Naruto Uzumaki's training process on Mount Myōboku, trying to feel the way of natural balance in these towering mountains.

Actually, when Hozuki Shingetsu saw this scene on the computer back then, he instinctively thought of the scene in the 86 TV series Journey to the West where Tang Sanzang competed in meditation with Deer Power Immortal in Chechi Kingdom.

In a sense, this experience of the natural mind is similar to meditation; both require maintaining inner peace and consciously overcoming various temptations.

Therefore, Hozuki Shingetsu specifically instructed Ao to release Wind Release ninjutsu from time to time to create some other sounds and artificially increase the difficulty of his training.

"You say that Crescent Moon is so obsessed with this Sage Mode, even to the point of abandoning so many things in the village and traveling thousands of miles to come here, going to great lengths to persuade the Earth Spider Clan, is it all really worth it?"

Standing under the tree, Qing looked up at the Hozuki Crescent Moon, which had shrunk to almost a tiny black dot, and couldn't help but ask this question.

As a young ninja born after the First Shinobi World War, Ao had never witnessed the earth-shattering power of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

We can only learn about the Thousand-Handed Sage's terrifying exploits from past records and the accounts of some elderly people.

But... no matter what, he couldn't believe that the power to so easily change the landscape and subdue the Nine-Tails was really a power that a human could achieve.

Is it really not that later generations deliberately embellished the fact of their defeat in order to downplay it?

Therefore, he couldn't help but have some doubts about Hozuki Shingetsu's training method, which seemed to have made no progress despite Hozuki Shingetsu's daily routine over the past month.

"I haven't seen Sage Mode myself, so I don't know how real it is."

"But I am certain of one thing: if the records are all true, and if Lord New Moon can truly master Sage Mode, then the rise of Kirigakure will be unstoppable!"

As the whirlpool sect member looked at the black dot above the tree, a fiery glint flashed in his eyes.

"Oh, why think so much? Even if this trip was unsuccessful, we still managed to bring back a member of the Earth Spider clan, so it wasn't a complete waste of time, was it?"

Yukinagi said with a chuckle.

Unlike the other two, as her personal secretary, Yukinagi had a very clear purpose for this trip: as long as Hozuki Shingetsu was happy, everything would be fine.

Especially without Kushina Uzumaki by her side, she felt incredibly relaxed and at ease.

Almost every day, she would proactively ask Hozuki Shingetsu what clothes he wanted to see the next day, and then she would happily change into new outfits.

Ao and Uzumaki Muto exchanged a glance, remaining silent in tacit agreement.

Plop!

Just as the atmosphere below fell silent because of Yukinagi's speech, a dark shadow flew in from a distance and landed on Ao's arm with practiced ease.

Ao raised his hand and stroked the ninja hawk's head, casually fed it two pieces of meat, and removed the intelligence document tied to the ninja hawk's leg.

"Information about the Land of Rain..."

Qing glanced at the intelligence information in his hand, his expression gradually becoming serious.

"No, this news must be shared with Crescent Moon."

After reading the intelligence, Qing made this decision immediately.

As Hozuki Shingetsu's confidant, he was well aware of how much Hozuki Shingetsu valued the Land of Rain, and this news needed to be known to him as soon as possible.

Just as Ao was about to rush forward and interrupt Hozuki Shingetsu's training, an unusual aura suddenly appeared above, attracting the attention of everyone present.

At the treetop, the Ghost Lantern Crescent Moon, which had been focused and closed its eyes, slowly opened them.

As his eyes opened and closed, golden eyeshadow quietly appeared, and a golden lotus flower slowly materialized between his eyebrows.

Hozuki Shingetsu stood up, clenched his fists, and felt the energy surging within his body.

"So this is what Sage Mode feels like... This feeling is actually not bad."

After finally achieving the Sage Mode he had always dreamed of, he did not feel the joy he had imagined.