I'm in Konoha, and I started with Ashura Chakra.

Chapter 101 Sage Chakra, This Time It's a Success!

"Please take care, everyone. Thank you for your help during this time."

A few days later, at the entrance of Sunagakure Village.

Gaara and his two siblings are seeing off Class 8.

Completely different from a few months ago, Gaara, now a polite and refined man, bowed deeply to Team 8 with his sister and brother in gratitude.

"No need to be so polite, otherwise it would seem like we're being very impolite."

Yagyu joked, "After all, we didn't get this treatment when we saw you off last time."

Upon hearing this, the three Gaara siblings, who had been quite serious, immediately broke into smiles.

Looking at Yagyu, who was the same age as her younger brother but taller, and who impressed her immensely in terms of strength, wisdom, and even interpersonal skills, Temari's heart began to race uncontrollably again. She then subconsciously said, "Yagyu, Sunagakure and Konoha are allies. You are welcome to come here anytime."

"what……"

Yagyu nodded and smiled, "We also welcome you to visit Konoha. I will personally entertain you then."

"Then it's settled."

Temari immediately broke into a bright smile, which made Kurenai Yuhi raise an eyebrow and couldn't help but glance at Hinata beside her.

Hinata's expression remained unchanged, with a faint smile still on her face.

Seeing this, Kurenai Yuhi couldn't help but shake her head inwardly.

I really don't know what kind of spell Yagyu cast on Hinata and the others. Not only are they incredibly close, but they also don't seem to care that Yagyu is having affairs.

Aren't they afraid that Yagyu will really be snatched away by another girl?

After exchanging a few more polite words with Gaara and his siblings, Yagyu waved goodbye and said, "Well then, we'll take our leave. I hope you can elect the Fifth Kazekage as soon as possible and get back on track! Of course... if the Fifth Kazekage is Gaara, please be sure to send me an invitation so I can attend the succession ceremony."

In his last sentence, Yagyu's tone became cheerful again.

Temari quipped, "Likewise, if Lady Tsunade suddenly decides to retire, we hope the future Sixth Hokage won't forget us."

"Haha... I'm still a Chunin, I have a long way to go."

"Well then, goodbye."

After bidding farewell to Gaara and his siblings, Team 8 instantly vanished in a few afterimages.

Having been away for a long time, Team 8 decided to return to Konoha at a leisurely pace instead of sightseeing.

During this time, Class 8 passed through several bustling towns.

Yagyu bought a lot of souvenirs for Tsunade, Shizune, Karin, and even Hanabi.

Now, Yagyu no longer has to worry about money.

Although Kakuzu didn't carry the Akatsuki's money storage scroll with him, he liked to work to earn money whether he was traveling or returning home, and he had an astonishing amount of savings accumulated over decades.

Moreover, both he and Hidan were S-rank rogue ninjas, and their heads were worth tens of millions of taels.

Although Yagyu dismembered their bodies, it didn't stop him from receiving an astonishing bounty.

Now, Yagyu is a multi-millionaire.

Even if he retires now and stops being a ninja, Yagyu will never have to worry about money for the rest of his life.

"Onii-chan, thank you... Mua!"

Having already gained the privilege of freely entering and leaving the Hyuga clan, Yagyu handed the souvenir to Hanabi and then received a kiss on the cheek from the little girl in return.

Such intimate behavior shows that Hanabi has completely become a fan of Yagyu.

Having not played with his sister-in-law for a long time, Yagyu spent a few hours at the Hyuga clan, sparring with Hanabi, whose personality secretly harbors a strong admiration for strength, at the dojo, and also explaining to her the basics required to cultivate the Yin Seal.

At Hanabi's current age, it would take her several years to master the Yin Seal.

However, if Hanabi had mastered the Yin Seal after Shippuden ended, then by the time Boruto came out, she would definitely be strong enough to assume the role of the head of the Hyuga clan's main family.

Once she has fully mastered the basics of the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist, Yagyu can start training his sister-in-law in advance, allowing her to enjoy the same treatment as Hinata.

That evening, after eating the dinner that Karin had carefully prepared, Yagyu chatted with the girl for a long time in the living room.

Nearly four months have passed since the second Chunin Exams.

During this period, Karin's spirit and energy underwent a tremendous change, and her life became incredibly fulfilling.

A few months ago, her life was still shrouded in darkness, and her chakra was so low that it seemed she was about to overdraw her lifespan at any moment.

But now, even without visual perception, ordinary senses can feel Karin's powerful aura.

With her vibrant red hair and immense chakra reserves, anyone with a modicum of knowledge could easily guess Karin's identity.

Besides the physical changes, after Karin became friends with Hinata and the other two girls, her personality gradually became more cheerful and she was no longer so insecure.

Instead of joining any team, she became Tsunade's assistant alongside Shizune. During this time, she was surrounded by Konoha ninjas in disguise. In addition, as a disciple of the Hokage, Karin's aura and eyes became more confident.

Even Karin, who was a leader in a base during Shippuden, probably didn't have the confidence and strength she has now.

Aside from not yet awakening the Adamantine Sealing Technique, Karin possesses innate chakra control talent, similar to Sakura, as well as a talent for sealing techniques. Furthermore, her chakra reserves are even greater than the combined total of Hinata, Sakura, and Sakura, making her Water Release techniques as exaggerated as Yagyu's. This allows her to achieve twice the results with half the effort when training in advanced medical ninjutsu and sealing techniques.

At this rate, Karin will definitely be the first person to master the Super Strength Fist.

At that time, her strength will undoubtedly be No. 1 among the four women, and she will be even more like Tsunade's personal disciple than Shizune.

Witnessing Karin's transformation firsthand, Yagyu felt immensely gratified.

After encouraging the girl, Yagyu returned to his room, created a wooden clone, and used the Mayfly Technique to quietly leave Konoha. A few hours later, he arrived inside the ancient ruins.

Having received advance notice, the wooden clone had already lit candles inside the ancient ruins. The candlelight illuminated the ground, causing the ore, which had also been dug out of the ground, to emit a flickering green glow.

These ores are all unrefined Grell Stones.

Emerging from the ground, Yagyu immediately picked up a Grell Stone the size of his head.

Blue chakra covered his palms, and an invisible suction force drew out the special energy contained within the stone, which seeped into Yagyu's body.

Just like the Preta Path of the Rinnegan, Wood Release also has the ability to absorb energy.

Wood Release can absorb everything, whether it's chakra from ninjutsu or the body's physical and mental energy.

Similarly, Yagyu doesn't need to learn trashy chakra absorption techniques like the Red Copper Armor; he already possesses top-tier chakra absorption skills.

"snort……"

Without being refined or aided by the technology of that ancient kingdom, the special energy that was absorbed was only a tiny bit seeping into Yagyu's body. Yagyu immediately stopped absorbing it and let out a muffled groan.

If you look closely, you'll notice that Liu Sheng's expression turned ferocious for a moment, and a flash of malevolent red light passed through his eyes.

If someone could sense emotions, they would have noticed that Yagyu's emotions had changed and he was experiencing negative emotions.

It took Yagyu quite a while to recover. He murmured, "Is this the effect of natural energy? My emotions suddenly became volatile, and I couldn't control my mind, but I didn't turn to stone. Is it similar to Jugo's Sage Mode?"

Even after absorbing only a small amount of this special energy, Yagyu could see the consequences of excessive absorption.

If an ordinary person absorbs this energy, their body will turn into that of a wild beast, their personality will become as out of control as a rampaging wild beast, and eventually their body will collapse on its own.

Even after being diluted and absorbed, the skin will turn brownish-black, and the personality will be as violent as a wild beast. If this ability is used for a long time, the body will still collapse and die.

Even Yagyu, who possesses the body of a sage, and Jugo, who is born with the ability to absorb natural energy, will also enter sage form and go berserk if they absorb too much natural energy.

However, the special energy within the Grell Stone, besides natural energy, also contains a vast amount of life energy.

This energy had no effect on Yagyu; after absorbing it, he felt as comfortable as soaking in a hot spring.

If he absorbs a large amount of this life force, Yagyu's Yang Release chakra and Wood Release will increase dramatically in power. He might be able to convert the massive chakra into Wood Release chakra in an instant and create a huge wooden doll instead of needing to continuously convert Wood Release chakra and release the Advent of the World of Trees.

The special energy within these stones is currently a mixture of positive and negative.

If Yagyu can fuse the negative natural energy with his own chakra to form Sage Chakra, then these Grell Stones will be the greatest tonic for him.

So, Yagyu formed a hand seal with one hand, and a branch extended from his body, quickly transforming into a wooden clone that looked exactly like him.

Immediately, Yagyu grasped the head-sized Grell Stone with both hands and absorbed its special energy once more.

This time, Yagyu didn't just try it out; he directly drained the special energy inside.

As the special energy surged out and seeped into Yagyu's body, the Grell Stone, which had been flickering with green light under the candlelight, immediately turned into a dull, ordinary stone.

It's as if jade has become a stone that can be seen everywhere on the road.

At the same time, a ferocious expression reappeared on Liu Sheng's face, and his whole body exuded a violent aura.

His fair skin turned brownish-black at a visible speed, and his red pupils, which had already had their contact lenses removed, slowly turned into yellow vertical pupils, making him look like a wild beast.

A terrifying aura emanated from Yagyu, making him as frightening as a demon emerging from the abyss.

Just as Yagyu was about to enter Sage Mode, his wood clone suddenly reached out and placed its hand on his shoulder, using chakra absorption to draw out the special energy from his body.

Liu Sheng, who had almost lost his mind, immediately regained his composure.

However, the wood clone that absorbed the special energy began to transform into a sage.

Whoosh...

Several afterimages appeared in an instant, placing their hands on the wooden clone and drawing out the special energy within it in several parts.

Before long, the skin of several wooden clones also turned brownish-black, and their eyes turned into yellow beast-like pupils, but they did not immediately lose their minds like Yagyu had before.

So, the several wood clones sat down cross-legged, attempting to fuse the natural energy within the special energy with chakra.

Once Yagyu regained his senses, he used the Wood Clone Technique again to create a batch of wood clones to guard the other wood clones and observe their changes.

Once a wood clone completely goes out of control, the other wood clones absorb a portion of the special energy of that wood clone.

Soon, the number of wood clones increased, dividing the special energy within a Grell Stone into nearly a hundred parts.

Even so, one of the wooden clones still went out of control.

Before Yagyu could create another wooden clone to help dilute the special energy within him, the wooden clone used the Mayfly Technique to leave the interior of the ancient ruins.

Rumble...

The violent tremor caused Yagyu's body to sway slightly.

Upon activating his red eyes, Yagyu was both surprised and delighted.

A towering tree, hundreds of meters tall, had grown from the ground somewhere in the mountains.

This towering tree is the manifestation of that wood clone.

After the shadow clone dissolves, it will feed back memories, experiences, and even natural energy to the original body in a different way.

Wood clones are even more independent entities than shadow clones. They can transmit information to the main body in real time. When dispelled, they either transform into a seed or a small tree.

But now, this is hardly a sapling anymore!

The wood clone that absorbed the energy of the Grell Stone not only possesses raging natural energy but also immense life force.

These two energies directly transformed the small tree formed from the wood clone into a hundred-meter-tall tree.

This is why the Grell Stone can create wells that never run dry and livestock that grow overnight.

Fearing that these wooden clones would destroy the ancient ruins, Yagyu quickly used the Multiple Wooden Clone Technique again to redistribute the special energy within them.

As the special energy was divided into hundreds of parts, the immortal transformation of all the wood clones was released.

Before long, a large number of wooden clones opened their eyes, shook their heads at the main body, Yagyu, and said, "We've run out of energy. We've failed."

Clearly, they failed to fuse Sage Chakra and also exhausted their natural energy.

Yagyu was not surprised by this.

He didn't expect to learn Sage Mode from a single stone.

However, upon seeing one of his wooden clones transform into a hundred-meter-tall tree, Liu Sheng realized that he could no longer use wooden clones to assist in cultivating Sage Mode.

Natural energy is secondary; if I can't learn the Immortal Mode, I can always go to the Wet Bone Forest to learn immortal techniques.

However, the life force contained within this special energy cannot be wasted by the wood clone; this is the shortcut to quickly perfecting the immortal body.

Just then, a piece of unfamiliar information suddenly appeared in Liu Sheng's mind.

In an instant, a strong look of joy flashed in Liu Sheng's eyes as he looked at a certain wooden clone who was smiling.

"...Success!"

The wooden clone opened its eyes, which were also yellow but no longer had vertical pupils; a red mask appeared at the corner of its eyes.

Although it only took a few seconds for the yellow pupils and red mask to disappear.

But he did indeed fuse natural energy with chakra to form—Sage Chakra!

By having hundreds of wood clones attempt the same thing, with a chance of triggering it only once every few hundred attempts, Yagyu mastered the technique of fusing natural energy and chakra.

Clearly, Yagyu got lucky this time!

(End of this chapter)