Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 374 Successfully Gathering Sage Chakra

Naruto learned Sage Mode in less than three days, so there's no reason why Li Yao, who possesses absolute chakra control talent, would be inferior to Naruto.

Even without the environment of Mount Myōboku where Naruto trained in Sage Mode, Li Yao believed that he shouldn't be inferior to Naruto.

At the very least, he needs to master Sage Mode and return before Naruto finds Nagato's true form.

Otherwise, it always feels like a good show has been interrupted.

Thump thump thump...!

In the desert, on a metal platform, Li Yao's shadow clones exploded one after another, with almost no interval between them.

With such a high frequency of shadow clones exploding and splitting again, if Li Yao hadn't been able to directly dissipate the chakra of the exploding shadow clones into the air so they wouldn't return to his original body, his mind simply wouldn't have been able to withstand it for long.

Thanks to the ability that the explosion of the shadow clones cannot affect the main body, Li Yao was able to use the shadow clones to cultivate immortal techniques at a high intensity.

"Soon!"

After a short while, Li Yao's eyes lit up slightly.

Although he still hasn't succeeded, the natural energy absorbed by the shadow clones has approached a certain value, and the difference in size is gradually narrowing. He believes that he will be able to condense Sage Chakra in less than ten minutes.

Konoha, when Li Yao was practicing Sage Mode.

Because Li Yao held back, Naruto unleashed his full power, defeating four of the Six Paths of Pain in a row, which greatly excited the Konoha members who witnessed this.

When Naruto demonstrated Sage Mode, everyone only saw hope.

Now that Naruto has indeed defeated the four Pains as hoped, his hopes have become a reality, and everyone is starting to cheer for him.

Jiraiya was very happy in the mezzanine space.

Although Naruto's path wasn't what Jiraiya had hoped for, seeing Naruto's Sage Mode surpass his master made Jiraiya suddenly feel fortunate that Naruto hadn't followed his own ideas.

Otherwise, Naruto would just be another version of himself.

Instead of Naruto who defeated Pain.

Only Naruto, who forges his own path, can bring a different impact to the ninja world, and perhaps that impact will bring true peace.

Seeing Naruto defeat the four Pains, Jiraiya believed that the future of the ninja world had truly changed at that moment.

However, reality soon taught Jiraiya a lesson.

In the blink of an eye, Fukasaku was killed by the black rods, and Naruto was pinned to the ground with his arms crossed, his chakra sealed and imprisoned by the black rods, completely losing his ability to resist.

"No!!"

The sudden change caused Jiraiya's smile to vanish, replaced by sadness, grief, and resentment.

However, being trapped in the interlayered space, he could do nothing.

At this moment, in the entire Hidden Leaf Village, only Hinata Hyuga ran towards Naruto without hesitation.

Even Sakura, who had just been crying and calling out for Naruto, was now just staring blankly.

Hmm...maybe he can't see Naruto's situation?

But who cares?

Hinata won this round.

In the crater, after subduing Naruto, Li Yaotian said that Pain, just like in the original story, continued to instill his peace philosophy in Naruto, and also said that he was realizing the peaceful world that Jiraiya-sensei hoped for.

The two brothers temporarily set aside everything and talked about war and peace.

The result?

Naruto was speechless, Hinata arrived only to die, and Kurama went berserk.

At this moment, anger completely consumed Naruto's heart. He no longer cared about peace; he only wanted to kill Pain and Nagato behind the scenes.

Bang bang bang... This battle has reached its climax.

Nine-Tails Naruto VS Pain, who held back.

"It's done!"

In the desert of the Land of Wind, Li Yao's eyes lit up, and he burst into laughter.

While Nine-Tails Naruto and Pain were locked in fierce battle, Li Yao's shadow clone successfully condensed Sage Chakra.

It didn't take ten minutes, only three minutes passed.

It can only be said that Lady Luck smiled upon Li Yao.

Li Yaoying's clone stood up, his orange eyeshadow and "I"-shaped beast eyes were characteristics of the Sage Mode of Mount Myōboku.

"It seems that Sage Modes are different depending on the ratio of natural energy used in Sage Chakra."

Seeing the strange appearance of the shadow clone's eyes, Li Yao learned from Jiraiya's memories that the Sage Modes of the three holy lands were different.

In Sage Mode at Mount Myōboku, one will exhibit characteristics of a toad.

The Sage Mode in Ryūchi-dō also exhibits snake-like characteristics.

The same applies to Shikotsu Forest, where some slug characteristics will be observed.

However, not all Sage Modes will exhibit beast-like characteristics.

The Sage of Six Paths learned Sage Mode back then... no, it shouldn't be "learned," but rather "mastered" Sage Mode.

The less the body transforms into beast form after entering Sage Mode, the more perfect the Sage Mode becomes.

Why is this happening?

Li Yaoying's clone sensed the control over the Sage Chakra within his body and had an answer in his mind.

Because of its natural energy source, Sage Chakra is difficult for ordinary people to fully control.

Since Sage Chakra cannot be completely controlled, its natural energy will affect the human body, causing the body to exhibit bestial characteristics.

The more beast-like characteristics a person exhibits, the weaker their control over Sage Chakra.

Jiraiya's Sage Mode was due to his weak control over Sage Chakra, which is why his body exhibited more beast-like characteristics.

Conversely, Naruto, who has strong control over Sage Chakra, has a Sage Mode that is similar to the current Lee Yo-eung clone, with very few beast-like features, only beast eyes and eye shadow, making it a very perfect Sage Mode.

However, it's not the truly perfect Sage Mode yet.

Theoretically, the most perfect Sage Mode is one without eyeshadow or beast eyes, like the Sage of Six Paths, with no beast-like features on his body.

To achieve the same perfect Sage Mode as the Sage of Six Paths, one must be able to perfectly control Sage Chakra and prevent the natural energy within the Sage Chakra from affecting the body.

However, achieving this step is not so easy.

Apart from the Sage of Six Paths, even Hashirama Senju couldn't do that in the ninja world.

Li Yaoying's clones naturally couldn't do that either; his control over Sage Chakra was no match for that of the Sage of Six Paths.

However, the fact that Li Yaoying's clone cannot do it does not mean that Li Yaoying's main body cannot do it.

After all, a shadow clone is just a shadow clone; the essence of the soul lies in the original body. The shadow clone and the original body still have different control over chakra, but it's not usually noticeable.

The difference becomes apparent when facing Sage Chakra, a type of chakra that is difficult to control.

"Sage Mode!"

With a thought, Li Yao absorbed natural energy into his body and condensed it into Sage Chakra.

With the experience gained from the Shadow Clone Technique, it was easy for the main body to condense Sage Chakra.

In an instant, the first wisp of Sage Chakra condensed within Li Yao's body without any difficulty.

Moreover, once the first strand of Sage Chakra is condensed, subsequent Sage Chakra can use this first strand as a source to absorb a large amount of natural energy and fuse into Sage Chakra.

Just like copying and pasting, once you have a template, you can frantically copy and condense a large amount of Sage Chakra.

Theoretically speaking, as long as Sage Chakra is condensed, it can be continuously condensed, and one can remain in Sage Mode indefinitely.

It's just that Sage Chakra is too difficult to control.

It is impossible for ordinary people to absorb natural energy and condense Sage Chakra while their bodies are moving.

(End of this chapter)