Escape from Konoha.

Therefore, Shiraishi never intended to achieve success overnight; in fact, he didn't have the talent to learn an S-rank secret ninjutsu just by looking at it.

Besides, there's no way someone in the world could learn an S-rank ultimate ninjutsu in a single glance.

Regardless, if such a person really existed, it would be an exaggeration.

Even the Sharingan's copying ability cannot do this.

A few days later, Shiraishi finally managed to touch the very threshold of the Spirit Transformation Technique.

Although he had only touched the very threshold, Shiraishi felt that he had benefited greatly.

The art of spiritification not only allows one to use their own spirit to mentally control enemies, but also has the ability to seize control of others' mental world and cause destruction.

Because it can lock onto targets at long distances, it also has a wide range of perception capabilities, making its locking ability excellent.

Bai Shi now only needs to form a hand seal and release his mind to sense everything within a radius of twenty meters.

This ninjutsu, which felt like having a god's-eye view, gave Shiraishi even more confidence in his future research on tailed beasts.

Shiraishi's goal is very clear: whether it's the basic illusion technique Naraku-sight technique or the spirit transformation technique, the purpose is to further explore the nature transformation of Yin attribute chakra and serve his research institute.

Just as Shiraishi was using his consciousness to perceive the outside world without hindrance, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, as if he was being warned by a series of signals. He quickly stopped his chakra and gave up trying to perceive the outside world.

"Phew... Only eleven seconds? As expected of an S-rank ninjutsu from the Book of Seals. With my current abilities, I can't even use it freely at the beginner level."

Shiroshi can only perceive the outside world in a basic way now. He can't even lock onto a target at a long distance, let alone use his spirit to attack the mental world of the locked target, or manipulate the enemy's mental world in a more complex way.

This achievement is far from enough to make one complacent about the complete spiritualization technique.

Moreover, this spiritification technique carries a significant risk: when the spirit attacks, the physical body will be rendered unable to move or defend itself.

Therefore, this ninjutsu can only be successfully performed when there are safe and reliable teammates around.

At the same time, the longer the spirit is away from the body and the farther away it is, the more chakra is needed.

Although it is very powerful, it is also quite troublesome to use.

For the caster, it is a double-edged sword that is both powerful and risky.

Fortunately, Shiraishi learned this ninjutsu mainly to further understand the nature transformation of Yin-attribute chakra, for research purposes.

Even if the Spirit Transformation Technique proves useless in actual combat, as long as its research value is extremely high, it will be more beneficial than harmful to Shiroshi.

Just then, the voice of one of the test subjects came from over there:

"Lord Shiraishi, the experimental data has been updated."

These five test subjects were already able to follow Shiraishi's ideas well and do things behind him.

Although it seems unbelievable, the five of them are now physically superior to ordinary people, and can defeat normal-level genin with just some punches and kicks.

Therefore, the five of them were not only valuable experimental subjects for Shiraishi, but also safe and reliable experimental assistants for him.

While Baishi was researching the art of spirit transformation, the five of them would conduct experiments according to the steps Baishi had written down in advance.

Bai Shi composed himself and went over to take a look. The computer screen displayed data on the multiple fusions of immortal techniques, with a striking 37% success rate.

Although the body data of Ruri's previous attempts at Sage Mode were collected, including the negative and positive effects of Sage Mode chakra on the human body, the success rate still left Shiraishi somewhat dissatisfied.

There has indeed been a great improvement compared to before, but the probability and the risks involved are not enough to make Shiraishi immediately begin cultivating immortal techniques.

Ruri's previous attempt at using Sage Mode could be described as both a success and a failure. The success lay in successfully releasing the Sage Mode, while the failure stemmed from the subsequent chaos caused by the Sage Mode chakra within Ruri's body.

It has some reference value, but it cannot be considered correct.

"Lord Shiraishi, this is the highest fusion value so far."

Seeing the dissatisfaction on Shiraishi's face, one of the test subjects said something softly.

"I don't mean to blame you; after all, I was the one who arranged the steps. It seems I need to try a different approach to the derivation. Anyway, what were the results of experiment number 2?"

Experiment No. 2 refers to the experiment to verify whether losing chakra results in death.

Upon hearing Shiraishi's question, another assistant in charge of experiment number 2 said, "Almost all the mice put into the experiment died, but one mouse was very strange..."

"strangeness?"

Shiraishi went over to take a look and saw a small white mouse convulsing desperately inside a glass case. Even though its chakra had been drained, it did not die immediately.

Shiraishi observed with great interest.

Although the mouse looked like it was on its last legs, it was also true that it didn't die immediately after the chakra was extracted from its body.

"what happened?"

The test subject scratched his head sheepishly and said awkwardly, "It's all my fault for accidentally grabbing the wrong syringe and injecting this mouse with the wrong drug..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the white mouse in the glass case stopped convulsing and died, motionless.

Shiraishi picked up the syringe that had been injected incorrectly; there were still medicine residues inside.

Shiraishi stared at the syringe for a moment, then muttered, "A vitality potion..."

The main ingredient of this vitality potion is a specially processed natural energy that can be absorbed by living organisms.

Shiraishi's expression turned strange.

He had previously considered using natural energy to replace chakra as a life energy source for experimental mice.

But as a result, all of the hundreds of mice died after their chakra was extracted.

After that, he stopped using natural energy to replace chakra in his experiments and instead started with the connection between chakra and the human body.

So what's going on now?

Chapter Sixty-Five: Chakra and Natural Energy (Part Two) & The Meaning of the Kimono

In the ninja world, there are countless examples of ninjas who have died due to exhaustion of chakra in battle.

Therefore, chakra can be regarded as an essential energy element for the human body to carry out life activities.

If this energy is lost, the human body will cease to function and fall into a state of death.

Although there are many causes of death, exhaustion is considered by Shiraishi to be the most unique form of death.

Although the mystery remains unsolved, the experimental results have yielded some unexpected results, opening a mysterious door that leads to an unknown destination.

A vitality potion infused with natural energy was accidentally injected into a laboratory mouse. After draining the mouse's chakra, it temporarily replaced chakra as the life energy source, maintaining the mouse's life functions for a certain period of time.

Whether it was a special case or a general application, Shiraishi immediately launched a new experiment.

Twenty more mice were taken out and injected with the same vitality drug. Their chakra was then extracted and they were placed in a glass container for observation.

Shiraishi witnessed sixteen white mice die immediately inside a glass container after their chakra was drained, even with a vitality potion as an energy source.

Of the remaining four mice, one lay listlessly on the ground with its limbs limp and eyes opening and closing. Before long, it lay still and ceased all life.

The second mouse reacted similarly to the first, lasting only a dozen seconds longer before collapsing and remaining motionless.

Next came the third one. It was in good health and did not show any signs of weakness due to the loss of chakra. On the contrary, it was lively and energetic in the glass enclosure.

The changes in the fourth mouse surprised Shiraishi even more. After taking the vitality potion, the mouse's body had grown larger, and its eyes had become even redder, giving it a very dangerous appearance.

"This is……"

One of the experimental subjects looked surprised, staring intently at the mutated white mouse.

"I never imagined that the vitality potion could be used in this way. It's like taking an energy hormone that matches your own body and bringing out the potential hidden in your body."

Shiraishi gave an objective assessment.

The fourth mouse has clearly begun to mutate in an unknown direction.

Even Shiraishi couldn't predict how this mutation would end.

Shiraishi then turned his attention to the third mouse. The once energetic mouse suddenly became weak and, like the first two mice, lay motionless in the glass case and died.

Shiraishi opened the glass case, took out the only surviving and mutated white mouse, and held it in his hand to observe it.

Bai Shi sensed it briefly and discovered that the little white mouse's body was filled with incredibly abundant natural energy.

While it cannot be guaranteed that this mouse will not suddenly weaken and die like other mice if left to roam for an extended period, it currently appears to have abundant life energy and shows no signs of life depletion.

Furthermore, the experiment just now proved that chakra can indeed be replaced by other energies as a source of energy for life activities.

This energy supply is related to natural energy.

However, there were also problems. In the past, Shiraishi directly used natural energy to replace chakra as the energy source for life activities, which resulted in the death of all the white mice used in the experiments.

Natural energy, after being specially processed and formulated into a vitality potion, has the ability to provide energy for life activities in living organisms.

The experiment showed that even without chakra, the human body could still perform life activities, and the results were very successful.

Why can't raw natural energy serve as a life energy source? Yet, a vitality potion that has undergone multiple processing can accomplish this?

Returning to the essence of the problem, once chakra is lost, human life activities cease, but natural energy, after special processing, can take its place.

Chakra does not originate from the outside world, but is based on the combination of physical and mental energy in the human body. In other words, it is a product processed by the human body, which is like a 'factory'.

The fact that the experiment had proven correct made Shiraishi very happy.

This also means that we are one step closer to breaking free from the caged bird mentality.

However, the connection between chakra and natural energy became increasingly perplexing to Shiraishi.

When you put the two energies together, there's an inexplicable sense of disharmony.

"I always felt that something very important was missing. Only by finding this thing could all the problems with chakra and natural energy be solved."

Unfortunately, Shiraishi had no clue what this "thing" was or where the answer was. So he could only ponder it wildly and try to find another way to prove the existence of that "thing".

◎

After that, Shiraishi devoted himself to researching how natural energy could replace chakra and supply the body's life activities.

If this experiment was just a vague guess before, after that unexpected discovery, Shiraishi can be certain that it is highly feasible for natural energy to replace chakra and provide the human body with the energy necessary for life activities.

Since the experiment itself did not require much operational difficulty, Shiraishi handed it over to the five experimental assistants as usual, who were responsible for recording the detailed process of the experiment.

Shiraishi himself continued to practice the Spirit Transformation Technique, further mastering the ability to transform Yin-attribute chakra nature.

Time flies, and it's already the end of August. The weather is gradually getting hotter.

It has been about a month since I returned to Konoha.

A month has passed, during which time Shiraishi and his two companions have also corresponded with Captain Hatake Sakumo, who is on a mission at the front lines, to keep track of the current situation on both sides.