Chapter 174: Petrification
The S-rank sensory ninjutsu Ishiro selected didn't have a name. Ishiro called it "Mind's Eye," borrowing the name from Karin's "Mind's Eye of Kagura" in the original story.
The detailed description of "Mind's Eye" was very mystical. From its introduction, Ishiro couldn't help but suspect that this thing might also have originated from some Ōtsutsuki.
This was because the Ōtsutsuki clan possessed numerous dōjutsu capable of perceiving things invisible to the naked eye.
Moreover, the introduction to this "Mind's Eye" gave Ishiro a feeling that successfully cultivating it could lead to a sublimation of life, granting a ninja an extraordinary ability.
Although this ability wasn't powerful, it also wasn't something an ordinary person could possess.
Unlike the feeling he had when he saw Banshō Ten'in, back then Ishiro had felt completely clueless about how to approach it. But this time, Ishiro vaguely had an idea.
Perhaps this S-rank ninjutsu, "Mind's Eye," had some connection to natural energy. Such a mystical description strongly resembled the all-around enhancement of the human body after learning to use natural energy.
However, "Mind's Eye" only enhanced perception, whereas Sage Mode enhanced all aspects of a ninja.
Perhaps cultivating this "Mind's Eye" ninjutsu also relied on natural energy.
But Ishiro's Sage Mode training had already hit a bottleneck. Ishiro was now able to complete the training step that even Dango hadn't managed before.
The winds at a hundred-meter altitude could no longer make Ishiro fall. With this prerequisite, Ishiro could actually already attempt to practice absorbing natural energy.
However, firstly, he didn't know how, and secondly, he didn't dare.
Ninjas had no prior experience of absorbing energy from the outside world. So, Ishiro had no idea how to perform the so-called absorption of heaven and earth spiritual energy, or the essence of the sun and moon, as mentioned in xuanhuan novels.
"There's no 'qi vortex' in my body, so how can I absorb natural energy? Sigh, if only I had the Rinnegan's ability to absorb ninjutsu."
This was naturally Ishiro's wishful thinking. The fact that Iwagakure's predecessors were able to isolate the gravitational ninjutsu of the Rinnegan or Tenseigan, record it, and allow later generations a chance to inherit it, already felt incredibly unbelievable to Ishiro.
As for the ability to absorb ninjutsu, in Ishiro's view, it would require abilities like Shinra Banshō (All of Creation) or Ketsuryū Mōra (Bloodline Encompassing).
After thinking for a long time, Ishiro had no good ideas. Should he really give up? Or perhaps go find Nagato again and try to come up with a solution?
It was better to wait for now. His three new disciples weren't yet capable of undertaking long-distance missions. The ninja world was not yet peaceful, and the outside world was still too dangerous for his three disciples.
Ishiro decided to accompany his three disciples for some time first, and revisit this after they had grown a bit more.
Iwagakure had recently been a scene of thriving prosperity. Ishiro even sensed a vitality that hadn't been so obvious before.
Perhaps it was because they had defeated Konoha, or perhaps it was the pride of being the first to break away from the flames of war. The villagers of Iwagakure now possessed a kind of inexplicable confidence.
Ishiro liked this atmosphere. In this environment, the village received many more missions than usual, giving Ishiro more opportunities to accept D-rank missions that didn't require leaving the village.
After more than a month of peaceful times, Ishiro encountered an unexpected yet pleasantly surprising change.
On this day, Ishiro didn't take Team Two out of the village for a mission but spent the entire day training at the training grounds.
Recently, the progress of his three disciples had become increasingly apparent. It had been several months since their graduation, and the three had gradually adapted to the new training rhythm and slowly experienced changes in their bodies.
Ogura Saki's C-rank ninjutsu practice was slowly getting on track, and she had now learned two C-rank ninjutsu. The most amazing thing was that this little girl was still developing ninjutsu while learning them.
It had to be said, Ogura Saki's intelligence was very high. Or perhaps, knowing that the path she had persisted on for many years was the correct one, Ogura Saki was becoming increasingly confident. Although her speed of learning ninjutsu wasn't fast, her efficiency in developing ninjutsu was surprisingly rapid.
Now, the only obstacle restricting Ogura Saki's ninjutsu development was actually her lack of broader knowledge.
Ishiro suggested she learn more ninjutsu to find new ideas from them.
Compared to Ogura Saki, the progress of the other two was much slower.
Takumi, who came from a civilian background, had taken too many wrong turns in his previous training. To this day, his fundamentals were still not properly adjusted.
Upon careful analysis, Takumi's physical talent was actually better than the other two, but it couldn't make up for the years he spent going down the wrong path at the Ninja Academy.
Many incorrect habits had to be slowly corrected, and Ishiro had been consistently focusing on urging him to solidify his basics.
Takumi was too heavily specialized. This had congenital factors, but acquired influences also played a large part.
A subconscious thought had already formed in Takumi's mind: I am good at speed, but I am not good at other things.
As a result, no matter what other training he undertook, he felt like he was putting in twice the effort for half the results.
Ishiro could only start from the very basics, bit by bit, to change these erroneous cognitions.
It was true that ninjas should play to their strengths, but in any case, their weaknesses couldn't be too obvious, otherwise, a little targeted effort by the enemy could spell doom.
Whether it was changing Takumi's mindset or picking up the basic training he had neglected, neither would show results in a short time. Takumi's training path was still very long.
Matsutani Shinya, whom Ishiro had originally thought would be the most difficult to teach, was now the one who gave Ishiro the least trouble.
Ishiro had discovered a good way to deal with Matsutani Shinya.
For a disciple like Matsutani Shinya, Ishiro couldn't create a packed training schedule for him; too detailed a plan would only make him lazy.
What Ishiro needed to do was simple: set a target and a deadline. Matsutani Shinya could generally complete it with both quality and quantity assured.
As long as Matsutani Shinya completed the target ahead of schedule, Ishiro wouldn't interfere with him. Even if he used the remaining time to rest, Ishiro wouldn't mind, and he would still complete the next target well.
This was very interesting. Matsutani Shinya had now completed various training exercises from the original story, such as tree climbing and water walking.
Ishiro's current requirement for him was to master one attribute transformation or learn one C-rank ninjutsu every ten days, and then he would leave him alone.
So far, Matsutani Shinya had mastered Water Release nature transformation and learned two C-rank Water Release ninjutsu.
Ishiro planned to set other goals for him after he had mastered three attributes and learned nine C-rank ninjutsu.
While his three disciples were training, Ishiro himself wasn't idle. His comprehension of various attributes and ninjutsu development never stopped. Even his contemplation of S-rank ninjutsu, Porcelain Release Kekkei Genkai, and natural energy was ongoing daily.
However, there were too many things, and the training time allocated to each item was actually very little, so progress was slow. After a month, there was almost no obvious improvement.
Ishiro wasn't in a hurry. Ninja training also required accumulation. Ishiro was still young, his accumulation was insufficient, and time wasn't pressing. Maintaining a calm mindset and taking things slowly was actually not bad.
Originally, Ishiro thought this period of accumulation would probably last for about half a year. At that time, he would take his three disciples out on some dangerous missions and see if there would be any changes.
But on this day, after Ishiro routinely exhausted all his chakra practicing Wind Release nature transformation, everything changed.
Ishiro successfully cast a C-rank Wind Release jutsu for the first time. Then, in his excitement, Ishiro continuously extracted chakra from his body and repeatedly cast Wind Release ninjutsu to expend the newly extracted chakra.
As a result, when he returned to the cabin, Ishiro had not a trace of chakra left in his body.
This had never happened to Ishiro before, because the ninja profession was too dangerous, requiring one to maintain combat readiness at all times and be constantly vigilant against unexpected occurrences.
Today, Ishiro had acted so abnormally only because he was overly excited. After all, from this moment on, Ishiro could also be considered to possess all five attributes.
But it was precisely this abnormality that brought about a change.
Returning to the cabin late at night, Ishiro hastily ate a lot of food and then began to refine chakra again.
Thinking carefully, this was the first time Ishiro had refined chakra within the natural energy sealing barrier with absolutely no chakra in his body.
Originally, chakra was produced by the combination of spiritual energy and physical energy, but this time, a third party had intervened besides these two.
This third party was natural energy!
Completely unconsciously, Ishiro, who originally had no clue how to absorb natural energy, had instinctively completed this step.
Even more coincidentally, Ishiro, being too excited and too tired, didn't notice it at first.
What made Ishiro realize something was wrong was Natsuki's cry of alarm.
Natsuki's original Ninja Academy life had been very comfortable, but after Ishiro returned this time, he began to urge her to train.
So today, Natsuki had also trained very late. After finishing her training and intending to rest, Natsuki discovered Ishiro slowly petrifying and immediately let out a scream.
Startled awake, Ishiro finally realized his own abnormal state.
Ishiro's first reaction was that he was done for; this was definitely the effect of natural energy. Although he didn't know why he had absorbed natural energy, without a black rod, the absorbed natural energy couldn't be expelled from his body, and the petrification would be irreversible.
However, after a few seconds of resigning himself to death, Ishiro was pleasantly surprised to find that the petrification process was very slow. It was completely unlike Naruto in the original story, where if Sage Fukasaku had been a fraction of a second slower, Naruto might have turned into a stone frog.
Although Ishiro felt his bodily functions slowly declining, he also realized there was still a considerable amount of time before he completely turned into rock. There was still a chance.
"Natsuki, go notify the patrol ninjas! Tell them to inform Lord Tsuchikage!"
Natsuki nodded after hearing this and immediately ran out of the cabin to find the patrol ninjas.
Ōnoki probably wouldn't have a good solution either, but if he needed to seek external help, Ōnoki was Ishiro's only hope.
"Phew~~" Ishiro let out a long breath. Ultimately, he had to rely on himself.
Ishiro tried to expend the Sage chakra in his body but found he couldn't mobilize this chakra at all.
That was right. There was a problem with the ratio of this Sage chakra; it wasn't normal Sage chakra. This stuff was very unstable right now.
But being unable to expel it externally meant that the petrification was irreversible.
"What to do, what to do?" Ishiro forced himself to calm down. Analyzing carefully, what other methods were there to consume the chakra in his body?
Practicing taijutsu should work. Ninjas consumed chakra no matter what training they underwent. And taijutsu training involved passive consumption; perhaps it would be useful.
But Ishiro quickly gave up on this idea. If Natsuki had noticed his abnormality earlier, this method might have worked. But now, Ishiro's degree of petrification was already considerable; even large movements were difficult, let alone training.
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