Chapter 21: Shape Transformation and the Void State

In the days that followed, the guidance provided by Guy began to show its effects.

First, there was the management of training intensity. Before, Natsuro was unsure of how much his body could handle. But now, he could reach his training goals in a much shorter time.

Next was the regulation of training volume. Even the increments in his training had been carefully calculated, saving him a lot of time.

Natsuro had great respect for Guy's understanding of taijutsu—after all, this was the man who almost ended a major battle with a single kick using pure taijutsu.

However, Guy wasn't there every day. He only observed closely at the beginning to provide guidance, leaving most of the training sessions to Natsuro and Lee, who continued to train together.

Then there was the "stillness" of Sage Mode. Ever since that first day, Natsuro hadn't been able to enter that state again for several days.

But he wasn't anxious. He had already reached it once, and he could clearly feel that he was steadily progressing in the right direction.

Finally, after a few more days, Natsuro successfully entered the state of stillness again without pushing himself to his limits. This time, he remained in the state much longer than before.

Yet, even in this state, he still couldn't sense natural energy—it was just a vast emptiness.

Over the next few days, the threshold for entering this state became easier to overcome. He could enter it more easily, though it didn't seem to serve much purpose once he was in it.

Natsuro wasn't disappointed by this. After all, it was just the precursor to Sage Mode, and its lack of immediate usefulness was within his expectations. What he needed to do next was to continue lowering the threshold for entering this state until he could do so at will, even in a relaxed condition.

After all, in a real battle, there would hardly be time to train to the limit just to enter this state. Even if he did, how much energy would he have left for the fight?

So, further practice was necessary.

However, as he continued practicing, Natsuro noticed something strange. After entering the stillness state, he seemed to think more clearly, and it felt as though he could even observe things around him.

Though he wasn't sure what he was observing, he wondered if he might eventually be able to perceive natural energy.

One day, when Lee approached him while he was nearing this state, Natsuro suddenly opened his eyes, shock lingering in his gaze as he looked at Lee.

He had seen—no, sensed—the flow of chakra within Lee's body and the naturally dissipating chakra around him.

Was this state similar to the Byakugan?

Natsuro shook his head. Not at all. He had merely sensed the flow of chakra and simulated an image of Lee's chakra pathways. The range of perception provided by the Byakugan was far beyond what his state could achieve.

Still, he felt this state had more to offer—he just hadn't discovered it all yet.

As for Lee's chakra, it wasn't surprising. Lee couldn't use chakra, but that didn't mean he didn't have any. If he had no chakra, the Eight Gates technique wouldn't work on him either.

After all, Natsuro remembered that the later stages of the Eight Gates involved releasing berserk chakra locked within the body. Without chakra, there would be nothing to release.

Since he had already emerged from that state, Natsuro decided to continue practicing chakra transformation. He began concentrating chakra in his palm and releasing it.

This time, he clearly felt that even when the chakra was released outside his body, his connection to it seemed to deepen significantly.

This was strange. Just yesterday, it wasn't like this. He looked at the spherical chakra he had successfully condensed for the first time, thought for a moment, and then transformed it into a cube.

He stared at the cube for a moment before trying again. This time, he failed, and the chakra quietly dissipated into the air.

Had he really made that much progress in just one day? Natsuro had a good sense of his improvement rate after so much training.

Was it that the stillness state had enhanced his perception, allowing him to more clearly sense and control chakra even when it was outside his body? Was that the reason for such progress?

He wasn't sure, but if that was the case, then the benefits of this state were greater than he had imagined.

This realization strengthened his resolve to master Sage Mode. For now, his goal was to maintain the stillness state for longer periods.

One day, while in the stillness state, Natsuro's perception became even sharper. Although it still couldn't compare to the Byakugan, it was enough to cover most close-range combat scenarios.

With this enhanced perception, he could observe the chakra states of his opponents, allowing him to anticipate the timing of their jutsu. This was a significant advantage.

Unfortunately, he could only sense chakra in close-range combat. At such close distances, even if he sensed something, he might not have time to react. And at this distance, combat would likely involve taijutsu, making this perception less useful for now.

As he continued to maintain the state, Natsuro suddenly realized something—why hadn't he noticed this earlier? He should have realized it when he first sensed Guy.

But he had been misled by his own assumptions—that this state was purely for sensing natural energy. So he never thought to use it to sense chakra, which, compared to natural energy, was much easier to perceive. Not only was it more abundant, but it was also a type of energy he had been familiar with from the beginning.

Had he missed something else due to the limitations of his previous thinking?

The stillness state had strong perception, but it generally only allowed him to sense where chakra was located. Only when someone was extremely close could he sense the subtle flow of chakra in their body, and the range was very limited.

Within this small range, how could he experiment with observation without asking Lee for help?

The answer was obvious—he could observe himself. No matter how small the range, he was always within it!

With this in mind, Natsuro turned his "gaze" inward for the first time, directing it into his own body. He saw the chakra flowing through his chakra pathway.

Unlike with others' chakra, which required perception, he could directly observe his own chakra without any need for sensing. The clarity of this observation far exceeded his expectations!

This observation revealed something different—he saw both wind and lightning attributes contained within his chakra.

He had always known they were there but had never been able to sense or use them. His plan had been to focus on chakra control and transformation before tackling elemental changes. He hadn't expected to see them so clearly now.

He observed the wind and lightning elements within his chakra, silently experiencing their flow and transformation.

At that moment, he seemed to understand something. If anyone were paying close attention, they would have noticed tiny arcs of electricity jumping across his body and a gentle breeze swirling around him.

For the first time, Natsuro opened his eyes and exited that state intentionally. He moved to an open area, recalling the power he had just seen, and formed hand seals for a technique he had memorized but never used.

Even though it was his first time using it, he was confident he could not only perform the jutsu but do so effectively.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

As the hand seals were completed, the jutsu was successfully executed. However, instead of a wide, weak gust, the Great Breakthrough was compressed into a small area, firing off like an air cannon—a stark contrast to the traditional version of the jutsu.

Natsuro looked at the modified Great Breakthrough with a sense of realization. By following the hand seals and chakra flow as described in the scroll, he could have used the standard Great Breakthrough, which was mostly effective against Hidden Mist Jutsu but lacked power due to its wide dispersion.

Even without understanding wind, he could still create a strong wind using the prescribed hand seals and chakra control. But now that he had seen the wind within his chakra and grasped a bit of its nature, he could compress the wind generated by the Great Breakthrough into a focused blast, forming an air cannon.

The compression wasn't strong enough yet, resulting in a weak air cannon. Still, the experiment was a success!

Then, Natsuro looked at his arm, where tiny arcs of electricity began to jump. A smile appeared on his face.

That day, he had truly taken a significant step forward in chakra transformation.

This state certainly couldn't be called Sage Mode. Since it's just a state, he decided to call it the Void State. He pondered whether this state could be akin to meditation in a world of magic.

Perhaps there was some truth to that.

But while others used this state to sense natural energy, he had used it to observe his own chakra—and found it quite effective.

This approach was especially useful for Natsuro. Most others who learned Sage Mode had long since mastered chakra transformation. While this state might have other uses, its benefits weren't as significant for them—they would rather focus on mastering Sage Mode quickly.

But for him, who was still at a lower level, this state was like a low-tier machine suddenly gaining access to a high-level function, naturally boosting the performance of all other low-tier functions as well.