Naruto continued his training with the manipulation of the Gift of the Hermit Group. He performed many exercises related to it as instructed by Shoka-sen to better understand and master it.
The Gift of the Hermit Group was solely Naruto's Energy, over which he had seemingly perfect control. However, this control was perfect only until he could no longer sustain it with his consciousness.
How did the monks achieve such perfect control over the Gift of the Hermit Group? After all, even humans cannot walk or communicate immediately after birth; they learn these skills slowly over the years, despite their bodies being entirely their own.
To control the Gift of the Hermit Group, one thing is necessary. Chakra can be controlled similarly to the body after many years of practice. However, proper control of Human Energy is only possible through one's own consciousness. It can be controlled like Chakra, learned slowly, but such control will never be perfect. From the moment they achieve the Gift of the Hermit Group, monks are taught to control this Energy solely with their consciousness.
When you encompass one unit of the Gift of the Hermit Group with your consciousness, you control it in any way you desire. It is under your full and perfect control. You control it continuously until you can no longer maintain your consciousness within it due to mental fatigue.
Some uses of the Gift of the Hermit Group are more demanding and require a stronger and more resilient consciousness. Therefore, monks strengthen their consciousness with simple exercises.
After years of training, the monks' mind, consciousness, and psyche are at an unimaginable level. Naruto had only recently begun to understand that these grueling trainings, Trials of Will, and building pain resistance also had another purpose. All of this aimed to create a mind as strong and indestructible as possible.
The older monks have over ten times more Spiritual Energy than Physical Energy, and additionally, it is monstrously strong. Shoka-sen confessed to Naruto that he has over 17 times more Spiritual Energy than Physical Energy. This was an unimaginable amount. Naruto also has a vast amount of Spiritual Energy, but the difference between the two Energies in his case lies in his crippled body and inability to increase Physical Energy. If not for this, their amounts would probably be equal.
At Shoka-sen's level, even if a fight lasted many days, his consciousness would never waver, and he would never lose control over his Energy.
Naruto wondered how anyone came up with the idea of controlling the Gift of the Hermit Group with their consciousness. It was very strange, but the result was dozens of times better than normal Energy control. In the end, even if the body was on the brink of death and could not function normally, with just one's consciousness, Energy could still be controlled, some resistance could still be mounted, or attempts to heal could be made. Chakra would be unusable after the Chakra System was destroyed, but the Gift of the Hermit Group did not require the Chakra System or any other organ.
Simply put, despite its strangeness, it was definitely a better way to control Energy.
Naruto also immediately tried to control Chakra solely with his consciousness, but it turned out to be impossible. Chakra was not entirely human, it belonged to the Heavens, hence controlling it with one's consciousness was not possible. When Naruto tried to touch one unit of Chakra with his consciousness, something seemed to block his connection, or... someone else was already encompassing 'his' Chakra with their own consciousness. However, he could not confirm this because he did not sense the presence of anyone or anything suspicious.
In the evening, after finishing his training, Naruto wanted to test something. For some time, he had been wondering whether by strengthening the frequency emitted through echolocation with the Gift of the Hermit Group, he could harm someone.
Imagine it this way... Naruto could send a huge amount of frequency in one sound wave to a person's mind, would that person feel bad? Maybe they would be disoriented for a while or feel uncomfortable? Naruto could also send negative frequencies that would cause negative consequences for the human body. Some frequencies cause diseases or other unpleasant effects in the human body; if such a negative frequency was strengthened with Energy, could someone, for example, die? These two things could also be combined into one, enhancing the effect on the person even more.
Naruto fully concealed his presence using the Sleeping Turtle Technique and Life Distortion, becoming practically invisible to his surroundings.
Life Distortion did not work perfectly for him due to having Chakra in his body. Monks get rid of Chakra, but Naruto possesses it, so even if he Distorted Life in his body, becoming seemingly dead, his Chakra could still be detected. Fortunately, he is also very good at masking Chakra, but he fears that some powerful monks would still be able to detect it.
Naruto hid in the crown of a tree near the canteen in the Outer Part of the Temple. It was dinnertime before bed, and practically all the Training Monks were eating their meal. Naruto waited a while for someone to leave the canteen so he could test his idea on them.
The first person left after almost ten minutes. It was a guy about seventeen years old, probably in his last year of training. Naruto immediately and without hesitation sent a sound wave with a huge amount of frequencies, strengthened by the Gift of the Hermit Group, towards him. Besides Life Distortion, the sound wave could also be strengthened with Energy.
The boy immediately stopped, disoriented after receiving a huge amount of strange information in his mind. Confusion appeared on his face, but he did not seem to be suffering from it, maybe he was hiding the pain. He held his head and recovered for a moment before moving, probably heading back to his quarters.
Naruto pondered for a moment and then wanted to test it on himself. By sending a sound wave and controlling its movement through the Gift of the Hermit Group, the sound wave, containing many frequencies strengthened with Energy, hit him.
Naruto felt practically nothing. There was no pain or disorientation. Many nonsensical pieces of information appeared in his mind, but his mind processed them instantly. Apparently, it did not work on him, and probably not on mentally strong individuals either.
In a short period of time, more individuals appeared on whom Naruto tested his technique. He also began sending out negative frequencies amplified by Energy, which had some effect. A thirteen-year-old girl, probably in her second year of training, suddenly stopped in her tracks after receiving a sound wave and fell to the ground unconscious. Blood flowed from her ears, and the girls next to her looked at her in horror. A second later, they too collapsed in a similar state.
Naruto pondered. They were weak targets who had not yet achieved the Gift of the Sage Group, so he wasn't sure if a stronger person would also lose consciousness, but nevertheless, the effect was satisfactory.
He still needed to test this on the Younger Monks. He also wanted to combine the negative frequencies with a huge amount of nonsense frequencies, two executions in one, which should yield an even better result.
As he decided, so he did. Naruto headed to the Inner Part of the Temple and encountered several new Younger Monks who were slightly weaker than the rest. Naruto didn't want to risk experimenting with the technique on big shots who could detect him, so he tested it on weaker individuals.
Seven tested individuals later...
Naruto was puzzled by the result. Those with the Gift of the Sage Group did not faint; they only stood disoriented for a few seconds, sometimes showing signs of pain on their faces, but nothing more. Even combining both uses of the technique, the Monks were rather immune to it.
The Younger Monks had unlocked their Energy, undergone many Trials of Will, and were hardened to immense pain. Their minds were very powerful, so it was no surprise that such a thing would not affect them. Naruto also felt significant amounts of Spiritual Energy from them, making it easier for them to resist the technique.
It seemed that Naruto's technique was not suitable for use on stronger individuals. Nevertheless, the technique could be used in combat to disorient an opponent for a brief moment and attack during that time. Naruto could also send the technique at the opponent multiple times. If a single wave caused slight pain to a Younger Monk, what would happen if Naruto sent ten or more sound waves at them in one moment? From this perspective, Naruto's technique no longer seemed weak. Even a small gap in the form of disorientation in the enemy could be deadly.
Feeling satisfied for now, Naruto decided to stop testing the technique. The next day, the searches would likely begin, and Naruto might be suspected of attacking the other Monks, but it was doubtful he would be punished. As long as no Senior Monk or someone monstrously strong caught him, Naruto was safe.
...
Naruto being a Junior Monk, should move to the Inner Part of the Temple, but he came here together with Kakashi, who was only a guest. Guests are only allowed to stay in the Outer Part of the Temple, without permission they cannot cross the boundary between the Outer and Inner Parts of the Fire Temple. Therefore, Naruto's apartment remained where it was before.
Returning to it, Naruto accidentally encountered the walking figure of Chō-sen with his eyes. It had been a long time since he had seen her. When she learned of his promotion and his attainment of the Hermit Group Gift, she went a little mad with rage.
At the time, Naruto was eating his last meal at the canteen for the Training Monks, and at that moment, Chō-sen jumped on him.
She said that until she saw his new Energy herself, she would not accept him. As if that meant anything.... Naruto was really confused by this girl's words, which made him laugh then and leave without finishing his meal. He completely ignored Chō-sen's existence, treating her like an insect.
Seeing her now returning to her apartment, Naruto wanted to ignore her. However, she must have noticed his gaze, because she turned in his direction. She widened her eyes slightly upon seeing him, then growled something under her breath.
Is she cursing me...? Naruto thought amused.
He wanted to ignore her and go to sleep, but he now felt the urge to tease her. Any way you look at it, this little sister was extremely cute when she got angry. Sensing an opportunity to improve his mood before bed, Naruto waved her off in greeting.
"How's it going, Imouto...!" - Naruto called out to her, heading toward her at a faster pace.
"What...? Fuck you pervert!" - she growled in disgust after realizing what he had called her. This bastard was younger than her, and he dared to call her younger sister!
"Oh, don't be so mean, I just came to say hello. I've been feeling pretty lonely without you lately, so seeing your figure now made me happy," Naruto sent her a slight smile.
"Tch, your talking is extremely smooth, when did you learn to filter, pervert?" - Chō-sen snorted, looking away from him, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"You should know that in my Village I was quite popular. In women's rankings, I was always in the top three for becoming a young lover." - Naruto confessed proudly, puffing out his chest.
Chō-sen blinked in surprise. Did women really do popularity rankings in the Great Villages? Definitely the societies there are a different level.
"I wonder who's crazy to do something like that?" - she snorted in response.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders "I was also surprised when a friend showed me this. I was also popular in rankings such as 'cute little brother' 'perfect husband in 5 years', 'handsome senpai visiting Shinobi Academy', 'gorgeous kid you can go to bed with and make a baby'..."
"...What the hell...! Who is making this up! Especially the last one?"
"Isn't it normal for women to look for the perfect partner to beget offspring? Come on I'm young, I have powerful status, money, I'm handsome and quite strong. It's normal for even grown women to think about extracting semen from me." - Naruto admitted shamelessly.
"...You are definitely perverted" - Chō-sen moved away from him coolly.
"What perverted thing have I done? I'm still a virgin, I haven't even kissed, if you don't count kisses from my Ka-chan"
Chō-sen snorted amused, hearing this.
"Why do you say that so proudly? It's pathetic."
"You know, biologically I'm capable of it, but I'm only twelve years old" - Naruto remarked.
"I'm talking about kisses from my mother, pervert. You really only think about one thing," Chō-sen made an ugly face, looking at him.