Title: Cultivating Natural Energy.
...
"You see Naruto, learning Sage Mode is a form of cultivation." A white haired young man said with a Sagely expression while munching on a plate filled with worms of exquisite colors.
The blonde haired kid in front of him, Naruto, only looked at him as though looking at an alien without also masking the disgust he felt towards the plate in front of him.
"Cultivation or not Nii-san, how are you able to eat this thing without a change in expression?" He asked, leading to the man shaking his head in disdain.
"This is why children these days will always remain children." He said and placed the chopsticks on top of the plate and clapped his hands in thanks. "Itadakimasu."
"What?! You're done?"
"Of course I'm done." He said and took a deep breath before exhaling it, causing his aura to immediately change. "Did you feel that?" He asked and Naruto nodded.
"That is the art of Cultivation I've always been talking about." He said.
"Shun-nii...I have no idea what cultivation is in the first place." Naruto said.
"Sigh." Shun said and looked into the sky...or that's what Naruto felt he was doing since his eyes were blindfolded.
It had been a full week since Naruto arrived in mount Myoboku to learn Sage Mode from the toads, and although Shun didn't feel like allowing him to learn this particular discipline, he still let him be just so he could look cool in the future.
In the past week, Naruto had been forced to learn how to meditate while maintaining a sense of balance.
Meditation wasn't a problem for him due to Shun's daily requirement of the 10 minutes meditative exercise he made he and Sasuke undergo.
As for why Naruto still needed a whole week to get his sense of balance, it was all due to rejection towards the delicacy the toads provided.
"Why do you feel disgusted towards this food?" Shun asked.
"Foods? Nii-san, this isn't food but bugs! How do you expect me not to be disgusted?" Naruto asked, pointing at the wriggling worms in the plate in front of him.
"And why do you feel disgusted by bugs? Because they're raw?"
"Exactly!"
"I see. But you see Naruto. This is the way of the roads. And don't tell me you don't sense the energy within these bugs?"
"Energy?"
"Yeah, the toads eat this raw for a reason, so they gave it to you for that same reason. Jiraiya partook of these,your father partook of this, I partook of this and so will you." Shun said with a tone of finality and Naruto knew he had no way out.
...
"Senjutsu Chakra... A special chakra generated when you attract and combine the energy of the world around you with your physical and mental energy." Shun said. He was currently sitting on a board placed on a pointed peak with Naruto sitting opposite him.
He had decided to take over Naruto's lecture after the toads had had their time with Naruto.
"I got all that Nii-san, Pa and ma made sure to drill that into me." Naruto said with a disgruntled expression.
"Then that's good. What I am going to teach you now is the direct opposite of what they've taught you." Shun said and snapped his finger, bringing them both to a starry sky with a gigantic figure of a human made of stars.
"Nii-san! A little heads up won't kill you!" Naruto screamed as he almost fell off his board due to its disappearance.
"This is your first lesson. With Senjutsu Chakra, all normal illusions are just that. Now..." Shun said and zoomed in on the human body, the spine to be precise and asked. "Where in the human body do you think determines the power exerted with every physical attack?"
"The bone?" Naruto asked and answered at the same time causing Shun to shake his head for his mistake in asking in the first place.
"The Spine. The amount of force used in a physical attack is primarily determined by the muscles and the strength they exert. Muscles, attached to bones, contract to generate force and movement. The key components involved in force generation during physical attacks include muscle , joint, lever system, core strength and physical skill and technique." Shun said while highlighting all these parts in the body. "But..."
"The spine is a crucial part of the body's structure and movement, and it contributes to force generation and transmission in several ways." Shun said as the image of the spine was highlighted, showing how it was connected intricately to the other bones, joints and muscles in the Body.
"Core stability, rotation and flexion, shock absorption, posture and alignment. These are the main and fundamental aspects that determine the amount of force being generated by the human body." Shun ended his lecture. The holographic body scattered and formed back into smaller holographic bodies, all using a particular attacking technique, both fist, palms, jabs, kicks, knees, shoulders and more.
"Wow...I don't think I can be bored of this." Naruto muttered to himself in awe before looking at Shun. "Can you teach me how to do this? Can I do this too?"
"I can teach you of course, but whether you can do this is all up to you." Shun replied and snapped his finger, bringing back to the spiky peaks.
"So...what did you learn from all these?" Shun asked the blonde, causing him to flinch for an instant.
"Uh.. umm. The human body is strong...?"
"You've got to stop answering my questions with questions you brat." Shun said but couldn't find it in himself to actually be angry.
Despite the serum he had given to Naruto to activate his latent spiritual energy, Naruto had shown little to no actual development in his intelligence, rather, his wisdom had spiked.
Yup, Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge, solve problems, and learn from experiences. It often involves logical reasoning, analytical skills, and the ability to adapt to new situations.
While wisdom is the ability to make sound judgments, apply knowledge wisely, and exhibit discernment and good decision-making. It often involves a deep understanding of human nature, empathy, and a broader perspective on life.
Yup, they were similar, but different at the same time. You'd need to kill Naruto over and over again for him to learn something, but you only need to explain something to him for him to come up with a rather stupid, but impressive method to better use whatever it is he's been told.
That's wisdom. Tobirama? He was intelligent, but not really wise. Intelligence is majorly focused on the now, while wisdom is focused on the whole. Past, present and future. That was where Hashirama and Naruto had many beat.
"What I'm trying to say is, when you get a better grasp on absorbing Natural Energy, try to focus on Refining your spine...or marrow if possible." Shun replied with a tired sigh.
"Refine? What's that? And what's a marrow?" Naruto asked and Shun went on to explain.
"Refining typically refers to the process of purifying and enhancing one's inner energy, often associated with spiritual practices. It involves strengthening the cultivation base, which could be the body, mind, or spirit, to reach a higher state of power or enlightenment."
"You and Cultivation...what's with that anyways..?" Naruto whispered to himself which Shun heard and sighed.
"Naruto... cultivation is a term used in anything related or pertaining to improvement. Be it in agriculture, in your mental state, physical, spiritual...they're all cultivation. You're in a state of improvement. That's cultivation." Shun said.
"Then just say Training." Naruto replied to which Shun snorted.
"That's for kids. Cultivation is what it is."
Naruto also snorted but chose to say nothing as he knew better than to argue with Shun when he was like this.
"Alright. You'll be focusing on enhancing your physical strength during your time here." Shun said and stood on the board, much to Naruto's awe.
"Only physical strength?" Naruto asked as he tried to stand on the board too but was failing.
"Yup. You'll be focusing on permanently making your body stronger, in the meantime, your chakra will also be influenced, giving you a bit of Senjutsu Chakra to do as you please." Shun said and jumped down, landing on the waterfall of Toads oil.
Shortly after he landed, Naruto also descended but slipped and fell into the pond.
"Gah!" He screamed as he splashed the water while trying to swim out.
"You won't get anywhere that way. That's condensed Nature Energy boy. Using chakra control will get you nowhere. Try being one with nature as you've been learning these past week." Shun said without trying to help him out.
He knew there was a risk of him absorbing too much and transforming into a giant stone toad, but that wasn't a problem with him around.
"If you don't calm down, you'll turn into those giant stone toads out there. With the amount you've swallowed, you're only a breath away from joining their squad. Remember what I told you and try pushing that rampaging energy to your spine." Shun said.
"Bu...t...th..ere's...no...rampagi..ng..energy." Naruto said between words as he tried and failed to get a foothold in the pond.
"Ah. That's right." Shun muttered as he remembered that Natural Energy, unlike spiritual energy of Cultivation worlds, wasn't violent. Instead, it was docile and very amicable... Similar to a green snake in green grass.
You won't know what hit you until you're a block of stone somewhere.
Shun was immediately reminded of the first time he had taken in Natural Energy. The pain he felt due to taking it in made him think it'll be the same with the kid.
Unlike Hagoromo, Hashirama, Jiraiya and Naruto, Shun had violently taken in the energy due to his Breathing Technique. That process would've maimed him greatly if not for the intervention of Hagoromo back then.
'Hah...The good times...'
"Sh..nii!"
Being snapped out of his memory, Shun looked at the Naruto before flicking his finger and sending a bean sized energy into his forehead, activating his system skill, [Focus]
This was a skill that would eliminate all emotion induced action from the human brain while stimulating the logical part of the brain.
With this technique, Naruto was immediately calmed down and Shun said. "Take your usual sitting posture and go through the three techniques I sent into your system. Pick the body refining one and cultivate accordingly."
In Naruto's system space were three techniques.
-Stellar body refining technique: Focus your mental, physical and natural energy into each cell in your body and transform it into an exploding star creating an infinite amount of energy. Transform flowing blood into a surging galaxy and transform the inner body into an ever changing star Field.
-Natural breathing technique. Incorporate the five elements in purifying and strengthening the Chakra.
-Crystal Visualization technique. Reinforce the will and purify the mind. Touch upon the most mysterious part of the spiritual power.
While reading the description of the three techniques, Naruto in all his logical sense, couldn't possibly fathom the inner intricacy of the technique and neither could he comprehend their meanings.
For the life of him, the very term 'star' was already stretching his knowledge wide, as for galaxy and star field? Heh.
"Now isn't the time for that..." Shun's voice sounded in the space as though he knew what Naruto's logical mind was thinking.
"Focus on clicking on the body refinement technique and memorize the first level." Shun's voice continued.
And following the instructions without questions or doubts, Naruto clicked and immediately, knowledge on what he should do was directly forced into his brain.
Instead of focusing on the Cell part of the technique, all he needed to do was first feel the combined energy(Spiritual/mental, physical and natural) and then focus on Refining your bones.
"That doesn't explain anything." Was Naruto's first thought, but he immediately instinctively knew what to do.
****