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Sitting in front of Hagoromo made me excited. To be honest, I wouldn't have known how to bring up the topic of natural energy without looking suspicious.
We all know that Senjustu had only been practiced in person during this era and that is the man sitting in front of me right now, so me coming up to him and saying 'hey old man I want to learn about natural energy' would be suspicious no matter how I look at it.
"You called for me old man," I said respectfully albeit playfully.
"Ah, yes I did. How are you feeling now?" He asked seriously. I know he is worried, I mean, who wouldn't? This is the natural energy we're talking about here.
"Yes, I am fine, though it's a bit difficult to breathe, nothing more''
That was true, I wasn't feeling any different, aside from difficulty in breathing.
Demon slayers experience this feeling when they start practicing their respective breathing techniques, that is why they usually start with harsh training to ensure that their stamina and endurance are up to satisfactory levels.
My lungs were already strong enough due to my training and refining with chakra, but I guess the potency of natural energy is just above what my body can handle.
" It is good that you're fine. How did you end up in that situation?" He asked.
"I was just trying out a new form of training and then it happened. I don't even know what is going on" I answered honestly.
He looked at me for a while and released a sigh and said "What you did was dangerous and could have led to your death. What kind of training was that, if I may ask?"
''I call it breathing" I answered.
"What's that? Don't you breathe every day, what kind of breathing are you talking about?''
" No no not that kind of breathing. I mean breathing as in taking regulated breaths while training. You know that when meditating, we're meant to be conscious of our breathing and empty our minds. That also applies to this situation."
"I thought 'what will happen if I channel this regulated breathing into performing an action? When meditating we try to be one with our spirits, we remain motionless, then during this breathing that I was trying, you inhale in a pattern that makes you act with minimal movements."
"When we run, we breathe, when we reach our limits, our breathing becomes haggard. What if we maintain a certain level of breathing while running to both enhance our lungs to take the pressure and our leg muscles to give a boost?"
"With this thought in mind, I attempted doing it while swinging a sword, and the result rendered me unconscious"
I finished my explanation with a look of pride in my eyes, after all, I just 'discovered' a new form of training that will go down as my legacy. No, I'm not stealing anything. This is Naruto, not Demon Slayer, so I discovered it. That is the truth.
Hagoromo kept on looking at me with an astonished expression on his face, after all, this should be the second time I'm discovering something that he didn't have any idea about.
There was silence for a while, which I didn't bother to break because I knew he must be going through what I just said. After all, the method he used to learn senjutsu was meditation and trying to extract the energy in the air.
My method was a kind of aggressive way of extracting the energy unimpeded. Like the world was listening to me when I breathe, compared to the toads' method of trying to be one with nature, mine seems more natural but unrefined.
The toads training could turn you to stone without you being aware when you absorb it, but my method seems to forcefully take the energy, and integrate it with my body without repercussions.
After a while spent contemplating what I said, he just smiled and said "Hmm, that's a nice theory you have there. I called you here to talk about the cause of your falling unconscious but I guess you did teach me something new again. Nevertheless, what caused you to fall unconscious is due to the energy of the world you forcefully absorbing this energy without refining it"
While saying this, he waved his hand and I felt a suction force around me.
"Old man, what happening" I screamed as the force suddenly stopped. I was scared there for a second.
"No need to be alarmed, I am trying to show you the energy I was talking about. This energy is called natural energy. It exists around us different from chakra, it can be docile and dangerous at the same time, it helps in a lot of ways and can also kill without you knowing what killed you."
"And that, young Shun, is what you absorbed into your body when you were breathing. If I wasn't around, you would have been turned to a rock from the inside out and died without knowing what killed you"
"I see" was what I said.
Now that surprised me. So I would have died if he wasn't around. That breathing is dangerous in this world, but am I just going to give up like this? Hell no. I'm going to have to find a way to continue this breathing.
Hagoromo said I was forcefully taking in the energy without refining it and that's true. At first, I thought all I needed was to breathe in normal oxygen, I didn't think ahead.
Now that I know that I forcefully took in natural energy, all I need to do now is, go at it again but this time refines the energy absorbed immediately and mix it with my chakra, no big deal, I just need to try it again.
"From the look in your eyes, I see you're not going to stop trying this out"
I nod solemnly at this, expecting him to stop me,
"Fine, when you're going to try this out again, make sure that I am around. Is that clear?''
I was surprised again, I didn't expect him to agree.
''Yes," I answered excitedly.
I then wanted to use this opportunity to ask more about natural energy, so I asked "How did you learn to control this natural energy, old man"
He laughed when he heard this question and had a look of reminiscence in his eyes. I guess I asked a question I shouldn't have asked. He learned it to fight his mother after all.
"I learned about this energy when I was young from a friend of mine. I will call him next time you'll be practicing your breathing technique.
My eyes twitched when I heard this. Why did he have to call that toad? I asked you how you know about the energy, not who taught you. Tell me a story or something, you old man.
He then took a more serious expression as he continued.
" Natural energy is something that belongs to the world, it shouldn't be used for anything evil, young Shun, it is a form of energy that exists in the atmosphere and the earth."
"By gathering the natural energy in their surroundings and combining it with their chakra. Natural energy circulates throughout the world, but it is usually imperceptible."
"To use senjutsu, one must first learn to sense the natural energy in their surroundings and draw it into their body, which requires becoming "one with nature" by remaining perfectly still. To control the natural energy they absorb, the user must balance it with their own physical and spiritual energies, which together make up chakra, to create senjutsu chakra."
"If this balance contains too little natural energy, senjutsu cannot be used, but too much makes the user turn to stone; in the case of humans who practice a particular animal form of senjustu, they first turn into animals before petrifying."
"This process can be reversed if the absorbed natural energy is expelled before the transformation is complete, but you, young Shun, managed to draw in the natural energy while moving. That's new even to me. So make sure I am around when you try out your breathing technique, alright?"
I nodded in response to his request while my mind was still on what he just said now. To practice senjutsu, I believe that, instead of mixing the natural energy with my chakra, I could just draw the natural energy into my body and then use my spiritual energy to balance them.
That is the reason why someone needs to remain perfectly still. You can't have your mental strength doing two things at once. This is where the parallel processing ability will come into play, I don't need to always be conscious about it, my main thought process will remain as the original Pilot of my body while the other thought process will handle the balance between the absorbed natural energy and physical energy.
But first I need to master this breathing technique I'm working on.
With these thoughts going on in my head, I found a new direction to follow in my training, I guess I might not be needing that cultivation technique anymore.
By the time I reach 'constant concentration breathing,' I would have a steady supply of energy, and with my parallel processing, I could continue strengthening my physical body and soul{Spiritual body}.
How? You might ask. The answer to that is that by splitting my thoughts into two, I would be reducing my spiritual strength for a short while but in the long run, it'll be strengthened continuously due to keeping the balance between the absorbed natural energy and physical energy.
Natural energy can strengthen one's awareness as cited In the case of naruto after learning sage mode. So putting myself in that situation, I don't think I'll still need to worry about strengthening my soul.
With the chakra gates related to the soul all unblocked, I could probably leave my body with only my soul and still be alive. Not like Dan's spirit transformation technique but like Hagoromo's soul still staying around with his chakra, for many years after his death till the era of Naruto.
{A/N: Hagoromo's soul still possessed enough chakra to give Naruto and Sasuke, and help them awaken their sage body and Rinnegan. And still managed to summon all the past kages during the fourth shinobi war}.
These are all theories right now as I am not sure yet but I think with the help of natural energy, parallel processing, and unblocking all my chakra gates, both spiritual and physical, I'll achieve the immortality I need, both body, and soul.
"Thanks for the teachings, old man. I'll try out that technique tomorrow morning, so be on time"
He nodded and after that, I stood up and left the room. I have a lot to do right now. I didn't make a mistake coming to this world. It has all I need to achieve what I want. Guess I need to start working on a new seal.
I think I'll name it 'Yin Yang Seal'. It will be similar to Tsunade's Yin seal, but mine will gather all the excess senjutsu chakra I'll be generating In the future. That will be my next big project.
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A/N: After this chapter and the next one, I'll make a time skip. That will be the seven years he will spend becoming overpowered before Hagoromo will send Indra and Ashura out on their inheritance quest. As for this chapter, I made little conversations during his stay in this era as I don't know how Hagoromo interacts with his children. As for theories, take them like that. This is fanfiction so deal with it. If you have other suggestions, feel free to let me know
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