Chapter 447: Brainstorm
Shikkotsu Forest.
The sky was high and clouds were light, the mist and waves were vast.
Far away from the ninja world where undercurrents surged, life in Shikkotsu Forest was calm and peaceful, like a leisurely scroll painting, unruffled.
If one ignored the noise made by someone during cultivation.
"Ahhh...!"
The pink-haired girl fell frustratedly on the wooden platform, letting out an unwilling cry like a salted fish.
"Damn it, failed again!"
"The one hundred and eighty-second time."
Katsuyu reminded kindly from the side while lying on the girl, extracting the excess natural energy from her body.
However, although Katsuyu's expression couldn't be seen, Haruno Sakura could hear a bit of gloating bad taste from its sneaky tone...
After Katsuyu finished extracting her excess natural energy and moved away from her, the girl suddenly did a kip-up and jumped up.
"Why is it so difficult?" She scratched her messy pink hair irritably and said distressedly, "It shouldn't be. I've already completed the first stage, and Senjutsu Chakra can be manipulated freely. Shouldn't the second stage of sensing natural energy come naturally?"
Katsuyu smiled without saying a word.
Senjutsu cultivation goes from easy to difficult.
Haruno Sakura completed the first stage of controlling Senjutsu Chakra very smoothly, but one must know that this was done under the condition that Katsuyu helped absorb natural energy. Normal humans might not perceive the existence of natural energy in their lifetime. The real difficulty of Senjutsu cultivation lies in integrating oneself into nature, sensing the existence of natural energy without Katsuyu's help, and autonomously controlling the entry and exit of natural energy in the body.
"Want to try again?" Katsuyu asked after Haruno Sakura calmed down her rapid breathing.
"Wait, let me sort it out first!"
Sakura frowned tightly, thinking hard and reviewing the cultivation just now. It wasn't her style to just bury her head in hard practice without thinking clearly about the problems involved.
Previously, Katsuyu declared solemnly that the difficulty of this cultivation was very high. Haruno Sakura was mentally prepared for this, knowing she would fail many times.
But unlike the first stage, where she could see herself persisting longer with each attempt and making considerable progress with each failure, shortening the distance to success.
However, in the second stage of cultivation, her constant failures...
Were just simple failures.
Couldn't feel the hope of advancing.
She recalled Katsuyu's guidance to her in the second stage of cultivation.
"To sense the existence of natural energy, you need to achieve 'immobility'." Katsuyu said at that time.
"Control your breathing, your blood flow, your chakra circulation..."
"Stop the flow of your aura as a living being..."
"When you achieve this, you can integrate with nature, harmonize with the flow of natural aura, and thus sense the existence of natural energy..."
"So what the hell is this!" The little person in Haruno Sakura's heart flipped the table instantly, "Stop breathing, stop blood flow, isn't the person dead already? Then what Senjutsu to cultivate!"
"But... this is indeed the main body's insight into absorbing natural energy." Katsuyu sighed and explained patiently.
"Of course, not asking you to completely stop the operation of life, but to reduce life fluctuations as much as possible, slow down blood flow, and harmonize your aura with the aura of nature..."
Haruno Sakura rolled her eyes: "According to what you said, rocks should naturally know Senjutsu Chakra."
"Rocks themselves are part of nature." Katsuyu laughed, "Every time the main body eats, it will find a place to lie quietly, control its heartbeat and blood flow, reduce metabolism, minimize life activities, and sometimes enter a light sleep state... At this time, it is also the time when the main body absorbs natural energy most efficiently."
—"Slug Sage has a heart?" The girl pursed her lips and roasted secretly.
"Speaking of which, the toads of Mount Myoboku and the snakes of Ryuchi Cave can continuously pass on Senjutsu because it is easy to sense natural energy while half-asleep during annual hibernation, greatly reducing the difficulty of learning Senjutsu!"
These secrets opened Haruno Sakura's eyes, but they couldn't help her cultivate Senjutsu successfully—
"I can't go into hibernation too." She muttered.
"Moreover, my insight into Water Release nature transformation has always been 'flow', which completely violates the requirement of 'immobility' and increases the difficulty of cultivation." For Haruno Sakura, who had cultivated Water Release into an instinct, this subconscious nature transformation seemed to have a subtle counter-effect on her cultivation.
To put it a bit mystically, that was no longer just the "flow" of chakra, but had reached the realm of "ceaseless flow, endless life"...
For the first time, she realized that practicing Water Release too well could also pit herself.
"Isn't the nature transformation of your Ice Release 'freezing'?" Katsuyu pondered for a moment and came up with an idea, "This imagery fits 'immobility' quite well. Perhaps you can use this to help with cultivation?"
Freezing?
Haruno Sakura imagined the image of herself cultivating Senjutsu inside a block of ice.
"Theoretically feasible." She gave an affirmative answer, but shook her head at the same time, "But this requires carrying out Ice Release nature transformation to a certain level..."
"At least the current me can't do it. I've only mastered the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai for two or three years!"
If she started specializing in Ice Release now, it would probably take a few months to meet the requirements of using Ice Release to help with cultivation.
"If you decide to take this path," Katsuyu gently shook its tentacles and smiled slightly, "then we can pause the cultivation first, and restart the second stage of cultivation after you are ready."
"How about it?"
It looked down. The girl looked down at her tender white feet, her expression dazed, eyes flickering, thoughts spinning fast, and ideas emerged in her mind one after another.
Using Ice Release for cultivation was certainly reliable and steady, but a bit too slow. Haruno Sakura thought in her heart.
"No," she suddenly raised her head and smiled at Katsuyu, "I have a better method."
The next day, Haruno Sakura briefly returned to Konoha.
Resupplied food and clothes; because she was busy with cultivation, a pile of dirty clothes was brought home directly without time to wash, earning a complaint from Mama Sakura about how a girl could be so lazy, and why the clothes were so dirty, etc.
Then in the Hokage's office, she also encountered the four Cloud Ninja envoys who came to deliver the letter.
A man who looked lazy but Sakura could actually feel was quite strong; a great beauty who made Sakura fall into being a fan of "balls" at first sight; a chatterbox man.
Hmm, and a black-skinned irritable girl as flat as her.
After simply greeting her master, Haruno Sakura turned and left, found an empty gap with no one around, slipped into her secret base, and brought out a scroll.
Moments later.
Shikkotsu Forest.
With a soft poof, the scroll opened, and the dissipating chakra turned into white smoke.
"So this is your so-called better method..."
Katsuyu looked at the pale flesh body under it, then glanced at Haruno Sakura, saying with emotion.
What was the word Haruno Sakura often used?
Brainstorm.
—This girl's brainstorm really made it feel inferior!
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