Mizuki's punch was full of power; if Ino or Shikamaru had taken such a blow, they would surely have been injured and fallen to the ground. Choji's Human Bullet Tank had extremely strong defense, with his thick fat and Yang Release Chakra deflecting seventy to eighty percent of the punch's power. The remaining impact caused hardly any damage.
Choji's eyes were full of spirals, and he propped himself up with his hands, dizzily raising his head.
The damage wasn't significant; he was just very dizzy.
Excluding practice against a wooden dummy at home, he had only genuinely used Human Bullet Tank twice: once against a wild boar in the wilderness, and now.
He scrutinized Mizuki, feeling extremely nervous. One moment he worried he might have used too much force and killed Mizuki, who had treated him to a meal, and the next he worried about missing the target and incurring Ino's scolding.
Mizuki's condition was actually very bad; the bones in one of his legs were completely shattered, making him stagger. Many blood vessels under his skin had burst, but the high regenerative power brought by the Curse Mark was rapidly repairing his body.
"Choji! Give him another one! Hurry up, once you're done, we'll go eat barbecue!"
"Really?!" Upon hearing this, Choji immediately became full of fighting spirit. He moved his body, performing a rather comical little trot to create distance again, then launched another "Human Bullet Tank."
"Choji, one more time! Last time, and we'll go to Yakiniku for a deluxe meal! Hurry, if you don't act now, I'll shout that word!"
"Ah ah ah—!!! Don't shout it! I'm not fat at all, just a bit plump!" Choji's eyes blazed with fire. He endured the dizziness and weakness caused by the high-speed rotation and crashed into Mizuki for the third time.
Mizuki was sent flying on impact, smashing into the cave wall like a cannonball. The wall behind him was covered in dense, spiderweb-like cracks, and more than half of his bones were shattered. Even with the Curse Mark's enhancement, his aura instantly became weak.
Ino dragged Choji aside. The Fatty lay on the ground, spread out like a starfish, and said weakly, "I can't do it anymore. I really have no strength left to leave it to you guys."
Ino snapped her fingers towards the other side.
"Tch, what a pain!" Shikamaru emerged from the shadows. A shadow, like a living creature, shot out from under his feet, forming a thin line. After merging and connecting with Mizuki's shadow, Shikamaru tightly clasped the "Boar" hand seal. Mizuki had no idea what was happening; he just felt his body instantly lose control, ignoring the pain, quickly standing up, and performing the exact same movements as Shikamaru on the other side.
He was stunned: "Damn it! What kind of Jutsu is this?"
Shikamaru smiled smugly: "Shadow Imitation Technique, successful!"
Shikamaru needed to maintain the Shadow Imitation Technique, which continuously consumed his Chakra. In less than fifteen seconds, a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He couldn't help but shout, "Hurry up and act, Ino! What are you staring at? Hurry, I can't hold on much longer!"
"You really don't have much Chakra, do you? I thought you could hold on a bit longer. Watch me, Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!"
Ino could have exposed Mizuki's series of schemes much earlier. The reason she accompanied him for most of the night was to use this opportunity with the Mind Body Switch to understand what Orochimaru's Curse Mark truly was, and to personally experience the reaction of Natural Energy when absorbed into the human body.
She cherished this opportunity.
Orochimaru could only observe, calculate, and compare through extensive human experimentation. No matter how brilliant he was, there was always a layer of separation. The human body was too intricate, and many data points simply couldn't be collected with existing methods, forcing him to rely on wild speculation. Ino believed that the Mind Body Switch Technique, by allowing one to observe from within another's body, would undoubtedly make it easier to understand the relationship between Natural Energy and the human body.
She skillfully used the Mind Body Switch Technique. Her consciousness, enveloped in Chakra, shot like an arrow into Mizuki's spiritual world and instantly took control of his body.
Is this the Natural Energy brought by the Curse Mark?
After being hit three times by Choji, Mizuki's body was very weak, but a continuous stream of Natural Energy from the outside was being absorbed by his body. Ino could still feel that sensation of energy surging.
The power was strong, but also tragic.
Violent, ruthless, and vicious—the previous potion had transformed Mizuki into a human vessel. The Natural Energy, harmonized by Chakra, had become much more docile than it was in the wild, but it was still not an energy that ordinary people could control.
Mizuki's body, driven by the potion, was frantically extracting energy from 130 trillion cells in a mad mode, then relying on this physical and mental energy to harmonize an equal amount of Natural Energy.
It wasn't just a matter of potential, but also of lifespan. Even if Ino and the others hadn't interfered tonight, the result of Mizuki drinking the potion would have been his sudden death within one or two months.
The energy within his cells was about to be depleted; this person was completely beyond saving.
Ino controlled the body, raised her right arm, and examined it carefully. There was a dark, tattoo-like object there—this was the Curse Mark that Orochimaru had developed from Jugo's cells.
Mizuki's Curse Mark was far inferior to the Heavenly Cursed Seal or the Curse Mark of Earth. At most, it was a trial version that could only be activated once and could not be deactivated, effectively turning Mizuki into a disposable item.
Tragic.
"Mizuki-sensei, you can't hear me anymore, can you?" Ino asked in the spiritual world. The only answer she received were some beast-like roars.
Outwardly, he still seemed relatively normal, but in reality, Mizuki's mental energy had been largely eroded during the process of harmonizing Natural Energy.
Ino had always looked forward to Sage Mode. In battles of Six Paths level, only Sage Jutsu and Taijutsu could inflict damage on those powerful enemies.
Her willpower was no match for Lee and Might Guy; she had that self-awareness. She wasn't planning to diligently train in Taijutsu, but Sage Jutsu might still offer some opportunity.
Ino did not have the Byakugan's x-ray vision, but having entered this body, she could sense the Natural Energy within Mizuki's Chakra pathways.
Mizuki's previous injuries didn't matter, but if he were to be injured again now, it would also affect Ino's main body. She couldn't absorb Natural Energy recklessly.
Ino observed very carefully and found that this Curse Mark on Mizuki's body was somewhat similar to the process described in traditional wuxia novels: opening the Ren and Du meridians, connecting the bridge between heaven and earth, and returning from acquired to innate.
The Ren and Du meridians were made-up, she knew that clearly, but some aspects of it could serve as a reference.
Natural Energy could undoubtedly be controlled by intelligent beings and transformed into Sage Jutsu; it just required some special methods.
Ino's knowledge of Sealing Technique and Sage Jutsu was almost zero. After recording all the data she could, she knocked out Mizuki's residual consciousness in the spiritual world, then released the Mind Body Switch Technique and returned to her own body.
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