chapter 23: noticeable

With his eyes still shining, Naruto settled back and extended his mental strength to touch the energy. Opting to assimilate this energy, he felt his body tremble as it permeated his being.

A noticeable change occurred in his expression.

It was incredibly good!

It was as if a delicate little hand was caressing every inch of his muscles. Naruto closed his eyes in contentment.

He could clearly feel the life force flooding every part of his body, even strengthening his mental strength.

Although it was just a strand of energy, for Naruto, it was like the sensation of the vastness of the oceans. The energy flowed incessantly, bathing and invigorating Naruto's body.

He noticed a fundamental change in himself. A small alteration, but extremely significant and profound.

Naruto didn't dwell on his thoughts. His current state was simply wonderful, more enlightening than when he used the weak purple spheres.

Quickly, Naruto turned to the fire crystal of the male lion. The small flame continued to emit divine art runes.

The art of the fire god, belonging to the male lion, ran through his entire body. With the addition of the strange energy thread, his perception was elevated to a new level.

Naruto had the sensation that his art of the fire god was evolving at a dizzying speed.

The next morning, the first rays of the sun penetrated through the window, bathing Naruto with its golden light.

Slowly, Naruto opened his clear and crystalline blue eyes. There was a glint in them that resembled the light of the stars.

He closed his fist and a resonant sound echoed from his palm. Ripples propagated through the air, as if a gentle breeze was passing through the cozy space of the room.

Simultaneously, Naruto used his mental strength to scan the surroundings. Before, he could only perceive the environment using the combination of the art of the wind god with his mental strength, but now, his mental strength alone was able to detect movements within a radius of one kilometer.

His mental strength had increased tremendously!

There was not a trace of pain in his mind, only a sensation of coolness. This indicated that his physical body was perfectly adapted to his amplified mental strength.

This meant that his body had also improved considerably. .

. And his art of the fire god seemed to have intensified as well.

. .

He took a few deep breaths to calm his state of mind.

His martial strength, without a doubt, must have advanced to the 1st level of the Spiritual Martial State.

Although his true strength was much higher than that, this would be the strength he would demonstrate in relation to his cultivation level.

Naruto was satisfied with the progress he had made in the art of the fire god. He felt that he had reached a higher level in this art than in the art of the wind god.

It was a significant achievement for him, and he was happy to have explored a new field of power.

As he contemplated his thoughts, Naruto noticed the seals of the kunai he had sealed on his arms earlier. "Ah, I completely forgot about this!" he slapped his forehead, frustrated for having left this matter aside.

However, he knew that he would have other opportunities to test the effectiveness of those seals. Naruto clenched his fists and a crystalline aura mixed with waves of spiritual strength emanating from his body.

It was a powerful combination that demonstrated the strength he had accumulated over the years.

Naruto was intensely training to enhance his combat skills, and now was focusing on better understanding spiritual force. He was unsure of the best way to refer to this force, but after some time reflecting, he decided that natural energy was the most appropriate terminology for the world he lived in.

With this new understanding, Naruto realized it would be easier for him to access Sage Mode, an advanced combat technique. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate deeply. As he absorbed the natural energy around him, Naruto felt the force flowing through him, propelling him to new levels of power.

Surprisingly, in just 23 seconds, Naruto opened his eyes and realized he had entered Sage Mode without needing to burn the red orbs. He smiled, feeling stronger and more confident than ever.

"Hahaha, this is too good!" Naruto laughed out loud, knowing that his combat skills had been enhanced.

Although Naruto had discovered a new way to activate the Sage Mode using natural energy in his body, he knew this technique had its limitations. Although his reserve of natural energy was large, he could only enter the Sage Mode a maximum of three times without the help of the red orbs.

Despite this, Naruto decided it was still better to use the red orbs to activate the technique. He dispelled the Sage Mode, stood up, and changed his clothes. Then, he created a shadow clone to inform Tsunade about what he had discovered through Pain's black rod.

But Naruto wasn't satisfied with just informing Tsunade about his discovery. He wanted to make sure he was prepared to face any challenge that might arise. So, he tried to sense Nagato's presence again and found out that it would still take more than a day for Nagato to arrive in Konoha.

Although he could have gone after Nagato immediately, Naruto decided to use this time to further strengthen his skills. He knew he needed to be ready to face any situation.

Naruto was aware that, by trying to sense Nagato's presence, Nagato could be aware of his location.

However, Naruto wasn't concerned about that and remained determined to find a way to further strengthen himself before Nagato's arrival in Konoha.

With that in mind, he had a bold idea. Naruto created ten shadow clones and distributed five red orbs to each of them so they could digest them. Then, he had all the clones meditate and waited about ten minutes until the orbs were completely absorbed and the clones were dispelled.

As soon as the clones disappeared, Naruto felt a huge amount of power flowing into his main body, strengthening his body and increasing his natural energy.

Satisfied with the success of the experiment, Naruto created 20 more shadow clones and repeated the test. After about 10 minutes, the shadow clones dispelled again and Naruto felt another barrier being broken in his natural energy power.