Bringing Haku to the central training ground, Shinji said: "Activate Sage Mode let me see!"
"Yes!"
Haku bowed to accept the order.
Subsequently, he closed his eyes and brewed for a moment, shouting softly.
Accompanied by the soft shout, he exhaled a breath of mist. Then, a faint eyeshadow appeared on his eye sockets, and a small horn sprouted from his forehead.
Shinji narrowed his eyes slightly.
Haku's 'Sage Mode' seemed somewhat different from Yakushi Kabuto's. Kabuto's 'Sage Mode' obviously simulated the process of turning from a snake into a dragon. The closer the appearance was to a dragon, the more powerful his 'Sage Mode' was.
Conversely, Haku's 'Sage Mode' didn't have many similarities to a snake.
Soon, the mist exhaled from Haku's mouth gradually formed a thin veil resembling both water and mist, draped over Haku's body, like wearing a layer of 'Tailed Beast Cloak'. The only difference was that this layer of chakra cloak was composed of mist.
Seeing Haku's state no longer changing, Shinji wondered: "This is your 'Sage Mode'?"
Haku nodded gently: "Yes!"
Shinji walked over, sizing up Haku while circling him, saying: "Looks completely different from Yakushi Kabuto's 'Sage Mode'!"
Actually not only Yakushi Kabuto, Haku's 'Sage Mode' was also different from Mitsuki's 'Sage Mode' in the original timeline.
Haku explained: "Ryuchi Cave has rules. Yakushi Kabuto is their contractor of this generation. They don't intend to add other contractors in the short term."
Shinji's face darkened: "Oh, so they didn't teach you Sage Arts?"
"Not really!" Smiling, Haku said: "After Yakushi Kabuto told the White Snake Sage that I am your subordinate, although the White Snake Sage didn't teach me Ryuchi Cave's Sage Arts, she still made an exception to arrange someone to guide me on how to absorb natural energy and fuse Senjutsu chakra."
Hearing this, Shinji was slightly surprised: "In other words, your 'Sage Mode' was mainly figured out by yourself?"
Haku nodded gently: "Hmm, combining the essentials of Breathing Styles, I developed this set of 'Sage Mode'."
"How is the effect? Forget it, let's spar a round!"
Shinji beckoned directly to Haku.
Describing verbally was not as intuitive as getting hands-on directly!
Bang bang bang...
In the blink of an eye, the two turned into afterimages, fighting fiercely in the central training ground.
"Eh!?"
Shinji in the fierce battle let out a soft exclamation of surprise.
After activating 'Sage Mode', Haku's speed and strength experienced a qualitative improvement. This was within his expectations, nothing surprising. What really surprised him was that in his perception, Haku's chakra fluctuation was very slight.
This was because they were close. If he and Haku were further apart, he might not even be able to accurately perceive Haku's exact location.
The strangeness didn't stop there.
The water-mist-like chakra cloak Haku put on under 'Sage Mode' not only possessed defensive effects offsetting impact force but also obscured Haku's figure, making Shinji unable to accurately discern Haku's expression and the force details of various body joints.
One must know Shinji's current 'Six Tomoe Rinnegan' combined the omnipotence of the Rinnegan and the terrifying insight of the Sharingan. And Haku's water-mist chakra cloak directly nullified his advantage in insight.
Bang!
Another muffled sound, Haku was repelled by Shinji.
Shinji slowly retracted his fist.
For this strike, he used nearly fifty percent of his strength, finally crushing Haku in 'Sage Mode' with speed and strength.
After exiting 'Sage Mode', Haku panted heavily while saying: "Sorry to disappoint you!"
Shinji waved his hand, expression serious: "Don't belittle yourself. Your combat power under 'Sage Mode' completely exceeded my expectations!"
"Ah!?"
Haku was somewhat surprised.
Shinji said: "I used nearly fifty percent of my strength just now to form a crushing situation against you. While dealing with others, like Yakushi Kabuto, I could crush him using at most twenty or thirty percent!"
Haku was full of puzzlement: "But I didn't learn Ryuchi Cave's Sage Arts?"
Shinji explained: "What really affects the battle outcome is still the intensity of chakra!"
In the Ninja World, Sage Arts was indeed a high-end concept.
Those who mastered Senjutsu chakra and could activate 'Sage Mode', counting one by one, were all top powerhouses in the Ninja World.
But this still didn't escape the category of ninjas!
Based on the information Shinji currently mastered, relying solely on Sage Arts couldn't make a ninja step into 'Six Paths Level'.
Super Kage-level was about the upper limit of Sage Arts.
The most typical representative among them was the First Hokage Hashirama Senju!
As the reincarnation of Asura Otsutsuki, possessing Sage's Body plus 'Wood Release', he was already the peak of the Ninja World at that time, at the level of Super Kage. But later, after adding Sage Arts, he still couldn't break through 'Six Paths Level', his strength staying at the peak of Super Kage-level.
This was also the reason why Shinji didn't deliberately pursue Sage Arts before, because although Sage Arts was strong, it wasn't enough to help him break through to 'Six Paths Level'.
Currently, he had reached 'Six Paths Level'. To further strengthen his own chakra, incorporating natural energy into it was a good choice, so he arranged for Haku to cultivate Sage Arts in 'Ryuchi Cave', seeking a breakthrough.
And Haku didn't disappoint him, or rather, Haku gave him a not-small surprise.
Restricted by rules, 'Ryuchi Cave' didn't teach Haku 'Ryuchi Cave's' Sage Arts, instead allowing Haku to break free from the constraints of rules and comprehend the 'Sage Mode' most suitable for him.
This 'Sage Mode', integrating abilities like 'Water Breathing', 'Ice Release', 'Mark', 'Transparent World', etc., was almost tailor-made for Haku. While amplifying his basic attributes like speed, strength, chakra intensity, chakra volume, etc., it also allowed him to obtain weird abilities like shielding perception, shielding insight, etc.
In the sparring just now, the opponent was the 'Six Paths Level' Shinji, so these weird abilities of Haku were suppressed. If it were other opponents encountering Haku's weird abilities, they would probably scratch their heads. Especially dojutsu Kekkei Genkai ninjas who relied on insight were completely countered by Haku.
Even dojutsu Kekkei Genkai ninjas possessing perspective eyes like Byakugan and Ketsuryūgan (Blood Dragon Eye) were no exception.
Because Haku's water-mist chakra cloak was not a complete solid entity, but a substance mixed with Senjutsu chakra. So in the vision of Byakugan and Ketsuryūgan, what was seen was not Haku inside the water-mist chakra cloak, but a whole mass of chakra, just like pixelated.
Therefore, fighting Haku who activated 'Sage Mode', pure taijutsu experts like Guy would obviously be much stronger than taijutsu-proficient dojutsu Kekkei Genkai ninjas like Sasuke who relied on insight for combat.