Chapter 362: The Tyranny of Natural Energy
To withstand Amaterasu's flames and still maintain a clone's form meant that the seemingly charred Killer Bee clone was still combat-capable.
It was all just an act.
Killer Bee was merely looking for an excuse to sneak out of the village for a little fun.
Otherwise, with battle instincts so sharp that even Minato had praised them, how could he have been caught so completely off guard by Amaterasu?
At this stage, Sasuke still wasn't a match for Killer Bee.
Only after awakening the Eternal Mangekyō would Sasuke be able to fight Killer Bee on equal footing.
"Then…" Black Zetsu looked toward Obito.
"Follow them. I'll handle it myself," Li Yao's Obito clone said.
Black Zetsu was right—after capturing the Eight-Tails, only Naruto and the Nine-Tails remained. At that point, Li Yao's clone could become the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki, obtain the power of the Kekkei Mōra, and ascend to Six Paths-level.
From there, he could roam the shinobi world as he pleased and return to the original Naruto universe—doing whatever he wanted.
But to avoid any accidents, he would wait until Killer Bee was far enough before making his move.
…
Konoha.
Inside Tsunade's house, the night passed.
After finishing their morning "bonding," Tsunade resumed her duties as the Fifth Hokage while Li Yao continued experimenting with natural energy control.
Poof!
Li Yao created a shadow clone. The clone then performed a Perfect Transformation Jutsu, taking on Jūgo's form.
Whoosh whoosh… With a thought, the Jūgo clone began absorbing the surrounding natural energy.
Boom!
The moment the natural energy entered its body, the clone exploded.
"Still doesn't work…"
Li Yao sat on the sofa, brows tightly furrowed. This wasn't the first explosion.
After transforming into Jūgo, he could indeed sense natural energy—but he couldn't form Sage Chakra.
That was because, unlike physical and spiritual energy, which Li Yao could control with absolute precision, he had virtually no control over natural energy.
He could sense and even mentally draw in natural energy, but the process resembled guiding rather than precisely commanding it.
So Li Yao didn't dare have his real body try forming Sage Chakra—he knew the risk of turning to stone was very real.
Instead, he used shadow clones, severing mental feedback before impact.
But every attempt had failed.
Sage Chakra is a fusion of physical energy, spiritual energy, and natural energy in a 1:1:1 ratio.
Originally, Li Yao thought that as long as he could absorb natural energy, he could match that with a perfectly balanced amount of physical and spiritual energy. That way, even without directly controlling the natural energy, the combination would succeed.
But reality said otherwise.
Just matching the 1:1:1 ratio wasn't enough—the fusion didn't work. Li Yao began to suspect that the absolute value of each component mattered too.
One hundred : one hundred : one hundred is a 1:1:1 ratio.
Nine : nine : nine is also a 1:1:1 ratio.
But clearly, there's a massive difference between the two, both in stability and strength.
Li Yao's clones tested various levels of energy amounts, but every attempt failed.
It seemed that only very specific energy quantities at a 1:1:1 ratio could successfully produce Sage Chakra.
But pinpointing that exact quantity was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
So Li Yao decided to focus on mastering natural energy first.
If he could control natural energy like Jūgo, then with his existing absolute control over physical and spiritual energy, he could forcibly fuse his own Sage Chakra.
However, once he transformed into Jūgo, any attempt to absorb natural energy caused immediate breakdown—he couldn't maintain the clone or the transformation long enough to feel what controlling natural energy was like.
Li Yao had known natural energy was overpowering—but he hadn't expected it to be this overwhelming.
His clones and the transformation technique, at the end of the day, were still ninjutsu. And ninjutsu required chakra to function.
The moment natural energy entered the body, it destroyed the ninjutsu chakra holding everything together—causing the clone and the transformation to collapse immediately.
Li Yao had transformed into Jūgo over a hundred times. Not once had he lasted long enough for his body to even start mutating.
Every time, the moment natural energy entered—boom.
"Looks like I'll have to wait for Naruto to return from his Sage training and try absorbing Sage Chakra from him to figure out the exact fusion ratio."
"I'm sure it'll work."
Li Yao suddenly remembered a moment from the original story, when Uchiha Madara absorbed Sage Chakra from Hashirama and smugly said:
So this is Sage Chakra? Hmph, nothing special.
Controlling it is easier than I thought.
That proved that once Sage Chakra was absorbed, it could be controlled. And if Li Yao could control it, with his perfect chakra manipulation, identifying the fusion ratio would be a breeze.
Too bad he had to wait for Naruto to return.
Looking over at Jiraiya trapped in the interstitial space, Li Yao muttered, "Man, Jiraiya, your talent really sucks. You can't even form Sage Chakra on your own."
Now that he was considering absorbing Sage Chakra to analyze its composition, he naturally thought of Jiraiya, who also had Sage Mode.
But unfortunately, Jiraiya could only enter Sage Mode with the help of two toads from Mount Myōboku. He couldn't do it by himself.
And Li Yao didn't want to reveal his presence yet, so he could only wait for Naruto's return.
When comparing the time it took Naruto to potentially master Sage Mode in a few days versus Jiraiya, who spent years learning it and still needed external help, Jiraiya's talent was indeed lackluster.
"Is Naruto your target?"
"Are you with the Akatsuki?"
Hearing Li Yao talk about Sage Mode and mock his talent—combined with earlier observations of Li Yao's attempts to form Sage Chakra—Jiraiya suddenly connected the dots. This man was waiting for Naruto to return with Sage Mode.
And not just for Sage Chakra. His true target might be Naruto himself—or more specifically, the Nine-Tails inside him.
"Heh… take a guess."
Li Yao chuckled and then cut off all sensory feedback to the interstitial space. No matter how much Jiraiya shouted or questioned, he could no longer see or hear him.
"Just wait."
"At the latest, Naruto should return tomorrow."
Li Yao smiled faintly. His spiritual perception had already detected Nagato and Konan approaching—only 200 kilometers from Konoha.
At the very latest, tomorrow, a fully recovered Nagato would launch his assault on the village.
And when that happened, Naruto was sure to return with Sage Mode.
Li Yao hadn't been in this Naruto world for long—so the timeline shouldn't have diverged too far.
So all he needed to do was wait one more day, and Sage Chakra would be his.
(END CHAPTER)
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