After Hinata finished changing and stepped out of the room, Kaede's eyes flickered. Without a word, he activated Yomotsu Hirasaka and opened a spatial passage, stepping through it.
Hinata took a deep breath, adjusted her composure, and quickly followed him. The two emerged in a barren, desolate world, daylight gave way to sudden night.
She looked up.
The starry sky above sparkled with countless bright constellations, scattered across the darkness like gemstones. At the zenith of the sky hovered a massive, glowing blue sphere.
"This place is…"
Hinata's eyes widened in astonishment.
Kaede turned to her and calmly said, "This is the moon. For the next six days, this is where your special training will take place."
The moon…
The words stirred waves of emotion in Hinata's heart. But thinking of Kaede's overwhelming strength, she quickly accepted it and looked at him with some hesitation. "Special training?"
"Yes. There may be unexpected events during the Chunin Exams," Kaede said flatly. "So over the next six days, you'll undergo rigorous training here. Very rigorous."
His gaze was calm and sharp as it fell on her. "I'll give you a moment to prepare. Once you're ready, we begin."
Only one Time Acceleration Barrier could be maintained at a time.
Since Kakashi had already chosen to use it for Naruto, Kaede didn't bother stopping him. After all, Hinata had been training under him since the age of ten, so letting Kakashi give Naruto a two-month time boost was fair enough.
In battle, Kakashi couldn't hope to surpass him anymore. This surprise move, giving Naruto such intensive training, was clearly Kakashi's way of trying to outdo him in cultivating students.
This was, in fact, a challenge.
A challenge Kakashi was issued after more than a decade, and as his elder brother, Kaede would accept it seriously, out of respect.
In other words…
This was a battle between six days and sixty days!
Hinata was taken aback. She didn't know what kind of "unexpected event" Kaede meant, but this was the first time she had ever seen him so serious.
She took a deep breath, calming the last of her flustered emotions. She looked up with steady eyes and declared:
"Kaede-sensei!"
"I'm ready!"
Even though she didn't yet understand the situation, if Kaede was taking this so seriously, then she would meet him with equal resolve, no matter the hardship, she would never let him down!
"…Good."
Kaede nodded. "Then let's begin."
"Right now, you're only able to control less than one-tenth of the ancestral chakra within you. Within these six days, I want you to be able to wield at least one-third of that power."
Hinata's eyes widened again.
He wanted her to increase her control threefold in just six days?
Even with her strong will and determination to earn Kaede's recognition, she couldn't help but show a hint of uncertainty on her face.
Kaede noticed it and said evenly, "If we used conventional methods, you'd never be able to reach that level in six days. Which is why… we'll be using a special method."
The chakra within Hinata, passed down from Otsutsuki Hamura, was spiritual in nature. It could be classified as spiritual energy, or more precisely, Yin-based chakra.
To stabilize such immense Yin chakra, an equally powerful amount of Yang chakra was needed to balance it, that meant her body had to be physically enhanced as well.
That's why he had given Kakashi the Six Paths Yin Power, while he had reserved the Six Paths Yang Power for Hinata.
However,
Hinata's body wasn't ready yet. Her physical constitution and mental strength were still too weak to bear the Six Paths Yang Power directly.
"Special method?" Hinata asked, eyes searching.
Kaede nodded. "To wield more ancestral power, you need a stronger body. Which means… your next step is to train in the Body of the Sage."
For someone at Hinata's current level, cultivating the Body of the Sage was without question an impossible feat, especially in six days.
But with his help… it became possible.
The essence of cultivating the Body of the Sage was to temper one's physical body through the infusion of natural energy, gradually transforming each cell into one that could sustain the might of a sage.
Of course, Hinata wasn't capable of controlling natural energy yet, she couldn't even hope to achieve Sage Mode in five days. But Kaede could do that part for her.
"Sage's body…" Hinata murmured, clearly stunned.
She had heard of it before, a secret art exclusive to Kaede. It was an extremely high-level power that almost no one in Konoha could master.
"Sit," Kaede said simply.
Hinata did as she was told, sitting cross-legged on a stone.
Kaede stood before her and began explaining the relationship between the Sage's body, Sage Mode, and natural energy.
But this power was still far beyond Hinata's current understanding. Before long, her expression turned confused, as if she were a struggling student forced to sit through advanced math, understanding the basics at first, but eventually hearing nothing but gibberish.
"…So that's the core of it. Got all that?" Kaede asked.
Hinata hesitated. "I… I can barely remember it. But I still don't really understand, especially the part about becoming one with nature…"
"That's fine."
Kaede cut her off gently. "You don't need to understand it now. Just remember it. The rest will come through training. Now, focus."
Hinata closed her eyes.
Under his guidance, she calmed her thoughts, clearing her mind.
At that moment, through the lens of his Rinne-Tenseigan, Kaede saw torrents of natural energy surging up from the Shinobi World far below, rushing toward their location on the moon.
His gaze sharpened. The Rinne-Tenseigan in his eyes glowed brightly as he reached out and placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder.
Hum!
Natural energy surged through him like a flood, flowing through his hand and into Hinata's body. In an instant, her entire frame was flooded.
"Ah…"
Hinata tensed up immediately. Her whole body seized, as though she had lost all control.
Every single cell in her body began to tingle, as if touched by an invisible itch from the inside out.
"Still your mind. Feel the natural energy. Become one with it," Kaede said calmly.
His Rinne-Tenseigan spun, elevating its power to the limit.
Under this heightened perception, Kaede could see each individual cell in Hinata's body. He guided the natural energy with precise control, making it swirl and rotate evenly throughout her form.
If the sages of Mount Myoboku, like Fukasaku, had seen this, their eyes might have popped out in disbelief.
This wasn't just teaching someone to enter Sage Mode.
This was Kaede forging the Sage Body for her, using sheer force of vision and chakra control to reshape her body on a cellular level!
Such a thing,
Was downright unbelievable.
Not even the current Kakashi could do this. Only someone like Kaede, who possessed the power of the Chakra Fruit and the apex ocular ability of the Rinne-Tenseigan, could even attempt it.
"Ahh… ngh…"
Hinata let out strange, involuntary sounds.
She had lost all control of her body. It felt like she'd been locked in place by some invisible technique, her limbs frozen, and yet every inch of her was tingling with an itchy, prickling sensation.
Thankfully, the discomfort wasn't unbearable. She gritted her teeth and endured it with sheer willpower, but couldn't help letting out the occasional groan as she fought to hold on.
"Don't focus on your body. Clear your thoughts."
"Silence yourself completely, and you'll become one with nature. The discomfort will disappear on its own."
Kaede's voice was steady.
He remained absolutely motionless, his gaze solemn and focused.
Forging a Sage Body for someone else, this level of cellular precision wasn't something he could perform casually. It required immense effort and total concentration.
He knew that without becoming one with nature first, allowing natural energy to forcibly flood the body was like forcing in a foreign substance, it would inevitably cause discomfort.
But time was far too short.
There was no luxury of gradual adaptation or pre-training. No warm-up.
It had to be done now.
He had exactly five days to complete Hinata's Sage Body training. Only on the final day would she have time to adjust to it and gain greater control over Hamura's chakra.
What level she would reach in five days, he wasn't sure.
But one thing was certain:
He would at least complete the first stage, and make her transformation real.