At night, Shin began his usual chakra-control training before bed.
He had now entered what he personally called the second stage—constantly adjusting the ratio between the two energies within his chakra, pushing them toward the extremes of Yin and Yang.
Each adjustment required him to re-fuse the altered ratio into chakra, understand its new characteristics, and then bring it under precise control.
It was extremely time-consuming.
And yet, he enjoyed it.
Shin was eager—almost impatient—to see what kind of result would emerge once the ratio reached its absolute limits.
Simply put, ordinary chakra is a roughly 50–50 blend of physical energy and mental energy—a general-purpose form. Both taijutsu and ninjutsu rely on it.
Elemental affinity is another matter entirely, a separate training path.
If you're born with one, you keep strengthening its nature transformation. If not, you can still acquire it through training.
But that wasn't his priority yet.
Mastering multiple elemental natures consumed vast amounts of time, and at the moment, he had no need to chase all five.
Right now, by pushing physical energy to seventy percent, he could perform Medical Ninjutsu.
Conversely, increasing mental energy to seventy percent made learning and casting genjutsu dramatically more efficient.
The problem was that the further he pushed, the harder it became.
He roughly marked every ten percent as a stage, but the closer he drew to the extremes, the more delicate the balance became. There was no shortcut—only relentless, daily refinement.
Was there a faster way? Sure, there was.
Rip out a pair of Uchiha three-tomoe eyes and implant them—Yin cultivation would become effortless.
Let Orochimaru inject you with Hashirama cells and your Yang attribute would skyrocket overnight.
And the price? Death.
Either the Hashirama cells would turn you into a tree, or a pack of red-eyed maniacs would carve you into pieces.
Power earned through one's own grind was safe. Reliable.
He had already dropped pre-sleep hand-seal practice. His seal speed was decent enough.
Besides, he never intended to become an orthodox ninja in the first place—his combat style wasn't centered on ninjutsu, so this level was sufficient for now.
In fact, once chakra control reached its extreme, mastering a jutsu's energy circuit allowed one to complete it entirely within the chakra network using pure mental force—no hand seals required.
Clap your hands and the jutsu appears. Or don't clap at all.
Hand seals were created by Indra so ordinary humans could use jutsu. His bloodline were born chakra administrators—they didn't need them.
In the end, chakra belonged to the Ōtsutsuki Clan. It merely diffused into human bodies, fused into cells generation after generation, rewriting human physiology.
Humans became chakra factories—temporary users, never true owners.
After falling asleep, Higashino Shin's consciousness floated above his body as usual.
He was accustomed to it now. Every night, he guided White Natural Energy into himself.
The only difference was that as he grew stronger, his conscious form had also become more robust, capable of drawing in far greater quantities of Natural Energy at once.
He assumed tonight would be another routine session—until something unexpected happened.
Despite how familiar this process had become; he never stopped monitoring his body. Natural Energy was no gentle thing; it was lethal.
Halfway through the absorption, his conscious form caught a sudden flicker on his forehead.
A circular pattern flashed briefly. As the White Natural Energy continued to pour in, the mark stabilized.
On his forehead appeared a symbol slightly larger than a coin: a circle nested within a ring, with a small dot resting atop the outer ring. Its silver hue wasn't glaring, but it was unmistakable—like a subtle patch of altered flesh.
"A Sage Mode pattern?" he wondered.
The design felt oddly familiar.
He searched his memory. The symbol matched a certain naked blue man's emblem.
Jonathan Osterman. Doctor Manhattan.
The hydrogen atom symbol. So instead of becoming a madman, had he turned into a quantum god?
That would be omnipotent. Incredible.
Unfortunately, reality disagreed.
Higashino Shin was still very much mortal, and the differences were obvious.
Doctor Manhattan's emblem was larger overall, with a small central nucleus. Shin's was smaller, but with a noticeably larger inner circle.
Rather than a hydrogen atom, it looked more like a moon orbiting a planet. Or a planet circling a sun.
That interpretation made sense—Natural Energy represented the world itself, perhaps even the entire star system or universe.
Thankfully, the mark appeared only on a small area of his forehead, not like the dramatic facial markings of the three great Sage Regions that made users look ready for a stage performance.
He wondered if it would fade once he stopped absorbing Natural Energy.
Even if it didn't, it was just a tattoo. Plenty of ninjas decorated their faces.
Rin Nohara painted squares on her cheeks. The Inuzuka clan painted fangs. Kankurō turned his face into a horror show.
What was one more mark?
Then it struck him. Konoha already had a similar symbol.
The one on Senju Hashirama's forehead.
The differences were clear—Shin's mark was smaller, the inner circle larger, the outer ring thinner, with an extra dot.
Best of all, there were no eye markings. Eyeliner wasn't his style.
The real problem was this: almost no ordinary person had ever seen Hashirama in Sage Mode. That knowledge was classified.
How would he explain it? He wouldn't.
He was an Immortal. Who would dare demand answers?
The next morning, Shin stood before the mirror, staring at his smooth, pale forehead—empty.
He felt oddly disappointed.
Afraid of being labeled a delinquent when the mark was there, then missing it when it vanished—how twisted.
Clearly, his Natural Energy cultivation still had a long way to go.
If absorbing the energy was Stage One, then manifesting the Immortal pattern was Stage Two—a preliminary form of Sage Mode.
Once the pattern stabilized and never faded, that would be Stage Three: permanent Sage Mode.
With a new goal in sight, his mood lifted immediately. He cheerfully headed out for his daily training.
Beyond Yin and Yang, the five elemental chakra properties spawned countless techniques—but what were they truly for?
Imitation.
They mimicked the outward phenomena of nature. Once mastered, they became ninjutsu.
Training focused on shape transformation and nature transformation.
Shape was simpler. Being able to form the Rasengan already placed Shin's chakra control at an exceptional level.
Canon even called it the pinnacle of shape transformation—a simple sphere concealing countless high-speed, high-density chakra filaments spinning around a core.
Nature transformation was far more difficult.
First, you had to understand a property's outward manifestation. Then you had to push your chakra toward it.
On the practice field, Shin formed hand seals and cast Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. A violent gale surged forward, rattling the trees.
It was only a basic C-rank wind jutsu. Rank determined learning difficulty, not destructive power—that depended entirely on chakra volume.
An average Genin might knock down a wooden hut. Pour in Hashirama's chakra, and you could blow Konoha off the map.
The technique itself merely expressed the simplest wind trait: rapid airflow.
Were there other wind traits? Of course.
Pressure. Cutting edges formed by ultra-dense wind chakra grinding at high speed.
With enough imagination, countless variations were possible. But life was short, and Shin chose practicality.
His natural affinities were Wind, Earth, and Water.
Earth offered inclusion, weight, gravity, decomposition, and more.
Water offered flexibility, cutting force, impact, and flow.
Too many paths for one lifetime. No wonder Orochimaru chased immortality.
Shin's goals were different. Mastering a handful of useful properties was enough.
The rest could wait.
He cast Great Breakthrough again—this time downward. The blast rebounded off the ground and hurled his small body skyward.
Suspended in the air, he quietly sensed the flow of wind chakra, deepening his understanding of its nature.
Moments later, he created several shadow clones. Each pressed a leaf between their palms, attempting to slice it cleanly in half using chakra alone, feeling for the cutting property.
He was lost in training. Completely absorbed.