Chapter 374: Successfully Forming Sage Chakra
Naruto had mastered Sage Mode in under three days. There was no way Li Yao—who possessed the innate talent of absolute chakra control—would be inferior.
Even without Mount Myōboku's unique environment, Li Yao believed he shouldn't lag behind Naruto.
At the very least, he needed to finish mastering Sage Mode before Naruto found Nagato's real body.
Otherwise, it would feel like his show had been cut short right when it got good.
Poof poof poof…!
In the desert, on the metallic platform, Li Yao's shadow clones kept exploding one after another—barely a second passed between each failure and a new attempt.
The frequency was staggering. If not for Li Yao's ability to dissipate the clone's chakra into the air instead of letting it return to the original, his mental energy wouldn't have lasted long.
Thanks to this technique, Li Yao could push his Sage Mode training with extreme intensity.
"Almost there!"
Soon, Li Yao's eyes lit up.
He still hadn't succeeded, but the natural energy absorbed by the clones was converging toward a fixed value. The discrepancy was narrowing. He estimated that within ten minutes, he would form Sage Chakra.
Meanwhile, in Konoha—
Due to Li Yao intentionally holding back, Naruto was able to shine—defeating four of the Six Paths of Pain in quick succession. The Konoha crowd, watching this unfold, was ecstatic.
Before, seeing Naruto in Sage Mode had given them hope.
Now, watching him defeat four of the Pains turned that hope into reality. People were cheering for Naruto.
In the interstitial space, Jiraiya was overjoyed.
Even though Naruto wasn't following the exact path he had envisioned, seeing Naruto surpassing him as a Sage, Jiraiya felt deeply grateful that Naruto had forged his own way.
Had Naruto followed his ideas, he'd have been nothing more than another version of himself.
Not the Naruto who could defeat Pain.
Only by walking his own path could Naruto bring real change to the shinobi world. Perhaps that change was the true path to peace.
At this moment, watching Naruto overcome four Pains, Jiraiya believed: the future of the shinobi world had just shifted.
But reality wasted no time humbling Jiraiya.
In a flash, Fukasaku was killed by a black rod. Naruto's hands were pinned to the ground, his chakra sealed by the rods—completely immobilized.
"No!!"
The sudden reversal wiped the smile from Jiraiya's face. Heartbreak, sorrow, and helplessness poured from his expression.
But from the interstitial space, there was nothing he could do.
At that moment, all of Konoha had frozen—except for one person: Hyūga Hinata, who charged toward Naruto without hesitation.
Even Sakura—who had earlier wept and screamed Naruto's name—stood frozen in place now.
…Maybe she couldn't see what was happening?
Not that it mattered.
This round, Hinata won.
Inside the crater, after subduing Naruto, Li Yao's Tendō Pain began preaching his philosophy of peace—just like in the original story—claiming he was fulfilling Jiraiya's vision for the world.
The former students of the same teacher now talked of war and peace.
But the result was the same.
Naruto was speechless. Hinata arrived and was brutally struck down. The Nine-Tails erupted.
At that moment, Naruto was consumed by rage. He no longer cared about peace or understanding. He only wanted to kill Pain—and Nagato.
Boom boom boom…
The battle reached its climax.
It was Nine-Tails Naruto versus a deliberately weakened Tendō Pain.
Back in the Wind Country's desert—
Li Yao's eyes brightened. He burst into laughter.
At the very moment Naruto clashed with Tendō, one of Li Yao's shadow clones had successfully formed Sage Chakra.
It hadn't taken ten minutes—only three.
Fortune had smiled upon him.
The clone stood up. Orange eye shadow, and vertical "one" shaped pupils—the clear markers of Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode.
"Seems like different natural energy ratios produce different Sage Modes."
Looking at his clone's eyes, Li Yao recalled from Jiraiya's memories that the three great sacred places all had different Sage Modes.
Mount Myōboku's mode manifested toad-like features.
Ryūchi Cave's mode took on snake characteristics.
Shikkotsu Forest's mode reflected slug traits.
But not all Sage Modes caused beast-like transformations.
The Sage of Six Paths hadn't learned Sage Mode—he had mastered it.
The fewer beast features the body exhibited, the more perfect the Sage Mode.
Why?
Li Yao's clone focused on his Sage Chakra and understood.
Because Sage Chakra, powered by natural energy, was hard for the average person to control.
If even a small part of that energy remained unbalanced, it would affect the user's body—causing beast-like mutations.
The more beast traits appeared, the weaker the user's control.
Jiraiya had low control, which was why his body changed so noticeably in Sage Mode.
In contrast, Naruto—whose control was much stronger—only showed beast eyes and eye shadow, making his version much more refined.
But it still wasn't perfect.
Theoretically, the most perfect Sage Mode would have no eye shadow, no beast pupils—just like the Sage of Six Paths. No external changes at all.
To reach that level, one must perfectly control Sage Chakra so that natural energy doesn't affect the body.
But achieving this wasn't easy.
Not even Hashirama Senju had reached that point.
Li Yao's clone couldn't do it either. His control wasn't on par with the Sage of Six Paths.
But his real body might manage it.
After all, a shadow clone's soul wasn't the original. There was always a difference in control—though it rarely showed.
But with something as volatile as Sage Chakra, the difference became clear.
"Sage Mode!"
Li Yao willed it, drawing natural energy into himself and fusing it to form Sage Chakra.
Thanks to the clone's experience, it was easy for his real body.
In a flash, the first strand of Sage Chakra condensed inside him.
And once that first strand existed, he could use it as a base—absorbing and duplicating more, like copying and pasting.
Theoretically, once Sage Chakra was formed, it could be continually reproduced, allowing a user to maintain Sage Mode indefinitely.
The problem was, Sage Chakra was too hard to control.
Most couldn't absorb and refine natural energy while moving in battle.
(END CHAPTER)
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