Shima's attacks came fast and fierce, but to Jie, they were far from dangerous.
She had lived for eight hundred years, and her control over senjutsu chakra was extremely refined, but refinement could not make up for the difference in raw strength.
Jie's chakra reserves, perception, and control were all on a completely different level.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation."
Jie barely moved from where he stood. The earth around him rose and shifted under his senjutsu chakra, forming walls, pillars, and spikes that blocked Shima's attacks from every direction.
Whenever she tried to close in, the ground would twist beneath her feet or a stone spike would force her to change course.
From the outside, Shima seemed to be attacking without pause, but in reality, Jie was the one controlling the entire fight.
Shima gritted her teeth as she avoided another stone pillar. The young man in front of her had not even taken a proper step, yet every attack she made was being shut down before it could reach him.
What troubled her even more was the amount of senjutsu chakra he was using.
Controlling such a wide area with Inorganic Reincarnation should have consumed a terrifying amount of chakra, but Jie showed no sign of strain at all.
This was not an ordinary contractor from Ryūchi Cave.
Jie watched her calmly. He was not only fighting. He was studying. Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode was different from Ryūchi Cave's.
Ryūchi Cave focused more on sensing and controlling the surrounding environment, while Mount Myōboku strengthened the body and amplified techniques more directly.
Neither method was truly superior. They were simply different ways of using natural energy.
But once the principle was understood, the difference was not impossible to cross. Sage Mode was still Sage Mode.
In the end, it was a method of mixing natural energy with one's own chakra and physical energy.
Jie had already mastered Ryūchi Cave's method perfectly, and his control over natural energy had reached a level most people could never imagine. After watching Shima for several minutes, he had seen enough.
A thick stone pillar shot up from the ground and swept toward her like a staff. Shima raised both forelimbs to block, but the impact still sent her flying back across the battlefield.
Jie did not chase after her. He simply let the earth fall still around him and closed his eyes.
The Ryūchi Cave senjutsu chakra inside him slowly quieted.
Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode usually required stillness to draw in natural energy, but Jie had already crossed that threshold long ago. What mattered now was not whether he could absorb natural energy.
It was whether he could change its balance.
A moment later, he opened his eyes.
The snake-like marks in his pupils faded, replaced by a faint toad-like pattern. A light orange shadow appeared around his eyes, and small uneven marks rose across his arms. Jie glanced down and frowned slightly.
The balance was close, but not perfect.
He adjusted the flow of natural energy again. The uneven marks faded, the orange eye shadow became cleaner, and the aura around him changed completely.
By the time Shima steadied herself and looked back, her expression had frozen.
That was Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode. There was no mistake.
The Ryūchi Cave contractor standing in front of her had copied Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode in the middle of battle, without being taught by anyone.
"How..." Shima's voice tightened. "How did you learn that?"
Jie ignored her shock and focused on the changes in his body.
After switching to Mount Myōboku's senjutsu chakra, his control over the surrounding environment had weakened. That was expected. This Sage Mode strengthened the body more directly, but it did not work with Inorganic Reincarnation as naturally as Ryūchi Cave's did.
Even so, the problem was not serious.
With the Thousand-Eyed Byakugan's ability to control inorganic matter, Jie could still use the technique smoothly. The result was better than he had expected.
At his current level, ordinary improvements no longer changed much. But if he had to face Kaguya one day, then every extra method was still worth having.
Jie quickly pushed the thought aside.
That was a problem for later.
Obito was dead, Nagato had already broken away from the original plan, and even if Black Zetsu had taken one Rinnegan, he was still only a will hiding in the dark. Without a suitable pawn, he could not cause much trouble for now.
For now, Mount Myōboku was more interesting.
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