After hearing the Slug Sage's explanation, Hoshiyomi nodded with satisfaction. Since the Slug Sage had already thought things through so carefully, he naturally had no objections.
However, Hoshiyomi didn't immediately allow the Slug Sage to inject natural energy into him. Instead, he asked for a week's time first. His plan was to spend this week practicing meditation, training until he could enter a meditative state without relying on the iaido stance—or even his Transparent Release.
The memory of his earlier failure, when breaking meditation had caused the natural energy to run rampant, was still vivid. Hoshiyomi didn't want such an accident to happen again.
The Slug Sage was even more pleased with Hoshiyomi after hearing this request. She even faintly felt as if she were treating him like a student.
As the saying goes, "teaching and learning complement each other." A good teacher inspires the student to learn, while a student who is willing to study, think for themselves, and draw inferences from what they learn also inspires the teacher's desire to teach.
At this point, Hoshiyomi and the Slug Sage were in exactly such a relationship. Hoshiyomi himself was already a miraculous existence—someone who might independently create a unique Sage Mode—and his mind was full of creative ideas. Faced with such an interesting young man, the Slug Sage was willing to devote more of her time and energy to help him achieve miracles.
Thus, during the week that followed, Hoshiyomi practiced meditation in all sorts of ways. The more he practiced, the easier it became for him to enter the meditative state. By the seventh day, he had reached the point where he could enter meditation freely—standing, lying down, even without activating Transparent Release.
At this point, his meditation training was considered complete. Hoshiyomi was finally ready to begin the process of absorption and attunement.
"Well then," said the Slug Sage, "it's time to begin practicing absorption and attunement. As I explained earlier, Senjutsu are essentially a new mode formed when the body, chakra, and natural energy achieve perfect balance.
So, in the next stage of training, you must try to communicate with the natural energy I infuse into you. Allow it to willingly enter your body. Once you succeed, you can begin attempting to perfectly merge natural energy with your spirit and chakra.
During this process, don't be overly greedy, but don't be overly fearful either. I'll be here watching your condition at all times. Still, I hope you'll learn to measure your own limits and absorption capacity—because that is the best way to learn."
Hoshiyomi nodded seriously. Sitting cross-legged, he signaled that he was ready. Seeing this, the Slug Sage said no more. She split off a small clone, which gently crawled onto Hoshiyomi's back.
"Then, I'll begin, little Hoshiyomi."
Hoshiyomi nodded, quickly entering a focused state, carefully attuning his senses to the presence of natural energy.
With a small motion of the Slug Sage's tail, a tiny stream of natural energy was transmitted into Hoshiyomi's body.
Once again, those familiar little "points of light" appeared in Hoshiyomi's spiritual world, twinkling like fireflies.
Eyes closed, Hoshiyomi concentrated intently. He worked to block out stray thoughts and greed, resisting the urge to forcefully bind the natural energy with chakra. Instead, he used his spirit as a medium, gently attempting to communicate with it.
How to describe this process? It was a bit like coaxing a cat or dog. The natural energy behaved like a playful pet—it neither disliked Hoshiyomi nor trusted him, keeping a teasing, back-and-forth distance.
So Hoshiyomi adopted the same attitude he had in his previous life when playing with cats and dogs: with infinite patience. First, he stayed completely still. Once the natural energy grew accustomed to his presence, he inched a little closer, silently.
Whenever the natural energy grew wary, he would pause again, remaining still until it relaxed. Back and forth, repeating this process, Hoshiyomi gradually closed the distance.
Finally, the natural energy was right within reach. Hoshiyomi couldn't resist—he extended a great hand formed of his spiritual power, trying to gently stroke the natural energy.
But at that very moment, the natural energy darted away with a swoosh, slipping from his grasp.
Without the Slug Sage's deliberate guidance, the natural energy left Hoshiyomi's body on its own.
Hoshiyomi opened his eyes and gave a helpless smile.
The Slug Sage comforted him:
"On your second attempt to communicate with natural energy, you didn't cause it to run wild—that's already quite good. Try again. Perhaps next time will go even better."
Hoshiyomi pulled himself together and said,
"Slug Sage, let's continue."
With a flick of her tail, the Slug Sage injected natural energy into him once more. Hoshiyomi furrowed his brows, again and again trying to communicate and connect with the natural energy.
Once he began picturing the natural energy as troublesome little cats and dogs, much of his fear disappeared. His patience also grew, bit by bit—he could feel that the time it took to close the distance with the natural energy was getting shorter.
But natural energy was truly difficult to handle. Even after more than a dozen rounds back and forth, it always darted away nimbly at the last moment, giving Hoshiyomi no face at all.
Unknowingly, an entire day passed. The Slug Sage looked up at the starry night sky, ready to remind Hoshiyomi to rest and continue training tomorrow, only to notice that at some point, Hoshiyomi had already fallen asleep.
The Slug Sage smiled wryly. This boy really is diligent. To think that he could persist like this…
Communicating with natural energy through sheer spiritual power is no easy task. Each back-and-forth drains mental strength, yet little Hoshiyomi managed more than a dozen attempts before finally collapsing. That's remarkable persistence.
But then, the Slug Sage suddenly froze. Wait… that's not right. Little Hoshiyomi fell asleep during his last attempt at communicating with natural energy, exhausted… but I didn't see the natural energy disperse.
Could it be…?
The Slug Sage was startled. She hurriedly used her sensory powers to probe, worried that the natural energy might suddenly go berserk inside Hoshiyomi and turn him into stone.
But what she sensed instead made her chuckle. Inside Hoshiyomi's body, the natural energy was wandering leisurely.
It was as if, now that its somewhat-clumsy "owner" had finally fallen asleep, the little "pet" could take its time exploring its new home. The natural energy strolled leisurely through Hoshiyomi's body, yet without going berserk.
It simply wandered about with keen interest, taking its time, and only after quite a while did it slowly and contentedly drift away.
The Slug Sage shook her head lightly. With over a thousand years of mastery over natural energy, she knew exactly what this meant.
It seemed natural energy was very interested in Hoshiyomi's body. It was only held back by Hoshiyomi's spiritual power and chakra, which made it hesitate to fully connect.
From here on, everything would depend on little Hoshiyomi's patience.