Chapter 42: Gathering
Sage Art enhances a ninja's Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu in all aspects, and can even make the user more energetic the more they fight. The fundamental reason for this is Natural Energy.
When physical energy and spiritual energy are mixed together, it forms Chakra. If Natural Energy is added to this, while ensuring the same proportion of all three, it transforms into Sage Art Chakra.
Natural Energy bears a strong resemblance to hashirama cells; it can enhance the user's strength but is extremely dangerous.
It is generally believed that one needs abundant Chakra to be qualified to practice Sage Art. However, in Hyuga Mirai's view, having abundant Chakra is not a qualification for practicing Sage Art, but rather a way to reduce the chance of death.
After all, absorbing Natural Energy is a very dangerous endeavor. If one's own Chakra is not strong enough, they might be invaded by Natural Energy in an instant, causing the practitioner to lose control of the three energies within their body, and thus be corrupted and killed by Natural Energy.
Compared to the risks, the benefits of Sage Art are visibly tempting.
Hyuga Mirai believes that practice leads to truth. He requested a Ryuchi Cave summoning scroll from Orochimaru, not to learn Sage Art from a group of snakes, but to research Ryuchi Cave's Sage Art.
Even if he were to practice Sage Art, Hyuga Mirai would rely on experimentation to master his own Sage Mode.
When Hyuga Mirai left Orochimaru's laboratory, he also took a small piece of hashirama cells. He had requested it from Orochimaru. The quantity wasn't large, but it was enough for Hyuga Mirai to extract the gene sequence from the cells and combine it with the Byakugan's gene sequence to develop a new injection.
Upon returning to his laboratory, Hyuga Mirai immediately created ten Shadow Clones to accelerate the research on the injection.
During this period, Hyuga Mirai's Chakra reserves had been growing rapidly. He had never neglected his Taijutsu training; he could already open the Gate of Healing in the Eight Gates, and each time he exhausted his stamina, Hyuga Mirai would eat a lot of food.
Stimulating his digestive organs with Yang Release Chakra allowed food to be quickly digested within his body, replenishing his physical energy. Moreover, continuously nourishing his body's cells with Yang Release Chakra could make his body even stronger.
Hyuga Mirai, still a few months shy of his eleventh birthday, had already reached a height of 1.6 meters, standing out among his peers.
In the Konoha Hospital laboratory, after extracting the gene sequence of hashirama cells, ten Shadow Clones began to experiment with the fusion of hashirama cells and the Byakugan gene sequence. If successful, Hyuga Mirai would be able to develop the injection.
At that time, he would not only be able to break free from the Caged Bird Curse Seal on his body but also greatly enhance cellular activity, increase his gene sequence, and bring himself closer to the progenitor Otsutsuki Clan.
"Main body, at this rate, it should be successful within a month."
Hyuga Mirai nodded and said, "I understand. I'll leave it to you all."
After speaking, he left the laboratory.
If he remembered correctly, today was the day Kurenai Yuhi had invited him to a gathering. Many of the Class A students from his year had been promoted to Chunin, so Kurenai Yuhi, Hyuga Kiyomi, and their classmates were planning a small get-together, and Kurenai Yuhi had also informed him.
Apart from Hyuga Mirai, no one in Class B was able to graduate early. They would likely have a unified Genin exam in a few months and then be sent to the border.
Recently, skirmishes at the border have become increasingly frequent. Many Medical Ninjas have already been dispatched to the front lines. Vice Director Kimura had hinted to Hyuga Mirai a while ago that it would soon be his turn to go to the front.
Therefore, Hyuga Mirai had to develop the injection to break the Caged Bird Curse Seal before heading to the front, otherwise, once the war began, he would have no time to research.
Unfortunately, Konoha's laboratory wasn't large, and its equipment could only accommodate a maximum of ten people working simultaneously, otherwise Hyuga Mirai could have created more Shadow Clones.
His current Chakra reserves were definitely at the Jonin level, but because he rarely fought and his identity as a Medical Ninja, coupled with the Sealing Jutsu he developed to store Chakra, others' impression of Hyuga Mirai remained that of a Medical Chunin.
And he was a Medical Chunin with extremely strong research capabilities, highly skilled in medical arts but relatively weak in combat. His most powerful Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms could only barely deal with a weaker Chunin.
"It should be here."
Hyuga Mirai arrived at the entrance of a barbecue restaurant. This seemed to be a newly opened barbecue restaurant, and it was said to have good flavor, so Kurenai Yuhi and the others had chosen it as their gathering spot.
"Mirai-kun, you're finally here!"
Kurenai Yuhi ran out of the barbecue restaurant, her ruby-like eyes narrowing into crescent moons as she smiled at Hyuga Mirai.
"You're the last one. Everyone else is already here. Come in quickly, I'll introduce you."
Kurenai Yuhi pulled Hyuga Mirai into the private room of the barbecue restaurant. There were already more than ten people inside, sitting at two large square tables pushed together, with a total of four barbecue grills.
Seeing Kurenai Yuhi pulling Hyuga Mirai's sleeve, Hyuga Kiyomi's pure white pupils flashed with a hint of anger. "This woman, she said she was going out to order food. Was this her real intention?!"
"Everyone, I apologize for being late. I am Hyuga Mirai of the Hyuga Clan. I am currently in a team with Kiyomi and Kurenai."
As soon as Hyuga Mirai entered, he greeted them with a smile. Among the people here, he had only interacted with Kakashi and Rin Nohara. He had only met the others at school and wasn't very familiar with them.
"Hyuga, please take a seat."
It was Rin Nohara who spoke. After her graduation, she had studied at Konoha Hospital for a year and had greeted Hyuga Mirai several times then.
It was precisely because she had been to Konoha Hospital that Rin Nohara knew how famous Hyuga Mirai, a peer from their generation, was among Medical Ninjas.
He had not only researched Healing Tags but also formulated many poisons for killing enemies, as well as medical protective gear.
However, the medical protective gear was too expensive, with each piece costing hundreds of thousands or even millions. Even a Jonin would feel the pinch buying one.
But the effect was excellent, providing both protection and storage for ninja tools, and its healing effect far surpassed that of Healing Tags.
Hyuga Mirai had only made a dozen or so, and apart from the three he kept, the rest were taken by the Third Hokage.
"Nohara, long time no see."
After greeting her, Hyuga Mirai sat next to Hyuga Kiyomi. This action brightened the mood of the main family's young lady considerably, but then Kurenai Yuhi's action of sitting on Hyuga Mirai's other side turned Hyuga Kiyomi's mood from sunny to cloudy again.
Hyuga Mirai was the last to arrive, so after he took his seat, everyone else introduced themselves, getting to know each other.
However, Kakashi coming to such a gathering surprised Hyuga Mirai for a moment. This guy had been constantly excluded by other mission teams recently, and in the end, he could only take on simple C-rank missions alone.
Logically, Kakashi shouldn't be in the mood to socialize with his Nin school classmates, but after listening for a while, Hyuga Mirai understood the reason.
Kakashi had now joined Minato Namikaze's team and had formed a team with Uchiha Obito and Rin Nohara.
Hyuga Mirai looked around and it seemed that in this private room, only Uchiha Obito and Rin Nohara were Genin; everyone else had passed the Chunin Exams.
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