WUM 211 (Patreon)

Chapter 211: Testing the Results of Sage Arts Training

In the underground laboratory of the Daimyō’s mansion in the Land of Rivers, a solitary room had been turned into an empty cell. Unlike his father Kahma, who had to die, Sora’s value was far higher.

The Nine-Tails chakra residue inside Sora’s body made him an excellent research subject for Uchiha Akira.

“Let me out! Where did you take my father?!” Sora had been irritable and violent ever since he was locked up. But since no one ever responded to him, most of the time it felt no different from solitary confinement.

Today, he finally saw a living person again—it was the same Uchiha Akira who had fought him before, though Sora had no idea who he really was.

Akira didn’t bother with any words. He activated his Sharingan and instantly seized control of Sora’s mind, then made Sora instinctively draw out the Nine-Tails’ chakra.

As soon as a faint crimson cloak of chakra appeared around Sora, Akira absorbed part of it into his own body, wanting to experience the effects of the Nine-Tails’ chakra for himself.

The moment it entered his body, a stinging sensation spread through the point of contact. Clearly, the Nine-Tails’ chakra was highly stimulating. But Akira’s physique was far from ordinary, so he felt little strain.

Once the Nine-Tails’ chakra was fully integrated, the feeling it gave was utterly unlike his own chakra.

Akira’s chakra was like a calm lake. Natural energy, by comparison, was like an endless ocean. The Nine-Tails’ chakra, however, was like a fortress—dense, heavy, and oppressive.

He could even sense the darkness and malice within it.

Still, any tailed beast would grow hateful after being imprisoned for decades and stripped of its freedom. If Akira had been in its place, he would have felt the same.

With a single glance, he knocked Sora unconscious.

Taking advantage of the Nine-Tails’ chakra now within him, Akira sat cross-legged on the floor and began to sense the natural energy around the Land of Rivers.

Up to now, most of his Sage Arts training had taken place in Ryūchi Cave. Compared to ordinary locations, the natural energy there—like that of Mount Myōboku—was vastly more abundant due to the dense vegetation and exceptional environment.

Soon, Akira began to sense the natural energy of the Land of Rivers and skillfully refined it into sage chakra, drawing it into his body.

The moment sage chakra entered him, the Nine-Tails’ chakra surged violently. But Akira forcibly suppressed it with his own immense chakra reserves.

A faint crimson fox cloak formed around his body, only to vanish after a brief moment.

“As expected, a counterfeit is still a counterfeit. The chakra burns out too quickly and barely enhances anything.”

He felt no noticeable improvement from the Nine-Tails’ chakra—which wasn’t surprising. Given his strength, such a shallow cloak would do little.

Akira then focused entirely on refining more sage chakra and allowing his body to adapt to it.

The process went smoothly. Fine scales began to appear on his skin, and his pupils subtly changed shape.

These were signs of incomplete Sage Mode mastery—animal traits appearing due to imbalance. With deeper training, such traits would gradually fade. For now, Akira couldn’t fully control the serpentine scales on his body.

Fortunately, after examining himself in a mirror, he found the scales reflected a soft iridescent sheen, giving him a strangely captivating beauty.

“So beautiful,” said Uchiha Izumi, who had been standing guard beside him. She couldn’t help but brush her hand across the clan leader’s now-enchanting face. The aura around Akira had completely changed under the serpent-like influence.

“So this is Sage Mode?” Orochimaru, the invited observer of Akira’s Sage Arts test, spoke with fascination. His role was to evaluate Akira’s combat capabilities under this new state.

Of course, Orochimaru also coveted Sage Arts for himself—and this collaboration included an exchange of such knowledge.

“Unfortunately, Orochimaru-senpai, this isn’t the complete Ryūchi Cave Sage Technique,” Akira replied. “It’s my own crude modification. A perfected Sage Mode shouldn’t have this many serpentine traits.”

When he opened his mouth, his canines had already transformed into serpent fangs.

“In other words, the more perfect the Sage Mode, the fewer the animal features—just like the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.”

“Too bad I can’t verify that for myself,” Orochimaru said, shaking his head. “I’m not of the Uchiha, with all your extensive records of the past.”

But his eyes gleamed greedily as he stared at Akira’s transformed body—in his heart, this vessel was the ultimate candidate for Living Corpse Reincarnation.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t hope to defeat Akira, and so he buried that absurd desire deep within himself.

“Let’s go test this power outside,” Orochimaru suggested, smiling with genuine intrigue. “Even I’m curious to see what this state can do.”

If he could glimpse the secret of Sage Chakra refinement through Akira, Orochimaru would be ecstatic.

The group followed Akira to the Daimyō’s mansion training grounds, paved with newly quarried granite.

“Let’s begin!”

“Sage Art: Dragon Flame Technique!”

As the name implied, it was the Dragon Flame Jutsu fueled by sage chakra. A hundred-meter-long stream of white flame roared from Akira’s mouth, melting the ground into molten rock wherever it passed.

The surrounding air became scorching hot, almost unbearable. Orochimaru’s altered body, especially sensitive to humidity, twitched uncomfortably.

“The white flame’s temperature has doubled from the ordinary Dragon Flame—about five to six thousand degrees—and the range has increased too,” Orochimaru said through gritted teeth as he glanced at the bubbling magma.

“Akira, how does it feel? Do you have enough sage chakra left for more jutsu?”

“No problem.”

Akira could still feel plenty of sage chakra in reserve. He unleashed a series of Fire Release techniques at Sora’s unconscious body.

After over ten fire jutsu, his sage chakra was spent, but Akira immediately resumed drawing in natural energy and refining more.

Ten minutes later, he once again entered a short Sage Mode state. Because of the intense heat from the barrage of fire jutsu, warm air was now rising rapidly, causing cool air to descend—light rain began to fall.

“To alter local weather patterns with Fire Release alone… truly the power of Sage Arts,” Orochimaru muttered, his eyes burning with envy. He had tried countless times to refine sage chakra but had never succeeded.

Even he had to admit that he simply lacked the talent for it.

Once Akira reentered Sage Mode, he sparred with Orochimaru in taijutsu. Empowered by sage chakra, his strength, stamina, and speed underwent a complete transformation—enough to clash head-on with Tsunade’s monstrous strength technique.

“What an enviable young man,” Orochimaru sighed, once again relegated to the role of spectator.